brrrrr

i scavanged through the attic last night and (successfully) found my down comforter.
....and last night i remembered another reason why i love fall so much.

piles of soft (downy) blankets


...honestly, there is nothing better than falling asleep in freshly-washed sheets, a pile of warm (feather!) blankets, and a stack of pillows.


*(it's really a wonder I managed to peel myself out of there this morning....)



oh, and in other news, fall-critters are really the best to doodle.
(because you can bundle them up in winter-wear.)

faaaaallllll.....

today is definitely a fall-day.

cold.
dreary.
(etc.)

and don't get me wrong- i love the fall. (even the dreary-fall days)

unfortunately, I think fall makes me want to do this all day:





(*fall-naps are the best naps.)

please?

can i just keep this little pumpkin forever?


....and we can take naps on the couch?


...and chase each other around the house?


...and eat snacks?








(*coming home to a lovable bundle of fuzz and fur is highly underrated)

ever heard of the G20..?

well, maybe I'm just a bit sheltered/non-cultured...But, before it decided to come to Pittsburgh this September,
I had never heard of the G20 before...

(don't judge)

BUT- trust me: the G20 is just about all I hear about anymore.
Fortunately, they have a pretty nice logo...(agreed?)


Unfortunately, it makes life in Pittsburgh....well,....can we a say, a weeee-bit chaotic?

riots...

tear gas...

demonstrations....




so far i think the general favorite was the group who hung themselves off of one of the bridges (along with a large sign about CO2...)


Anyways, due to an overabundance of people...and dignitaries...and demonstrators.... most of the downtown businesses have shut down for a long weekend, and everyone is either working from home...or getting a nice little G20-vacation.

*(little sis would fall into the category of a downtown employee getting a long-weekend...so she left me and went home to virginia.) grrrr.r.r..r

soooo, that means I'm home alone for the weekend-- (and despite the fact that I had lived by myself for almost a year)- I got spoiled after the little sis moved in with me...and now??--I really don't know what I'm going to do with myself...



LUCKILY-
this little pumpkin is going to be keeping me company this weekend:


*(is he not just the most precious little fuzz-ball you've ever seen?)
and i get to be surrogate-puppy-mama while his real family is away.

don't worry...you'll probably be seeing lots more pictures of him after we've had our weekend of bonding...



(and don't worry: I'll keep him far away from the G20- so he won't get trampled...)

pittsburgh epiphany

Well, I'm not entirely sure if you are all aware or not of the fact that Mr. Rodgers (*yes: everyone's favorite neighbor) is from Pittsburgh.

(You wonder why I moved here?...well, if it's good enough for an adventuring, singing, old-man, cardigan-wearing Fred?---it's good enough for me.)


But, back to my epiphany:

So, they have these cute (and very old) little trolleys that go up the side of Mt. Washington. Once you're up there you get a lovely view of the city...the opportunity to enjoy good (but pricey) restaurants...and just soak up the general ambiance of the infamous steel city...


now, let me show you the view from Mt. Washington (with one of the infamous Duquesne-Incline-Trolleys)





aaaand, now let me show you a picture of the little trolly Mr. Rodgers used to get to the "Neighborhood of Makebelieve" (*and please tell me you all watched this show enough to know what I'm talking about. otherwise?...well, you just tragically missed out on a golden part of childhood)

now, is it just me? or is there something strangely similar......

something seems fishy...

I'm not exactly sure what it is...but something is definitely wrong with all of the below images:


first of all, mini-meatloaf in MUFFIN-tins??? (ugh.)
seriously, they even give you the recipe for "marvelous-mini-meatloafs" here.



next would be this little contraption....
(I don't even know what it would be called...except an awkward-banana-thing)


and finally.....
BEARDS.

(this man's beard has been dubbed "the hair-pretzel" by some people over at NPR).
*and no...the fact that i may religiously listen to NPR on my way to work has nothing to do with this beard-discovery.....


and if you want some more awkward beardage to admire, just go here. (the world beard and moustache championships)




...although, for all their awkardnes...they did come up with a pretty sweet poster.


(I guess you can find a little bit of good in everything after all....)

it's that time....

yessssss, i know i probably refer to it far too often.

(" it " being my insatiable love of all-things-cardigans)

and i believe that I have previously discussed some of my feelings about these buttonable-sweater-wonders: here.
But, autumn is upon us- and I really just can't resist the urge to share........

{oh...why, hello there little sweater-buttons!!}

oh, and don't think that i normally stalk the men's-cardigan-section of the j.crew website.
(these images were collected PURELY for defense purposes....in a valiant effort to convince a friend (of the male-sex) that cardigans were in fact both stylish, and swoon-able.)

(I am not sure of the success of my photo-enhanced argument)...but I did appreciate the sweaters.




oh, and speaking of appreciation, and autumn....
look at this little lovely greeting I found in my inbox.


gosh. i really just love autumn. for so so so so so many reasons.




