A Cleveland Christmas

As I mentioned before, the month of December took me to Cleveland on two separate occasions. One was to participate in The Christmas Story 10k with Abby and the second was to take John to the Christmas Story house so he wouldn't feel left out. Both trips were equally fun and eerily similar. Take a look…

Posing with the leg lamp!

Just catching up on the day's news.

With an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!

Triple dog dare ya!

How cute is he??

Abby and I went to a place called Melt--specialty grilled cheese. Pictured (left) is a mac and cheese grilled cheese and charizo grilled cheese. John and I went to a specialty burger place, and I got a grilled cheese burger!

Abby and I of course finished off our trip with a trip to the chocolate bar (we had just run a 10k remember??). It was AMAZING! And we also went to a Cavs game, which was fun too.

When Stars Align

We've made it to 2014, but 2013 will be pretty hard to top for John. The Pirates making the play-offs and meeting Mario Lemieux would have been enough, but alas there was much more!

It was a typical day in November for John, working at the nearby AT&T as he so often does, when he got an unexpected customer. BEN ROETHLISBERGER!!! The store was empty, which is why he thinks Big Ben decided to drop in. Ben had some odd request, and John and his co-workers did their best to help him. But as the store started to gain more customers, Ben decided to duck out. He and his co-workers were all shocked Ben stopped in and tried to play it cool the whole time. Unfortunately though, they decided to play it so cool that they didn't get a picture! But this is what I imagine it would have looked like:

John said Ben was so nice and seemed like a real normal guy. Needless to say, a pretty good day at work for him.

A few months later we got to attend Pirates Fest. As a season ticket holder, John and I were able to attend an earlier portion of the event (before the rest of the public could attend). Through a series of lucky coincidences, we got to meet and get autographs from a few key/favorite players!

We entered the expo and John hesitated a brief second before jumping in the autograph line. We wound our way through turnstile after turnstile before we finally came to a halt at the "hour from this point" sign. We check the autograph schedule and discovered the closing pitcher Jason Grille (my fav) would be signing in exactly one hour! We were definitely going to be cutting it close, and Grille had to show up right on time for us to meet him.

We made friends with the woman in front of us in line (John had actually helped her at AT&T and she lives down the street from him--crazy coincidence!). This turned out to be a benefit to us as we neared the front of the line. She knew we were really wanting to see Grille and as our turn came (she and her son were at the table), we could see movement behind the curtain. She asked the security guy if Grille was coming out, and he said yes. So she asked if she and her son could stay there until he did. He said yes, which was a great benefit to us because we got to meet him, too! And not only that, but the previous player (Sterling Marte) stayed at the table a little longer, so we got his autograph too!

Sterling Marte

John and Jason Grille

John went to a Pearl Jam concert in October and Grille was brought on stage. So John brought up the show to Grille, and I think he made a pretty good impression. They're like best friends now.

So it was quite a year for John and his new professional athlete friends! Let's see what 2014 has got for us.

Final Countdown

As the final seconds of 2013 tick away this New Year's Eve, I will celebrate more than the incoming year. For the first time ever, I actually kept a New Years resolution. You may remember from a previous post, that I resolved to participate in one athletic event each month. My January through July events are reviewed here, but now I will update you on the latter part of the year.

August
When I last updated on my endeavor, I was preparing for my first-ever duathalon. It just so happened that my brother and dad were visiting the weekend of the event (the Steelers were playing the Chiefs in the pre-season, and they couldn't pass that opportunity up). However, John had gotten passes to participate in batting practice at PNC Park that same morning. So he took my brother, and my dad was stuck watching me race. This explains the lack of pictures from the event. In fact, this is the only picture I took:

The race was a 5k run, 400 meter swim and then 2.8k run. I probably did not prepare as much as I should have (I say that a lot) and the last 2.8k was awfully hard. There were a few times I thought I might actually be passing people, but they turned out to be just regular runners enjoying a jog in the park. So it was always depressing when I figured that out. And because they weren't competitors, I was convinced I finished dead last in the race. That all changed when I later looked at the race results:

THAT'S RIGHT! I WON MY AGE GROUP! Only I didn't. Cause as it turns out, I am not 24 years old. I am 26. So technically I would have finished 2nd in my real age group. And technically I ended up 36th out of 44 finishers.

