I Know How To Pick 'Em

Warning: You may not want to read this post while you're hungry. There are a lot of food pics, as every main attraction in Pittsburgh has to do with food.

A lot of couples that I know seem to have weekly "date nights." While living in different states, date nights were pretty much impossible for John and me. And it hasn't gotten much easier since moving here.

Between AT&T, LA Fitness and Target, John and I rarely have the same night off, and we almost never get a weekend. But for some very odd reason (perhaps the universe is no longer against us), we seem to get the same days off! We don't even request it, but nearly once a week we are both given a day off that we can spend together. And we (mostly I) make sure it's put to good use! Some of our recent "date days":

A Day Out In Robinson
On one date day, we drove out to Robinson to go to a restaurant that we've been wanting to go to since before I moved here! It's called Burgatory. Helluva burgers and heavenly shakes! Our anticipation build up was not at all for nothing. We created our own delicious burgers... chosing our meat, rub, cheese, toppings, etc. and enjoyed some unbelievable shakes!
    
Then we went to the Robinson theater and saw "Now You See Me." A very fun summer movie with a sub-par ending. Definitely worth seeing once, though.

Local Eats & Treats
On another date day, we decided to stay nearby and celebrate Pittsburgh. We started the afternoon at a cute cafe we've had our eye on. It's called the Tomato Pie Cafe and located right next to the park I like to run/walk in. After eating the pizza (decent), we decided to walk it off at the park. We found a neat little course that has 20 different work out stations and was clearly put up back in the 80's. We plan to go back some day and dominate it!

  
That night we went to the re-opening of Point Park. Point Park is where the Allegheny and Monogahela Rivers join into the Ohio River. The "Point" has been closed for the past 7 years, as they have been renovating the park and fountain. But we were there for the grand reopening! It coincide with the Three Rivers Arts festival, so we also got to eat some tasty food and enjoy a FREE concert--Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. SO GOOD!
    

For The Record...
This date day was a "John" day.
He recently bought a record player, so we had to go get some vinyls. He found a record store in Squirrel Hill, and we made the trek out to Jerry's Records. We spent a good amount of time browsing through the thousands of records and finally decided on a few. (I got Paul Simon's "Graceland" album, of course. John got Huey Lewis' "Sports," Jackson Browne's "Saturate Before Use" and a Van Halen album). Although we have since found a better record store (see below), I'm hoping we'll go back to Jerry's every so often. There's a cookie and cake shop nearby, and that made the whole trip--S'mores cookies!!
  
After our record purchases, we headed to the ball park. John used his "special" tickets that he got when he purchased season tickets, and they were awesome!! The seats were cushioned, there was a nice indoor bar/concession area, we got foot-long hot dogs (too much hot dog) and we were SHOWN ON THE JUMBOTRON!!! It was during the 7th inning stretch and for me, the highlight of all our date days.


Picky, Picky
And our most recent date day, was a "Jessica" day. I have driven by an orchard just up the street from me a few times, and I've been pestering John about going. Today, I finally got to go, and we picked our own strawberries! After we filled our bag, we were walking back down to pay when we ran into one of the farm owners. We were asking him questions about the apple trees when we told him it was a our first time to the orchard. So, he put us in his little cart and gave us our own private tour. Apparently his dog has to ride shotgun, so John and I shared a seat in the back.
They also have some animals, which John got to feed. He seemed to enjoy that part most.
  
Then we went to "The Attic." It's a record store that's a lot closer to my apartment and a lot more organized than Jerry's Records. We both like this record store more, but there is no cookie shop nearby. I ended up adding James Taylor's "Greatest Hits," Mumford and Sons "Live From Bullhorn" and Joni Mitchell's "For The Roses" to my collection. John decided on a Bruce Springsteen, Wilco, Rascals Greatest Hits and another Huey Lewis album.
Then, we went to see Man of Steel. I was pretty bored throughout the movie, although it did make me proud of Kansas--about as American as you can get. The movie was followed by dinner and homemade strawberry pie with our fresh strawberries. It was amazing.