It's been a long time comin'. . .

Finally! Bird getting his "diploma." Sort of, that is. First off, they only give you the diploma cover and you get the actual paper later. For Bird, it will be much later. When he got to the ceremony, he noticed that his name was not in the program. They fixed that. A couple hours later, after the ceremony, his advisor called him to tell him that they didn't have his graduation form which is why he wasn't on the program. Funny thing is, he filled it out and turned it in in October several weeks before the deadline. They obviously lost it. The not so funny thing is that his diploma will be issued in May 2009. If he interviews for a job requiring a degree, then the school will write a letter explaining that he officially has the degree, so that's good. I told him that he should try to get his loans deferred until 6 months after his "official" graduation date (the one on paper). I will say that after 4 and 1/2 years at Duquesne, this has been the first snafu. They have always been efficient at everything. It just figures that the first boo boo would be a big one! That's okay! We still celebrated and had a great time.

What's the first thing that the graduate did?Light up a cigarette ! (much to his mother's chagrin)







Thanks to Andrew for taking the photos. He was an honorary family member for the weekend!

Check this out--I noticed during the ceremony that Ems is her mother's daughter!
The shoe queen gene is passed down to a new generation!

After the ceremony, we went to Fatheads in the South Side. Best sandwiches ever! I can't believe that I actually finished mine. I had a "headwich" which supposedly is a sandwich the size of a human head. It came close! I typically don't eat much, but I finished it and didn't feel all that full! Go figure!


After Fatheads (and Starbucks) DH, Ems and I went to Shadyside so that Ems could go to the Apple Store to get her iPhone looked at. We dropped her there and found parking. While walking to the Apple Store we passed the neatest little shoe store on Walnut Street called "Ten Toes." There was a pair of boots in the window that I loved. After the Apple Store, while walking back to the car, the conversation went sort of like this:

Ems: Ooh! I have to show you the cutest boots I saw there!
Me: Were they the ones with the buckles?
Ems: Yes! Isn't it funny that we love the same shoes.

And we ran to the window to discover that we loved the same boots! We went in the store and most of the boots and shoes were half off! I ended up buying two pairs of those boots--one for each of us!

They can be worn cuffed as well! There was a brand of shoes called Naught Monkey that both Ems and I fell in love with. They were all half off as well. If it wasn't the holidays, I may have picked up a pair or two, but money is a bit tight these days!
This type of situation occurred again when we were window shopping at BCBG. Ems wanted to show me a dress that she loved and I was rushing to look at one I saw that I loved. It was the same dress!

We went back to the hotel for a while then met up with Ems, Bird, Andrew and Ems' boys (her band buds) at Arsenal Lanes in Lawrenceville for some bowling. They have a $9 all you can bowl from 9 p.m. to midnight on Friday nights. There is also karaoke and a bar in there! I must admit that I find the bowling alleys in Pittsburgh a little strange in that the two I've been to are all upstairs! Around these parts, bowling alleys are all downstairs!
Bird and Andrew dressed for the occasion:

Here's Bird singing "Dust in the Wind"
We all did karaoke! We found out that Andrew does a mean Elvis!

Ems and her boys:

We met Ems, Bird and Andrew and the Cheesecake Factory for lunch at 11:00 on Saturday then hit the road at 1:00. We were home at 5 p.m. The kitties were pretty glad to see us. They get such good care from Pampered Pets that they are much more "ho hum" about it when we walk in. They used to be very clingy, but they get spoiled when we're away now. Their sitter forgot she wasn't supposed to come Saturday night and she came over. She said that if we ever get home to find Mikey gone, we'll know she took him! Everyone loves Mikey!

I stayed up until 3 a.m. last night, doing some Christmas knitting and watching HBO. I watched "Definitely, Maybe" which is a cute romantic comedy, followed by Sweeney Todd which is anything but a romantic comedy. I still love that movie, but it is definitely on the weird side. One has to figure that a movie with Johnny Depp that's directed by Tim Burton is going to be quirky, to say the least! Today I will run my usual Sunday errands and work on a few holiday gifts!

Less than one month left of the following--
Bushism of the day:
"You know, I'm the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President." --George W. Bush, ABC News interview, Dec. 1, 2008

Kitty Cam: Bar makes himself comfortable like a little prince.