Seriously, Winter?

Seriously, winter?

Waking up this morning and finding this was a cruel way to start my day. When I went to bed, no snow had fallen. When I woke up, I knew I'd be busing it downtown today. And then I watched, all day long, as the sun came out and the snow all melted away. I could've biked home. Instead, I was back on the bus, staring out the window and dreaming of not being on the bus. 

This better have been the last of it. I know this isn't the last time I'll ever deal with winter. But right now I am really ready to be done with it for a while. I am looking forward to that really hot, sweaty day of summer right now.

I made my art debut last Friday!

I am slowly taking over more and more of my mom's hobbies and traits. But always with my own slight twist. Felt really strange to see things I made hanging in such a proper way. As proper as things get during an Unblurred, that is, but I don't need anything more proper than that.

After Roboto we checked out Ava for a drink while we waited for our table at BRGR.

I got the alcoholic milkshake I'd been dreaming of all week, and I got to enjoy it in the company of some mighty awesome folks. 

One final bit of housekeeping for the night: I HIT MY PEDAL FOR PENNIES FUNDRAISING GOAL! 

I'm turning 30 in a few months. I am so excited for it. One of the things I'm enjoying most about getting a bit older is being more cognizant of how important my friends and family are in my life. Thank you so much to everyone who donated to Pedal for Pennies. Thank you to everyone who takes the minutes out of their day to drop into my world for a bit. It really does mean a lot. 

Born in PGH: Duane Michals

I've been taking a class at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. I'll have much more to say on that in upcoming posts. The point of telling you that now is to explain how I came to know of Duane Michals. In the first part of the class we are learning some basic photography, something I have always been interested in, but never schooled in. The other night, during the second half of class, we watched Duaneland, a documentary on photographer Duane Michals. It was my first time encountering him or his work, but I was immediately charmed.

Michals was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, on February 18, 1932. McKeesport is just down the river from Pittsburgh, and during Michals' childhood a trolley ride away. So we're counting Michals under the Born in PGH designation. He is absolutely fascinating. He became interested in art while attending art classes at the Carnegie Institute (Carnegie Museum of Art). He left Pittsburgh and went to college in Denver and then to New York to study briefly at Parsons School of Design. During a holiday in the USSR (sounds like my kind of guy, taking holidays in non-holiday-esque places!), he realized his interest in photography, which set his career in motion.

Michals' major contribution: series of photos. 

Throughout the documentary, Michals is speaking to a group of students from his high school in McKeesport. He is being incredibly frank with them. His approach seems so no-holds-barred that I was cringing a bit thinking of the anxiety attacks the supervising teachers must have been having. He speaks about God, about being gay, and begs the students many times "ask me anything." I was instantly jealous that these high school students had this experience with him at that time in their lives.

One of Michals' portraits of Andy Warhol, another Slovak from Pittsburgh making a name for himself in the arts.

A portrait of Magritte.

The last part of the documentary features one of Michals' later-life projects, one that found him again in McKeesport. He took photos of his childhood home in complete disrepair and unfortunate early ruin. He double-exposed the photos and ended up with The House I Once Called Home: A Photographic Memoir with Verse.

A Post-Gazette article from 2004 gives details of Michals' life and his views on the subject. Apparently, he has promised his archive and art collection to the Carnegie, which endears him to me even more. He is a lovely person, a creative spirit, and he is Born in PGH.

American Idols: The Presidents in Glass

I've been watching The West Wing on Netflix. But in backward order. It's a show I've seen all the way through at least twice before. It's undoubtedly one of my favorites ever. Probably because it is so deeply rooted in an inspired part of my brain, I continue to have a growing fascination with the presidents. Fortunately, I have a friend named Kate, who is incredibly knowledgable about them. We went together to the Pittsburgh Glass Center's gallery to see American Idols, John Moran's glass busts of the presidents. Going through the gallery we studied the busts to get clues about each president through their clothes, which were chosen to reveal facts about the president's life and legacy.

This post is poorly timed. The exhibit's final day at the Glass Center is today. Seeing this exhibit was my first time inside the Glass Center, but I don't believe it will be my last. I'm hoping to take a class (or two or three) there this year.

But this post is aptly timed, because today is Inauguration Day. Four years ago, I was up before the crack of dawn to be witness to the event from the Mall. It was a whirlwind weekend that also included celebrating the Steelers AFC Championship at a packed-wall-to-wall Steelers bar in DC.

