Happy Birthday to Me… in Philly!
A few weeks back, I was listening to my usual podcast on my morning walk and “Runaway” by Dee-Lite was in the mix and I realized that was the vibe I wanted for the birthday weekend trip to Philly.
I don’t travel very often unless it’s for visiting family, or work related or streaming/creative related, so it’s a little rare for me to take multiple trips this year just because. Even for me to go somewhere for my birthday is pretty rare as I’m a big staycation person. I live in a pretty cool city, but because of the day job, I don’t get to experience it that much.
Still, when the partner asked, “Do you want to visit for your birthday?” I thought about it and realized that a few days out of DC would be a nice thing and spending time with someone I care about would be a nice thing. Bit of a no-brainer, really.
And it was a great trip, took the train up and back with nearly no issues, except for Amtrak’s system being completely down earlier in the weekend, so no app, no alerts, no nothing. But where I was staying was an easy walk from the train station and we just kinda settled in. Hit some favorite spots for food, tried some new places. I took local train transit for the first time and we visited New Jersey.
Got complimented by someone on my tiny bag for this trip. Said I was only going for two days so I tried to be disciplined. She indicated her bag, twice the size of mine saying, “Me too!” LOL
— urbanbohemian 🪩🥂💖 (@urbanbohemian.com) September 12, 2025 at 1:46 PM
It was the perfect small getaway, just a few days, took my smallest bag, got a lot of walking in, enjoyed quality time, and took a lot of pictures…
Like… a lot. Between walks for coffee, eats in Chinatown, wandering around Collingswood and generally exploring the city, I remembered to take more photos than usual. I used to be a bigger shutterbug but more lately want to just experience things vs. having my phone out all the time.
It was a great weekend, a good time turning 53 (wow, really, oof) and I don’t often get to see Philly outside of November/December so getting to enjoy sunshine and moderate temps vs. bundling up and quickly walking around to get out of the cold was nice.
I don’t really have any goals for this year aside from surviving the horrors and making it through to the other side intact. In accordance with previous years, I am extending “birthday time” to encompass the whole month–and for as long as I decide–because I didn’t really have a lot of birthday celebrations growing up, or even into adulthood, so I do my best to celebrate myself.
Not wanting to tempt fate too much, I’ll just say, “Let’s see what the next year brings,” and hope that it’s as kind to me as I am to myself.
Note to self: be kinder to yourself, you deserve it. 💖
