life in surround sound and process color.

LISTENING TO: All Time Low - Monsters (feat. blackbear and Demi Lovato)   As I sit in my sister's living room for the third time this year, it's funny to me that I was able to officially merge the two places I visited the most this year into one whole trip. Of course, earlier this year, my trip to North Carolina was a rescue mission that took place over a quick 48-hour period, while I spent my last trip of normalcy as well as the longest vacation of the summer here at my sister's.  This time around? It was again a rescue mission, albeit more so for the holiday season rather than just coronavirus fears. The last few days in North Carolina were well spent - it's only the third time when I've visited that I was accosted by a tropical storm/hurricane, for one (which is always an interesting time), but I can't say that it didn't end with some hallmarks of vacations past. This years trip ended with visits to some of my all-time favorite breweries for "takeout...

LISTENING TO: X Ambassadors, K.Flay and grandson - Zen   This year has put a lot of things into perspective, but it also has put a lot of things into relief. As I mentioned in one of my first pandemic-travel posts , the trip down to North Carolina to my grandparents has been a yearly tradition for me for decades, and I have to honestly say it was nice to have another example of normalcy . As I mentioned over the summer, one of the things that I've really missed this year especially was driving, so it was great that my yearly solo roadtrip down south, although delayed, was still able to happen this year. There were a lot of things similar to the trip I took earlier this year, but this late into the pandemic, it is striking to see how many people are taking it more seriously than back in April. I guess the argument can be made that even the places that were seeing less cases are finally getting harder hit, which is horrible, but if there's anything about 2020 that could be said, ...

LISTENING TO: Lady Gaga - Stupid Love     As I mentioned earlier this year , the amount of times I've traveled out to my sister's neck of the woods over the last decade have been prolific. It's strange now to be traveling during the pandemic, but because Western PA is just a little bit less untouched in comparison to back home, it's become the perfect place to visit. It's not that the coronavirus out here isn't taken seriously (it definitely is), but it's really interesting to see the contrast between how we've been quarantining so close to some of the major east coast cities to how they're living out here. I do have to say, there is a sense of being able to take a deeper breath while I've been here, which is crazy; I'm not really living my life any differently than I do regularly. I work remotely, I walk outside on the regular. But there seems to be a different type of pause here, whether because there's a sense of being farther away fro...

LISTENING TO: Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hangin' On As a musical side note, the radio deejays have been playing some absolute bangers during this time - it feels like so many people are just pulling some really eclectic song selections out of the archives, which has been really nice when you've spent most of a forty-eight hour period in a car. I've always been someone who gets distracted by roadside attractions - that cavern in the Blue Ridge? I've probably stopped there. That weird little brewery off the exit? That looks like a good pitstop. Even with how crazy weird this short little trip was, that seemed to be the theme. After packing up my grandfather and the majority of his pantry in the wee hours of the morning, we were back on the road again. Like I was saying yesterday regarding the first half of this trip, everyone in my family has made the pilgrimage to North Carolina multiple times in the last two decades, so everyone has their favorite places to stop on...

LISTENING TO: Golden Earring - Twilight Zone I really did expect my trip to Pittsburgh, which happened literally on the evening of everything shutting down in the tri-state area , to have been my last update here for a while. I knew as soon as I started quaran-teaming at my mom's house in PA that I was going to be isolating for a while, but I don't think when I first got here I realized how long it would actually be. Once it became obvious I was going to be here for the long haul, the question became not about my mom and I, but about my grandfather, who was responsibly self-isolating at the age of 86 at his home in... North Carolina. My family is a bit spread out along both the east and west coast, and with my sister and her husband both still working regularly, it was up to my mom and I to come up with a rescue plan. So after we both spent another week pretty much isolating at my mom's home in Pennsylvania, the decision was made to make the trip down south to bring...

LISTENING TO: Lil Dicky - $ave Dat Money (feat. Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan) For the record, I never thought I would ever use a Lil Dicky song for anything ever, but here we are (Saleha - I'm blaming your brother). So that I friend I mentioned who has lived in Pittsburgh for years? She's the reason these posts have been delayed - the party I was here for last night was Saleha's surprise birthday party, and it went off without a hitch. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Going back in time a bit, I was happily wandering around the city after leaving my car in the afore-blogged about parking garage. After some small stops for shopping (you can take the Rachel out of New Jersey but you can't take the shopping out of Rachel), I happily found myself a coffee shop. Big Dog Coffee reminded me of one of my favorite coffee spots in Ithaca - Gimme Coffee (and before you go off, I know there are multiple Gimme Coffee's in Ithaca, but they all usually have th...

LISTENING TO: Chris Stapleton - Traveller As I drove into Pittsburgh this afternoon, I was instantly transported back to the backseat of a university minivan back in 2008. I don't know why I never realized until now that the view into the city from 376 was always at the forefront of my mind when I pictured Pittsburgh, but it's nice to know that we've finally become reacquainted after all these years.   Back in 2008, 19 year-old-me was approaching the spring semester of my freshman year, heading into Pittsburgh for that year's KACTF at Carnegie Mellon. It was my first experience in the iron city, and the good memories from that trip have always meant that Pittsburgh has a small place in my heart. However, even with my sister living a stone's throw from the city and one of my best friends from high school literally LIVING THERE, the most I've been back to the city since has been a quick trip to Fat Head's Brewery after my sister bought her wedding gown ...