(but, let's be honest: mostly just for the cardigans)

love.

it's true. I'm not a musical aficionado.

and oddly enough, most people expect me to be (it must have to do with the fact that I play the violin, and am usually pretty informed and (i think?) generally well-cultured)...

buuut, somehow or another, the musical-ness just slipped through the cracks.
(although I think a lot of that could be blamed on that fact that up until highschool (aaaand, maybe all the way through highschool?) my musical repertoire consisted mostly of bands like....point of grace, and plusone (?)
oh. don't judge my shameful confessions.
*and...can we really even call those bands?

yeah, not a big fan of those years. (or the random collection of resulting cds)...



but, college was good to me. (and a big thankyou all of my musical-enlightening friends: you know who you are) Because now I can listen to music, (and even though I still may not know a lot of band-names, or genre-jargon) i DO know what I like. and what I don't like.

(I consider this a major accomplishment)

and my friends will tell you that I enjoy soft, slow, acoustic, (semi-catchy), beautiful music. (*preferably string-infused....and bordering dangerously close to folksy.).
In fact, people have started burning me cds or recommending bands based on: "I think you would like this."

(ok, this might not sound like a big deal to you, but trust me: it's huge.)

and not only is my personal musical-taste continuing to progress...my musical responsibilities are too.

let me explain:
in college, I was really at the mercy of my various roommates, classmates, mac-lab-mates, etc for music. I was never the one who pushed play. (and I liked it that way)....it still kindof stresses me out to put new cds in my car, or pick a jogging-playlist on my ipod. I think it's the vast expanse of options. it's really just quite overwhelming...

but, anyways...I was never the "DJ friend." (which was probably a good idea)...except at Christmas, maybe.
*I mean- anyone could pick between 5 different holiday CDs, right? ...not too hard

and now...NOW: i'm all grown up, and picking my own playlists. I (very rarely...but, still...sometimes) even suggest music to other people(!)

aaaaand I'm not sure why or how...but I've even taken over at work as Pandora-DJ.
yep. whatever comes out of my computer becomes the office-soundtrack.
*talk about pressure?!?!

oh, but carlyn: if you're reading this. feel free to take over the playlist at anytime.
(I know that acoustic, folksy, beautiful music is really hard to stay awake to...especially around the 3:00pm heat-waves...)



So, why all this talk about music?

well...let me tell you:

...actually, on second thought- just listen. to this man: {click here}



and if you need more convincing, just look at this:















i mean...how could you NOT want to listen to a man singing
(when he is smooshed between a violin and a cello?)





uuuuughghghghgh.....melt me.

king of the hill...

I know the target audience is probably not 23-year old female/ non-texan/ artsy-craftsy/ tea-drinking/ muffin-baking types. (but, it's been about 7 years now, and I still love that show...)

I think Karen and I started watching it in middle school (because we didn't have cable, and the afternoon "after-school" options were: King of the Hill, Wishbone, the local news, or PBS-opera hour...(?)

we picked the obvious choice.

and it's been a love of mine ever since.

(ask me if I even own a season of k.o.t.h. on DVD)
because I do....


{oooh....shameful.}

notice anything different?

(yep. i just got spiffified.)


*spiffified: what happens when blogs get a new look.

good to know:

so, today is the last week of summer.
(or, at least I'm pretty sure it's the last week...)

in any case: I've pulled out the scarves, cardigans, and other fall favorites.
(have i ever mentioned how much I love autumn? yes: LOVE)

*on a list of life-favorites, autumn+scarves+cardigans are definitely very high-up on the "greatest-loves" list...(probably sharing a three-way tie).

**oh, along with hot tea.....(so, make that a four-way tie?)

and pittsburgh is most definitely getting in the autumn-mood.
brisk mornings...and a few leaves are starting to change colors...and people are beginning to look a little more sweater-swaddled... (love. love. love. love.)



anyways, i occasionally enjoy adding some more random (potentially-semi-useless) information to my brain stash...which is why i find this website both informative and amusing.

(and today i learned a little bit about tea-consumption)--which i should probably keep in mind as we venture deeper into autumn-weather-ness.... and my daily hot-tea consumption exponentially increases.

{don't worry...i'll stay away from lethal-doses}

aaaand, more of the same:

ok. i promise i am not obsessed with the parental-units...

but, seriously: ... my mom sent me an email this morning, with a picture of her playing her banjo at some festival thing from this past weekend. (how cute is she!?) mama's been playing the banjo for...ooooooh...about 35 years now(?) And she still has the same one (that she MADE herself in highschool).

one day i'll sit her down and make her teach me some sweet banjo skills.

but until then,
i'll just gawk and swoon.

the parentals...

have i ever mentioned how ridiculously-adorable my parents are?








yep. how could you not love that. (well...mabye minus the smoochy....)


(aaand, yes... we may or may not have been attempting to kill several hours at the beginning of our recent family vaca... waiting for all vacation-members to arrive at the airport.)

but is there really a better way to kill time than photobooth?
nope. not really.

note to self:
only purchase dogs that will fit in hotdog buns....

(is he not the most adorable thing you've ever seen?!)