What do firemen, chinese auctions and horses have in common?

A Night at the Races, that's what.

So, we were invited to a charity event on Saturday for the local fire department. And, as we all know, firemen have a special place in my heart so I was looking forward to it. The location of this event was right near the border of PA and WV (just giving you a heads up). Anyway, what happened after we got there was...how do I say.... unexpected. You see, what happens at this event is a bunch of seemingly small town folk get together, eat a crap ton of food, drink beer and bet on horses. Attendees could pay ahead of time to name a horse (further explanation of this below). The races are pre-recorded and then someone picks a race randomly throughout the night. And that's when the magic happens.Y'all, there is literally a guy who makes a living going around to these events and calling the races. Okay so, imagine the funniest/most vulgar name you can. Horse name, not person. Now imagine a guy yelling it out repeatedly along with 9 other terribly ridiculous names. Maybe you had to be there. It was hilarious. People bet on the horses and everything. Like a real, legit horse race. The Chinese auction, however, is where I really racked up. Sort of like a silent auction but with tickets, so more like a drawing. Sort of. Yeah, I clearly don't know how to explain it. But I got a cool basket of stuff though. Overall my findings were that horse racing is pretty darn fun to watch and that Pennsylvania people are not all that different than South Carolina people. Case in point- there was a guy sitting at our table that used to be a professional bull rider. I kid you not. We have got to get this down South.

Sunday afternoon we went to the Pirates game (Arrrrrr!!) It was about 85 degrees with full sun. Felt like Miami, no lie. Pirates lost- booo... but we had fun- yay.... A fun fact for you- the Pirates were originally named the Pittsburgh Alleghenies. Thank goodness that didn't stick.

The weekend was fun-filled and action packed. We close on our house on Wednesday so I'll post an update as soon as I can (aka when we get Internet).

Closing time

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Well, it's time to make the long journey up to the Burgh. We're closing on the house soon, which means I'll be living in cardboard box hell again. Joy. I will say that I'm sort of ready to get up there though. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to miss Greenville and everyone here so much it hurts, but this in between nonsense has got to stop. I've had enough. And it might be nice to actually live with my husband again.

 I'm terrible at goodbyes, but let's face it, this isn't goodbye, it's see ya later. So let's all get excited cause there's no crying in baseball!!! Wait...wrong analogy. You know what I mean.

So, here's to new beginnings and old ones too. To new adventures, to old friends and lots of memories. Thanks for everything G-vegas! Cheers!

Hold on to your hats, here we go...

Well, it's my last week in Greenville before I make the journey up to the Burgh. Lots of lunches and dinners to be had. I haven't been stressed, really, until now. Stress is upon me. I'm not sure why exactly. I mean, other than the fact that my whole life is about to change. Don't worry, I'm still excited about it.

We close on the house next week. Hopefully all will go well with that. It'll be interesting to see how our furniture fits into this house. Pray for Sparky as I may have him moving stuff around like musical chairs. I'll post some pics of the inside of the house when I get a chance, so stay tuned. Sorry for the short update but not much has happened since my last post. Fortunately, it's about to get real interesting up in here.

House update

As some of you know by now, we are under contract on the house from my previous post-see photo above. Now we just need to get through the inspection process. I've had lots of questions about the house so let me tell you a bit about it. First of all, it is one of (maybe the only actually) that has a flat yard. Amazing. It's about 85 years old, brick, 2 car garage. It needs some work, but we like that apparently. The street it's on is adorable. And we're really close to Trader Joe's, Anthropologie, and lots of other shopping. We're about 10 minutes or so from downtown in the township of Mt. Lebonon (which we have to start referring to as Mt. Lebo much to my dismay). Sparky likes to say it like a Jersey Shore gangster. Or maybe it's Yogi bear, I don't know. Also, please note it is pronounced Mt. Lebonin. We have been corrected repeatedly.

Anyway, that's where we are. Still up in the air sort of, but I have confidence it will work out however it's supposed to. We're looking forward to hopefully being in a house soon!

the Journey we choose

Somebody call Journey cause I think I stopped believing for a second. And I think we all know how they feel about that. This whole house thing is more difficult than anticipated. Okay, I realize it probably is for everyone so, no, I don't need you to start singing You Are Not Alone. It's one of those "If I could just pick up this house and put in a different neighborhood, we'd be fine" or "I'd like this house except for these major renovations we'll have to do". sigh... I'm trying really hard not to be too picky, but let's face it, that's just not me. Sparky is a visionary though so he likes to tell me we can fix everything. Blow out a wall here, add a bathroom there, no worries. Yeah okay, no worries (insert nagging doubts here).

