new years eve eve holla days festival of awesomeness

last night my friend @lzone and i threw one hell of a happy hour at johnny's little bar.

actually, we threw a new years eve eve holla days festival of awesomeness to be exact!

lzone and i rented the upstairs bar at johnny's little bar (which i totally recommend for events, btw), invited lots of friends and just had fun.

there was an excellent turn out and thanks so much to everyone who came!

we are quite good hostesses if i do say so myself, and the decision has already been made that we are going to make it an annual event - mark your calendars for december 30th, 2010.

and now to the pictures...

my beautiful friends muffin and maureen

the awesome zone family - papa zone, @lzone, mamma zone, jenna and julie

lara, AJP, nick, shibani, jason and shannon

no clue why this pic is ultra bright but i'm still posting it, obvy - alex, kevin, mcgahan, selvaggio, lzone, hartzell, and chuck

random action shot - party people, yo.

bbonz, amy, deagan, dan and kelly

selvaggio literally FORCED me to take this picture, can't you tell how thrilled i am? - kelly, jose, lzone, yours truly, and selvaggio who's birthday it is today - happy birthday my friend!

tyler and lzone - don't you just want to pinch ty's cheeks?

ahmed, textoris, captain, the klutz and sarabot post happy hour at map room

i'm a very lucky lady to have so many awesome people in my life - now if only one of them would have forced my to eat dinner prior to all of my vodka consumption i wouldn't have made inappropriate decisions at the end of the night.

you'll have that.

happy new year everyone - here's to an even better 2010!

the year that was 2009

i wrote 220 blog posts in 2009 that recapped my life, my loves (or lack there of), my social life, my venting, my stories.

blogging to me is an online journal of my life that i just so happen to share publicly with all of you. it's a photo album of memories that i can go back and either read lovingly, cringe or laugh at.

but once it's posted, it's posted.

so let's look back at my 2009 shall we?

january '09
i documented what it was like to be a fly on the wall a lazy sunday at phoenix coffee, told you how pretty you are, shared a simple game of M.A.S.H with you all while giving you the power to learn how to forge my signature.

february '09
i wrote a love letter to cleveland, had fun with the girls gambling in detroit (can't wait to do it in cleveland, btw), wrote my top ten ways to tell when SHE'S just not that into you, and published a video blog showing my walk from my apartment to map room.

march '09
composed a list (that i may or may not still agree with), of what i'm looking for in my ideal man, shared how i almost got kicked out of high school for fleeing a field trip in NYC, i chose to gimmie back that filet 'o fish, show NYC how to be a plum and took my yiayia to see lebron.

april '09
i shared the awesomeness that was living on mackinac island post college, hosted the baby mamma party, found out that someone called me their blog nemesis (even though they didn't, btw), admitted to you guys some of the things i collect and my irrational fear of ceiling fans.

may '09
i let you guys into a little known fact that my mom is a pill pusher, admitted that i always wanted to be a mob wife, gave my definition of social media, professed my hatred for the word standpoint, got auctioned off for charity, and said goodbye to my downtown family.

june '09
maxie performed the brilliance that was blogger face, dropped the best nugget of knowledge on you in the cellphone invitation rule, wrote the first ever plum's best of cleveland post, showed you my sleeping positions and why michael jackson's death effected me like it did.

july '09
turned 29 and was 20sb's featured blogger for july, reflected on how i wish i could still act like a kid, admitted my snobbery, participated in a cleveland bike riding bar crawl, unfortunately had a possum eat my car and showed narm how to dance.

august '09
krusty's! made a hard but very smart decision to cut up all my credit cards, had the opportunity to become a gap brand enthusiast, got my very own CLE Clothing Co t-shirt (you should buy one!), my mom stuffed her face with frozen grapes and i got challenged that perhaps i'm afraid to be completely happy.

september '09
finally got to post a TMI thursday, shared some text messages from my mother, kicked off the browns season with a bang, told my tale of working at a convenience store in college, was voted best blog in cleveland by cleveland magazine readers, and showed just how different me and my sissy are.

october '09
sung out with t-mobile and cat stevens, debated about men using emoticon's or not, admitted to twitter stalking, went to DC and saw the man himself jay-z in concert, wrote about an unplanned day in my life, and took note of the two types of people in this world.

november '09
figured out the difference between marinade and marinate, let my inner sauce go wild, started working out, showed my motivation for being a cleveland sports fan, gave a HP dm3 laptop away, and contemplated asking out my crush or not.

december '09
asked what the hell grady sizemore was thinking, got an amazing tour of the cavaliers practice facility, proving just how creepy the new folgers holiday commercial was, and admitted to sleeping in the buff.

what a year huh?

here's to hoping 2010 is only better.

