happy late valentine's day!

I hope that everyone had a happy, loving Valentine's Day! Sorry I couldn't post, I was out exploring the city with Pamela...we had a ton of fun doing that (more about that later). Pam, John and I had a "romantic" Mexican themed dinner that was delish! Mmm mmm! And by romantic I mean we lit the candlesticks on the table and toasted to Valentine's Day, that was the extent of that. Well I hope you all felt loved!!

Katie's legal!

I would like to wish a HAPPY LATE 18TH BIRTHDAY to my sister Katie!! Wahoooo I hope you had a wonderful day and felt surrounded by love! Katie is one of the most beautiful, intelligent, incredible, witty, sneaky, amazing people I know! I could not have asked for a better sister, she really is my best friend and I love her dearly. Now I will list 10 things I love about her:

1. Her quick wit
2. Her knowledge of random, unimportant quotes from shows, songs, movies, etc. (just so we can talk to each other in our secret language)
3. The secret language that we've created (yes that's something about her, she helped create it)
4. Her huge heart, she cares deeply for others
5. Her heart of stone (Katie rarely cries, I can always count on her to be the strong one in the group)
6. Her complimentary nature (I think that's a term), she is so sweet and can make you feel like a million bucks
7. How incredibly well she knows me...she may even know me a little better than my own husband, well I mean come on people Katie and I HAVE known each other for 18 years!
8. Her beauty, she is absolutely stunning and sometimes when I look at her I want to tear up because I still remember her as a 3 year old.
9. Her ability to bring humor into any situation no matter how sad or awkward the situation may be...I can always count on her to make me and anyone else around me laugh.
10. Her ability to make others comfortable, she is so great at relating to people and making them feel comfortable around her. Even if you just met her, she can make you feel like you've known each other for years.

And don't worry, of course I called her at midnight when she turned 18, then I texted her throughout the day and called again to wish her a happy birthday, I'm just late on the post (sorry Kate). Well, now she's legal...just don't do anything crazy Kate! I love you dearly and I'm so thankful that you're my sister!!!!

pics

In backwards order:

the incredible view from our B&B:


the "stable" at our B&B:


us at Caileigh's:


good ol' Fort Necessity herself:


(out of order) but us at Fallingwater:


John at the Fort:


Fallingwater:


me, bored, because John takes a million pictures so I decided to get in a picture:


us at Kentuck Knob:



And there you have it folks, our weekend photographed!

birthday weekend

Ok, here is the story of my birthday weekend (sorry it's taken so long to post):

As you all know, John told me to pack a bag for this past weekend but he wasn't telling me anything about where we were going. So of course we were up and ready to go on Saturday morning (I'm saying this like it was easy, please people, no morning is easy for me but with the promise of an exciting adventure, I jumped out of bed). John drove and I had no idea where we were going because I still don't know the area outside of the city well. Well, eventually we drove up to Kentuck Knob (a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). FLW is well known for his artwork and especially the houses he designed. If you wish to read a little about him, here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright. He is well known for his work Fallingwater but we went to Kentuck Knob first. What an incredible home! I mean he was so innovative and creative, it was stunning and quite incredible! (http://www.kentuckknob.com/)

Our next stop was none other than Fallingwater (http://www.fallingwater.org/). And I do it no justice by saying it was one of the most amazing pieces of art I've ever seen in my life! Please go on the website and read about it, the story behind it is very interesting. When we were originally looking at living in Pittsburgh we saw that Fallingwater wasn't far and I told John that if we ended up living here then I would love to go see it (aww he remembered).

Our next stop was the first battle that George Washington ever fought in, Fort Necessity (http://www.nps.gov/fone/). Yes, we are total nerds, our weekend trip included famous architecture and a little history lesson. But I wouldn't have it any other way, we both love that stuff and it was so fun!

Then we ended up checking into a sweet little bed and breakfast (http://www.watsonschoice.com/). It was so great! So cute and definitely made me a lover of B&Bs! I would love to travel B&Bs all over the world now! Please look at the website, it does it more justice than I can.

Our last stop before returning back to the B&B was Caileigh's Restaurant, this gorgeous Victorian home with even more gorgeous and delicious food inside!! Mmmm mmm it was so good!! (http://www.caileighs.com/) It was a wonderful trip and I loved every minute of it!!! My next post will be of some pictures since I know this one is getting quite lengthy.

100th post!

This is my 100th post and even though I was posting to tell you about my weekend, the only thing for this particular post is that its my 100th post! Wahoo!! Go 100! Ok, now I'm getting a little carried away...well I hope ya'll have enjoyed the last 100 things that I had to say :)

much thanks

I want to thank everyone who called, e-mailed, sent cards, sent gifts and gave blog shout outs for my birthday! All of the sweet thoughts made my birthday! It was hard to be away from everyone this birthday but all of the thoughtfulness made it as special as it could be! So thank you, thank you, thank you very much! Here is an update thus far for the birthday: Like I said I have received many sweet cards, gifts, etc. and I came home to a homemade from scratch chocolate birthday cake! That's right, John made me a cake from scratch...how sweet! And it was so delicious too! We went to Chickfila and watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop (no, I do not recommend this movie, we thought it would be much funnier than it actually was but Kevin James just wasn't able to show off his comedic talent enough). And then I was told that my gift from John was a surprise trip this weekend! We'll leave on Saturday to a location unknown to me, yippee! I've been told to pack my bags and exactly what I need to pack. I'll fill all of my bloggers in when we get back! But thank you all again, I felt very, very loved!

they'll make a Pens fan of me yet

A few days ago one of my friends at work asked me if I wanted to go to a Pittsburgh Penguins (the burgh's very own NHL team) game on Wednesday. I of course said yes because I know that she loves the Pens and she would be dying to go. I think its safe to say that everyone knows I'm not a big sports fan but I decided, hey why not? I've never even seen a hockey game...I didn't even know the intervals of time that they played. But I learned it all...my friend Shannon filled me in on this and that...mainly who the big players were, that there were three 20 minute intervals, who the "fighter" of the team was and so on. Sad to say, there was only a small fight...I never thought I would be a person rooting for a fight, but I was. And the Pens were losing by 3 points when Shan thought it was time to leave. I think she was getting upset with them, so I just followed her lead. See, she's just one of the sports addicts in my office who has grown up and lived in Pittsburgh or the surrounding area their whole life, making them obsessed with the sports teams...don't even get me started on the craziness about the Steelers and the Superbowl. (Congrats to the Steelers though, the whole city is very proud of you guys.) Anyway, I had a really good time, I enjoyed watching hockey it was a different experience and I'm really glad that I went. (I even went out and bought a Pens t-shirt last night so I would have something to wear to the game! I felt like such a fan!)