When I went through my camera roll for this post, I realized how busy this last month has actually been! It was an extremely full month – both with exciting plans, and some chill times at home, too. Here’s everything that I’ve been up to over the last month.
Pittsburgh had their Disability Pride Event at the end of August, and I was asked to speak as part of the Live/Ability project that I worked on a few years ago. It was a project where disabled Pittsburgh journalists were paired with disabled Pittsburgh advocates (like me), and the pairs worked together to create something about the disabled experience in Pittsburgh. My partner was kind enough to suggest we write something together, and had the (brilliant) idea to create “Ableist Bingo” cards, where we filled bingo squares with examples of ableism we experience day in and day out. We also wrote about our “Safe Space” (free space) in the city. Getting to read some of these out loud was so exciting, and so cathartic!
I was taking a picture of Nala, and just happened to snap this at the absolutely perfect moment mid-yawn. For a cat who spends 90% of her day napping in the same spot, she looks like she’d roar pretty ferociously!
Nala has also very recently decided that footrests make an extremely comfortable napping spot – both mine and my sister’s. She made herself right at home here and had a very nice little snooze! You can also see the blanket that is on my lap 99% of the time I’m at home and inside.
It’s cooled down a little bit now, but at the end of August I grabbed this ice cream from Jeni’s plus one of my last macadamia cream cold foams of the season! It was the perfect little treat to beat the heat.
Shake Shack has finally made it to Pittsburgh! I’ve been in New York and DC, but have never had one locally. I ordered a cheeseburger plus a chocolate and vanilla shake a few weeks ago, and it was just so good! Really hit the spot, and I’m so excited that I can just order it whenever I want now.
I’ve mentioned a few times now that I had a few friends come visit for my birthday! We’d actually never met in person before, and a few of us share birthdays on or around the same day, so the pressure was a bit high! But it turned out to be an amazing visit, and so, so much fun. We had a great night making mountain pies and roasting s’mores and laughing so much.
They also all got to join me for the Family House Polo Match, one of my favorite Pittsburgh activities of the whole year! The whole week ahead I was so nervous, because the forecast called for a rainout, but it ended up being a perfect day, if a little bit windy (as you can see from my dress!). I even got to meet one of the polo players during the traditional stomping of the divots on the field.
On the drive home, I took everyone on a short detour to the Mt. Washington overlook. I take it for granted, but it really is a stunning view of the city! And it was fun to point out different parts of the city to them that you could see from the overlook.
I have season tickets to all of the musicals that tour in Pittsburgh – I got them a few years ago for the first time that Hamilton was going on tour, and now I love my seats so much that I can’t give them up! It’s also a really nice because it “forces” me to go see shows I might not otherwise buy tickets to, but almost always end up loving. It’s a gentle push to remind me that leaving my house is good, basically! This year’s season started with Hamilton, and while it’s obviously not my first time seeing the show, it’s no less enjoyable. I love being able to catch new, small details each time I go.
I have a conference at work this week that I’ll be attending partially in person, so I wanted to make sure I got this year’s Covid vaccine in advance! Just like every other time I’ve gotten the vaccine, I had flu-like side effects (I took ibuprofen religiously and that helped a lot) which lasted for about 24 hours and then I was back to normal! Definitely worth it for the protection.
Finally! Since I have a busy week at work, I made sure to set aside some relaxation time this weekend. I made some at-home cold foam to top my macadamia cold brew, and sat on the patio reading for a few hours. It was so nice and refreshing!
