Hey there, blogging world. Thought I would check in and say hello. And remind you all, I'm most active on Instagram these days. And if you're not on Instagram, I do share posts over to Twitter, so you can interact with me over there too. :)

As for life, I'm still obsessed with nail polish, true crime everything, (follow me on goodreads)... and my new favorite obsession. Tea! (Particularly DavidsTea & Teavana!)

We also added two new boy ratties to the family in January. (Check out my Pet Rats page). Some photos of the current gang below. Ruby, Ben, Waffles, Chester, & Dobby.

*Note: If you haven't read part 1 of our trip, please click here to read.

Overview: My husband and I recently decided to travel to Fall River, Massachusetts to visit the Lizzie Borden House Bed & Breakfast. It may be a bit macabre, but the case is absolutely fascinating to me. (If you're not familiar with the story, check out wikipedia here for a quick overview).
I became a little bit obsessed with Lizzie Borden about a year and a half ago. I'm already quite addicted to history, and true crime stories. Lizzie's story really fascinated me. Not so much because she "allegedly" committed parricide, but more so because of the time period; (The murders happened in 1892). The way the case was handled (bungled?), how certain relevant circumstantial evidence was left out of the trial, and Lizzie's various stories about where she was at the time of the murders. "I was in the kitchen, I was on the stairs, I was upstairs, I was in the barn, I was eating pears...", and because after all that, she was acquitted! Once you delve into the story, it's really intriguing.

I found out the actual Borden house was turned into a bed & breakfast museum in 1996. (The house was built in 1845, the Borden's were the 2nd owners). I kept looking at the website wishing I could visit. Finally, I found out there's a bus terminal only a 3 minute walk from the bed & breakfast, and that kind of sealed everything for me. I booked the trip!

Hello there. Long time, no blog. :)

My husband and I recently decided to travel to Fall River, Massachusetts to visit the Lizzie Borden House Bed & Breakfast. It may be a bit macabre, but the case is absolutely fascinating to me. (If you're not familiar with the story, check out wikipedia here for a quick overview).
I became a little bit obsessed with Lizzie Borden about a year and a half ago. I'm already quite addicted to history, and true crime stories. Lizzie's story really fascinated me. Not so much because she allegedly committed parricide, but more so because of the time period; (The murders happened in 1892). The way the case was handled (bungled?), how certain relevant circumstantial evidence was left out of the trial, and Lizzie's various stories about where she was at the time of the murders. "I was in the kitchen, I was on the stairs, I was upstairs, I was in the barn, I was eating pears...", and because after all that, she was acquitted! Once you delve into the story, it's really intriguing. 

I found out the actual Borden house was turned into a bed & breakfast museum in 1996. (The house was built in 1845, the Borden's were the 2nd owners). I kept looking at the website wishing I could visit. Finally, I found out there's a bus terminal only a 3 minute walk from the bed & breakfast, and that kind of sealed everything for me. I booked the trip!

My cousin & I got together for her belated birthday last weekend. We hadn't seen each other... since last year! We're both either always busy working, sick, or it was snowing, lol. So it was nice to get together with her and have a girls day out. We took the train down to Center City Philadelphia so we could do some shopping on Walnut Street near Rittenhouse Square. It was a nice sunny day even though it was a bit windy and only in the low 60's.




Another thing my cousin & I have wanted to do is try French Macaroons! You see them everywhere online, in blogs. They are always so colorful and pretty. But boy are they tough to find around here! We found out there's a patisserie & coffee shop down near 17th & Walnut Street. Miel Patisserie. So we were super excited to stop there and try some French Macaroons for the 1st time ever!

The shop is really cute. They serve coffee, some food items. They have gorgeous looking pastries and chocolates. And soooo many flavors of French Macaroons. I wish I could have tried every flavor! (They are $1.50 each). I ordered an iced coffee & a Cappuccino and Pistachio French Macaroon. My cousin ordered Blueberry Lemon & Salted Caramel.


Oh. My. Gosh. They were beyond what we both imagined. At first we were scared to try them because of all the hype and we were afraid they wouldn't be what we were thinking. But wow. French Macaroons are small, they have a crispy exterior, but when you bite into it it's more a chewy cake consistency. And the filling... oh my wow.... the ones I ordered had a very rich sweet cream center. The Blueberry Lemon one I tried of my cousins had the most amazing sweet blueberry center. They were so good we got some more to take home.

F.B. & I decided to have a little "staycation" getaway. Saturday into Sunday we checked into the Hyatt at the Bellevue in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square section. The hotel was just two blocks down from the Academy of Music. I found a nice rate on our room on Agoda.com

Check in was at 3pm on Saturday. We took the train down to Suburban Station. We got downtown around 2pm, so we decided to walk around a little bit. We checked out The Shops at Liberty Place. It's a small mall right near City Hall.

Glass dome roof inside Liberty Place

City Hall

Our Hotel

There was a Starbucks downstairs inside the hotel! They also had a Tiffany & Co, Williams & Sonoma and some other shops downstairs.

Our room!

We headed to dinner after checking in. We ate at Ruby Tuesday at Liberty Place. Then walked around a little after dinner. And I got some Starbucks when we got back to the hotel, hehe.

Sirloin steak, broccoli & mashed cauliflower

Top shelf long island iced tea

Mojito

F.B. with our chocolate lava cake for dessert.

Art school across the street from the hotel. We could see ballerina's practicing in the studio from the sidewalk. :)

Academy of Music was 2 blocks from the hotel.

Light outside the Academy of Music.

Starbucks & Chocolate back at the hotel!

Courtyard out our hotel window

 Check out was at 12pm. I forgot to take pictures of us when we came back to the hotel after dinner, I was tired. lol. So that's why my hair is wet here.


We checked out shops on Chestnut Street & Walnut Street after checking out. Walnut Street has a bunch of high end shops. The one I really wanted to stop at was L'Occitane!

My loot from L'Occitane! Almond soap, Verbena soap, Almond oil body wash, Verbena hand lotion, Almond lotion, Rose solid perfume.

We decided to head to 30th Street Station to take the train back home. It was sunny, but very cold and windy out! We walked from Broad St all the way to 30th Street Station.

Comcast Center

Church on 17th Street, I liked the red door.

Bridge near Schuylkill Ave.

Oh hi work... see you Tuesday...

30th Street Station, Amtrack building in the back.

Bridge near Schuylkill Ave.

30th Street Station

I got a cute Philadelphia tote bag for work and a metal city souvenir from the book shop inside 30th Street Station. Yeah... playing tourist in my own city again, lol. Ever since my office moved downtown back in December 2010 and I've been riding the trains. I've definitely been checking out more of downtown Philadelphia than ever before.

F.B. tired on the train home.

Me waiting in the car, while F.B. get Wendy's for dinner!

We had a really nice weekend. But boy with all that walking, we are exhausted!

P.S. This was the note F.B. left on my coffee cup and I found when I got to work Thursday morning. (I make my coffee at home in the morning and my travel tumbler goes into my work bag until I get to work).


Other Philadelphia Adventures:

• September 2011:  Philadelphia Trip: 8/31-9/1/2011  
• July 2011: Philadelphia Zoo
• May 2011: Hot Day in the City! 
• December 2010: The Nutcracker  
• April 2009: Playing tourist in my own city