picture props

If you haven't visited Dave's flickr site recently, have a look! He's posted some good stuff recently--these are two of my favorites.

pgh for life?

In San Francisco, Kate and I talked with the owner of a boutique who was exploring new cities. She loves SF but, like many people there, can't afford to buy her own place. She read an article on Pittsburgh in a magazine, and thought it would be nice to live somewhere where the real estate is so affordable that you have extra income; in her words "I'd like to be able to afford a house and have money to do other things other than just stay in the house!"

Yes, this is the big reason (though not the only one) why we're still here in Pittsburgh. It is nice to visit San Francisco and dream of living there, but house prices are ridiculous. My house would easily go for well over $1 million in SF (I searched on Realtor for similar size houses, and looks like the going rate is between $2 and $3 million). So the fact that we were able to buy such a great house for so little--with a mortgage payment easily affordable even if one of us loses our jobs--makes Pittsburgh so attractive. The result is that you can live pretty large on not a huge salary.

And yet. Every time I visit a new place, I want to move there. I think I would be happy living just about anywhere (except Baltimore, DC, Florida, Texas, the South, the Southwest, or the Midwest) but I really want to live in Norway! You know what socialized healthcare policies get you in Norway? A year's paid maternity leave, a free car if you have trouble getting around on public transportation, and a government paid two-week tropical vacation if you feel a little ill, just to name a few perks. Sure the taxes are higher, but people are pretty happy in Norway. Watch this video about Norway from Michael Moore's Sicko movie and you'll see why!

Just this week I asked Dave if he wanted to move to Norway. After reminding me that it's dark and terribly cold for a good portion of the year, he said he really has no desire to move. And truth is, neither do I. After the fantasies of living somewhere else die down, I'm pretty happy here in the Burgh. And not just because of the cost of living--it's a beautiful city with so much to offer and to do. After living here most of my life, I still find new places to explore and enjoy. I will still dream of Norway though...

5 things that make me purr: 04.07.09

1. My Girls by Animal Collective. 2. Lamps that look like robots.

3. My new coat that I got in North Beach, San Francisco.

4. The Comcast Town ad campaign--what a feel-good, fun, creative campaign for something as boring as cable.

5. Creative re-use of garbage and other random things as planters (the below are big tin cans painted with rust resistant paint).

teeny road trip through route 65 river towns

Dave's going to buy a new bike, so he wanted to check out a bike shop in Ambridge (named after the American Bridge Company), about 19 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. We spent the sunny afternoon yesterday driving up Route 65 to Ambridge, then on to Rochester, New Brighton, Beaver Falls, and Monaca. It was a nice day for a drive.

Parts of 65 are pretty, even in early spring, with big trees and beautiful houses along stretches of the road. There's a hint of green on the hillsides, spring flowers coming up in yards, and pretty blossoms on trees.

Ambridge.

Beaver River, muddy from all the rain this week.

Rochester Bridge.

Beaver Falls.

Windblown me with my new bug-eye sunglasses and shorter, darker hair (couldn't stand how my hair looked in pix from CA--too long and brassy!)

sad day in pgh

I was at the hair salon this morning when Laurie, the owner who lives in Stanton Heights, ran in breathless and told us about the shooting in her neighborhood. She took her dog outside to go the bathroom and kept hearing shot after shot--she said it sounded like 100 shots fired. Sure enough, we turned on the TV and it was breaking news all morning. So sad that three police officers were killed. And Stanton Heights is such a nice nieghborhood too! Tragic.

olivia: a mini-me

My 10-year-old niece Olivia (on Dave's side) is about as cute as they come. She fowarded to Dave an email about helping stray dogs in Puerto Rico. She's a mini-me! When Dave told her I volunteer at a shelter, she sent this message.

Yeah, I really am actually interested in animal welfare. I just think that they deserve every little thing we deserve to such as food, water, shelter, and a loving family.
I really want to adopt a dog from http://www.animalfriends.com/ too.
Do you know what shelter she volunteers at?

-Olivia

Aside from me just loving that she wants to adopt a dog for good reasons (and that she has pretty good grammar), it tickles me to get an email from her in general. It's funny to think how communication has changed so much since we were little. Can you imagine if we had the internets growing up? It's really amazing to think how integral it is to kids today, but it wasn't around until late in college. Makes me feel old!

Photo is Olivia and her brother Derek from Christmas 2007.

backyard project begins!

Dan the landscaper is coming next week to install a wood fence and rip up part of our concrete patio. So we started to prep this week by pulling apart our raised bed in the back, first by moving all the brick and then by ripping apart the wood and finally taking down the fence that Dave designed and built in....maybe four years ago? I can't find a good picture of how the back "yard" looked prior to last summer when one of our trees was cut down and the other was tragically butchered by getting topped off. But before that it was green and shady and pretty and private. So we're getting the wood fence for immediate privacy, and removing part of the patio so we have room to plant a new tree. This first is the best picture I could find (it's when we were painting the deck--you can barely see the back fence all the way in the back), followed by some from taking apart the bed. Step two in the plan? I think I need new patio furniture, so I'm headed over to Kate T.'s old house this weekend to steal her patio furniture before the new owners move in! (Congratulations again to Kate for selling their house. And congratulations to Kelly for buying one in Minneapolis!)