#StylishPittsburgh and life lately

YINZ! Long time, no see.

First off, I was so excited to see a unified effort with Pittsburgh bloggers, Insta users, and clothes wearers on #StylishPittsburgh day, which was Tuesday. A few amazing ladies took the time and effort (Niki and Tori) and actually made it an official citywide proclamation. Talk about getting official!

I think the Steel City is long overdue to shed itself from the permanently attached Steeler jerseys that have become synonymous with Pittsburgh's sometimes backward fashion sense.

Here are a few of my favorites: (among SO MANY good ones)

A photo posted by Aire (@sparkleeveryday) on Jul 28, 2015 at 4:23pm PDT

A photo posted by KENDALL_YEAMAN💕 (@kendall.yeaman) on Jul 28, 2015 at 12:47pm PDT

Downtown has style too #downtown #pittsburgh #boutiquelife #fashion #stylishpittsburgh #fishnet #skirt #fall #preview #picoftheday #photooftheday #model #hair #braid #shopsmall #local #look #love #loveit

A photo posted by Änna Ciaccio (@anna.ciaccio) on Jul 28, 2015 at 8:48am PDT

To be honest, the day had slipped my mind until morning of, so I tried to get creative with my style and hoped for the best. My choices were kinda limited considering 1.) It was hot enough out to melt, 2.) It had to be work appropriate and 3.) I haven't bought ANY new clothes lately.

Sadly, a lot of that money has been going toward skate gear instead. Crazy, I know.

My attempt:

I'm a little sad I wore my cute outfit yesterday, but tried to remix some old duds today. Pics coming soon. #stylishpittsburgh

— Kate (@thriftburgher) July 28, 2015

Print mixing old pieces: Blouse from first job; floral skirt from college. #putabirdonit #stylishpittsburgh #ootd pic.twitter.com/USxAjMg3TK

— Kate (@thriftburgher) July 28, 2015

Typically, I'm not really about the grainy iPhone look, but it was better than nothing, right?

In other news, I'll save most of the "I know you missed me, guys!" drivel. I've just managed to keep myself pretty busy lately. There's roller derby, but I've also opened an Etsy store (!!) with vintage goodies, and there's just general summertime activities that have filled up my schedule. Oh yeah, that full-time job I have also eats up some of my free time. ;) I'll work the blog back into my routine, I swear! I have good intentions. :)

I haven't mentioned the Etsy store much here yet. It's been an ongoing side project thus far. Since I find so many fun goodies at thrift stores, estate sales, flea markets on my own anyway, I thought I'd start a curated collection to share with others. I'm a little behind on listing things, but it's a very exciting project for me!

The store is called There's Waldo, named after my cat, of course. But more on that later.

This weekend, I'm looking forward to: A family reunion, peach picking, flea market shopping at Trader Jack's, and possibly some outdoor roller skating. Hoping to finally enjoy the sun that's been nonexistent most of this summer!

Derby Diary #2 Challenges Thus Far

This is an occasional series chronicling my start in roller derby, presenting both perks and challenges of the sport. Today focuses on some of the initial challenges I've face when training to be a full-contact athlete on roller skates.

In case you missed it, here's my first entry.

Photo credit: Derby Baby

Starting anything fresh almost always has its challenges.

Most 16-year-old drivers aren't parallel parking experts. Professional athletes rarely become professionals on natural talent alone. Accomplishing most things, whether its career or personal goals, takes practice, patience, motivation, among other things. Sometimes it's even a matter of rethinking goals.

Back to relating these various challenges to roller derby: The learning curve in this sport is steep.

It starts with learning to skate. It sounds simple enough, but it's not just being able to skate in a circle at a rink. There's learning various stops (T-stop, plow stops, turn-around toe stops), how to accelerate (via crossovers), how to turn around while skating (transitions), backwards skating, and jumping over objects. There's also training for laps, essentially the sprints of derby. We're expected to complete 27 laps in five minutes by August in order to to be drafted onto a home team.

