Great Race Weekend and Dad's Birthday

I am sooo happy to say that my family came to town two weekends ago! That tells you how behind I am on posts.

Here are my babies prior to the family arriving...this is funny because as soon as someone comes to visit at my condo all the cats hide with the exception of Nermal (the one laying at the top of the tower). The other cats literally disappear for the entire weekend. LOL. 

I think they sneak out from under the bed at night to eat and that is it! HA HA!

My family always comes to visit in Pittsburgh in September. When they are here we get to celebrate my father's birthday every year! Here we are singing in my condo...

Just another view of the birthday boy! He and my mother both turned 76 this year! I hope and pray I look as good as them when I hit that age...they are the epitome of good health too!

The night they came into town we went ad checked out Top Golf! It was great! It is soo much fun and so close to my house - I plan to be here more often!

The whole  reason they come to town is to run the Pittsburgh Great Race. We do this every year as a family and we have a walking group and a running group. This year my father and I could not run so I waited at the finish and cheered everyone home with my father. My brother's family usually joins in on the fun but he was out of town and the timing did not work for them this year. Also, have to shout out to my nephew - he had hockey tryouts ad could not make it this year ad he and my brother in law were missed!

Here is their adorable race photo at the start line...it is my sisters, my mother and my nieces.

Here are my two adorable nieces passion the finish line...aren't they soooo super cute!??! Go Kyleigh and Aly!!

Here my nieces are with the signs I made them to cheer them on!!!!!!!!

Here is my mother passing the finish line! Look at her go...76 and killing it!!!! I idolize that woman for all she is and all she does!

And here are my sisters crossing the finish!! Goooo ladies...love you both!

It was a fantastic weekend and we look forward to this family time every year!

Happy birthday Mom and Dad!!! LOVE YOU!!!

Weekend Recap - Part 2 - Daddy's Birthday and Steelers Football

Good morning everyone!!!  Just finishing up the late weekend recap with  a Part 2!!! LOL!!

My family was in town this past weekend for the Great Race in Pittsburgh! We do the race every year as a family and this year did not disappoint!

After the race excitement was over (previous post) we celebrated my Dad's birthday since most o fus kids were there. We missed my brother and his family but he had to make an urgent trip to Japan for work. We love you guys if you are reading!!!! SMOOCHES!

After the race, we all went out to eat at Olive Garden and then everyone came over to my condo!!!  Did I mention how much I love everyone at my house??! I miss them all as soon as they leave - it is so fun to have people over!!! Especially my family!! Everyone chatted a while...

I love this of Mom and Dad snuggling in the chair...ran out of seats...LOL!!

Then we sang Happy Birthday to Dad and he blew out his 75 candles on his Bethel Bakery cake!!! Bethel Bakery is the only cake my family loves!!! We have used them since my parents moved to Bethel Park before we children were born! It is our go to bakery!!!

Then around 4PM everyone needed to head out...my little sister had a three hour drive home and my parents had a two hour drive. So we all said goodbye except my oldest sister and her husband and daughter. They were spending the night in Pittsburgh to go to the Steelers game at 8PM that night and they invited me along!!! YIPPEE!!

So off we all went to the game at Heinz Field!!!

Just a few obligatory selfies with the field in the background! We had a great time even though Steelers lost! UGH!!!  That atmosphere is so electric in Heinz Field on game day - I love being there in person!

The season can still turn around...Go Steelers!!! There is always next week!!!

Hope you all are having an amazing week!!!! Take care and please comment before you leave! I love hearing from you!!!

PS- I am picking a winner for my Starbucks giveaway tonight!! If you have not entered yet: go HERE!!!!  I will announce it in my blog post tomorrow!! 

I am also linking up with Thinking of Thursday and Rebecca Jo for her Thankful Thursday. You can link up with Rebecca Jo HERE.

Today I am thinking about how very thankful for friends and family that inspire and teach me everyday! My parents have been so supportive every time I call with questions about this dishwasher fiasco and my friends at work and home continue to give me great advice when I ask for it! 

I am so thankful that I know that I do not have to have all the answers today...I just have to find out who does - ask around and get ideas and input...this alone helps me soooo much!!!!!!!!


What team do you cheer for?? Would you rather watch in person or on TV? Do you have any family traditions that do not have anything to do with holidays? tell me about them please!! Hugs

Long Time...No Update

I cannot believe how fast time has flow this year already! I just realized that I have not posted in over a month!

WOWSA!

I have been keeping up with all of your blogs just not my own - LOL!!! I am getting older and time is spinning ahead so fast!

Last month (September) was a whirlwind of activities and it was crazy both in my personal life and my business life! I am going to give you a high level overview of the past few weeks in pictures to very quickly catch you up.  I am also promising that I will not go MIA like that anytime soon.

It really just got crazy busy and I could not keep up! I am not complaining believe me...I enjoy being busy but September was just CRAZZZZZYYYYYY!

Here we go!!!.....

First part of September...I had to put one of my older cats to sleep and her brother was getting lonely being home alone so I got him some friends!  Meet Nermal and Trouble. As you can see, they are already great friends and Kidrock likes them too! I am head over heals in love with them both!

