Three cheers for downtown Pittsburgh!
Well, really, it was kind of depressing to be down there. Everything seems to be closing up, only to be replaced with convenience stores and overpriced condos. Still, I had kind of a nice shopping adventure.
I took the 81B bus because I like to go through the hill district. The hill seems to be in the process of being converted to row upon row of identical townhomes, reminding me of nothing so much as that creepy scene in a wrinkle in time when the children first get to camazotz and all the kids are bouncing identical balls at the same time. Eeek.
Anyway, creepy sameness aside, it's a nice ride through a part of the city that has a rich history. I got into town and got off the bus next to "macy's" (eek) and walked down the street to Weldins. Weldins is a reassuring trip back in time. It's an ancient stationery store, where you can still buy monogramed note cards and there is a cat sleeping on the floor and, get this---they have CARBON PAPER. I'll bet they even have mimeograph fluid somewhere in those dusty cupboards. Unfortunately, they seem to have replaced their dayrunner line with some upscale line on ivory linen....but I did get a filofax insert that is ALMOST what I wanted. Instead of having the months laid out in calendar blocks, they are laid out in single lines. Eh. I'll try to train myself to get used to it but I might have to just order a dayrunner calendar insert online. I got some new address pages too, but unfortunately they aren't alphabet tabbed. Grr. Thanks a helluvalot, filofax. These were both pretty darn cheap so I won't feel too bad if I chuck them in when I find what I really want.
From Weldins I made my way down toward market square, stopping in the weird dollar store. I couldn't help myself. I got some colorful gel pens, and some sharpies, and a couple boxes of OB tampons, and some dishsoap, and Steven Reichlen's book just about RIBS!, and a giant baking companion book, and a DVD of an arty horror film starring William Shatner called Incubus. The total was like $12.00. I love weird dollar stores!
Next door to the weird dollar store is George Aiken, and even though I thought I might regret it later(which I am right now!) I went in for an early lunch. It is really unfortunate that I love fried chicken so much because it almost always makes me feel a little sick after eating it. But I got the breast and wing plate with instant mashed potatoes and chicken gravy and some oversteamed vegetable medley. They only had Dasani water, so I opted for a bottle of lipton sweetened and lemon flavored iced tea. I took three sips and that was it....my avoidance of corn syrup has already made me extra sensitive to it.It really tasted like CORN! to me. It was sort of comforting to see that the same surly employees who refused to give me water from the tap way back when I worked downtown are still there, and still just as surly. Sigh.
Next I made my way to Nicholas Coffee to stock up on Scandanavian Morning Blend straight from the source, and was absolutely thrilled beyond belief to find Carr's Whole Wheat Crackers, which I never seem to be able to find and which are the perfect accompaniment to Ski Queen. In fact, I'm having some now. In fact, I really should have bought two boxes...these aren't going to last into the next piece of Ski Queen I buy.
I made my way through the square to The Avenue, where I got two pairs of serviceable work pants for $14.00. These chocolate brown ones I have on now are actually pretty nice...maybe I'll save them from kitchen duty instead! If I add patching my holey jeans to the to do list, I'll be ahead one pair of kitchen pants already....
Ok, so next I stopped at the ATM to deposit that check and get some stamps, and then I made my way up to Burlington. I always feel the need to look around in there, but besides a pair of weird camoflauge pants (they were white, green, gray and yellow...I don't know where you could blend in with that color scheme!) which I decided were not worth $8, the only thing I really wanted was a pair of grape colored gloves to match the scarf that madorange made for me last year. I found a great pair...they're freakin NINE WEST! which I did not realize in the store...almost terryclothesque, very soft. Only $8.00. I ruined the salesgirl's day by making her interrupt her conversation with a co-worker to find some scissors to cut the tags off, because by the time I had gotten to Burlington it was COLD and snowing. Of course, now it's sunny again. But I got to wear my new toasty NINE WEST gloves for about an hour. Cool.
I continued up the street to the busstop, where I got to watch the general flow of humanity downtown for a while. It made me realize that my world has gotten pretty small these days and I don't interact with the general flow of humanity so much anymore. That's not good or bad, I don't think....just something to think about.
So now I'm home, enjoying swedish coffee(I haven't yet told you about my ikea shopping adventure...maybe later!) and wholewheat biscuits with ski queen cheese, and after putting some more laundry in I'll get started on catching up the slip tallies since dec 29th while watching Incubus. Sounds like a great day off to me!
