back from PSU

Whew what a fun trip!

We spent our first day in D.C., wandering around the mall and stopping in whichever museums we felt like. The Jim Henson exhibit was in its closing days, so we went there first. They had lots of sketches of his early work, which was so neat! And of course, some puppets - Bert and Ernie, and Rowlf, and some others.

We didn't eat lunch until about 3:30 - we were starrrrrving. My friend Judy had recommended the cafe at the National Museum of the American Indian. Let me tell you, you should go there now! We each had a pulled buffalo sandwich and fry bread (basically fried bread-dough sprinkled with a little cinnamon, honey and powdered sugar). And Josh had some white sage peppermint tea that he said was really good. Even for the big portions, it's a little bit pricey, and cash only, which is kind of annoying (especially when each of our meals was $16!).



The weather was perfect - mid 60s and super sunny. And that night, we had a nice dinner at the Italian restaurant next to our hotel.

We headed to PSU the next day; it was a nice day for a drive. We stayed at a Sleep Inn north of campus on Atherton Street - I had booked it ages ago, so I got a good rate before PSU changed parents' weekend to the weekend of Laura's wedding - and, as of last week, rooms were going for $400+. They know they can get the parents to pay those kind of rates ... we were the only non-parents in our hotel, I think. I didn't like that our room was on the smoking floor, but at least our room wasn't too smelly.

We got to visit my old stomping grounds at the student newspaper - and best of all, the adviser was in! We chatted for about an hour about the state of the industry, what people are up to, etc., even though our stomachs were dying for food - it was 4:00 and we hadn't eaten lunch yet! So we wandered over to Mad Mex, stuffed ourselves with delicious happy-hour-priced wings and beverages, as well as a yum-o spinach and mushroom quesadilla (me) and enchiladas (Josh). Perhaps best of all, there was a beer promoter there, and she gave us these awesome, huge Hoegaarden glasses with a sample of beer in it. They are great glasses. Thanks, beer girl!

I showed Josh around - JoePa's house, the statue outside the stadium, the Creamery, my dorms, Family Clothesline to stock up on PSU gear, etc. And then we collapsed at our hotel room thanks to our tiredness from all the walking around the past couple days.



Saturday was Laura's wedding, but first, I was on a mission for a zip-up PSU hoodie (that wasn't $55), which I couldn't find the day before. We had lunch at the Corner Room, my favorite restaurant in State College. My mission was a success, we got ready for the wedding, and took a few pics at the Lion Shrine, the most famous (or most photographed) spot on campus.



Josh was a good sport with all my reminscing and tales of what happened here, or there, and let's take a photo here, etc. =)

The wedding was really lovely. I cried (of course) when I saw how beautiful Laura looked walking down the aisle. She told me later that when she saw me she wanted to stop walking and give me a hug and to say hello! When it was over we all tossed lavender into the air as they left church - man did it smell nice!



The reception was held at a family friends' home - well, it was the most beautiful house I had ever been to. It is the family who started the honors college at Penn State (which I attended) - in our four years there I had never known that Laura's family was friends with them! It was so beautiful - and big (I think the kitchen and dining room was bigger than my whole apartment).



Laura and I got to chat for a little, which was wonderful. She lives in Seattle, and I've only seen her once since graduation.



It was a really lovely night. We headed back to Virginia the next day. Yeah, I miss Pennsylvania a lot ...



But I always get a little thrill crossing the water so close to home.



My next post will be about all the knitting I got to do on this trip!

back from the burgh

Boy what a trip it was! We were on the go for the whole, short time we were there ... but I think that seeing my family totally rejuvenated me and I hit the ground running when we returned. The whole set of pictures from the trip is here, but I'll post a few of my favorites.

We went up for my cousin's wedding - here is Doug and his beautiful bride, Andrea:



They got married on the college campus where they met.
At the reception, there was a photo shoot of my grandma and her 10 kids:



It made me sad, thinking that my pap couldn't be a part of it, but I know he was there in a way. I still find it hard to believe he passed away nearly three years ago - and I feel like it's a lie when I have to tell myself he's really gone.

