Christmas Carpool

Merry Christmas!!  I hope Santa was good to you all!

In case you missed it, check out the All I Want for Christmas version of Carpool Karaoke.

Santa Watch 2016

While the hospital doesn't have a chimney, it does have a helipad!  

I will keep an eye out for Santa and his reindeer (and put in a good word for those of you still on the Naughty List).  

It's a Wonderful Life

70 years ago It's A Wonderful Life hit the big screen and while the movie initially was not well received, it has become an American classic.

Growing up, my family would watch the movie after the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  As kids, we were told the movie was filmed in our hometown.  Turns out my parents were either misinformed or just lying (let's go with the first) because the movie was filmed in Seneca Falls.  This town, located in the Finger Lakes of New York, even has it own movie museum so I guess I will have to take it as fact.

Every year the Regent Square movie theater shows It's A Wonderful Life for the cost of a few canned items which are donated to the East End Cooperative Ministry food pantry.  So tonight I am braving the cold weather to soak up some last minute holiday cheer!

An Aggressively Festive Weekend

As the countdown to Christmas continues, Dan decided to come to the Burg for an aggressively festive weekend visit.  First stop on the trip was the holiday market downtown.  After perusing the shops, we headed to the PPG Place Wintergarden for their annual gingerbread competition.  While most of the entries were from local schools, the adult and professional categories did not disappoint.  

A licorice roller coaster next to a Frozen themed lodge.

There were several Up houses, but this one was a personal favorite. 

Dan and I then headed out of the city to Soergel's Orchard for a sugar cookie decorating class complete with festive drinks from Wigle Whiskey.

This kid was the teacher's pet, showing off with his incredible royal icing flooding skills and whimsical patterns.   

Mine were a pretty close second if I do say so myself.

Once the sugar rush was over, we drove back to the city to grab dinner at the new tiki bar, Hidden Harbor.  While the decor is not as outrageous as the Tonga Room, the drinks pack a similar punch.  My only complaint was that the drink was not served in a real pineapple but I guess those are hard to find this time of year in Pittsburgh.

Sunday morning forecast promised flurries, so we headed over to Boyce Park for some snow tubing.  Most of the snow from the previous week was melted, but thanks to modern engineering the hills were packed with a few feet of snow.  We were the only ones on the tubing slope which meant we could make a round trip in about five minutes.  

Now I'm off to do a little last minute shopping and wrap presents.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Christmas Tree: Check

The Year Without a Santa Claus: Check

Adult Holiday Beverage: Check

Let the holiday season commence!!!

Oy With the Poodles Already!!

While most people will associate today with Black Friday, a small large group of people have had their calendars marked for the Gilmore Girls four part reunion A Year in the Life.  Here is the trailer incase you have been living under a rock.

Which cast members will make an appearance?  What has Rory been up to since the 2008 presidential election trail?  Will Luke and Lorelai finally get together?  Sadly I will not have any of the answers until Monday as I work the next three nights.  Who knows, maybe I will be called off from work.  I probably have a better chance of winning the lottery, but a girl can dream.

Haven't had time to catch up on season seven?  Head over to Buzzfeed for the quick and dirty recap.

Happy Thanksgiving (Round Two)

This year I am having a non-traditional Thanksgiving and am spending it with 25 of my nearest and dearest co-workers.  The downside of working the holiday is being away from family and missing out on a 3500+ calorie dinner; the upside is time and a half and getting a little perspective on how much I have to be thankful for.  

Yesterday, President Obama kept up the tradition of pardoning a turkey (this year it was two - Tater and Tot) and amused the audience with his Thanksgiving Day Dad jokes.  Sadly, I could not make an embedded video work, but head over to BuzzFeed for some highlights of the speech.

There were several good ones (I am a true connoisseur of puny jokes), but here is one of my favorites.  There was also a pretty good one involving aviators which did not make the above clip.

"I want to take a moment to recognize the brave turkeys who weren't so lucky. Who didn't get to ride the gravy train to freedom. Who met their fate with courage and sacrifice and proved that they weren't chicken."

As you wrap up your Turkey Day festivities, take a minute to think of the health care workers and first responders who are hard at work and above all else, eat some stuffing for me :)

Joey's Thanksgiving Pants

Thanksgiving Count Down

The count down to Thanksgiving is on and while my family and I celebrated a few weeks ago, I get to relive my favorite holiday all over again (even if I will be at work on the big day).  

Need some useless cocktail trivia to get you through your family dinner?  Check out The Pioneer Woman's Twenty Interesting Things About Turkeys.  My favorite tidbit: wild turkeys can fly at 55 mph for short distances.  

Thanksgiving (Round One)

This year Thanksgiving is one of my holidays to work so Elise and the parental units decided we would do Thanksgiving a few weeks early.  On Friday morning I met everyone for breakfast after work and while I slept the day away they hit up Bicycle Heaven and a few other local spots.

Saturday, however, was a true tourist day.  After breakfast we headed dow to the Strip District to check out the street vendors and grab a cup of coffee.  The rest of the day was spent at the Heinz History Center.  This Smithsonian affiliated museum is Pennsylvania's largest museum and has 40,000+ artifacts related to Western PA history.

