The latest and greatest

Well, we are in Memphis now for good. I have lots of pictures to post from Zach's dental school graduation and our last week in Pittsburgh, but we have been without an internet connection at home and will be for another week. But other then that trial :) being in Memphis so far has been a good thing. We had a warm welcome when we pulled up to our new place. My mom, dad, and little sister were there with toilet paper, dish soap, and some take-out, the essentials! Almost my whole family is here right now, so I'm so glad we are able to be here now as well. Tonight Lindsey checks into the hospital to begin the transplant process. She'll receive 2 days of chemo, 4 of radiation, and then the transplant by Friday night. So keep on keeping her in your thoughts and prayers, especially this week!

Other then that we are just getting settled in and enjoying our wonderful new backyard. I don't think Aubs is missing Pittsburgh at all :)

when melissa comes to town...

My sister and her kids came to visit me last week and we did it all! The Strip District, Mount Washington, Dusquene Incline, Ross Park Mall (the best mall here!), Ikea, Joann's (several times), lots of sewing (6 nursing covers!), LOTS of eating (Thai Me up, Page's, Big Jim's, Dorstop Diner, Vanilla Pastry Studio, Pittsburgh Popcorn Company). If you haven't eaten at Big Jim's in the Run, you should! It's in Panther Run, near Oakland. DON'T go to that area at night, but DO get the veal parm sandwich and the meatball sub. Super cheap and super huge. And don't miss the Strip District on a Saturday.

Yes...I bought one of these colorful dresses for my little girl

mmm...cannoli!

Another must stop in the Strip, I love hearing all the Italian being spoken in here

GO to the Pittsburgh Popcorn Company! That's an order, it's delicious! I think this week the special is nutella!

some urban shots

walking home after our car broke down

THE DUSQUENE INCLINE

Random little picture. Aubrey NEVER really took to a pacifier. By 8 weeks old she wanted nothing to do with it. But with Adam and his stash of binkies, she jumped on the bandwagon. She wanted that thing 24/7. What a weirdo!

My sister, Melissa. Thanks for coming all the way to Pittsburgh! I'm glad I got to show you what I've been up to the last 4 years! I look forward to seeing you much much more now that we will only be 4 hours apart.

the persistence of yellow

Lately I've been in love with this little book of eccentric passages by Monique Duval. Her words are so magical and innocent and hopeful, I had to share some favorites.

You ask me how things work. I think of endless cycles, the hum and spin of everything. So I tell you this: hold the pale green stalk up high. And then run hard so the wind will catch the wings of the dandelion seeds. Let them fall like sparks, like stars, back to the earth. I can tell you are not satisfied. but really. That's all there is to it: the persistence of yellow.

She had a conference with her angels before breakfast. Decided how to spend her day: Climb trees. Run fast. Pick flowers. Sing at the top of her lungs. Laugh. Do dishes tomorrow.

Don't you love my little niece? We alternatively bribed her with cupcakes and threatened with taking away the future cupcakes to get these pictures. But her mom needed pictures to frame for her new room, so it had to be done :)

My exploring days are over!

You've probably gathered that I like to poke about the nooks and crannies of the city. On many occasions Zach has commented that we are in parts of the city we probably have no business being, but....my curiosity always gets the best of me and I proceed anyways. However, I think I've finally learned my lesson. My older sister was visiting last week and I took her to check out an area of town. It was dusk, but I was lulled into comfort because I wasn't alone, and there was a cute young couple playing frisbee with their dog and a hippie looking college student guy with a messenger bag riding his retro bike around. Those are the types of people I associate with good areas. So my sister and I wandered a bit away from them, feeling so safe and all. As we turned to head back towards where cute couple and college boy were, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. You know how sometimes you see something but it takes your brain a few moments to really register what you've seen? So it wasn't until a few steps later that I realized what I had seen was a man, wearing a black ski mask, hiding in the trees. I couldn't help but look back at him a few times as we ran away and each time he tried to ineffectually conceal himself more and more behind some tiny trees. I warned the cute couple of what I'd seen and my sister and I sped off in our car. Then I called 911 and met with some police officers to give them a better idea of where I'd seen this guy. Unfortunately, by the time all of that was done, I'm sure the creepo was long gone. I couldn't sleep that night thinking about what he might have been up to or the fact that he was probably hiding the whole time we were walking around right by him.....

Long story short, no more exploring for me (unless I'm with a group of people, big manly people). It's just not worth it.....not to mention my paranoid brain can't handle it. I could fill several blog posts with the things I'm afraid of, but they range from being stalked by my neighbor (he wasn't, we just happened to cross paths often) to being kidnapped at the grocery store to being terrified of ice cream truck drivers (I won't go outside if one is on my street) to someone trying to steal my unborn baby when I was pregnant (don't call me crazy, it happened to a women in Pittsburgh while I lived here.) If I were rich, my first expenditure would be a personal bodyguard....seriously. And maybe some therapy :)

So now I have to post some pictures from a past, and last, "exploring" weekend. 

Friday Night - Explored along Route 28

Learned that when city stairs are closed to public, there's a good reason. Had to climb muddy hill sans stairs.

Found this cute spot

Took pictures of my daughter being a goober

Saturday Morning - Explored abandoned steel mill - near Munhall

Trekked to the coolest abandoned factory place with some girlfriends to test out our cameras. You can find lots of pictures from that on my photo blog here.

Saturday Afternoon - Made Zach explore West End neighborhood
I cannot even begin to describe how much Zach hates going on these little excursions. We did encounter some pimply 14 year olds doing drugs and drinking on some of the steps, so I'm glad he was with me. 

Took a picture of the mysterious "stair people" (see far right side of the picture below). There are many houses throughout Pittsburgh that aren't on roads. They're on the middle of hills and the only way the occupants can access them is the public city steps. Even their mailboxes are located on the steps. As these people came out to confront me for taking pictures of their house, I thought about getting chatty and asking them about life on the stairs, but instead I smiled awkwardly and booked it out of there. Again, there are more pictures from this trip as well on my photo blog here.

Seeing as shortly I will be moving to the city with the 2nd highest violent crime rate in the United States, consider yourself lucky that you won't have to see many more posts like this from me! I will at most only be exploring my backyard :)

A bag in every color

(I've made 2 just like this, for my sister and a friend)

I love my diverse friends. Sure, we might all be mid-twenties, white, married, mormon, mothers, and have all just made the same purse, but look at the variety of design! I'm actually being a little serious. We all fell in love with a bag that my friend Brooke made (far left) and now all of our friends have made one, or several, or had someone make one for them, either way, we're all carrying them! We had to snap this picture when we were out to dinner one night, since we were all so matchy matchy with our purses. But really, each bag is so different and so unique to the personality of each of my friends. As far as I know, at least 18 bags have been made in the last month, with a few more in the works.

Below is the first bag craze that started among my friends. I posted these pictures already, but they didn't get a fair chance for attention since the next day was Zach's infamous blog destruction. This diaper bag was a lot of work. I love it but I had to set it aside for a while after I finished in order to start loving it again. Let's just say I kept that little stitch unpicker thing warm.

My fellow seamstresses at 1 am after a long night of sewing. We know how to party!

My finished product