Sept 5th weekend was my adorable boyfriends birthday! It was his 60th so I planned a party with his sisters family, his brother and his kids at his favorite place...the bowling alley. We rented a few lanes and had cake and pizza! The owners at AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes were terrific with helping me plan and I highly recommend them if you are looking to plan a bowling party for adults or kids in the South Hills of PA!  I think he had a great time?! This is him blowing out his candles...

And the obligatory picture of the cake...

Then after the party I spent the rest of the weekend and Monday (Labor Day) at my parents house at Lake Mohawk. We all enjoyed a final weekend of boating, skiing, tubing and relaxing before fall and winter set in here in PA! This is two of my nephews tubing together...

And two of my nieces...

My Mom's birthday is the September 8th and my sister-in-laws is the 7th so we also celebrated their birthdays over the holiday weekend! Mommy is on the left and Sara on the right below...

The next weekend, the boyfriend and I left for New Smyrna Beach, FL. It is his favorite vacation spot and he wanted to take me there to enjoy it so we planned about ten days together for a trip! We came close to killing each other a few times but we made it through (just kidding...well, kind of). It is a long time to spend with someone...LOL! This is a view from our patio in the condo we rented.

And a view down the beach...what a great place to run!! Flat flat flat flat flat!!! I am used to hills in PA so this was heavenly!!!

I had a girls night out planned for the week we got home and spent the evening with these lovely ladies at Painting with a Twist.  It also allowed me to add to my Fall artwork collection :-)  HA!

The next weekend in September was the Great Race in Pittsburgh. My sisters, mother and I run this together every year. We LOVE it! Here is the starting line...

Every year the Eat N Park cookie is at the top of the longest hill (about a mile before the end of the race) and I stop to get a picture every year!!! YEA! My sister on the right was also happy to oblige me when I requested stopping! Thanks Susie!

That same weekend every member of my direct family came into town. All my siblings, their spouses and kids and my parents. My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage on Sept 18th and we wanted to make sure we had pictures and a family party to mark the occasion. We had a family dinner at Benihana! Here they are with all of their grand kids!!

And the whole family!!!!!!!! I love this picture! No one is missing!! We also celebrated my Dad's birthday this weekend and I did not get a picture of the cake prior to consumption!

The final weekend of September I had Jackson's Mill weekend! I go three times a year and meet up with all my Friends of Bill and it is truly my refresh weekend!!! I love these two people below with all my heart!!! They are two of my very best buddies on the planet!

And the theme for the weekend...says it all!!

And finally, last weekend was the Halloween work charity party! We do this ever year for Variety Charity and it gets better each year!

Here is the pumpkin I carved...it was Lego themed and I got the idea from Pinterest!!!

Here is a shot of one section of the decorations...

Another area of the building we decorated...

And finally, our costumes! I made these from ideas from Pinterest and they turned out perfect! On the left was Gail the Construction Worker (Kathy from work) and on the right was me in my Swamp Thing lego costume.

What a great month!!! As you can see, I had JUST a little activity going on but I promise to keep you posted along the way from this point forward and not save it up a month at a time! LOL!

I hope you all had as much fun as me. Hopefully there will be much more to come with the whirlwind of the holidays around the corner! 

Happy Fall yinz all!!!

How was your September? Ever get too busy to blog, I would live to hear about what you did to budget you time?!

Sunday Run Day

On Sunday was the event that my family all came back to town for....The Great Race in Pittsburgh!!!

This is my sisters and mother and I getting ready to race! We all registered for the 10K!

This is the view of all the people behind us waiting to start...

And this was the view to start line...so many people this year!! We did the 10K and they said 5,000 registered for the 5K and 10,000 for the 10K...or something like that ha!

At about halfway was the smiley cookie - the mascot from Eat n Park restaurants....I had to stop and pose!! I ended up walking with my sister as she had not run anytime recently and I figured I would keep her company so we had an awesome walk through the streets of Pittsburgh!!!Whoop!

This is us with about two and a half miles to go!! Still smiling!!!

This is the view coming down the homestretch into the city...I think we had about a mile and a half at this point...it is soo fun to run on the streets of Pittsburgh!! I am sooo excited to get registered for the marathon next year!!!

This is our whole group at the end of the race!! Smiley cookies for all!!! If you have ever been to Pittsburgh then you know Eat n Park restaurants and they have smiley cookies!! Love them!

Then we walked over to the point in Pittsburgh where the giant ducky is being held captive.  It is soo stinking cute!!! (The point is where the three rivers that flow through Pittsburgh come together.) You can read more about the ducky HERE. It was pretty awesome to see a forty foot high duck!

After the race everyone came back to my condo and had chili.  It was a great weekend filled with fun and chaos!! This is all my little nieces and nephews playing together in the papsan chair!

And then we had cake from Bethel Bakery (a family favorite for sweets) and sang Happy Birthday to my awesome Dad!!!

It was a pretty amazing weekend!! Hope you all had great ones too!!!!!!