PGH2JAX

Went walking with Michelle this morning with my new shoes. So far so good. I wore them to work too so we'll see how it goes. I like that it is very cushy. Not loving the color combo but that's what I get for being so impatient.

I found a creme brulee torch on clearance at Marshall's. I got the torch and four ramikens for $12!  I'm excited about making brulee with fruit and thought it would be an easy quick dessert to make. However, some of the recipes I looked over suggested chilling the brulee overnite for best results. We ate it that same day and it was delicious.   Jayne is a stud! She's got mad style. Love the boots and bag, and her shirt....I loved everything. I bet she got it dirt cheap too!

There really wasn't anything except the landscape around this area. They wanted it to be as monumental as possible. There was a photo-op everywhere. t These candles were in the building above. I'm not quite sure what it was for. I took pictures of these signs to remember what the place was about. Click to enlarge and read. This is what the grounds looked like around the church. Very sparse and barren. The picture below is the cemetary. Weren't the mountains beautiful?

Matty's friend came to Pgh on tour. Matty put together a welcome wagon for JT Nero who was opening up for Po Girl at Club Cafe. Very intimate place to listen to a band. It was a little "too" intimate I guess because we kept getting shushed. I loved how she was rocking the clarinet. She was too cute. Jayne says she can run marathons too.

I heard that next week we're to expect some snow flurries, but this week has been just beautiful. It's almost too hot, esp. with the sunroof open. Riek loves it, me? I burn.... look at rieker's hair with the window open. ridiculous. but he's cute. Here's a picture of that sheet cake. The topping was delicious with the finely chopped pecans in it. It was too big though.Good for a crowd but too fattening for this party of "one".

A beautiful day on the trail.

Going through my Phoenix  Trip pictures has really made me more selective about my current pictures. Remember the days of film when you had to prioritize your 24-26 roll? You really had to decide how much you wanted that picture if you only had one roll for the whole day. This church was so photogenic. It was hard not to go crazy. This is the native Indian symbol of life. I thought that it was neat that instead of the philosophy of living a "straight and narrow" life to get to heaven, they had a more realistic view of an individual "maze" of life where everyone eventually gets to the center at the end. I like the wooden statue of the native Indian. The least expensive way to decorate was to paint the decorations on the walls. The work is amazing. The door handle... on the little door set in the larger door. There is some kind of symbolism for the snake and mouse symbols. I believe that if the snake ever caught the mouse it would mean the end of the world as we know...

Mission San Xavier del Bac is also known as the White Dove of the Desert. Built in the 1700s, it is a Roman Catholic Church built in New Spain. It is considered one of the finest examples of Spanish Architecture. This cross on the hill overlooks the mission church. I thought it was neat that they used real gowns on the statues. People pin their prayers onto the Saint, who I think is Saint Francis.

Rumor has it that Pittsburgh has one of the largest annual St Patrick's Day Parades in the country. Actually, I read somewhere that it was the 2nd largest St Patrick's Day Parade, but it's hard for me to believe that we follow Chicago & Boston for 2nd. New York is number 1. The weather was actually decent this year for the parade. And by that I mean that it only rained "lightly" for the most part. But, as the unofficial spring "kick-off", people from the 'burgh made sure to represent. There's our bishop from St Paul's Cathedral in the house!