I lived to tell the tale!

Whew, glad that's over. The flags were lowered during the closing ceremonies and birthday-rama is officially over.
Thank God.
So far, it's been tough being 50.
You know, knees go. Eyes go. Body goes(although that's been gone for quite sometime, I hate to say). It's all downhill from here folks.
Oh well, I guess I better count my blessings, considering the alternative, at least I'm not goin!
I went to a funeral today for a man I have known probably since the second grade He was sick for only 3 months.
He went to Dr. for cough and they told him he had three months to live. Great kids, great family. He was 51.A blast to dance with. Esp. when Mustang Sally came on, I can't count the times we danced to that song over a period of twenty five or thirty years.
Weird, weird thing. After funeral mass, got into my car, you guessed it. Mustang Sally was on the radio. I swear.
I was thinking, wonder how many people in the long line of cars headed to cemetery just happened to be listening to 91.3.
I burst out laughing and could just hear him saying, "Ei, will you just let me lead!!
I seemed to always have a problem letting men lead when dancing. Go figure!
Geeze, just goes to show you, you just never know where your life is going to end up or end for that matter.

Speaking of counting my blessings. Thanks to all my wonderful friends, I really did have a great birthday.
I feel genuinely blessed to have so many caring and thoughtful friends in my life.
So many times on this blog I complain about so many silly things that in the grand scheme of life, don't mean crap.(notice, still on the no swearing thing)
I think having milestone birthdays keeps us in check.
I celebrated with about 80 of my closest friends from all periods of my life.
I truely appreciate all the effort each and everyone made to make my birthday so special.
After this birthday, I promise,I'll certainly be slowing my mustang down!

Speaking of special, tomorrow we are celebrating a special AMG.
Barb is leaving us for OHIO???? Yes, Ohio.
We'll be celebrating her last AMG (sniff, sniff)

She is starting a blog with the perfect title to help us keep track of her escapades.
LIFE IN A FOUR LETTER STATE
Oh, the things she could talk about with a title like that! It could mean so many things.

See you all at Lot 17 Thursday 11/1 @ 8:00.
Remember girls,it is a holy day of oblligation. All Saint's day. Get to mass before the bar!

Note: Before I get 100 e-mails. I started writing this on 10/25 but got too busy and went back to it tonight, 10/31.
So the date on top of this post says 10/25, again, blogger gods, feel free to help me.

One Person's Trash Is Anothers Treasure

Yesterday was trash day in Shadyside.
So I'm starting the morning on my long, long three minute commute to my office. Suddenly I stop dead in my tracks.
This can't be, I'm thinking to myself. Nah, there must be some mistake.
I step back, look again. My eyes are not deceiving me. It's not a mirage.
There it is for all the neighborhood to see. Right there on a sidewalk in Shadyside.
I found evidence that someone else drinks boxes of Cheap Pink.
I know what you're all thinking, this was my garbage. I swear to you all, it wasn't.
This was just too good to keep on walking.
I happened to still have my camera in my purse from Saturday. At the risk of a neighbor looking out of their window and catching me taking pictures of garbage. I take a picture of the evidence.
So there you have it.
There are more of us out there and I have proof.
I will find them and we will bond over glasses of cheap pink.
Maybe we were twins separated at birth. And all this time we were living on the same street.
I can see it now.
Monday on Oprah, tune in for twins who found each other by their garbage.
I'll know it's true if, when we finally meet,they pull the pouch of Cheap pink from their purse.

I'll be drinking Cheap Pink tonight at Elbow Room. I'll be there by 7:00 because I want to watch Mollie on Wheel at 7:30.
See you all tonight!

Me and The Pope, Who'da thunk it???