[editors note: my blog love jamie posted her own original version of the above post recently which i then in turn flat out stole the format - thanks jamie! xoxo]

i don't stop

how the heck am i supposed to recap last thursday, friday, saturday, sunday and monday?

i don't think it's possible.

too much has happened, too much holiday cheer, too many interactions, too many memories with too many cocktails to remember.

the days are all blurring together!

thank goodness for my camera.

how about i just post some pics and call it a day?

i am on vacation after all...

first stop of christmas eve at my thea (aunt) eros's house - that's thea eros, sissy and my cousin dina

christmas dinner at my thea joanna's house - my cousins nicolette and graceyn with our traditional holiday cracker thingys. we all end up eating dinner with paper crowns on our heads

peter, suzanne, thea joanna and cathi all having a dog party on the floor - four dogs running around while i'm trying to enjoy a post christmas dinner nap is, well, noisy.

yes, i know this pic isn't straight, don't even ask me how many times i uploaded it correctly only ot have it show up wrong. but considering this is the only real picture i took from saturday night i felt it was necessary to share. you see, this is the wine list from my favorite bar of all time, the geisen haus in north canton - dancing peanuts? 1/2 price meat and cheese plate when you purchase a bottle of wine? brilliant.

sunday brought me this present, my love ANG* who was visiting from chicago and i were lucky enough to spend the day watching the browns game with at blind pig - we had SO MUCH FUN - love her.

lara and mish wearing the best browns sweater i've EVER seen. too bad mish got bombed and traded it to natalie for a scarf - horrible decision! luckily, natalie gave it back to lara to give back to mish - we have it buddy, don't worry.

while the majority of my sunday was spent at blind pig, we also hung out at dive bar with the most awesome deagan, map room and abc tavern. the above pic of lara and jon playing in the snow outside of abc tavern was by far my favorite of the day.

monday brought my family's annual scavenger hunt where we had to do things like eat mcdonalds in a burger king, walk on cleveland avenue barefoot, find a statue of the virgin mary and the star of david, among other things, like the above pic... a team member (c-rossi) entirely on a retail store shelf

it was at this point where a team member had to share a hot dog with a non team member that we were sternly asked to leave belden village mall by security. apparently management doesn't allow scavenger hunts, they were literally radioing back and forth my teams location in the mall so that they could find us escort us out. it was absolutely hilarious.

post scavenger hunt in my mom's kitchen - yes, we have kitchen in greek spelled out on the wall - kouzina!

sissy, c-rossi and patrick - CCHS '01 represent. (not when i graduated, btw)

i feel like i'm missing pictures from so many things, like the drunch (drunk lunch) with the marinos and foradas girls, north canton bar hopping with all my NC friends, and meeting tons of fun new people on sunday.

you'll have that.

i also saw three movies:
-nine - not good, don't see it, well maybe rent it. kate hudson's number was my favorite, she actually surprised me.
-sherlock holmes - good, i recommend you go see it, it was fun.
-up in the air - VERY good, a must see. one of george clooney's best movies in a very long time and anna kendrick was awesome.

ok, that's it - i'm done, i hate when blogging feels like a chore...

it's now tuesday and i have a very busy day of massages and cleaning in my future.

i love vacation.

hot awesome dudes need love too

hey kids, i'll be back with more later but the post below is way more important than pictures of me and my friends being idiots.

if you feel inclined to do so (which i hope you do) take a moment and say a prayer, think some positive thoughts, or do whatever you do for brandy's "hot awesome dude".
___________________________________________________________________

My name is brandy. And I have a blog.

And a plea.

