Not Yet 24

Tonight is my last night as a 23 year old! It's ok though, I know it's going to be a great year. I mean within the first month alone I will be giving my thesis proposal (gives me the go ahead to continue in the PhD program and is essentially a master's degree once I pass) and will be running a half marathon. And to be honest, while I'm excited for both, I'm also incredibly nervous. While I have most of the proposal written, I wasn't able to get to the fine tuning this past week. Similarly, while I ran 11 miles this week, it didn't go so smoothly, but I have about 2 more weeks to prepare for both and hope to make the very most of this time.

At the same time my birthday is tomorrow and I've got to celebrate! The past few years I've gone all out with reserving tables/getting door list at lounges in the city, but I'm keeping this year low key. Thursday night I went to dinner and drinks with my friend Ryan and then left NYC early Friday to meet my grandma in Philadelphia for lunch.

Today I headed to Rice's Flea market with my mom and sister, an outdoor flea market in New Hope, Pa. As we pulled out of our driveway a little after 7:30 am it started to rain but we barged on in the hopes they were just spotty showers.

Despite thunder and lightning the rain never made it to the market and the sun broke through the clouds.

And guess who I ran into while at Rice's? Sarah! Totally unplanned and it's not as if I visit Rice's often, usually once a year!

We also passed upon a baker's table. I saw he was giving out samples and went for one, but he loaded me up. It turned out he was from Great Harvest, I should have known, I love Great Harvest!! After trying 5 different breads we went with the apple bread.

After a bit more shopping including a trip to the mall we headed home for a snack, do some work, etc.

Then, it was dinner time! We headed to Casablanca Restaurant for an eight course Moroccan feast. It took a lot of will power but I paced myself and made it to the end without feeling gross.

From the outside it looks like a normal store front, but they completely transformed the indoors.

First up were the hummous/baba ganouj and 3 salad courses:

Next up was B'stilla an egg dish within phyllo, and mixed with cinnamon and sugar:

Next up was the vegetarian main course of spinach pie, samosa, falafel, and stuffed grape leaves:

For their main entree my Mom and sis had different variations of chicken:

Then there were vegetable kebabs with some amazing rice, lentils and a green bean dish (this was my favorite course and I ate more of this than anything else):

Next, cous cous with vegetables. I only had a few spoonfuls of this dish and wrapped the rest to take home:

Finally we had a huge bowl of fruit, baklava (some of the best I've had!), and mint tea:

There was even entertainment:

This was such an excellent dining experience and the food was incredible and there was so much! Although we only had the last course wrapped to go we could have easily taken more.

After a walk and returning home it was time for birthday cake from my favorite bakery, my Mom goes all the way to Chestnut Hill for this cake (30-45 minutes from my house), but it's so worth the travel!

See you next when I'm 24 :)

Nicole