Single Christmas Cards

Most people don't start sending out Christmas cards until they have at least one kid. As if a kid means you finally have a family. Nope kids don't equal a family. You're a family long before that. You're a family when it's just you and your cat or just you and your husband or just you. The minute we leave home we're creating our own little family and sure a lot of us add to it through the years but some of us don't and that's perfectly fine too. Regular ol' Christmas card photos are lovely but I'm more partial to those that are humorous and clever. I like an off beat Christmas card photo more than one of some seemingly perfect family all dressed in matching flannel pajamas. That's just me. While scouring the internet for ideas for our own card this year I kept coming across a lot of single Christmas card photos that were just pure genius. 

Embrace where you are in your journey. 

Embrace your family small and large. 

And laugh a lot because life is so much easier that way. 

via malsies

via Steve Aoki

DAY FOUR: Where did all of the foliage go?

It was another cold one that involved windshield scraping which is an activity that Floridians aren't accustomed to. We drove back to Weirton to visit Dee one last time. On our way we stopped at Dustin's Pap's veteran banner. We had seen photos of it of course but it was nice to be able to see it in person. I know Dee would appreciate a photo of Dustin with it as well. Dustin was too cool for foliage on day one and wouldn't stop for photos so of course by the fourth day most of it had turned brown which annoyed me. I kept side eyeing him as if to say "I told you so". Then we saw one tree that was still bright but clearly on it's way out and that was the only shot I got. So let this be a lesson to us all; if you see foliage snap those photos right away. 

We spent time with Dee and while there she had us pick out several ceramics that she will ship down to us at a later date. Dustin even helped her with some screensaver issues. It was good seeing her. She's definitely my favorite in-law. 

We headed back to Robinson for our very mandatory Burgatory lunch with the Fiddy's. I kept going back and forth about what burger I wanted. I mean, I really wanted their limited Thanksgiving burger that included turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, gravy, and cranberry sauce all in one bite but I was worried I wouldn't finish it and it would go to waste. In the end I just said fuck it and ordered that monstrous Thanksgiving burger. It was just as good as I had hoped. Not only that but I finished the entire thing. It didn't exactly agree with my stomach later on but still no regrets. Dustin and I washed it all down with a Nutter Butter shake. It was thick and sweet and just the ticket. We went next door to the mall and watched the boys play hockey as if their Xbox NHL avatars had come alive. Dustin also trained Brady on the punching bag Rocky-style. Before we all knew it it was time to say goodbye. We headed to the airport and were both itching to be home with Cheeto and Olive. It's always that fourth day away that I get the itch to be in my own bed, on familiar streets, back into a routine. 

The Pittsburgh security proved to be bit of a frustration. It turned out that I had forgotten to take out my mini Swiss Army Knife from my purse. MCO missed it but PIT totally didn't and were assholes about it. It got confiscated and thrown away. I had had it since high school and always carried it with me everywhere. It was never for protection it was for the tweezers and the scissors and the nail file. It was just so damn practical but it was my own fault I didn't leave it at home. Dustin's already bought me a new one which I love. They also yelled at me for not putting my "tablet" aka Kindle in it's own bin. I've never been told to do that before. Ever. EYE-ROLL. I was more than ready to get the hell home at that point. 

They finally let us through and we still had a couple hours before our flight would depart. I spent the time napping as best as I could. I spent the flight trying to do the same. Thankfully it was another half empty flight so we had the row to ourselves. 

We had a great trip and hope to be back sometime next fall. There is buzz about an official bud meet-up which we'd be more than happy to be apart of. Till next time. 

 



 

DAY THREE: The Maffs Go To Church

As we waited for the elevator I looked to our right and the hotel roof was covered in a very light dust of snow. I was so excited! Then we we got to the car where a very small amount had collected there as well. Dustin even had to scrape the windows. (I made him scrape the windows.) We went to breakfast and tried to decide what to do. I had plans in my head of going to parks and walking around outside to shops but that quickly changed when my weather app. said the day would be "blustery". Like it was cold AF but when you add wind on top of it...that's a no from me. We decided to take in a movie in the comfort of the warm indoors. We tried to see Bohemian Rhapsody but it was sold out so we opted for the new Grinch. It was super cute but before we knew it we were back n the elements. We did some shopping and just drove around the Robinson area before returning to the hotel for some downtime.

