Happy Campers :-)

If you know me, you know one thing for certain, I am, always have been and always will be a HUGE Pittsburgh Steeler fan! It's really not saying too much being as EVERYONE from Pittsburgh is a Steeler fan (really, I'm not over-exaggerating...if you were born and raised in Pittsburgh you ARE a Steeler fan!). But I do look forward to the start of the season each year, it's kinda like Christmas coming a little early andddd it's that time of year again!! :-)

As ya'll may or may not know, my boyfriend Patrick is a linebacker for the Steelers. He's entering his third year in the NFL and is also partaking in his third football camp - all have been with the Steelers. Through him I've gotten to see some things up-close and thought I'd share my findings with with ya'll...one fan to another another fan :-)

Camp always starts at the end of July and wraps up sometime in August and for the past 44 years it has been held at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. Latrobe is about an hour away from the city so it's not too bad of a drive for Pittsburghers to take a day trip to watch their team - and oh boy do they! Thousands of fans from the city and really all over the country head to St. Vincent and canvas the rolling hills of the campus. Take a look at these shots...

Family members of the team and booster-club fans (we think) get to watch practice from the sidelines. With this special access I'm able to follow Patrick as he switches places for different drills - which allows me to take some very nice photos :-) Below are a few of my favorites!

Patrick facing Rookie OLB Taddius Gibson while injured OLB James Harrison and Defensive Assistant, Jerry Olsavsky look on...

This would have been a sack by PB on Mr. Dennis Dixon...

PB applying some pressure

PB going against TE Matt Spaeth

PB facing OT Max Starks

I know people like to see players other then PB so I included a few of some of the other players...

Antwaan Randle-El goofing off with the fans while awaiting a punt

Hines Ward and the famous smile we all know and love!

Stephan Logan being Stephan Logan haha! Such a fun guy!

Big Ben signaling that the Offense got a rushing TD during the goal-line drill

After the guys finish up practice they head up what I so lovingly nick-named "Autograph Hill". I'm not gonna lie, I kinda feel for them here...They were just running around in 90-something degree weather for 2 hours, they're hot, they're tired and then they have to hike it up this hill while being hounded for autographs. I will say this though...no matter how tired they are, they ALL take the time and sign for the fans - which is nice to see! And I'm not talking about just the Rookies signing their way up the hill...you'll see the biggest star players out there signing for the fans...

The fan favorite for sure!

PB :-)

The "Big Legursky" AKA PB's Roommate...another GREAT guy!

Once at the top of the hill the players head into their training facility. I don't know about the other players, but Patrick always takes some time to hit up the hot tub/cold tubs and the swimming pool. He then showers and heads to dinner before meetings start at 7. When I'm there I get to go to dinner with him which I'm so appreciative of. It's so nice to be able to spend a little bit of quality time with him while he's away. In all we get about about 45 minutes together because he CAN'T be late! Any guy that is late for a meeting is charged a hefty fine!

Yesterday was "Family Day". It's my favorite for a lot of reasons :-) One of the reasons is because the guys are given the night off, meaning no meetings! They had a special dinner for everyone with a few activities for the kids. Being kids at heart our gang took part in the caricature drawings...

My hair was down when it was drawn...not too bad!

Sweetheart move...Tyler's wife Maggie couldn't be there as she was out of town so he showed the artist her picture and had him draw her in...TOO CUTE!

The Harris'

As you may notice, our friend Tuff is wearing a sling in the above picture. Unfortunately he was injured on Friday night at a practice at Latrobe High School. Gosh, as a girlfriend or wife of a player you try to prepare yourself and ANYTHING that can happen, and trust me I try to do so because so many things could happen in this game. Last week Tuff's wife Mary and I were talking about what if one of our significant others showed up anthers in a play...for example if Tuff intercepted one of our friend Tylers catches. Well the unthinkable happened on Friday night. Patrick actually was the one to cause the injury to Tuff. It happened during a special teams drill where Patrick was to charge at Tuff and Tuff was to push Patrick away. During the drill Tuff's elbow was out and Patrick ran into it and a shoulder injury resulted for Tuff. Currently Tuff is rehabbing his shoulder but a big question mark was put on his immediate future. Patrick feels so bad! But both guys understand it was nothing intentional and it's the nature of the game. Tuff had to come back to Pittsburgh and get X-Rays. This picture says exactly what Tuff's attitude is like regarding the inury...

