A love story.

In case you a.) don't live in Pittsburgh or b.) have been living under a rock, there are some exciting new things happening in my fair city. Some exciting new films, I should say. "The Dark Knight Rises" hasn't started filming yet (at least, I haven't heard anything...) but "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" has.

"Perks" is based on the novel by the same name, written by Upper St. Clair native Stephen Chbosky. The novel is based outside of Pittsburgh, which explains the filming (PS--they were spotted up the street from my office last week). While I loved the book for many reasons in high school, this will forever be the highlight for me:

There’s something about that tunnel that leads to downtown. It’s glorious at night. Just glorious. You start on one side of the mountain, and it’s dark, and the radio is loud. As you enter the tunnel, the wind gets sucked away, and you squint from the lights overhead. When you adjust to the lights, you can see the other side in the distance just as the sound of the radio fades because the waves just can’t reach. Then, you’re in the middle of the tunnel, and everything becomes a calm dream. As you see the opening get closer, you just can’t get there fast enough. And finally, just when you think you’ll never get there, you see the opening right in front of you. And the radio comes back even louder than you remember it. And the wind is waiting. And you fly out of the tunnel onto the bridge. And there it is. The city. A million lights and buildings and everything seems as exciting as the first time you saw it. It really is a grand entrance.


I don't know that I've ever read a better description of the feeling you get when you drive through the Ft Pitt tunnels and catch sight of the city for the first time. One of my favorite blogs, That's Church, captured it pretty well here. But nothing catches it quite like "Perks" for me.


He's right. It's absolutely glorious. I can't go through that tunnel fast enough to get to the other side and see my city. I've done that drive more times than I can count on all of my fingers and toes. But it really always feels like I'm seeing it for the first time. Except it's almost better, because I have this image in my mind of what it's going to be like and inevitably, Pittsburgh outdoes itself. Like the city got all dressed up just for me--took time to shine every pane of glass and replace every light bulb because somehow, Pittsburgh knew I'd be driving through that tunnel. But that's how it looks for everyone. 


I vaguely remember a time in high school where I didn't want to live in Western PA, but it was a fleeting moment. I've loved a lot about this City for a long time. However, it only occurred to me very recently that I can make a career out of loving Pittsburgh. Want me to plant some trees? Sure, will do. Need someone to tweet all day about what's going on in the City? Pass me a laptop (or iPad or smartphone or even a desktop...) and I'll get to work. I'll drive the street sweepers. Yinz guys, this place has my heart. I'll tell everyone I can that I'm working to make the City of Pittsburgh a better place.


And if any jagoffs question it, I'll drive them through the Ft. Pitt tunnel. Then they'll understand.

If only I waited two more days...

I could have claimed a solid 5 months of no blogging. But then I realized that would make me a very, very bad blogger. So here goes a blog, LESS than five months after my last post!

A lot has happened in the past five months. They have flown. My sister & her family surprised my mom for Christmas. I can't for the life of me remember what I did in January, but I'm sure I had fun. February was a visit to my sister & a week of watching my niece. In March I turned 23, and my housemates and coworkers all made me feel very loved. Those three months--they went quickly.

April...April, I remember a lot better. My friends got married! Erika and Eric were married on April 9, and it was beautiful. It was such a wonderful chance to catch up with some of my closest friends. I spent the remainder of that weekend in Waynesburg, enjoying the parks and all of the green space on campus. What a beautiful, relaxing day that was.

That Monday, I was honored to be a panelist at the kickoff event for the Waynesburg University Department of Communication's PR Week. I, along with two other young alumni, gave brief presentations and honest, frank answers about being a young person in the field. It was so great to be able to give back to my alma matter in that way. The students, mostly freshmen, were quite engaged and asked excellent questions. Props to those students, and the WU PRSSA chapter, for being such great hosts.

April 15 was a big day for PULSE! We had our annual event, PULSEations, at Union Project. I was blessed enough to have friends, family AND coworkers attend the celebration, where we revealed some pretty big news...PULSE is adding a second house! We are expanding into neighboring Garfield, which will provide such an opportunity to continue our mission of cultivating young servant leaders to transform Pittsburgh. (PS...want to read about us? Check out former PULSEr/current PULSE board member/super cool person/friend Kate Stoltzfus' blog, Yinzpiration! You can even peek into our house!)

