Great Books!

I just finished two excellent books!

The first one is Orange is the New Black, a memoir by Piper Kerman. It's about the author's experience serving 15 months in a women's prison in Connecticut. It was SUPER interesting and an insight into the prison system.  I highly recommend it!

The second one is The Fault on Our Stars by John Green. I read Looking for Alaska in college for my Adolescent Literature class and the writing is just compelling. It's interesting, witty and an excellent example of young adult literature. Towards the end, all I wanted to do was hug Matthew and tell him I love him!

Both books get 5 out of 5 stars!

Visitors

Thursday night, Meg and David arrived from Philadelphia and they stayed until Sunday afternoon. It was absolutely wonderful to see them and show off Pittsburgh.

Friday we slept in, took them to brunch at Square Cafe, played some Wii, went to the Happy Hour at CMU, made some guacamole and celebrated Peter K's birthday at Peter and Kristen's place.

Saturday we went to Penn Brewery (FINALLY!) for lunch! Walked around by the stadiums and took a picture with the Mister Rogers statute. Gopher Basketball played wisconSIN on Saturday afternoon so we went to William Penn Tavern to watch the game. Gophs lost by 1 point in the last 10 seconds of the game...it was a rough ending...great game, just a crappy outcome. Hopefully the Gophers will win the next one! After the game, we took naps/relaxed for a while. We took them to Gran Agave (YUM) for dinner and walked around the Waterfront for a little bit.

Sunday we went up the incline and looked at the city from on top. It was a cold but sunny day so the view was spectacular. We went to lunch at Primanti Brothers in the Strip which was surprisingly excellent. I went to the one in Oakland before I moved here and was NOT impressed; guess we just needed to go to the original  one in the Strip. Walked around the Strip District a little, got some mini-donuts from Peace, Love and Little Donuts and picked up FroYo in Oakland on our way home.

Overall, a GREAT weekend with great friends, food and adventures! Come one, come all! We love having visitors!

Great Sunday

Today was an excellent day! I worked early, 6am-10am, which I love! I know, it's crazy getting up and getting moving, but once I'm up, I'm up for the rest of the day. I'm totally a morning person (once I force myself to get out of bed), not a night owl. It's currently 8pm and I'm 100% ready for bed:)

I came home and we made these delicious muffin pan omlets! They were super tasty and SUPER easy. I highly recommend it! Not to mention that I have grab and go breakfast for the week! Go here and check it out.

After brunch there was some lazing about, par for the course on a Sunday.  Talked to Jessi and we made a plan to run some errands and walk Dixie. Did I mention that it was 65 degrees here today?! Feels like April instead of January. Tomorrow the high is going to be in the mid-30s so we thought we'd take advantage of the gorgeous weather and be out and about in it. There's just something about running errands with your bestie, it's always more fun:) I miss going to the grocery store with my girlfriends where everyone's groceries are in separate places in the cart and you have to keep track of what you bought. Don't get me wrong, I like grocery shopping with Matthew, but it's much more fun to do it with a friend, especially with all the people watching and chit chatting you do:)

Overall, pretty great weekend. Minus the Packer loss....they just couldn't stop the run. The quarterback for the 49ers rushed for like 180 yards! THE QB!? I'm glad I went to bed last night instead of staying up to watch the Pack fall apart. A disappointing end to the season but we'll get 'em next year!! Go Pack Go!

Here's to a productive week and weekend. We've got a lot to get done between now and the arrival of the Toweys next week:)

Visitors!

Meg and David are coming to visit January 24! So excited to see both of them and have them spend more than just a night in Pittsburgh. Hopefully we'll do loads of touristy stuff and show off Pittsburgh. I want to go to a Pitt Men's Basketball game while they're here because, well who doesn't love college hoops? They're great!

In February, we're going to Chicago for a long weekend to visit Robin and Eric! Pretty pumped to be spending some time with them and not just using their apartment as a crash pad. I haven't done touristy stuff/exploring in Chicago since I was in middle school when my aunt still lived there. Here's hoping the weather cooperates!

On the Ball

For 2013, one of my goals is to stay more on top of blogging. Granted, not a lot happens in my life so sometimes there just isn't anything important to talk about, but oh well.

For New Year's Eve we went over to our friends' house for appetizers and homebrew sampling. It was a wonderful evening filled with friends, good food, good beer and laughter. Not to mention slightly intoxicated Matthew and John which are always entertaining.

So far 2013 is going well. I have a lot of work to do for the YMCA in the next few weeks but by the end of January things should be all square! Two state visits in the next few weeks, our STAR 2 renewal at Sunnyside, working on getting a STAR 2 at Ross and trying to stay sane:) Hopefully it can all be done!

I'm feeling a little burnt out from subbing so I've been staying home a little more than I probably should but it's been nice to be home to run errands, work on YMCA stuff and relax a little. This is my fourth school year of glorified baby sitting and doing something for that long can just be exhausting. I'm hoping that once all the YMCA work slows down a little, I'll feel better about subbing. Cross your fingers!

2012 Recap

Happy New Year! To start the new year off right, I want to look back at 2012 and all of the things that have happened.

January: 
Emily visited Pittsburgh!

February: 
Winter Party for ECE
Went home to Minnesota to help Meg find her wedding dress
Got a STAR 2 for Sunnyside!

March:
Visited Meg and David (and my cousin Pat) in Philadelphia

April:
Celebrated Easter with friends
Bridal Shower in South Bend with the Sullivan clan
Went to Connecticut to celebrate Nile's 100th Birthday
Visited Scranton, PA on our way home from CT

May:
Day trip to Columbus to see my cousins Maureen and Lauren (and the Columbus Zoo)
Made a trip home to Wisconsin to work on wedding stuff (ie mailed out the invitations!)
Bridals Shower in Minnesota with the McNamara and Beckler clans

June:
Rowan was born June 9, 2012!
Jules (a friend of Dad's) visited Pittsburgh with his ballpark tour group and we took in two Pirates-Twins games

July:
Met Rowan for the first time!
Got married:)

August:
Celebrated Melanie and Kevin's marriage at their Pittsburgh reception
Changed my name

September:
Turned 27 
Meg and David got married in Minnesota
Mourned the loss and celebrated the life of the wonderful Dianne Rhein

October:
Went to Hawaii on our Honeymoon
Went to a Packer game (in GB) and saw Rowan, Jake and Kayla

November:
Matthew went to a conference in Anaheim, CA and I tagged along
Visited Brea and Kee in Palm Springs (ate DELICIOUS Korean food, went up a mountain, drank lots of boba)!
Joined a community band!
Went to the PNC Pops Beatles Concert
Ate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at our place in Pittsburgh

December:
First Community Band concert
Went to the PNC Pops Holiday Concert
Celebrated our first married Christmas
Loved on Rowan (a lot)
Rang in the New Year with lovely friends in Pittsburgh

2012 was an excellent year! 2013 is promising to be a wonderful one too: three weddings, Matthew's (hopeful) graduation, our departure from Pittsburgh and our arrival back to the Twin Cities!

I hope your 2012 was as great as ours and all the best in 2013!!