NO COFFEE?!?!

So, I just got back from my Philly/Ithaca trip. I flew to Philly first, where I saw my dad's side of the family, then went with my sister back to Ithaca. This post is just about random thoughts and things from the trip. 

 I know that you can fry anything, but cheesecake bites? Suspect. Probably delicious, and 1,000 calories each, most likely.

On Sunday, we (my sister & I)  took a day trip from Philly by train to NYC to see How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. It was really cool to see it because: 1) We were both in that musical at school. It was the only play that we were both in together. 2) Daniel Radcliffe was in it. =D He was actually really good. I mean, I know that he's an actor, but he can master an American accent and sing & dance & everything. The title of this post ("No coffee?!?!") refers to a song in the musical when everyone goes on a coffee break but the machine is out of coffee so they sing this song, which includes this line: "If I can't take my coffee break, something within me dies!" =D I remembered that line because I was totally into Starbucks by the time I was in this play (though I was a frappuccino girl, not an espresso drinker), and we wanted to put "No Starbucks?!?!" on the back of our play shirts (we always got a line or slogan from the play on the back, often referring to something that was kinda like an inside joke or a defining phrase), but the director wouldn't let us, so we put "NO COFFEE?!?!"

If ever you're in NYC soon (before January, I think), you should go see it! If you travel from the Trenton station (NJ), be aware. It is quite possibly the most suspect, ghetto town that I have ever been to - both the state of the buildings and the people. Not to be judgmental, but...beware.

 So I tried a Pumpkin Chai at Starbucks (as you can see above if you read Starbucks, I got a regular chai with 1 pump of pumpkin spice syrup). Yumm. It's sweet (the pumpkin spice adds sugar and somewhat blocks out the spiciness of the chai), but good. A nice fall drink.

 The above are two pictures of a waterfall in Ithaca.

 I saw these in Target. Fruity Pebbles treats made with marshmallow...yuck. I LOVE sweet unhealthy things (why do you think I work out so hard at the gym?), but these just sound gross. Super gross. They may only be 90 calories per bar, but I really don't think it's be worth that. I'd rather apply those 90 cal to a latte...

My sister's guinea pig, Chester, getting a bath. He was pretty calm, and it was super cute when he did that thing that dogs do to dry off.

FLIGHT STORIES

• During my layover on the way to Philly, I got some chicken & noodles from an Asian food place. I didn't notice that there was a sauce, so I wasn't too careful taking it over to the area with forks & napkins and everything. The box tilted, and the sauce came out and got ALL OVER my newish carry-on bag as well as my skirt and my newish off-white Coach bag. I was able to get the stain out of my Coach bag, thank goodness. My poor carry-on though...it's black, but I could totally still see traces of sauce when I got back home to the OC over a week later. That poor bag is only a few months old (I bought it right before my Dublin-London trip, so...in early/mid-July?) and it has noticeable ugly holes from when I tried to iron on patches before realizing that it is not a normal fabric. Now the sauce stain. It looks totally beat up and it's the newest suitcase that I have. *sigh*
• I flew Delta, which for whatever reason would not let me choose my seats or get my tickets (other than the first flight) early. Ridiculous. That's how I ended up in the middle seat on all of the longer flights. So annoying. On the way back, I had a really short connection in Atlanta, but they couldn't give me my ticket before the previous flight, which also had the nerve to leave late. I BARELY made my flight; they had closed the door in the waiting area/at the gate, but not the door to the plane, fortunately. And then the flight was fairly bumpy for the first 2 hours. Turbulence kinda makes me nervous, and at 40,000 feet (which seems unnecessarily high), it is especially nerve wracking. But I made it back and plan to fly American. =D

On another note, my new Target (in San Clemente) and my Starbucks (well...one of them. It was closed for renovations for the last 2 weeks or so of September) are open!!! I went to the Target, but have yet to visit the Starbucks. But I will!!!