Marco Island

Oh...to be on vacation again!  We went to Marco Island in October, and it was the loveliest vacation ever.  The weather was perfect, the shells were abundant, the beach was relaxing, and the tennis was good.  What more could you want?  Alligators, I suppose?  Well, don't worry, we saw those too.

I'm about to do a picture overload here...there are so many to choose from; I just can't decide!

This was the view looking out from our hotel porch, just after we'd arrived.  This was the happiest moment of the whole trip for me.  It was definitely one of those "pinch me" moments where I just couldn't believe how lucky I was to be there.

{My first beach run of the week!}  

Beach running is one of my most favorite things to do in the whole world.  I absolutely love it, and it makes my heart and soul sooooo happy.  

On Sunday, we went on a leisurely drive through Naples' fanciest neighborhood, Port Royal.  Suffice it to say, we couldn't have anticipated even in the slightest how HUGE the homes are and how rich the people are.  The average price per home is probably $15 million, with a long stretch of them priced above $45 million.  I mean, it was like going into the most gated community in the entire world...except there were no gates!  I don't know why they even allow people to come in, but I guess the tourism in Florida isn't as intense as it is in, say, Hollywood? 

We actually walked through an open house for a home priced at $18 million.  Of course, the realtor paid us no mind.  At least she was nice enough to let us wander.  :)  

After looking on Zillow, the most expensive home currently on the market is $60.9 million!!  It's 18,000 sq. ft., and has it's own replica of the Bellagio fountain in the back yard.  Yikes.  Here are just a couple pictures of some of the homes we saw.

{Beach daaayzz}

The hotel offered free exercise classes, and one of them was Yoga on the Beach!  On a couple of the days, we got up early enough to join.  We really enjoyed it, and it convinced us to consider Yoga classes.

One of our favorite new discoveries in Florida is the Everglades.  We've gone twice now since coming to Marco Island, and both times it's been worth the drive.  We go on the Airboat Tours, which are soo much fun.  

On our Airboat Tour this year, we saw manatees, dolphins, and an alligator that swam right next to our boat.  Two thumbs up!

{Eeeek!  Can you see him?!}

{Menchies Frozen Yogurt and Pina Coladas everyday? Yes, please}

{Heading out to Marco Island Movie.}  

Marco Island Movie was the first dine-in theatre in America, and we hate to say it, but it was absolutely terrible.  The experience did give us something to laugh about though, and I guess now  we know never to go back!

{Sunset Fire Dancer!}

{Michelbob's ribs...my favorite!}

Not pictured is us playing tennis for 2 hours every day up at the Marriot "Club".  By the end of the week, we knew everybody there and felt like super cool rich people that should have been on some TV show.  They ended up letting us hang out there for several hours after we'd checked out of our hotel.  It was really nice of them, and we will definitely go back!  

Also not pictured are all the shells we found!  Shelling is one of my other favorite things to do at the beach, and we found some keepers.

Yet again, Florida did not disappoint.  Until next time, beautiful Marco Island!

#ourburghlife

Since moving to Pittsburgh, we're having a really hard time finding things that we don't like about this city.  It's been such a good experience, and we've loved everything about it so far!

Summer was a great time to move in because there were so many fun activities going on.  Over the last couple of months, we've been squeezing in adventures wherever and whenever Don wasn't working or studying. 

On our first Sunday together, we went with some good friends to the Classical Music Series at Mellon Park.  This is just a free concert in the park; but I shouldn't use the word "just", because it was amazing!  It was really fun to set up chairs, relax, and enjoy the beautiful music for the morning.  

On another Saturday, we spent the morning exploring the Pittsburgh Public Market and eating brunch at the world famous Pamela's.  Pamela's Diner is the home of President Obama's favorite pancakes!  Apparently, he goes to get these pancakes every time he's in town.  

