What a Weekend!

Wowsa! It was a jam backed and event-filled weekend for me and my family! Mom and Dad went to Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh on Thursday night to see Carol Burnett! My siblings and I bought them the tickets for their birthday this year.  They sent us all a text with this picture saying thank you!Are they not the world's most adorable parents?!?!

I spent Saturday at the BF's house cleaning up the yard, splitting firewood and playing with a BIG bonfire! If you know me at all, you know there is no where I would rather be on a beautiful day than outside working in the yard! Since I do not yet have a yard, I play in his! HA! 

BTW: It was 80 degrees and beautiful here in Pittsburgh on Saturday...I hope everyone had beautiful weather like we did!!!

Saturday night was pumpkin carving!!! My favorite thing to do at Halloween! The BF not as excited but he was definitely into it as soon as we got started! His is the bat on the left and the other two are mine!

I got a text on Saturday that my sweet niece fell and fractured her tibia...she also torn her ACL and a bunch of other tendons and ligaments!Poor thing! They sent me this picture...I immediately wanted to puke! Poor thing has got to be in pain!! UGH!

And then this picture came....my nephew had a homecoming dance and he sent her this picture of him and his date while she was in the hospital with my niece. Are they not the cutest?! I think the girls dresses get shorter and tighter every year! LOL! The fact that I even think that says that I am getting old, hugh?!   LOL!

And now for the DIY section of my blog...LOL!!!

Sunday morning was spent fixing my tub faucet. I could not turn it off anymore...that is a serious problem! It was a workout to be able to shut the water off!! So I googled "what is wrong if you can not turn off your tub water". I followed the online video HERE and replaced the cartridge in the faucet and it works now! It turns off so easily and does not drip at all!

Then I went back over to the BF's house.  His garbage disposal stopped working a few weeks ago and he has not had time to have someone come look at it. So, I googled "how to fix a garbage disposal" and walked through the steps in THIS video and it worked! I actually fixed his garbage disposal! The hardest part was finding the breaker to turn off the disposal. Anyone can fix things!! I am kinda amazed at myself lately!!!  I am happy to say...he is too! HA!

Finally...this is how the weekend ended...me and my kitties cuddled in bed! I am one blessed girl...breath right and all! HA!   

I hope everyone has an amazing week!!  Please pray for fast healing for my niece if you have a second...thanks!!! 

Anyone else give up most of their bed to their fur babies?
How was your weekend?
Anyone else love DIY projects?
Pumpkin carving your thing?

Happy Monday!

Great Race and Dads Birthday

So excited for this post!!! As I mentioned in my last post...my family was in town! Yippee!! We are very close and this was over the top exciting for me! As if that was not enough...it was also The Great Race weekend and my fathers birthday!!! 

Every year my family runs in The Great Race in Pittsburgh. It is always in the fall and it is always such a great time! The race is a 10K through the streets of the city. It is so fun to get to run the streets of the city and  so many people participate. I don't care what anyone says...Pittsburgh is the friendliest city ever and I will not leave ever!!! Except to go live on a beach in Aruba of course! HA - Love my city and my people!!!

My mother runs with us every year. She is now 74 and she has actually placed in the top three every year for the past few years. We tease her about it all the time but I think it is awesome for myself and my nieces and nephews to see how healthy and fit she is!!! Sadly, she decided to watch and not run this year :-(  She said she needed a break...

So, this year it was my two sisters, my brother and myself.  Here are my sisters and I at the start...looking fresh right?!?! HA!
 

And all four of us at the start...

Me and my older sister...she did not really think I would post this in my blog....HA HA!

This is a view of the crowd at the start that were waiting behind us...

And the view of the crowd in front of us!! The excitement was awesome...

Our obligatory picture at the top of the hill near the end. We are about a mile away from the finish at this point.

After the race, we all changed and went to the Crafty Jackalope near my home to watch the Steelers game and celebrate my fathers 74th birthday. If you are in the Bridgeville area and have never been there you need to try it! I promise you will thank me! AMAZING food and amazing prices! Sooo yummy! This is all the grand kids gathered around my Dad and the cake while singing! He is such an amazing Grandfather and Father!!!

And a shot of the other side of the table! (L to R: My brother, sister, brother in law and other sister) I have to say....my sister LOVES her bumblebee jersey and I am personally not a fan at all.  I think they look horrible on the players! Well, these are officially retired and the team will not wear them anymore. I am so happy about this! Not sure why she likes it?!?!

It was a great day and the Steelers won which made it an even better day!!!! It was sad to see my Mom not want to run however, I am so glad that everyone still makes it to Pittsburgh comes together for the race day! I would be really sad if this tradition ever goes away!!!

I wish you all a day filled with everything you need! 

XOXO

Anyone have any race day rituals or traditions?

Anyone else not a fan of the bumblebees?

Neighborhood Hike

 My family was in town a few weekends ago. Anytime I get to spend with them is a awesome time. There are no other people I would rather spend time with than my family!  We decided to spend Saturday doing something healthy so we went out to walk around my neighborhood and ended up finding a "secret" path and hiking in the woods around my condo.It was an adventure and I now have a shortcut to the park! This is my sister coming down the hill into the revine...

 Here they are going down the hill into the giant valley… 

And here are my sister and niece coming up the hill out of the giant valley. I never knew you could walk through here - this is awesome! I would have never investigated where this path went had they not been with me... 

Leave it to my family to be adventurous and find the secret shortcut!! Such a fun family walk!

Hope everyone has an adventurous day!!!          

