Pumpkin Hunting

As some of you know, one of my favorite flavors is pumpkin. Ever since I discovered the Pumpkin Spice Latte on the menu a few years back at Starbucks, I've relished the fall season and the pumpkin flavored treats that come along with it (As if Fall wasn't already my favorite season!!). SO, this year I have a mission.

I am going to find the BEST Pumpkin Beer around. Im looking for Pumpkin Pie in a bottle...and thats what I will find!

So far:
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale-- Tastes more like your standard Fall Ale than pumpkin. Not it.

Shocktop Pumpkin Wheat-- Tastes like more of a cinnamon spice beer. Not bad, but not it.

Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale--Thicker, rich pumpkin flavor! Like it!

Saranac Pumpkin Ale-- Another "fall ale" flavor...not enough pumpkin!

And the search continues...

Flat tire, split pants and dropped phone.

Yesterday when I was driving to work, I ran through one of many notorious Pittsburgh Pot Holes and blew a tire. :/ I then proceeded to change the tire, alone, in the rain. After taking the car to get a new tire and signing a $220 bill for ONE tire, I now understand the finesse needed to drive in this city and NOT have this happen again.

Needless to say I will be much more grandmotherly in my bobbing and weaving through traffic from this point on.

On that not, what I will NOT be more grandmotherly about is the intensity in my complaint about the fact that apparently the size tire that my Mazda 3 uses, no other car uses?? Which is why it is ridiculously expensive. I've always loved my little blue zoom zoom but suddenly I'm asking myself...WHY!?

It didn't help that this very same day I split a hole in the crotch of my pants when squatting down to pick up an infant...the saddest part being there was no one there to laugh at me!

I also dropped my new phone on the cement (thankfully I invested in one of those frou-frou phone covers which performed magnificently!

OH and for those of you that were present during the bachelorette cooler spill, I have news. After sopping up the water out of my trunk with hotel towels (which are now mine!) I thought it was resolved. However, when changing my tire I also discovered that there was about 4 to 5 inches of water INSIDE the spare tire compartment itself. Andddd the fabric thingy underneath the tire was sopping wet with cooler water...as it had been for ummmm 4 weeks now? Gross. Maybe THATS why it smelled :/

La Gourmandine

In planning a weekend for my Mom to come down and visit, I asked friends where I should take her to eat. They suggested a bunch of places here in Pittsburgh, including "La Gourmandine" in Lawrenceville.

They proceeded to bring up a "yelp.com" user review that had me in hysterical laughter.

Tell me you don't want to be stuffing your face with delicious treats from THIS bakery right this second after reading the review?....



The husband and wife owners of La Gourmandine were born and raised in France. They studied in Paris, and the entire city of Pittsburgh is VERY fortunate that they have opened a bakery here. It is the very best French bakery I've ever been to outside of France. Everything I've ever tasted here has been phenomenal. Everything. Everything! If you haven't been here - you must go TODAY. When you go here for the first time, you will feel sad and angry at yourself that you've lived in this city and haven't been here before. You will dream about their bread and croissants. You will find yourself sitting in your office in the middle of the day having naughty thoughts about the pain au chocolat that will cause you to blush and feel lightheaded. You will develop an addiction that will eventually lead to finding yourself driving through the snow- and ice- covered streets of Lawrenceville in the middle of February at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning - unbathed and anxious that you will arrive to find your favorite pastry sold-out by the time you arrive. You will buy an extra loaf of bread for the trip home - tearing huge hunks of crusty, nutty, chewy baguette and stuffing them into your mouth at red lights. You will get irritated when you arrive at an intersection and the light is green. The front of your coat will be covered in bread crumbs and you will not care. Your jaw will ache a little and you will not care. You will arrive home and run RUN to your kitchen to grind your best coffee, and you will patiently wait to brew a perfect carafe of French-press while you steel yourself to have the fortitude to not even LOOK at the boxes of pastries you've bought. You will even prove to yourself that you are mentally strong - by leaving your coffee sit for a few minutes to cool to the perfect sipping temperature. Then - then you will feel an immense wave of self-satisfaction with yourself, your mental resolve, and your good fortune. You will eat your pastries and drink your perfect coffee and your eyes will roll into the back of your head and your heart will leap with happiness. You will sit back and you will realize that your life is wonderful and you will allow yourself to be happy. Purely happy.

Change the World

Today my yogi tea said:
Your decisions will change the world.

:) I like the sounds of that.

