take a hike
Hocking Hills State Park Ohio is about three and a half hours from Pittsburgh but it could be a totally different world. Massive sandstone gorges, rock caves, Indian carvings and towering hemlocks make this pristine area both romantic and enchanting. Ollie had a little trouble deciding if she wanted to start our day long hike. Dave had to carry her into the park – but she got the hang of...
Hey! I thought Perry was my boyfriend!
Sometime in late middle school or early high school I made these funny little books called CHARACTER BOOKS and they became all the rage, passed around for years, new ones being added all the time. There were general books that captured information like your name, where you lived, how you got to school and what album you just bought, and there were small versions that were passed around about a concert or dance or summer. Kids actually...
A review on meatballs & thai, oh my :)
My husband Dave and I set out to town for drinks, dinner and to experience a little of this and a little of that. We decided to stop in a place we haven’t been and an old favorite. Up first was Sienna Mercato, a restaurant on the 6th. Three floors, each floor with a different menu experience, all with a great design direction. We went straight to the third floor but it was to crowded, mostly with people looking to spot a...
runway trolls
For a long time, I am talking years, I designed clothes for everything I had. Pencils, the cat, my little brother, rocks. I had entire wardrobes for hand-drawn cut out dolls. Most of the clothes were designed on paper then made from parts of old clothes I would find in my grandmother’s sewing room. Elastic would become pencil underwear, rickrack always held the dresses up. I have no idea where my inspiration came from because we...
being human
I carry three scraps of paper in my wallet I can’t live without. 1: The smallest paper water cup ever made. If I need just one little sip to stay alive while stranded on that desert island or giving a really long presentation. 2: A card from flowers that reads: “Congratulations, from the dead sea squirrels.” Sent from an old friend who used to make fun of me always getting my words mixed up, and the time I said the dead sea squirrels...
on the mend
You know, I used to keep all extra buttons together, sometimes separated by size or color, sometimes by style. I would keep the buttons from new clothes and mark from what shirt or dress they came from. Slowly the buttons became part of a giant mess of a pile of extra pieces and parts of clothes long gone or never to be looked at or used again. Yesterday everything changed. I am free of that now and am looking at a button revolution....