Leave a comment and I’ll give you a letter. Post ten things you LOVE that begin with that letter.  Then give a letter to anyone who leaves a comment for you… and the cycle will continue.

I decided to participate too and he gave me the letter M, but switched up the rules: I had to name 10 things I love about Pittsburgh that start with the letter M, not just things in general. So, without further ado, my list.

1.       Marginal Designs: Yet more shameless self-promotion. But I seriously love the fact that two people can put the face of a local celebrity on a t-shirt in the style of the Che Guevara shirts and people will totally support it. Yinzers rock.

2.       Masloff, Sophie: The first (and so far, only) female mayor of Pittsburgh and a revered local icon. On a related note, I love the WearPittsburgh t-shirts that support a potential Masloff run for President. I’d vote for her!

3.       Mount Washington: A gorgeous view of our gorgeous city. I love bringing visitors up to Mt. Washington. It’s a visual rebuttal to the “Pittsburgh is dirty and smoky and gross” stereotype that somehow persists even in 2008:

(Picture from DeathByBokeh)

4.       Most Livable City: I totally agree, Pittsburgh is the Most Livable City in the United States. We have great museums, a low cost of living, and friendly neighbors. What more could you ask for?

5.       Mario Lemieux: I belong to a Facebook group called “Mario Lemieux Just Might Be God.” And it’s not an exaggeration AT ALL. Mario was an amazing hockey player despite all his setbacks and contributes meaningfully to our community.

6.       Monongahela River:  Together with the Allegheny, it forms the Ohio River at Point State Park. Without it, national sports broadcasters wouldn’t be able to say that Pittsburgh lies at the confluence of three rivers, and then how would they show off their extensive vocabularies?

7.       Miller, Heath: A solid football player and reliable tight end on the Steelers. He rarely misses any of Ben’s passes, which is more than I can say for some of the other players on the team. (cough, Santonio Holmes, cough)

8.       Mr. Rogers : I cried the day Mr. Rogers died. He was an integral part of my childhood and he lived right here in Pittsburgh. My favorite Mr. Rogers story: When he was baby-sitting his grandson, his car was stolen. The news stations reported the theft and the next day, or maybe a few days later, the thief returned the car to Mr. Rogers. That story really speaks to the good he brought out in people.

9.       Myron Cope: A Pittsburgh original, creator of the Terrible Towel, award-winning journalist, and owner of perhaps the most distinctive voice ever. Myron, we miss you.

10.   Mary Cassatt: I love her paintings. Anything that places value on the often unseen lives of women is awesome in my book. And she’s from Pittsburgh, too!

Leave a comment if you want to write your top ten list with a Pittsburgh twist!

In the meantime, husb and I are thinking of taking a weekend trip some weekend in November. Ideally, we’d like to be able to leave after work on a Friday, get there and check into a hotel so we can spend all day Sunday and most of Sunday in the destination. But we don’t know where to go! DC is out of the question - hello, we just spent two years living there - as are places we’ve been like New York or Philly or places I was raised to loathe like Cleveland. We’re looking for something under the radar, a place people wouldn’t normally think to visit.

Maybe Detroit? Or Toronto? Any ideas or suggestions, faithful readers?

(So, that’s my pathetic attempt at saying sorry for leaving you hanging for months on end.)

I missed blogging, I really did. Some days I would go back and read through the entries on this site and remember what I was feeling when I wrote them and feel the urge to start up again. I didn’t, because there was always a house thing to do, or a job thing to do, or a wedding thing to do.

Well, guess what - the wedding is over, the house is pretty much all settled, and the job is going great. So, I’m BACK, kids. And in honor of the occasion, I am going to do a 90s VOTW every DAY until the end of October. That is my solemn vow to you. Because we all need a little 90s music in our lives when the seasons start to change and you know winter is coming. We at least need it so we can rock out with our bad selves in chilly houses.

We just finished putting together the office this weekend, so I have a nice place to focus on writing my blog, writing my book, and working on various other projects that require my attention outside of work. So, I’ll see you tomorrow.

That’s a promise.

But is it too much to ask for the phones to be at least marginally exciting? I scroll through my list of available phones and basically I’m seeing the same design in either black or silver over and over again. I want something kind of quirky, not the basic phone I have now. Otherwise, why am I getting a new phone at all? I’m leaning toward the Samsung Juke, because it plays music and has a cool design and comes in teal, but I’ve read some bad reviews of it. Although I’m not usually very rough on my phone, so it might not be so bad for me…

Man, these first world problems suck, don’t they? UGH.

But there’s something disconcerting about heading out for the day on May 19 and pulling on your winter wool coat, buttoning it up to the top button. By this time of the year, I feel like I shouldn’t be worried about making sure I have clean work socks, but I do. I’ve never been a big fan of spring, mostly due to the overabundant mud and the nauseating smell of freshly cut grass and the ricocheting temperatures (forty in the morning, seventy at noon makes me a cranky blogger), but I am so ready for this coldness to be done.

Andy Warhol’s over it, too.

(Jordan Staal)

and

Martha Plimpton (you know, that one girl from The Goonies)

TOTALLY be brother and sister?

And why do you pop up in the most unexpected places, like the pasta salad I was eating as part of my lunch today? I was lucky enough to score a free lunch, and then you had to appear in my mouth with your gross taste and completely ruin those ten seconds of my life it took me to swig some Diet Pepsi and forget you had slipped past me in an attempt to – what? Make me like you? It’s been 24 years, Celery. I’m beyond a simple dislike or a “she’ll grow out of it” phase. I outright hate you. So if you don’t mind, quit appearing in my food and I’ll quit remembering that you exist.

XO,
Christina

• had a very insane and hectic day at the office
• went to happy hour with a dear old friend from high school
• came home and wrote a chapter of my book

Therefore, I am tired.

But here’s a picture of one of my cats!

He’s cute, look at him! Don’t mind me, curled up in the corner here … with the comfy bed … and the pillows … and …

I believe Amy called it, just a few weeks ago. Although she thought (and I did too) that the pregnancy/kids stuff would start after my status changed to “married.”