Lumosity

I play a lot of games online but none of them really make me feel like I'm doing much for cognition. I've looked all over for fun games you can play on the computer that you dont feel like are stupid, repetitive or like a sample SAT test. So today I was doing some spanish practice and this came up...Ive only played a few games but so far its fun! And apparently its good for my brain!

http://www.lumosity.com

Settling In

When I first moved down here, I have to be honest, I wasn’t crazy about Pittsburgh. I’ve visited friends here quite often but never really felt like it was somewhere I’d want to move. I’ve actually had my heart set on Seattle and still have it in my head to move there at some point in my life.

Anyways, I’ve been thinking a lot about where I am headed. Do I want to go back to C.A. and teach English? Yes. But is that realistic? Right now, no. Not financially. Not to mention, I’ve been unemployed for a year now which leaves quite a gap in my resume. At some point I have to start being practical about getting a stable job with benefits and saving some money. I need to make sure I’ll be able to do the things I want to in the future and in order to do that, I need to be making wise decisions now.
So, where does that leave me? I’m not 100% sure but I’ve made some adjustments in my plan for the next couple years. I need to go to grad school. In order to work in this field in the capacity that I’m dreaming about, I need my Masters. Pitts right down the street so I’m leaning towards that. Also, financially speaking, attending a grad school in-state is much gentler on the purse strings.

My best friend is also looking to buy a house in the next 6 months or so. If and when she does, I can move in there. By staying in the same place for a few years I’ll allow myself the opportunity to make some connections and fluff up my resume a bit more. Then, in 3 years when I have my masters, I’ll be in a position to move wherever I want for work and I’ll be a hundred times more marketable at that time.

I have no roots anywhere but Erie…just footprints all over the world. I’ve conceded to the fact that in this economy, where I can’t just get the first job I apply for…or the 100th (or so it seems)…maybe it’s time for me to set down some roots.
But, Pittsburgh? So many people I know love Pittsburgh. I have been so busy (literally sometimes working 60-70 hours a week) that when I do get a day off, I want to just sleep all day and watch TV. The other day I went downtown and found myself FURIOUSLY driving around for no less than 25 minutes, I kid you not, trying to find a parking garage within 10 blocks of my destination that didn’t say “FULL”. I was more than annoyed and questioned what the hell I was doing living in a city.

After finally parking, I found myself walking through the streets feeling excited. It’s a big city without being too overwhelming and the mix of people here is refreshing. I felt surprisingly moved by the city vibe and started to think maybe this could work out for me?

They'll Make You Weep

A couple nights ago I went with my friend Leah to see The Weepies play at the Rex Theatre in Pittsburgh. I had never been to the venue before and was pleasantly surprised when I got there. It’s rather small, which makes for an intimate set up. There were probably 300 people at the show.

The Weepies, if you don’t know, are an incredible married couple and each one plays no less than 3 instruments. They both have these soothing lullaby voices and some pretty weepy lyrics that have a tendency to pull at your heart strings. Its perfect music for drinking wine alone on a rooftop deck watching as storm rolls in.

The moving thing about this show was that it was acoustic and the duo sounded BETTER than they do on CD’S. Amazing. However, you find yourself standing in this room full of couples in love cuddling, watching this couple on stage just woo the audience and it makes you feel both full and very lonely at the same time. The world around you is in love and you’re watching it all play out…alone.

One of their songs sums it up perfectly… “They’re in love, where am I.”

Mommy look at the Monster!

I love this story and found myself thinking about it a lot this summer when the kids at camp would say funny things. A couple years ago when I was working at Head Start full time, I had to go to the Zoo with a class and help supervise. My group came upon the giraffe exhibit where there was a young mom with her 2 young kids observing the mother giraffe. The little girl looks up at the huge giraffe towering above her and yells excitedly, “Mommy look at the monster!!”
Haha I nearly died trying to suppress my laughter. Then I thought about it. I suppose when your about 4 years old and beneath it looking up, it does probably resemble a monster. 

This would be a good whooping stick.

I’ll set the scene: Summer Camp. Sitting in the back of a Cheese Bus with 24 rowdy kids with mental health diagnoses and behavior problems. Mid summer (hot as hell) and on our way to a field trip that would suck the energy out of even the most energetic of counselors.

I hear a repeated thumping noise. I look over my shoulder to see one of my kids wacking his hand with his balled up lunch sack. He then calmly, but with enthusiasm says, “This would be a good whooping stick.”