So, Lucy and Ethel made it back from Italy without incident.Which was no easy feat....
I don't know where to start.
Obviously the highlight being the whole Pope thing. The above pictures gives a little insight on where I was sitting. ON THE ALTER.......
Both pictures are taken from my seat, but the bottom picture puts in perspective where I was sitting. There were about 10,000 people there. The view was unbelievable. I was in the first row at the aisle. On either side of the pope there are chairs, approx 100 on each side. You need special tickets for those seats. We showed our tickets thinking I was maybe in the first section on the floor.
We kept going, going, going. I'm thinking wholy crap, (notice, no swearing here)
I can't believe this, there has to be some mistake.
They keep telling us to keep going up further, further. We get on the alter.
I started to cry, one of many times,thinking, how did I get here? I was sitting on the alter holding my mothers rosary's in my hand just feet from the Pope.
So here is how we got there.
Turns out the man who we had to pick up our tickets from is a seminarian from Pittsburgh. His job is giving out tickets for the papal audiences. Naturally, when he see's a person is from Pittsburgh, they get the best tickets......
Good old Burg connection, never fails.
He was a wonderful person who gave us alot of inside info. Among other things, he is sending me his mother's perogie recipe.
He got a kick out of us. Especially when the pope blesses all the religious stuff. I pull out all my stuff that needs to be blessed in a purple crown royal bag. He just laughed.
Recollections about the trip:
I had two major problems, (1) having trouble leaving one place on time to meet tour group at specified time. Example, in Assisi, our guide was going to leave without me while I was deciding what ceramic plate to buy. Ski had to beg him to wait. Same with the Catacombs, the guide had to come find us. I just couldn't pull myself away.
(2) I could not, for the life of me, sleep. Poor Ski, I kept waking her up by my pacing. Don't know if if was the excitment of being there, or what. But when I laid in bed, I could see St. Peter's Basilica. (FROM MY BED) I just didn't want to close my eyes.
Finally one night I just passed out from sheer exaustion.
The shopping and food were awsome also.
We went into this little botique and this georgous man was waiting on us. He was the kind of cute that talked me into buying a $200.00 scarf cute. I caught myself just in time though. Ski wasn't so lucky. Turns out he was on the soap opera "Bold and the Beautiful". He was Macy's Italian husband.
Funny.
I'll leave the story about going to confession at St. Peters for another time.
I've been to more churches in the past few weeks, I think I am glowing from the halo.
I know, I know.....
Since we already had a special AMG last night, we can have a mini one this Thursday.
If anyone still wants to go out, I'll just be at the Mardi Gras for a while. Whoever wants to, we can meet up there. After 7:30.
Also Ginny Ann suggested we go to her house next Thursday to watch Wheel of Fortune.
More detail will follow.
Hopefully see you all on Saturday. It will be fun.

I'd like to buy a vowel please.

Exciting news. My niece, Mollie Devinney is going to be on Wheel of Fortune next Thursday, October 25. She went to California to tape last week. She won't tell anyone if she won or not, so we all have to tune in.

Maybe we can all meet for AMG a little earlier next week and watch somewhere.
Any ideas on where to go?

We are meeting Tonight for the BIG 50 dinner. All are welcome. Il Valetto on Forbes. (like my hips didn't have enough pasta last week!!!)
7:30. BYOB

Promise a fun post on the details of my trip soon. Just been too tired to finish it.

Anger Management Without the Mayor????

Hmmm, so Karen(who needs Eileen, we can finally go where I want)Bowman decided she will take over my job next week and be ACTING mayor of AMG. Yeah, right. We'll see.
SHE decided you guys are going to go to Goosky's on Herron Ave on Polish Hill.
Or was is Gaffney's on Penn Ave. Or maybe she said Nieds, on Butler Street.
Guess we'll never know.......
I wonder if she would jump in my grave that fast????

Only joking. Do whatever you want. I will be in lovely Rome while you guys are drinking beer on Polish hill.
Have fun and as the song says "Please don't talk about me when I'm gone."
Goosky's on Herron Ave.
The place is not much to look at, but they have great Polish food which I'm sure the"Real Pope" would have loved.

Remember, Tuesday, Oct. 16. Special 50 Birthday Edition of Anger Management.
Cafe Roma, 7:00.
Enter (God forbid if you can) in the comments section if you are attending so I can make reservations.

Arrivederci, Baby!

