Cammie's Blog

Phipps

2006-04-06T10:31:00.000-04:00

sailboat

2006-02-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

As part of redecorating my living room, I took away the old cluttered bookshelves and put up Dirk's grandfather's hand built sailboat that the VandenBerg's brought us a few months ago. Now I am so happy with the result I can't imagine why I didn't put the boat up right away! My sailing living room theme is almost complete :-)

new coat

2006-02-27T10:58:00.000-05:00

It took me a while, but here is the picture of my new coat. I am quite fond of it and think I made a good choice. It is very warm, I love the length and the fitted look, and Sierra's fur is much less visible against the color than it was against my old balck coat :-P

Steelers Parade

2006-02-08T11:33:00.000-05:00

250,000 people showed up downtown to congradulate the Steelers. This is the largest downtown event that Pittsburgh has ever had! That's a lot of black and gold :-)

This is just one of the pictures that shows how many people were at the parade. There are lots more here: Parade pictures. To read more about the Steelers and the Pittsburgh celebration look here: Pittsburgh Post Gazette Steelers page

Steelers Country

2006-02-03T11:57:00.000-05:00

Last Friday before the superbowl = Steelers mania
Every business and most houses have Steelers signs, flags or banners. At least half of all Pittsburghers are wearing Steelers jerseys or shirts or in some cases very tall black and gold hats. Even the little old ladies at the bakery were wearing huge steelers earings this morning. Steelers banners are hanging over evey major street and some streets are shut down for Steeler fan gatherings. I believe Pittsburgh is officially ready for the Superbowl. Only two more days!

Winter (?) Weather

2006-01-30T09:59:00.000-05:00

How about this weather we have been having! Feels much more like spring than winter! I know some people are concerned about global warming, but I have to say I am enjoying every second of this unseasonably warm winter. It feels wonderful to open all the windows and let the fresh air through the apartment and walking the dog feels refreshing rather than unbearably cold. Now we just need to hope for good weather for the Superbowl. Go Pittsburgh!

I am running out of pictures to post... to tell you the truth, I haven't seen too many inspiring sights the past few weeks. I will have to go out in search of some this coming week. In the mean time, here is an older picture. It was taken from our living room. Despite living in the city, we still can see some pretty nice sunsets :-)

Sierra's Play Date

2006-01-26T10:37:00.000-05:00

Biting and slapping each other is Sierra and Ayahey's favorite form of play. They also enjoy running figure 8s from the dining room to the living room.

Pittsburgh's going to the Superbowl

2006-01-23T09:11:00.000-05:00

Before

2006-01-20T11:39:00.000-05:00

Noice the awful floor, terrible sconces, and the old brass hardware.

After

2006-01-20T11:36:00.000-05:00

We changed all the hardware from worn brass to silver, painted the wall a blue-green for a relaxing feel, and covered the hideous floor with new vinal tile.

Going to Denver!

2006-01-19T15:10:00.000-05:00

Here we go
Here we go
Here we go Steelers
Her we go
Pittsburgh's going to the AFC Championship!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2006-01-18T15:33:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Mom I hope this picture makes you smile.

Even better, I have finally finished editing and uploading all the best picture from Hilton Head. Here's the link: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cammiemw/my_photos

Ready to Slide!

2006-01-17T12:13:00.000-05:00

I like this shot because he looks like he is in action rather than just sitting at the top of the slide. It is still no where near as cute as it was in real life though.

The past weekend was busy/stressful, but productive. Dirk and I refinished the downstairs bathroom because we felt it needed a serious face lift. Unfortunately, we found a few plumbing problems as we were going which caused us some trouble and were hard to fix. Luckily, we were industrious enough to fix them ourselves... and it only took 5 trips to the hardware store! Now we are finished and the bathroom is looking quite nice (check back soon for before and after pictures.) On top of plumbing stress, the Steelers (and the refs) nearly gave me a hard attack during the playoff game against the Colts. I have never seen a game go back and forth so many times! I sure hope that the next game isn't quite as close.

Sunset Hilton Head

2006-01-12T15:19:00.000-05:00

Father and Son

2006-01-11T13:29:00.000-05:00

Palm Trees and Sunny Days

2006-01-10T12:32:00.000-05:00

This is a picture from the porch of our condo at Hilton Head. It's not a particularly artistic photo, but I like looking at it nonetheless. It makes me feel like I can escape back to sunny, warm Hilton Head just for a second. Luckily the temperatures here have been way above normal, so I'm not to depressed about being up north again :-P

Here We Go!

2006-01-09T11:57:00.000-05:00

Here we go Steelers
Here we go
Pittsburgh's going to Indianapolis!

Jackson

2006-01-06T12:59:00.000-05:00

While in Hilton Head I took quite a few pictures of Jackson (and not many of anything else!) However, I found that taking pictures of babies is just as difficult if not more as taking pictures of puppies... they never stand still for very long! I think taking good pictures of Jackson particularly difficult because none of them seem to even come close to portraying how cute he is. Nevertheless, I tried my best and came away with at least a few decent photos.

