Visit with the Hardings

After Christmas, Shawn and Lindsey came to visit us for a while on their holiday tour of the country. :0) We were so excited because we got to see little Riley for the first time... and boy is she a cutie! She's already crawling around like crazy and she seems like she is always happy and smiling.




Another highlight of the visit was that they taught us how to play a card game called Pounce which is kind of like a dueling solitaire game played by multiple people (4 players and up is best). We had a great time playing and I can't wait to get more people up to speed so that we can play it again!

My only regret is that I had to work during their visit, so I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked. Well, I guess we'll just have to visit them in Florida sometime soon!

Christmas Day

Christmas was quiet and a little more subdued than usual this year. We started our morning at my parents' house with Dad cooking the usual ham and eggs for breakfast (yum!). Then, we exchanged grab bag gifts with one another. But I think the true star of the show was Brody, who was celebrating his very first Christmas. He got a ton of gifts and was only awake (and interested) long enough to play with a few of them. But the rest of us had a grand time watching him and playing with him on this special day. We all realize that we have a lot to be thankful for this Christmas.




Next, we travelled over to Paul's parents' house to have Christmas lunch and to exchange gifts with each other there. We had a lot of fun (and so did Bo, Kason and Zoe who ran around like they knew it was a holiday!).

Finally, we headed back home to get things prepared for Christmas dinner, which we hosted at our house this year. We invited both of our families for dinner, so it was a bit of an ordeal trying to setup two tables in the dining room and living room. But after a few iterations we ended up with a suitable arrangement and the dinner went off without a hitch (thanks to Paul's amazing cooking skills).

Annual Christmas Party

Just one short week after throwing a surprise party and then hosting Cookie Day, we again found ourselves frantically cooking, running errands, cleaning and getting our new house ready for the annual Pinchot Christmas Party. Besides the stress of trying to figure out where to plug in various light-up Christmas decorations, roasters and crock pots in our new basement without overloading any circuits, things went really well. We got to break in our new game room with our first big party at the house and lots of family and friends got to see the place for the first time.

The annual Beer Pong Tournament was one of the main events of the night. Frank and John ended up winning the trophy again, with Paul and Nick as runners up. Joe and Garrett also deserve an honorable mention as the most improved team from last year. Kim and I got knocked out early, but we'll be back next year!


You can see more pictures from the party here.

Cookie Day

Every year in December, the Pinchot family gets together for Cookie Day and everyone works together to bake enough Christmas cookies to feed an army. This year was no different except for the fact that we now held the event at our new house in Ambridge. Oh, and our normal pizza lunch was changed because instead we had tons of leftovers from the surprise party the night before! Paul played his usual role of general, directing and conducting the entire event so that cookies continually rolled off of our little assembly line. The rest of us manned the mixing, rolling, and decorating stations. It's like a well-oiled machine. :0)

Surprise 60th!

Over the weekend we had a surprise birthday party for Paul's Dad to celebrate his 60th birthday. It was quite the operation... we decided to have the party on Saturday (Dec 13) even though his actual birthday was on Friday (Dec 12). We figured that the only way we were going to surprise him was to setup a decoy birthday dinner on Friday and pretend like nothing else was happening. We went out to dinner on Friday night to Outback and actually had a really fun time (not that we expected anything different - it was just a little stressful keeping the secret and not slipping up accidentally!). Dad got a birthday sundae and his gifts and had no reason whatsoever to expect that anything would be happening the next day.

We rented the hall at the Sportsmen's Club for the party and invited all of his friends and family. Kim and I spent a hectic morning cooking and picking up last minute items and then we finally headed over to the club to setup the room and decorate. Paul's Mom, Judy, Joe, and Garrett (our volunteer DJ) also pitched in to help during the party prep (thank you all!). We used a "Casino Night" theme and had a bunch of game tables setup where the guests could bet (using fake money we provided).


We scheduled everyone to arrive early so that they would be there before Dad. Paul ended up bringing the guest of honor to the party... he picked his Dad up that evening with the excuse of going Christmas shopping, and made up a fake reason to need to stop at the club to pick up some calendars. We setup a scheme with the bartender at the club so that she would send them both to the back room when they came in to ask about the calendars. It all worked like a charm! He opened the door to the darkened and silent room only to have the lights come up and hear everyone yell, "Surprise!" followed by "Celebration" playing over the sound system. Although Dad says he was completely shocked and surprised and had no idea that we were having a party for him, he really must have a poker face because when he opened the door, he was relatively calm as he surveyed the room full of family and friends:

Overall it was a great time and we hope that he truly enjoyed his party! View more party photos here.