All things Italian are going through my mind. Including movies.
Since I am counting down the days I will be in beautiful Italy, (which, by the way, I would rather be counting down the days I am headed to Ireland, but that's a whole other story.)
Wonder which of the following scenario's will play out????
Let's start with the Tony Curtis movie "Arrivederci, Baby!"
So in this movie, Tony Curtis plays a rich playboy who charms rich widows, marries them, kills them and then spends all their money. He finally meets one that is the female version of himself, mistaking him for a rich widower. They both get what they deserve.
If you read this blog, you know me, so you all know my mother must have skipped the Dr. appt. when they give baby Irish girls the Luck of the Irish thing.
I am known for having a disproportionate amount of bad luck. So this would be my luck, I'd meet someone who wants me for my money. I'd want him for his money and neither of us has any.
Scratch that.
The only person who thinks I'm a rich widow is Kathy's daughter Cailey.
I'm not fooling anyone there.
Ok, next we have Roman Holiday, with the lovely Audrey Hepburn.
In this movie, The endlessly charming Hepburn plays a European princess on an official tour through Rome. Frustrated by her lack of connection to the real world, she slips away from her protective handlers and goes on a spree, aided by a tough-guy news reporter (Gregory Peck).
In any ones wildest dreams, I could never pass for a princess, let alone one who attracts the attention of someone like Gregory Peck.
Scratch that.
Then there's"Three Coins in a Fountain"
The plot, standard soap opera fare. Three young and single American women are employed as secretaries in Rome.
Ok, has potential, so there are four of us and we are not secretaries and we are not young.
Of course, all three find romance, not to mention ever-changing wardrobes and lavish living accommodations. In 1954, secretaries must have made a bundle in Italy !
I can dream can't I? After all, we are staying across the street from Trevi Fountain.
Ok, ok, I'll move on.
Rome Adventure
Starring Troy Donahue and Angie Dickinson, (well before Police Woman Fame)
Prudence resigns from her teaching position after being criticized for giving a student her copy of a romance novel. She sails for Italy, takes a job at a small bookstore in Rome, and meets Don, who has just broken up with his girlfriend. Prudence and Don tour Italy together, and romance naturally follows.
We're getting close. When I started working for the FBI in 1978, Police Woman was a hit series. My friends used to call me "Pepper", just to make fun of me, of course.
Ok, so that's stretching it, I'll move on.
Il Postino
The life of a fisherman, Mario changes dramatically when a famous Chilean writer settles on his little Italian island. Living in exile because of his political beliefs, Neruda needs a postman to deliver the huge quantities of mail sent to him by his admirers and Mario takes the job since he hates fishing anyway. The two become friends and Neruda helps the shy and clumsy Mario to win the heart of Beatrice, the beautiful waitress at the village's inn, by showing him the beauty and power of poetry.
Well, it could be changed to a story about a girl who writes blogs..........
Ok, here's what's really going to happen. I've saved the best for last
"Under the Tuscan Sun"
Frances's(Diane Lane) seemingly happy San Francisco marriage ends abruptly, she goes into a funk. Urged by her friends to move on, she joins a bus tour of Tuscany where, on the spur of the moment, she buys a crumbling villa. She assembles a crew of oddballs and immigrants to repair the house; Although life gets in the way of love, Frances's wishes come true in unexpected ways, and there's always the Tuscan Sun.
Yeah, that's is, that my friends, is the scenario I am envisioning.
I can dream, can't I.
Ireland and Maureen O'Hara marrying John Wayne will just have to wait a few years.
I'm going to find my "Quiet Man" in Rome.
Yeah, right!!!!!

Thursday we will be celebrating two things.
My leaving for Italy (Which means no AMG next weeks)
We will also be celebrating Ginny Ann's Birthday.Yes, someone else is having a birthday!
Arrivederci, baby!!!!
See you all Thursday around 8.

Notes:
We will be celebrating a special Tuesday edition of AMG on 10/16. It is my big 50 and we are going to Cafe Roma on 4770 Liberty Ave. It's BYOB.
The food is great, but it is not very big so we need to make reservations.
Let me know who all wants to come and I will make reservations.
Also, Birthday-Rama will continue on Saturday, 10/20 at Hambones. The official Birthday party. More info to follow on that.