To end this blog on a light note, check out this picture...our caricature artist thought Patrick and this guy looked alike and in a creepy sort of way they do resemble each other lol

Ta-Ta for now boys and girls! :-)

August To-Do's

1.) I still want to go to Kennywood!!!
2.) Join Urban Active :-)
3.) Go to Urban Active at least 3 times a week once joined...
4.) Make another significant home improvement.
5.) Get a new doctor to prescribe to me.
6.) Buy myself something nice in New York City :-) This should be extremely tough lol NOT AS EXTRAVAGENT AS I WOULD HAVE WISHED BUT PERFUME WILL DO :-)
7.) Get my basement all cleaned out....This is not all depending on me unfortunately. Grrr!
8.) Lose 5 pounds...I managed 3 last month but I'm starting over from scratch again...Here we go!
9.) Get at least 8 more scrapbook pages done for year one! -- IIIIIIII
10.) Finish "Love The One You're With" and start "Baby Proof" STARTED HEART OF THE MATTER INSTEAD THOUGH...
11.) Buy something significant and necessary for my home. Necessary is the key word!!
12.) Chapter #2...
13.) Have special bonding time with my Nieces and Nephew before the new baby comes along :-) BABYSITTING AND CAMP = GOOD AUNT MAGGIE!
14.) Go to the wavepool 8-)

July Rewind

July was a full-packed month for me. It seemed I was always on the go! An interesting party I went to early on in the month was my Aunt Donna's divorce party...lol. Believe me, I know it's not a laughing matter but we sure did have fun turning lemons into lemonade :-) My Aunt Donna and Uncle Jack had been together for over 20 years before deciding to call it quits. It was shocking news to swallow. After months of separation and heartache, my aunt decided she needed to get out of their home and leave all the memories behind. So she packed up her essentials and took her dog Bailey, and together they moved to a new apartment in the city. My mom (Donna's sister) was a big help in getting her situated. When my mom saw her sister could use some new stuff she decided to throw her a little shower and invite only her closest family and friends.

Aunt Donna got a ton of great stuff to help her get on her feet. I'll give my mother the award for the most creative gift lol. She wrapped up about 30 different cleaning products and wrote a poem to her sister using each product name in the passage. Example: "One day in the future you'll meet a big, brawny man who will fill your life with joy" - then gave her a package of Brawny paper towels and Joy dish soap. We all laughed at some of the stuff she came up with, it really was a cute idea! She ended it with this outdoor throw rug - incase Jack should ever come knocking at her new door...lol!

After gifts my mom presented her with a cake reading "I Will Survive" on the top...fitting as she is also a recent cancer survivor.

We love you Aunt Donna! Continue to stay strong in this difficult situation!

One bit of exciting news I have this month...I got the first loan I ever took out paid off! Woo-Hoo! Gosh, I took out this loan in 2006. I've slowly but surely been chipping away at it and now it's all gone! I took it out so I could compete in the Miss Pennsylvania Pageant...STUPID! With it I bought a $1,000 Sherry Hill gown...A $500 bathing suit and a $750 suit with matching $150 shoes...Bad, bad investment being that I wore everything a total of 2 times during pageant weekend and didn't win the darn thing! You live and learn. I will never do something that stupid again. When I told my mom I had the debt paid off she invited me to the house to try on all these items that are now "officially" mine - HA! I wouldn't even be able to get them zippered any more! Like I said, you live and learn.

A fun thing I got to do this month was go see "The Producers" while it was in town. If you're from Pittsburgh you may have seen all the billboards around town announcing it's arrival in town and boasting a featured role by Joey Fatone of N'SYNC. If you have the chance and extra cash, go see it! It was hysterical! I mean really, I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time!!! I went with Patrick, my sister Katie and brother-in-law Ted. We got the fabulous orchestra pit seats from my Godmother, Lois. It was such a nice night on the town...very memorable :-)

On July 10th, Patrick made me super-proud when he became a licensed pilot! Patrick spent a good portion of the off-season working on this accomplishment. To do so he had to fly for 40 hours. Most of the hours were with an instructor but a portion of them had to be solo flights. He got a good chunk done in Texas where the weather is more cooperative, but ultimately finished his course in Pittsburgh. Both of his parents were in the Air Force and his grandfather was a pilot so aviation has always been a part of his life. Being a licensed pilot has been a dream of his for quite some time and I'm so happy to see him achieve it. I just pray the good Lord is always with him when he takes to the air.