The first six weeks of our training was dedicated to skating alone. Adjusting to being on skates, learning derby stance (essentially a never-ending squat), was challenging enough. My knees ached in ways I have never experienced before. (Solution to knee aches? Fish Oil supplements, cardio cross training, and tons of stretching pre- and post-workout.)

Last month, I passed non-contact testing alongside 17 others in my fresh meat class, which was a great accomplishment. The keyword here is that I passed. I'm certainly no expert on wheels yet. There are still occasions when I fall over simply from losing my balance while standing.

On top of everything else: None of us are in high school anymore, when athletics and the trial and error lessons are fairly common. Many of us are learning a new sport in our 20s, 30s, even 40s.

Despite those challenges though, the group I've been working with has been so encouraging. Many of the ladies are from rec leagues, so they've mastered a lot of the basics. Others are like me, learning everything for the first time.

Transitions and turnaround toe stops at times are still very difficult for me. It mostly depends on my state of mind. And I know my crossover form (crossing one skate over the other to accelerate) could be much better. But I'm light years ahead from where I was in January, when I tied on skates for the first time in probably more than a decade.

I'm learning just how cerebral this sport can be. It's being able to training your mind to say you can when it seems impossible.

We're now learning various contact skills, another layer to add to our new found skating foundations, which includes a lot of hip checks and shoulder checks. It's all derby fundamentals we'll use in future bouts.

One thing I do seem to have a natural knack for is taking a hit, much to my surprise. Learning the contact aspect has been one of my biggest fears, but as it turns out, I'm much better at blocking than I thought I would be for just starting out.

Learning to hit others is the challenge I'm finding in contact. Knocking others over, or hitting others hard enough to get bruises and welts, is frowned upon most other life situations. On our fresh meat forum, some of the ladies are sharing pictures of their bruises like badges of pride. This kind of cultural sadomasochism is something I'm still not quite used to yet.

The other big challenge so far, albeit a bit less essential, is getting my lap requirements. While I've improved, I'm falling short of the 27 laps I eventually have to make. It's been frustrating. And I know part of that frustration comes from seeing others who can accomplish it so easily.

But like in anything else, comparisons are fruitless. We all learn at our own pace. That's perhaps the biggest challenge of all for me to learn.

Another meatie also has a blog with a feature about her roller derby experiences. Read her blog here.

Derby Diary #1

I'm introducing an occasional series chronicling my start in roller derby, presenting both perks and challenges of the sport. For the first entry, I'm mostly going to focus on why I decided to subject myself to a full-contact sport on roller skates. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Photo credit: Derby Baby

I can’t pinpoint when I first heard about roller derby, but I don’t think it was the movie Whip It. In all honesty, I think I read a story about an NPR reporter who did roller derby when I was finishing college.

It may have been this story?

I guess it doesn’t matter which story I read. But from there, I did some Google research and discovered Pittsburgh’s team, Steel City. That’s when the idea was planted in my psyche, which was about five years ago.

(A quick history lesson: For those who don’t know, roller derby initially became popular in the 1930s, became a popular TV sport among men in the 1970s, and there was a resurgence of women’s teams in the early 2000s in Texas.)

What I do remember vividly is when I first expressed an interest in doing it aloud. I was a 23-year-old intern at a magazine staff party. We were sitting on the back porch of the intern house on a fall, twilight evening, and all of the interns were asked about their goals post-internship. I said my dream was to someday work for NPR and play roller derby.

I mean, if you don’t dream big, why bother, right?

I think there were other things that drew me to the sport: The mystique, the fringe, badass vibe. The fact that skaters are known by alter ego names and identities, and come from various backgrounds, ages, stages of life.

Even the ladies on fresh meat (aka roller derby noobs) with me vary widely in age and profession; one graduated from high school last year, while another is in her 40s and an accomplished speed skater from back in the day.

I think after I quit rowing, which I had done for six years throughout high school and during college, I also craved a sense of camaraderie — a sense of team.

But perhaps I enjoyed the concept more than anything at that point. There were a few pegs against me from the start.