The Pittsburgh Public Market is awesome as well.  It is a huge street market that's open every day.  There are hundreds of vendors that line up along Penn Avenue, in addition to some of the best shops for fish, deli meat, flowers, and any other grocery-type thing you might need.  There is no lack of fried foods or Pittsburgh paraphernalia either!

Pamela's Diner:

Oh man, so many adventures!  I almost forgot how much we did this summer.  We also went to the Ryan Adams concert.  Pittsburgh is home to Stage AE, one of the coolest outdoor concert venues we've been to.  It not only overlooks the Allegheny River, but it's also situated right in between Heinz Field and PNC Park.  Amazing views all the way around!

And then of course, there's Picklesburgh.  Picklesburgh is as the name suggests:  A festival where Pittsburgh celebrates all things pickle!  Pickles.  Pickled vegetables.  Pickled relish.  Pickled corndogs.  The list goes on.  And with a tagline like, "What's the big dill?"...How can you not get excited for this?!  It was fun, and we thoroughly enjoyed every pickle we ate.

And last but not least, one of the coolest things we've done so far is the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.  This is one of the largest international car shows in the nation.  It has more than 2,000 cars!  We basically wandered around looking the coolest cars for several hours.  Don was thrilled to explain every detail of every car.  He was very partial to "German Hill", where the BMW's were hanging out. 

The day was really fun, but unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.  :(  Here's is a screenshot from the website though...thanks pvpg.org!

 This is #ourburghlife update for now, but let's all hope there will be many more adventures to share!

Catching Up.

Wow...so much to catch up on!  These last several months have been a whirlwind.  I might as well spend some time detailing what's been going, because it's been a lot!

The big news is that we have officially moved to Pittsburgh!  May was actually my last month in SLC, and we tried to spend the most time we could with each other.

{Memorial Day Hike - Cecret Lake}

{Lumineers Concert - Red Butte Gardens}

Because of our different work schedules, we ended up moving to Pittsburgh a month apart.  Anthropologie had asked me to come out as soon as possible, but Don had to finish Fellowship and couldn't leave any earlier than July.  We decided that we could do one month separate...so, I moved to Pittsburgh the first of June to start work, and Don came out at the beginning of July.  That meant 2 road trips and 2 cars.  I got to drive with Mimi, which was such a blast!

{On the road!}

{She loved sticking her face right in front of the A/C}

{My little travel buddy!}

{She burrowed during the rainstorms}

{Looking at the scenery}

{Welcome to Pittsburgh!}

All things considered, (finding a place to live in Pittsburgh in 48 hrs, midnight flight back to Pittsburgh with Dan to decide, buying a house remotely, driving across the country alone with Mimi, moving into an unfinished house without any things, starting a new job with just a suitcase full of clothes, the moving truck coming 2 weeks later, unpacking the whole house before Don arrived, Don living for an entire month in an empty apartment with only his closet, Don's solo road trip across the country in car #2, and last but not least, fighting the massive amounts of nasty bugs that had taken up residence in our under-construction-home alone while Don was gone) I think we actually managed to have a pretty good month!  The stress was high, the workload was intense, but we succeeded on all accounts.

*Update:  We have been completely bug free for 2.5 months!  I fought the good fight, and I WON.*

Thank goodness for my parents who came down a couple times to check in on me, clean the house, and generally keep me emotionally stable the whole month.

When Don finally got to Pittsburgh, all was right with the world.  Since arriving, we've already had too many adventures to get in to one post.  Things are still moving a mile a minute, and the pace has yet to slow down!

But for right now, we are loving Pittsburgh, and we absolutely love our new home!  Pittsburgh is the perfect mixture of culture and down-to-earth, affordable and fun, active and urban...it has a little bit of everything.  We couldn't be happier with our favorite new city.

{YAY!  Our first house!}

{I haven't taken any "after" pictures, so these are the under-construction pictures for now}

{Mimi likes the kitchen rafters!} 

We still can't believe we actually live here.  Never in a million years would we have thought this amazingness would be our first house!  I feel lucky, and blessed, and very grateful.  

#ourburghlife