“Oh what a beautiful view if you were never aware of what was around you.� – Death Cab for Cutie

As I mentioned before, my mom came up to visit for Pulaski Day weekend. I knew I had a busy weekend in store, but I was nowhere near prepared. I had the most productive weekend I’ve spent here in terms of waking up relatively early and doing consecutive things until I went to bed with little to no down time in between. Thanks to our use of an automobile, I was able to explore and experience many neat places that are close to home (and accessible by bus) that I never knew of/ was too lazy to find. The following is a brief synopsis of where I went/ what I did locally:

At the Lennox center:
-Don Pablo’s: Mexican cuisine. They have my favourite hot sauce, Cholula. It was a delicious venture.
-World Market: I went looking for my favourite hotsauce. It was a fruitless search. I bet I coulda bought some at Don Pablo’s.
-Famous Footwear: All the brand names at bargain prices. I got a new pair of running shoes in attempt to motivate me to work out more this week. So far, so good.
-Target. Oh my gosh I love Target. I bought a billion healthy snacks. And laundry detergent. For further clarification, when I say “I bought� I mean “my mom bought me�.

Grandview?
-It’s Yoga!: My mom does yoga at home and thought that since I am/ used to be flexible and in shape from my many years of gymnastics, I’d be able to handle a nice mother-daughter yoga sess. I could handle it, but it was moderately strenuous. And I had to get up at 8:30 in the morning. I will admit though that I did feel pretty…in touch with body, mind, and spirit later on.
-One More Time: This was the coolest resale store my mom had ever been to. It was extremely well organized, clean, and inviting. They had a lot of brand name clothes for really cheap, and a lot of other random neat finds. I got a pair of green, blue, and white pinstriped pants for about 12 dollars.
-CK Nails: I got a pedicure. It was all fine and good but a little too expensive for my tastes. My mom was extremely entertained by “Girls Next Door� being shown on the TV there though. And the massage chair was mildly enjoyable.

Bexley:
-Rubino’s Pizza and Spaghetti: This was one of those tiny family owned joints that had some obscure arcade games and paper placemats with facts about Italy. They honestly served three dishes: pizza (many basic varieties), spaghetti, and ravioli. The soda selection was impressive however; I hadn’t had a cream soda in months. Our meals were delicious and cheap.
-The Drexel East Theatre: So cute and old-fashioned. We saw “The Diving Bell and The Butterfly�, a French film about the editor of Elle who suffered a stroke and his struggle to write a book about it. It was an awesome film, and I was surprised how much French I understood without having to read the subtitles.
-Graeters?: An old-timey ice cream parlor. Way cool as well. That whole neighborhood was very quaint.

Short North:
-The Happy Greek: Delicious pita and hummus. And falafel. And gyro. And fries. Not to hate on Apollo’s and that other gyro stand where I’ve gotten many a 3AM treat, but this was a pleasant change of scenery. The restaurant itself wasn’t too large, but it was comfortable and that Mediterranean cuisine really hit the spot.
-Northstar: I don’t even know really how to describe thisw restaurant/ café. It seemed pretty healthy/ yuppy. There were many dishes offering vegetarian options and tofu. The crowd was a young, hip one. There was a magazine rack with less heard-of issues to flip through. The variety of eats was also strange, offering several types of burritos, some quasi-asian dishes, salads, flatbreads, café-type beverages, and massive cookies. It was good food in a strange atmosphere. My mom really liked it.

The summary is, I ate a lot of food that wasn’t Mirror Lake. And I saw a lot of other exciting places nearby that I would like to spend money that I don’t have.

GO EXPLORE!