I use my blog to showcase the crazy I meet everyday, share the stories of the kids I teach and document my love for tequila, dairy products and the abdominal muscles of Ryan Reynolds. Rarely do I talk about personal issues on my blog- as personal as the dude that I adore (who I actually met through my blog- single ladies, let that be a very good reason to blog, the possibility of meeting someone as wonderful as my man), but I need your help. And it involves my dude.

He's a guy who made math comics for my class, so they would love learning about addition. He's the kinda guy who sends my friends gift cards when they are having hard times, who remembers every story I ever told him, who was the first person I celebrated with when I got a teaching job. He's the guy who sent flowers to me at school- dozens of my favourite pink roses just because he loves me. He's a guy who has spent a year patiently explaining (and re-explaining) everything there is to know about football during the important games when silence is preferred. He's made me word puzzles and comics and stayed up late playing Scrabble with me (even though I beat him almost every time). He's listened to me cry about school and family and jobs. He is everything I never knew I needed and everything I always knew I wanted.

The holidays have hit us hard. He's recently been told he may have something called multiple myeloma- an incurable cancer, that gives a person an average of five years of continued life. Though this news has came as a shock, he continues to be exactly who has always been- spending his time worrying about me, rather than worrying about himself. He's the most selfless individual I know- (he stayed late on Christmas Eve to work, so his co-workers could leave early) and a post like this would never be something that he would promote or encourage but when I'm overwhelmed and feeling helpless, the blogging community has always given me tremendous support and comfort, two things I desperately need at this time.

As I write this, the future is uncertain and we aren't sure what's happening. He'll need to see an oncologist soon, to verify what's going on in his body. My hope is that everyone who reads this think positive thoughts and if you are a person who prays, could you add him to your list? (You can refer to him as 'brandy's hot awesome dude'). If you don't pray, please keep him in your heart.This cancer is only a possibility and I believe that the prayers and positive thoughts of people can make sure it never becomes a reality.

I want to give a big thank you to the blog owner who scraped their original blog plans and graciously put this up. My goal is to get as many people as possible to see and read this post. If you are reading this and want to help, copy and paste my plea into your blog or send a link through twitter, so more people can keep him in their thoughts. I would be so very grateful (even more grateful than I am to my friend who first showed me the picture of Ryan Reynolds on the cover of Entertainment Weekly. If you haven't seen it, google it. You. Are. Welcome).

I realize this all sounds dramatic, a Lifetime movie in the making- but this is life. Right now. And I'm throwing away any hint of ego and am humbly asking for you to pray or think kind thoughts. If you are able to pass this on, thank you and if you know anything regarding MM- please email me (my email is on my blog). This isn't a call for sympathy or a plea for pity. It's just one girl hoping you can think positive thoughts for the person she adores. If my current heartache provides you with anything, let it be with the reminder that life is short, love is unbending and no one knows what could happen next. Maybe it is silly, but I really do believe that positive thoughts can make a huge difference. Thank you for reading this and if you haven't already? Please tell someone you love them today.

I did.

a festivus for the rest of us

i've have toyed with the idea of cutting myself off completely from social media from today until january 4th when i return to work.

that means, no blogging, no twitter, no facebook, no foursquare.

then i realized i think that would be impossible.

and then i realized that i may have a social media addiction.

the first step is admitting you have a problem right?

anywhoodle.

last night was the great holiday that is festivus, looking back on the evening i think i should have aired some more grievances - next year.

so to me the holidays mean spending time with friends and family which is actually code for running around all over town to make sure you get to spend time with everyone you care about.

luckily i had a partner in crime for the evening, my sissy.

we started out at map room for a holiday cocktail with pete, vince and kristen before we headed over to chef's widow and her chef's house in cleveland heights for their annual festivus party.

the theme was 80's hair bands which while i didn't technically dress up i kept telling people i was ann wilson and would burst into heart's alone throughout the evening.

there were amazing costumes, people really out did themselves - specifically mr. michael symon whose make-up alone was classic and sawyer who rocked a badass axl rose outfit.

tell me this isn't the best slash costume you've ever seen. we are talking professional impersonator status here.

