Van Gogh

I am slightly obsessed with Van Gogh - my experience at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam changed my life. When we went to Philly with my parents nearly two years ago, the Philly MOA was advertising for this Van Gogh exhibit and it was always in the back of my mind. Since my mom and I like to meet in fun new places and hang out, this was the perfect opportunity for us to do so. I drove up on Friday night and picked her up at the Philly airport on Friday night and stayed until her flight out on Sunday. It was quick but awesome.

Our hotel was very fun and modern. I was checking the website just to see if they had a gym or not when I saw that they had bikes available at no cost to any hotel guest. I had biked around DC last year and it was my favorite way to see the city so I thought it would be just as great in Philly. My mom was skeptical but it was so fun! Our first stop Saturday morning was Sabrina's - they have the BEST brunch in all of Philly and their menu always rotates - in fact other than basics, the bulk of their menu has never repeated an item in the 11 years they have been open. We enjoyed our fabulous food and then headed up to the exhibit. We made it on the last possible weekend so the museum was packed. This exhibit was all about Van Gogh's exploration and experience with nature (the exhibit we saw in Amsterdam was about his experiences with light), and it did not disappoint. It started with Sunflowers and culminates with Almond Blossom - which Van Gogh painted for his nephew's nursery. It was a fabulous exhibit and definitely confirmed the purpose for the trip.

We had brainstormed some other sights to see, but we ended up deciding that we needed to start shopping for dresses for the wedding(s). Colby and Talyn's and Justin and Nicole's wedding actually have the exact same colors/theme and I was assigned to be in a black dress for both. Finding a cute black dress with sleeves is hard work, so we decided we needed to basically dedicate the rest of the trip to finding one. We found all of the good shopping places in Philly and the surrounding area and we were on a mission until Sunday. I found a great dress, usually about $230 for only $40. I wasn't convinced, but I purchased it anyway since it was such a great deal. I was planning on just doing one dress for both weddings, but I found another dress that was great too, so I ended up with two. My mom also found her perfect MOG dress.



Crepes at Reading Market

 Saturday night we also dined well and went to see The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel - we both fell asleep. It was a lovely weekend with my mom and it was fun to say "see you in Amsterdam" when I dropped her off!