life in surround sound and process color.

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 ...

LISTENING TO: Jon Bellion - Woke The F*ck Up I always joke that I tend to be a hermit during the cold months, but apparently 2020 has decided to pull me right out of my comfort zone. These last few weeks have been so much busier than all of the late winters of the last three years combined, so it's no surprise to me that I'm battling my back muscles when it comes to my trip to Pennsylvania this weekend. After working in the city yesterday (which in this case would be Manhattan) and having all the trains home inexplicably cancelled (another story for another day, although I wouldn't be surprised if it would be coronavirus related, at this point), which lead to not getting home until the wee hours of the morning - I successfully managed to make my way up to my sister's home in Nicktown, PA. It occurred to me on the drive in that I've never written about my trips out here (whether it was the numerous trips when my sister was still in college, when she and her h...