amelia (chef's widow) and liz (my new bestie) rocking the 80's theme while michelle (cleveland foodie) and i opted for the standard mediterranean girl black

next stop sissy and i headed to lakewood, picking up c-rossi, on the way to meet up with my UD girls at the west end tavern because we had something fabulous to celebrate.

mike and kate (who was home for the holidays from denver) got engaged!!! congrats guys, i'm so happy for your both. xoxo.

lots of the girls were out in full force (poo poo, kate, muffin, foxxy, beaver, etc) and i'm glad i got to celebrate some holiday cheer with my loves.

c-rossi, my sissy and muffin

the final destination was bier markt to meet up with my wonger - who i haven't seen since she moved to miami! i.e. way too long. i'm sad that i didn't take a proper picture with her though, this twitpic will have to do.

flash forward to christmas eve morning (now), and i'm writing this blog post while my sissy is still sleeping in my bed and i'm procrastinating packing for canton and cleaning my apartment...

but it's time to get moving, santa is coming tonight!!!

merry christmas to everyone out there reading this, i heart each and everyone of you!!!

pajamas are overrated

my mom has always had a thing with pajamas and making sure that myself and my sister were clothed properly for slumber time.

whenever we were sleeping over a friends house when we were younger my mom was all, "make sure you have something nice to sleep in! don't embarrass me!"

as if wearing mismatched pajamas would cause the fellow PTA moms to look down on her.

who knows, maybe they did.

well, this obsession with making sure my sister and i had nice pjs has continued through our adult lives.

a few years back i went on a family vacation with my dear friend teen (her parents, siblings, etc), and my mother, just as i expected, brought up the pajama situation.

"you can't just wear old t-shirts to sleep. you need pants alexa, or a night gown - something modest."

[random fact #72 about me, i HATE sleeping with pants/shorts on]

so right before i left for teen's family vacation my mom purchased me a new nightgown - but not a cute/sexy nightgown, i'm talking grandma style here.

it's like this, but my version is a bit shorter. dead sexy right?

funny thing is i still have the nightgown.

muffin actually calls it my mui mui because it's quite possibly the most unflattering article of clothing ever. but i like to wear it after i get out of the shower while i'm doing my hair/makeup and i'm in a situation (i.e. traveling) where it's not proper to walk around in my underwear.

it's a shame though to think that my mom actually believes i wear nice pajamas it to bed.

sorry ma, but i sleep naked 9 out of 10 nights and never ever wear pants.

it's like the ultimate passive aggressive move to my proper pajama upbringing.

so, what do you sleep in?

continuing to 'tis the season

is it bad that i have to look through twitter and foursquare to refresh my memory of what i've been doing that last few days?

is it also bad that i woke up sunday morning in my bed (alone) wearing nothing but the black scarf i'd had on all day?

'tis the season.

after writing this post last week i'm happy to announce i've been following my own directions very well if i do say so myself.

want some proof? check out the photos below...

friday night some of my girlfriends got together for some pizza and wine at muffin's house to gather wish list items for providence house. now while we all were happy to help out a great cause someone else was pretty happy with us too.

in the beginning of the night the following letter was anonymously* dropped off with three bottles of wine - we don't know a steve stevenson...

amazing right?

*we ended up finding out it was erin's boyfriend brandon - so very cool of him.

beaver, the klutz, court, babs, mindy, MOB, holler, foxxy, erin, lastic, julie and muffin

patti and baby vera came to visit

rose being very enthralled with foxxy's iphone

after muffin's we all headed to around the corner - bad idea. note to self: don't go to around the corner on a weekend night unless you are trolling for 21 year old boys with abercrombie and fitch hats.

i left around the corner (obviously), and headed to my friend jon's ugly christmas sweater christmas party in ohio city - big improvement from ATC.

wes, AJP, sarabot, JV, two dudes i don't know, lara and the host with the most jon

after the party some of us went to the 24 hour christmas miracle that is steve's lunch for hot dogs.

steve's lunch was quite possibly the only restaurant in cleveland (on lorain and west 50th) that i've never heard of. it's this very small 24/7/365 diner-ish hole in the wall that has been open forever and has quite possibly the best people watching i've ever experience.

