St. Paddy's Day Weekend

I had big plans for this weekend.

Saturday-- hot yoga, baby shower, Burning River Roller Girls, dinner, drinks.
Sunday-- Downtown at Allison's party, and then wandering out downtown and in Ohio City with N and loads of our friends....

NONE OF THESE THINGS HAPPENED!!!!!!!!! Why, you ask? BECAUSE I WAS STRUCK DOWN BY THIS GROSS VIRUS GOING AROUND CLEVELAND. I spent the weekend parked on my couch, watching endless episodes of Dance Academy, doing shots of cold meds, surrounded by Kleenex. I hold this ever changing weather 100% responsible.

Dance Academy. So addictive.

Is it Spring yet?

Listening Now: The March Playlist

Another month, another playlist! And to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I've added a throwback Irish band at the very end!

1. Back to Black-- Wolfgang
2. Between the Raindrops (feat. Natasha Bedingfield) -- Lifehouse
3. Inhaler -- Foals
4. The Power of Love -- Gabrielle Aplin (more to come on her in March)
5. The Real Thing -- Audra Mae and The Almighty Sound
6. I'll Be Allright -- Passion Pit
7. My Heart Is The Eastern Horizon -- Clemency
8. Flaws -- Bastille
9. We'll Be Coming Back (feat. Example) -- Calvin Harris
10. Up All Night -- Alex Clare
11. World On Fire -- The Royal Concept
12. Kemosabe -- Everything Everything
13. Never Say Never -- Tristan Prettyman
14. Move Like U Stole It -- ZZ Ward
15. Dreams (Tee's Radio Mix) -- The Corrs

Have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day all, and maybe I will see you out and about downtown!!!
XO

My Valentine's Day Wish For You...

Sorry this is a little late in the day, but I just got back from a trip to my alma mater, which is also where N and I first met. So, in the spirit of love, my wish for you today is that you spend it with people who bring you...

Source: welovetypography.com via Nicolas on Pinterest

The Holiday Spirit (or lack thereof)

If you're having a hard time getting it together to decorate this Christmas, might I suggest you visit Flower Child on Clifton Blvd? If you've never been, Flower Child is a vintage store, carrying an eclectic mix of clothing, home goods, jewelry and accessories from decades past. Tina and I stopped over this past weekend, and we had an absolute blast walking around. A word of warning- this is vintage retail, not vintage thrift, so you should expect an appropriately different price tag too!

I absolutely LLLUUUURRVVEEE how over-the-top Christmas this store is right now!!

A little touch of the Holidays

I know its a little early for Christmas decorations, but over the weekend I was greeted by an absolutely intoxicating smell as I walked into Heinen's, and I was powerless to resist...

Winterberries + cinnamon scented pine cones for under $20 total. Yup. They're up. And I'm not even ashamed. Because my kitchen smells AMAZING!!!! Also, I've been told the winter berries will last all season, so really, if you think about it, its less expensive than fresh flowers!!

A Thanksgiving Cocktail

I LLLUUUURRRVVEEEE Thanksgiving. Its my most favorite holiday of the year!! We always do Thanksgiving with N's family, and about a year or so after we were married, we started a new tradition of always bringing mac n cheese to Thanksgiving dinner. We've tried many different recipes over the years, including carbonara, but this year, we're going back to basics with The Pioneer Woman's Mac & Cheese recipe.

Over the summer I pinned a recipe for an Autumn Sangria and on Saturday, I decided to take it to our neighborhood party.

Source: kirantarun.com via cleshopaholic on Interest

However, I'm practically incapable of following a recipe exactly, so I modified it as follows:
1 bottle red wine (I used a tempranillo)
3 cups cider
3 apples cut in small pieces
1/4 c craisins
1/8th tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp whole cloves
4 cinnamon sticks

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (which is what I did) or ideally overnight.

And here's what my final product looked like:

It was DELICIOUS!! Lets just say it didn't last very long, and there was definitely none left over!! I am definitely taking this over to N's parents on Thanksgiving day for pre-turkey cocktail hour(s)!!!

Do you make a special Thanksgiving cocktail? Please share recipes!!!

Fun in the Sun

After two weeks involving lots of work-related travel, I was SO ready for this past weekend! Friday night, after a long hair appointment, N and I went over to our neighbors for drinks. It was supposed to be one glass of wine, and then it turned into two, and more neighbors came over, and the next thing I knew, it was midnight, and I had a serious pizza craving.  More wine followed, and luckily I didn't have to go far to get to bed.

Saturday started with a quick ride at psycle, which was necessary but NOT FUN AT ALL. I swear I was sweating wine. Its disgusting, a phenomenon my neighbor refers to as stigmata. LOL. We then headed over to N's parent's place, where our nephew was visiting. We took the pups, and its a good thing our nephew likes to share, because Otto and Clair TOTALLY TOOK OVER his pool.

Saturday night, we headed over to our friend Jon's yacht club, and had another late-ish night hanging out with friends.

Sunday brought yoga with Allison which involved LOTS and LOTS of sweat. We both headed to Einstein bagels for sustenance, where we ran into Alana and Dean. Later that afternoon, N and I headed over to Chagrin Falls for Blossom Fest, although I can't tell you a single thing about Blossom Fest since we spent it hanging out with our friends that live down there!! And even though we got caught in a thunderstorm, it did nothing to dampen our fun!