I was a terrible skater as a child, often the kid at birthday parties digging my nails into the carpeted walls on the edges of the track, overwhelmed with fear I would fall. I also got burned by a contact sport activity in high school. I did powderpuff one year, which was supposed to be flag football for girls, but a girl tackled me from the side unexpectedly. It was a highly illegal move. I still have intermittent back pain to this day because of that experience. Thankfully, working out my back regularly and keeping it strong subsides the pain most of the time.

Despite those drawbacks, however, my interest persisted.

A few years had gone by before taking the steps to tryout for a team. I moved around a bit with various jobs. When I was in rural Ohio, the closest derby league was an hour and a half away. When I moved back to the Pittsburgh area and looked up information on tryouts at Steel City, I missed the date by a week. I was crushed. I had to wait another year.

However, a friend had recently joined a nearby league. Barb took me under her wing a bit. She answered some of my questions, we attended a few bouts together, and I loved it. I knew this was something I wanted to do.

Those first boot camp days a few months ago were incredibly difficult. Despite my consistent interest, I still hadn’t bothered putting on skates until those introductory days, and it showed. I was too intimidated to try. One of the other skaters duct taped all the pads onto me, since I drove through a snowstorm to get there and was late. All of the pads were too big.

There are a lot of challenges and hurdles I’ve tackled so far, and some I’m still working on, but I’ll go into that more later.

The 15 plus other women I’m learning to skate with are very supportive of one another, and for me it’s great to have that feeling of closeness within a group for the first time in a very long while.

Best of all though, I’m just glad I’m finally getting halfway to my early 20-something doe-eyed pipe dream: playing roller derby.

A Handwritten Note from Kate

A Look Back, and A Look Ahead

Holy turds, I've been so bad about updating this month. I blame a lack of blog writing motivation, winter lethargy and perhaps, over thinking what the focus of this blog should be.

With the name Thriftburgher, the original intent was to focus on the thriftiness in my life. I think I've done that for a bit, especially in earlier posts, but I've also been writing about things that I've enjoyed and/or have interested me.

Some of my favorite posts from 2014:

My vintage postcard series, particularly my various Pittsburgh sets. (links to original posts in photos)

There have been a few outfits I've liked, too:

                     

Various photo collections, my wedding series and thrifty reviews have also been highlights over the past year.

My favorite blog reads run the gamut. Some tend to focus on a spectrum of topics that interest the blogger and their personalities shine through. (A Beautiful Mess, Delightfully Tacky, The Laughing Medusa, The Dainty Squid, The Clueless Girl's Guide.) Other favorites are primarily outfits or recipes. (Midwest Muse, Room 334, Melodic Thrifty & Chic, Food in Jars, So Hungry I Could Blog) And then there's more nostalgic, news-based throwback blogs I adore as well. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's The Digs, NPRchives)

I have other favorites too, but I read so many that I can't possibly list them all. :)

I don't know, I'm just thinking about how my perspective has changed on this whole blogging concept since I started last year. How does my blog appear to other people?

I would like to have a spectrum like focus, but with a full-time job it's difficult to maintain. After all, my life isn't all that exciting. Even my last few thrift store trips have been total fails. I'd either leave empty handed or buy things for other people.

But I'm hopeful and can kick my ass back into gear. My tentative refocusing goals this year: Perhaps a Q&A series, keep up with outfit posts, but nail down a harder emphasis on all things thrifty. Not necessarily having listicles about thrifting, but being better about documenting my journey to various flea markets, garage sales, estate sales, etc.

Any suggestions? :D

(S)Kate

This post is to celebrate being a new roller derby recruit. Huzzah! It's been a goal of mine for awhile to try it out, so it's excited that it's happening at last. :)

I'm pictured above, about four years old, tightly holding onto my cousin Casey's hand, at the same skating rink where I'll be training this winter and spring. (I would kill for those Barbie themed elbow and knee pads! Haha.) A product of the 80s, roller rink trips were occasional but consistent. I often was the person with a death grip on the carpeted wall all the way around the rink. Apparently my mom and I went on a few skating lessons when I was about five, but then she learned she was pregnant with my sister so we stopped going.

Even though I've only been skating for a few weeks now, I can say I'm much more confident on skates. I can stop without running into a wall and everything! We'll see how things go moving forward. Wish me luck!