from a toothless tranny, a dude with an affliction shirt, hipster band kids, yuppies and young pros it was a motley crew to say the least. oh, and their coney dogs with the works aren't too shabby either.

the extensive menu...

i'm not sure how segue from hot dogs to service work, but i'll try.

saturday afternoon all of the providence house wish list items that the girls and i gathered friday night were formally gifted as myself, MOB, holler and beav participated in the university of dayton cleveland alumni chapter christmas off campus.

we sorted and inventoried donations for a couple hours - i was very pleased to see UD volunteering with an organization that i already work so closely with, makes it that much more fun.

beaver and holler sorting some toes for the kiddos

hartzell, katie and dan working hard sorting some non perishables

after our time at providence house was complete the group headed to the harp for some food and drinks, cause let's be honest here - we are UD alumni, drinking has to be involved somehow.

MOB, abby, sarah, holler and AJP at the harp

after no joke, six hours at the harp we peeled ourselves away from the bar and moved on to well, another bar.

next stop the happy dog to see the ohio city singers perform - admittedly i've heard of the ohio city singers and of various members of the ensemble but have never heard any of the music. well this holiday themed show was so full of energy and talent that i'm forever going to be a fan.

some of the ohio city singers - i couldn't fit them all in a shot cause there were so many of them on stage. the more the merrier in my opinion.

there was a nice surprise for me in that don dixon (who i didn't recognize on stage at first cause he was dressed as santa), was playing with the band and also produced their latest cd, is my old neighbor from canton. our families are friends and i completely adore his wife marti and even used to babysit for their daughter. it was such a treat to get to see him perform!

AJP and i had a full out dance party and were completely put in the holiday spirit thanks to the ohio city singers, and if you ever have a chance to see that awesome music collaboration take advantage of it!

we night capped the evening with a stop at the maproom and late night one eye open guitar hero playing with a champagne chaser <---- never again! no one needs to be consuming andre champagne at 3:30am after essentially 12 hours of drinking...

sunday i was feeling the effects to say the least.

thankfully i rallied and had an always excellent dinner at the greenhouse tavern with my sissy.

holy crap, christmas is on friday!

'tis the season - now go be merry with someone.

i'm your own personal sugarplum fairy

these last few weeks have been a whirlwind.

so much to do, so many people to see, so much fun to be had to try to distract myself from the fact that (shocker) i'm single yet again for the holidays.

[wamp waaaaahhhh]

but ya know what?

instead of being all debbie downer i've decided that i'm going to just enjoy myself.

i'm going to go out every night till christmas, spend time with the people i care about the most, and just generally have a good time.

i deserve it.

we ALL deserve it.

i'm not getting any younger and neither are you so we might as well all live a little.

fact.

last night was simple enough in that i enjoyed light bistro's happy hour with batch, salami rose and k$, and drank lots of my favorite beer miller high life out of a champagne flute at abc tavern.

(btw, did you know that the kick ass owners of west side market cafe now also own abc tavern on west 25th? i love them and their positive cleveland attitude and love of the grateful dead which will in turn cause me to spend all the more time at the abc tavern in the future - you should too)

now back to my mini-rant...

so excuse me if i'm distracted, excuse me if i'm not completely listening to you, but i need these next two weeks for me.

me.

maybe i'll even have the guts to ask out my crush

nah, who am i kidding, that won't ever happen.

so i guess what i'm saying is go out and have fun tonight - drink some spiked egg nog for me.

'tis the muther fucking season

creepy folgers holiday commercial

you know the old school folgers coffee commercial that first aired in 1982 that plays every year during christmas about the son coming home early in the morning and his little toe headed sister runs down the stairs screaming "peter!" all excited to see him?

let me refresh your memory...



if you have never seen this commercial you have been living under a serious no pop culture rock.

well this year folgers has decided to update this classic commercial with a new "peter" and a new sister.

but something about this peter 2.0 isn't sitting right with me - watch below.



is it just me or does peter want to bang his little sister?

there are some serious googly eyes being thrown back and forth between the pair, and not in the oh i'm so happy to see you variety.

in the come f@ck me variety.

why is "sister" grown up in this version? and why is "peter" rocking the bedroom eyes, practically licking his lips at the 37 second mark?