May has been exciting thus far. The Pirates, despite their best efforts, were one game over .500! What a glorious 24 hours that was. We're now one below that miracle number, but I bet we'll get there again. If not this year, maybe next. In the first three weeks.

A lot of people have been asking me about next year, and rightfully so. PULSE "graduation" is coming nearer every day. I have some exciting prospects, which I'm not quite ready to share with the world just yet. Know that I'm excited and confident that God is making some cool things happen for me here in the 'Burgh.

Quick story time: when I graduated from high school, my family came from far & wide to celebrate. After my party, a group of us gathered at my grandmother's house to continue celebrating. My cousin Ruth and her daughter Charlotte, both residents of Manhattan, were there. We showed Charlotte a postcard of New York City and asked her what it was. Her response? "My city!". That's how I feel about Pittsburgh, every time I see it.

What is Pittsburgh? It's my city. I've recently come to realize that my passion is this place and the people who live here. I want everyone to love this place as much as I do, and I want to commit my life to making that happen.

So here we are--one blog post down. Promise I won't make you wait 5 months for another.

Surprised?

So am I, dear reader. So am I. I haven't posted two weeks in a row in a verrry long time. I guess I just have lots to say today.

First of all, I'll never complain about not being in the Christmas spirit again! I spent a good chunk of today sorting through holiday card lists, Googling businesses (isn't it funny how "Googling" has become part of our national lexicon?), and attempting to pare down the card list at work. No such luck. Tomorrow, I get to help sign/label nearly 200 holiday cards. Merry Christmas to ALL, indeed.

Onto my next topic, also work-related. I just feel blessed to be at my office. I've worked in a lot of places, and I've been fortunate to only have one (maybe one and a half) bad experience. But I'm just having a great experience this time. So supportive. That's all.

This weekend was Unwrapped at Union Project! In case you missed it, their stained glass restoration project was on the front page of the Post-Gazette on Saturday, just in time for Unwrapped. It was a great night, made better by the appearance of my dear friend from college Sarah who came up to visit/attend Unwrapped with me. So cool to see so many people (and so many former PULSErs, really) come together for an amazing community space.

Speaking of former PULSErs, a fantastically friendly and helpful alum, Kate, has started a crazy-cool blog. Yinzpiration. And it is just what it sounds like--inspirational folks, yinzer style. Her most recent interview was with my friend (and fiance to my wonderful housemate Beth), Jesse Landis-Eigsti. Jesse is super sweet and he has a blog where he reviews the world. Literally, he reviews the world. Parking tickets to marriage to himself, nothing is left untouched. Read up.

Also, I have sold my soul to the knitting powers that be. Next year, someone remind me to start making Christmas gifts in July! I think my fingers are going to fall off. Or perhaps I'll just start knitting in my sleep? That sounds like a great support group. Sleep-knitters Anonymous.

There are only 12 days until Christmas. So do the "Twelve Days of Christmas" begin today? Or is it for the 12 days following the holiday? I never know.

Bah, humbug.

I have to be honest; I haven't always been honest on this blog. Sure, I've only had 7 posts. But those 7 posts removed all of the bad parts of my experience and left only the good.

There has been much more good than bad. And when put in perspective, the bad isn't even all that bad. But it's best that I give both sides of this experience and of my life to you, my dear reader (and most likely, family or friend. I don't get the sense that this blog is going to take off any time soon!).

So, with that said, bah humbug.

I'm just not feeling the Christmas spirit! I've got some classic Christmas playing on Pandora (set your station to Jackson 5 Holiday, you won't regret it--seriously), we put up the tree last week and I'm furiously working on projects for those I hold dear to me. We even celebrated St. Nick's day in the house last night; one of the perks of having two devoutly Catholic (and generous) housemates/friends. St. Nick has excellent taste in popcorn creations, by the way.

Even the weather is trying to get me in the Christmas spirit. It's snowing in Pittsburgh! There was a brief (okay, extended) period at the office today where I just sat at my desk and watched the flakes fall furiously, battling the wind that would inevitably hurl them back toward the sky. I actually wonder how much of the snow made its way to the ground on that small section of road; perhaps it all got recycled and Mother Nature played a good trick on me today. Regardless, I enjoyed myself immensely and even thought with relief "maybe my Christmas spirit is coming now"!

Nope. Still nearly devoid of all excitement for this holiday, commercially and spiritually. That's the part that really gets me--that I just don't feel in my heart what I typically feel around this advent season. Those of us who are believers are gearing up for a pretty fantastic event: the day our Savior was born. He was (is) a miraculous gift to his family and to humanity. Why can't I get excited for that?

