damals und heute / Oma und Ich

As I'm leaving Italy today after a great summer the memory of my Omi is still very fresh, and it's hard to think about returning to Pittsburgh on Thursday and not seeing her. While I had a lot of success in Italy with research my best time in the last 3 months was the time spent with family in Deutschland. Not being able to be with family during our loss was painful, but it helped to see my Great Aunt and the rest of the family. While in the small town of Wiehe where my Omi was born and raised I took some photos including this one in which I mixed an old photo with the present. It's hard to put into words the feeling of being there after hearing stories and seeing photos growing up from Omi over the years but essentially it was pure happiness, and peace knowing that she would have been so proud of my journey. Rest in peace Omi.

Lauren is 21!

As unbelievable as it is, my youngest sister is now 21 and we all got together in Pittsburgh this weekend for some legal drinking! Had a blast in Station Square and Saturday night we had an amazing time over at the Firehouse Lounge in the strip district...a big thanks to Alana for coordinating our birthday surprise and a thank you to Spencer for the bottle of champagne!