creepy.

i'm mad they didn't leave well enough alone.

essentially this version is the psycho (1998) remake of holiday commercials - catastrophic - they may as well have cast vince vaughn as peter.

that being said, peter, call me, i'd like to know if the best part of waking up really is folgers in your cup.

overload fitness update

my jeans are starting to feel loose, and my body/muscles are generally feeling stronger - hell, my guns are basically bulging out of my shirts.

ok, maybe not bulging out of my shirt...

i'm not madonna.

so it's been a month since i've been going to physical training sessions two times a week at overload fitness in westlake (they have a beachwood location too, btw), and thus far i've been very happy with the results.

what was originally an unconventional workout for me (no sweating or cardio), has become completely conventional and now makes more sense then ever - mainly because the staff educates you so thoroughly on everything going on.

i've been cutting calories, although it's obviously hard with the holidays and what not, and on top of the strength training with overload fitness i've been doing additional cardio 2 to 3 times a week.

it's been an adjustment to say the least.

i went from never EVER exercising to waking up at the butt crack of dawn to drive out to westlake to work out.

and i love it.

the staff has been a major help and motivator for me, these guys are so passionate about their job and helping their clients that it's infectious. you simply want to do well for them.

but i don't want to make it out to be all sunny and rainbows cause these workouts are flipping hard, never would i have thought that 25 minutes of strength training would have such an impact on me that my muscles literally still feel all jello like hours later.

it's a good jello though, like cherry flavored with a dollop of cool whip on it.

i'm feeling stronger, more toned - and it's only been a month.

it's official, i drank the kool aid.

i highly recommend calling overload fitness for more information on their physical training process if this is something you are interested in learning more about - it's worth a call, promise.

this is how you cleveland

and now ladies and gentlemen it's time for the obligatory monday weekend recap post that i hate writing but know that (some) people like to read cause it shows how i roll cleveland style.

sigh.

let me tell you guys, blogging is NOT fun when you are tired, hungover, and all you want to do it play wii.

yes, wii.

recently i've had a very strong desire to play guitar hero, so strong i couldn't stop randomly thinking about it during the day. specifically i really wanted to play the beatles rock band edition.

well friday the need to play hit came to a head and i went to best buy after work and bought a wii, guitar hero 5 with guitar, an extra wii remote and some other bells and whistles.

at the store i quickly realized that while i wanted to play beatles rock band i didn't have well, a band.

rock band party of one isn't as fun now is it?

so i settled on guitar hero (will buy the beatles rock band game soon) and settled in on a friday night of video game playing all by myself. it was glorious.

i'm freakishly good at guitar hero - i think it's my years of playing the piano that give me the advantage.

saturday brought an evening with the girls starting at the west side of cleveland bazaar bizarre local gift/craft/jewelery/clothing/something for everyone show.

i walked away with a hot pair of earrings from rescued and reloved and the most awesome greeting cards from oddball press that say "kill kiss, me i'm from cleveland" - i think i'm going to frame one. love.

after bazaar bizarre myself, muffin, babs, the klutz and bird gathered for an early dinner at momocho. i haven't been to momocho in ages and i was SO excited to go.

the mauled guac in the background with the cucumber marg, and lobster taquitos

i had a couple of margaritas (the cucumber and the hibiscus), obviously the table got a guacamole sampler (pinapple, crab and goat cheese) and for dinner i had one of the newer menu additions the lobster taquitos. as always momocho always delivers on the food and service - a delicious cleveland gem.

from there we decided that the only cure for our food coma was more delicious cocktails.

next stop, velvet tango room where textoris and conor joined us for cleveland's best cocktails (the moscow mule is to die for), and a visit with paulius who is always so gracious to my friends and i when we visit. the place was hoppin' and the ladies in fur were out. swanky.

next stop, flying monkey. now normally this is one of my favorite bars in tremont but saturday night it was like a taping of jersey shore was underway. i literally was standing next to a half dressed girl with a bumpit in her hair and some greased guy ordering jagerbombs.

who knew where these people came from - it's like a bus picked them up from barley house and dropped them off at flying monkey. horrible.

