Pittsburgh.

Living in Pittsburgh is nice. I regularly tell people that if I could put Pittsburgh in my pocket and take it with me, I would.

When I move away (to be closer to family), I will miss it. Did you know that Pittsburgh is second in the world only to Venice, Italy when it comes to the # of bridges it has? Now, that's not to say Pittsburgh is Venice... but, it does have beauty. I like my life to be organized. If you were to study my craftroom photos you might be able to come to the conclusion that I like for things to be compartmentalized. I find Pittsburgh to be pleasantly compartmentalized. There's a downtown city, there are college campuses, there are yuppie shopping areas, there are thrifty areas, there are malls, there are markets, there are rivers and mountains. None of it is packed in too tight. I really like this area. Unfortunately, we'll be moving in another year or two.

Because the sentiment of "We're not staying here forever" has been looming over my head since we got here, I haven't really made an effort to dig in and get involved.

We've tried 2 or 3 churches... but none of them fit anywhere near as well as the one my husband and I got married at ... which is where we want to move to. So why should I get up early on sundays to make the effort to find a church community that I want to be invested in, when we're moving away sometime soon? Also, this isn't college anymore (no duh, right?) so there aren't convenient lists of activites and clubs posted around on bulletin boards.

Very recently, I realized that this is a dangerously slippery slope that has resulted in my staring up the mountain and wondering why I don't know anyone in Pittsburgh. I used to have 4 friends, and then 2 moved away. Having 2 friends in a place that I've lived for 2 years is just sad, and why it took me so long to figure out I could probably do something about it is beyond me.

SO, in addition to writing out a better idea of who does what chores... my husband and I made a promise to each other that we would each get involved in something "extracurricular", rather than continue to indulge our introverted selves. I think Greg should get involved in a Pittsburgh Kite club. I can't remember the last time he flew his trick kite, but I know he misses it.

MY Introverted self went the most familiar route - the internet. I began a search for the crafters of Pittsburgh. I knew they must be out there. Only, after much careful searching, it seemed as though they were all hiding under rocks or something. I found a website for the Pittsburgh Chapter of "Craft Mafia" (sounds cool, right?), so I sent them an email. They wrote back that, while it was a pleasure to talk to me, the Pittsburgh Craft Mafia has been disbanded for over a year now.

Lovely.

Two days later I happened upon the Pittsburgh Craft Collective, which - instead of being on its deathbed, refreshingly seems to be in its infancy. Although the name sounds Borg-ish, this is very promising. It sounds like a number of lovely, talented women, have come together to spur on the handmade movement in Pittsburgh through the PCC. There's not much going on at this moment in the way of crafty get togethers - but, I think they're building up to it. I think this means I can be on the ground floor and get to know these gals as they come together for the first time, themselves. I hope letting them know that I can french braid hair pretty well wasn't too forward of me.

Today, I happened across the Etsy Pittsburgh Street Team. I'm not exactly sure what they do, but I imagine they're a gang of able-bodied women armed with knitting needles and serious scissors roaming the streets of the 'Burgh - enforcing codes of honor and ethics in the creation of all things crafty. And quite frankly - who wouldn't want in on that? Hopefully I sent my inquiry to the right person, because I have at least 7 pairs of scissors and I think I could be valuable to their cause.

The point is, I'm trying. So, we'll see where that goes.

Also, I want to get something off my chest: The Craft Mafia is a group that was started in Texas and now, if you want to register your own Craft Mafia chapter in your area, you have to meet their criteria. And I wanted to point out the ridiculousness of that, because isn't the Mafia ungoverned by laws and regulations? Mafias are locally run rebellions! The name "Craft Mafia" unequivocally says THESE ARE NOT YOUR GRANDMOTHER'S CRAFTS and OUR NEEDLES ARE PARTICULARLY POINTY and WE WEAR FEDORAS WHILE WE KNIT. It does not say follow our regulations, and we might let you use the words "craft mafia" to describe yourself.

Anyways. I'll take a chill pill. A few questions before I go... Does anyone else watch Heroes? and also, is Boondoggle a word?