Here is Jackson taking a walk on the beach. This shot was hard to get because he liked walking in circles or sticking his fingers in the sand much better than walking straight :-P

FYI... there are many more pictures of Jackson to come :-)

Post Holiday Wrapup

2006-01-04T09:37:00.000-05:00

This holiday season felt pretty hectic to me, perhaps because of the dog and the new house, but it turned out very good nonetheless. It was especially nice to be able to see my whole family on Hilton Head Island where it was sunny and warm. The trip really lifted my spirits and I can say it was worth the long drive (although next time I will be more careful not to leave durning a snow storm!)

This is a picture of the amazing sand at Hilton Head:

Dirk and I have already started planning so that next year we can both see everyone at some time over the holiday season. Hopefully we will see everyone a few times before then! At least we know we will definately see most people in September :-)

Holiday Greeting #2

2005-12-20T15:46:00.000-05:00

Dirk doesn't think this picture is that good, but I am posting it anyway because I think it is cute. I always like the puppy head tilt :-)

Note: I didn't open all the presents already... this picture was simply taken before the one I posted earlier and before I put the presents under the tree. I swear I haven't even peaked although Sierra has tried to open a few!

Holiday Greeting

2005-12-19T12:35:00.000-05:00

Sierra says Happy Holidays.

Fall @ 9 mile run

2005-11-11T10:36:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favorite places in the park. I always enjoy listening to the water and the trees, and Sierra likes to swim, splash around, and bite at the waterfalls.

This weekend Dirk and I are looking forward to relaxing and spending some time with his parents. I realize this is the first time in months that I have been feeling well and I don't have 10 million house projects planned. Maybe I will finally get to cutting up and cooking another pumpkin or get started on my Christmas shopping :-) Perhaps we will just sit outside and enjoy this great fall weather!

Golden Trail

2005-11-10T09:55:00.000-05:00

I love the way the park trail looks in this picture. It really captures how beautiful and warm that day was. It was once of the nicest walks Sierra and I have taken: I enjoyed the weather and Sierra had fun biting and chasing the leaves as they blew around in the wind :-)

Projects

2005-11-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

I have been quite productive on a few projects in the past few days. This weekend I finished sanding and painting the kitchen cabinets... now we just need to finish putting them up! Monday, Dirk and I went shopping at the hardware store and picked up a few materials we needed. Then yesterday, we fixed and reinforced the guest bed and Elise taught me how to sew (which means I finally finished making a pillow cover for Sierra's cedar pillow.) I think it is a lot of fun to work for something that I can see and use every day; however, I must say that I am exhausted! Hopefully I will get better at these projects as I do them more.

On a different note, here is another picture I like of the park:

Note: There is a new feature - if you click on the picture, you can see a larger version.

Feeling Better

2005-11-08T10:56:00.000-05:00

Horray! I finally feel normal again. I have to say it is wonderful to go through the day without taking any sort of pain killer or cold medication :-)

This past weekend, Dirk and I finally finished painting our kitchen cabinet doors. Although they are not perfect, they look new and clean and much better than they used to. The best part was that we got to buy a power sander to spruce them up. I've always liked sanding and perfecting things, so I am excited to be able to refinish some of the wood pieces we have in our house now. I am also very excited because the VandenBerg's are bringing us more tools and I will be able to try out building a few things from scratch.

Even though I was not feeling so hot during the best foliage of the season, I was able to get quite a few pictures that I really like. Here is one from a little over a week ago (when the trees were much brighter.)

Sigh

2005-11-02T17:54:00.000-05:00

My head finally stopped hurting; unfortunately, I woke up Monday morning with a cold. Funny how long two weeks feels when you are not feeling well.

The good news is that we officially have tickets to Italy for our honeymoon :-) We will be staying for 10 nights: 2 nights in Rome, 5 nights in Tuscany, 2 nights at Lake Garda, and 1 night in Venice (approximately.) I am very excited and I think Dirk is too although he doesn't really like to plan this far in advance. Unfortunately, we had to plan this far in advance because plane tickets are hard to get for the popular month of September. Luckily, my Mom knows all the rules and was able to snag us great tickets the second they came on the market :-)

I am posting this picture in honor of travel:

Rainy Day Sunset

2005-10-28T15:03:00.000-04:00

I'm not a big fan of the rain, but this sunset was quite beautiful. I only wish I had gotten there a few minutes earlier to get a shot when the clouds were bright pink.

Fall Colors

2005-10-28T12:49:00.000-04:00

This tree is outstanding! I don't think I have ever seen so many colors on one tree before. Of course the bright red is what really grabs my attension. This weekend I will have to get some shots of the foliage in the park.

