Falling out of Summer

A picture of one of my favorites cities in the world:

 

Summer season was winding down, and like any season (in both nature and life), it had its ups like:

• The best friend sleepover at the dream flat with MY best friend and Emily’s best friend! We got to snuggle in the dream flat and wake up the next morning with mimosas in hand.

 

• Micromanaging the chocolate chip cookies when Helen and I were baking. We watched these little suckers minute by minute to make sure the cookies would rise like a phoenix from the ashes — but in the end they pretty much just stayed ashes. “Damn us.” Said Helen as we took the first bite.  We’d left them in for a mere minute too long.

 

• Having a jam sesh with Emily, Bel, and Kevin in the dream flat!  Finally, all of the musical instruments that “we” own in the living room at the same time!  Helen was elated!!

 

• Going on a date at a Hungarian restaurant and going to banjo night afterwards. “Thanks for coming out!!”, The head guy yells.   “We’re music lovers”, yells someone else. “We’re fans of leisure”, my date responds.

 

• My NEW TAX GUY, JP.  He’s changed my life for the better.  Thanks to Matt for linking me with him! I celebrated my clean money with a dirty martini.

 

But the fleeting weeks also had its downs, like that one time I:

• Came back from Burning Man with my skin SO DRY that I constantly had to put lotion all over my body to try to replace the moisture. I basically became a slug.  Bel, remember when I was so slippery that I dropped a coffee mug all over my dresser?!

 

• Had a very bad day (but got cheered up by taking a walk through the park, in the rain, to a make-your-own Bloody Mary bar).

 

• This also very, VERY bad day:

 

 

• The Friday night that I was feeling down and Helen was out of town.  After I met a police woman who was somewhat of a sorority sister to me, I drove to a well-lit Get Go parking lot and ate panang curry in the car, windows up and doors locked.

 

• Unrelated, I went on a bad date with a guy who’s “not a feminist.” Check please.  The bright side was that Helen and Victoria were there to console me when I got home.

 

But even though there would be bad days, they didn’t last.  I started seeing Julia again (she’s so helpful) and here are some more of my FRIENDS…

• Sam Tallent.   I hadn’t seen him in YEARS, and he’d come from Colorado to perform at a new comedy club that opened in Pittsburgh. It was so great to see him! I saw his standup show for the first (and second) time. (So good!) Afterwards we found time to catch up and reminisce.

 

 

• Victoria, who has made Helen (and I) suuuuuper fancy-adjacent nowadays. She’s so talented and has hung up her gorgeous art on the dreamflat walls, which she said are perfectly untextured, and which, if you don’t know, is one of the fanciest of compliments. #PinkyUp. She also gave me and Bel matching pumpkin necklaces on Halloween ❤

 

• Our beautiful Katie who started her globe-trotting journey in Iceland and sent us a text with the houses she picked out for Patrick, me, and Helen. Who NEEDS House Hunters International when you’ve got a friend like Katie?

 

• A hangout sesh where I had some balloon flowers made for me which..I hated.. They popped and scared me. But, other times, I had fun made-up bedtime stories told to me and another time still, I got a chocolate flight (yum).

 

• Emily C. and I had our first official friend hangout!

 

 

• Nina, with her short-notice visit to Pittsburgh.

 

• My pregnant Colleen who visited us in Findley Lake!  I finally got to meet Ben (he’s lovely). We now know SHE’S HAVING A GIRL!!!!!! (squeals of joy).

 

 

• This beauty (below) who let me join her kickball team called Pitch, Please! I played one game but I loved it.

 

 

• After my first and only kickball game I got to meet this dog who LOOKS LIKE A NOVA SCOTIA DUCK TOLLING RETRIEVER!!!! (That would be the THIRD that I’ve met, for those of us keeping track) The owner wasn’t actually sure what his breed was but I ACTED ACCORDINGLY AND TREATED THIS ANGLE WITH THE REVERENCE AND HONOR HE DESERVED!  

 

 

Some family time:

 

• Aunt Betsy and Uncle Marvin visit at Findley Lake.

 

 

• We went to visit the SUPER INTERESTING National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY.  I’d recommend it. Afterwards we had a delicious family dinner with only a little bit of plastic in my (comped) meal.

 

 

 

• My parents came to visit me in Pittsburgh and we got to spend some family time at Aladdins ❤ ❤ ❤

 

 

And of course…summer parties 🙂 I went to the:

• New most memorable Labor Day celebration I’ve ever been to.  It was a Nolan’s party, which are SO MUCH FUN!   And then afterwards, Bel and I went stargazing (and laughing) with Sarah, Mindy, Emily, and Kevin.

 

• The graveyard for a surprisingly playful day.

 

 

• SOUP PARTY, thrown by Emily T. There was SO much good soup, and we also got to dress in costumes for Halloween. SOUP-er fun!

 

 

• Ian’s Super Soft Birthday Party, complete with a cupcake making station!

 

 

 

And I know I don’t need to say it, the pictures will do most of the talking, here’s the goods.  I mean, the food.

• A delicious vegan meal from Apteka. My first.

 

 

• A dream flat meal that I took extra care to plate.  One of those omelets is dairy free and the other one actually looks like an omelet.  

 

 

• Roasted veggies that Katie Barbaro taught us how to make! We were resistant at first but now….THIS IS HOW WE DO!

 

 

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST….

• Helen had her BIGGEST GIG TO DATE! On October 3rd, she opened for CAMERON ESPOSITO in a sold out show WITH A LINE AROUND THE BLOCK!!!  I COULDN’T BE PROUDER!!!!

 

 

 

• Earlier that week we had gone to to the venue (The Rex Theatre) to suss out things and to see Addi sing.
• Anna C. Riley made some SUPER cool, notebook sized stickers to try to help woo Helen some of those sweet, sweet Cameron fans!

 

 

 

• Cameron loved Helen so much (how could she not?!), that she invited her to perform at another show IN ANOTHER TOWN as her opener the following night!!!!!!! And that is how OUR HELEN went about on a mini tour with THE Cameron Esposito!!!

 

 

 

I’m “falling” onto cloud nine from (late) summertime,
‘mi