A Nice Surprise

After running errands almost all day, Chris told me he had a surprise for me.  At 8 pm and under a crisp, clear night sky we took off.  I had no idea where we were going and after a 20 minute drive I wound up seeing this ahead.

The Hartwood celebration of lights is a 3 1/2 mile drive thru of all these different scenes set up with Christmas Lights.  Hartwood is also a huge mansion (much like Pittock) where they do up the house in Christmas garb and you can tour it during the day. 
Some of the pictures I got are blurry because we weren't allowed to stop the car as there were a steady stream of cars throughtout the drive. (Chris stopped the car when he could but I still managed to blur some of them with the low light condition)  Enjoy!

There were lots of cool drive through arches (some pictured above) but the coolest one was at the end where there were tons of colors running so it made it look like you were moving even when you weren't.  I left the shutter open on my camera and got the picture below.  Pretty cool!

Downtown Sights

I was going stir crazy in the house Monday night so Chris decided we would go downtown to see some of the Christmas lights/decorations that the city puts out for the season. The city really gets into the spirit of Christmas and there are plenty of things to see and do. The first thing we went to see was a lifesize nativity scene called the Pittsburgh Creche which is the worlds only authorized replica of the creche erected in front of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

The next thing we came upon was the historic landmark where people from Harvard, Yale and Princeton could come and commune with eachother.

This is me in front of the gate to the club.

Next we went to the waterfront where Fort Pitt used to be. All that is left is the Fort Pitt blockhouse which was bulit in 1764 and a museum that was erected which contains artifacts from the actual Fort that was torn down. Sorry for the dark pictures, but these were taken around 10:30 at night with my phone!

We stopped by one more place on our trek and that was the outdoor ice skating rink which is usually a water fountain in the summer. They erected a beautiful tree that is huge!

The buildings, streets and bridges are decorated in lights making it a very beautiful sight. I am hoping to go back and get more pictures with my real camera soon.

There's so much to be thankful for

Thanksgiving always brings around the question, What are you thankful for?  This year I can definately say even though there have been countless changes and hard decisions made, I am at peace and thankful for more than I can express in words.
This Thanksgiving for us was about starting traditions and celebrating the holidays our way...as a couple.  It was a low key day which is always nice for us.  We got a small turkey that Chris cooked, had mashed potatoes, stuffing, broccolli, and crescent rolls with dutch apple pie for dessert and a bottle of wine. 
We played games throughout the day, watched a movie and some football and just had a great time with eachother.  Eventually, and of course, Chris fell asleep for a couple hours and I crafted. 

Our Home

Some of you have wanted to see what our new place looks like.  I have taken some pictures and will post them below.  I tried to get the whole room in the picture but it's so hard to do when there's not much space to move around!  Our place is 850 square feet and our laundry room is located in the basement. (which is shared by the 9 apartments that are alongside us)  We sit on top of a hill that overlooks a big wooded area mostly.  It is so beautiful when the weather is nice and the sun is setting.

This is what our building looks like.  Brown brick, reddish doors and green shutters.  Our mailboxes are inside our screen doors.

This is our teeny tiny bathroom.  It gets the job done though so thats all that matters I guess.

 Our bedroom, goes about 7 feet more to the bottom where our dresser and TV are.  Chris' clothes closet is to the right. (mines in the extra bedroom)

                                  Our dining room, coat closet to the right.

Our tiny kitchen with small refrigerator, normal sized range, and half dishwasher.  We have a food pantry to the right in the picture.

                             Our Living room. (half of it)

                             The other half of our living room.

 Our spare bedroom.  AKA the rest of our boxes we haven't yet unpacked.  The room is a MESS!!

 

Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium

Chris' days off are usually Mondays and Tuesdays so this past Monday we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium. 

We got into the zoo and realized there weren't that many people there.  Pry around 100 people that we came in contact with.  Didn't know if it was because it was during the week or because it was a little after lunchtime.  Either way, it was really nice not to be bombarded with crowds.  It was around 70 degrees Monday which was really nice for this time of year.

We spent around 3 1/2 hours total in the zoo and it was a very enjoyable afternoon.  I got to see alot of animals that the Oregon Zoo doesn't have such as kangaroos, gorillas and flamingos. 

At the aquarium they had stingrays you could touch as they swam around, tons of huge saltwater tanks with gorgeous fish in them, and coolest of all a water tunnel with sharks swimming all around you.

The sea lions were hilarious and I stood there and watched them for half an hour or more.  It was a great day and I can't wait to visit again soon.