I went to the oral surgeon this morning and found that my wisdom teeth (or lack of) are healing perfectly. Too bad my head still hurts so much. The doctor said it will be 4 to 6 weeks until everything is all healed. If I had known it would hurt for so long I would have been a lot more hesitant. So if I seem grumpy, it is because I haven't slept much and/or my head is pounding. Nevertheless, I am glad to have them out and that I don't have to worry about infections (once they are healed that is.)

Past Weeks

2005-10-25T14:57:00.000-04:00

These past weeks have been an interesting collection of good and bad...

Good:
Elise's Birthday party (oh so much good food :-) )
Some beautiful fall weather
Sierra's ear sticking up again
Steelers winning Monday night football against SD and whomping Begals this past Sunday

Bad:
Not sleeping enough
Dirk working long hours
Parking tickets
Having my wisdom teeth removed

Ugly:
Feeling like my head is going to explode from the pain of having my wisdom teeth removed yet feeling sick every time I take a pain killer... ahhh :-(

5 years!

2005-10-05T12:09:00.000-04:00

Today is Dirk's and my 5 year anniversery. I would have never guessed 5 years ago that I would be where I am today, but I have to say I am pretty happy with the result :-) Now we just need to think of a way to celebrate.

Other than anniversery stuff, I have started preparing for Elises Birthday parth this weekend. Last night I made chocolate covered pretzels and tonight I plan to make my signature peanut butter bars. I hope to make a few things every night so I can finish all that I want to do by the party on Sat. Now the challenge is making sure that Dirk doesn't eat it all :-P

October

2005-10-04T15:36:00.000-04:00

October is here although so far it has felt more like summer thanks to the unseasonably warm temperatures! Thus I have posted a picture of the beach in honor of the great weather :-)

Sand Dune

So far October has been pretty productive. This past weekend I painted my kitchen. I meant to paint it a pretty golden brown yellow, but it came out a lot brighter than I expected. (I think all the rooms I have painted so far have come out brighter than I expected contrary to the rule of thumb that says everything will come out a bit darker than expected.) I'm not sure if I like it yet, but it is definately better than white and I'm sure it will grow on me like all the other rooms have. Perhaps I will just need to find a few more blue accent pieces to place around the room to cool it down. It will also look better once I finish painting and putting the cabinet door back on. I will try to post pictures of part of the kitchen soon although I do not want to post pictures of the whole kitchen until it is finished.

This week I will be working on dog training. Sierra has lost a lot of what she has learned in the two weeks she had her stiches in. Hopefully we will both get back up to speed with a little extra work and discipline. Additionally, I will be baking for Elise's big birthday party this Saturday. I collected groceries last night and I will need to start preparing things tonight if I hope to make everything by Saturday. My goal is to make each of the guests a few pounds heavier when they leave :-P

2005-09-29T09:35:00.000-04:00

So Tired

2005-09-28T12:10:00.000-04:00

Playing in the waves

Catch Up

2005-09-28T11:47:00.000-04:00

I have been pretty good at getting a few pictures up a week, but my comments have been lacking, so here is a quick catch up (not necessarily in chronological order)
1) Dirk and I confirmed our wedding date
Date: Spetember 16, 2006
Time: 12pm-4pm
Place: Grand Consourse
2) Sierra and I took a trip down to VA beach to visit Jana and her pup Shenley. The trip was wonderful and relaxing (except for the drive) and the pups had fun running around.
3) Sierra was spayed, but she is already feeling much better and almost back to full energy :-)
4) Dirk has been working very long hours and is now at a mine in WV... wish him luck!
5) After my wisdom teeth became infected, I have decided to have them taken out on October 20. Hopefully I will at least have fun sitting my bum on the couch and watching lots of movies :-)
6) Elise and I went to the Steelers vs. Patriots game. Unfortunately, the Steelers lost in the last second, but it was still fun. I got some good pictures of the stadium and the fans, but I don't think I will want to post them until the Steelers win a game.

I will try to get back into the swing of posting more pics soon. Hopefully I will get some nice pictures of the fall foliage once the trees start to change :-)

2005-09-21T12:43:00.000-04:00

Digging at the Beach

2005-09-20T12:12:00.000-04:00

Sierra and Schenley @ the beach

2005-09-15T09:22:00.000-04:00

Sierra playing in 9 mile run

2005-09-14T11:10:00.000-04:00

Sierra @ 9 mile run

2005-09-09T14:14:00.000-04:00

Dirk and Me

2005-09-07T20:43:00.000-04:00

Pittsburgh on July 4th

A Few Things I Like

2005-09-07T14:14:00.000-04:00

I promise to start taking some new pics ASAP! Anyway, I like this pic because it almost looks like a fairy tale land only it's in the middle of NYC!

