River Jump 2013: A New Year's Dip in the Mon

For the third year in a row, I was up early on New Year's Day. The thought of waking up before 8 a.m. after a late-night holiday for many is completely foolish. The thought of waking up before 8 a.m. after a late-night holiday to jump in an icy cold river for nearly all is completely idiotic. It's idiotic fun to be had, and it's one of my favorite things that's become a tradition with some very good friends.

The two previous years it had been gloriously mild. Temps both years were in the 50s. This year, it was below 30 and snowing. Finally. A true Polar Bear Jump. This year's jumpers were much the same as last year's, with our last year's photographer taking her first plunge.

We shouted "Monongahela!" before this was snapped. WTAE was there; not sure if we made it to the television screen.

This costume made me laugh all morning.

Honestly, the worst part was the cold ground on my bare feet. That was really terrible.

The secret is stripping down in stages.

Another secret is to huddle together for warmth.

And to argue about how to do a countdown in an effort to stall the inevitable.

Oh, yeah, and then you're like "GET ME OUT OF THIS RIVER WHY DID I DO THIS?"

We all gathered together for a big brunch after we all took showers to wash the river away. It was cold and a bit crazy, but I'm glad this is a tradition that continues.

2013: It's a Great Time To Be A Pittsburgher.

2013: It's a Great Time To Be A Pittsburgher.

If 2011 was the worst year, 2012 was the rebuilding year. Now it's 2013, and I'm not yet sure what kind of year it will turn out to be. But I'm ready for it. It's a great time to be a Pittsburgher. So many good things are happening in the city, and more new exciting things are stirring every day. Some fun adventures are already being planned. Some personal goals of mine are already being worked on. There's plenty underway. But, anything could happen. I hope you make the best of your new year, and that you'll join me as I wind my way through another twelve months of living life in the most livable city.

Happy (Belated!) Birthday, Blog!

Holy crap! The heat has definitely infected my brain, because I totally missed EverythingBetterPGH's birthday! I am not one to forget an anniversary (seriously, I celebrate the weirdest things every year because I can't forget the dates), so I feel kind of bad about this. Sorry, blog.

Let's celebrate!

I can't believe I've been doing this for a year now. It's been a very strange year for me personally. Only a handful of posts were published before my mom passed away, which means this blog exists in the shadow of that life-altering event. This was one of the hardest years of my life. For a long time there, nothing was going right. Every morning I woke up and wondered what horrible thing would happen that day. That's dramatic, I know. But seriously: In the span of a few weeks the following things happened to me: got in a bike accident with another biker and totally messed up my knee, was nearly assaulted (i.e., hit with an umbrella) when someone tried to steal my cellphone at a trolley stop in BETHEL PARK, and was the unfortunate person sitting next to the guy in the theater whose ladyfriend gave him a handy during Crazy Stupid Love.

I digress.

In order to survive the past year, I've had to live with a very "full throttle" attitude toward getting through the day to the next day to the next day until the day when I would stop being sad. I still don't know if I'm there yet, but I'm starting to really appreciate the present, which means I'm starting to slow down a bit. Living in the moment, and all other such sayings.

When I look back at these things I've written about or taken pictures of throughout the past year, I'm so so so glad I made myself keep this blog going. I have this awesome collection of memories now, and I can look at them and realize that through all the sad stuff, there was a heck of a lot of fun. In celebration of EverythingBetterPGH's first birthday, here are ten of those fun moments, ones that I would go back and relive in a heartbeat.

(In no particular order.)

Why Not? Biking Pittsburgh at Night with Flock of Cycles

Paddling Pittsburgh: Kayaking the Allegheny and the Ohio

Kennywood's Open (For Terror and Fun)

PGH's Best Night of the Year: The Bloomfield Halloween Parade

Halloween Miracle #2: STEELERS BEAT THE PATRIOTS

The Only Fear You Have to Overcome is Getting the Nerve to Do It

Malkamania: Penguins 8, Tampa Bay 1

Winter Camping Feels Like Spring to Me

Sitting in the Splash Zone: A Saturday Night on the South Side

My Idea of Vacation: The GAP and C&O - Days 3 & 4

Tonight, at midnight, I'm going to go see The Dark Knight Rises. I promised myself I would keep this blog going until I could write a post about seeing the movie that I watched being filmed on my streets.

