A few events in July...

i work with a wonderful Filipino woman named Vangie, she was my trainer and we clicked right away - she really does have a heart of gold. she invited us to the annual picnic put on by the Filipino American Association of Pittsburgh. it's a pretty big ta-do, they have booths were they sell Filipino jewelry and clothes, and TONS of authentic Filipino cuisine complete with a roasted pig.

Dolly (Vangie's adopted mom), Vangie and me

i have never seen a whole roasted pig before!

Filipino dancing.

my cousin madelyn, her husband mike and their baby marina visited from Philly and we met them for breakfast at Pamela's. madelyn, it was so great to see you guys!

joe, me, mike, madelyn, marina.

marina - she is such a doll!

i attended a baby shower for Tiffany Hatch who is pregnant with twins - hats off to her!

it had a rubber ducky/bath time theme - very cute:).

and of course there was tons of food.

kelly, me, tiffany and carlee, just a few of the ladies that attended. it was nice to see you tiff - congrats!

we took a trip to lake erie at presque isle park and it was so great! there was plenty of parking, the beach was nice and the water was warm.

it was so nice to just lounge, relax and listen to the waves.

we tried to swim out to the rock island behind me but got stopped by the life guard before we made it.

on the way home we stopped at this great old cemetery.

the headstones and grave markers were huge. i love the cemeteries around here, they are filled with history - it's enchanting.

july was fun and eventful, i'm really looking forward to august:).

celebrating!

for our 7th anniversary we enjoyed dinner at the restaurant habitat

the food was amazing and we had a great table with a view.

after dinner we went to a pirates baseball game at PNC park.

this was the first pirates game we have been to since we moved here. even though the pirates lost (no surprise there), we were impressed with the stadium and had a great time:).

this is the view from outside the stadium. i love the way the skyline looks!

the view of the stadium from across the allegheny river.

what a wonderful night it was! i was happy to have a specific date to celebrate our love, hard work, and commitment to each other that we've shared over the last seven years. i feel like a very lucky woman!

7 years...

7 years ago today joe and i got married...

it's the best thing i have ever done...

i love you so much joe and i'm looking forward to many more anniversaries!

for carlee...

i love pictures. to me they really capture something special, like having a tangible memory you can take with you. so i was happy the day i realized that i could have "family" pictures taken even before there were kids in the mix. every few years i try to have us sit for professional quality pictures and about two months ago we did just that. joe, ever so graciously, donated 3 hours of his life, where he completely turned himself over to me and my pictures. he wore what i told him to, and allowed himself to be primped and posed, all this with a smile on his face (oh the give and take that makes a relationship work - thank you babe, it really means a lot:)). libby jones was our photographer, she is the wife of a guy that went to joe's school, she made the shoot fun and relaxing and took amazing pictures! you can see more of her work at libbyjonesphotography.com. here are some of the pictures.

bye for now.

4th of July

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I have posted and visited with all of you through the blogging world! Time really flys when you're having fun, and aren't we doing just that here in Pittsburgh.....yes, aren't we? We actually really are having fun. We spent the 4th of July with Mike Lueck and Lara Novelly, soon to be Mike and Lara Lueck! Mike is in Joe's class at school, we've had fun hanging out with, and getting to know him and his fiance Lara. They took us to a look out above the strip district that had a pretty good view of the infamous Pittsburgh firework show.

joe, mike and lara waiting for the show to start. we were at a look out over the strip district with a view of the north shore.

me and the man,

me and lara.

fireworks with a flash,

without a flash.

mike looking at lara during the show, i thought this was such a sweet smile he had for her - even though it's a little blurry i was glad to catch it on film:).

thanks mike and lara, we had a great time!