Monday brought more psycle, and honestly, it was so hot that I didn't want to do much besides hang out in air-conditioning. You would think that since I'm from India that I'd handle the heat better, but not so much. I caught up on sleep and some movies, and indulged in some Honey Hut.

Puppies like ice-cream too. Don't worry, its doggie ice-cream.

Overall, a completely satisfying and wholly enjoyable weekend! I could get used to this!!

St. Paddy's Day 2012

Ah, St. Paddy's Day. N and I took a car service downtown at 10:00 am- our journey included Moriarty's, Hodges (where we saw LOTS AND LOTS of friends), Thirsty Parrot, and then in a streak of EXTREMELY poor judgement, Taco Bell. For those curious, that Dorito taco is just ok- the volcano taco is way better.

The Moriarty's Series

Moriarty's alley "patio"

Inside Moriarty's

More from Moriarty's patio- Danielle and I clearly love Ohio and St. Patty's day! 

The Hodges Series 

Allison, Frank, Michelle, and friend

Danielle & I

The patio at Hodges

 

N & I

And this was the only pic I took at Thirsty Parrot- Dave and Jess

Overall, a gorgeous day in Cleveland, and although it was supposedly CRAZY downtown, I managed to miss most of it at our chosen haunts, which suits me just fine!! 

Get in the Holiday Spirit (locally): Urban Home and Garden

A couple of weekends ago, I was at Beachwood Place with clefoodgoddess for the Compassion from Fashion Event, when I happened to noticed a wonderfully decorated store that I had never noticed before: Urban Home & Garden. Lucky for me, the wonderful staff were more than happy to let me take pictures! I found out that the store is Cleveland-based, and there are two locations- one at Beachwood Place, and the other at Beachcliff Plaza in Rocky River.

Seriously, this store is really cute, and has some adorable little gift ideas and stocking stuffers. Not only can you enjoy the Christmassy spirit, but you can get some of your shopping done, and support a Cleveland business while you do it!!!

Theme of the week: Candy

So I've been sick with this upper respiratory virus thing-y since Wednesday, and it sucks. Luckily, I've started to feel better this evening, although I still have coughing fits that make me sound like an old man. Gross. Now that I've updated you on my weekend activities, here's a look at what I'm looking forward to this weekend. First off, clefoodgoddess and I will be taking on a bunch of Cleveland bloggers including WhyCle?, Hungry in Cleveland, Poise in Parma, and others in the bowl-a-thon to benefit Secondhand Mutts. Saturday, I'm atttending a 30th Birthday Party, and Sunday, N and I are taking the pups to Grateful Dog Bakery to get Clair some birthday treats to celebrate her very first birthday, which is on Valentine's Day!!!

Valentine's day makes me think of candy, and so, in honor of this much loved/hated holiday, my blog theme of this week will be candy.

I have categories of favorite candies, indulgence vs. vending machine. Indulgence candy is one that is not so readily available, maybe you have to go to the international/fancy candy aisle in the grocery store or a specialty store, while vending machine is well, self explanatory. My favorite vending machine candy is Twix. My indulgence candy favorite(s) are a toss up between Ferrero Rocher (the one that has the crispy shelll, and nutella-like filling) and Cadbury Flake, which is, as the name suggests, flaky.

I remember eating Flake as a kid from street vendors in London, who serve it stuck in a vanilla soft-serve (delicious, btw). I'd forgotten all about them until about two years ago, when my coworker found some at World Market!! World Market seriously has one of the best international candy selections!! Flake+ vanilla softserve= heaven!!!!

So here's a question: given a choice, would you rather receive candy or flowers  for Valentine's day. Ideally, I would receive a candy bouquet, but I don't know if those exist in real life!! How about you??

Reviewing the Compassion from Fashion Event

Remember when I blogged about the Compassion from Fashion Event? Well, it happened on Saturday, and I attended with the contest winner Jess. It was a really fun evening, and most of the stores offered special discounts just for the event. There was a fashion show (that we missed), and food stations catered by Maggiano's: my favorite was the antipasto station- I seriously LLLUUURRRVVVEEE roasted veggies!!!

I had planned to make some progress with my Christmas shopping, and, to be honest, I was pretty successful!! I still have a lot to do ofcourse, but I was happy with my start. It should come as no surprise that I did a little shopping for myself, and of course, it included a couple of J.Crew sweaters (OBSESSION!). But, beyond my sweaters, my favorite purchase from Saturday was these beauties:

That said, I REALLY need to focus, and stop doing my usual "one for you, two for me" holiday shopping routine!! Do you end up buying more stuff for yourself during the holidays than you do presents?!

Puppies in Costume

So this past Saturday, I took Otto and Clair to the Spooky Pooch Parade in Lakewood. N  absolutely REFUSES to let me put the puppies in costume, so we just watched the event, although Clair tried to get herself in the parade a few times! However, Otto and Clair's new friend Sadie was in costume, looking absolutely adorable (if not a little apprehensive)

If you would like to get Sadie's jockey costume for your pooch, you can find it here.

The puppies were so ridiculously cute, I just have to share video with you:

Are you dressing your pet up for Halloween? What is he/she going to be?