Extra! Extra!

Hey, did you sign up for your fantasy football team yet!?  Yeah, me either...

Made for me, about me, to a T..  well maybe not the hair

I have more important things to worry about, like FOOD!  I am excitedly waiting on my newest Paleo cookbook but until that little gem arrives... 

My favorite fall craving was fulfilled just a few days into the fall season - The Gobblerito!

For those of you who haven't heard, it is a burrito with a Thanksgiving Day meal twist.  It is the naughtiest but most delicious recipe of tortilla wrapped around and filled with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and corn (the enemy) with gravy "drizzled" (or mostly drowned) on top.  It is even served with a side of cranberry sauce to complete the meal!  A genius creation that gets me every year (for a limited time) but also, major comfort food!

I felt so gross afterward but it was worth the cheat!

Another comfort food I was craving and curious about in its paleo version was shepherd's pie.  I have never made the actual recipe but the paleo version was a success, at least from my cave woman eyes!

A slight variation of the innards but overall result was a win.  I would definitely make this again. 

My grandma casserole creation

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Recently, I had the joy of sharing Pittsburgh with two "ahta-tahners."  Both came in from DC on two separate weekends and it was fun to give the tour of my home again, testing my memory and seeing it all again.  Thankfully, the Pirates are having a great year (right!?) and so it wasn't a total snore showing off the park and the Buccos. 

Make new friends....

 

...but keep the ooooold!  Partners in crimes of cilantro, reunited. 

For the first weekend Pirate game, there was a concert AND fireworks. 

Third Eye Blind setting up after the game. 

Zambelli boom!

Our firework face selfies

Before that night, I had never been to a fireworks night at PNC Park, or even a concert after the game but this time, I got both!  Even if I didn't truthfully look like the photo above on the outside, it's how I felt on the inside.  So happy to be back in the groove and to be able to watch fireworks off the buildings and boats on the river with friends.  A perfect summer night!

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The next non-yinzer came in primarily for an event at the zoo but stayed for a tour on wheels of the city and also a Pirate game.   I took a nice picture of the Zoo Brew drawing in sidewalk chalk but I think the Cloud ate it?  I had to borrow some shots instead.

It looked like this..  in chalk

..right here, where drunk girls ended up laying around for pictures before their exit

Every year the Pittsburgh Zoo, along with every other zoo in the world it seems like from a quick Google search, holds a Zoo Brew.  Different Brewers bring their beers out under a large tent with some catered food for a little tasting event.

No event, or photo, is ever complete without a Shadle-Shaffer Shock-ending.

Now, as a cave woman, I have been avoiding beers.  I wanted to try some cider but not bad enough that I wanted to replace my wine or purchase cider just yet.  Here was my perfect opportunity!

And I found a winner!  There weren't many to test but this one in particular was up against options like Woodchuck.  Please, not even close. 


The next day we did a quick Pittsburgh by car tour and then finished the night with another Zambelli firework Pirate game.

The skies stayed blue and the rivers stayed brown

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A lot of the fall chatter includes the infestation of stink bugs, just like every year.  This year though, there has been a new addition to our extermination battle at the doors and windows of our house:  The Wheel Bug, or, the Stink Bug Queen. 

We have collectively captured four in the past month.  They are gross looking but apparently can be helpful in the garden, eating pests, but can also give a painful bite if you aren't careful!  Once captured, watching them is somewhat fascinating with all of the robotic movements and features.

I guess because both neighbors have gardens, they are lurking around our house as they pass back and forth between these gardens?  In my best Pittsburgh accent, "Git already!"

 

 Now for an educational Internet close up:

Are you itchy yet?!  

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 So, what else is new in the news with me since last post? 

• Blake is already a month old!

• There is a huge 40-foot duck in the river.

It is an art installation from a Dutch artist that just arrived this past weekend.  The duck has been seen around the world since 2007 and will be photo bombing in Pittsburgh until the end of October.

Being escorted in

Speaking of big deals (nyuk nyuk)...

• I am playing an extra in a movie AND a TV show.

Recently, Pittsburgh has become somewhat of a mecca for filming lately.  The Dark Knight Rises, Jack Reacher, Love and Other Drugs, Unstoppable, The Next Three Days and Ab-duction (wink wink Taylor) are some of the more memorable and bigger blockbusters filmed right here.  In filming these movies (and unnamed TV shows), lots of extras are needed for the background.  Since I was doing... pretty much nothing productive or important or time sensitive, I decided to send my information in to be in a film that is currently being shot in Pittsburgh in exchange for a high school salary.  Yes, they pay for this!

The casting crew called me to play an extra nurse, so I figured, if I'm not doing it in real life, may as well play one on screen.  Then they called back again for a TV show nurse extra and court house person also.  We are not allowed to give details but I think it is mighty hilarious that I spent a year in LA yet am getting my Hollywood experience right here in Pittsburgh.  Shh..  don't tell my car. 

I did the TV show shooting yesterday and will do the movie this coming week and should be back to work after that.  It's something fun and new that takes up time with a good chance of becoming starstruck, or better yet, noticed and swept away to California to star in a movie with Ryan Gosling!  At least that was what I was banking on.  Dreams..

Really, it was like a more fun jury duty day.  There was a lot of waiting and a lot of unfamiliarity.  After overhearing discussions (and bragging) all day long, I came to the conclusion that I was hanging out with the Hollywood of Pittsburgh!  I recognized exactly zero of them.  From the sound of it, they are professional extras?  They have been in every movie I mentioned and then some, including commercials.   One guy I spent some time talking to did a commercial and also played a small part for a Nickleodeon show.  He said in both opportunities, they asked him to stay for more commercials and the rest of the show filming.  I guess that is how some people get a start! 

For my introduction, I was supposed to be an extra nurse, then they changed their mind and made me the receptionist but when we got to the set, they changed their minds again and I hung out in a cubicle until the shoot was over.  I didn't get to see anything! (Well, I DID get to see a secretary's awkward collage of dog and family photos)  I asked the other extras who were waiting as well, "What does this make us, extra extras?!"  One seasoned extra joked that her career hit a new low when she was a stand-in for an extra one time.  Ha!

• And lastly, I am no longer traveling.  

My travel company was unable to find a job in an area we could agree on so I interviewed for my old job in the Neurovascular ICU at Presby.  I am anxiously awaiting my return, as are some former coworkers who welcomed me with big hugs when I went in for my interview.  It felt nice having such a warm welcome back.  I joked that I cried like I was going to war when I left but must have only been playing a game of Chutes and Ladders because I am right back where I started!  And it is definitely a comfortable place to be.  Until it snows...  then we will revisit the comfort level. 


Keep your eyes (and magnifying glass) out for my debut on TV and in the movies.  Until I get noticed, I'll be "acting" as an ICU nurse in the Land of Inequality.  Go on, give me your best stroke!


XO