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!)

2012: Definitely an Improvement

It's cliche, sure. But I cannot believe 2012 is already over. Tonight we usher in 2013, and I'm really excited. 2011 was a total bummer. I came into 2012 full of hope that it would be a better year, and it definitely was. (Truly though, the bar 2011 set was extraordinarily low.) I feel like the positive momentum of 2012 will carry into 2013 and whatever it has in store. As excited as I was for 2012, I'm just as excited for 2013.

In these final hours of the year, here's a look at some of my favorite moments and posts. 

I started the year by repeating a move that took me into the worse year of my life. I was a little anxious to kick 2012 off in the same way, but I figured I was more prepared and at that point mostly acting on gut decision.

Coming out of the Mon on New Year's Day. Love that this is becoming a tradition. Tomorrow will be my third jump in a row.

The brave souls who welcomed 2012 with an icy-cold dip in the river.

Ringing in 2012 with Rob and champagne and lots of dancing (and lots of '90s music).

Carrie and me at the river jump on New Year's Day.

There was hockey in 2012! Which, sadly, it seems like that may not be the case in the first half of 2013. I miss games! I miss my Pigman! I miss Tommy the Beer Vendor! I miss my hockey family!

Continued another good tradition of winter camping. I'm happy to have friends who thinking sleeping outside in the cold in a bag on the ground is terrific fun too.

Allie and I drove to Bethel Park, hometown of my youth, after Mitt Romney's Cookie-Gate broke, to pick up the most wonderful thing in the world: a Bethel Bakery cake. Oh, and we broke down and met a black pug named Petunia.

Hey, have you guys heard about how I like to bike and stuff?

My brother - my baby brother! - treated me to a night on the town. We went ate burgers. We saw a zombie musical. We went to a Halloween bar. It was pretty special.

My brother and me sitting in the splash zone in our ponchos at the zombie musical.

John took me on my first motorcycle ride. And I survived. (And I kinda loved it.)

Need a book to add to your list of things to read in 2013? I'd suggest a book about my new favorite Pittsburgher.

I may have missed out on the fireworks, but I think white-water rafting on the Fourth of July was a very American thing to do. (Beer on the river and jumping off a huge rock also seem that way too.)

Papa Rowland and me, at the Pirates Skyblast featuring Boyz II Men. 

I celebrated two years being back in the city. Is it weird that it's only now seeming permanent?

I. Rode. My Bike. To Washington D.C.

Dirty, scratched up legs on the C&O Canal.

Rode my bike to D.C., and then rode another bike past the White House.

I turned 29. I spent it in wonderful ways.

Celebrated my 29th birthday by going to an amusement park for kids.

I got to see and do some pretty super things because of biking this year. It's weird to think there was a time in my life when biking wasn't a huge part of it. Was I just bored all the time?

Trying to power up a blender to make margaritas at the Carrie Furnace. My long legs weren't long enough!

Made sure to sneak a trip up to The Hat this year too. Always a good thing. (Sneak Peek: There's a big adventure in the planning stages that combines two of my biggest loves.)

Found these dinos hiding up in Niagara Falls. (On the Canadian side, of course.)

My bloody knee after crashing my bike on Queen Street West in Toronto. (So embarrassing.)

Put my feet in Lake Ontario.

I stayed up all night riding bikes with a bunch of people I'd never really met! And it was a really really good experience. I can't wait to do it again next year.

Participants of the second leg of the DC-PGH 24-hour relay. (No one told me about the dress code!)

The Bloomfield Halloween Parade 2012.

We had a pretty epic fall this year. Thanks Mother Nature for the drought? Is that what happened? Whatever. It was so beautiful for so long.

Guys. This movie. This book.

Ross and I went to go see a Halloween laser show. It was not exactly what we expected.

I rode my bike 3,000 miles! (I was trying for 4,000 on a dare, but Australia and that whole lefthand-side of the road thing...)

Me and Corey at the Steelers-Eagles game. 

Someone thought it would be a good idea to put me on TV. Yeah. I know. I love hot dogs. (And I love WQED and Rick Sebak!!)

I went to Australia. And I had the best time.

Souvenir from a crazy night out in Melbourne.

And, finally, my biggest fans of 2012: baby Australian goats.

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!

PGH T-Shirt Collection: July 2012, Vol. 2

More t-shirts! More t-shirts!

T016: Girl Talk Zombie

Where Bought: This was a gift from Eric.

I like this shirt because Girl Talk + Pittsburgh + Zombies.