A little while later Blair and Nicole picked us up for another one of Mr. Fidak's Wild Rides (even more crazy than Mr. Toad). Thankfully traffic was pretty manageable going into downtown. I tried to take what photos I could as we zoomed from one highway over a bridge to another highway. We arrived at The Church Brew Works for dinner. It is an old church, built in the early 1900s, turned into a brewery. Dustin's boss raved about it and I had heard good things too. Pretty much everything was as original as it gets. The lobby still had a cut out/sink-like-situation for holy water. Most of the seating were pews and what was once an altar now houses big ol' tanks of beer. I read on their website they had to deconstruct one of the confessionals to make way for the kitchen but the other still stands. I love walking into a place where there is so clearly a rich history and that was definitely this place. The full history of the building can be found here. 

Dustin and I hadn't been in a church since the last funeral we attended as we aren't the religious type but we could totally get behind one that serves good food and has Steelers and Penguins flags hanging up everywhere. We had a good time albeit some not so great service with our buds. We were excited they were down to try something new with us while we were in town. We can all check that one off the list. 

After dinner we headed to PPG Paints Arena. We got some decent parking thanks to Fiddy's connections and headed inside. We perused the store where I was able to find a cute Iceburgh shirt for Dilyn. We got to see the everyone's idol and favorite tweeter, none other than Big Al, aka Fiddy's dad. We weren't expecting much of a game since at that point they had lost quite a few in a row. But wouldn't you know it they won 4-0. A fucking shut out! Unreal. I couldn't believe our luck that we'd walk away with wins to both games. They lost quite a few in a row after but thankful we got to see one of their few wins this season. 

 

DAY TWO: The Sweater Legend

Dustin dropped me off at the Dunkin Donuts in our hotel's parking lot so I grabbed a donut and an iced coffee (even though it was in the 30s) and walked back up to our room in the rain. We didn't realize it then but it would rain the entire fucking day. I had a leisurely morning in while Dustin went to have breakfast with his mom and sister. 

When he was done we hit the road and started our very rainy day. I've loved ModCloth for years. Like loved them so much that I knew their history (they were founded in Pittsburgh in the early 2000s) and I even follow the co-founder on Instagram. I always remembered ModCloth talking about having a store in Pittsburgh which made sense...since that's where it all began. So Dustin so kindly drove me to what I thought was that store. We turned down a road that was more of an industrial park and then I realized we were at their online fulfillment center. After doing some internet research I sadly realized their Pitt location was just temporary. Womp Womp. The only permanent shop is located in Austin. Alright, Erin, next time I'm in Texas let's add this one to the list. 

We laughed it off and decided to try another store. Steel City is probably my favorite Pittsburgh inspired clothing shop and it's location is in the center of downtown Pittsburgh. Downtown Pittsburgh is fucking stressful if you aren't familiar with it and especially so in the rain. We found this little garage that instead of going up went down...and down, and down some more. Before we knew it we were six fucking stories underneath the road. It was a tight garage and it gave me a little anxiety when I thought how far under we were. I'm not sure how it is any different from being six stories high but it is. We parked on the 6th level of hell and made our way back up to the surface. Since it was still raining we stopped in a RiteAid on the corner to buy a cheap umbrella. It's never fun getting wet but it's really not fun when you wear glasses and it's in the 30s. 

We walked a couple more blocks and found the actual brick and mortar Steel City store. It was just as cute as I expected it to be. I did circles in the store before finally deciding to get something for a friend and something for Dustin (that he picked out right next to me). 

I was starting to get hungry but Dustin wasn't yet so we just walked a few more blocks to a Subway where he watched me eat my turkey sub. We thought about walking to our next location and had it been a dryer day we would've but the rain continued to come down so we made our way back to hell. 

