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Explore With Cassie

Lifestyle & travel blog finding the unusual out of the ordinary.

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  • Entertainment,  Explore with Cassie,  Food & Beverage,  Latest News

    Christmas Pop-up Bar Tinsel Brings Season’s Gleam to Philadelphia

    December 2, 2023 /

    Tinsel is lit for Christmas 2023! “Oh, heart, let’s never grow too old To smile anew, when Christmas comes, At tassels red and tinsel thread …” ~ Nancy Byrd Turner Story, photos by Sharon Kozden Philadelphia’s beloved and popular Christmas pop-up bar is back! Tinsel came to sleigh on November 24th with its 2023 “Christmas Comedy” theme. In addition to lights galore and always outre displays and decorations, Tinsel is highlighting decades of tee-hees from fan-fav funny movies. Something I really look forward to at Tinsel each season is the specificity to detail in its overall production, decor and presentation. Be on the lookout for the little things. Check every…

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    Sharon Kozden

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    Explore Space Exploration Day at EPCOT in Orlando, Florida

    September 1, 2025

    Relax in the Small Town of Wilsonville, Just South of Portland, Oregon

    April 10, 2024

    Piazza Pod Park Opens in Philly’s Northern Liberties, BEBOT Towers Over Fun-for-All Hot Spot

    June 19, 2019
  • Day Trips,  Entertainment,  Explore with Cassie,  Latest News

    PNC’s ‘LumiNature’ Winter Light Show Illuminates Philadelphia Zoo

    November 27, 2023 /

    “You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world.”  ~ Oprah Winfrey Story, photos by Sharon Kozden Watts up, Philadelphia Zoo? A hellota (it’s a word, according to Urban Dictionary!) twinkling and sparkling that runs until Saturday, January 6 is watts up! Know this: If you’re planning to check out PNC’s return of LumiNature, a wintertime light show featuring more than a million lights across 16 illuminated zones, it is presented “with timed entrance tickets available every half hour from 5:00pm to 8:00pm with the experience closing at 9:00pm or 10:00pm depending on visit date. Pre-purchase your timed…

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    Sharon Kozden

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    Tropicana’s Chelsea Tower Brings Atlantic City, New Jersey Good Luxe

    December 5, 2018

    Escape to Foodie Paradise at Bucks County Restaurant Week in Washington House Hotel

    June 6, 2018

    Westin Tempe, Arizona Offers Perfect Location to Stay & Play for ASU Crew

    July 29, 2024
  • Explore with Cassie

    Philadelphia’s Inis Nua Theatre Company Showcases American Premiere of ‘Meet Me at Dawn’ by Zinnie Harris

    May 11, 2023 /

    Playbill cover and poster design are visually taut and arresting. “Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim.” — Vicki Harrison “Everyone can master a grief but he that has it.” — William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing “My life closed twice before its close; It yet remains to see If immortality unveil A third event to me, So huge, so hopeless to conceive As these that twice befell. Parting is all we know of heaven, And all we need of hell.”  — Emily Dickinson Story, photos by…

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    Sharon Kozden

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    Build a Glamping Dome in Your Backyard with Phoenix Domes

    July 8, 2024

    Explore French Palace Airelles Gordes, La Bastide in Gordes, France

    December 29, 2025

    Find Your Forever Space with Our Main Line Wedding Roundup

    April 5, 2017
  • Entertainment,  Explore with Cassie,  Food & Beverage

    Philadelphia’s Christmas Pop-up Bar Tinsel Amps Up Watts, Tech and Decor

    December 31, 2022 /

    Tinsel’s swirly signage hangs from the Midtown Village building’s gingerbread-house exterior. Story, photos by Sharon Kozden “Tinsel is another word to describe anything as being cool or amazing (You are so Tinsel).” — Urban Dictionary Christmas, 2022 is a wrap. Time to recycle-toss the tree and pack-up those fragile ornaments until next year’s production. And speaking of productions, check out this account of my own ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas adventure! On the evening of November 21st, I made the scene at Tinsel, the wildly popular Christmas Pop-up bar owned and operated by Teddy Sourias of Craft Concepts Group, where Sourias and Kory Aversa of Aversa PR & Events were…

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    Sharon Kozden

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    Feeling United by Flowers at the 195th PHS Philadelphia Flower Show

    April 20, 2024

    Go Truffle Hunting, Foraging for Flowers & Shopping in Force with Italy Charme

    June 15, 2026

    Hopping into Spring with Fishtown Hops at Sugarhouse Casino in Philadelphia, PA

    May 9, 2019
  • Entertainment,  Explore with Cassie,  Food & Beverage

    Fahoo Forays, Dahoo Dorays: Welcome U-ville, a Seussian Whoville at Philadelphia’s Uptown Beer Garden