Update: 26 before 27

Hi everyone. Sorry for the absence over the last few weeks. I've been busy on many fronts as of late: work, personal and hobby. Since today marks my half birthday, I thought I'd go over the goal list I made six months ago. It's an ambitious list, but I think I've been pretty good at tackling a lot of the things so far.

Get a pet
I want a dog so badly. But I make take anything at this point: A turtle, a cat, a salamander. Whatever.

Wally has been the best companion, ever, really. He's very smart, loves cuddling and attention, and loves giving us kisses by softly biting our faces. Lol. And he follows commands surprisingly well for a cat. Mark is convinced we inherited a dog in a cat's body.

Try out for a sport
It's always been a dream of mine to do roller derby.

This is something I've really followed through with this month. I bought my first pair of derby skates, and have been practicing a ton, which is one of the reasons I've been absent on the blog. Tryouts for the team are this weekend. Don't tell me to break a leg. ;)

Read more
I'm constantly reading news articles all over the interwebs and writing stories. But my leisure reading is seriously lacking. I hope to maybe read 20 books over the next year. It's still not that much, but I feel like it's an attainable goal.

I've been trying to stay on top of this one, too. (Also, if you look to the side of my blog, I recently added a book-reading widget! Huzzah!)

Host a major holiday feast

I successfully cooked for eight this Thanksgiving! It was pretty overwhelming, but really rewarding. I might start hosting on an annual basis. As long as Mark can cover the turkey. :D

Go on a road trip

Mark and I went on a very fun trip to Boston back in October to commemorate our one-year wedding anniversary. We saw many historic sites, visited Salem, and I cried a few times driving because the drivers there are incredibly aggressive. But all in all, a fun adventure!

Some things I need to work on before my birthday: Attempting more ambitious cooking, sewing of any kind, being more loving and appreciative, sending more snail mail.

I think having a list like this has been really nice for me. It puts things in perspective and motivates me to follow through. Have you had success making goal lists?

Merry Christmas!

Editor's Note: Our little photoshopped Christmas card photo, shown below, probably depicts how much I love Christmas. However, I didn't always feel that way. I wrote this fun piece for my newspaper last year, and thought it resonates just as much now as it did when I wrote it. I'm sharing it here today.

Also, have a great Christmas. Spend time with family and enjoy yourself! That's an order. ;)

I’ll admit it. I’m a recovering Christmas Scrooge.

I never had an outright dislike for the holiday. It was a more gradual burnout of Christmas overload each year.

Since when did it become a month long monstrosity, filled with stale cookies, annoying songs, forced smiles and gingerbread houses that you’re supposedly not allowed to eat?

It all sounded like hell to me.

The loathing probably began in my adolescence, after the magic of receiving presents dulled, and family gatherings began to feel too routine.

Worst of all for me were all of those stop-motion specials playing repeatedly on television. You know, the ones where all the characters are made of clay. Those movies were the proverbial fingernails on the chalkboard. Anytime one came on, I cringed. I don’t know if there was ever a time I enjoyed them, even in childhood. At least, until now.

But in October (2013), I got married to my boyfriend of almost six years, Mark. Unlike me, he can’t get enough of Christmas.

While he was in graduate school, he decorated the living room of his bachelor pad apartment with an entire set of two-foot tall holiday-themed Peanuts characters, complete with Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Woodstock. He didn’t have the heart to put them away until spring. Seriously.

It doesn’t help that Mark is the embodiment of a Santa in his younger years. He prides himself on his thick, dark beard. Also, he’s a little rounder in the middle. Paired with his affinity for the holiday and his charisma with others, especially children, he could be a believable Santa Claus someday. Despite the bigger, burly man he is, he’s probably more like Cindy Lou in this story, trying to convert the Grinch.

His slow conversion of me began innocuously. Stressing the importance of tree decoration came first. Fluffing the branches is key to a realistic aesthetic with a fake tree, he said. Evenly distributing the ornaments was important, too.

But decorating a tree just to take it down in a few weeks seemed like an unnecessary chore. I let him do most of the work at least for awhile.

