My Walls Ain’t Like Grandma’s

Daily Prompt: Wall to Wall

From April 26, 2013

What do you display on the walls of your home — photos, posters, artwork, nothing? How do you choose what to display?

Your personal space says a lot about who you are. From how neat you keep your areas to how you choose to decorate. From minimalist to maxamalist (if that is even a word) what dons your walls can be an extension of you and your personality.

I’ve been into decorating on some level since I was a child. I remember shopping for furniture and choosing carpet with my mom as a child. My first introduction to my own design style was in college. It was so much fun deciding the decor for my dorm room with my roommate each summer before the start of the new school year. I remember doing this with my roommates for my freshman and sophomore years in college. But for my last two years of school I had single room and had a lot more liberties to decorate and coordinate my living space without the consideration for another individual. That’s when the fun really began.

I had so much fun picking out fun lights, comforters, matching desk accessories. And IKEA got a lot of my money those years.

Fast forward to the purchase of my first house, and that was the most fun ever. I had so much space to fill and so many ideas to actualize it was almost overwhelming, but in a great way. The first room I tackled was the living room. It’s the place that most people congregate when they visit you. It’s usually the first room you enter upon arriving home.

I’ll save my whole design esthetic of my house for another time, but I will say that after two years I felt that my living room was pretty complete.

Well one day my grandmother made a comment to my mother that I lacked photographs of her and others in my house. The truth is I didn’t have many photos displayed in my house. The reason is that I like my photos to be displayed artistically. A lot of times you go into someone’s house and you see their entire family tree dating back to as long as there were cameras around.

With today’s technology of camera phones with filters and digital cameras with specialty lens. There is no reason to have multicolored and multi size photos and picture frames on mantles and walls.

I envision color coordinated frames filled with carefully selected shots of my loved ones and displayed artistically. A design and decor that catches your eye even before you can identify the people in the photo.

On the left side of the collage you can see a well thought out design to display beloved family photographs. On the right side you can see my grandma’s mantle and living room wall. The photos are displayed in random order without much thought to the display spacing, frame shape or color. Although love my granny, that is not what I want to see on display in my home.

With that said until I can find the right shots of all the people who mean enough to me to be showcased around my house. I’ve decided to go completely digital. I purchased a digital picture frame from HHgregg and downloaded all the people I love, to a memory card. Now I can proudly display everyone I want without hurt feelings or the clutter of photos everywhere.

 

Daily Prompt: A List of the Top Things I Miss Most About Philly

I do love lists. I get great satisfaction and sense of accomplishment by checking things off a list I created.

What I miss most about Philadelphia:

The food overall, but specifically.

1. Lorenzo and Sons

Lorenzo and Sons Pizza. It’s my favorite. They’re located on South Street and they have gigantic slices and they only sell them without toppings.  But don’t worry about their bottomline beacuse their following is cult-like. You know better than to ask for toppings on your slices, there is nowhere to sit and eat your pizza, and if you want a box for your slices, it’ll cost you. Lorenzo and Son’s suffered a tragic fire last year in the summer of 2012 and has remained closed while undergoing repairs etc. It is set to re-open soon, which is exciting. Maybe they’ll have more space for seating, and ventilation/air conditioning.

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2. Philly Cheesesteaks

Philly Cheesesteaks. You can argue for weeks on who has the best Philly cheesesteaks in the city. If you ask any non-Philiadelphian they’ll probably say Pats or Geno’s but most who live outside of South Philadlephia will agree that Pats and Geno’s are tourists attractions.

I have my favorite spots to get an authentic Philly cheesesteak, but honestly you can go to practically any neigbor”hood” in Philly and get a decent one. I find that people tend to measure or judge the quality and taste of Philly cheesesteaks based on their local neighborhood spots. But I’ve done my own unofficial taste testing of several popular spots around town and the popular places in my humble opinion, aren’t always the better tasting. If I get a chance I would love to do a more in-depth review of the top 10-20 places and find my absolute favorite.  I know that sounds really fat right! I don’t even eat a lot of red meat to begin with but I’d make an exception for this awesome cause. FYI, I love my cheesesteak with extra mayo, extra ketchup, fried onions, and sometimes a little mustard.

3. South Street

South Street is a popular strip in South Philadelphia. It’s where I used to go to shop, eat, people watch, be seen, and just hang out with friends. It used to be a great place to meet people, and an even awesome(er) place to see the sights. And by sights I mean the crazy people, with outrageous hair, crazy clothes, over affectionate lovers and more.

As I’ve gotten older, I tend to go to South Street to get what I need and keep it moving. Maybe I’m just over it, but I still miss what it represents and for me it’s always worth a trip down the slow moving stretch to get my beloved Lorenzo pizza.

4. Food Convenience 

Another thing is the conveince of obtaining food. Maybe it’s because I lived in the city but I can’t think of too many locations in the Philadelphia area that don’t have the same conveince of a vareiety of nearby food options. I don’t just mean McDonald’s or Chinese Stores but corner stores. Corner stores, bodegas, chinese stores, Pizza/Hoagie/Cheesesteak shops, in Philadelphia you could find one or several of the above within 2-walking blocks from your house.

5. Mister Softee

Man, as a kid Mister Softee would come around twice a day. Once in the afternoon and again in the evening. Mister Softee is a chain of Ice Cream Trucks famous mostly in Northeast America. Hearing Mister Softee’s tune play blocks away was a signal to most kids to find enough cash to get your favorite Mister Softee product in enough time that you could catch him before he was off to the next block. Or even better go find him, by following the tune. It’s all so nostalgic and in the DMV, Mister Softee is non-exisistant. I feel bad for the children here, that they won’t get to have the same child memories of ice cream, sticky hands, friends and fun. Thats what I think of when I think of Mister Softee. I sure wish a franchise would come this way. If I didn’t love my career I would seriously consider opening a Mister Softee Franchise here.

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I started to add the “Greek Picnic” but I think I’ll do a separate post about it.

Related articles

• Best Cheesesteaks in the Philadelphia Area (apartmentguide.com)
• Philly Chesesteaks (weeklydessert.wordpress.com)
• Why Philadelphia really is a big cheese (telegraph.co.uk)
• Cheese Steaks at The Philly Way (metromilwaukeeguide.com)
• What’s Up in Pizza: Lawsuits, Fires, and Peeps! (slice.seriouseats.com)