Birthday Week Day Off

For those of you who know me well, you'll recall that I like to celebrate my birthday in a lengthy fashion. Why chose just one day when you can celebrate for a week (or more)? So although my birthday isn't until Wednesday, I declared my day off yesterday to be the unofficial start to my Birthday Week.

Yesterday was pretty bizarre, weather-wise: it was almost 60 degrees with bouts of pouring, sideways, driving rain. Deb and I braved the elements to walk to a wonderful breakfast at the just-opened Green Eggs Cafe with our good friends Steve and Sara:

We were all slightly damp, but the food more than took our minds off of our soggy clothes. It was amazing. Being the food-porn amateur that I am, I had to take pictures. (Shameless plug: check out my own food porn at my recipe blog, The Cozy Herbivore-- I add tons of new and delicious vegetarian recipes all the time!)

I had the Grilled Cheese and Tomato-Gorgonzola Soup:

Both Steve and Sara chose different variations of their French Toast:

And Deb had the Kitchen Sink breakfast, which consisted of, well.... everything, drowned in sausage gravy and served in a cast iron skillet:
I can't recommend that place enough! A truly delicious and perfect birthday week brunch.

After breakfast, Deb and I found ourselves wandering down 4th Street and made a stop in to one of our favorite places there, Philadelphia Eddie's Tattoo (Brace yourself, mom):

We had been thinking about a new tattoo for both of us for some time. Now I know, I know-- the first rule of couples tattoos is don't get one, for your relationship is sure to be doomed. But hey, we aren't really ones to follow rules and besides, even in the unlikely event we chose to go our separate ways, this will be something we will always remember and love.

We went back to the artist Bird, who did Deb's first tattoo and my fourth. He's a cool cat and a totally amazing artist.

Deb went under the needles first:

And then it was my turn. We got them on opposite arms, as I already had one on my left arm and Deb already had one on her right.

We completed our awesome day off with drinks and fun at Mel and AJ's, where we just had to show off our new ink:
It may be hard to see from a computer screen, but we got outlines of our beloved pup Hyde.

So my birthday week kicked off with a bang, and although I'm nursing a sore arm, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the festivities!