Medina Keita
I wake up at 8:21am, although technically it’s 9:21am thanks to daylight savings. I notice that its especially bright this morning (again, I assume, thanks to daylight savings). I complete my morning routine of checking my phone; first app to review is IG. I look at pictures from my friend’s halloween party I ended up skipping, I experience brief FOMO. My mom IG dms me and tells me she misses me and that she went to a day of the dead festival the day before. I take this as the perfect opportunity to send her pictures of the day of the dead festival I went to at Fleishers on the same night, instead of the party. I open a few more apps, Tiktok, weather, and finally get out of bed at 9:15 (really 10:15).
I already have my day planned so I start my actual morning routine of brushing my teeth. Unfortunately overnight a massive ingrown pimple decided to put down roots on the side of my face, so this morning also involves surgery. The pimple refuses to pop so I use a star face patch and call it at 9:30am.
IG doom scroll again till 9:36, then I head downstairs to make breakfast. It’s a sunday so I'm necessarily taking stock. I love sundays because theyre for prepping and planning and enjoying the beauty around you. I’m not religious but something about God admiring his creation on the 7th day makes a lot of sense when it comes to sunday. I also have an extra hour, the significance of which is not lost on me. I decide to skip breakfast and do the dishes instead. While cleaning I think about how almost everyone in the country woke up this morning slightly happier because of the extra time to rest, or work, or create, whether they needed it or not; this makes me smile. I finish the dishes and reset the oven clock to 9:53am.
It’s time to get ready; while dressing I finally change my Hieronymus Bosch calendar to November since it usually takes me a full month to remember to do so.
My mom calls, I tell her I’m going to the farmer’s market and she shows me the driftwood a friend gifted to her that she just put up in her apartment. We joke and laugh for a bit. I tell her I love her, say goodbye, and finally get myself together and leave the house at 10:47 (mentally 11:47), with plans to grab food later while I’m out. My friend and I meet up and we begin our walk to the market. It’s surprisingly a cold day, and actually feels like fall with the 50 degree weather. I realize the mule slides I’m wearing to walk around were a bad choice as they keep sliding off my front foot, resulting in me slamming my heel down on the back edge of the shoe, but I like how they look with the rest of my outfit so I decide to power through it.
We get to the head house farmers market and there are so many babies and dogs I’m making eye contact with. I come extremely close to buying a bouquet but decide against it since I’ll be flying out on the 7th for a work conference and will be out of the country for 2 weeks. Instead I proceed to buy 3 empanadas from the Jezabels booth, and a red velvet macaron.
We leave the market at 11:15am and start walking and making plans for lunch. We pass by Wim cafe and I confess that I still have yet to go into Yowie. We decide to make a pit stop and I end up getting an Ube latte and trying on some $130 glasses that I would never actually buy, but that I thought looked cute nonetheless. I took several selfies as proof, but my phone storage was full so they had to be deleted, sorrry.
After walking down south street for a bit my friend suggests we try 4th street deli for lunch, another staple that despite my two years living in Queen village I still have yet to try. We arrive and are immediately taken to President Obama’s table (later I would be told emphatically by a stranger how it was the best table at 4th st). We split some soup and I tried the pastrami reuben with a raspberry iced tea. While eating we discuss how the day feels so much longer just with that extra hour.
The sandwiches were ginormous, I barely finish half as we decide to wrap up around 12:50pm. As we leave, I notice the sea of green jerseys, and sweatshirts and beanies and realize it’s a game day. I haven’t been making the time to watch this year mainly, because I miss watching with my dad and it never quite feels the same without hearing his instant replays and cheering. I make a mental note to call him and ask if he’ll be watching.
We make a quick pit stop at rite aid, head to my apartment to drop off leftovers, then head out to Bartram’s Garden for my Wreath Making class. We get there at 1:52pm and I walk my friend through the choices of flowers. I started this class back in April and there are only a few weeks left before the holiday market that we’ve been harvesting flowers to dry and make wreaths for will happen. I work on my third and possibly final wreath since I’ll be away when the class is set to wrap up. We finish up a quarter to 4pm and head out to center city. I’m not as happy with this wreath since I wanted it be a complete circle, but I’m pleased with the flowers I chose and think it came together well considering the time crunch. Pictured is the wreath I made the previous week that I decided to take home with me since we also get to make one to keep.
Afterwards our plan was to stop at Joan Shepp, a luxury store my friend showed me just the day before. I think they’re probably the only store in Philly (though I could be wrong) that carries Margiela Tabis, which I’ve had a love hate relationship with for a while now. I try them on and decide it’s definitively love, but my friend gets a parking ticket so we decide to cut the fantasy short and head out. Around 5pm we make our way to the Portal installation, neither of us having been yet. We think there was something wrong with the Dublin feed as the screen was only switching between Lithuania and Poland. There was only one couple watching in Lithuania but several people watching from the Philly side. I thought it was pretty funny that the other countries seemed to already be over it, but also found it very sweet to see how everyone on the Philly end was so thrilled by the opportunity of making contact. Even with no one to receive our greetings people were eagerly waiting and smiling at the prospect. I loved it for that reason.
It began to get pretty cold out and I decided it was time for a little warm beverage so we take a walk to Chinatown for cocoa. I have the world’s worst sweet tooth so the trip also resulted in the purchasing of a teddy bear hazelnut mousse cake for me. We finish our snacks around 6pm, walk back to my friends car and make our way home around 6:30pm (really 7:30pm). On the way back we decide we’ll squeeze in a movie before I have to continue packing and prepping for my trip and since the extra hour has not yet caught up to us. We see the late night showing of Anora at 8pm. My favorite scene is the very last scene (no spoilers though). We come out of the theater and my friend drops me off at my place. I head upstairs and start pulling some clothes out, packing through the night past 12am (1am).
Medina is an avid fan of trying new things. She enjoys experimenting with new hobbies and spending time with loved ones. You can probably find her riding her bike around the city or on Instagram @mayden_fae.
