Just like my June post, this month’s Life Lately started with another trip – this time to Cedar Point. After having two trips in one month, I spent a lot of the rest of the time pretty close to home. I really do love traveling, but it is a LOT of work for us, so as much fun as I have while I’m away, I always feel like I need to recover from it once I’m home!
The trip to Cedar Point was fun, but the hotel is not my favorite, especially for accessibility! There are lots of little weird quirks that they know they can get away with for being the only hotel that’s on the grounds of the amusement park. Regardless – it was really nice to get away and just be somewhere different. My dad worked at the park for a summer when he was younger, and he loved it so, so much, so he really loves every time he has the chance to go back.
My favorite part of the trip is being so close to Lake Erie! I’m still asleep during the sunrises, but the sunsets are really, really pretty, as are the views in general. It’s just very calming!
Even though I was still a little bit tired from my trip, I also had tickets to the Mandy Moore concert here in Pittsburgh the week I got home. I’m so happy that I went – it was absolutely worth it. I have loved Mandy Moore ever since I saw A Walk to Remember 20 years ago, and the chance to see her in person – and to hear her sing Only Hope live – was just so incredibly special to me. I realized that I hadn’t seen a live concert since 2019, so it was kind of the perfect return to live music that I could have asked for.
The show was at The Roxian – a relatively new-ish venue that I hadn’t been to before. I was pretty impressed with the accessibility overall – there’s an elevator to the stage area, a ramp down to the GA pit, and a separate ADA section right next to the sound mixing area (the balcony area is not wheelchair accessible), and multiple (paid) parking lots nearby. The only issue that I had was that the ADA area was not quiiiiite deep enough – there were two “rows,” but two wheelchairs in front of each other made the wheelchair in the back bump into the barrier that roped off the area, and it made it tricky for people to get in and out. That’s something that’s easy to fix, though, and the rest of the accessibility worked well for me!
As usual, when I was home, there was patio time this month, too. I really love reading outside with my coffee – it’s just the most relaxing thing for me! Sometimes I’ll take my Sony headphones with me and listen to some Taylor Swift, or sometimes I’ll just enjoy the sounds of nature.
Okay, this was really cool. I’ve been part of the JVN Community for a month or so now – we get to test out new products for the JVN Hair line and have the opportunity for fun activities like this Masterclass with Jonathan Van Ness himself. Not only was it super cool to hear him talk about the products and how he uses them, but I got to tell him how the Air Dry Cream has been amazing for me to make traveling while disabled a little bit easier (I talk about it in this post). I learned a lot and it was just a very cool experience.
For the Fourth this year, my family and I went to do a little trail walking at Schenley Park, and then went to Millie’s downtown afterwards for some ice cream. Lily had not been around that many people here in Pittsburgh for a while (it’s different when we travel with her because she’s out of her element), and she was losing her mind with excitement!! We had to give her very small tastes of ice cream to keep her from barking her head off. She hates fireworks – she just shakes and is so terrified – so getting her away from the house for a bit helped her to avoid some of them!
I ordered a new Apple Watch during the Prime Day sales – my battery completely gave out on my old one, and since it was from 2017, I figured I was due for an upgrade anyway. I went without one for a month or two and really missed it, so it was a sign to me that I really did use it and should reorder. I’m so obsessed – I love the “always on” display, and I’ve been checking my blood oxygen level for fun.
Ending the post with another first since our trip to DC – eating out at a restaurant! We made it back to Senti, which is one of my favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh. The owner is so nice and always backs sure to say hi, the food is beyond incredible, and the outdoor patio is so cute. It actually started to rain while we were eating, and they kindly and quickly moved us under the covered part of their patio so we could continue eating and stay dry. We ended up staying there for a while chatting, and we never felt rushed to leave. It’s just the perfect dinner out!
