y.o.l.o.

I'm officially declaring our phrase of the year "yolo".  So the story goes...one day as we were planning our upcoming vacation, Don and I were discussing the cost of extending our trip for a couple days.  After some conversation, the plans remained undecided.  A little later on in the day, I got a text from Don that simply read, "YOLO" in all caps.  I just started laughing!  I texted him back, and then pretty immediately extended our flights.  Since then, we've been talking a lot about how important it is to live life to the fullest every single day.  Life is too short (but mostly too unpredictable!) to be unhappy.  After all...you only live once!

I meant to just blog about our Summer, but I kind of got off topic with the "yolo" thing.  As I was combing through our photos to begin writing, I guess I felt like we did have quite the summer...and perhaps we succeeded in finding fulfillment in #allthethings.  Looking back, i'm proud of the opportunities we've taken, the adventures we've been on, and the unexpected moments we've embraced. 

So, here's to yolo-ing!

Early on in the summer, we went to a Mumford & Sons Concert at Keybank Pavilion.  The quality of the pictures does not match the quality of the evening...it was so much fun!

We stained our fence!  This is still one of my favorite summer memories.  It was a lot of work (it's still not quite done), and Don did most of it...but we had a great time.  Don put on some music, and we just stained away the day in the sunshine.

Every year, Pittsburgh hosts an Arts Festival downtown.  Don couldn't believe it when he saw that Dawes was playing a free concert at Point State Park.  Dawes is one of Don's all-time favorite bands!  We've come to realize that live music is something we both really enjoy.  We're quickly becoming "concert-goers".

While Don was at work one Sunday, I went on a bike ride from the river trail ---> bridge ---> downtown ---> home.  I love this picture with the bridge.  It's so quintessential Pittsburgh!

For our 7th Anniversary, we took a trip to Mt. Washington!  Mt. Washington is the mountain (i.e. hill) just across the river that overlooks the city.  

We rode the Duquesne Incline, one of two remaining trams that goes up the side of the mountain.  

We got up to the top just as the sun was setting.  The view was beautiful, as promised!

The timing was great, because we got to see views of the city in both the daylight and at night.  By the time we headed back down, the sun had set, and we had this amazing night time view!  And seriously, that fountain!

In case you didn't already know...the PENS WON THE STANLEY CUP, again!  Per tradition, the city hosted a parade downtown, which was a sea of black and yellow.

Because Don works for UPMC (they are contracted to read for the Pens), we got a very unexpected and very exciting invitation to the Stanley Cup viewing party!  It was pretty unreal.  I still can't believe that we just got to walk up and take a picture with it.  Don works with the doctor for the Pens, so he knows the Pens medical staff.  Who knew that Don's job would equal backstage passes to the Stanley Cup?!

There are even more things to blog about, but this is enough for now.  Happy Sunday!