30 Before 30: My Wall

I've been living in the same apartment since I moved back to Pittsburgh in 2010. It's been two and a half years of blissfully living by myself. There are many excellent advantages to living alone: always leaving doors within the apartment open, ignoring the sink (and counters) full of dirty dishes, or falling asleep on the couch watching The West Wing (admittedly, also Teen Mom) three nights in a row. Included in that list is total and compete control over interior decorating. I always knew living in Boston would be temporary, so I never invested too much time into the apartments I could never reside in alone. Because I love just about everything about my apartment (shower stall: BE DAMNED!), I'm not interested in moving out until I find myself a house to buy. So, instead of moving, I'm starting to undertake a number of projects to give me a feeling of change, even if I'm staying put.

One of those projects was to redo my wall.

My wall is truly a favorite feature of this apartment, but its initial organization was fairly haphazard as I wanted to feel settled here as quickly as possible. So I put my wall on my 30 Before 30 list. For two reasons. First, I wanted to make sure it got done. Second, I wanted to make sure it got done right. I knew this was no undertaking I could start on a whim. It was something I needed to plan out. (I've been scouring DIY/lifestyle/design/decorating blogs for months.) That I needed to collect items for. (This was the fun part: new prints/new photos.) That I needed help executing. (Enter my dad.)

We spent a Saturday afternoon tacking the new arrangement up on the wall while listening to The Weakerthans. (I had bought my dad a bunch of new records for Christmas. So far, he's keenest on them, which is totally awesome.) It was a bit frustrating at first. My patience can easily wear thin. And also I have the attention span of a fly. But, after relaxing a bit and realizing this project was going to take a chunk of my day, I stopped rushing to get to the end. Though the results are far from appearing professionally done, I'm pleased with the result. It was the perfect way to refresh my place a bit before the new year.

View of Wall 1

View of Wall 2

Narwhal print by Tugboat; Downtown map print by Brian Taylor.

Map of Pittsburgh from Alternate Histories.

First CONFETTI poster, Phil Collins, and bikes and powerlines.

Next up on the apartment to-do list is slightly more terrifyingly tedious project. It involves sanding, cleaning, and painting. (Yikes!)

PGH Stuff and Things N'at: August 2012

Due to a combination of extreme discomfort (stupid poison ivy legs) and a return to high temps (stupid sweaty poison ivy legs), I feel like I haven't been able to do much fun stuff lately. The good news is the itchiness is gone! Now I just have to wait out the disappearance of these scabs and patches of dead skin (I know, sounds really cool, right?!), but I'm back to shorts, skirts, and dresses. Stupid work pants be damned! So, in lieu of a post dedicated to one thing, here's a post dedicated to five things. Stuff and things n'at. Enjoy!

Love Front Porch
This morning while I was eating breakfast (toad in the hole smothered in cheddar cheese) and drinking coffee, I was catching up on my Google Reader. One of the PopCity articles I had missed last week was about Love Front Porch, based in Homewood. Do yourself (and Vanessa German, creator of Love Front Porch) a favor and read the site's About Me section. Or, if you're more of a watcher than a reader, press play:

I was inspired to donate to Love Front Porch, and I hope you will be too. The amount of time I spend in Homewood is basically zero. When I first moved back to Pittsburgh, a friend suggested I take a route through the neighborhood from my apartment in Bloomfield over to Regent Square. I felt incredibly unsafe. After that first ride through Homewood - even what as probably a less dangerous section that borders Point Breeze - I have stuck to braving Penn Ave when I need to get over to that part of the East End. Here's the thing though: I want to spend time in Homewood. It's a neighborhood in our city with a rich past (the Carnegies had homes there), storied culture (John Edgar Wideman sets many of his novels on those streets and Billy Strayhorn moved his family there), and buildings I want to explore (the Homewood branch of the Carnegie Library and Victorian homes in need of some TLC).  But, because Homewood is a hotbed of violence, I stay away. I want to love Pittsburgh as a whole, not just the sum of the parts where I feel safe. I wish Vanessa German all the luck in the world with her project. And I hope it can bring a sense of calm and community to a neighborhood that is ailing.

Strata
Sometime in July, I saw these weird posters go up around Downtown. I was intrigued.

