I love that there is a circle for Pittsburgh! I grew up in Somerset, PA and currently live in State College, PA. However, Pittsburgh is one of my favorite places :)

Attention Pittsburghers - awesome news from Eat'n Park Restaurants (home of the Smiley Cookie)! :) Eat'n Park is launching a new program called LifeSmiles, which will "invest in children's health and wellness initiatives in the communities the company serves." They're putting their money - and time - where their mouth is, to the tune of $1 million and 20,000 local volunteer hours over the next five years. And GREAT news for your kids - starting Dec. 1, children age 10 and under can choose from a free traditional Smiley Cookie, a mini Smiley Cookie or an apple with their meal. Yum. Here are the goals of the program, which is based on First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign: - Empower parents and caregivers with choices - Provide healthier food in schools through education and partnerships - Provide access to healthy affordable food in under-served communities - Increase physical activity through community walks, runs and events. It's always nice to see businesses take an active part in their communities. As part of the program in 2011, Eat'n Park will partner with the Pittsburgh Children’s Marathon to encourage physical activity, and strengthen its tie with Grow Pittsburgh to get Eat’n Park Hospitality Group chefs into local schools for cooking demonstrations. Can't wait to hear more about this and see kids take an active interest in their health!

My daughter's school is having an on-line auction. There are great toys, theater and sports tickets, jewelry, and so much more. There are things for people that live in Pittsburgh as well as people who live anywhere. Go check it out. There are some great deals: http://www.biddingforgood.com/communityday

Oh yeah. It is Steeler Nation time again! This photo cracks me up just because it is so Pittsburgh. Hospitals are wrapping newborns in Terrible Towels, of course! http://upperstclair.patch.com/articles/steeler-nation-welcomes-new-arrivals-2

Hi. My family is moving to Fox Chapel from NYC at the beginning of March. I'd like to have my 3.5 in preschool for the rest of school year. I have the list of preschools from the fox chapel school district site. Any preschools especially recommended? Anyone else also in that area that has nice family resources to share? Thanks.

This is a GREAT article about yoga studios in Pittsburgh. If you ever think about going to a class, I HIGHLY recommend Amazing Yoga. It's a fantastic place and as you can see from the article, they're only going to get better... THE EVOLVING ROLE OF YOGA STUDIOS Today, it seems there are more yoga studios than coffee shops. On a block here in Pittsburgh the scoreboard reads: Coffee shops 3 Yoga studios 4 and 1 (with a lowercase “l”) lululemon. Is this a good thing, a great thing?….Of course it’s good, great. One style, one teacher, one studio will never connect with every student. Given our beautiful uniqueness, yogis need options. (If only the yoga world would set aside its’ ridiculous my style is better than your style wars. Isn’t yoga suppose to be a unifier?? but I digress and that’s a topic for another day…) The bottom line is this: the more yoga the better. “Yoga Journal” estimates that 15 million folks in the US practice yoga. According to YogaFinder, there are some 12,000 yoga studios and that number is still growing. When we opened Amazing Yoga in 2000, we were only the 2nd studio in Pittsburgh—now there are at least thirty. This growth is fantastic: more people are taking care of themselves. The question is this: Is all this yoga making an impact in the world? I hope so. I’d like to think it has. All these yoga studios and yoga students seem like a golden opportunity to make a positive change in the world. But to be honest, I think we are under-performing, not yet realizing our potential: Yoga studios, teachers and students alike, need to stretch beyond their studio walls. Stretch more than their hamstrings and groins. The stretching needs to evolve into reaching, as in community out-reach. So what is the role of a yoga studio, in the local community, in the global community? Find out by reading the full article: http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/02/the-evolving-role-of-yoga-studios/