Philly Inc.

What a clever and quirky title to this post! Get it? I said I was going to show you how I planned on incorporating Philly into my house? Get it...Incorporate Philly...Philly Incorporated? Well, I like it :)



As someone who is semi-quirky, as well as semi-stylish, and semi-resourceful, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Etsy.com . I mean, it's a serious love affair. So naturally, when I was looking to incorporate (there's that pun again!) some Philly into my house without putting up a poster-size picture of the 2008 World Champs or a Chase Utley signed baseball, I knew exactly where to go...

I love this illustration by Etsy Shop birdAve. It looks very retro the way they have the illustration photographed here, and while I love it, I tend more towards a cozy look, so I would probably group it with some other items on one of my bookshelves. I also love the orange-ish shade. It's more unexpected than say a blue or gray.

The shop also has a print that my boyfriend would love. And since the quote comes directly from Ben Franklin's lips, it's an even more subtle nod to Philly than the print I love.

Another Etsy item I love is this necklace from seller BathtubJungle.

True, it's a necklace. But, the seller says that she can make it a pin if one so prefers. If I ordered it as a pin I could stick it into a corkboard, or into the corner of a frame. A frame holding a picture of Dave and I. A picture of Dave and I in Philly. Genius. Or, I could leave it as a necklace and drape it over said frame, or other object. But, I wouldn't wear it as a necklace. I'm just not that quirky ;)

Priced at $45.oo, it seems a bit steep to use as a pushpin, but it's also pretty cool. I mean a skyline. A clawfoot tub. It doesn't get much cooler than that!

I totally fell in love with all the items in architette's shop. Check out the Project Cupcake Cards to use as a "where the hell did you get this" birthday card. Architette draws skylines of hundreds of cities in the United States, as well as other countries, and even the 7 Wonders.
Lucky for me, she has 2 versions of Philadelphia. I already ordered a set of her notecards. I'll frame one, and send the rest to friends. I love them so much, they might replace post cards when I go on vacation. I'll just order the city I'm headed to in advance, and pack them to send when I arrive. Hey! That's cheating! No, it's not. It's love.

These items are only the tip of the Liberty Bell as to what I found surfing Etsy. I didn't even include any of the items I found that paid tribute to our beloved Sports Teams. Which reminds me, welcome back to Cliff Lee, lucky number 33 :)

I'll include other items somewhere along the line, as well as photograph the items that make their way into our home. Until then, I encourage you to head on over to Etsy, and find some subtle, quirky nods to your favorite city.

xoxo

A. Quirky

*I am in no way endorsed or paid by etsy or any of the shops I have listed. I just love their stuff <3>

Facebook and Philly... A. Quirky falls in love.

As I said in my very first post, I have a wonderful boyfriend named Dave. We "met" through my brother, but if we're being honest, we really got things rolling on Facebook...

He friended me. I accepted. We snooped and stalked each-other's pages, until eventually, I got the guts to post on a comment of his; something about a free lunch at Famous Dave's if your name is Dave, and how that would be a cheap date. One comment lead to another, and soon our status commenting evolved into Facebook Messaging... Eventually, he got the guts to get my number, call me, and arrange our first date. That's the abbreviated version of our Facebook Romance, but it seems a little juvenile already, and the details would really make you roll your eyes. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. It worked for us.



Dave and I have been together for a little over a year. While we were dating I was living in Philly, and it really was the perfect location for a budding romance. There were no awkward "meeting of the parents moments" until we knew each-other pretty well. There was however, an awkward meeting of the roommates, and I was nervous enough still that I had to drink a glass of wine before dates 1-7.



But anyways, Philly. I love the city, and pretty much all of our "getting to know each-other moments" were there. Our first date was at Bridget Foy's, a really cute place in Headhouse Square on South Street. He got the crispy chicken sandwich, I got the turkey burger, and we each ate about a bite of our lunch.

Our second date was a Phillies Play-Off Game with 2 of his friends. I thought the date was going to end disastrously when the Phillies fell behind late in the game, but Jimmy Rollins may have saved the fate our romance when he hit a walk-off triple to end the game.

Our love evolved over beers at the Irish Pub during the World Series, museum exhibitions, discoveries of local bars and restaurants, and spring and summer walks to Rittenhouse Square with my puppy, Georgie.

There's no doubt when we tie the knot that Philly will somehow be involved. I also want nods to Philadelphia present in many aspects of our life together. I'll have a future post dedicated to how I plan on doing so.

xoxo

Quirky