It seems everyone is either getting married or having babies these days so naturally I have a lot of showers to attend. This month I had 4 total...2 bridal and 2 baby. I already blogged about my best friend Kate's bridal shower in "Weekend of Weddings" the other bridal shower I had was on the same day and in New York. This was for Patrick's cousin Kaity. I didn't make the trek up there for her shower but delivered her gift when we spent time in New York June. She had a fun "Go Green" theme. Kaity asked that each person be creative with their wrapping and keep it as "green" as possible. Patrick came up with this idea...

Both of the baby showers I was invited to were for little baby boys :-)

The first was for my friend Sara. Sara has already had her little man, Josiah Ziggy, on July 27th :-) Her shower was at Jimmy Wan's (formerly Taipei) in Cranberry. It was a beautiful day and the shower took place in the outdoor seating area. While feasting on fabulous Chinese cuisine we played lots of fun baby games. I came so close to winning the measure the tummy game...

Sara had a cutest shower favors...check out these adorable cookies from Mimi's Bake Shoppe in Cranberry. There were a few different designs on the onesies...too cute! Plus, they tasted as good as they looked!

And the cake matched the cookies! It too tasted as good as it looked! It had an almond batter topped with a buttercream frosting...delicious!

Sara got all sort's of great stuff. I got her the baby bath tub with all the fixings for a baby bath like shampoo and baby wash. I loved this picture of her modeling one of the outfits she got :-)

Congratulations and best of luck in parenthood Sara and Ziggy!

The second shower was for my sister Katie. In the past 5 years Katie has had three daughters so naturally she has collected a lot of pink along the way. Baby number 4 threw a wrench in the hand-me-downs mix so Katie's friends found it fitting to throw her a shower so she could collect some blue stuff.

The shower was at her friend Ellen's house. It was just a small get together with her closest friends but gosh did she get some great stuff! Below are some pictures of Baby Teddy's new wardrobe:-)

I got little Tedward (my nickname for him lol) this "Little Pilot" outfit from Janie & Jack...He better keep it clean because his future boy cousin(s) will want to be wearing this!!

lol - so not the hair bows and fancy pants she's used to!!

"Bachelor" pacifier lol

Loved this little outfit!

Her cake was great as well...It was an almond cake with a blue fondant icing...YUMMO!

Last bit of July info...I got a temporary roommate for the end of the month and most of next month. My friend Mary will be staying with me while her husband Tuff is away at football camp with Patrick. Our guys reported to camp in Latrobe, PA on the 30th. I have to say I'm quite excited to have her here! I think it will help the month away from my man pass by quicker...at least I'm hoping it will! I especially think it will be good for me to have the company so I'm not so bored. Patrick left to train with his agent in Michigan for 10 days this month and I thought I was going to go bananas from boredom...you can only do so much cleaning, reading and scrapbooking consecutively! Good news, I got a lot of each of those tasks done! LOL! But in all honesty, I know this is a very demanding time for Patrick as his job in on the line - so I have to be on my best behavior and be supportive of anything that's thrown my way...this is the toughest time to be the girlfriend or spouse of a football player for sure!

I have a few things planned for Mary's visit aside from a few day trips to visit the guys. It should be fun times! We capped off July with our first visit to Latrobe...check out this series of photos Mary captured (my camera is too slow lol) This was a drill where the Linebackers and Tight Ends squared off and Patrick won...Yeah! Check it out!

Squaring off...Coach Tomlin yelled
"Show me what you've been doing Duke!"

Tomlin then said "I see you've been working Duke!"

Down! You should have heard everyone cheering

"Duke! Duke! Duke!"

Patrick #55 in action during a team drill :-)

PB signing autographs...

The girlfriend (Me) and the wives (Mary, Maggie and Megan - Yes All M's I know!!)

That's all for July...Hope you enjoyed my rewind :-)

Relay For Life

"We see love in every flame, like a never ending chain, and we know that every candle has a name."