I can't wait to write that post. And so many more after that.

Thank you for reading!

We've Got the Dreamer's Disease

Some photos to share from New Years Eve! This year I wanted a few simple things: to wear a sparkly dress (CHECK), to drink a bottle of champagne - out of the bottle (CLASSY! and CHECK), and DANCE (MAJOR CHECK).

Leading up to the night, my plans were never really set or thought out. A pleasant surprise this year was getting to celebrate New Years with one of my best friends Rob. He lives in DC now, but Pittsburgh in his heart. Rob and I spend most of our time together in weird places (usually small Canadian cities that no one else we know will ever go to).

We ended up walking from my apartment straight down Gross to Penn to Modern Formations. We "popped" our bottles (they were twist-off: $6.50 bottles of Andre!!) and spent the lead up to midnight hanging out and doing a lot of laughing.

Ross!

At midnight there was no major countdown inside the gallery. There was a ten-minute warning, but it was only after the official strike of twelve that everyone started hollering and hugging. And then. Something perfect happened:

The first song I heard in 2012 could not have been more perfect. It was from the '90s (have we discussed my love of the '90s yet on this here blog?). It was upbeat and fun. It was positive to a goofy degree that I've really been craving lately. Whatever. It was awesome.

And from there, Rob and I donned our $1 Rite Aid foam animal hats (him: duck, me: turtle) and proceeded to dance to amazing '90s hits (Lit! Harvey Danger! Green Day!) courtesy of our friend Chris Flyer who took over DJing duties after midnight. It was perfect. The last song, at 2 a.m. was "Closing Time." Because of course.

So very very very pleased with the way I wrung in 2012. Or, as I put it so eloquently that night on my personal twitter feed:

Yup. That's about right.

The Only Fear You Have to Overcome Is Getting the Nerve to Do It

2012:

My oh my. I am so excited for you.

When I went to bed on New Years Eve (somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 a.m., as text messages prove I was still functioning at that time), I had drank enough and danced enough and climbed over one fence enough to forget that my plans in the very quickly approaching morning were to jump in the Mon. At 8:30 a.m.

(Yikes.)

Honestly, when my alarm went off at 7:50 a.m., I had really forgotten why I had set an alarm for so early. It wasn't till I looked at my phone and read the "alarm reminder" I had set (amazingly, this was a task I was able to complete before passing out), and it said: RIVER!!!!!

So I stumbled out of bed, found some acceptable river-jumping clothes, and met up with my fellow river-jumpers outside on Gross Street.

We got down to the Mon Wharf and parked. It was a BEAUTIFUL Pittsburgh morning. Sunny, clear, warm. We found a spot and recapped our evenings, as we had all spent New Years Eve at separate parties and gatherings.

The river-jumpers: Yigit, Eric, Georgiana, Corey, Me, and Carrie

Seriously, the morning could not have been more beautiful.

But that nice weather changed to gray skies and then a slight drizzle started, and then, minutes before the jump, it basically started to pour. We shook it off and started disrobing. We took our spots on the edge of the river. We counted down from ten.

10, 9, 8...

7, 6, 5, 4...

3, 2, 1!

JUMP!

This was my second New Years Day river-jump. I started off 2011 by doing the same idiotically fun activity. When my body hit the icy water this year, I remember having the same immediate feeling of confusion. The water is so cold and, at that point in the year, being submerged in water is not something you've been doing a lot of. My mind kind of went blank until I realized what I had just done and started figuring out my next move: getting out of the river.

Last year, I struggled to lift myself out from the water. Someone on the wharf pulled me up and out. This year was different. I pulled myself up and out.

2011 was an insanely difficult year for me. It will always be marred by losing my mom, which threw me into a real spell of sadness and gloominess. With the help of friends and family, I made it to the end of 2011 intact (even after getting hit by a car on the last Tuesday of the year while riding home from work...). I'm ready for the challenges I know I'll face this year (her birthday, my birthday, the one-year anniversary of her death), but I'm also ready for a fresh start.

A lot of years I make resolutions in order to become "a better version of me." This year, I want to just continue being the person I have become. I want to stay hungry for adventure. I want to stay foolish and keep discovering. I'm so excited for 2012.

IN OTHER NEWS:

For more photos, check out the *new* EverythingBetterPGH Picasa page.