Farewell Philly

Sunday in Philly started with a 5K walk to and from the "Rocky steps", which is really the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  We all gathered in the hotel lobby before the walk.  I didn't want to lug the big DSLR, so my shots with the IPhone might be a little grainy.  Oh, and as you'll see, I like to get my finger in the way sometimes ;)

Let's do this!

Someone should have warned Tanya that I sometimes forget to wait for people to look at the camera before snapping a picture... :)

The girls look cute in their running skirts though, right?

Kelly and I!

We headed out in our usual flash mob.  We're a tad more civilized than those other flash mobs though.

Kind a funny story, when we first got the hotel on Friday, I warned my roommates there were two things they should know about me.  One, I wear an eye mask to sleep because I can only sleep in complete darkness.  Two, I'm a compulsive iron-er.  I have to iron pretty much everything (well, except underwear) I wear.  This sculpture was obviously made for me...

The Love Sculpture was actually on the way to the Rocky Steps, and made for a nice photo op!

(there's my finger, see?)

Meghann organized us into a group photo.

We proceeded on our walk, and before long saw the famous steps.

I ran up to the top, it was cool!  It wasn't as steep as I'd imagined!

And we also saw the Rocky statue.

Erin and I ended up in between the walking and running groups on the way back. 

We're not fast, but not slow either ;)

We headed to the oatmeal breakfast and I neglected to take pictures, but someone got a nice shot of all of us Charlotte bloggers before we left the room.

After showering and packing up all our stuff, a group of us headed to Reading Terminal Market.  I was determined to have at least one meal from there.



I didn't have a pastry for lunch, but it was tempting...

This place is incredible.  Every where I looked I saw something that made my mouth water.

I settled on a veggie Philly cheesesteak for lunch.  When in Rome, right?

As you can see, it was messy.  But it rocked!  I think it was sietan, mushrooms, cheese, and lettuce.

This was perfect for me, since I actually kind of hate regular Philly cheese steaks, because the meat in them grosses me out, with all the fatty bits and stuff.  This had the basic flavor and structure of a cheese steak with out all that, and lots of good mushroomy flavor.

After our lunch, I headed to the airport and back home to Charlotte!

I was so happy to see this little man!  We sent this picture to Greg, who was in Chicago on Sunday night.



So that sums up this year's Healthy Living Summit.  I had a blast!  As mentioned in my HLS Bound post, I had hestitations about going this year, but I felt totally a part of this amazing community of bloggers, as usual.  I'm so glad I decided to go this year!



At The Corner In Philly

If you're catching up on my Healthy Living Summit recaps, you can read these ones to see the first half of my shenanigans in Philly:

Friday in Philly
HLS Cocktail Party At Reading Terminal
Saturday at HLS: The Sessions

Also, if you are new to my blog, welcome, and head to my About Me page if you'd like to know more about me!

Saturday night I got together with a group and we found ourselves a place to have dinner.  It was early though, so we decided to walk down to The Liberty Bell first.

Neat!  On my last visit to Philly, two years ago, my mom and I got to the Liberty Bell too late to go in, so this was my first time seeing it up close.  We didn't have a lot of time to spend here though, and Erin and I actually high-tailed out of there before everyone else to make sure we made it to the restaurant on time for our reservation.

For dinner we went to The Corner.  A few of us had noticed this place on our walk to lunch the day before and thought it looked cool.

I pretty much saw that they had a beet salad on the menu and was sold...

Our group was kind of a spectacle with all of our cameras being whipped out every couple seconds the whole time we were there!

I sat next to my fellow Charlottean, Andrea.

I started with a glass of Gryphus Sauvingon Blanc (Chilean).

It was cool and refreshing and perfect for a warm summer night!

We were given Corner style biscuits and butter to start.

They were definitely different from southern style biscuits, but I found them very tasty.

For dinner, I of course ordered the beet salad I had noticed when initially checking out the menu.

The beets almost look like chucks of steak in my pictures, don't they?  This was golden and red beets, thinly sliced squash, capers, lemon and a sour cream based dressing.  I loved it.  I basically went very light with the dressing, just dipping my fork in before spearing a beet.

For my entree, I went with something very unusual: a seafood hotdog.  The waitress described it to us as ground scallops, flute, and I think shrimp, binded together with egg white, mixed with spices and grilled. 

She said it was her favorite option on the menu.  I had to try it...

It came with cole slaw and homemade chips.

It was extremely good.  It resembled a crab cake, but in a different shape, with some different flavors and textures.

I think everyone in our group enjoyed their meal at The Corner.

A bunch of us followed of dinner with a round of cocktails with some of the other HLS attendees.

Mine was the blue one, I think it was called The Mistique!

Andrea looked extremely chic with her martini.

Even though I had a great evening, I was really tired after this round of drinks, and Erin and I opted to go back to our room and crash, while some of the other girls headed to a gay bar for more fun and silliness.  I'll admit, it looked like a fun time, but I probably would have been passed out in the corner if I'd gone!  I'm old!

Anyway, it was a great night with my Blends (blog friends) in Philly!