“Fake it until you become it,” he said.
He was quoting a popular Ted Talk by Amy Cuddy. I knew the one. I’d always assumed Amy was talking about moving up in business, getting promoted within a company, and climbing the corporate ladder till you reach the top. What hadn’t truly occurred to me until the night I was at Duquesne University’s Presidential Inauguration and met Ron, a professor at CMU, was that this mantra could be applied to any aspect of life. Continue reading
On Thursday, September 22, 2016, I had the honor and privilege of attending the Duquesne University President’s Inauguration. You may think it’s odd that I was there, considering I have absolutely no connection to Duquesne whatsoever, and in fact, before that day, I had never actually even been on Duquesne’s campus. This opportunity came about for me, when I got an email from someone at the University of Delaware’s Alumni office, saying that UD’s President, Dr. Dennis Assanis, had been invited to this Inauguration, but he was unable to attend – since I am the UD Pittsburgh Alumni Club President, would I like to represent him instead?
Absolutely. My first thought was that it would be a great networking opportunity, but also, if nothing else, it would be a unique experience on its own. Continue reading
I said I had big news and here it is: we adopted a retired racing greyhound! We named her Sadie, for no reason other than we liked it and we think she looks like a Sadie. It would be a cliche to say that she raced right into our hearts – and also untrue, because she doesn’t race anymore and we can hardly get her to run even a little. But she did look into our eyes and melt our hearts (okay, one cliche).
Since today is National Dog Day, it’s the perfect day to introduce her and tell you a little more about her and our decision to adopt a greyhound. Continue reading
After college, I moved back in with my parents for a year. And during that time, I couldn’t wait to find my own apartment and move out. I was dreaming of the day when I had the keys to a place of my own. The day that Jim would move to Pittsburgh and we’d cook dinners together in the kitchen and hang our pictures on the wall and make friends with the upstairs neighbors.
We found that apartment, but it was mostly me cooking dinners and we didn’t make friends with any neighbors.
We’d lived in the apartment for almost two years and then we started thinking about a house of our own. We watched HGTV obsessively and dreamed of space to entertain, quartz countertops, a guest bedroom, and most of all, a garage.
We bought that house, and we ended up with everything on our wish list and more.
Once we moved into the house, it was time to focus on the wedding. I dreamed of candlelit centerpieces and silver sashes around white chair covers and the perfect photo of a last kiss as the sun set over the country club.
We planned the most fantastic wedding, complete with wine bottle centerpieces, wine cork place cards, and a summer sunset as our guests danced and drank the night away.
So now we’re married, we live in our beautiful house, we cook our dinners together, we’re planning to someday hang the pictures on the walls, we’ve had friends over to stay in our guest bedroom and we hosted a small 4th of July get-together in our backyard.
We’ve gotten everything we’ve ever wanted. So what’s next? Continue reading
Hartwood Acres looking fabulous. This was not a running day. This was a I’m-tired-so-lets-walk-and-take-pictures day.
It has been a month since I signed up for the EQT 10 Miler, so I guess it’s time to give you an update on my training progress.
I meant to write a weekly update, with a detailed report of my workouts and how each mile of my runs felt. Some of you might have been interested in that, maybe. But I didn’t, so I’ll just recap.
After I hit that “register” button I was all like “Let’s do this!” and I laced up my shoes, drove to North Park and tackled 5 miles including the hill behind the boathouse. Nothing crazy – I do that loop all the time, walk/run, usually, depending on whether I’ve just eaten dinner or not.
Then all that week I was like “I got this!” so I pushed myself. I went to the gym and did some spinning and some body weight leg stuff and I ran on the treadmill. And then my knees were like “HA! We tricked you.” So I had to settle down a bit. Continue reading
A few weekends ago, the weather was absolutely perfect for hiking at Moraine State Park and McConnells Mill State Park. Blue skies, sunshine, 80’s – one of those mid-summer days that you just can’t help but get outside and appreciate nature.
I’d been meaning to drive up with Jim for awhile, but with the wedding and everything else going on, the summer started slipping away from me. Luckily, my friend asked me to go up with her on a weekend when I was a little more flexible.
We drove up early in the morning so we could start the day when it was a little cooler out. It always surprises me how close Moraine State Park is and how easy it is to drive there. Her GPS started taking us some crazy way, north of the lake, so after turning around and following the guidance of a different GPS, we made it to the South Shore.
I think the other few times I’ve been to Moraine, I went to the North Shore, where they have boating, a “beach,” bike trails and such. We didn’t care where we went, we were just looking for some pretty trails good for hiking.
The hike at Moraine was pretty easy, so we had plenty of time to talk. Continue reading
Our reception was the most fun. Hands down. Everyone loved the food, the music, the dancing, the cake. That’s all wedding receptions are really about.
But we did add a few details to make our party more special and more meaningful to us.
On the day of my wedding, June 18, 2016, I had eyes only for Jim. I can’t wait to see the photographer’s pictures, mostly because I want to know what other people at my wedding were actually doing there. All I remember is looking at him (or looking for him), dancing with him, eating with him, kissing him, thinking about him.
It was the best day of my life, and it was absolutely perfect.
I could regale you with 16 pages worth of details about the wedding, because that’s what I wrote down after we got back from the honeymoon. I was and am determined not to forget a single moment. But I’ll spare you and just give you the highlights, the parts that made our wedding special to us. Continue reading
Hi there. It’s me, Meg. You may have forgotten about this little blog by now. Or maybe you haven’t and you’re wondering whether I’ve taken ill or I’m off trekking around the world on grand adventures. Neither is true, and I’d probably rather you’d forgotten about my little bit of internet writing. It has pained me, knowing that I started this so vehemently, and yet I allowed it to fall by the wayside, in favor of Netflix mostly.
In any case, I’m back. I was a bit sidetracked for the past year or so. You know, getting married. It’s amazing how much of my brain was consumed with white roses and wedding bells, but I’ll admit that it happened. I don’t regret it. But now it’s time to move on. Time to write and create and explore again. Continue reading
Measure with Coffee Spoons 