Then came the stream of must-see movies. “The Year Without a Santa Claus” was Mark’s favorite. It’s one of those claymation movies I have gotten annoyed with so much. I’d let him put the movie on, but I usually can’t sit all the way through it.

I have always been more of a “Home Alone” kind of girl, anyway. And I could almost always relate to the defiant words of Kevin McCallister: Christmas sucks.

Meanwhile, Mark’s mother, a skilled baker, began giving me tips on how to make the best holiday cookies — there is a difference between melted and softened butter after all. Also, I could see where Mark got his spirit.

Each year, his mother decorated the house with lights in every room, multiple trees with hundreds of ornaments, and stacks upon stacks of cookies, biscotti and homemade candies on trays. I could go on about other details — the wreaths, the neatly wrapped presents, the train set with a neighborhood of miniature houses under the tree.

Any time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, going to his parents’ house was like visiting a live-action Christmas card. It wasn’t forced, but intricately done. I could see why Mark loved it.

This year, something strange happened. I found myself getting eager to put up the tree, and wanting to pull down childhood ornaments from the attic I hadn’t seen in years.

I couldn’t stop baking cookies either. Trying out new recipes kind of became an involuntary tick. Multiple batches of gingerbread, snickerdoodles and sugar cookie dough began piling up in the refrigerator.

I even designed my own Christmas card for family and friends. It was simple. Using Photoshop and a wedding photo, I edited a Santa hat onto each of our heads. I made Mark’s hat red. Mine was green. Guess it doesn’t take much to make things festive.

It seemed like the Christmas spirit was becoming contagious.

Even the stop-motion movies became fresh again. I hadn’t watched one of those all the way through in so long that I had forgotten what they were all about.

Perhaps that’s what happened to me and Christmas. I was so quick to dismiss old traditions that I wasn’t able to relax and fully enjoy the love that had always surrounded me. I don’t think my heart was ever two sizes too small, but I do think love was the one constant that converted me into a believer again. I’m already excited for next year.

My Long Lost Holiday Friend, Olan Mills

My mom took studio Christmas photos almost EVERY YEAR when I was a kid, so she could put them in Christmas cards. Just a hunch... she looooved the tree/fireplace backdrop.

Over the last several months, I've scanned thousands of family photos, including all the studio Christmas portraits I could find. These ones span from 1990 to 2000. My sister Ashley was born in November 1994, so she made an appearance in the photos starting then. :)

I remember wearing the dark green velour/lace dress in that second to last photo for so many occasions around 1997: My cousins' double wedding on the Gateway Clipper, my first Pittsburgh Symphony concert, and this Christmas photo. That gawdy get up has come back to haunt me so many times via old photos.

And it's pretty obvious I was going into my lengthy awkward middle school phase by the last one. I could never figure out how to keep my bangs straight, and swore them off for years. Until I got them again a couple years ago and now can't imagine my forehead and face without them. Haha.

I seriously hated studio portraits as a kid, but having this collection now is kind of nice.

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

For the Love of Libraries: My reading goals

It's kind of embarrassing to say, but even though I write for a living, I don't read recreationally as often as I would like.

As a reporter, I read articles, local and national, from long form and Twitter feeds, almost constantly. But a book? Not nearly as much. (Personally, I think a lot of it has to do with my poor time management. But that's another story.)

I think coming to my lack of reading realization was through watching Gilmore Girls, of all things. Mark can tell you he's totally over my watching binge on that. I watched the series for the first time on Netflix, rather than being nostalgic and watching it again. It was nostalgic in a different sense, since Rory was an aspiring journalist that whole time, and the show was on throughout my high school years.

OK, the point: Rory seriously digests books. I Googled that she was filmed with more than 300 books throughout the seven-year series. I know she's a TV character and all, not a real human, but it still made me feel guilty.

My reading has come in spurts, usually by author.

Full disclosure: The first author I became obsessed with, in ninth or tenth grade, was Nicholas Sparks. (He's written some sappy romances novels, like The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, etc. etc.) So, so embarrassing. Haha. But I got over that eventually. Later in high school and in college, I fell in love with reading everything from David Sedaris, Chuck Palahniuk, Michael Chabon, Hunter S. Thompson. I was also obsessed with The Godfather for a time, thanks to an old boyfriend. Haha.