Still, I had a blast at this race, and I plan on doing it again next year. Maybe I'll at least get my age right this time.

SEPTEMBER
Things got a little wild in September. Abby and I decided to do the Wild Rumpus obstacle course race in Pittsburgh (thanks Living Social for the coupon!). It was based on the book "Where the Wild Things Are," so naturally Abby and I decided to dress up as Max. Our costumes were a real hit, especially because NOBODY ELSE DRESSED UP!

"Max"ines

We didn't expect the race to be too challenging. And seeing as how the first few "obstacles" were us stepping through tires while volunteers shot us with squirt guns, it seemed we were right. But then we entered into the trails section. You know how when you run trails there's always a very steep embankment on one side? Well at one point, we had to run UP that super steep, not often tread upon embankment. Halfway up, they provided a rope to help you pull yourself up. Problem was, it had rained all day the day before, so the first half of the embankment was super slick and there was no rope. That little bit completely shocked my legs.

Reenactment.

Not actual embankment.

What really sold me on the race was the fact that one of the obstacles was shooting a bow and arrow. Since reading The Hunger Games, I've felt extra empowered as a female and felt shooting a bow and arrow would prove my worth. I knew I could do it. I sprinted up to the station with confidence and my arrow went approximately two feet. I asked the volunteer if I had to actually hit the target before advancing. He told me no, but that I might have a better chance at hitting the target if I didn't hold the bow upside down (as I was) and pulled back all three strings (which I wasn't). My second attempt was better, but I still did not hit the target. We decided to just move on.

This race was incredibly trying and fun (one of the last obstacles was a big water slide!!). I will not take it lightly next time.

October
My October race was an easy choice. The Mario Lemieux foundation was putting on a 6.6k. Lemieux is a former Penguins player (one of the greatest) and now current owner of the team. He literally saved the team and kept them in Pittsburgh, so he's kind of a legend around town. His number was 66, hence the 6.6k. Not only did I think it was a unique distance, I was hoping the connection to the Penguins would convince John to participate with me.
Buuuuuuut, John was still a little on the fence. His parents were visiting that weekend, so I suggested they do it with us! In addition to the 6.6k, there was also a family fun, 1 mile walk. John still wasn't sure if he wanted to do it, but then I found out that participants got to go to an open Pens practice! That did the trick. His parents were on board as well, so it was an exciting family affair!

The course was nice and easy, there was a great medal and finishers t-shirt, nice selection of post-race food, and then I found out it was the first year of the race! I was blown away. I couldn't believe how well organized the whole affair was. But the best part was Mario Lemieux himself was at the race! I snapped a picture as I ran by, but John actually got to shake his hand as he finished. It was such a neat experience for John! That man is his hero!

Mario Lemieux at the starting line!

After the race, we got to go to the open practice. John and I have been to a few games before, but this time we got to sit down close to the ice! It was neat to see all the players up close and get a glimpse of their personalities.

Crosby, Fleury, Bennett (BABY FACE BEAU!), and Coach Bylsma

November
When I saw there was a 5k run at the zoo, I knew I had to do it. Luckily, Abby agreed to do it with me, and we were excited at the idea of getting half-off, possibly free (it was never made clear) admission to the zoo after the run. We decided at the last minute to dress up, and settled on masking tape-striped zebras. This time, we were 1 of maybe 10 people dressed up (COM'ON PITTSBURGH!).
We learned the hard way that the zoo is located at the top of the hill. So the course kinda kicked my ass. Very few (real) animals were out, and it was actually really cold. When the race was over, we stood around for awhile not really sure if/how/when we could go into the zoo. We decided it was too cold and unclear to stick around, so we went for brunch instead. We made the right choice. And I won't be doing this one again.