Well, really, it was kind of depressing to be down there. Everything seems to be closing up, only to be replaced with convenience stores and overpriced condos. Still, I had kind of a nice shopping adventure.
I took the 81B bus because I like to go through the hill district. The hill seems to be in the process of being converted to row upon row of identical townhomes, reminding me of nothing so much as that creepy scene in a wrinkle in time when the children first get to camazotz and all the kids are bouncing identical balls at the same time. Eeek.
Anyway, creepy sameness aside, it's a nice ride through a part of the city that has a rich history. I got into town and got off the bus next to "macy's" (eek) and walked down the street to Weldins. Weldins is a reassuring trip back in time. It's an ancient stationery store, where you can still buy monogramed note cards and there is a cat sleeping on the floor and, get this---they have CARBON PAPER. I'll bet they even have mimeograph fluid somewhere in those dusty cupboards. Unfortunately, they seem to have replaced their dayrunner line with some upscale line on ivory linen....but I did get a filofax insert that is ALMOST what I wanted. Instead of having the months laid out in calendar blocks, they are laid out in single lines. Eh. I'll try to train myself to get used to it but I might have to just order a dayrunner calendar insert online. I got some new address pages too, but unfortunately they aren't alphabet tabbed. Grr. Thanks a helluvalot, filofax. These were both pretty darn cheap so I won't feel too bad if I chuck them in when I find what I really want.
From Weldins I made my way down toward market square, stopping in the weird dollar store. I couldn't help myself. I got some colorful gel pens, and some sharpies, and a couple boxes of OB tampons, and some dishsoap, and Steven Reichlen's book just about RIBS!, and a giant baking companion book, and a DVD of an arty horror film starring William Shatner called Incubus. The total was like $12.00. I love weird dollar stores!
Next door to the weird dollar store is George Aiken, and even though I thought I might regret it later(which I am right now!) I went in for an early lunch. It is really unfortunate that I love fried chicken so much because it almost always makes me feel a little sick after eating it. But I got the breast and wing plate with instant mashed potatoes and chicken gravy and some oversteamed vegetable medley. They only had Dasani water, so I opted for a bottle of lipton sweetened and lemon flavored iced tea. I took three sips and that was it....my avoidance of corn syrup has already made me extra sensitive to it.It really tasted like CORN! to me. It was sort of comforting to see that the same surly employees who refused to give me water from the tap way back when I worked downtown are still there, and still just as surly. Sigh.
Next I made my way to Nicholas Coffee to stock up on Scandanavian Morning Blend straight from the source, and was absolutely thrilled beyond belief to find Carr's Whole Wheat Crackers, which I never seem to be able to find and which are the perfect accompaniment to Ski Queen. In fact, I'm having some now. In fact, I really should have bought two boxes...these aren't going to last into the next piece of Ski Queen I buy.
I made my way through the square to The Avenue, where I got two pairs of serviceable work pants for $14.00. These chocolate brown ones I have on now are actually pretty nice...maybe I'll save them from kitchen duty instead! If I add patching my holey jeans to the to do list, I'll be ahead one pair of kitchen pants already....
Ok, so next I stopped at the ATM to deposit that check and get some stamps, and then I made my way up to Burlington. I always feel the need to look around in there, but besides a pair of weird camoflauge pants (they were white, green, gray and yellow...I don't know where you could blend in with that color scheme!) which I decided were not worth $8, the only thing I really wanted was a pair of grape colored gloves to match the scarf that madorange made for me last year. I found a great pair...they're freakin NINE WEST! which I did not realize in the store...almost terryclothesque, very soft. Only $8.00. I ruined the salesgirl's day by making her interrupt her conversation with a co-worker to find some scissors to cut the tags off, because by the time I had gotten to Burlington it was COLD and snowing. Of course, now it's sunny again. But I got to wear my new toasty NINE WEST gloves for about an hour. Cool.
I continued up the street to the busstop, where I got to watch the general flow of humanity downtown for a while. It made me realize that my world has gotten pretty small these days and I don't interact with the general flow of humanity so much anymore. That's not good or bad, I don't think....just something to think about.
So now I'm home, enjoying swedish coffee(I haven't yet told you about my ikea shopping adventure...maybe later!) and wholewheat biscuits with ski queen cheese, and after putting some more laundry in I'll get started on catching up the slip tallies since dec 29th while watching Incubus. Sounds like a great day off to me!
posted by sheryl at 1:10 PM
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