The Pond

In honor of Elise moving in downstairs, I am going to list a few things I like (an idea which I blatanly stole from her profile :-P)
1) New office, office arrangement, and private office phone
2) Beautiful September weather (even the puppy enjoys this!)
3) Elise living downstairs (which has the added bonus of clothing hand me downs and lots of shoes to borrow) :-)

Labor Day Weekend

2005-09-06T13:50:00.000-04:00

Sorry for yet another old picture, but I figured I would post it anyway since it is such a beautiful scene :-)

Wave

Anyway, it's back to work after the long weekend. I would complain but I know everyone is porbably feeling the same way. Nevertheless I was at least slightly productive this weekend. The most exciting thing we did was decide on a place for the wedding: Grand Concourse and a tenative date, September 16, 2006. We still have to call and ask a few questions, confirm the date, and send money of course, but things are coming along. I'm glad we took our time to find a place because we were able to get the date we wanted anyway and I would have been overwhelmed if I had tried to move into the house, raise a puppy, and plan the wedding all at the same time. I can only focus on so many things at once! Anyway, in addition to finding a wedding venue, I prepared the kitchen cabinets for painting, and bought some paint for both kitchens and the guest room. In other words, I should be busy for a while :-)

September is Here!

2005-09-02T13:23:00.000-04:00

Yey, my favorite month has begun (or at least my favorite month living in the city of Pittsburgh.) Katrina came for the end of August, but the weather seemed to get instantly better once September came :-) Here we go Steelers, here we go!

I haven't had much time or motivation this week. I guess I burnt myself out at the beginning thinking about classes and running errands. Hopefully, I will be better at posting again next week! Anyway, I decided to post this picture even though I didn't take it this week because I love the picture so much, and I can imagine myself there when the weather is so nice. I hope that one day in the future I will be somewhere near there swimming or sailing when the weather is like this :-)

Fire Island Lighthouse

Ahh Monday

2005-08-30T10:26:00.000-04:00

Sorry... no picture again today. Yesterday was crazy: rain, classes, and meetings. I have decided not to take the class I signed up for. I made the decision for a few reasons: 1) it is a project class where you have to work in groups, so I couldn't drop out or slack off if the work got to be too much (which is very possible since I already have a full time job, a house, a puppy, and a wedding to plan) 2) Since the class is aimed at people who have never been in the "real" world, I do not think I will learn much from the class 3) I can't bear to be in an undergrad CS class ever again! I have decided instead to audit to graduate Machine Learning class. This way I can take advantage of my benefit of being able to take a class, learn a few things that are relevant to my work, and decide how much work I would like to do based on what else is going on in life. The bonus is now I have time to visit people (since I don't have class on Monday or Friday) :-)

Other than work/class suff, Dirk and I have been working on getting all our new furniture set up. Dirk spent Friday night cleaning and polishing it all and we have spent the rest of the time putting the stuff in it and getting organized. I have to say it all look great! It makes me feel like I am a real person to have a few nice pieces. I will post pictures of the new stuff soon!

Week in Review

2005-08-26T10:23:00.000-04:00

This week has been crazy! Painting over the weekend out me behind on all my regular chores so I have been running around like a nut case all week. Additionally, last night we picked up the furniture I bought from Lauren and moved it into our house. It was all a lot heavier and more difficult to move that I expected, but that also means it is a lot nicer than anything I am used to having :-) We still need to clean and polish it up and move it to the right places, but I think it is all going to look amazing once we are done. I was so excited about it I could barely sleep last night! Thanks Lauren!

Puppy has been extremely good this week. She is starting to walk almost perfectly even in the park. The trainer cam Wednesday this week and we worked on meeting other dogs and trying to stay calm while we are going somewhere exciting. There is still a bit of work to do there, but I think she is making big improvments. Her stays are starting to look very good; so now we just need to work on lengthening them and doing them in different situations.

In other news, a new RENT trailer came out yesterday. Here is the link new RENT trailer. It is a lot more informative as to what the movie will be like. I'm a little worried that the movie will come out looking a little cheesy since most of the actors are used to Broadway and not film, but I'm sure I will like it no matter what. I think that Jesse L. Martin looks the best in the preview, but I guess that makes since since he has a lot of film experience (from Law and Order of course.)

Jackson's Summer Fun

2005-08-25T13:29:00.000-04:00

I didn't take this picture (sadly I wasn't even there to see it), but it is so adorable I had to post it for everyone to enjoy :-)

Jackson and his sprinkler

Sierra Now and Then

2005-08-24T08:50:00.000-04:00

Now: ~45 pounds
Still having a little trouble keeping the ears up, they do stick straight up when she is trying to listen, but most of the time they list to the side like in the picture. She has officially lost all her teeth and her big ones are growing in so hopefully her ears will have enough energy to stand up soon :-)

Sierra @ 5 months

Then: ~12 pounds
Pretty cute huh?

Sierra @ 7 wks

Painted Living Room

2005-08-22T11:11:00.000-04:00

This weekend I decided to paint the living room before I went and picked up my new furniture. I had first thought I would do a coffe color, but the color I liked was too dark and they couldn't lighten it up. Since I was pretty sure of the tint I wanted I looked through the other browns and tans and only found a few that I liked. One was called Homeresort pumpkin and had a little bit of orange, so I decided to go with that since I thought the warmth of the orange migh make the room feel cozier. When I started painting, I found the color seemed a lot more orange than I originally thought. I was a little horrified at first, but decided to paint the rest of the room and see if it grew on me.

