Today's sewing surprise!!!! plus vegan cupcakes

So here's today's sewing surprise: Antoinette rolled into Philadelphia from Texas for an afternoon of fun!

I was late picking her up at the airport, but it was nice to remember just how gentle that airport is. Newark is always an intense experience but Philly is the opposite. Picking her up at the curb was a breeze, and I wasn't even yelled at!

We drove straight to Jomar, home of the $1 and $2 fabric selection. I had been to Jomar during SPR weekend Philly back in May, and it was nice to revisit it (and experience a shorter line!):

Isn't her haircut adorable? I just love it! She's wearing one of her men's shirt refashions.

Here's what I brought home; this came to less than $20.


And in the Jomar parking lot, she gave me gifts! A tote bag she made that includes a zipper! a book that her friend wrote and autographed, and a postcard from SugarMama's in Austin, where we had cupcakes in March.



Then we were off on our PA cupcake adventure. I messed up on the way there, though, at the intersection where the blue route, the NE extension of the PA turnpike, and the PA turnpike meet--that's always been a crazy intersection but now it's even crazier. They apparently now have "high speed" EZ pass lanes, where there are no booths at all, no slowing down. So then my spidey sense was all up, because I realized I drove past the area with the booths, and was driving without a ticket....Antoinette was very calm about the whole thing, while inside I'm thinking, oh nooooo, and mentioning it out loud every few mintues or so. When I got off the turnpike at Lansdale, I obviously didn't have a ticket. The guy in the booth was really super nice though and asked if I got on at 476, which I did, and he explained I took the high speed EZ pass lanes. He gave me a "one time exemption" from paying the fine which is almost $24 without a ticket. I only had to pay $1, he filled out a form with my driver's license number on it, I signed it and we continued on our way....



Then we drove an hour to the Virago Baking Company in Lansdale (new PA town to me!) for vegan cupcakes!

There were also gluten free cupcakes as well:

but we went with the vegan ones:

chocolate-chocolate on left; aztec (containing cinnamon and cayenne pepper) on right, love the large green plates!

I *loved* the icing on my chocolate-chocolate cupcake, it was almost like eating a piece of chocolate rather than eating icing. I quite enjoyed the change as with most cupcakes I don't eat the icing, or at least not all of it! I could have eaten a whole cup of that! The cake was dense and moist, and its taste is reminiscent of Tastycake cupcakes (which is a good thing in my book!)

We also had dinner there.


Antoinette posed for a normal shot with her vegan meal, but I went for a goofy shot instead:



I'm wearing my Vogue square cowl neck shirt that I made 18 months ago. I really love the draping of the square cowl.

The food was healthy and delicious, and if I'm ever back in Lansdale, I would definitely visit them again. The owner's son was super nice and talked about the food, the shop, and how it is a venue for local artists as well (photographers and musicians alike).

But then it was time for our amazing race moment. Antoinette had to pick up her rental car before the car rental place closed at 6, so we took the remainder of our dinner and the cupcakes to go. We arrived with 15 min to spare. But then due to a snafu with her drivers license, she couldn't rent the car (amazing race road block!)! So we ate the cupcakes in the Enterprise parking lot as the sun was setting and their employees were leaving. It was actually ok that she wasn't able to rent the car, since we got to spend more time together. I drove her to her hotel in Limerick (another new PA town for me!) and asked the receptionist to take our picture:


And on the way out I saw what I think is a nuclear power plant?


Then I drove home with the moon lighting the way. Very pretty.

It was a great afternoon and I really enjoyed the change of pace and doing something different! We discussed a wide range of topics and it was all very fun. Thank you Antoinette for telling me you were comin' to town, and thank you for your presents and presence!

Oh! and my new calling cards arrived from moo.com today, just in time for the ASE on Thursday! I kind of wish I had used a picture of my scissors purse for the front, but I used one of their stock images instead, which comes in a color assortment

Good night!!