T017: The Burg

Where Bought: Pittsburgh International Airport

This was one of the first t-shirts I picked up at the Pittsburgh International Airport on one of many trips visiting home while I lived in Boston. I still obsessively check out the various t-shirt vendors around the airport whenever I'm flying out. I can't be stopped. Also, "BURG" should have an "H"; perhaps I should add one.

T018: East Liberty Drawing

Where Bought: Cotton Factory, with gift certificate from Kate.

It took me a long time to decide between this or the Oakland t-shirt. Oakland is kind of my past, and East Liberty is a bit more of the present/future (lately I've been pondering the possibility of settling into a home or condo there...).

T019: Iron City Steelers Gear

Where Bought: Cotton Factory, with gift certificate from Kate.

It's always good to add another t-shirt to my options for Sunday afternoons in football season.

PGH T-Shirt Collection: June 2012

T010: WPTS CathedralDesigner: WPTS
Where Bought: 2002ish, I think I paid for it, but I might have just gotten it for free, being the Program Director and all...

T011: PGH City of ZombiesDesigner: Unknown
Where Bought: Monroeville Zombies, Monroeville Mal 

T012: Steelers Training CampDesigner: Unknown
Where Bought: When I sold textbooks up in Boston, the bookstore manager I called on at St. Vincent sent me this. 

Expect more to come. I just ordered four new PGH tees and they've been trickling in this week...

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

A couple weeks ago, my brother texted me. Here is the conversation we had (with some unnecessary information removed):

Jeff: Musical of the dead tickets for 22 on groupon. May 4th and 5th. Wanna go Saturday?
Allison: What is that exactly?
Jeff: I would assume a musical about zombies.
Allison: Haha ok. Let's go Saturday.
Jeff: My treat.
Allison: Woooooo hooooooo!
Jeff: It's about time right?

Our plans were set: Jeff would pick me up in Bloomfield with my bike. We'd drive to Allentown, where he lives, and hang out at his place before walking down to East Carson for dinner, a musical about zombies, and beverages at assorted places. I don't spend many nights down on the South Side, so I was prepared for a raucous night out with my little brother.

After giving me the tour of his place, we started our descent down Mount Washington. It was so beautiful out and the city looked pretty great popping out from behind the trees during out walk. The farther we walked, the more jealous I got of my brother's oft-taken path to food and beer: two things us Rowlands love. I would come to find out, much much later into the night, that I wouldn't be so jealous of the path back.

My stomach was audibly growling, but our destination was Winghart's. I hadn't been to the South Side location yet, and I was beyond pleased with my experience. Having become a little bit of a regular at the Market Square location, I was worried that the luster that comes along with that designation would be lost in the new place. But, we walked in and Ruth Ann, arguably the family's favorite server, welcomed and took care of us. We watched the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby. Jeff and I picked horses. I picked based on outfit; Jeff picked based on name. And of course, because my brother has some pretty insane dumb luck sometimes, he won. After the race we watched the beginning of Jurassic Park III. I could not have asked for a better environment in which to eat the most delicious burger and fries.

And then! It was time for ZOMBIE MUSICAL. Because Jeff orded the tickets through Groupon, our tickets came with a copy of the soundtrack, a beer coozy, AND A PONCHO. To wear in the SPLASH ZONE. The show was totally awesome. It was funny, ridiculous, gross, and inappropriate. I spent a lot of time with my jaw-dropped. Big, huge, gigantic thank you to my brother for making this happen. I truly loved it.

Post-zombie musical, the only appropriate thing to do would be drinks at Jekyl and Hyde. I hadn't been to this place in forever, but I used to love to go with my friend J.P. in college. It's a Halloween bar, and I wish it were closer to home, because I'd be there all the time. We drank, and I tried to get Jeff to dance, but he wouldn't. He still a bit of blood splatter from head to toe, so I don't think he was too into the idea of standing out any further. I texted J.P. just to say "Hey! Guess where I am!" and he - not too oddly enough - was just turning onto Carson, so he ended up meeting us for some drinks.

There was talk of Primanti's, but around 1 a.m., we started our way up the hill toward Allentown. The hill was brutal, but, like a T-Rex, I just kept falling forward. Jeff tried unsuccessfully to hitch a ride to the top, but we made it on our own two sets of feet.

I crashed on my brother's couch and woke up with the sun the next morning. I gathered my things and hopped on my bike and very wobbily made it down Arlington to East Carson and then along the trail back to the East End.