Category Archives: Pittsburgh Gifts

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh GameDay Yoga Pants

The perfect gift for the yoga loving Steelers fan. These yoga pants are perfect for the gym or an upgrade from your flannel Steelers pajama pants.

I was reminded of these pants because I have been dragging myself out of bed and onto the spinning bike each morning. In an effort to catch up on last years New Years resolutions, I’m attempting 24 days of fitness. For some reason, I decided I would try to go to a spinning class everyday before Christmas. There are some grandmas, who – for the record – are in way better shape than me, in these spinning classes that have some jazzy workout pants. As I was pedalling to nowhere this morning, I remembered these clever Steelers pants and thought they would make a clever addition to the 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh.

You can usually find me on the bike in the back row at Steel Revolutions in one of the morning classes. If anyone wants to join me for a bike ride to nowhere, check out the app ZenRez.  ZenRez is a pretty cool little startup that was founded by some CMU alum that offers last-minute deals on fitness classes. You can get a $10 credit in your ZenRez account when you sign up with this link.

These pants are made by an Etsy seller named Bells and Bain. I can’t find out much about them, but they must have some love of the Steel City. It would be great to learn more about the story behind these pants. If you are looking for more jazzy workout pants to wear to your next spinning class, check out the Pittsburgh startup Donna Jo Fitwear.

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Shop: Bells & Bain’s Pittsburgh GameDay Yoga Pants are available for $40 on Etsy here.

Follow: @ZenRezFitness @SteelRevRider

Source: I’m pretty sure someone I know shared these on Facebook earlier this fall, but I can’t  remember who. If it was you, let me know.

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh

  1. Pretzel Hug Pillow
  2. Pineapple Plate With A Purpose
  3. Spalted Maple Kerf Case
  4. Fair Trade Coffee from Building New Hope
  5. Raymond Carver Will Not Raise Our Children by Dave Newman
  6. Everybody Loves Pittsburgh T-shirt
  7. Silent Night Ornament

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Silent Night Ornament

Pittsburgh-ornament-silent-night

I think I first learned of the Light of Life Christmas ornaments from Jane Pitt’s holiday gift guide a few years ago. After I had spent most of December searching for a beautiful ornament that had some sort of story to go with it, and I found nothing. I have included this ornament on our list in case you are looking for a way to send someone a little bit of Pittsburgh for their tree.

This is so much more than just a Christmas ornament. This is a gift that benefits the Light of Life Rescue Mission, a Pittsburgh nonprofit that provides housing and other resources for homeless in Pittsburgh. This is a word of art that was designed by Barb G., a graduate of the Light of Life Women’s & Children’s programs. This is an ornament that was made locally by Wendell August Forge.

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Shop: You can buy this Silent Night Ornament by making a donation to Light of Life here.

Follow: Follow Light of Life on Twitter @LightofLife and Facebook.

Source: Thanks to Jessi Marsh for the suggestion. Follow Jessie on Twitter @LemonScarlet.

24 GIFTS OF PITTSBURGH

Each day in December we are sharing a different Pittsburgh gift suggestion.

  1. Pretzel Hug Pillow
  2. Pineapple Plate With A Purpose
  3. Spalted Maple Kerf Case
  4. Fair Trade Coffee from Building New Hope
  5. Raymond Carver Will Not Raise Our Children by Dave Newman
  6. Everybody Loves Pittsburgh T-shirt

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Everybody Loves Pittsburgh T-Shirt

  
This is the perfect gift for just about everyone. This shirt is printed in Pitttsburgh by our friends at Commonwealth Press. They love Pittsburgh as much as we do, maybe more. If you are looking for more Pittsburgh t-shirts, sweatshirts, beer koozies or stickers check out their shop on Carson St., in Mt. Lebanon or at CompressMerch.com.

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: ‘Raymond Carver Will Not Raise Our Children’ by Dave Newman

Books. Books about Pittsburgh. Books by Pittsburgh authors. But books in general are probably the best gifts to give. I am hold out on the Kindle. I am surrounded by computers, phones, TV screens, treadmill screens (ok, the treadmill screens are few and far between). I still like to buy, read  and give real paper books. Please add your suggestions for Pittsburgh reading in the comments below.  I would love to add some more local books to the 24 Gifts of Pittsburgh.

raymond-carver-dave-newman-border

Raymond Carver Will Not Raise Our Children is one of those books that has been on my radar. I have seen this book for sale at East End Book Exchange. I knew I wanted to feature a book for today’s Gift of Pittsburgh, so I could also have an excuse to remind you that Sunday is the 3rd Annual Small Press Pittsburgh Holiday Book Sale. Littsburgh, one of Pittsburgh’s newest blogs about all things literary, has a great preview of the Holiday Book Sale here. Raymond Carver Will Not Raise Our Children is one of the recommended books on the list.  This afternoon while I was browsing the New Guild Studio Holiday Open House another friend mentioned the author Dave Newman. (I am only mentioning this because this was my first visit to New Guild and it is an incredible hidden gem. New Guild does iconography for churches across the country.)

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Shop: Your Favorite Local Book Store or Amazon.

Follow: Dave Newman on Facebook, @Littsburgh @BookstoreMemoir

More about Raymond Carver Will Not Raise Our Children

In the words of Reading Rainbow’s LeVar Burton, “you don’t have to take my word for it.” Here is what some others have said about Dave Newman’s book:

Pittsburgh books make good gifts. #shopsmallpgh #24giftsofpgh

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Small Press Pittsburgh Holiday Book Sale

pittsburgh-holiday-book-saleSunday, December 6, 2015
12pm-5pm
Stephen Foster Community Center
268 Main Street, Lawrenceville
Facebook Event

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh

Each day in December we are sharing a different Pittsburgh gift suggestion.

  1. Pretzel Hug Pillow
  2. Pineapple Plate With A Purpose
  3. Spalted Maple Kerf Case
  4. Fair Trade Coffee from Building New Hope

24 Gifts of Pittsburgh: Fair Trade Coffee from Building New Hope

building-new-hope-table

Building New Hope has been one of those things that has sort of been on my Pittsburgh radar, but not something I have blogged about before.  Building New Hope is a Pittsburgh non-profit organization that imports coffee beans from El Porvenir, a worker-owned coffee cooperative in Nicaragua.  The coffee is roasted locally by Coffee 19 in Washington County. Proceeds from the sale of coffee are used to fund two schools and other youth programs in Nicaragua.

Sample Building New Hope at the Fair Trade Marketplace at ECS

Pittsburgh-Fair-Trade-MarketplaceThere are so many great ways to shop local this weekend in Pittsburgh. Saturday, December 5 is the Handmade Arcade at the Convention Center. Kerf Case, #3 on our list of 24 gifts of Pittsburgh, will be there as well as OttoFinn, #1 on our list. The blog Design Crush, which covers art and design from around the world, (but is conveniently located here in Pittsburgh) has published a preview of the 2015 Handmade Arcade here.

This weekend is also the annual Fair Trade Market at ECS (ECS is short for Environmental Charter School) in Regent Square. On Saturday and Sunday you can shop their huge marketplace of fair trade gifts. Building New Hope is one of the vendors as well as several other fair trade brands. You can see a preview of some of the items that will be for sale here.

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Shop: Building New Hope Coffee is available in regular ($13/lb) and decaf ($14/lb) and can be purchased online here.

Follow: Follow Build New Hope on Twitter @building_new_hope and Facebook.