Happy Halloween!

Since we don't have a fireplace mantle, i have to make do with a tablescape. What do you think? We spent all day cleaning the first floor - and this is my inspired feastive result to put it all together! While I'm traditionally afraid to light any of our candles, the tablescape is too pretty not to use and for 3 days in a row we've been lighting the candles to appreciate all our hard work. I love the fall!

If anyone has any other inspired holiday tablescapes or mantles, I would love to see it for future inspiration. :)

Walking In My City Shoes

I'm currently in Baltimore, MD for work meetings - which includes a lot of sitting. I do, however ocassionally get to stretch my legs by walking to and from the hotel and the restaurants. Being in a city for just a few days reminds me of how much of a city girl I am. I love walking around cities - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York, Baltimore, Boston, San Franscisco... I could spend all day just meandering around looking at the buildings and the people, visiting their little cafes and bars, seeing the way the streets and buildings are meshed together over the years. It makes me wish I worked in a larger walking city! I loved my going to school in Pittsburgh and working in Philadelphia- getting to grab a sandwhich and sit in a park, looking at all the odd local art, seeing all walks of life intermingling. The suburbs are too lonely riding around in our cars by ourselves, only seeing homes and our own places of work. Sure it's convenient, but I miss the hustle and bustle.

I would walk 10 000 miles

Well I would have had to walk that many miles if it wasn't for my the Black Pearl! I'm currently sitting at the local Firestone waiting for her to get her 10,000 mile service... amazing how time flies! Bought in December, we love her more every road trip. The heated seats, remote start, ipod jack and sunroof are awesome. Having leather seats that dont pick up dog hair is a major bonus to. I miss the jetter, but the black pearl will be with us for many more thousands of miles.

In my next life, I want to be a therapy dog. How great would it be to have a job where you were just supposed to snuggle up to someone and let them read to you? http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/10/22/dogs.irpt/

Actually, one of my 'bucket list' items is to train a therapy dog. There are so many kinds of therapy dogs: seeing-eye dogs, visitors for people in nursing homes, and even companions for people who have severe stress/panic. A few years ago, I heard about a place in the mid-west that raises therapy dogs for autistic children, and instantly fell in love with the idea. I have an intense love for dogs; because we don't have any kids yet, I really consider my dogs as my children. I've seen first hand what they can do for people going through tough situations, and believe whole-heartedly that they are the best thing I have in my life after my family. With my 13 years working with special needs athletes through Special Olympics, I think this would be a great nitch for me, but any therapy need would be okay.

The difficult part is understanding how to train the dogs. My own dogs need to be trained; or rather, I need to be trained how to train them. They're not terrible dogs by any means, but they do have thier quirks. Missy has the tendancy to guard things - me, our groceries, her bone, her toys, my purse, my suitcase, etc. So when my other dog Trotter gets near, she gets jealous and angrilly flips out on him - scarying him into submission. Trotter, on the other hand, is just plain hyper. He has two speeds, Zero and Sixty. Part whippet, he can be the sweetest cuddle monster, or a crazy racing dog. They both bark when people come to the door, think that the couch and the bed are thiers, chase the two cats and bark at anyone who walks by our house or dogs we meet on the street. Its really sad because of how much it limits them to their own house, and it limits us from not being able to take them with us everywhere.

So once I can get my two dogs to behave, I think I could train them or another to be a therapy dog. It would be an accomplishment for me, a purpose for a dog, and years of giving for one or many people.

Wombmate Giftings

Here's the poster that Kate and I made this weekend for our friend Kelly's impending baby. We did the alphabet (her chosen theme) with animals next to each one. It turned out super cute- I'm going to have to get up-close photos to post soonish.

Happy (almost) Halloween!

Happy (almost) Halloween from Trotter!

1-year blog-iversary

Wow, its been more than 1 year since I started East Sixth!! I'm so excited!!

As previously mentioned, I wasn't sure I'd keep with blogging, but I've fallen ass-over-teacup (translation: head-over-heels) for it! I love being able to look back on my year and see all the great things I've done, places I've been, foods I've eaten and books I've read. The photos make a blog so much better than a journal. Plus I'm writing for an audience now (hello sisters!), so I can't let them down.


I've written about our vacations to Baltimore and Las Vegas, our home improvements, redoing furniture and craft projects for my friends. Here's my favorite things I've captured from year-one of East Sixth:

• Overflowing Toilets & Free Candy: Funny adventures in Pittsburgh- What could be better?
• There's Nothing Better Than Surprise Muffins: My husband has been so awesome; getting to capture small examples of that is pretty cool.
• Slope-Scapades: I'm going to try & get this new look for my house's front yard next year
• Lovely Notes: My sister's surprise notes all over my house after she dog-sat for us
• Running Aways : Documenting training for my first 5K

Lessons learned: I saw that I fell into a dry spell in January and February, then again in September (although I have a lot of drafts started for then); so when I get busy I tend to forget to write. Hopefully year-two will bring even more dedication to my love for blogging.

Dating My Clothes

I have more clothes than I need, and lately I've been on a serious kick to purge the ugly, worn and ill-fitting from my closets. That being said, I have trouble not buying new stuff as well. I recently bought a few things from the outlets (the sales were just too good to pass up!), including a new pair of jeans from the Gap. I didn't need new jeans, but I needed ones that fit me right. Plus I've gotten so many compliments on my other "Long and Lean" pair from 10+ years ago, that I figured I might as well buy another and purge some of my low-riding college jeans I shouldn't have bought in the first place.

So while I was hanging out my newly washed clothes on the line to dry, I realized that the tags said "Fall 09". Wow, dated clothes? Do the marketers understand that I have a pair of Umbreu shorts from 17+ years ago in my closet that still fit me (thanks to the very elastic waste band)? Do they really want me to purge and buy when I see my clothes are from five plus years ago? Do they really want me to let go of that fashionable mustard yellow turtleneck with the short sleeves because I bought it in 1998? Mustard Yellow is coming back into style people!

Yes, I know silly question to ask of the marketers, but will it help or hurt me? I would probably purge a lot more stuff, but would I buy even more? Would others be willing to pick it up from the Good Will? I can't imagine seeing 1977 sweater and wanting them; but with the right dry-cleaner retro is cool too I guess.