When I found out the project was of Bricolage's creation, that was all the mystery I needed solved before purchasing a pair of tickets. I'm not going to reveal much about Strata. I was specifically instructed not to on my visit. But, participating in this was one of the more unique things I have ever done in my life. My dad accompanied me and he not only enjoyed himself, but he had a completely different experience than me. Bricolage has undertaken a huge endeavor here, and they have succeeded. Do yourself a favor and get refitnessed before time's up. The production goes until September 1. Who knows when something this incredible and bizarre will pop up in Pittsburgh again.

The Calm After the Storm - Pittsburgh's Beautiful Sunset
If you're an Instagram user (follow me at everythingbetterpgh) and you have any Instagram friends who live in Pittsburgh, chances are they posted a picture of the sky from Sunday evening. We had a terrible day of rain and scary storms (which I was fortunate enough to get caught in on my bike!), but by 8 p.m., the rain had cleared and looking up was a treat. These photos: unedited.

Looking down Friendship from my corner on Gross Street.

East Liberty Presbyterian Church and The Highland Building

Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol!
Today would have been Andy Warhol's 84th birthday. While I was getting ready this morning, NPR aired a bit about it, and the unassuming cemetery in my hometown of Bethel Park where he is buried. Listen to the story here, and scroll down to watch a great time-lapse video that brings Warhol's grave to life over the course of two years.

Movin' On Up: To the 16th Floor of PPG One
Not going to lie about the rough string of ten days or so I just had to live through. Between the poison ivy, the anniversary of my mom's death, a bike accident, and two flats in four days, I was seriously down in the dumps. Add to that a crazy week of work, but not because of my day-to-day responsibilities. We packed up our offices in the Henry W. Oliver Building and bid farewell to the Daniel Burnham-designed mini-skyscraper and have said hello to PPG One, i.e. the glass castle that is so essential to Pittsburgh's skyline.

Sixteen floors up, with one of those baller window-walled offices is where you'll find me, Monday through Friday.

Now that the move is over, I am so happy. Walking into that building today, sitting at my desk and looking out the window at Pittsburgh, the Mon, the Smithfield Street Bridge, and the South Side Slopes... I feel like I won the office lottery. When I started with the law firm I work with, I didn't ever expect to a) have a job where I felt so challenged and engaged with my work (I had started off as the receptionist, but am now a writer/paralegal) or b) sit in an office that I truly think would make anyone jealous. I remember being a kid and visiting my dad at his office out in Robinson and thinking "Look how important he is with this office and this big window and wow!" (I was also OBSESSED with playing with the Xerox machine in his office; I was a weird kid.) Tomorrow, he's coming up to see my office and my window and I can't wait to show it off.

I feel like this move has been the 180-degree flip I needed in my grumpy overall mindset. I am excited about all the stuff and things n'at that are to come.

Walking from Lawrenceville to Target: What We Saw

Since becoming friends with Allie, I've been pleased to be going on more meandering walks on the weekends. We tend to meet up at Espresso a Mano on Butler and aimlessly wander. I stop to take a lot of pictures along the way. Here are some things we saw last Saturday morning while we made our way from Lawrenceville to Target.

Espresso a Mano

Cute poster that's sprung up in my neighborhood for a new book.

New on the building on Penn after Matilda or Millvale.

Warhol flowers on that same building.

More of that building. I love all the color it adds to my day.

I'm very excited to introduce you to the wonder that is the Community Preschool & Nursery mural/sign that I can't believe I hadn't looked at closely yet. When you get right up in front of the sign, these are the wonderful things you'll see:

An Evening at the Museum: April 2012

I bought myself a membership to the Carnegie Museums at the beginning of 2012. So of course I haven't used it at all yet. Realizing that one day while biking past the Art and Natural History museums, I decided to make an effort to go as soon as possible. (As well as more often.)

One of the first treats I encountered on my visit was a display of art from 5th and 6th graders around the area. That's where I found Justin's Paranormal Records and Investigations. (Which I absolutely loved.)

Here is a lovely room.

Woah! It's a tiny room! (Speaking of "tiny," I'm writing this while watching Tiny Furniture and, holy crap, I hate this movie. Sorry, I know she is so cool right now, but ugh, this is unbearable.)

One of the main exhibits was Maya Lin. I loved the combination of geography and sculpture. The photo above is from her outline of our three rivers made with pins.

Maya Lin runs through May 13.