The Wedding Shower

So I'm back from Pittsburgh.  I left last Thursday morning and came back last night.  I drove because I enjoy driving.  I stayed over Thursday night since there was a huge thunderstorm in West Virginia and I was tired.  I decided it was better to rest since I estimated I had 3 hours left to drive.  Good decision.

I got to my sister's about 10 Friday morning and yes I brought the laptop so I could blog and check email.  No, it did not work.  I used my sister's laptop to keep up with email but decided to vacation from blogging.  Since we were having technical difficulties we decided we needed food and went to Carl's for burgers, fish and zucchini.  I need to go there every time I visit.  Luckily my sister Connie likes it and my sister Cathy was there too and approved.  Once we finished lunch we knew we needed dessert for later in the evening so went to Moio's.  Another must. 

No website for Carl's, it is really not very fancy but they are in the process of adding a deck.  They were working on it Friday.  There is a website for Moio's and is a complete contrast to Carl's.  Both very good though.  We spent the evening visiting with neighbors and my niece and her fiance who stopped by after work.  We had pizza, it was a pretty full day of eating.

Saturday my sisters and I decided to go to the Strip.  My nephew had a birthday party to go to so we were on our own.  We needed to get shrimp and steaks for dinner and whatever else we saw.  Even though it was pouring, we all had rain slickers and were fine.  We went to Penzey's and stocked up and we ate some more. 

We decided on brunch at DeLuca's.  There was still a short line at 12:30 but it's worth the wait.  Again, not fancy but delicious!  It's only open until 3 so keep that in mind. Again no website but I did get pictures.

We headed home to pick up bridesmaid's dresses and to get a quick nap.  My sister Connie, who was the chauffer, then got us over to my niece's house where I cooked dinner with my nephew Jake.  Cathy got good pictures and will send them.  We had Linguine with Scampi, Roasted Asparagus, Garlic Bread, Salad and steaks on the grill.  And cake - German Chocolate or Black Forest. 

Sunday was the shower and my niece's friends came over early to get things ready.  They left about 11 with my sister Connie, Connie told Cathy and me that we were responsible for getting Cristine to the shower.  Not a problem since it was not a surprise, Cristine was picking us up and Cristine loves presents.  The shower was beautiful.  No games were played, we had lunch, cake, watched the gift opening and had themed basket raffles.  The girls did a lot of work, my niece has great friends.

After the shower we headed back to Connie's to chat, relax, not eat, and plan the evening.  We took some family pictures while we were still dressed from the shower.  One with the 3 aunts and Cristine, one of Ryan and Cristine. 

We didn't stay dressed very long because while I like animals, my sister really loves animals.  Connie has 5 dogs, Cathy brought her dog and apparently I sat on the best chair in the house.  I was swarmed. 

We have 2 corgis, 1 big fluffy dog, 1 toy Pomeranian, 2 Corgi/Shih Tzu puppies.  Connie claims this is her reading chair and this is normal.  I didn't think we could all fit, but I was wrong.  I should have gotten a new picture Friday night when Cristine brought her Shih Tzu and Corgi/Shih Tzu mix.  I'm not sure 2 more would fit.

I left yesterday morning to make the drive back.  The weather was nice and sunny and cool and I made it home in about 11 1/2 hours.  I don't stop much while I drive.  Now back to normal with only 3 cats.