Now that I am finished, I think it has grown on me. It is different and does make the room feel a lot cozier at least. Plus, I like how the color looks different in different light; I think it has a Tuscan feel (although it is a little brighter than Tuscan colors.) I also like the new arrangement of the furniture. It looks a little sparse now, but I think it will look good when I put the armoire in and set up a "window seat".

Here are some pics of the new arrangement and color:

Living Room 1

Living Room 2

P.S. Puppy is feeling much better now :-)

Sick Puppy

2005-08-19T13:31:00.000-04:00

The puppy was sick today :-( We think she got into the water at Frick park and it upset her stomach. I took her to the vet and got some special food and antiboitics, and she's already starting to want to play again. Hopefully she will feel better by tomorrow.

This is a picture of my garden (specifically the zinnias) and some of the critters it attracts out front. Lately they have been attracting a lot of butterflies and even some humming birds, so we are quite with them. We hope to do an even bigger garden next year. Any suggestions?

Flowers and the Bees

Daily Photo

2005-08-18T16:38:00.000-04:00

I have already found that taking one picture a day is much more difficult than it sounds. I usually go out of my way to find good pictures, so it is much harder to take a picture of something in my ordinary routine and make it look nice. Perhaps it will help me see the nice things around me. Hopefully it will also help me take better pictures because I will have to work harder to make it nice.

Here is my first photo of something that I do not think is that interesting. It is simply my view from the bus stop. I decided to post the picture with more sky rather than more road because at least the clouds are pretty. Perhaps I will try going up the road a bit farther next time to see if that is any more appealing.

Bus Stop

On another note, you may have noticed the ads on the side of the page. I put them there mostly out of curiosity. I believe the ads are put there based on the content of my blog and each time someone clicks on one, I get a fraction of the proceeds. I was a little hesitant to do this at first since I didn't want to sell out, but then I decided it would be ok as long as I don't change the content of my blog so that I can earn more money from the ads. If anyone is interested in how I signed up for this or wants me to show them how to put ads on their website, let me know. I will be happy to help :-)

Reinstating the blog

2005-08-17T13:37:00.000-04:00

Reinstating. Once again it has way too long since I have posted! House and puppy have been keeping me very busy, not to mention that I must start planning a wedding. Nevertheless, through all the craziness, I think it is important to try to keep up with everyone, at least in some small way, so I will try to post more frequently. Also, I am trying to work on my photography lately, and I decided a good way to do this is to take at least one picture a day and post my favorite picture of that day. Most of the pictures will probably be artistic, but some will be of the house and the puppy to show you how things are changing and coming along. Please feel free to make comments on all of the pictures, I do appreciate any praise and/or criticism!

Here's my favorite pictures from this week. The sky picture is from Monday. I thought it looked cool because the whole sky way cloudy except for some bright blue spots (usually the sky is gray when it is so overcast.) The petunias are from Tuesday and I thought they looked just great, so I took a picture :-)

Sky

2005-08-16T17:36:00.000-04:00

Petunias

South Side

2005-03-02T11:36:00.000-05:00

This past weekend Dirk and I took our usual weekend walk around the South Side. We have been to the South Side before of course, but we never actually saw the place during daylight before a few weeks ago. Upon closer examination I have to say that it is now my favorite place in the city :-) The South Side has it's own website at: www.southsidepgh.com and I posted my own pictures to my Yahoo! photo page.

Before a few weeks ago, all our trips to the South Side have been on a Friday or Saturday night to enjoy a drink at some of the best bars in the city. After several trips we decided that of all the bars on Carson St., Smokin' Joes is definately our favorite. The best time at Smokin Joes is when you can get there early (like 8 or so) and get a table upstairs. The upstairs is a small room, but it does not feel crowded as long as you have a seat. The music is controlled by a juke box and played at a reasonable level, and I must add that bar patrons have better taste in music than most bar managers do! The nicest part is that there is a full bar upstairs which is never too crowded or too hard to get to since the room is small. Not only do they serve regular beers like Yuengling and Coors, but they also have a quite a few more exotic brands like Chimay, Hoegarten and even Woodchuck Ale, which I enjoy. Since I am not a big beer drinker, it feels nice to go to a place where I can order something that I actually enjoy while drinking with my friends.

Now that we have walked around some more, we have found that the South Side has even more to offer than a great night life. As we walked down the street we found that there are all sorts of specialty shops which sell things like, hand crafed jewlerly, antiques and uniques gifts, and there is even a store that sells every bead that you can imagine. As we were walking around, we stopped in a pizza shop to get a bite to eat. Although there were quite a few paces to get pizza we decided to go to Pizza Vestuvo because it looked like the most people were inside. We decided to order a small tomoto and ricotta pizza which came to $8.50. It seemed a bit pricy for a pizza, but when the pie cam out, we decided it was well worth it. The crust was thin and a little crunchy and the combination of ricotta and mozerrella was much less greasy than a regular pizza. It felt nice to sit in the sunny store front after being out in the cold for quite some time. My only complaint was that there was only a thin counter on which to eat, which didn't give us much space to rest our plates and very few people fit into the small eating area.

