LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

Would it be redundant to tell you that Collingswood has an event called Second Saturday on the second Saturday of each month? Yes? Okay then. I’ll instead say that this monthly event is arts-centered and that we went this weekend. Because it’s fun, and it’s free, which fits in very well with the Summer of Cheap.

I actually put on a skirt and makeup for this because somehow the suburbs have been overrun with women wearing dresses and skirts to outdoor events. Plus, it was date night!

There are various artisans selling their wares along the street. And yes, every other booth is jewelry, but there were bookmakers* and soap makers and knitters, too.

We started with a high-falutin’ artisan meal.

Broccoli on its own? Ick. Broccoli on pizza? Yum!

Collingswood offers a bunch of GREAT restaurants, but on nights like this (and Cruise Night, which is the third Thursday of each month) it’s so much nicer to eat outside, watch the people go by and listen to the music.

And there was a lot of music. There was a band on almost every corner.

This was our favorite band of the night – they played a lot of oldies and surf-type songs.

The Hypersonics!

When they broke into “That Thing You Do” I broke into dance.

Me, doing that thing I do.

Which just screams for an animated gif, so here you go.

If you’re ever near Collingswood on the second Saturday of the month, you should definitely swing by Haddon Avenue and see the sights! Just ignore the dancing girl.

*People creating books & journals. Not people taking bets. That’s probably part of Camden’s Second Saturday event, though.

Welcome again to Friday, and the Friday Five, which helps me to get the work-week related kinks out of my brain. That, and also I think I’m being spoiled by twitter, where I get to randomly yell out things to the world all day long.

1. Where’s your favorite beach?
Disney’s Castaway Cay. You only get there if you go on a Disney Cruise. It’s immaculate and the water is a blue that I thought only existed on oversaturated post cards. I have pictures of it on Flickr, but since I forgot to renew Pro, they’re hidden from the world again.

I go to Ocean City (NJ) by default and have since I was very young. But I want to find a beach town that is just beach and just a restaurant or two. A quiet, non-crowded beach where I can be alone-ish for a while and not sit 2 feet away from a couple from South Philly who are eating an entire pizza on the towel next to me and wonder why the birds won’t stop stalking them.

2. Where’s your favorite place to spend money?
Bead shops. I’ve spent far too much cash on beads in the last year. This week I found a string of beads in a 6-pack of Yuengling black and tan that was in the fridge. No joking. So no bead spending for me until I used up more of the stash I have. FWIW, wire does not count as beads.

3. Where’s a good place to watch people?
The Cherry Hill Mall. It sees a good mix of snooty soccer Moms from the Marlton/Moorestown/Medford areas and urban kids from Camden.

4. Where’s a good place to be totally alone?
Dunno. Let me know if you find it. The dogs don’t even let me pee alone.

5. Where’s a place outside of work (or school) where you’re likely to run into people from work (or school)? The Collingswood Farmers Market, because many of my coworkers (and former coworkers – have I mentioned that Coworker Shawn has moved on?) live around here and go on Saturdays. I haven’t been in a few weeks.

Tune in this weekend when I talk about why I love AT&T even though they have made me broke ’til Monday.

(It’s 35 degrees out? No way!)