East Coast Update

Greetings all from the east coast! I'm sitting here in Pittsburgh at the tail end of my 16 day whirlwind trip and thought I should update my post. My time started out up in Mystic with Lauren for a few days where I got to bond with my "niece puppy" Bella. We walked (and then walked some more!) to keep her content but even I have to admit her cuteness did win me over! Some time at the beach followed by some shopping capped off a great start to my trip. From there we piled into the car for the trip to Susquehanna. As the saying goes, "there's no place like home" and it was good to fill up on family time (and Erica time!) with time spent at the lake, "cocktail hour" on the porch with Dad, teaching Grama how to expand her understanding of e-mail, and making sure Mom and Dad are more connected through the world wide web with their new e-mail account. On Wednesday I rented a car and drove down to Jessica's house in Glenside where I was greeted with heavy levels of humidity! I definitely forgot what that feels like and the feeling was just reaffirmed that I do not miss it one bit! It was great to see Jessica's house the progress she has made on putting her personal touches on it. I give her huge amounts of credit for taking on the project she has but have no doubt that the end result will be amazing! We had dinner in Manayunk which I always love to visit, and then enjoyed a quiet evening with drinks on her porch. Thursday was the day of rain and saying it was a little wet would be an understatement! I started the day visiting Nicole and Abby in Newtown. It was neat to see the renovations they have done to their house and Abby is just too cute for words! She's definitely at a fun age! That afternoon Sue and Molly met me for coffee in Newtown and of course it's always nice to catch up with friends in person. Then I met a few people that I used to work with back in my old neighborhood where I worked. I was there long enough to find comfort and familiarity in the surroundings and being able to go back was a nice added bonus! I ended my day in Havertown at Amber and Gary's where I spent the night and then picked Joe up in the morning at the airport. After 10 days apart it was nice to see my hubby again! :-) We had a lazy day (again in humidity) before heading to Em's wedding. What a fun night of festivities it was!!!! Emily looked absolutely beautiful and the whole venue made a perfect backdrop for the wedding. The ceremony was outside with the isle lined in rose petals. The ceremony had nice touches with a string quartet, a song by Leah accompanied by Brian's brother on guitar, and reading of Dr. Seuss "Oh The Places You'll Go." At the reception, an announcement was made that instead of clinking glasses to make the bride and groom kiss, each table had to stand up and sing a song with the word love in it. Our table was the first to take on the challenge as we sang the "Barney" theme song. There's nothing like a group of 20 somethings reverting back to childhood. :-) Dad was the real crowd pleaser at the wedding as he was acknowledged for dancing to every single song. It's pretty funny when your Dad can even muster enough energy and toleration for the likes of Beyonce, 50 Cent, and Justin Timberlake. Go Dad! :-) It was so nice getting to spend the evening with everyone and Nicole gets props for her plan to bring Joe and I back to PA. :-) By the end of the evening we were all exhausted but were able to get up early on Saturday for breakfast with Joe's parents and Sara. How nice it was to all be reunited together-first time since the wedding! Our trip to Pittsburgh was uneventful and a good reminder of just how wide the state of Pennsylvania really is! On Sunday we had a BBQ here at the house where some of Joe's friends (and their kids) and Joe and Colleen's friends gathered for good food and conversation. We were entertained by the kids and Joe made sure to try and keep me far away from them as he says he doesn't want me getting any ideas....:-) The night was capped off by a huge downpour making me realize that I have seen more rain as I've been here than I have seen in Seattle in the last 3 months. It's a sunny day here once again and I'm thinking a lawn chair and a book might be calling my name:-) I'm meeting friends from grad school for dinner tonight in the city and am looking forward to catching up with them as I haven't seem them since last March! I'm bottling everything up to tied me over through the fall and winter once again.....