After checking out the old South Side, we strolled over to the new development (South Side Works). In addition to a large Cheesecake Factory Resteraunt, Movie theater, and new loft apartments, there are quite a few new trendy stores such as Kenneth Cole, Urban Outfitters, and Z Gallarie. This is especially exciting because these store were never available anywhere even close to Pittsburgh just a few months ago. One of my favorite additions, is a new large bookstore called Joeseph Beth Booksellers, aka JB :-) It is an interesting bookstore because they sell more than just books and there are quite a few interesting features including built in fireplaces with reading benches. I don't think I would mind spending a few hours there checking out all the books! Unfortunately, I think that would probably drive Dirk crazy, but I will keep it in mind for next hunting season when I am widowed again :-P

I guess that's about it for now. Hopefully I was able to stir up some interest so people will come visit and go shopping with me!

Way Too Long

2005-02-18T15:10:00.000-05:00

Ok, it has been way too long since I have posted, so I'm going to sum up everything real fast so that I do not get too overwhelmed by all that has happened in the last two months. I have posted pictures from all my "adventures" on my Yahoo! photo page http://photos.yahoo.com/cammiemw.

The Big Events:
1) On December 14th Dirk proposed! Of course I said yes, so we are officially engaged and hope to get married in Pittsburgh sometime between May and October 2006.
2) For Christmas, we went down to Charlotte to see my family and enjoy Jackson's first Christmas.
3) After Christmas, we met the VandenBergs back in the Burgh and had fun walking around and enjoying the city.
4) On January 22nd we bought our first House! It is a duplex, so we actually bought 2 houses! Unfortunately it has been very stressful trying to close on the house, not to mention we are now officially broke homeowners, but I think it will be worth it in the long run. Perhaps this is the start to our real estate empire... mwhaha :-P
5) On Valentines Day Dirk and I went to the new Development in the South Side for a free dinner at the Hot Metal Grill, which I do recommend even if you are paying (though it is a bit pricy!) In case you're wondering, we got the meal for free because Dirk happened to stop and help out the owner when she had a flat tire and was stranded on the side of the road. Isn't he sweet? Anyway, she was so thankful, that she wrote him a card for a free dinner and movie tickets for the new theater.

I guess that's it in a nutshell! Hopefully, I will start writing more regularly. Maybe now I will even catch up on all those emails I have been meaning to write for months :-P

Holiday Season

2004-12-14T16:17:00.000-05:00

This is the first year I have felt that I have time to truly enjoy the Holiday season since it is the first year I haven't had any homework to worry about. However, it has been so dark and dreary lately that even I have found it hard to stay cheerful at times. So I wrote this list of things to enjoy during the holiday season to remind myself (and possibly others) the stuff there is to be happy about even though it is so dark!

1. Light displays: I especially like icicle lights, candles in the window, and wreaths with white lights and big red bows although I still do enjoy all light displays and am happy that there is so much diversity.
2. Christmas Carols and Christmas movies: My favorite carol is Carol of the Bells and a close second is Peace on Earth/Little Drummer boy with David Bowie and Bing Crosby. This year my favorite Christmas movie is Elf although I would have to say that my all time favorite is Dr.Suess' The Grinch that stole Christmas (the original animated version of course.)
3. The chance to show off you creativity: From decorations to gift wrap, I love the oppotunity to make things look flashy for everyone to see. Glitter and sparkles are almost never appropriate at other times of the year.
4. Christmas food: When else do you get to drink something with 600 caloried and 15 grams of fat in a single glass?! I also love any reason to make desserts.
5. Christmas traditions with family: It gets harder and harder to see family as often as you would like, but you can always count on seeing everyone at Christmas and you know you are going to have fun because you have fun every year :-)

Other than preparing for the holidays, I have been trying to take lots of pictures. Recently I took some pictures of the first snowfall in Pittsburgh. To see these and other pictures I have taken, go to my Yahoo! photo page: http://photos.yahoo.com/cammiemw

Thanksgiving

2004-12-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

I must say that this Thanksgiving break was truly wonderful. Besides doing all sorts of exciting things, it was the first Thanksgiving that I can remember that I wasn't worried about homework. What a relief to just be able to spend some quality time with family and friends!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Dirk left for bear camp, so I had the apartment to myself. Although I was a little lonely, I had a great time catching up on things that I like to do. I picked up a few presents at the pre-holiday sales, bought a new sweater and suit case for myslef, and started some new craft projects. I also had fun watching Elf at least once and sometimes twice a day :)

I flew out of Pittsburgh (on a new airline called Independence Air) to JFK (NY) on Monday night. The flight went smoothly, and I even got some special treatment since I was carrying George, the spider plant. I spent Tuesday out on Long Island with my parents. In the morning I walked down into the town of Northport and looked at all the cute gift shops. For lunch I went and visited my Mom in her office, the Travel Agency, and grabbed some soup and bread from the gourmet across the street. Afterwards, I went home and cooked two pumkin pies (although I had to wait for my Dad to come home first because I couldn't open the syrup!)

