Happy Almost-Halloween!

Frank & Jack, October 2007

It's almost Halloween, and with that, the first month in our new apartment is coming to an end. It seems crazy that it's gone this fast. Pittsburgh is finally starting to feel a little more like home, too, instead of a long-term visit. I realized today, when I walked into our apartment after getting groceries, that it smells like our apartment now, not how it smelled when we moved in. We're getting much more comfortable with our place, and I'm almost to the point where I don't still feel like I'm a visitor in someone else's space. Today felt even more home-like-- we've started carving pumpkins each year for Halloween, and this year, we watched PJ's favorite Halloween movie from when he was younger, The Halloween Tree. Last year, he really wanted to watch it, so I looked everywhere for it, but couldn't find it until Christmas. This year, we finally got to watch it while we carved our pumpkins-- it was neat to start a little tradition of our own.

This past week has been busy, busy, busy. Sunday started off with a trip to Orchard Park to watch the Buffalo Bills game with my sister, a couple of her friends, PJ, and our friend Brian. The game was a blast (especially since Buffalo won!) and it was great to see my sister, my grandma, and my long-lost friend Jeff (a.k.a. Goober) from college. Here are a couple of pre-game shots:

Sara, Katie, and Sarah, October 21, 2007

Brian & PJ, showing the love, October 21, 2007

Katie & Goober, October 21, 2007

PJ and I also received some free tickets to the Pitt game, so it was quite the football-filled weekend.

The craziness of the past week has also been due to my new job! It's only a temporary position through mid-January (I'm taking over for a woman who's on maternity leave), but I already love it. I'm working with the Allegheny County Council office-- most of my job is writing proclamations, but I also get to research and draft bills and amendments and do various other office-related work. I get to work really closely with the Council members, though, which has been great so far. It's interesting to see how the government works. I'm slightly ashamed to say that I'd never really thought about it before, but now I get to see a lot of the behind-the-scenes work. Everyone in the office was so helpful during my first week, too. It's almost odd to feel excited to go to work tomorrow. I've never had that experience before. Usually on Sunday nights, I'm dreading going to bed, because I know that I'll have to wake up for work. I think that a part of me is so grateful to finally have something after being without a steady job for a few months, but the other part of me is grateful to myself for realizing that teaching wasn't right for me, and for trying to find a different path that would make me happy. I truly believe that I'm on that path now. I love my degree program, I love my job, and I'm on my way to loving where I live.