Halloween Party

Kim and Joe's annual Halloween Party was another big success! We all had a great time. Paul was Mr. T and I was Fiona from Shrek. I made my costume myself by getting a red wig and braiding it (no easy feat, let me tell you). Then, I made the ears by getting two Christmas bells about the right size, covering them in green felt, and sewing them into the lining of the wig. A basic Princess-like dress and green face paint completed the ensemble. More impressive, however, was Paul's Mr. T haircut -- which he actually shaved into his own hair! But, the most original costumes of the night went to Joe, Garrett and Kim, who showed up as Mario, Luigi and the Princess.

Starting to feel like home

Well, the move has been taking its toll on us. Don't get me wrong - we love the new house! And we love being closer to everyone. In fact, we've already had weekday visitors two times this week (something that happened umm... let me see... NEVER at our old place!). It's just all of the change that is so disturbing. It's as if everything in your life is all of a sudden in a different place, backwards or opposite from where it was before. We are adjusting though... and we're almost completely unpacked now so that's a start! More information and pictures will follow once I have my office arranged in some sort of usable way again.

An afternoon hike

Yesterday I decided to get out of the house for a while and do something outside since it was such a beautiful day. I was tired of sitting around the house and working on the computer and I really needed a bit of an escape filled with fresh air and wide open spaces.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do since I was on my own for the day, but Paul suggested checking out Raccoon Creek State Park since it's only a short drive away. So, I put on my walking shoes (well, my black Crocs... which actually turned out to be excellent and comfortable hiking shoes even for the muddy parts), grabbed my camera and Zoe and I headed out to the park. When I got there I had to stop at the park office to get a map and I decided to try the Mineral Springs Loop Trail which was nearby and listed on the map as an "easy to moderate" hike of 1.2 miles. Since I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and also wasn't sure how well Zoe would do on the trail, I thought it was a good beginner's choice.

Zoe and I set out on the trail and quickly found that it was quite a bit overgrown. I was a little nervous as it was because I had forgotten my cell phone at home and I was about to walk into the woods without any means of communicating with the outside world. Plus, my only protection from wild animals and serial killers was Zoe's ferocious bark which is unfortunately not well backed up with bite. After this first round of doubt about the intelligence of continuing on the path, I decided to push through and just see how it went. There were a couple of parts where I had to carry Zoe through because the brush at her level was too thick for her to get through... and there were a number of trees down over the path (probably from the recent windstorm on Sunday) that we had to climb over or around. After about five minutes of walking, we got past the really overgrown part and the trail opened up a bit. We ended up following a little stream up a hill to the mineral springs.

When we got there, the spring was really just little streams of water running down the side of a rock wall. It left a copper colored stain where it flowed down and the rock at the foot of the wall was actually carved out in several places into the shape of a bowl from the constant stream of water. It was kind of neat to see but then we pressed on.

The rest of the trail led further up the hill and into deeper woods. Until that point, I hadn't really felt like I was too far away from civilization because I could still faintly hear sounds from the highway. At the top of the hill, though, the trail went deeper in and we were completely surrounded by woods in all directions so the sounds of civilization were gone. More downed trees and overgrown brush impeded the path in several places. Twice I lost the trail and wasn't sure where to go next because it was so overgrown. But instead of letting the feeling of panic swelling up in my chest get too overwhelming, I just tried a few directions until I figured it out (carrying Zoe through some of the worst parts). I have to say that I was extremely impressed with myself for continuing on through it all since I was out there by myself. I knew that the trail was a loop and so that helped to keep me on task instead of letting myself get convinced to turn around. It really was a bit of a struggle to make myself continue (scaredy-cat that I am). I had no phone, and the deeper we got into the woods, the more all of the animal sounds were amplified in a way that made me nervous. I kept reassuring myself that a person or any large animal would have to make a good deal more noise... and that helped to keep me sane until I finally relaxed and started enjoying the peacefulness and solitude.

I have to say that Zoe absolutely loved the hike as much as I did. It took us about an hour to complete the trail, and she was excited the entire time including when she had to climb over some big fallen trees. Afterward Zoe had the happiest expression on her little face... and then on the ride home she curled up and went to sleep... completely exhausted from our adventure. Hey, it was a big hike for such a little dog! Overall though, I thought it was a pretty easy walk, so I think next time I'm going to tackle one of the "moderate" trails and see how it goes. Maybe I can even convince someone to come along with us for extra company.