On Wenesday I had breakfast with Heather and then took the train into the city. I was finally able to see where Holly works, the Sony building. I enjoyed seeing the employee store (where I picked up a fabulous digital camera), the cafeteria, and all the floor that she worked on, but what I was most jealous of was the huge window she had that overlooked midtown Manhattan. Once Holly was finished with work, we went to a great little sushi place for lunch and then walked into Times Square, which was absolutely crazy since so many people were visiting for Thanksgiving. That night we went to the Upper West Side and watched the balloons being blown up for the Parade. It was great to see them up close so you could get a feeling for how huge they were, but they definately looked a lot better in the parade when they weren't tied down.

Thanksgiving morning my parents came into the city and we walked across the park to see the parade at 72nd and Central Park West. The crowd was quite large, so we couldn't see anything on the ground, but we could hear the bands and we had a good view of the balloons. Check out the pictures I took at: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade . After Santa came by, we walked back through the park and took some pictures of the fountains, ponds, and bridges. For the rest of the day, we took turns hanging out in Holly's apartment and walking around Manhattan. We did not have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but it tasted very good and we were thankful to be together even though we were sad that Erin and Christian and Jackson could not be there too. That night Holly and I walked down into Midtown and looked at the windows that were done for Christmas and the Christmas tree at Rockafellar Center. To see some of the pictures I took of Manhattan, go here: New York City in November

On Black Friday, Holly and I walked down into midtown again and then took the subway downtown. I was able to pick up a few good things and was very happy that I was able to keep myself from going overboard! After lunch, I lugged my suit case through the subway to Penn Station where I caught a train to NJ. Although I was sad to have to leave NY and my family, I was ssoo happy to see Dirk for the first time in a week. We spend the afternoon at Dirk's grandmothers where we had a second Thanksgiving dinner, then drove back down to Atlantic City.

The next day we took it slow and had fun catching up with each other. I was happy to see and spend some time with the VandenBergs since I hadn't seen them in a while. Unfortunately, I was so tired by that point that I had a hard time concentrating on anything! In the afternoon we went down to the shopping center and picked up a few things to make wreaths and Christmas ornaments. When we cam home, Dirk's Mom and I sat and put together out ornament and my wreath while the men went food shopping and made dinner. All in all it was a very relaxing day and certainly put me in the Christmas spirit :)

On Sunday our vacation finally came to an end and we had to make the trip home. Of course we first went out to breakfast where I had the most amazing french toast foster ever! It was a great way to wrap up the visit. We made it back to Pittsburgh around 7pm and although we were sad that the vacation was over and that we had to say goodbye, we were happy to be home and sleep in our own bed! Besides, in just another month, we will be able to see everyone again!

Pre-Holiday Season escapades

2004-11-16T13:24:00.000-05:00

Hello again. I have started many posts in the past two week, but I haven't finished any of them, so I'm a little behind. Oh well, not too much has been going on anyway. Mostly Dirk and I are still adjusting to our new adult life. We have found quite a few things that we like doing outside of work now. Dirk has really been enjoying hunting and has been out in the woods most mornings, nights, and weekends. I guess I am what they call a hunter's widow :P However, I have enjoyed catching up on my own little things that I like to do like: clean and organize the house, take long showers/baths, go down into town for a latte and then for a walk in the park, and most importantly SHOPING :)

Luckily, no hunting is allowed on Sunday, so I have Dirk all to myself. The past two Sundays we have experimented with cooking pumkin. The first time we made a stew with mashed pumkin, lots of vegetables, and beans and two pumpkin pies. Unfortunately, I forgot to put the syrup in both pies, so they were not very sweet. I improvised by pouring the maple syrup on top, but it just wasn't the same. This weekend we made another vegetable stew with cubed pumkin instead of mashed, which was also good, although I am not sure whether I like cubed or mash better. Additionally, I made another pie (remembering the syrup this time) and I must say that it is the best pumkin pie I have ever had in my life. I am going to have to make it for everyone (except for Holly, the odd one who doesn't like pumkin :P ) this Thanksgiving. I guess I will have to bring frozen mashed pumpking to my parent's house and have Dirk bring the last whole pumpkin to the VandenBerg's so we can mash it there. Hopefully everyone will like the pie as much as Dirk and I do.

