Monday, December 10, 2012

Pittsburgh without Christopher :(


This Weekend, I was busy, busy, busy.  I guess it is just that time of year!!

On Friday night, I worked out after I left the office and then had good night talking with Christopher.  The weekends without him aren't as much fun, but sometimes there's not much you can do about it.  I headed out to Pittsburgh for a work trip the next morning.

On Saturday, I started the day with an almost missed flight.  Not good.  I'm still not really sure what I was thinking, but I set my alarm and woke up without too much trouble.  I took my time getting ready and even thought once or twice about how good I was doing on time this particular morning.  I even stopped to get breakfast and then ate that breakfast in the cab on the way to the airport before I realized I had made a terrible mistake on timing and was leaving my apartment at the time that I was supposed to be checking in at the airport.  Needless to say, as soon as I realized it (oh, a mere 30 minutes before my flight was to depart) I jumped into panic mode.  I checked in on my phone.  I ran through security and even dismissed tying my shoes to make it to the gate before that dreaded door closed.  I was in terminal D.  My gate was in terminal C.  Of course.  I nearly ran over some people trying to make the bus that takes passengers to terminal C, but I missed it anyway.  The next bus comes and the airport worker assures me I have "plenty" of time (Really?  Plenty of time? Then why in the world do they tell us to be there 75 minutes in advance of our flights?) as she tells the driver he is all set to go with us.  Then, a man rushes onto the bus at the last second claiming he has lost his wallet.  Bad timing, dude....we gotta go!  While he searches, I start to panic a little more.  Finally, he is convinced it must be on the other bus and we leave.  When I see how far we have to go to get to terminal C, I realized I could have walked there in the time it took Mr. Lost Wallet to complete his search.  Add frustration to the panic.  I'm in a full out sprint as I exit the bus.  I run up to the gate out of breath and exhausted.  The attendant at the gate just looks at me like I arrived three hours early for my flight and he can't understand why I'm so rushed.  Mind-boggling.  Airports are just altogether mind-boggling.  The good news is I made it...and we even landed ahead of schedule.

Getting to the hotel in my rental was a whole new adventure.  I'll save you the insanity of the details there.  Let's just say the GPS lost signal at a very inopportune time and I basically turned a 20 minute trip into a 45 minute one.  But...there was Christmas music on the radio so it was all good.  When I finally arrived, I had a few minutes to catch my breath before I shopped til I almost dropped with one of my high school buddies, Michelle.  We had a blast shopping, catching up, shopping, eating at Chick-fil-A, shopping...ok, so we did a little shopping :)  Good news is that I am about thisclose to be D.O.N.E with my Christmas shopping!!  YAY!

As soon as she dropped me off back at the hotel, another friend picked me up for dinner.  I met up with some of Christopher's college buddies at BD's Mongolian Grill.  Very fun and very good.  Only thing missing was Christopher...well, and the wife and child of one of his friends...but I'll get to that.


Before....

Waiting to have mine cooked!!

After...
I don't know if you've ever been to BD's Mongolian Grill, but it was quite a treat.  You stuff a bowl full of raw veggies and meats...and create your own sauce!  Wait in line for them to cook it right in front of you (sort of like hibachi).  And then chow down on your awesome creation!
Then we went next door for some gelato (in December!!) for dessert.  Crazy, but tasty!!

Then I headed over to Rich and Melissa's to catch up with the missing wife and child - Melissa and Trey, Christopher's godson.  He's into everything now that he is crawling.  Even though he wasn't feeling too great, I was able to get some precious little smiles from him.  Such a cutie!!


On Sunday, it was time for work.  I was in Pittsburgh as the NFL representative for their Regional Punt, Pass, & Kick (PPK) event.  It was a blast to see all the kids (age 6-15) participate.  They were super excited!!  The competition was Sunday morning, but they performed a passing exhibition at halftime of the Steelers game.  They had a blast!!



Due to the rainy weather my flight was a bit delayed so it turned out to be a super long day!  And I have plans to meet up with a friend between work and working in the command center tonight so here's to a super long Monday as well.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and your Monday isn't as jam packed as mine!

Andrea :)

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