    December 31, 2022 /

    Bright Lights, Big City:  Uptown Beer Garden presented its seasonal U-Ville in homage to the Seussian Whoville. Between the radiant white of a clear conscience and the coal black of a conscience sullied by sin lie many shades of gray – where most of us live our lives. Not perfect but not beyond redemption. ~~ Leslie Pinckney Hill “People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.” ~~ Audrey Hepburn Story, photos by Sharon Kozden On the evening of November 16th, I Ubered into the City to celebrate the unveiling of Uptown Beer Garden’s holiday creation, U-ville … a name whose…

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    Sharon Kozden

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    Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee Shows the King’s Impressive Wealth

    July 11, 2019

    JDRF Celebrates Hope with One Promise Gala at Loews Philadelphia

    August 1, 2018

    Explore Chacchoben Ruins and Blue Lagoon in Costa Maya, Mexico

    April 4, 2023
  • Entertainment,  Explore with Cassie,  Food & Beverage,  Latest News

    Uptown Beer Garden Mutates Upside Down for Spooky Season with ‘Stranger Things’ Theme

    October 23, 2022 /

    “People don’t spend their lives trying to get a look at what’s behind the curtain. They like the curtain. It provides them stability, comfort, definition.” ~~~ Murray Bauman, Stranger Things   Story, photos by Sharon Kozden Actually, Murray, I beg to differ with your above-referenced statements about “the curtain.” I liked getting a look at what’s behind it … at least I did on the evening of September 28th … when Aversa PR and Craft Concepts Group welcomed media to a preview party like none other at Uptown Beer Garden‘s Stranger Things-themed pop-up bar. Greetings from Hawkins, Indiana. Wish you were here! Perhaps if I had watched Netflix TV’s Stranger…

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    Sharon Kozden

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    The Place to ‘Vie’ was Philly Wine Week’s ‘Opening Corks’ Event

    May 24, 2018

    Mixing and Mingling at the Philadelphia Wine and Cocktail Festival at Sugarhouse Casino

    September 15, 2017

    Philadelphia International Airport Lands American Express’s Prestigious Centurion Lounge

    May 10, 2018
  • Destinations,  Entertainment,  Explore with Cassie,  Food & Beverage,  Latest News

    Piazza Pod Park Opens in Philly’s Northern Liberties, BEBOT Towers Over Fun-for-All Hot Spot

    June 19, 2019 /

    Piazza Pod Park in Northern Liberties is officially open. Robot Bebot looms large. Story, photos by Sharon Kozden Remember when the now infamous Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot Gritty arrived on the scene in late 2018? Gritty, he of the bugged-out eyes and shaggy orange fur recently made room for the new kid on the block-one Bebot, an imposing but welcoming robot from Burning Man that towers over the Post Brothers’ latest creative use of community space (dubbed Piazza Pod Park) in Northern Liberties. The Mod Pod. I remember that television show. Tee. At 33 feet high and weighing in at 13,000 pounds, Bebot’s jolly wave greeted the public on June 8th’s grand…

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    Sharon Kozden

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    Wearing my Travel Writer Hat on a Press Trip to San Antonio, Texas

    July 20, 2017

    Loews Hotel Philadelphia Sparks Red, White and Views at Fireworks Watch Party

    September 22, 2025

    WXPN’s Xponential Music Festival is Summer Staple in Camden, New Jersey

    May 2, 2019
  • Entertainment,  Explore with Cassie,  Food & Beverage,  Latest News

    Philly Restaurant and Bar BLUME Blooms at VIP Preview Party

    June 5, 2019 /

    Photos, story by Sharon Kozden Growing restaurant mogul Teddy Sourias and Craft Concepts Group unveiled Blume, their latest restaurant and bar concept during a VIP preview bash on a warm April evening. Located in Rittenhouse on the former site of Cinder, Copper & Lace, Blume drew crowds eager to pose before its window’s larger-than-life, Peter Max-like colorful butterfly decal. Inside, a ceiling covered in plants and bearing the establishment’s name twice as nice and in lights hovers over a relaxing banquette seating area. Between décor design elements (don’t miss the wall of realistic roses!), that are both whimsical and sophisticated, Blume is Philly’s summertime hot spot to be, sipping cocktails,…

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    Sharon Kozden

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    Cruising the Mediterranean to Greece, Italy and Turkey with Royal Caribbean

    January 13, 2025

    Explore Weird Wichita, Kansas and Dive into the Heart of the Country

    December 18, 2023

    Things to Do in Santa Fe, New Mexico Off the Beaten Path

    April 27, 2026

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