But over the last year or two, I can count the number of books I've read with one hand. Recognizing I would like to fit in reading more, I'm trying to make a more conscious effort to do it.

At the same time, over the years I've bought stacks of books, collecting from thrift stores, used book stores, and Amazon, and most of them end up collecting dust on my bookcase before ever cracking them open. No. Freaking. Longer.

I've decided that as a way to get better about reading, while also avoiding wasting money on books, is to completely rely on my current book collection and the library (and perhaps, borrowing from friends) as my only book sources. I literally have rows of books (pictured above) that I've either read ages ago or never had the time to read. (Some are Mark's too.) There are also some new releases I've been eager to get my hands on, particularly Lena Dunham's Not That Kind of Girl.

The library has been a great savior in my little money saving, literary experiment thus far. New releases and popular books are usually available, but on a waiting list.

Perhaps getting a little too excited about this, I requested Amy Poehler's Yes Please, Lena Dunham's book, along with Gone Girl, and got them all within a week of one another. Poor me. So my current situation is I have to read three books in two weeks. (Books that are on hold at the library can't be renewed.) I'm done with Amy's book (it was OK), and I'm on Lena's book now, and hopefully I can start Gone Girl by the end of this weekend.

Now that I've gotten back into the swing of reading, I have a mental list of others I'd like to conquer next: The Game of Thrones series, Charles Bukowski, and a few authors I couldn't get into when I was younger, like Ernest Hemingway and Jack Kerouac, and giving them another chance. I'm also trying to stay more accountable via GoodReads, which I've used sporadically over the last few years.

What are some of your favorite reads? Have any book/author recommendations?

New England in Snapshots

Sadly, fall is a fleeting season. Leaf colors are passed their prime at this point. Luckily though, Mark and I definitely got a year's worth of fall fun during our New England trip the other week, and some great pictures to gaze at all year round:

It was a beautiful trip, and a much-needed break from the routine. Since our one-year wedding anniversary was right around the corner, this trip was kind of our nerdy honeymoon getaway.

Highlights of our trip:

• Going to Concord, Mass. to see a piece of history. Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in this town for a time. All three famous writers are also buried at the same cemetery in town. (Thoreau's very plain headstone is pictured above. He's buried with family members, with a larger headstone naming all of them.)

• Exploring downtown Boston via the Freedom Trail. On the trail includes Paul Revere's home, the site of the first public school in the United States, the site that inspired the Boston Tea Party, among other momentous U.S. historical events.

• Eating some delightful clam chowder. We had bowls at Union Oyster House, in downtown Boston, and had a fancy dinner with soup at Legal Seafoods in Cambridge. (Another food Boston is obsessed with: Doughnuts!)

• Seeing one of the largest rowing races in the world: The Head of the Charles. This was big for me because I am a longtime rower. I always heard about this race. We never raced in it because it was too expensive to enter and too far away for it to be at all practical, but it's kind of the stuff of legends. After that, we walked around Harvard Square and took a peek at the university.

• Spending our last night of the trip in Salem, Mass., home of the Salem Witch Trials. One of the oldest marked cemeteries in the United States is in this town, with death dates going back to the 1700s. There was also a lot of hubbub with Halloween happenings. They really capitalize on the ghost story tours and goofy touristy stuff. But my favorite part was probably seeing the Salem Witch Trials memorial. Twenty people were executed during a one-year span the late 1600s for being witches or wizards. It's kind of crazy how far hysteria went in that case.

One thing I won't miss: Boston drivers. It's not an easy town to navigate at all, and drivers are super aggressive, but I managed.

How has the fall been treating you?

Smitten with a Kitten

Mark and I have a new member of our little family: He's an adorable five-month-old orange tabby.

This little fur baby, who we've named Waldo, was an unexpected addition at our house. We've quickly taken a liking to this little guy. He's an incredibly sweet, mellow yet playful lap cat.

