Yeah, flipmode! Flipmode is the GREATEST!

Sadly, I didn't win the makeover. That's okay though, I'm sure the gal that won it will have a lot of fun and it'll be good to see the results. Doing little pamper-y things for yourself like that is a Good Thing(tm).

My brain is on vacation mode. We're going to be leaving for the Adirondacks on Friday and I can't wait. We'll drive halfway up (about 4.5 hours) and stay in Syracuse and go the rest of the way on Saturday.

We plan to do two high peaks in one day, but I suppose that depends on the weather. (it looks kinda rainy)

Then on the 15th I am going to be participating in Pedal to the Point, a two-day 150 mile (or 175 mile) cycling tour from Berea to Sandusky (Day 1) and back (Day 2). I have to be in Berea at 5:30 in the morning on Saturday, which should be interesting.

Oh and I caved and got a Twitter account.

I have to go to work now! Have fun!

Guys, I'm totally listening to "Legend of Zelda" techno.

I love Andrew Bird, guys. Seriously.



There are four songs so far and it seems like a new one has been added every day or so - Who knows how many there will be, but they're all freaking awesome. (Here's a link to all of them)

We have less than two weeks until we go to the Adirondacks. If you haven't been to that area, I really do suggest you go sometime. I had lived for so long in the same city (Columbus) and we didn't really travel when I was growing up, so going to the Adirondacks for the first time was amazing. When we entered the area, I had a silly thought. I remember thinking something like, "Hey, it smells just like Christmas here!" or "I had a candle that smelled like this once". The whole area just smells nice and clean, it's great.

Last week we went to Sergio's Sarava in Shaker Square. The food was very good, I thought. Jeff's dish was distinctly Brazilian, I got steak and french fries (can't help it).

We spent Saturday in Columbus and I saw my Mom for the first time in seven months or so. It was wild. We both looked very different. Mom had a recent stay in the hospital, and had just gotten home a few days prior. We took her several Cleveland presents (mostly from the Shaker Farmer's Market) including one tortoiseshell kitty named Fran. (Three cats was too many for us)

It was a good weekend, and the weather (mostly) cooperated. We'll be moving in a month or so, still staying in Little Italy. Hopefully we'll have a place large enough that we can entertain people.

Dear Blogger, please excuse my tardiness...

What a long, strange trip it's been.

Jeff and I haven't really been in Cleveland a whole lot lately. We were in Washington DC for a few days and then we visited Columbus for the annual St. Patrick's Day party at his parent's house. According to Jeff's Dad, he's had the celebration every year since 1978.

Anyway, here's some of what we saw:


The Smithsonian Castle



Inside the National Cathedral


A Peruvian Court Dress at the Kennedy Center


The gate into Chinatown



The Capitol Building

I have a lot more of our pictures on my Flickr page. Jeff also took a lot of pictures. Check them out if you have the chance.

After a wonderful bike ride when we arrived, Jeff took me to Kanlaya Thai Cuisine in Chinatown. The food was amazing! I had pineapple chicken that was actually in a hollowed out pineapple half. I had a couple of the cliche "umbrella drinks" and sloppily professed my undying love to Jeff - it was true but I'm sure anything I may have regretted saying could have been blamed on the alcohol - right? We spent the evening doing a crossword puzzle until I fell asleep.

The next morning we ate convenience store muffins and yogurt and headed out to the Metro and around DC. We walked around all day, and stopped back in Chinatown to eat at Tony Cheng's. This restaurant had Mongolian food on the first floor, and Chinese food on the second floor. We went upstairs and ended up having one of the best Chinese meals either of us had ever had. I ate the Kung Pao chicken with an egg roll, rice and hot and sour soup. My meal ended up costing about $13.00. (Amazing!!)

We considered visiting Madame Tussaud's wax museum but balked at the $19.95 admission fee. I settled for photographing Whoopi in the lobby and we moved on.


Whoopi Goldberg acting as a DC panhandler

In the late afternoon the sun disappeared and it got a bit colder. We visited the Lincoln Memorial and enjoyed a free concert at the Kennedy Center. After getting back to the hotel, we decided to check out a mexican restaurant and went to La Lomita Dos.

I wasn't as impressed as I have been with certain restaurants in Cleveland and Columbus.

Por ejemplo...

We ordered the "Chorizo con Queso" from the appetizer menu, only to find it was not chorizo...It was SMOKED SAUSAGE!! Yucky. The rest of the meal was good, but it took forever and a day to get the check. It was overpriced for generic mexican food, but there was a Mariachi band and that made things a little better.

On our last day, we visited the National Cathedral. This was one of my favorite sightseeing trips. My first few minutes in the cathedral were filled with quiet awe - I'm pretty sure that I stared with my mouth agape at times. Religious or not, there's an energy about that place.


This picture reminded me of Grace Cathedral Hill by The Decemberists.

And yes, I did pay 25 cents to light a little white candle! (The suggested donation was $1, shh)

On the way out of DC we had lunch at Satay Club where I had a very inexpensive and very filling lunch (General Tso's, hot and sour soup and potstickers) for $7.95. Yum!

It was an amazing trip, altogether. We found out a lot about ourselves and each other, we're stronger and (if possible) we love each other a whole lot more now. The first trip we took together was to DC, almost three years ago, so it was a little nostalgic too. We saw Ozma in DC at the 9:30 Club. I fell asleep during The Rentals set. Nothing against the band, I was just VERY tired. I had to tote around a cute guy with a broken arm, jeez...

I hereby vow to post a bunch more starting today. We went back to Columbus for a wedding last week and had a great time, but I sorely missed my city and have wanted to be home. I missed you, Cleveland (and your bloggers!)!