Good Taste Pittsburgh, Saturday, 11/7/09

[MJKNEeley]

You all wouldn't believe how many people I asked if they were from HCW or named Denise! I almost had her paged!! I even pseudo-stalked this woman w/ her dh and two kids b/c I thought she looked like 'one of us!' You all would have been proud. I even almost asked if there was a FunnyFace in this big group of people! The one group thanked me for asking and told me I could join them!! HA HA HA
I guess I got some guts all of a sudden.

Wow, that place was a mess! Did you guys see all of the food on the floor?

Oh, you know how they quit selling tickets for a while? Some older guy walked over to the ticket counter and started going crazy on them. He didn't make any sense. Started rambling about how his daughter forgot hers in the car and blah blah blah and now he has to now go stand in another line! That was an odd little situation!

Oh, and I remember a post a while back saying that the vendors just push and throw samples at you - well they truly were! I walked past the one vendor with the pita / turkey sandwiches at the end and he literally threw a pack of them to me! I never even asked for them!!

[FunnyFace]

LOL The only big group I was in was the one big crowd by the Celeb Stage.


Oh I saw the floor! Inconsiderate slobs. You'd think they were at a baseball game the way they left napkins and food and spilled drinks all over. Speaking of messes and those that were janitors, they had male janitors in the women's restroom!

I was waiting for them to shove items at me and nope. I stood right in front of the pitas while at laugh and tossed a couple to someone and I had to ask if it they were free. That is just not me and I felt weird taking more than a couple coupons. I did at Sugardale, but asked at Mids the second time around. I kept thinking I needed you ladies to inspire me. ;)

Oh I did get hit in the gut with a pizza box carrier; that was fun.

[FunnyFace]

I know many here have twins and I saw a lady and maybe her mom with a set of the cutest girl twins. I know it wasn't Jen or tfinetwins. Was it anyone else we "know"?

[jen276here]

Originally Posted by FunnyFace I know many here have twins and I saw a lady and maybe her mom with a set of the cutest girl twins. I know it wasn't Jen or tfinetwins. Was it anyone else we "know"?

Were they in the side-by-side double stroller? I think I saw them - they were sooo cute!! I think there are 5-6 sets of twins in the GE forum!

My boys were the only teenage looking boys I saw while I was there. And they both had similar shorts on and one had a short-sleeve T and the other a sweatshirt with a tossle cap.(It was kinda chilly this morning, but they're strange and wear shorts all the time...)

I did see another couponer I know from meeting her at Wags a few months back, but it was so crazy I couldn't get to her to say 'hi'.

We need to all arrange to get together one of these days - I think it would be fun!

[MJKNEeley]

The other thing we could do next year is change our profile pics on here to be the real 'us' - and promise no laughing!!! My brother owns a business that makes stickers for cars and stuff. I wonder if he could make stickers for our jackets with the HCW emblem or something like we talked about before that we could wear that day. I'll have to ask him. I would like to have them even for when we go into the store to put on my coupon folder - that way we would be able to recognize each other as we shop during the year.

I genuinely would love to meet a lot of you. We're kind of our own little family! I know, I'm silly! But we spend so many hours talking to each other, it would be great to put names with faces. I worked in customer support for a software company for quite a few years and every year we have an education session that the customers come in for. It was so fun to meet the people you speak with day in and day out rather than guessing what they look like!

[sagesonamabuster]

I'm glad that some of us had a decent experience. It was way too packed for my claustrophobic butt! I am sorry that I didn't get to meet anyone from HCW!

[tfinetwins]

I saw the cutest twin girls in a Gro Duoglider. I think they were wearing Penguins outfits. I didnt think it was any of us though. Was it?

I agree we need stickers or a plan for where to meet.

[isaacsmom]

Well, we almost left because we got there right when they shut the doors and they said we were welcome to buy tix, but there was no guarantee we'd get in and NO REFUNDS. Then after they announced the 10 in/10 out policy we bought tix and prayed for the best.

It was kind of disappointing at first because I had missed alot of what was given out early in the day. Also, crowds make me miserable and I can't take my anxiety medicine when I'm preggers. So, pregnent and dragging along a 13 month old and my 10 year old son, my mom and I waded through the crowd. My mom was pushed from behind and when that resulted in her smushing some ankles with the strollers she was threatened and sworn at. Not fun.

When the crowd thinned out it got better though. We definitely had PLENTY to eat throughout the day. Did everyone else like that chili?? I wanted some SOOOO BAD! My littlest one ate tons (half of which was chocolate in some form) and then ran around in circles by the restroom seating area hugging people while I tried to recharge with some Starbucks samples.

Glad we stayed til' the end though (even if my son wasn't). I left with 3 full size bags of chips, 15 sample size ships, 5 Little Bites muffin packs, 3 full size jars of MIDS spaghetti sauce, a 32 oz container of veal stock (didn't know that existed), 3 containers of chip dip, 2 packs of Arnold thins, and a loaf of bread. Oh...about 8 cans of sierra mist and 3 little cans of cherry 7-up. Not to mention the reuseable bags from GE and several little keychain flashlight thingys.

I did spring for a bottle of wine (pretty cheap) and it was the first thing I have bought for myself in probably 8 months...then it fell and broke on the driveway. I was soooo bummed.

I'll probably go again next year, but I think the kids can stay home. Besides, I can fit more in the stroller if I don't have to put babies in there, lol.

[FunnyFace]

No the twins I saw were in a front/back double stroller. Probably the same ones tfine saw. Little blondies with their hair in spikey dogears. I don't recall what they were wearing.

Isaacsmom, I am so jealous of the full size Mid's!

[tfinetwins]

I saw you, I even spoke to you. You were sitting in a chair in the Childrens Museum place and your sweet DD was running all over and her big brother was being awesome and chading her down for you. I told you how cute she was and kept on going. I of course had no idea who you were. LOL!

That spaghetti sauce was sooooooo good!

Originally Posted by isaacsmom Well, we almost left because we got there right when they shut the doors and they said we were welcome to buy tix, but there was no guarantee we'd get in and NO REFUNDS. Then after they announced the 10 in/10 out policy we bought tix and prayed for the best. It was kind of disappointing at first because I had missed alot of what was given out early in the day. Also, crowds make me miserable and I can't take my anxiety medicine when I'm preggers. So, pregnent and dragging along a 13 month old and my 10 year old son, my mom and I waded through the crowd. My mom was pushed from behind and when that resulted in her smushing some ankles with the strollers she was threatened and sworn at. Not fun. When the crowd thinned out it got better though. We definitely had PLENTY to eat throughout the day. Did everyone else like that chili?? I wanted some SOOOO BAD! My littlest one ate tons (half of which was chocolate in some form) and then ran around in circles by the restroom seating area hugging people while I tried to recharge with some Starbucks samples. Glad we stayed til' the end though (even if my son wasn't). I left with 3 full size bags of chips, 15 sample size ships, 5 Little Bites muffin packs, 3 full size jars of MIDS spaghetti sauce, a 32 oz container of veal stock (didn't know that existed), 3 containers of chip dip, 2 packs of Arnold thins, and a loaf of bread. Oh...about 8 cans of sierra mist and 3 little cans of cherry 7-up. Not to mention the reuseable bags from GE and several little keychain flashlight thingys. I did spring for a bottle of wine (pretty cheap) and it was the first thing I have bought for myself in probably 8 months...then it fell and broke on the driveway. I was soooo bummed. I'll probably go again next year, but I think the kids can stay home. Besides, I can fit more in the stroller if I don't have to put babies in there, lol.