as obnoxious as the crowd was it was excellent people watching and didn't stop us from having a couple of rounds. no we weren't finished.

next stop, bier markt and speakeasy - both bars were packed packed packed. but great drinks and people watching continued. my only issue is that there is ZERO cell service in speakeasy, it kinda makes me twitch.

the klutz, conor, textoris and bird

next and final stop, the map room to hangout with more friends and stare at hot bartender. seriously, hot bartender you and i need to become friends. call me.

annnnnnnnnd, that's a wrap. now, back to guitar hero...

to whom it may concern...

to the two guys that handed moe and i miller lite gameday experience VIP passes as we were walking into blind pig last night, thank you. you not only allowed us to eat and drink for free the entire night but you also allowed the rest of my friends to as well. cheers.

to the map room, thank you for redecorating the woman's bathroom. i'm not nearly as scared to go in there as i once was.

to ryan hartzell, i heart you, but you are never going to beat me in our upcoming competition, fyi.

to my new friend ms. ford, thank you so much for coming up to me at blind pig and saying you were a fan of this here little blog here. it meant a lot to me - for serious.

to my new indoor parking space, i could open mouth kiss you for your warm and toastyness. that is all.

to amazingly dear old friends popping back into my life at the absolute perfect time, i needed that. nostalgia makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

to the cleveland browns, thank you, thank you, thank you for playing your hearts out last night and finally beating the pittsburgh steelers for the first time since 2003. and to josh cribbs, i hope you get paid, son.

to friday, thank you for coming so quickly this week.

to saturday and sunday, let's drag you guys out ok?

to all of you reading this, have a kick ass weekend.

there's a new twilight couple in town

it has been an ongoing joke between my roommate the klutz and i that we are becoming "a couple" ever since we started receiving snail mail addressed to both her and i.

a friends birthday party? a christmas card? a baby shower invitation?

one invitation only, addressed to alexa marinos and the klutz.

now i'm not complaining about it. it's actually smart of our mutual friends - totally silly to spend the money on two invitations.

unless it's a wedding... the line is officially drawn at wedding invitations.

moving on.

so last night i came home to find yet another christmas card in the mail addressed to the both of us and i'm talking to the klutz showing her how on the envelope we are a couple yet again.

i rip open the envelope not paying attending to who the card was from when my eyes gaze upon the most amazing christmas card i have ever seen in my life.

i double over laughing, tears streaming down my face - i can't even get words out to tell the klutz why i was laughing so hard, i simply hand her over the card.

she immediately has the same reaction i did.

apparently there is a new "couple" in town...

"happy holidays! love, edward and kara"

that would be my dear friend beaver and mr edward cullen himself.

printed.

together.

as a couple.

on a holiday card.

that she MAILED out to all of our friends.

pure brilliance.

reason #974 why beaver is one of my best friends.

ryan humbert: strung out for the holidays

i'm treading water trying to stay afloat at work today but it's imperative for me to tell you kids about an awesome event that's coming up this weekend.

my dear friend ryan humbert is a very talented local musician - i say very talented not only because he is, but because i have a full out musical crush on him.

i mean, i guess i have a regular crush on him as well cause he's so freakin' adorable and funny, but i'll stop before i embarrass myself any further.

ryan humbert and some of his band performing on cleveland's fox 8 recently

so this upcoming saturday, december 12th a special night of music is going to be happening at the akron civic theatre - ryan humbert: strung out for the holidays.

ryan will be joined on stage with a 13 piece acoustic band, percussionist, string quartet and backup singers, to not only perform his original music, but also seasonal favorites and covers of songs from the beatles, sinatra and elton john.

and the best part besides all the hot music? all proceeds are going to benefit the akron canton regional foodbank.

tickets are only $15 for general admission and can be purchased online through ticketmaster or through the akron civic theatre box office. click here for additional information.

by attending you are guaranteed a great night of music for a worthy cause in a kick ass venue.

hope you can attend!

a tour of the cavaliers practice facility from a woman's point of view

when MOB and muffin got tipsy at the cleveland magazine best of cleveland party this past october and bought a silent auction item granting them (us) a tour of the cleveland cavaliers practice facility in independence, i didn't really have a solid grasp of what we were in for.