Summer is officially over

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, we all have to accept the sad fact that summer is over. Since my last post, I've been busy starting the semester again at school, getting things prepared for the big move (the date of which is STILL undecided, grrr), and spending some time with family and friends at various picnics and cookouts.

Oh, and I got to see Brody again over the weekend... doesn't he look like he's wrapped up in a little peapod? So cute! :0)


Plans for the rest of this week include more packing as well as some serious blocks of time for writing. I have to finish a draft of my methodology chapter for RMU and another assignment before the next residency, and I'm hoping to get done early since we don't know exactly when our moving date is going to be. If all goes well, I'll have both assignments written before the weekend (keeping my fingers crossed).

Back to school

So after a summer that somehow seemed to fly by in flash of sunshine, I find myself back at RMU for the final year of my doctoral program. After the first day back, I have to say that so far this year has been an equal mix of fear and excitement. (To give you a little background, I would have said the only word to describe the first day of last year was PANIC.) So I think it's an improvement!

Right now, I'm a little ahead of the game because I collected data for my research over the summer and will be entering into the fun, fun world of data analysis this fall. I just hope that things continue to go well. With the big move to the new house looming on the horizon, I really need to keep as stress free as possible. We'll see how that goes. One day down, six more to go...

Garden baby shower

We held a beautiful baby shower for Jena in the yard at my parents' house this afternoon. The flowers were blooming, the sun was shining, the food was fabulous, and there were lots of friends and family to join in the fun. I think it was a fantastic success, and little Brody will be able to come home in style as soon as he is ready!

Brody Nicholas

I went back to the hospital to see Jena and the baby today... Jena is doing really well and so is Shawn. I brought her a baby book so she can start writing down memories while they are still fresh in her mind and I also couldn't resist buying this really soft and cuddly stuffed dinosaur. :0)

Since Brody is still a preemie, he can only have a few visitors at a time. Jena, Shawn, Mom and I all spent some time with him this afternoon and got a chance to hold him. He's so tiny and really cute! I loved his little hat and the way his little feet would kick like he was having a dream. Jena is doing so well at everything... I'm so excited for her and proud of her! We all can't wait until the baby can come home... we love him so much!

I have a nephew!

Jena went into pre-term labor last night -- we were all pretty scared because we weren't sure why she was going into labor so early (her due date was September 28). At first, the doctors weren't even sure if it was real or if it was a false alarm... but it turns out that it was the real thing!

This afternoon the family rushed down to see her at Magee and it's a good thing that we did. Once they had wheeled her back into delivery around 3:00pm, everything seemed to go pretty quickly. She delivered a healthy baby boy at 6:17pm today! He was a preemie, so we were expecting him to be small, but he actually looked bigger to me than I thought he would be, so we were all happy about that. He weighed 3 lbs and 14 oz. It all happened so fast it was kind of surreal... I can't believe I have a nephew! I'm so excited!

Because he was so little, we weren't able to hold him yet, but he is in good hands at the hospital and I can't wait to go back tomorrow to see him again! Jena was amazing... I'm so proud of her! No name for the baby yet... will keep you posted.

Congrats Jena and Shawn!

Biggest and Baddest Tour

On Sunday night, a bunch of us went to the Toby Keith concert at Star Lake. Paul and I were a little preoccupied because we had made an offer on a house earlier that day and our minds were very much on that. (By the way - the offer was accepted! We're excited.... more about the new house once things are more official.)

We had fun tailgating (thanks to Danielle, Patty Lynn and Shawn for the awesome food!) and hanging out before the concert even though it was incredibly HOT. Thank goodness someone had the foresight to bring a tent which definitely helped. Toby was awesome... a great concert for a summer night. And we even ran into some old friends!

A Day at Kennywood

On Sunday, pretty much the entire gang went to Kennywood to enjoy the beautiful sunny day. Notable exceptions were Tracy and Ryan (we missed you!). We even ran into Susie and Juan which was a cool surprise. I personally had a great time, although I have to say that Kennywood after 30 is a little different. I used to be a roller coaster fanatic and constantly on the go to see how many rides we could hit before the park closed.

This trip, we leisurely checked out the place, rode a few of our favorite rides, stood in line for the new haunted house ride (not worth the wait) and hung out while enjoying some great park food (including Potato Patch fries, corn dogs and funnel cakes). Oh, and the other big difference? The desperate need for Tums at the end of the night... getting older is not so fun sometimes.