Since my last visit, the museum has opened a Heinz exhibit.  This section describes how the company was started and how products have changed over the years.  One fun find was the pickle sizer company reps would take to grocery stores.  Because pickles were processed in uniform sizes, the company could tell grocers how many pickles were in each container and made it easier to calculate their bottom line.  Head over to the museum's website to find some fun facts about the company.  For example the first product made by the company was horseradish, not ketchup.

One of the best known things to come out of Pittsburgh is Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.  The special collections floor includes several pieces from the original set including the Neighborhood of Make-Believe (King Friday XIII's Castle is below).

The BIG day has arrived.  THANKSGIVING!!!  After a quick workout, Elise and I grabbed breakfast, woke up the parental units and started cooking.  Thanksgiving has always been a very informal holiday, especially when it is just the immediate family, and the dress attire matches the mood.  Here we have Elise rocking a beach towel, flannel and a pair of flannel penguin pants I have had since high school.

Even though no one else eats them, I make a pot of cranberry sauce.  At dinner I will try to get everyone to take a bite, Mom and Elise will say flat out no and Dad will take a small bite to appease me.  The rest goes into the freezer for a later date.  

Before the turkey goes in to the oven it is time to break out the camera and the hats.  Last year, I brought a turkey hat and this year we took it a step further with a squid, crab and a chili pepper cycling cap.  Elise must have taken 10,342,348 pictures before she found two she liked

After a can of black olives, several documentaries on Netflix and what seems like forever the turkey is done!

On Monday we finally made good on my Dad's Christmas present and took him to Fallingwater.  The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Kaufmann family just outside Pittsburgh.  I won't bore you with all the nitty gritty details, but the structure is best known for its cantilevered structure and remote location.  I was not able to take any pictures while in the house, but that is what the internet is for my friends.

Just down the road is Ohiopyle State Park so we made a last minute trip to Cucumber Falls.  Cucumber run is one of the small creeks in the area which feeds into the Youghiogheny River.  I have no idea where the name comes from because the waterfall did not look like a cucumber and there were no cucumber plants growing along the creek.

Family time!

It's too bad the sun was going down by the time we got here, but the edited picture below is a little better than the original. 

On our way to Fallingwater we found a town called Normalville so naturally we stopped for a picture on the way back.  I swear my sister is capable of taking a normal picture.  

Everyone left bright and early Tuesday morning which means back to reality for me.
Thankfully I have a fridge filled with leftovers to help me cope.

Happy Halloween

This Kid is Winning at Life

Halloween at Childrens

You know it is officially Halloween in a children's hospital when you see an Olaf pumpkin!

Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

I might not be a fan of anything pumpkin spice, but its presence on Instagram feeds and local coffee shop menus can only mean one thing ... fall is upon us.  As the long summer evenings come to a close Dan and I decided to head over to PNC Park to catch the Pirates vs. Nationals game.  Not only did we hit up the stadium on a free t-shirt day, our row won Sunoco gift cards!

Saturday morning we headed out to a food truck round up in search of the infamous PGH Taco Truck.   Since moving here, Dan and I have attempted to track down said truck multiple times, but sadly it has remained slightly out of our grasp.  Sadly, once we arrived we learned the truck would not be making an appearance.  We found a good substitute, and after carbing up with some delicious sandwiches we headed over to North Park to get in our first fall bike ride!

 

Pass Me Some Schmear!

Today I crossed one more thing off my 30 Before 30 List ... #22 make homemade bagels.  Dan, boyfriend extraordinaire, had grabbed ingredients on a previous visit, but due to time constraints we were never able to make them. We were so engrossed in the process I did not get to take pictures.

Here we have a slimy round of flour.

And after a little time in the oven we have BAGELS!!!

The final result was not too shabby (probably would have been better if we had a food processor), 

but I think I will get my next bakers dozen from the bagel shop.  

HBD Dad!!

See Ya!

One of the benefits to being a nurse ... turning 3 days of PTO into a 14 day vacation.  

Here's to some R&R in California!

I Can Already Taste the Salsa

Happy SUS-iversary

As B&B trips start to wrap up their trips, it made me nostalgic for the good old SUS days so I pulled this one out of the archives!  

30 Pounds of Peaches

Summer brings lots of great things to the garden and even better things to the farmers markets.  For the last few summers I have wanted to try out Food in Jars Boozy Peach recipe, but for one reason or another it never came to fruition.  This year, however, no excuses!!  I also decided to go big and brought home 30 pounds of nearly ripe peaches.

The recipe was super easy to follow, but because of the small nature of my kitchen I had to work in smaller batches.  Three hours later all the peaches were processed and cooling on the counter.

These babies are hanging out in the closet for a cold winters night (or Christmas gifts).  

I did crack one open and these peaches did not disappoint!

Schenley Park Walkabout

Another perfect day in the neighborhood.  Today, I decided to download some extra podcasts and head over to Schenley Park to check out the urban oasis and walking trails.

Phipps Conservatory Water Garden

I am pretty obsessed with the clouds and reflections off the pond.

Much like the love-locks on the Pont des Arts bridge, Oakland has started a collection of their own.