This past weekend I took part in the American Cancer Society's "Relay For Life". I did it in honor of my Uncle Rob who passed away this past year from Lung Cancer. I was a part of team "Family Ties" and so far we have raised a total of $8,500.00 to help find a cure for cancer! To raise that amount we had an array of fundraisers leading up to the event such as happy hour events, a car wash, a cheesecake sale and of course generous donations. We also made a good chuck of that amount at the relay event itself.

Our "Family Ties" booth was a jumping one! We were the only booth to sell balloons for the memorial balloon launch. People could purchase a colored balloon for $1.00 and write a personal message on it. Also one of our teammates is a photographer and took and printed out old-time photos for children. In addition we also sold raffle tickets for themed baskets, and had another separate raffle for a signed Mario Lemieux hockey puck, an NFL football signed by 15 different Pittsburgh Steelers and a signed Lance Armstrong book. We also sold hot shredded beef sandwiches and Italian hoagies in addition to different drinks. Brewster's Ice Cream also teamed up with us and provided a scoop of ice cream for a donation. Team "Family Ties" made over $1,200.00 on the day of the relay alone!! Woohoo!

Activities were going on all day at the different booths. Some had games while others had crafts. One team had a manicurist on site doing nail art while another team had a local artist come and paint live portraits (more on him later!!) but the American Cancer Society also had some events taking place at different hours. One that was pretty funny was the "Minute To Win It" game, a spin-off of the actual show. Man, I wish I would have signed up to do it because I think it would have been so much fun! Another event was the "Mr. Relay Pageant"...lol! Check out Mr. Family Ties...

Each contestant had a half hour to collect as much money as possible and whichever contestant raised the most money was the winner. Our queen came in 2nd place!

The theme of this year's relay was "More Birthdays" so of course there had to be cake...

The cake eating contest was pretty funny...I didn't know anyone in it but it was still enjoyable to watch. You can't see him, but an adorable little 2-year-old took part in this contest...he was too cute!

So more about the painter I had mentioned...I forget him name, but he is the artist that is in the KDKA commercial and paints the pictures of Art Rooney and Troy Polamalu UPSIDE DOWN! He did that same technique live with these three paintings...

Super cool to see! This team raised a ton of money on these paintings...I heard the Troy Polamalu one went for $250.00! It's great to see people with such amazing talents giving back for good causes :-)

As I mentioned before, our team sponsored a Balloon Launch. My cousin Beth manned this part of our booth all day long with the help of her fiancee, Andy.

I snapped this picture of the balloons being let go as each of the teams walked together around the track...

As the sun went down everyone gathered around a separate field where luminaries were being set up all day. Each luminary had a name on it in memory of someone whose health was affected by cancer. We had bags to memorialize my Uncle...

Rob and Beth with one of their Dad's Bag

Aunt Sharon with her husbands bag.

And we also had a bag to commemorate the survival of our Aunt Donna...

Each bag was lit up to honor the name upon it. I didn't get too many good pictures of the bags all lit up. My camera just didn't agree with all the candlelight. But I took a snapshot in my mind and it really was something else. I mean there had to have been thousands of bags! They spelt out "More Birthdays" across the giant field. I took a video, but I'll warn the quality isn't what I would have hoped it would be...

So many times throughout the day I found myself saying silent prayers thanking God for my own personal health and the health of my immediate family. I saw so many names on those bags - most of whom were taken away by some form of cancer. It really made me realize how lucky I truely am.

One of the most empowering things I saw all day were the people wearing purple shirts...those people are the survivors who fought back and won the battle against cancer. There were children my nieces and nephews age wearing those shirts. There were people my age wearing those shirts. And there were people my parents age wearing those shirts. I just felt so thankful that it was none of us wearing them. It's kind of bittersweet really. A part of me feels so sad for them and all they've been through but another part of me feels so happy for them that they won the fight and were able to be there that day. I had to keep in mind all the people who were there wishing their loved ones could be there wearing those purple shirts...

My day spent at the Relay was a real eye-opener into how blessed my life has been. I know that any second of any day it could easily be me being diagnosed with a form of cancer. Hopefully this post will make you realize how blessed you've been with good health...:-)