Hey Paesano!

A very integral part of my upbringing was my Italian-American culture. We lived, ate, spoke…Italian…it was who we were and where we came from. It was important to me to learn about my culture and it’s my hope that our baby will learn about the two vibrant beautiful cultures that it owes its heritage too!

And it’s never too early to start…Okay, maybe it’s a little early…

But the 9th Street Italian Festival was this weekend and I wasn’t about to let a little thing like STILL BEING IN MY STOMACH stop the baby from experiencing all the fun that is an Italian Festival! Ricky was working all weekend and Uncle Rel was in class so Aunt Alexis and I decided to head down to Philly for the fun! Finding parking was a bit of a pain, but we had a nice tour of south Philly while looking lol… We finally found an awesome spot right at the beginning of the blocked off section!

The smells and sounds were just like a street festival in Italy…sausage, meatballs, mozzarella, salami, fish…you name it…not even getting into the pastries, cannoli, biscotti, gelato…it was a physical assault of the senses in the best way! Especially with my prego superpowers of smell, I mean I could smell stuff that was 3 blocks away! It was AWESOME!

Alexis and I just wandered down the street, stopping to look at all the different vendors. I should have brought a hundred bucks! I could’ve done all my Christmas shopping in one place! They had such great stuff and the prices were so reasonable! But I refused to bring a lot because we’ve been saving and being frugal so we’re prepared when the baby comes...

BUT... I couldn’t help getting the baby at least a memento of it’s very first Italian festival! And of course I had to eat a gelato so the baby could try one of those as well lol! Being pregnant is my new excuse for EVERYTHING! Heeheehee!

One of the best things to see was all the little caramel babies that came out with their Italian daddies/mommies and Black daddies/mommies…they were SOOOOOOOOOO cute!!! Alexis and I were melting! My favorites were this pair of twin boys; they are destined to be models! They were adorable! I just kept seeing little faces and wondering what shade my little caramel latte will be and what little personality it will have…

After that we decided to hit up the Arts Festival down on Penns Landing too.  It was a gorgeous day and the breeze down on the walkway was divine!  We wandered through the rows of vendors (kept losing our way because the set up wound round Penn's Landing's stage and off to the side, etc)  We thought there would be more jewelry and stuff like that but we were shocked to see how many vendors were selling BABY stuff!  It was like hippy baby love fest!  There was such cute stuff, but without knowing if its a boy or girl yet I really didn't want to buy anything... The gender specific stuff was so cute!  And there was other neutral things like receiving quilts but they were out of my price range *sniff*

We must have walked 5 miles by the end of the day...talk about getting our exercise but it didn't even feel like it because it was fun and the weather was warm and breezy!  When I woke up the next day I actually contemplated taking the train back to the Italian Fest w/more $, but my feet reminded me just how much walking I did the day before so that idea got shelved!  But my little bun was thoroughly "cultured" for a day and has an adorable little memento from its day w/Aunt Alexis and I at the Italian Festival! :)