Parking in Pittsburgh is something out of a nightmare. We tried to park at the normal parking lot but of course it was at capacity. Then we tried to park at another one on the other side of the museum but it was for leased parking spots only (imagine having to lease a fucking parking space?!). We finally parked at this massive parking garage (above ground thankfully) a few blocks away and walked to the museum in the rain. 

The museum building itself was this gorgeous red brick that had to have been something else or a lot of something elses back in the day. I love a cool old building. I got to see my very first real life up-close-and-personal conestoga wagon, a cool old bus, and the goddamn Destination Moon exhibit that housed Apollo 11 among a million other cool space shit just on the first floor. There were about 4 or 5 levels but I was there strictly to see the Mister Rogers exhibit. I enjoyed all of the other random things the museum had to offer like there giant Heinz exhibit (Don't ever talk Hunt's around us or we'll rip your head off with words.) and all the different sports history but I was here for one guy with a closet full of sweaters. Once we got up to see the sets they of course felt so small. It's weird how that happens once you become an adult. It took me right back to my childhood. to see the tree and the puppets and his original shoes! I enjoyed and highly recommend the recent documentary 'Won't You Be My Neighbor?' that came out earlier this year. I learned so much about Fred and how his little imaginary world came to be. I always found it cool that he went to college in my neck of the woods and moved back to his hometown of Pittsburgh in Dustin's neck of the woods. We had a great few hours strolling around and by the end of it we were sore and in need of a good long sit. We walked back to the parking garage which was also the Greyhound ticket location but couldn't figure out how to pay OUR parking ticket. There were different lobbies coded by color. So our red ticket couldn't be paid in the blue lobby. It was frustrating to say the least. We finally got the hell out of that parking garage. It was not our day for parking. I guess there's a lot to be said about public transportation in cities like that. I wouldn't know since I come from a state where everything is so spread out you can't really survive without a car. 

We had some time before our dinner plans so we decided to head over to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh which coincidentally enough is where Fred Rogers grew up. It is also the location of one of the more recent mass shootings. I read about a record store that was on all the "must see" lists. Dustin and I drove by the building and we both said "THAT'S it?". We weren't exactly impressed from the outside of Jerry's but we were here so we might as well have a look. We were met with a door with "Stronger Than Hate" signs on it that immediately led to a staircase. We walked up the creaking stairs and came upon another door. Through the door was just a weird room full of junk and then through another door was the record store. I have never been in a place with so many records in my life. Dustin and I walked down the aisles and then even got lost towards the back as the shelves felt like a maze. It reminded me of Powell's (famous Portland bookstore) except for records. The only problem was all of the records were from artists Dustin and I had never heard of. We're not music snobs but we know a pretty decent variety in all genres and we were having trouble finding anyone we recognized. It was a hell of a place but unfortunately we left empty handed. 

We spent the next two hours straight in traffic and on the road to the Fidak's house. It should have only taken an hour at most. Of course we got stuck in Friday 5 o'clock traffic. We were exhausted from our day and Dustin's foot started to hurt from the stop and go of the highway. We were cranky and in need of food. We decided to eat at DeeJay's which if you're from Florida kind of feels like home. The parking lot is full of fake lit up palm trees and the vibe is very tropical. They're known for their ribs but we all got burgers. After dinner we all went and got ice-cream down the street. Yes, even though it was pretty damn cold outside. Brady was very proud of his brightly colored scoops and didn't say one word until he was done. We went back to the Fid's house and Brady so graciously tried on his Stay Puft Marshmallow Halloween costume for us. It was great and even came with a built in fan. Apparently it hadn't been so great to actually trick-or-treat in because it was so restrictive. As soon as he changed out of that he and Nicole featuring Dustin treated us to musical stylings of Jingle Bells. Nicole could not have been more right when she told me "Jingle Bells will never be the same after you hear this version". We had such a good time. You know you're having a good time when it flies by and it's already time to leave but you feel like you just got there. We were pooped so we called it a night and drove back to our hotel and when we walked into the door we were greeted by the biggest terrible towel I've ever seen.