Red Pencils and Running Shoes

Greetings!  Looking outside today it’s hard to believe that we had such gorgeous weather this weekend!  It started Friday – we ate lunch outside, and it was actually HOT!  I’m so glad spring is here. 

I was meeting a girlfriend from work at Cheesecake Factory after work, and thought she said she was in DSW.  Turns out she wasn’t - but that didn’t stop me from looking around!  And I’m so glad I did!  Check these babies out:

World, meet my wedding shoes!  I know, I know, they’re purple.  I’m pretty much over the whole white-from-head-to-toe thing, although some brides definitely rock it.  What it comes down to is that I’m pretty jealous of the fact that my best friends will get to wear pretty purple dresses and I won’t - so I’m incorporating my favorite color into my own ensemble. 

Funny story actually.  When I first got engaged, somehow it came up that I wanted to wear purple shoes under my gown.  My mom… well, she wasn’t quite a fan.  She’s far more used to traditional bridal garb, and was never allowed to even dream about anything else.  I figured, ok whatever – we’ll fight that battle when we actually decide to buy shoes.  Fast forward 2 weeks.  My fam and I are driving down to my uncle’s house, and I’m reading a book.  Mom is talking to my aunt about my shoes.  She goes “Cassie wants to wear purple shoes.  HOW COOL IS THAT?!”  I put down my book and went “you said that?  really?!”  Hahaha!  Oh well – no matter how it shook out, the moral of the story is that I found my wedding shoes -  by accident, on the clearance rack.  Gotta love it!

Saturday after work (the last Saturday of busy season, woo hoo!), we had another lunch outside, this time from my all time favorite place in the city, Tampopo.  I will go into my love of Tampopo in more detail when I have the proper time to devote to it.  It is certainly worthy of its own post!  But for now, lets just say my fresh tuna and rice bowl was amazing, especially in the sunshine. 

(That’s a stock picture from their website, but it’s amazing.  Look at all the fresh veggies and the avocado!)

We followed up the amazing lunch with a pedi and GELATO!   Since it was the first day of spring, I was hoping for some free Rita’s water ice, but I couldn’t find a close one in the city.  We made our way to Capogiro, which was a new-to-me gelato place close to the office.  I tried a handful of flavors (kiwi, I’m coming back for you next!)  and settled on chocolate banana, and burnt sugar.  The burnt sugar was the exact flavor of the top of a creme brulee, and it was divine.  And the chocolate banana…. swoon.  To my surprise, the flavor of the banana wasn’t overpowered by the chocolate – it tasted so fresh.  It was true love at first bite.  The only downfall was that the counter was a little small, and couldn’t fit enough employees to deal with the crowd.  We made it out unscathed though, and enjoyed some ice cream in the sunshine!

Despite our sweet treat on Saturday, I could still hear Rita’s calling me.  Anyone who is from around the Philadelphia area knows about Rita’s.  Free water ice is a tradition that goes back to high school for me – on the first day of spring, we’d all load up as many people into Bill’s smelly car and visit as many Rita’s in one afternoon as we could.  And of course you have to try a new flavor (because you’re not paying for it!).  This year I was dying to try the peeps flavored water ice.  YES – PEEPS flavored water ice! 

Since Robert and I were pretending that it was free water ice day on Sunday, I committed to trying the peeps water ice.  Let’s just say it’s a good thing I had a sample first… wooooo it was SWEET!  It definitely tasted like peeps though – but I knew I wouldn’t make it all the way through a regular sized ice.  Instead my strawberry margarita gelati hit the spot.  And with that, it’s officially spring!

Do you have any specific traditions that define spring or summer for you?!  I get so excited to get my water ice!