PickledCherub

This morning I got up before nine (which is hella early for me, even back home) and got all packed up and ready to go. Mom and I left Ruth and Marc's place and drove to her apartment in Chestnut Hill, which is technically inside Philadelphia, but not exactly. It's sort of like Greenwich, Connecticut, with its fancy shops and cobblestones. Mom's apartment is small, but nice. It feels like mom's place, with the same paintings and red furniture and tiny little things such as red vases and red mini birds. I feel this strange guilt, living in a nicer place than my mother, but I guess I'm sharing it with two other people. She has cable, and DVDs and stuff. It's comfortable, if a little small for two.

We drove downtown, to a lesbian bar called Sisters, for brunch. Mom does not like driving in the city, she has horrible direction, but I navigated us to a parking garage, and then to the bar. It was very cold outside.

Brunch was all you can eat with an omlette bar, and everything was tasty, if a bit on the chilly side. Our waitress kept touching me on the back, and mom teased me about it. I started to blush, but noted that she did the same to all of her customers. Mom refered to her as my girlfriend for the rest of the day. My girlfriend told us how to get to the gay and lesbian bookstore, Giovanni's Room. It was a short walk. We spent a long time in there. Mom bought some books and a CD and a DVD. I read the beginning of a book of short stories called "Lust," which I thought about getting. It was in the bisexual section. But when I heard my mom come upstairs, I hurriedly put the books back and tried to act cool. It's still kind of creepy to me, reading erotica around my mother.

Giovanni's had a lot of male customers, but not very many women. The staff was really friendly and welcoming. I hope that mom goes there again.

We walked around and did some shopping. I bought a journal that meets all of my requirements. First of all, it doesn't have the word "journal" on it. It's unlined, but has a grid of dots. It is wire-bound, and not totally ugly. Then we went and got ice cream and talked about how cold we were. The waitress there was way more my type. Alas, she did not touch my back.

On the way home, after setting off the alarms at Lord and Taylor (underneath which we'd parked), we did some grocery shopping at Trader Joe's. It was unbelievably crowded. But we got some vitamin water and some delicious frozen foods for us to eat.

I hope to visit Alexia, and maybe some other friends while I'm out here. I'm thinking about getting a hotel room and having some alone time. I don't feel like I've had alone time in months. I'm relaxing, though, and I can feel things bubbling up inside me. Like a dormant volcano, brought to life!