Zebras!!

Abby think this picture is so hilarious.
The course was all uphill!!

December
We truly saved the best race for last! Abby and I traveled to Cleveland for "The Christmas Story" 10k run. As you may or may not know, the house that was used in The Christmas Story movie is actually located in Cleveland, OH. So the race started in the public square (where the old Higbee's Department store was located) and went to The Christmas Story house. For the 5k runners, it ended there, but for us 10k runners we ran back to the square. Upon arriving at the finish line, we were given awesome leg lamp medals and a fresh cup of hot Olvaltine!
Abby and I decided to dress up as leg lamps for the race, and we were pleasantly surprise to find that EVERYONE else dressed up too! Finally! Not only that, but people were so creative with their costumes! You know how you've probably never seen the movie from start to finish, bust just in parts? That's what it was like when we were running the race. You'd see a new costume, remember that part of the movie and then see another costume that would trigger a different part. There were robbers and dogs, moms and dads, pink nightmares and leg lamps, a blind Ralphie! It was great! The only slight downfall was that it was miserably cold! I'm talking 28 degrees people!

After the race, we were granted free admission to the house and museum with our race bibs. While Abby and I did plan to dress alike during the race, we did not plan the gray sweater, yellow scarf, black jacket ensemble for after… SISTERS!!

Of course I have plenty more pictures of the house and the remainder of our adventure in Cleveland. But since John wasn't able to join us for this trip, he and I traveled back to Cleveland (and the house) a week later. So I will recap the visits in a later post.
This was the first year for The Christmas Story race (celebrating the movie's 30th release anniversary). It may have been the best race of the year, and if they do it again, I'll definitely be participating.

So there it is, New Year's resolution complete!

Abby and I decided that our next goal is to compete in a race in every state by the time we're 50. So, if there's a good race in your state that you recommend, or a time of year that's best for us to visit, let me know!

Pumpkins and Duckins

This fall I did just that… I fell way behind on my blog. So now, with 13 days left until Christmas, I thought I'd catch up. Starting with Halloween.

Not Ducking Around
One of the highlights of the fall was the four-story tall rubber duck that nested on Pittsburgh's river for roughly 4 weeks. The promotion and advertising leading up to the event was huge. Stores all over downtown put rubber duck stickers in their windows and one even had small replica…

Well despite the ducks all over town, I still didn't think many people would come out for the duck's debut. My mom happened to be in town that weekend, and we decided to see the duck in. It was partnered with a nighttime pop-up market located on the Roberto Clemente bridge. I was so excited and very wrong about people not coming out. There were people EVERYWHERE!

The bridge was packed with people!

Not only were there a lot of people, but there were also a lot of famous guests too (of the Aves kind)!

Iceberg the mascot and James from the Aviary

After much anticipation, the duck finally made its way downstream. Due to the swarm of people, I wasn't able to get a great picture. We also didn't stay long enough to see it get closer, so this is the best I got…

Fall Family Fun
A few weeks later, John's mom and sister Emily came to visit (his sister Abby was getting back from her two-week trip to India, but that's another story). The day before Abby got home, we decided to visit Simmons Farm for some fall fest fun. We took a hayride, got lost in a corn maze, picked apples, pumpkins and corn, launched apples in a sling shot, and saw a pumpkin launcher!!! It was SO MUCH FUN!

My favorite picture--Mallicks forming a strategy in the corn maze.

After they got things figured out.

Family Shot!

John and I with our lucky pumpkins!

My first time apple picking!

Despite ALL of the family fun activities, John and Emily most enjoyed the farm animals. It was so funny to how excited they got around the goats, sheep and REALLY FAT PIG! John even bought some feed for the animals, and one of the sheep ate the dixie cup out of John's hand! Then the pig fell asleep and started pig snoring! Okay… the animals were pretty cool.

And with a few days to spare before Halloween, John and I finally carved our pumpkins. He attempted a pretty intricate design, and it turned out so well!