And to top it all off, I've become anti-social. Me, the girl of 1,000 birthday parties and play dates and "oh mom, I need you to drive me here after you've worked all day"s doesn't want to hang out with anyone. I've taken to hiding in my room from the time I get home from work to the time I go to bed, with about an hour respit for dinner. Weird, right? It's almost as though I don't have the energy to converse. Bahh.

Maybe it's not going through the regular motions of finals and the excitement of a winter break. Maybe--no, definitely, this is the main contributing factor-- it's the fact that I won't see my sister, brother-in-law or my beautiful new niece until February (only 67 days...totally manageable. Right?).

Christmas is coming, whether I like it or not. I have a few ideas to get me in the right spirit. Good thing I have good people here to help me get out of this funk...or to let me be in it but keep checking in on me.

Thank YOU for checking in on me. I promise to not be a Scrooge or a Grinch or a generally all-around miserable person when I see you next. And if I am...feel free to yell at me. Or spread some of your Christmas cheer my way, because I'd surely appreciate it.

Summing up a month in a blog post.

It's been awhile. A month and nine days, to be exact.

So, what have I done? That's a good question. The answer is, a lot. I've gotten more put on my plate at work. Not so much that I can't handle it, but there are definitely always things to be done. I don't really get "bored" at the office and if I do, it's because I'm procrastinating....which clues me in that I need to get back to my ever-evolving "to-do" list.

Things at the house are going well. We're still eating together four nights a week and cooking in pairs. It's so wonderful to serve each other like that; it really brings us together, I think. It ensures that we spend a solid amount of time together each week. Some people don't make it to every meal, but in general we eat as a family. Even when we don't all cook for each other, we tend to eat around the same times and pull up a spot around our (tiny) kitchen table.

My favorite new tradition (is that a contradiction?) in our house is popcorn Sundays. Every Sunday evening around 7, most of us gather 'round the same tiny kitchen table for popcorn and chit chat. I come home after church to the smell of popcorn (not microwave...the real thing) and the sounds of everyone laughing and talking. It's a good thing.

Seminars have been interesting. It's hard to remember what all we've done over the past 6 weeks since I last blogged but I'll try to recap. We visited the food bank one week and I got to see Waynesburg's former Bonner coordinator, Brian. It was good to see him, and to pack boxes at the food bank. We also went to the Pittsburgh Project and learned all about what they do. I'd never been into the classrooms before so it was great to see what they used to look like, and how they've changed. We also got to see the farm, which I helped to dig last November. It was great to see something (even just ground cover) growing where we had spent so much time digging in the chilly rain.

We had retreat in October! Unfortunately, it was the same weekend as Waynesburg's Homecoming game. I wish I'd been at the game to see everyone, but it was a good weekend nonetheless. I'm pretty hesitant about retreats because I always feel like they aren't really retreats--they're usually pretty time-consuming and more exhausting than a typical weekend at home. This retreat, thankfully, was different. We had plenty of time to just relax and hang out, which was great. We went to Ohio Pyle for a few hours; it was great to see everything during the fall with the beautiful colors. This fall isn't the best for the leaves but they were still pretty.

I've spent a lot of time lately reflecting--reflecting on what I do every day, how I react, etc. It's helping me to determine what I do and don't want to do in the future. For example, I like to have lists. When directions are vague, I feel less motivated to get a project done. I've been trying to take note of my feelings and reactions to different situations, in hopes that these observations will lead me towards a clearer path. Even knowing the field I'd like to pursue would be a big step for me right now!

Our house had a late "housewarming" party on Saturday night. It was so great to see my Waynesburg friends that have stayed around Pittsburgh. I love my housemates, but it's so nice to see a really familiar face sometimes. I think I'm so blessed to have two worlds colliding like I do; I get to experience the newness of the city and our relationships with my housemates but can experience the familiarity and ease of my friendships with my WU friends on a pretty regular basis.

I'm getting pretty tired and remembering is becoming even more difficult...but I am still enjoying myself here in Pittsburgh. Your prayers and support mean so much to me and my housemates as we continue to serve the Lord in the City of Champions!

p.s. I'm trying to convert the girls into Pittsburgh fans...so far, I have one Pens fan (unfortunately, she's also a Browns fan!). A few of them are happy when the Steelers win, but just for me. I'll win them over, yet.