Paul and me in front of the Thunderbolt:


The Ricci's:

And Garrett and Jonelle:

Legend of the Seeker

Thanks to Lindsey for posting this first (she beat me to it!). But, here is trailer for the Wizard's First Rule TV series.



It looks like they also finished casting for Zedd, Chase and Darken Rahl. I'm not liking it so far.

I'm in the spotlight!

One of my photos got featured as a Member Spotlight today on the Expressions photoblogging site! Their theme of the week was "tree" and my photo Tree at Dusk was chosen. Yay, this is so exciting! I always look at the member spotlights but never thought I would get chosen. :0)

Evolution of the phone

A little over a week ago I dropped my cell phone for about the 8th time in the span of two weeks. It did not recover. About 48 hours elapsed from the time that I realized that my phone was not coming back from that fateful fall until the time I was able to purchase a new one (which was an encounter that could possibly have made it into Ripley's for the worst customer service in history). Those 48 hours were filled with anxiety... I had no access to my phone numbers (many of which I had not written down anywhere else), had to wonder if I was missing a few expected calls from people who only had my cell number, fumbled with an old alarm clock every morning because I was used to using my phone's alarm, and got to experience that naked feeling that you get whenever you realize you left your phone behind each and every time I got into my car. I had no idea that I was so dependent on it to keep connected.

My new phone really rocks, though. It's an LG Dare -- a touch screen phone similar to the iPhone. I really wanted an iPhone. But to get an iPhone I would have to switch networks and I couldn't justify leaving Verizon when most of our friends and family are IN. I think it was a good choice. I like everything about it except perhaps its web browser, which is a little slow and cumbersome. It's great for texting, great for viewing photos and it has a really cool 3.2 megapixel camera with built-in flash (handy for snapping blog photos). So, I'm once again connected.

Even though I clearly love (or desperately need) my cell phone, I was thinking this week about how phones used to be. When I was a teenager, we got to talk to our friends on a good old landline with a super long twisty cord (so you could pull the phone all the way to your bedroom and talk in private). Of course there was the constant annoyance of little sisters picking up while you were trying to have a conversation.... "Get off the phone! (5 second pause) I know you're on there... I can hear you breathing. MOM! Tell Susie/Tracy/Jena to hang up the phone!"... But even so, there was some quality about conversations back then that we don't have anymore. You could almost hear a pin drop on the other end of the line. You could certainly whisper and still hear each other clearly when talking to your best friend late into the night (long after you were told to hang up). It seems like that intimacy isn't there anymore. Does anyone else know what I mean?

Calling all Joss Whedon fans

If you spent every Tuesday night from 1997 to 2003 desperately waiting for the next installment of Buffy, you are a Joss Whedon fan. Check out his latest creation - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. This is an Internet mini-series event... and I'm a little late posting about it because Act I began on July 15th and Act II on the 17th. Act III, the final installment, will become available on Saturday. But on Sunday, July 20th - they will all vanish! So watch it while you can:



And spread the word!

When it rains, it pours

Earlier this week Zoe got her annual summer haircut which means that she basically looks like a little elf dog with short hair and big perky ears. I personally think it's adorable but I like the next stage even better when it starts to grow in a little bit. In retrospect her haircut seems almost like a symbol of change to me... a lot of things have been going on for us lately.

I personally have had an opportunity presented to me recently and so I've been struggling with a big decision to make career-wise. Those of you who know me have heard this story and can probably attest to my stress level lately. :)

Plus, I am in the middle of my research phase for my dissertation and have SO much to think about on that front. I'll be back at RMU before I know it in August and starting into the final year of my doctoral program. That seems like it is going incredibly fast too... all of a sudden we're at a point in the process where I am going to be closer the end than the beginning and that just seems surreal.

Plus... drumroll, please... our house sold today! I can hardly believe it. For a while it felt as if the house would be on the market forever because you just don't know how or when these things will happen. But overall it really only took a matter of months. If all goes as planned, we will officially be homeless in less than 2 months, so we are now in a crunch to look for a new place. Luckily we have a few spots in mind but now we have to really think about this and make some more big decisions. It will be nice to end up closer to the rest of our family and friends (WAY over on the other side of the river). So, we have some house hunting to do now.

I'm definitely not complaining. Opportunities are amazing things to have - whether you act upon them or not. It just feels like so many things are happening at once that it is a little overwhelming.