Proud of his pumpkin, proud of the Pirates

And my pumpkin…

Save the date!

Dreams Do Come True

Aside from finding the loves of our life and getting engaged (blah, blah, blah), John and I both had our dreams come true this year.

Don't Stop Believing
For the first time in 20 years, the Pirates finished above .500. A winning season! And not only that, they made the playoffs! And I'll do ya one better still, THEY WON THE WILD CARD GAME!!

The morning after we found out the Pirates would be playing in the Wild Card game, John drove me to school and rushed over to the stadium to buy play-off gear. Fortunately, this moment was captured by an Altoona news station (where John used to live!). So without further adieu... check it out! (Please enjoy the "modeling poses" at 0:55).

Because John was a season ticket holder (which I'm sure he'll tell you was the best decision of his life), he was able to purchase play-off tickets. So, we were lucky enough to attend the wild card game.

Before the Wild Card game.

We'd been to many baseball games before, but this one was unlike all the others. The atmosphere was electric. The stadium was full of Pirates fans... you hardly saw any Red. It was so neat! There was no extra chatter, every one was hanging on each pitch--John didn't even touch his game snacks!

The Reds' pitcher that night was Cueto. All of the Pirates fans started chanting "Cueto! Cueto! Cueto!" to get in his head. Well it worked! At one point the pitcher dropped the ball, only to have a homerun hit off of him the very next pitch. He was so shaken he got pulled in the bottom of the 4th! 

The Pirates went on to win 6-2, and I've never seen John so genuinely happy. I was lucky enough to catch the last out and his reaction, so enjoy these videos and photos....

The Gulf Tower downtown lit
up a "P" for the game

Some famous Pirates guy
threw out the 1st pitch.

A local hospital dressed up
newborn babies as pirates!!

My favorite--He's so happy.

Bridge party after the game!

MMMBop!

I've never been one to obsess over famous people--with the exception of one small time period of my life. My celebrities of choice were Hanson and the Magnificent 7 ('96 Olympic gold-medal winning gymnastics team--think Keri Strug and Shannon Miller). I was OBSESSED!

I loved Zac Hanson with every fiber of my being. I had posters on my wall, t-shirts, books, videos, everything Hanson I could get my hands on. I was accused of wanting to play drums in 5th grade only because of my love for Zac. I still claim this isn't true, but I may be questioning it more...

Because I finally got to see them in concert (thanks, Abby!). And seeing them live made me want to do 2 things: marry Zac and play the drums again (so maybe there is a slight connection between my drumming days and Zac). I can't explain the feeling of finally getting to see the band I had loved so hard.

Isaac, Zac, Taylor

The most shocking part was how little I remember their music! They kept playing songs off their first popular album (Middle of Nowhere), and I would have no idea what they were. The fan girls would go crazy within the first few chords, and I'd turn to Abby to ask her if I should know the song. She'd give me a crazy look and remind me that it was from the first album. She'd sing along to all the choruses, and I was left so confused because I couldn't recall the song at all! It makes me want to go buy their Middle of Nowhere album, but after listening to some of the songs on youtube I've realized that they really did not sound that good way back when.

Don't worry they sound good now. And look even better, too!!

Isaac, Zac (on guitar), and Taylor doing their solos.

At one point in the show Zac and Taylor actually switched instruments! WHAT?!

Zac on piano and Taylor on drums.

But the coolest part of the show was when they sang completely unplugged. The concert was at an old library (literally, you had to walk through the fiction section to get to the makeshift bar) and so the acoustics in the theater were really good. Because of the theater, they were able to sing a cappella. All 100+ fan girls were completely silent while they sang. It was so neat. And they said they don't get to do that often, so it was really cool that it happened at our show.

They probably played for a solid 2 hours. High energy, song after song, non-stop. It was such a great show! I have fallen all over again and am bringing back my love for Hanson. I only hope I get the chance to go to another show. And now, I convert all of you...