Kinky Boots September 2016

Still catching up with old posts! LOL! I was so excited when I received an offer to purchase tickets for the musical Kinky Boots! I decided to treat myself this year and become a season ticket holder for the Pittsburgh Musicals! I received a package of seven shows and had the option to add Kinky Boots for the eighth! All of the shows are in downtown Pittsburgh: half of the shows are at Heinz Hall and half are at Benedum Center. Kinky Boots was at the Benedum. The Benedum is a theater in Pittsburgh it's absolutely gorgeous!  The show was written by Cyndi Lauper and I love her but bias aside...the show was fantastic! Also, my seats this year ROCK!!! I am in a front row and I have MASSIVE leg room!

 Below is the obligatory selfie of my  friend Laura and I at the theater. I really wish I had gotten a picture of our dinner but we ate it too quick!! We shared fresh springs rolls and panang curry shrimp at Nikki's Thai Kitchen on Penn Avenue and it was amazing too! Love that fresh wrap dipped in the peanut sause...HEAVEN!  Anyone else addicted to Thai? If you are ever in Pittsburgh, I highly recommend Nikki's!!!

 This is a view of the stage from my seats this year… Love my front row seat!  Seriously! 

After the show I went home and got to snuggle with this little sweetie. For some reason, Nermal has these days where he just wants to be all over me and the next day he will follow me around biting me!!! HA!  Look at his paws wrapped around my arm… Is there anything cuter? 

Do you like Thai food? What is your favorite dish?

I hope everyone has an amazing day!


          

Late Labor Day 2016 Recap

Labor Day recap a little late! Labor Day was spent at my parents house on Lake Mohawk! It was Mom's Birthday and Sara's birthday (my sis in law) and of course lots of boating to close out the season this year...sadly summer has to end :-(

Here is a collage that sums up a lot of the holiday weekend - cornhole games, water fun, and birthdays.

Matt taking some of the kids for a jet ski ride...Check out those little posers - they crack me up!

A little kayak play! The kids play in these things for HOURS!

Cousins just hanging out...

Happy birthday to the worlds best Mom...

Kids playing on the tube!!! They are getting so brave! This is the first year they tried to stand up or not hold on - HA!

Another action shot of the acrobatics...

 

Kyleigh Showing her MAD skills...

Doing a dead crab imitation we think - HA

Corn hole games - Brody loves this game and will beg people to play ALL DAY!

What a great Holiday weekend filled with family and fun! Such a shame the this holiday means summer is over :-(

          

SH Vacation 2

I have been a bad, bad blogger!!

I am not sure what happened. Maybe I just needed a break...there is so much chaos and uncertainty right now in my life and I guess I just turned inward. 

BUT...I AM BACK...it is going to be a lot of work to catch you up!

Let's back up to vacation! Vacation?!?!?! I know, right? Back in July I went on a second trip to Stone Harbor, NJ with my brother and his family and never even told you about it! WOWSA!

Here's the recap!

The craft show was the weekend we were there! It is a HUGE deal down there! There are hundreds of vendors and really cool stuff to purchase. Here are my niece and nephew trying out the old fashioned thread maker. Pretty cool, right? This woman makes her own yarn and then knits with it!

She let them both sit and try the machine - they were in awe!

Here's a little family shot! That is my little brother, his wife and their two kids and me popping in from the bottom to photo bomb!

I missed all my kids while I was on vacation but I know they are always well taken care of by the cat sitters I hire! They are awesome - shout of to Pam and Leah!!

We went to the Cape May County Zoo and it was terrific. It is free and you can donate if you want. Free Zoo?!??! Yes, and it is great also! The lions were my favorite!!! Sooooo super cute when they were snuggling!

Another shot of the whole family!

So much to see...here is a collage of all the animals we saw! Remember, it was free! If you are ever in the area, you should go - I loved every second and the kids did too!

Beautiful beach sunset.....I can never get enough of these!!!!!!

And another....

Here is a little sand play....

This is the night I got to watch the kids and my brother and his wife had adults night out. They were home by 9 - LOL! Me and the kids went to town and picked out a treat!

This is the family burial...HA!  

Just the kids covered!

We went looking for shells and got this adorable shot!

A little miniture golf anyone?!?!

Went for a jog across the Stone Harbor drawbridge and got this shot while running...

What a great week we had! Perfect weather and family! If you read Matt:thanks for allowing me to come along with your family! I loved spending time with the kids and also you and Sara!      

I hope you all have a great rest of your day!

 

Day 12 Halloween Challenge

Hi everyone! Sorry for my absence...I have been a blank slate. I just have not felt like blogging lately although I have been reading all of yours like it is my JOB! HA

I have decided that maybe I should join a blog challenge to get me back into the mood of writing...sooo here goes!

I am jumping in on JNW's Halloween Challenge - you can read about it here! It goes for the whole month of October and I am only a few days late in joining, right?

Today's theme is Bobbing for Apple's.

I have not bobbed for apples lately but I do have an awesome apple story! I went the the mountains last weekend with a close girlfriend for a girls weekend away! It was awesome and we had so much fun! I was excited to spend time with Laura and equally excited to have access to crisp, fall apples. What better place than a weekend long Fall Festival right? WRONG! LOL!

We stopped at a little roadside stand on the way to the hotel we were staying at and bought about ten delicious looking Jonagold apples! As soon as I got in the car I ate one...first bite...ICK! So mealy! So old! So disappointed! I did not have the heart to go back in and return them (sweet little old man running the tiny store) so I called it a donation to his livelyhood and we threw them out the window one at a time to feed the wildlife as we drove to the hotel to check in.

Needless to say, I did not have one single apple that weekend! After I dropped Laura off on Sunday I swung by a local orchard, Trax Farms, and grabbed a bag of Jonagolds! As soon as I got to the car I ate one....AMAZING! I love fresh, crisp fall apples!!

Anyone else and apple snob?! I just cant even stand the texture of an old apple. Just me?!?

Hope you all have an amazing day! #JNW