The Hill from Hell

So, some of you may remember an "incident" I had on an icy hill back in November. I never got around to getting a picture. I pass it often, sometimes there are stranded motorists, other times it's clear. I still avoid it at all costs. You will obviously not get the full affect of the steepness of it, but here it is.

Birthday Visit to WV

One of the best parts of my birthday was driving to meme's house the night before, to stay over and visit with her and my two crazy aunts! We had a great time. My wonderful husband came with me, even though I'm sure there was tons of work he could have been doing. He had to deal with four loud women... who were drinking a lot. He called it "Esty Fest 2009", as in estrogen. It was great fun though. We drove home on my birthday and I ended up getting him for the whole day! We saw a good movie and had a wonderful dinner. It was a great 26th birthday. 

January Snow!

It's so cold here! The high the other day was 4 degrees. Wow. That was a shock for me. Plus, it's been snowing all week. Last night it was coming down like crazy. I would say we have at least 4 inches outside, if not more. Lucky for Jonathan, I usually can take him and pick him up from school. The city does a pretty good job of keeping the roads and sidewalks clear and salted. 

Here's the entrance to our garage, see how deep the tracks are!!??

This is our parking lot right outside our living room window. I don't know how you can live in this city and park outside. Especially overnight. We watch people defrost and scrape their cars for 10 minutes everyday. It's crazy! It's actually warmed up quite a bit this weekend. It's 30 instead of 4. Yay! Just thought I would update everyone on the weather! I'll put more snow picks in the photo album. 

Holiday Visit 2009

Well belated Happy Holidays to everyone. It's been a while since we posted. We just got back from another great visit to Austin. Enjoyed seeing everyone and making up for being away from home on Christmas. We saw lots of good friends. Somehow I only managed to get pictures of a couple people! Most are probably happy about that.

We also spent time with our families, including the rapidly growing baby! He is beautiful and getting bigger by the second. 

It was so nice to be home. It gave us renewed energy for this coming YEAR of non-stop work and school. Unfortunately, this trip was probably Jonathan's last until we move home next December. I am hoping to fit in one trip sometime around spring/summer time. It all depends on the visitors we may have and when they decide to come up. 

Happy New Year to everyone, and we hope it is filled with all things happy and peaceful. Love to you all. 

Congrats Jonathan!

As of yesterday, Jon is officially finished with his first semester of graduate school! He gave a wonderful presentation in front of all his peers and the faculty and did an excellent job (I got to watch). Then we went out with two other couples to celebrate the end of the semester. We went to a local brewery here in Pitt, sat around drinking and talking while it snowed outside. It was a great night. Now Jon can relax for a month! We get to spend the whole weekend together as well, before I go back to work. Yay Jonathan!!!

January Travel Plans

Here is our travel information for January.

Thursday 1/1

Pittsburgh to Chicago 9:50-10:34am United 439

Chicago to Austin 12:27-3:12pm United 6079

Saturday 1/10

Austin to Chicago 5:25-8:05pm United 7661

Chicago to Pittsburgh 9:00-11:25pm United 314

Hope to see everyone while we're there!

Christmas Tree!

I am very proud of myself...I'll explain. I was told by Jonathan that he had no time to go with me to get a Christmas tree, until after next week. Well, this was unacceptable, I just couldn't wait that long. So I decided, being all alone today, that I would venture to Home Depot down the street and see what I could find. Jon suggested a FAKE tree, since I would probably be able to handle that easier, being alone and all. I wasn't havin'  that either. All the trees outside were wrapped up, so you couldn't tell what they looked like. That worried me a little, so I went inside (too warm up, it's about 22 degrees) and see what they could offer in the "artificial" variety. Not much. Not only were they all at least 7 ft. (we need a mini tree) but they were all at least $150. Yikes. I had noticed that the noble fir's outside were only $37. So, determined not to spend over $50, I walked my happy butt back out into the arctic temperature to get a REAL tree. I very nice older couple helped me cut the rope off a 5 ft. tree so I could see it. It looked great and they agreed that I should get it. I had the "tree man" cut the end off and re-wrap it. What I'm really proud of, was not only did I do all that on my own, but I also loaded and unloaded that bad boy into our car and got it up to our apartment, all by myself. I then decided Jon couldn't come home to a half-ass effort, so I loaded it into the tree stand and stood it up and decorated it all before he came home. Here is the finished product!