Zac singing solo:

Hanson Covering "Happy Together": (It might be played at our wedding... John or Zac)

MMM Bop, of course:

There's no stopping Hanson, or my love for them. The Anthem:

We Went to DC... 3 Months Ago

I started grad school.

I feel like that's all that needs to be said in ways of explaining my lack of posts over the last 3 months. From Day 1, I've been overwhelmed. But now that I've made it through 8 weeks, 3 midterms, 1 final, 1 final paper, and a new internship, I'm starting to feel like I've finally got the hang of things. I'm taking this time to write as many posts as I can before all the projects and tests start back up again... in 4-5 weeks.

I'm loving grad school.

The weekend before my two-week long orientation, John and I took a small vacation to Washington, DC. One of the perks of Pittsburgh is the location. DC is only a 5-hour drive, which saved us the hassle of flying and gave us the luxury of having our own car. However, one of the perks to John, I'm finding out, is the perks. His aunt and uncle were extremely generous and kind to us, and they let us stay in their condo. The condo is within minutes of the first stop of the redline, so we could take the metro into town.

I literally just discovered that I lost all of my pictures from the trip--except for like 5 random ones. Luckily, I had Instagram'd a collage of pictures so I have very pixelated screen shots of that to use for my blog.

The first night we got there we decided to visit the Mall and all of the monuments. I even convinced John to take a romantic nighttime stroll along the surprisingly desolate reflection pool. We soon found out people weren't walking along the reflection pool because there were gnats EVERYWHERE! And since construction was the theme of the week, there was no way to exit the path. We had to walk the ENTIRE thing! I probably swallowed like 5 gnats because I wouldn't stop talking/complaining.

The blue mark on the leg is from the vandalism that had happened shortly before.

The next day we went to the zoo! The zoo is free, although John reminds me that our taxes pay for it. The only downside to this is that they charge you $3 for a map! We decided to go without and were pretty disappointed starting off. We constantly felt lost (it wasn't an easy-flowing zoo), and none of the animals were in the exhibits! Since the pandas were weeks away from giving birth, even they weren't out! Visiting the National Zoo and seeing no pandas--a shame!! We took a lunch break, and the visit picked up after that. (I'm not saying the food was the game-changer but... BGE*). There were two highlights for me: the otters and the O-line. The National Zoo has 11 otters! 11 playful, funny, active otters. One of them was playing with a rock (pictured) and another was seen carrying an entire tree branch in his mouth. We have no idea what he was doing with all that tree! The O-line is essentially a tight-rope that the orangutans walk across to get from one monkey house to another. And I should mention that the monkey houses are on opposite sides of the zoo! They go right over the heads of the visitors without a net or anything. It was SO COOL!

 

The next day was John's day. We went to Arlington National Cemetery and the American Natural History Museum. We happened to walk up to the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier right as they were about to do the changing of the guard. Arlington National Cemetery is probably my favorite place in DC. I just love the view from the eternal flame. I had never been to the History Museum, so it was fun to see the first ladys' dresses and the ACTUAL Star Spangled Banner (no pictures allowed).

The reason for the trip, of course, was to go to a Nationals game. John's uncle again generously left us his company tickets. So after an exclusive tour of the Washington Post by John's friend Tim, the three of us headed to the game. The seats were incredible and the presidential mascots were amazing. It was President Taft's debut, so he sneakily got a head start in the race. Unfortunately, sharknado got him! Never fear, Abe Lincoln dressed as batman saved him. It was wild and crazy, and I forget who actually won. I think we were mostly just confused.

We also ate a lot of excellent "cuisine." We visited Baked & Wired for cupcakes and treats, as well as the famous Ben's Chili Bowl. It was AWESOME!

It was such a great trip and I'm sure the first of many for us. Next time I promise not to erase my pictures. Ugh!

*BGE is a term created by my very clever brother-in-law Robert. He uses it when my sister becomes so hungry she gets angry. It means Bitch Gotta Eat. I've shared it with my friends, and it has since take off like wildfire.