October Birthdays

Dave and I both share October birthdays. He is the 13th and I am the 17th. So for 4 days, we are the same age...then I reclaim my status of the older one. This year was really fun as we celebrated for what seemed like a couple of weeks. There are several people at work that also have October birthdays ~ so we started off the celebrations with a birthday night at the Cheesecake Factory. It was really fun & we walked away with gifts...the most hilarious gifts at that. I received a leopard print Snuggie and Dave got a blue one!!

Then, for Dave's real birthday we decided to cook at home. I tried making candied pecans for the first time and Dave grilled steaks. The pecans were super easy and definitely a fun addition to our salad. Dave's steaks were awesome. Our friend, Lorenzo taught us to sear them first on the stove and then cook them slowly on the grill - delicious!

On Saturday morning, we decided to try a new breakfast restaurant called Deluca's in the Strip District. I believe it has been on one of the food shows ~ Man v. Food, maybe?! Anyway, really yummy and kind of reminds me of the Paris Coffee Shop in FW. Dave had a great omelet and I tried the crepes.

We continued our week of eating at a neighborhood BYOB restaurant. Jen and Jon have been recommending this place for a while ~ right down the street from us and fun, intimate atmosphere. It is called Cafe Du Jour and was the perfect place to end our birthday celebrations.

It was such a fun week and I look forward to sharing more birthday weeks with the October babies in the future!

Charlotte, NC

A couple of weeks ago, we had the pleasure of going to Charlotte, NC to visit 2 of Dave's best friends. Scott and his wife, Kristi, live in Charlotte while Jason and his wife, Amber live in Kansas City. So we all met in Charlotte and had such a fun weekend hanging out! I had never been to Charlotte, but Dave worked there for a semester in college ~ so it was neat to see a part of his past and visualize where Scott and Kristi are now.

Here is the group: Amber,, Jason, Kristi, Scott, Dave and me. We arrived Friday night and were so excited to have some yummy Mexican food ~ a delicacy we do not have up here in Pittsburgh. It was such a treat to catch up with everyone on their lives, jobs, families, etc. These friends are so fun because I always feel like we just pick right back up. It had been several months, maybe even a year since we last saw them and didn't miss a beat. Such special friendships!

Of course the boys talked and watched a lot of sports! They all lived together in college and if I had to picture them back in time, I bet this sums it up pretty well.

They were sweet to satisfy our Mexican food craving on Friday and didn't stop there. We had sushi on Saturday afternoon! We have found some good places for this up here ~ but I still miss my Piranha's, Sushi Axiom and Edohana in FW. We spent the afternoon watching football at a sports bar/bowling alley. I really loved getting to catch up with Kristi and Amber while the boys were mesmerized by 20 different games. It is so fun to know we are all in the same stage of life ~ just doing it in different states. I love hanging out with Dave's friend's wives. (In fact, I get to do it again this weekend!). They are all so sweet spirited and fun!

In fact, after several hours of watching sports, we decided to partake in a little action ourselves! We bowled for a little bit. We did Guys v Girls....and unfortunately, us girls did not win. However, we decided it might have been a little strange if we beat our husbands at bowling.

We had a great dinner Saturday night and really enjoyed visiting their church on Sunday morning. We were a little bummed we didn't get to see Scott play his guitar, but he was kind of enough to bow out that weekend so he could avoid their practice on Saturday. After church, we decided to get back to PA, but not without stopping by Trader Joe's to pick up some (or a lot, rather) of Two Buck Chuck. We love that most of their wine is so cheap and unfortunately, the Trader's Joes in PA doesn't sell wine because only the state can sell it. Boo! So anyway, lots of wine later, we were on our way home.

It was a really memorable trip! We look forward to the next visit with these two couples ~ either Kansas City or Pittsburgh! Thank you all for a fun weekend!