TuesDate Night

(HA! See what I did there?)

Tuesday after Xmas, Joe and I took ourselves out in the Zipcar for a little date night. We started out with some grocery shopping (so romantic!) at the Waterworks. I’d never been there before and, I dunno why, I thought it would be really small and run-down, but it was…pretty normal.

After we stocked up on the necessaries, we headed down to the Church Brew Works and had some good beer and food and conversation. Joe let me vent about a lot of stuff and I let him try my pierogies. That’s love, folks.

Then we drove around for a while. In the very early days of our relationship, we used to drive around the city together, so even though on the surface it was just a car ride to Mount Washington it felt special.

I have a lot of good memories of these rivers and bridges.

As much as I talk about being ready to leave, I do love this city.

Or maybe it's just the company.

Afterwards, we took the long way through Mt Washington and the Hill District and Bloomfield and Squirrel Hill and every which way to Gullifty’s for some dessert. Joe had carrot cake and I had some kind of decadent chocolate thing that turned into a sloppy soup before I could finish half of it.

Mmmm...

And then home again, home again, to tuck my tired butt into bed. At least it’s only a two day work week to get through!

Merrrrrrrrrrrry Xmas!

One of my coworkers gave me this card - it's like a baby picture of our fur-babies!

So Joe, Seb and I went back east for Xmas (Josephine, of course, did not lower herself to join us). We had a pretty fun time, all things considered. While we were there, we split up for the weekend to do our own thang. Joe went to NYC to see his old college friends and I went to…uh…North Brunswick. It was awesome?

We also got up at the crack of noon on Xmas morning to go watch the reenactment of General George Washington crossing the Delaware. It was a lot more fun than I expected, to be honest. I have picture a-plenty, but what I suspect you really want to see is us in the car.

Right? Am I right?

Dad rode shotgun for a while.

Joe drove through snow - so brave!

It looks like I'm awake, but I'll be honest, I mostly slept.

Seb wished I would stop snoring.

Wow! Fun pictures, right!

It turns out riding in the car for 5.5 hours is kind of boring even after it’s over.

AVATAR CHANGED MY LIFE

Not really. But I did see it. And I didn’t hate it. But I didn’t love it.

I judge it like so:

Story = suck

Effects = WHOA

3-D = meh

Overall = slightly on the “whoa” side of “meh”

I really want to be excited about 3-D as the NEXT BIG AWESOME AMAZING THING THAT’S GOING TO CHANGE MOVIES AND HOW WE WATCH THEM FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES, but it sort of…doesn’t thrill me. Mostly I just kept thinking, “would I be enjoying this scene even if it wasn’t in 3-D?” And every single time, the answer was yes.

Cool trick, I guess, but I’m not sold.

The real highlight of the evening was the sweet-ass glasses we got to wear:

At first, Joe felt sort of ho-hum about them.

Then he saw how good I looked.

And he changed his mind.

Also, the leftover mac and cheese I forgot to eat during the movie that spilled inside my purse that I then had to pick out by hand.

Totally gross. (Not all of the mac is pictured, smart asses.)

Meatloaf Tuesday is kind of a big deal.

me:  are you excited for meaty loaf?!

Joe:  not as much as you, but yes.  I am.  I’ll kick its ass.

Joe:  but we dont have eggs

Joe:  is that a problem?

me:  wait

me:  i thought we had two?

Joe:  oh, ok.

Joe:  cool.

Joe:  thats right.

me:  i need them for cookies

me:  meatloaf will be fine

Joe:  do we have bread crumbs?

me:  oatmeal

Joe:  hmm, hybrid meatloaf explorations.

Joe:  yessssss

Snow day!

There is nothing like the first snowfall. It’s been a pretty sad fall here in Pittsburgh – not very cold, not much snow to speak of. A couple flakes fell last week when Joe and I went out to run errands, but nothing stuck. BOOOOOR-ing.

At work yesterday I kept hearing about some big storm that was supposedly headed our way and how we might get six inches by Sunday and blah blah blah, lies lies lies. This may be an exaggeration born out of jealousy, but I feel like every time snow is promised we get NADA and the other side of the state gets buried. And it’s not fair. Stupid weather.

So imagine my shock when I got up to use the bathroom this morning and noticed on my way back to bed that the tree outside our office was covered in snow. I looked out the other windows – snow! The front yard! The back yard! The street! Everything, everywhere, not just dusted but coated with snow.

I bounded in to tell Joe – he already knew, but I’m sure he appreciated being woken up to hear all about it – and later when I woke up for real I demanded we go out and play.

Sebastian was on board from minute 1. Joe seemed to be dragging his feet.

Isn't he ready YET?!

I paced the apartment, waiting and waiting and waiting.

SNOW!!!! Also pictured: Josie's new dishes!

Josie seemed pretty unfazed.

Don't let the door hit you on your way out.

Finally Joe was suited up. Always pragmatic, he decided to take out the trash, too.

Taking out the trash is AWESOME!

Seb did a lap around the yard, to make sure it was the same one.

Hmm...seems suspicious...

Josie watched us from above, judgingly.

You're dumb.

We took a couple of obligatory silly pictures.

CHEESE!

Then Joe kicked snow at me and I put some down his jacket.

We agreed that may have been a shit move.

But Sebastian kept the mood light.

You can kick snow at me!!!

Boy and dog posed for a portrait.

Click the button, lady, my butt's freezing off.

We took a stroll around the neighborhood, tromping through the snow, and finally made our way out of the weather and into the warm apartment.

I'm ready for cocoa!

I declare the first snow day of the season officially a success!

She’s just fluffy! JEEZ!

My mom made a comment recently that Josie’s looking fat. I think that’s a load of bull, but it’s obviously affected poor miss Josie’s self-esteem. As so many of us do, she turned to Seb for comfort.

You don't think I'm fat, do you?

I really don't care to be involved in this debate.

You want to live? Answer me, fuzz head.

Seb: Um...well...I'd say that...um...mfffphm...uhfmphm... / Josie: Hm. OK.

Whew. Dodged a bullet on that one!

For the record, Josie is not at all, not even a little bit, fat. She has a luxurious winter coat and she’s very muscular. So there!