Happy Friday! Sitting writing this post in the Philly airport. I keep realizing things that I love so much about this city and one of the best perks is that not only are there direct flights literally all the time back home to Ft. Myers (makes it easy to catch a plane after work Friday), but the train to get to the airport is the best thing ever. I caught a 3:30 train by a station near work (so easy to get to) and it took me right to my terminal for a whopping $6.50. It took me all of 3 minutes to get from the train and through security. Next time I know to leave later! It's the little things. But really, this in comparison to how expensive it was to get to the airport in NYC last summer is insane. I LOVE IT HERE.

Anyway, I'm going home for a quick weekend to see my sister graduate from Fort Myers High School. I'm excited to go home and see the fam and friends.

This week went by pretty quickly thanks to Memorial Day. Unfortunately there was a bug going around the office, and what seems like all of Philadelphia. I was up all night last night with a fever but luckily shook it off in time to make it to work today.

This week I tried some fun classes with my class pass. On Tuesday night I did a CrossFit class at CrossFit University City. It kicked my butt. We did a 32 minute workout. Every 4 minutes we had to complete a 250 meter run or row (I only rowed twice), 5 power cleans and 10 shoulder to overheads for 8 rounds. My triceps are still so sore from this workout, which I can't really figure out but at least I know they were working hard!

And Wednesday night I did another cycle class at Body Cycle Studio, which was AMAZING. The instructor was so fun to listen to and her playlist was on point. I need to get teaching again!!

Thursday I felt like POOP so I got home from work and passed out and today I am still not feeling great so I'm sitting at the airport drinking orange juice. Next week I'm going to try a couple barre classes, another RowZone class and possibly another cycle or CrossFit class. Loving the variety!

Next weekend when I finally have a free-ish weekend I hope to do some cooking and/or baking. I haven't been taking pictures of any fun meals I've made because I literally haven't made anything exciting. This whole week I pretty much ate the same thing every day. With my new job and a new city, it's easy to spend a little too much money on stupid stuff, so I'm really trying my best to not spend money on things that I don't need. Like, I don't absolutely need fancy juices or chia seeds or expensive coffee drinks or Ben and Jerry's (failing at this one). I could buy two dozen eggs for the price of one Starbucks latte, so those things really add up! Hellloooo adult life. I've been eating a lot of eggs, oatmeal, chicken, lettuce, bacon, apples and TUNA. So much tuna because it's so cheap.

Okay, time to board. Talk soon!

-Rach

Helllooo! The past week has been all sorts of busy and exciting. I officially started my job at Group Two Advertising in Philadelphia! Although I spent most of my time last week getting settled into my new job and trying to learn everything, I tried my best to do as much exploring as possible.

Two things are for sure: I am so happy to be working for an awesome company with such a great culture and I absolutely love Philadelphia. Although I have only been to Philly once before, I really feel like I fit in already, as weird as that sounds. There's such a great vibe here. I am living with my co-worker in Old City.

Some fun facts:

• My apartment building was built in 1735.
• George Washington's funeral happened right across the street from our building.
• Betsy Ross's house is only a couple blocks away.
• The oldest synagogue in Philly is right next door to our apartment.
• The oldest inhabited residential street in America, Elfreth's Alley, is a couple blocks away.
• The office right below our apartment is a gay pornography company. (not kidding)

It's really cool living in such a historic little corner of the country! There's so much culture. There might be ghosts in my apartment actually, who knows.

So I moved into my apartment last Sunday, had Monday to unpack a little and started work on Tuesday. On Thursday night, I met my cousin Sara and we went to an event called Night Market, which is basically when there are about 5 entire blocks blocked off in the city and FILLED with every kind of food truck you can imagine and probably every human being in the city. It was crazy but so much fun and I got some great pizza.

On Friday we left work early to play Escape the Room. If you've not heard of Escape the Room, you basically get locked into a room and have an hour to get out based on clues to find a key. It's extremely clever and so much fun. After Escape the Room, we had a fun happy hour at a restaurant called Alma De Cuba. The sangria was delicious!

The weekend went a little fast, but I got to enjoy some more tastes of Philly. Saturday morning I went to Continental Diner with a friend for a late brunch and sat in these awesome hanging basket chairs.

Saturday night Michael and I took a stroll and ended up at a restaurant/bar called Varga, which was a fun little place! We ordered a gouda cheese plate, duck confit chicken wings and lamb lettuce wraps. The cheese plate was my favorite part. On Sunday, we just kind of walked all over the place to try and see more of the city!

My goal this week is to NOT spend anymore money on food. I get a little carried away with all of the fun new restaurants to try.

I hope everyone is having a great start to the summer! I will try to post more pics and updates soon! Also currently trying to find a gym. There's a million different gyms here, so I decided to buy a ClassPass, which allows you to try out all different kinds of fitness classes throughout the city! Ideally, I want to be able to teach somewhere, but this will do for now while I scope out exactly what kind of gym I want to join. I'm trying a rowing class today after work!

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

- Rach

What's your favorite city? 

Happy Sunday and Mother's Day to all the momma's out there. I am currently sitting at my gate waiting to board my flight to Philly! It still hasn't hit me that I'm moving. It feels just like it did last summer when I flew to NYC for the summer, I just feel like I am coming back. It's a strange but great feeling. This past week went by WAY fast. I thought I would graduate and have all this time during my week off, and it went by in the blink of an eye. Now it's May 10 and I start my job Tuesday morning. CRAZYYY!!! I cannot wait, and I am beyond thankful for this new opportunity.

I spent the last few days with close friends and family. Friday night, my sister and I went to Blu sushi downtown with my dad and treated ourselves to amazing ice cream from Daddy Dee's. The place has been there for 41 years! P.S. if you're from SW Florida, it's just as good as Loveboat Ice Cream.

Last night was a great last night in Ft. Myers. I spent it with close friends and family at Tarpon Pointe Marina for a little party for my mom's 50th birthday. We enjoyed lots of mini cheeseburgers and champagne. Gotta live a little!!

[Shoes are BCBG, Shorts are JCrew]

Okay, getting ready to board...

Can't wait to take tons of new pictures and write all about my new home in Philadelphia! I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

-Rach

Where does the time go???