China

I spent a week in China and it was amazing. The highlights:
- Went to the silk market - three times! Got "Louis Vuitton" watches, a "Custo" dress, "Puma" shoes, two adorable but flimsy "Anya Hindmarch" bags, some actually real jade and silk, and tons of pearls... Here's a pic of the first day of purchases. By day 3 the entire bed was covered!



- Climbed the Great Wall. Jeez! I never realized how steep that thing was. I don't know any of the people in the first pic, but look how steep these stairs are!!





- The food at the hotel was excellent, and I also ate at one great restaurant. But on the street, there were some terrifying treats. Like these steamed scorpions - some of which were STILL WRITHING. They also had crickets and starfish. Yikes.



- Have you ever heard of the Empress Dowager CiXi? Well I hadn't but after a visit to her Summer Palace, I got curious and read about her (okay, googled). She was quite an intriguing character. Here I am at her palace, sorry the quality isn't grand.



- I tried Tai Chi. As you probably know, I am highly uncoordinated, so I'm not quite a master yet. I even got this ultra easy move wrong (compare my hand position to the masters')!! But it was a lot of fun.

Brian's "Sneak-Up Surprise" Party

Brian turned 30, FINALLY. I felt like a dirty old lady for so long, dating a guy in his 20s. (But seriously, the first person to call me "cougar" gets their head chopped off.)

Anyway I wanted to surprise him but he doesn't like the typical surprise party. So I had people just show up at our home, as if they just happened to be in the neighborhood. After a few "drop-ins" he suddenly had a party on his hands. Yeah!! We borrowed a Wii and a PlayStation (for Guitar Hero) and had a fantastic time.

People REALLY get into the Wii action!

Wedding in Colorado

My cousin Valerie got married in Colorado and we had a great time.

I am posting this photo of Brian and me not because it's a really fabulous shot of either of us, nor is the scenery all that interesting. I just want to shout about my dress - my $26 dress - my $26, bought-in-five-minutes, ran-into-Ross-Dress-for-Less-and-ran-back-out dress! Not too bad for a panic purchase huh??



I also like this pic where we're showing off our shoes - clockwise from left is Aunt Dee, Berni, mom and me.

Pittsburgh leads nation in female NFL fans - USATODAY.com

Click the link to read the whole article - it's great! "Pittsburgh has more than twice the number of female pro football fans than the average market." I love the Steelers like family. Did you know they've sold out every home game since 1972?!


By Alan Robinson, AP Sports Writer PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers have known for years their fan base included countless women - that was evidenced by all the pink official team jerseys they sell and the hundreds who attend their female training camp each summer. Yes, more than 300 women spend money each year to go through a simulated day of Steelers training camp, replete with blocking and running drills and a trip to the training table. The club also sponsors a Football Knowledge for Women classroom-type course. Now the Steelers have proof that, when it comes to building a female fan base, Pittsburgh does it better than any other NFL market. According to a Scarborough Sports Marketing survey of 220,354 residents in 75 United States markets conducted last year, Pittsburgh has, by far, the largest base of NFL fans who are women."