Anyway, I got a little down this weekend feeling like there wasn't a house for us. But God knew it and sent in Sparky's brother to turn me around. Sparky saw a print in one of the houses that is the same as his bro's, so he sent him a text. I thought nothing of it honestly. But Sparky's brother saw something. See, we're all about signs and "what's meant to be, will be" in this family, so seeing that print incited a series of symbolic explanations. The biggest one being the title of the print- "Southern Comfort". Take what you will from it, but had he not pointed it out, it would have been overlooked by me.

On a different note altogether, we were at a friend's house this past weekend having dinner. The wife (who is "from" Atlanta) tells me that the biggest difference she has seen since living in Pittsburgh is the overall lack of pretense. She really likes the fact that people are who they are. There isn't the overwhelming need to impress others. Everyone we've come in contact with thus far has been super nice and helpful and it really does seem to be genuine. They don't try to be something they're not and they're not terribly concerned with what others think. Now that's something I can get on board with!

We also went into the city this weekend and ate at Primanti Bros.- they made the sandwich with coleslaw and french fries on it a Pittsburgh delicacy. Of course I got mine without the coleslaw. Apparently, if I had been in the original one in the Strip District, they would've refused to serve me and my ridiculous non-slawed self. Blasphemy is, I believe, how they refer to the changing of the sandwich. Good to know. Anywho, I'm pretty sure we just missed a flash mob in the square where we were, which upset me because I imagine that is the closest I will ever get to seeing one live. Overall a good trip. We've made an offer on a house (yes, the one with the picture) so we'll see how it goes. I guess if the dog print is the omen we think it is, we're all set.

Oh, I almost forgot! I witnessed an almost fight in the airport on the way to The Burgh. One guy cut in front of another one while boarding the plane and the next thing you know there's a circle around them, school yard style. A girl in the crowd watching yelled "Is this a terrorist attack?!" I don't care who you are, that's funny. I mean, there are literally assigned seats folks! So I ask you, what is wrong with people?!

Who's with me??

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What's LEFT in Pittsburgh

So here's what I learned about The Burgh this weekend-

1. There are 446 bridges in the city of Pittsburgh, hence why it is called the "City of Bridges". That's 3 more than Venice, Italy! Amazing!

2. They have an obscene number of Italian restaurants. They are EVERYWHERE. Also, they serve huge portions. A woman we were with Friday night was all "just so you know, they serve huge portions up here." Awww... bless her heart. I said, "Sweetie, I live in the way too much food capital of the world. It's called the South." But thanks for comin out.

3. It is borderline impossible to find a flat yard. Front or back. Very hilly. Not used to that. Have fun mowing, Sparky!

4. The Crowne Plaza parking lot in Mt. Lebanon is, perhaps, the windiest place in the world. Seriously, it would give Everest a run for it's money. If I'd had a umbrella, I would have been Mary Poppined all the way to Philly.

5. There are so many deer! We went to a house and there were about 5 deer just hangin out in the back yard. Sparky and I stood there in awe while our realtor just laughed. Totally normal. Totally common. No big deal. Just a herd of deer. I'm terrified of hitting one now- which I'm told will happen most likely. Awesome. Can't wait.

6. There is something called a "Pittsburgh left" which we witnessed several times. Allow me to explain. A Pittsburgh left is when someone turning left takes their life and the life of anyone in their car or yours into their hands. They turn left across the intersection right in front of oncoming traffic. And, no, I'm not talking about "oh, there's a car coming in about 50 feet, I think I can make it". What I'm referring to is when the oncoming car has to slam on brakes and/or swerve so as not to hit the turning car. It. Is. Crazy. And this is accepted practice. Just put on a clean pair of underwear and move on. Not I. Hello, my name is Jessica and I've just become the slowest driver in America. Maybe I'll get one of those bumper stickers that says "I may be going slow, but I'm still in front of you". Too much? Well, just in case I'm not explaining it correctly, feel free to Wikipedia it- it's there.

Moving on-- we found some houses we like but are still up in the air. To rent or not to rent? That is the question. Just for a year though. And while I see the value in not feeling pressured to buy and to be able to really figure out the area we want to live in, moving twice makes me want to jump off of one of those 446 bridges. Not sure what we'll do at this point. This is the song that never ends. Yes, it goes on and on my friend.