Authentically Nita

Sampan is an Asian Fusion Restaurant located at 124 S. 13th Street in Center City Philadelphia. They have Happy Hour everyday, they have awesome food and awesome drinks. I absolutely loved the environment.  The food was great. Service was super fast. Our waitress knew the menu items well and gave us some good choices. She was polite and professional.  My husband and I went to Sampan in July. We had a whole spread. Way too much food than we could eat. Everything was delicious. My favorite two dishes were the Kim Chee Fried Rice and the Pekin Duck. I love rice, and the Kim Chee Fried Rice was soooo good. The duck was tender and flavorful.  I will definitely visit Sampan again. We are planning to go back with some friends. I really enjoyed it. Pekin Duck Take a look at Sampan's website to see the menu, photos and hours. Website Screen Shot

The Delaware River Waterfront has always been one of my favorite places to take the children. I've always loved Festival Pier. Any weekend in the summer you can find crowds of people gathered there to enjoy free concerts featuring a variety of artists, from well known celebrities to local up-and-coming artists. Penn's Landing also has a spectacular fireworks display. (Penn's Landing is our side of the water front; named to memorialize William Penn's landing). Penn's Landing is my go to spot when I want to chill, and take the children out at the same time. It's laid back. There's live music, cocktails, a skating rink, boat rides, games, hammocks, food and fountains to cool off in. I enjoy it. There's always something going on their. They have tons of events  in the summer, so check it out.  Swan Boats Penn's Landing Marina, by Neal Santos  Paddle Penn's Landing Program at the Marina, by Matt Stanley.  Yoga on the Race Street

A family of black bears take a swim in a New Jersey family's pool. (The little girl in the video sounds so adorable). Video Below.  

On February 28th we took a trip to my husband's hometown of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Before we got there, we stopped at Waffle House in North Carolina. It was the first time that I ever went to a Waffle House. The staff was friendly and service was good. The food was excellent. My daughter had a Peanut Butter Waffle, which I had never heard of, but it was delicious. Peanut Butter Pancake Coffee to go :) Once we got to South Carolina, we stopped at South of the Border. It was raining so we didn't stay too long. In Orangeburg, there were Palm Trees all down the main street. The weather was beautiful. It was a nice break from the cold weather in Philly. Russell Street The first person we visited was my husband's best friend. He gave us some apple flavored Moonshine. We passed Captain D's. I haven't been there since I was a kid. There's no Captain D's in Philly. We did stop at Orange Mall to look around. It's rather small

This afternoon I experienced the scariest moment of my life. My son was missing. His sister had detention & he tried to take the subway & bus home by himself (this was at 3:30pm). He got lost. By 7pm we still could not find him. I felt my heart sink & it became hard to breathe. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't know if he was scared, or safe, or hurt. Then at 7:06 Tim got a text saying our son was home. I was so relieved I started crying. Reed was crying too, and he was scared, but he wasn't hurt. My son was missing for 3 and a half hours and it was the worst thing I've ever felt in my life. That being said, I am asking again that everyone share this link. This is our niece, Puff. Her real name is Janteyl and she disappeared in Feb. of 2010. Everyday her mother, father, sister and brother wake up with a piece of them missing. We all do as family, but I'm sure they feel it most. Her parents have missed; the birth of her first child, her pro

Today, I ran across an article on the Huffington Post about 7 time lottery winner Richard Lustig. Back in November, Lustig was giving out tips on how to win the lottery, or at least, how to increase your chances of winning. This man has won the grand prize seven times, so either he is the luckiest man in the world, or he knows what he's talking about, (you be the judge). Here are some of his tips: - Pick your own numbers instead of having the machine do it for you - Research and see if your numbers have won before - Select your ten sets of numbers and keep those if you continue buying tickets - Buy as many tickets as you can afford Those tips sounded great, but I wondered, "What are the real chances of me winning the lottery even if I did those things?" I decided to find out. In Pennsylvania, we have the Cash 5 Lottery Drawing. The odds of winning the Cash 5 are obviously better than the odds of winning the PowerBall or any lottery drawing with more than 5 num

Never start playing in the first place :)

Image (c)  deliberateLIFE DeliberateLIFE is a new magazine founded by Fay Johnson. DeliberateLIFE challenges its readers to acknowledge that the choices we make in our lives can affect us, the people around us, our community, and our entire world. It focuses on inspiring people to "live a better life by making a deliberate choice to live well and do good." Both deliberateLIFE’s substance and visual content make it a high quality magazine that I believe readers will appreciate. It's positive message and upbeat tone is a refreshing change from the typical content that I read on a daily basis. One of my favorite sections of the magazine was, the "In The Know," section. This section raises awareness and gives insight on global issues. DeliberateLIFE is currently available exclusively through the iPad Newsstand. However, it will eventually move to the Android platform and be available to everyone with a tablet. If you have an iPad, I would recommend that yo

Place of Interest: SEPTA Transit Museum Location: 1234 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Hours: Monday–Friday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Saturday 10:00 - 3:00 p.m. This SEPTA Transit Museum presents the heritage of Philadelphia's transit system. Children can look at display models, transit memorabilia, and photographs. They can also pretend to drive a trolley. This is an actual 1947 trolley, not a replica. It's pretty cool. This is the part my children like the most. When my oldest was little we'd stop here every time we went to Center City, just so she could drive the Trolley.

Place of interest: Christ Church Burial Ground, Historic Christ Church Location : 5th & Arch Streets, Philadelphia Hours : Mon.-Sat. 10am until 4pm, Sunday 1pm until 4pm Benjamin Franklin's last resting place is located in a burial ground belonging to Christ Church. Benjamin Franklin died in 1790, and he was buried with his family in the north west corner of the burial ground. His wife Deborah and their two children are also buried there. The burial grounds were not opened when I went there, which was cool for me. I don't see myself stepping foot into a graveyard. I've never visited anyone's grave. Eventually I'll get over that. Like, maybe if my parents die or something like that. ...I guess.

Two of my favorite things in Philly, are our beautiful old church buildings, and our wall murals. Murals can be found on the sides of buildings all over our beautiful city. Here are just a few:

Proof that homelessness is on the rise is evident all over Center City Philadelphia. Love Park is over-crowded with homeless people and possibly, dope feinds. Walking down Chestnut Street you'll see at least two homeless people sitting on the ground on each block. All this leads me to one question... Where do all these homeless people get the colorful markers used to decorate their signs? On a more serious note though, this is a real problem and it's growing. It's growing right along with the increase in the crime rate. Pay attention people.