Here are my two favorite Joshes in the world:



And here we are at Kennywood:



It can be an intense experience, being around the sheer number of relatives I have (especially when you are not at all close with your own family). I think he had a great time though.

And as for my puppy dog, she seems to be 100 percent better. I'm so, so, so, so happy about it. We picked her up at the vet when we got back and found out she wasn't sick all weekend - and they fed her all her food (about twice as much as I asked them to - I wanted to keep her on a limited diet while she was there). Oh well. But I'm happy to report that her digestive system seems to be a-OK.

I'm off today but not tomorrow (like normal) - my boss asked me if I could work Friday since we're a little short-staffed this week. So I have a split weekend, but I'm totally fine with it. Usually I feel like I have a zillion things to catch up with when I return from a trip, but for some reason, I don't this time around. I've spent most of this afternoon working on my Fire on the Mountain sock (which juuuust barely fits over my heel. yikes).

happy weekend!

I'm headed to Pittsburgh this morning for my cousin's wedding! I woke up two hours early thanks to trip excitement, but we can't leave earlier than 8 because I have to take Gracie to the vet for boarding when they open then. Boo. She's doing a bit better, I think - but it comes and goes. I'll be worried about her all weekend ... but I know we'll be keeping busy in Pittsburgh so hopefully I'll keep my mind off of it.

In knitting news, I've finished my first bib:



It was also my first time to knit a buttonhole *and* sew a button (I think my mom didn't believe me when I said it to her ... but like she said, I always had her to do it for me!) When I was at A.C. Moore yesterday to pick up buttons, I also got some more Sugar'n Cream for more bibs (and have cast on for another already). They are such easy gifts!



I also acquired some new STR mediumweight in Farmhouse (a colorway I've been admiring for sometime) through a Ravelry destash. Sweet!



I'm bringing the bib-in-progress, as well as my Fire on the Mountain sock in progress. Good times ahead (though I know little knitting will get done!)

weekend recap

Yeah it's almost the following weekend but I wanted to make note of this amazingly fun weekend I had. This weekend was a blast. I woke up ridiculously early on Saturday morning for the Race for the Cure in Virginia Beach. I headed up a team consisting of 15 people from the paper. We raised about $400! Here's who carpooled with me before the race (I would have photographed everyone but I didn't take my camera to the start of the race, it's a bit clunky.)



It was Bethany's (second from left) first 5K! Girl is going to do Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving, too. The weather was pretty nice - and it was way inspiring to see so many people there, and so many survivors in their pink T-shirts. I ran the first half-mile or mile and walked the rest with some co-workers.

After I caught up on sleep and did a little shopping with the boyfriend (nothing like waiting till the day of the wedding to buy a new dress shirt, dude), it was time for Judy's wedding! My roommate's boyfriend came in from New Jersey and of course we did a photo shoot at home (sadly, we didn't get the combination of our boyfriends. I think that would have been kind of funny.) We frequently take photos with Capt. Jack.



You can see we were drinking wine ... but in no way were we toasted like all the people at Town Point Park for the Virginia Wine Festival. We actually saw someone throwing up on our our way to catch the boat for the wedding. Gross.

Judy's wedding could not have been more perfect. For starters, the weather was gorgeous. And the time of departure on the American Rover?



The perfect sunset! The ceremony happened within 20 minutes of our departure, before it got too dark. It was really quick (I guess I'm just used to long Catholic masses). A former co-worker was the officiant and she gave a sweet speech. There was yummy food and drink, and lots of people to hang out with. It really felt like a party.



In more than a year of dating ... I've never seen him in a tie. I had to document it whenever I could. =) I'm really bummed I didn't get a picture of Judy in her gorgeous red dress. Here is her's and Jeffrey's first dance:



There was good music, and I especially liked the slow dances. Dancing on a boat = ultra romantic! After the cruise was over, we went back to Lori and JJ's and hung out till 1 a.m. I woke up sore (from the race and my high heels) and hungover but it was such a great day.