The exciting news is that Dirk and I are looking for a house. At first we thought we would like to get a multi-unit home and cut our living cost by renting out the vacant units, but we have found that it is very hard to find a house like this in a comfortable price range and a good location with a floor plan that we actually like. In fact we have found that it is quite difficult to find any house with these requirements. However, we have gotten luck recently because we have found two 4 bedroom houses just a block away from our current apartment. We are extremely interested in one that is being sold by the owner because we love the layout and we think we can get it for a good price. We would definately need to make at least some modifications (like new paint and refinish the flooring), but we think it will turn out quite nice with just a little work and possibly great with a lot of work. We will make sure keep you updated if we decide to buy anything.

Well, that's about all the time I have for now... lots to do before going to Long Island, NYC, and AC for Thanksgiving :)

Halloween Weekend

2004-11-01T18:01:00.000-05:00

Dirk and I had a slow Saturday... we actaully spent most of the day shopping (gasp!) Although we went to many stores somehow all I bought was a pedometer and all Dirk bought were some socks and some pillows. We were pretty tired after shopping so we spent the rest of the night in watching some of our favorite movies :-) That night we both slept very well on out luxurious new down/feather pillows and prepared ourselves for the day ahead.

Sunday was quite a bit more exciting. Dirk and I got tickets to the Steelers Patriots game. Even though it was just a regular season game, it was very important for the Steelers to stay on top of their division and perhaps end New England's winning streak. We parked downtown and walked across the bridge and then along the river to get to the stadium. The view of downtown Pittsburgh, the stadium, and the thousands of fans in black and gold were beautiful... if only I had a camera!

The Steelers went three and out on ther first drive and the Patriots marched right back down the field, but the D was able to hold them to a field goal. The next drive, Big Ben and Duce were able to storm down the field and score a touchdown. It only got more exciting from there. I cheered so hard for the Defense and every time the offense made a great play that I thought I would never be able to speak again! Although there was a very large crowd (the largest in Heinz field history in fact) we stayed until the last second of the 34-20 win.

If you would like to know some more of the details of the game or see a picture of the amazing crowd, click on this:
Steelers Article

We rushed home to see if we could catch any remaining trick or treaters, but we were a little too late. However, I heard that I did not miss much. Apparently, everyone sat out on their porch with radio and mini TVs and the kids came to the door and asked "What's the score?" instead of "Trick or Treat." Hopefully the overlap of Halloween and a Steelers game will not happen again for a LONG LONG time!

NYC

2004-10-26T14:23:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I went to NYC to see Holly for her birthday. Although we did not have a lot of time, we were able to see quite a bit and have a great time.

I arrived on Saturday afternoon and stopped by Holly's office building (the Sony building that is) while she finished up work. While I waited, I checked out some of the cool shops on Madison Ave. and went to the Disney store and the Trump Tower. Once Holly finished up work, she and my mom and I went to grab some lunch down in the west village, but found that it is impossible to park down there (even if you're willing to spend the money on a garage.) So we went back up to Midtown (Hell's Kitchen I believe) and ate at Say Cheese! It was the cutest little resturaunt that served the greatest salads, soups, and sandwhiches for very little money. It was a very relaxing and fun lunch after such a long drive.

After lunch, we drove up to the Upper East Side to Holly's apartment. The apartment is small (of course, all apartments are small in NYC) but it has very tall ceilings and she has a loft for her bed. I thought it looked very nice the best thing about it is that there is a separate kitchen, living and sleeping area, and it has great windows which let in a lot of light. And surprisingly, there is also very little street noise since it on a side street and high up.

That night we went to a Mexican resturaunt in Times Square for Holly's birthday dinner. The food was good, the Magaritas were huge, and it really wasn't very expensive either considering its location. The best part was that all the waiters came out and sang Happy birthday to Holly and put a sombraro on her head :)

Sunday, Holly and I took the subway downtown and walked over to the South Street seaport. It was very nice although it really only had chain stores, which you can go to anywhere else. The best part was there was a great deck which overlooked the Brooklyn Bridge. If only I had a camera! Next we walked up to China town and into Little Italy where we had lunch. The food there was really good and we were lucky that the sun came out while we were there so we were not too cold. After lunch, we walked through SoHo and went in a few of the trendy shops and then walked around through the village before catching the subway back to the upper east side.

Once we took a short nap, we decided to reward ourselves for walking so much by having ice cream for dinner, so we walked down to Serendipity (yes... the place they show in the movie.) It was an hour and a half wait, but well worth it. I got an strawberry isce cream with cheesecake and whipped cream and strawberries on top and Holly had vanilla ice cream with a brownie and hot fudge. Needless to say, neither of us came anywhere close to finishing.

Monday morning, I had to wake up early to drive home, but we both got bagels at H&H to complete the NY expereince. All in all, it was a great weekend and I was very sad to leave. I hope that once day I can move closer to my family again =)

Introduction

2004-10-26T14:21:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone, I created this blog so that my family and friends can see what I am up to since I am horrible at talking on the phone. I have been trying to take a lot of trips since I have graduated, so I thought it would be fun to document my experiences. Also, I change my mind just about every week about what I want to do in the future, so I think this a good way to help people keep track of where I am at the moment (and even a good way for me to keep track of myself!)