I wasn’t in attendance Friday night but, the beginning of the Christmas holiday took place at Westmoreland Mall as they held their annual Light Up night festivities. I read that the event had its best turnout in five years (pre-COVID). While COVID is still a thing and will always be around, it appears the social distancing and lockdowns are a thing of the past. Seeing people out and about to celebrate the start of the season had to be a good feeling for the mall. With the demise of Century III , it’s more important than ever for those of us in Westmoreland County to frequent this mall. The casino is bringing in business and they just need something to take the place of Sears, another anchor, junior anchor or hotel. South Hills Village is still going strong and is adding an anchor new to our area to replace that Sears. Anyway, back to the holidays.
I’ll be checking out the glitz and glamour of the holiday season very soon while being sure to rock a nice holiday outfit. Plus, I’ll be sure to enjoy a Peppermint Mocha at one of the Starbucks kiosks. Think of the bigger malls in the Pittsburgh area like South Hills Village, Ross Park Mall, or the Mall at Robinson. Downtown Pittsburgh’s Light Up Night will be next week and I’m sure it will be crowded. Ligonier’s in November 24 and if I’m available that night, I will make it out there.
Toastmasters returns this week for me as I’ll be attending online meetings for Laurel Highlands and Greensburg. Since I got my new webcam for my laptop, I’ve been enjoying attending the online meetings. Having to use my iPad or my phone was a nuisance, and I always hated using so much screen time on my phone. When I attended Winter TLI in December 2020 at the height of the pandemic, I put six hours of screen time on my phone just for Zoom alone. I can see more faces on my computer now and it’s better than touching the screen so many times. Plus, my extreme close-up won’t look so awkward.
I was going to give a speech Wednesday but decided to push it back to after Thanksgiving since our seasoned members will be back in attendance. Plus I’ll have just published my 500th blog post.
I took advantage of the amazing weather Sunday afternoon and drove out to Ligonier. I don’t get out much and wanted to enjoy my day off, thus taking a nice Sunday drive up Route 30. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my little Stars Hollow and the perfect Hallmark Christmas town.
Most of the color on the trees has disappeared, leaving the trees bare. But you can still find color if you look hard enough. There was some yellow on the trees heading out of Latrobe going towards Idlewild and Soak Zone. I spotted some orange as I was coming home from work this morning. The reality is that it’s mid-November and everything is past peak. The only color to look forward to will be from the Christmas lights as people will be out decorating their yards. Perfect week to do it as it will be dry and mild.
In Ligonier, the lampposts are looking festive inside the Diamond and the tree is up in the bandshell. The center of town was a perfect writing spot for me to work on this blog today and watch people go by. In just a few short weeks, families will be coming here to have holiday pictures taken. Memories will be made and this town will sparkle when the tree is lit. I’ll have to plan a trip out to Ligonier at night and take in the holiday atmosphere. I took a few pictures with my iPhone and made my way back home as the sun began to set and Mom, Katie, and Annabelle were coming back from Children’s Hospital. I enjoyed the sounds of the season going to and coming back from Ligonier as I listened to WISH 99.7
Finally, Mom visited Benny at Children’s Hospital this afternoon and Katie and Annabelle came along for the ride. Benny is making good progress from what Mom had told me plus my aunt provides updates on Facebook. Fingers crossed he’ll be able to come home soon. Mom will be there all day on Saturday; thus, giving me an opportunity to get out after I wake up. I’m off Saturday night and making plans to check out some Christmas decorations. I’m also hungry for another Thanksgiving feature. Primanti’s has a “Primanturkey” sandwich and Eat’n Park and Bob Evans have their turkey dinners. I also want to go to Market District and buy some holiday goodies. So while Westmoreland Mall seems the favorable place to go, I may just have to venture out into Pittsburgh for this trip. We’ll see what happens once I get closer to Saturday.
Stylish 🍒 