Totally Octobular!

Odd little nighttime picture from our yard, October 2007

We're finally all moved in and settled into our new apartment. The moving process was a little bit hectic, as we concocted the genius plan of moving during the same weekend as Stephanie & Justin's wedding and my birthday (note to self: please do not do that again, if you value any kind of sleep). The Merging of Things has gone pretty well, although I'm not entirely sure that PJ appreciates the collection of angel figurines in the guest room. In fact, I'm almost positive that he's not a fan, as noted by the, "Oh, God...what are those...," mumbled under his breath while I was unpacking. Other than the minor decorating differences, the apartment is starting to look quite home-y, which is huge for me, after months of feeling like I didn't have a place to call my own. The only big thing that we have left to do is cover our windows. If you look in the picture above, blurry as it may be, on the bottom left you'll see our greenhouse windows. When we first saw this apartment, I thought, "Oh neat! Greenhouse windows! I must have this apartment with the cool windows!" Now that sentiment has morphed into something more like, "Oh neat! The neighbors can all look into our apartment! Hi, neighbor!"...which, in case you were wondering, is actually NOT that neat. So we're working on that one, and using some classy blankets and sheets as our curtains in the meantime. We have a yard, though, a real, fenced-in, little yard of our own! I like having that little bit of extra space and I can't wait for next summer, so that we can grill out there.

The lack of a job has had me out exploring the city lately. I love love love our neighborhood (there's a Gap and a Williams-Sonoma and a Sephora within walking distance...what more could I ask for? I'm especially glad that we moved here when we did-- even though we've had some warm days lately, I can feel the sweater weather coming and all of the leaves are changing colors and falling. It smells like autumn. It's my absolute favorite time of year and I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to get out and enjoy it before I start working again. Here are a couple more Pittsburgh favorites (and yes, one of those links is to a library, but you have to see this place-- the architecture is fantastic...plus they have a coffee shop inside).

I didn't want to end this entry without saying congratulations to Justin & Stephanie (the lovely Miss Stephanie, who kindly asked me to update my blog so that she could continue to stalk me). They were married on my birthday this year, and I was more than delighted to share the day with them!

Justin & Stephanie Larson, September 29, 2007

Congratulations!