a few things...

Here are a few things that I would like to post about (so I will put them all in one post):

1. My new fave snack is cottage cheese with pretzels, yummm! Now, I can see all of you nay-sayers now...and yes, I used to think cottage cheese was nasty (I actually never tried it until last week) but now I love it! You must try the combo even if you are a little hesitant.

2. Dixie and I went on a walk today and an elderly lady called us over to her yard because she (insert heavy Eastern European accent here) "wanted to talk to the dog". So I took Dixie over to her and she promptly began asking me if I was married, do I have children, when am I going to have children? Then telling me that I am young and healthy and that I should have children. I assured her that children would be in the plan one day but no time soon, because my husband is a graduate student and we just don't think that right now is a good time (apparently not a good enough excuse for her). She told me that she was almost 80 years old and had moved here from Romania over 50 years ago. She then said "how old again?"...23..."oh 23! that how old I was when I had first child." Me: "oh ok, how nice". She then went on and on about how she met her husband, how long they dated before marriage, when she got married, when she had children, when they had children, where those children went to school...it may sound like I'm complaining but it was actually very interesting and I enjoyed talking with her. All except the pressure to have children from an 80 year old Romanian that I had never met before...and don't worry, before I left to continue my walk she reminded me again that I was young and healthy and that I should have children soon...atleast 1. Ha.

3. One thing I love about the burgh is that we are surrounded by so many cultures. Now don't get me wrong I love being from the South and all but it's incredible to meet people who are refugees from another country or who packed up a suitcase just to get out of communist Romania to have a new life in the "free America". It makes me very proud of our country and all of the multitudes of people that we are made up of. After I spoke with my 80 year old Romanian friend, I went with John to a cook out that his advisor was hosting--I then met the daughter (my age) of another advisor that John works with--I noticed that both of her parents had thick accents and asked her where they were from. Come to find out that they're from Bosnia and fled to America in the early 90s. Crazy! Here I am talking to a woman my age whose parents had to drop everything except a few thousand dollars and leave their country. They practically came here with nothing and now he's an established professor at CMU, she's seeking her Master's, the mother has some sort of health care job (I think) and the other daughter is about to begin a teaching program in Baltimore. I really do love America, hearing stories like that are so inspiring.

4. One thing that I don't miss about the South: the humidity. I will say that the summer up here has been very, very nice. The weather reaches to about the mid-80s and there is little to no humidity. And when my co-workers complain about the humidity I just laugh at them and tell them that they know nothing about it.