My "last" Pittsburgh weekend

I am one for the (over) dramatics. If you didn't know that by now. But as I have hinted at recently on Facebook and Twitter, I am moving soon. My lease (which I have held for two years now) is over on the 31st. And since this building only rents to students and I am no longer, I am giving up this prime location in downtown and moving back in with my parents to save up some money while I start my career. I haven't lived with my parents for longer than a week since I moved out six years ago to start my undergrad at Seton Hill...wow.

Since my brother is graduating with his master's degree on Friday, I plan to be out of here on Thursday so we can just enjoy his day. So this past weekend was my "last" Pittsburgh weekend. And it was fantastic! Thankfully, I had off everyday this weekend so I could really enjoy it, too! (I say last in quotations by the way, because it is silly to say I'll never be back, my parents do not live far from Pittsburgh and yes, I still plan on keeping up with blogging since I will be back fairly often.)

Here's a look at what happened during this wonderful weekend:

Friday - My beautiful friend Heather and I headed to Station Square for a late dinner and drinks to kick off the weekend! We stopped at Houlihan's first for yummy pulled pork sliders and fries and half prices mojitos. Then we realized we were the only locals and the only people under 30, so we headed to a "lesser known" place that is technically called Dirty Hairy's but that everyone really calls Ref's (is it's old name). Which is much more local bar scene and one of our favorite places.

Neapolitan style restaurant in Market Square.

Saturday - Sleeping in for the first time in months (!!!!!!!) and then MJ surprised me by sending me on a mini- scavenger hunt to figure out where we were going to have dinner. Which I assumed from the start was Il Pizzaiolo, a new restaurant in Market Square, where his friend Spencer works. You can bet your bottom dollar that you will soon see a review about this place because it was fabulous! Then we just soaked in each others awesomeness (10 points if you can name the movie I stole that line from) and walked around downtown for a bit, and hung out in my apartment talking for awhile. And then we took a drive around town until we decided we were hungry again and of course, agreed on Eat 'n Park's midnight breakfast buffet in Squirrel Hill.

Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community - logo on one of the church's windows.

Sunday - Eric and I went to church at Hot Metal, as usual. It was PACKED since it was the first week for summer service, meaning only one service per Sunday, instead of the usual two. So many people that it was standing room only. And I was sad that this will be our last service there for awhile, since this church is just indescribably awesome. Afterwards though, we went out for lunch in Aspinwall to use our Chili's gift cards and saw a flea market, so we stopped there on our way back into the city and found some great deals, even though most people were packing up by the time we got there. Eric and I both snagged some vinyl and I also got a great vintage purse and two bracelets.

My flea market finds - vintage purse, Queen Elizabeth coin bracelet, wooden beads bracelet, Frank Sinatra record.

Monday - Appreciation of the freedom we have thanks to those who served and continue to serve our beautiful country and the packing of my apartment went into overdrive and mostly everything is packed up and sorted by now.

I plan on tackling the last bits of my room and the kitchen today, and I should be all done. And later tonight, I am heading to the South Side for dinner with a couple friends and to see Eric perform at an open mic night...the adventure just never stops in the city.

Others Out in the City!

This weekend, while MJ and I were very "yinzer" and ate our fill at Primanti's and walked across the Smithfield Street Bridge to Station Square so he could buy his first Steelers jersey, I realized that nothing we were doing was really worth blogging about. Everything we were doing was worth savoring, chowing down on greasy food, strolling across the bridge with the greatest love I've ever known, you know that couple stuff that no one really likes to read about. (So I'll spare you.) But I knew other people were out in the city and their escapades were fresh and worth some blog space, so here are two of those people, with reviews of their events for you...
 

Chicago going on now at Heinz Hall. Photo from Cultural Trust.

Julia
-This was what you can say classy with a touch of yinzer. The Broadway musical Chicago was in town and my boyfriend had bought us tickets for our anniversary. Chicago is one of my absolute favorite musicals. I mean let's be real here, where can you go wrong with a musical about sex, murder, and jazz? It was at Heinz Hall which, I feel, is the most gorgeous building in the city. When you walk in you feel as if you are royalty with the way the concert hall is designed. The music was fantastic and the live band was on the stage with the actors. They were constantly making the audience and myself laugh with little jokes thrown into the dialogue here and there. Of course the hot boys on stage with the actors was a plus. The yinzer part of my weekend was taking a trip to the Strip District with my boyfriend. I started my Christmas shopping for my brother on the West Coast and my other brother in Virginia. We got some great Steeler Nation t-shirts and I bought myself a few gorgeous scarves from street vendors.

Isaac
-Friday night I went to the 9th Annual Theatre Festival in Black and White, presented by the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. It's a really neat event where they have 10 short plays split into two separate programs. The "hook" of the event is that black directors direct plays written by white playwrights, and white directors do plays by black playwrights. I only saw Program A Friday night, but the program features a wide variety of genres and tones. Plays range from the bizarre to the realistic to the supernatural, and all provide something different. I would recommend anyone interested to go see one of these programs (playing the last few shows next Thurs-Sat) to see some good local theater. (And you can read Isaac's full review of this event here.)


So what did you do this weekend? Anything worth, blogging about? Tonight I have been invited to attend an exclusive blogger event with Maniac Magazine. I'm pretty excited about it, but I need to knock out this fever and headache before then! I will be blogging more about this event later tonight and tomorrow so be sure to come back and check out what comes from this event!