well, last night that changed.


rolling up to the cleveland clinic courts i didn't expect the magnitude of the facility - bright lights, beautiful architecture, details and landscaping. a classy joint to say the least.

upon our arrival we were greeted by the cavs cleveland clinic courts operations manager, david painter - talk about an awesome, knowledgeable, and down to earth dude. couldn't have asked for a better guy to show us around.

we got access to the whole facility from danny ferry's office, to the locker room, showers, players theater, gym, and dining area.

we got to see all the fancy add ons, like ipod docks built into walls, more pairs of shoes and SWAG than i've ever seen in one place, an underwater treadmill and a gourmet kitchen.

dan gilbert sure knows what he's doing.

also, i may or may not have screamed when i walked into the cavs locker room.

muffin may or may not have posed with shaq's massive shoe.

MOB may or may not have sat in the barber chair.

now for some pics...








yes, i'm hanging out in the cavaliers open shower pretending to wash my hair in the above pic.

one of the last stops on the tour was the actual basketball courts where i had an itsy bitsy thing that i wanted to try.

remember last week when the video surfaced of lebron james nailing the full court shot with a football? no? see below then:



well i wanted to see if i could replicate the shot - yes i got it all on video.

david painter was even oh so kind to find the same football lebron used for me to take a shot with.

think i made it?



well, muffin threw from closer and didn't make it either....

after more unsuccessful hoop shooting we were all more than happy with our visit and experience when david slathered some icing on the cake in giving us each the lebron james bobblehead from the 12/2/09 game.

amazing. no words.

i'm obviously a cavs fan, but i think my crush on the organization as a whole was totally kicked up a notch after last night.

now, i just need to win multiple millions of dollars so i can buy courtside season tickets...

holiday festivities are upon us

after my whirlwind of a thursday night a vacation day on friday spent getting my hair did, running errands and quality time with my mom in canton was just what i needed.

at minimum it prepped me for cubby and martha's 4th annual holiday party in lakewood.

this year's theme was christmas in july-esque, where we were asked to dress as if it was summer - i.e. flowery dresses, swimwear, golfwear, indians gear, flip flops and all.

as cubby says, ugly christmas sweater parties are sooooooo 2008.

this party is also where we have a sneaky santa gift exchange, where the gifts end up either being sweet and thoughtful or evil and silly.

this year MOB had me in the exchange and she got me a hilarious super hero in a box costume which was worn by multiple people throughout the entire evening and also a mobile alcohol breathalyzer - both presents i'm sure will provide us all with hours of entertainment.

and now, the pictures...

the klutz, muffin, babs, lindsay, martha, and MOB

travis in a full out travis hafner uniform, and captain sporting his "new" albert belle action figure

bo really, REALLY loves the feel of muffin rachel zoe's fur vest

babs and martha, my STL ladies

i told you bo REALLY liked muffin's vest, apparently so does ahmed.... "so soft"

MOB rocking my "superhero in a box" costume

jen finishing the "this will get your bombed" punch that muffin made - it technically wasn't "punch" though, it was more like a large martini as it was straight booze

the jerk, jeff, bo, muffin, mark, lindsay and andy in the garage, aka smokers lounge

lindsay and babs rocking their golf attire at the patio

such a fun party, with a game of "moose" being by far the highlight - if only a video camera was running during game play...

sunday morning brought brunch with muffin, MOB, erin and brandon at the always delicious tremont taphouse where three taphouse brunch virgins were quickly turned into #1 fans.

i've never had a bad meal there, EVER. if you haven't been yet, make it a point to - soon.

after brunch and a run to giant eagle, the klutz and i met up with vinny and frowns at map room to hangout and watch the beginning of the browns/chargers game.

vinny the polack (miraculously almost smiling in a picture) and frowns at map room

from map room MOB picked me up curbside to head to the state theater at PlayhouseSquare to take in one of the best performances i've even seen of Wicked, thanks in part by the front and center loge seats.

the actress who played elphaba in this cast had an exceptional voice, and all i know is that the world is a better place thanks to musical theater. period the end.

and that's a wrap - i seriously wonder if i'll ever take a weekend off?

doubtful.

how was your weekend?