Mark and I actually discovered him hanging around our neighborhood after we returned from our New England trip. While we were away, a lot of the neighbors began leaving out bowls of food and makeshift beds on porches for him. One neighbor posted signs notifying everyone of his homelessness, and that if he has an owner that he should be claimed. He is extremely people friendly, nudging around ankles, wanting to play, and wanting to let himself into any house he could. Obviously, this cat wasn't feral. He began sitting on my welcome mat every time I came home to greet me, much like a dog would. It was incredibly sweet, but I felt awful shutting him out of the house.

Mark also watched him from inside our apartment, since the kitten would often hang around our porch during the day, playing with leaves and plants by himself for hours.

Last weekend, my landlord came over since new neighbors were moving in. She said she might have to take him to the shelter soon if he wasn't claimed, since he had been nomadic in our neighborhood for the past few weeks. She told me the neighborhood has had it's fair share of pet drop offs over the last few years, including a loving pitbull she had to take to the shelter a few years ago. That's when I knew I couldn't let that happen to him.

I set up a vet appointment at a local clinic to get the kitten checked out. He didn't have a microchip. Once he was all cleared (albeit a few ticks) and got vaccinated, he's been a sweetie in our house ever since.

Mark and I expect more and more that he was abandoned. He hated being alone for the first week or so, but has finally gotten used to sleeping in his bed at night instead of scratching at our bedroom door.

He's incredibly tolerant of playful torture, like the hot dog costume we put on him on Halloween. And he might turn into a Garfield... he loves investigating human food. And he's kind of obsessed with cream cheese. :)

One Year!

We've been married a year already, and together for nearly seven years. It's surreal how fast the time has gone. Nothing big planned, but it's cool to hit another milestone. Mark has been awesome. While a marriage isn't easy, it's definitely a worthwhile adventure. :)

New England Plaids

Just a quick update here! Mark and I made a trek to New England for a long weekend full of fall foliage, historic sites, and doughnuts galore. My dad even lent me his car, an appropriate burnt orange color, for the trip. :)

I'm heading into a hectic weekend, including a wedding and a funeral on the same day, so check for more next week.

Best of: Wedding RSVPs

* I edited last names out of some of these response cards for the sake of our friends' anonymity.

The best things in life may not be free, but they're often very cheap.

After a few hours of designing and editing, $10 in printing costs, and $20 in postage costs, voila! I made some creative and memorable RSVP cards for my wedding last year. They're rife with personality and inside jokes.

Come back tomorrow to read more about how and why I decided to create Mad Libs RSVP cards.

Announcement: A Wedding DIY-filled month ahead

For those of you who don't know, October marks one year since Mark and I got married! It's hard to believe a year has already passed by. Here are a few photos from the ceremony:

Our wedding was very DIY-centric, not only because it was fun, but it saved money and made things memorable. I made many things myself, from the invitations, to decor and the gifts. As a way to celebrate hitting the one-year mark, and to share some of my favorite aspects of our wedding, I am sharing a craft I did each week through October. I might also be sharing a few anecdotes about our relationship, but I'll try not to make it too tacky, I promise!

Hope you guys enjoy fall as much as I do!

P.S. A shout out to Amanda and Leah, the rock stars who took photos that day.

Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground

Mark and I took advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend and went camping! We went to Ohiopyle State Park, home to beautiful Appalachian mountains, picturesque waterfalls, and all sorts of fun outdoor activities, including hiking, biking and kayaking. It's also home to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.

A rare photo on the blog: It's Mark!

I went here a lot while I was in AmeriCorps, because there were all sorts of fun projects to do! We built a new bike trail once, and did maintenance on other trails during other visits. It was long overdue for me to go back, and it Mark's first time there as an adult! We mostly stuck to hiking and camping this time around, but I've gone biking and rafting in the past. The best part was seeing the foliage begin to change. There was specks of color here and there, but not full-on fall leaves yet.

Fall is my favorite season, so I'm pretty exciting for the leaves to change, hot drinks, pumpkin carving, and Halloween! I'm lame, I know. :) Temperatures reached the upper 70s during the day, so that's probably the last time the weather will be that warm until next year. I'm glad we were able to take advantage of it.

Do you have any favorite camping spots nearby?