I love...birthday weeks.

I am typing this while curled up on my couch in a leopard print Snuggie, thinking of the birthday week that was last week. I know, a birthday is only supposed to be for a "day", but this year there was a lot that happened, so I used a week: I aged. I wore leopard print. I was on TV. I ate pizza...lots of pizza (I love pizza).
"How could all this activity have been packed into one week?" you ask.
Well, I'll tell you. Let's start with Monday...

*****

 

DAY 1: Scarf
 

MONDAY
With my birthday quickly approaching, my sister Lisa invited me to join her for pizza and beers at our favorite pizza spot, Edison's in Tremont. We ordered a pepperoni and banana pepper pizza plus several beers. As we were winding down the night I decided to use my newest addiction to record the night: Instagram! Then I realized I was wearing a leopard print scarf and since the week was leading up to my leopardy birthday party (see "Saturday" below) I decided to wear a dash of leopard print everyday for the rest of the week, Instagram it, and call it "7 Days of Leopard Print".

*****

 

DAY 2: Bracelet

TUESDAY
Tuesday, September 25th, was my actual birthday. I woke up feeling older, wiser, and ready to take on the day! My friends and family sent me birthday wishes. My office bought me a cake. My birthday was off to a great start. Not only was I aging on this day, but that evening was the premiere of a new season of one of my favorite shows...New Girl!!! I planned a watch party for the event at Rivergate in the Flats. This watch party was to serve several purposes: 1) so I could watch the show and hang out with friends at the same time; and 2) because there was a possibility that I would be shown during the show as the New Girl Fan of the Week (an honor I had applied for several weeks earlier)! So there we were, I was wearing a pink boa (cause why not), the show was playing on several TVs, I had my friends around me, we were eating calzones, and the sound for New Girl was on full blast. Then...BAM...during a commercial break: "Jenny is the Fan of the Week"!!! I nearly fell off my barstool. This was the icing on top of my birthday cake. (And aside from all that, the show is laugh-out-loud hilarious! I laugh every time I watch and re-watch it. If you don't already watch it, you should!) Then I went home and ate half of a leftover slice of pizza.

*****

DAY 3: Sweater

WEDNESDAY
Still high off my New Girl moment of fame, I woke up ready to celebrate my post-birthday day. That evening I finished the other half of my pizza slice for dinner, then headed to the Winking Lizard for bowling league. My team entered me on the scorecard as "bday" and my first game started out awesome, with spare/strike after spare/strike. Then that ended and the rest of my game was...eh. But the popcorn at the Lizard tasted great.

*****

DAY 4: Headband

THURSDAY
Some friends and I went downtown to watch the Cleveland Browns game. While the game didn't end as we might have liked, our night was a good time. We ended the game at Map Room, where a friend and I split...pizza! Surprise! Someone jokingly asked me if I'd had pizza every day that week. I laughed that I hadn't. Then I stopped and thought about it and realized I had indeed had pizza every single day of the week. Awesome...and oops.

*****

 

DAY 5: Shoes

FRIDAY
For lunch I had leftover Map Room pizza (I couldn't stop myself). Then that evening I went with a coworker to a candle party. We ate some yummy food, smelled some yummy candles, drank some yummy white sangria, and made it an early night. I was home and in bed by 11p.m., and I loved it.

*****

SATURDAY

DAY 6: Dress

I woke up early and decided to immediately go to the gym before I could change my mind. After a week of eating pizza and drinking birthday drinks, a gym visit was needed. That evening I had plans to gather with friends at the Speakeasy in Ohio City to celebrate my new age, and in doing so I asked that everyone wear a dash of leopard print (because, well, I love leopard print). My friends didn't disappoint. One by one they walked in with scarves, shirts, shoes, dresses...Ohio City was oh so fashionable that night. We spent the night drinking, dancing and just being leopardy! As the night ended, I did not eat any pizza - but I did get Taco Bell, which is an excellent second choice in my book.

*****

SUNDAY

DAY 7: Hat

After sleeping in, I met friends for brunch at Southside. Bloody marys and mimosas flowed and I pointed out every leopard print item that people we didn't know were wearing. After that my friend Niki and I started walking home, then got sidetracked by hot chocolate and a two hour walk around the pretty streets of Tremont. The weather was perfect, the trees were Fall-ish, and you couldn't NOT be outside. I didn't eat any pizza on this day, but I did pass by Edison's, so I was hugged by its delicious smell. Finally, I was ready to head home and spend quality time with my couch, and that's what I did.

*****

 

YAY: Snuggie

Now I'm nursing a leopard print hangover with my leopard print Snuggie and feeling very thankful for a great birthday week, great friends & family, great TV shows, great pizza, and a great year ahead in my new age.
"What is going to happen in the year ahead?" you ask.
I don't know for sure - that's what makes it exciting.
However, I'm sure it will be filled with dashes of leopard print - that's what makes it Jenny.

I love...balloons.

Over this past weekend I went to a fundraiser for The Karen Foundation for MS. It was held at the Barley House downtown and was complete with live music, auctions, food, and a Joe Haden sighting. An adorable Joe Haden sighting.

There's one more thing that this fundraiser had...balloon creations! I say "balloon creations" because there weren't just balloon animals, but there were hats and other objects. My friend Cami and I stood in line anxiously awaiting our turn to ask the balloon guy for our balloon wishes. Cami was planning to ask for a pony, as she loves ponies. I was planning to ask for Prince (the artist), as I love Prince. As we got closer a girl in front of us got a balloon pony, so Cami decided to instead go with her back up: a unicorn hat. Just in case, I also chose a back up: pizza (as I also love pizza).

Finally it was my turn. I asked for Prince. The balloon guy told me he couldn't do that, but he would sing Prince while he made me something else. I agreed and asked for pizza. He agreed and started singing "Kiss" while twisting and turning several balloons into a tomato, green pepper and onion slice of pizza.

And let me tell you, it looked good. Delicious, in fact.

Cami then got her unicorn hat, and my friend Alyson got a big crazy hat:

After a while, friends encouraged me to ask that my pizza slice be make it into a hat, which was a good idea since carrying a balloon slice of pizza around all night would not have been very easy. That was how Pizza Hat came to be.

Then I thought: How could Pizza Hat be even better?
The answer: Have Joe Haden sign it.
So I did.

Here is Joe looking extremely focused while signing Pizza Hat:




















Here is Joe looking adorable after signing Pizza Hat:



After that, Pizza (as it came to be called) and I had many more adventures. Including going to a friend's house for Feaster Easter (a belated Easter dinner with a competition for the best side dish); a crazy dance party around a suitcase; and a late night stop at Flying Monkey for a couple drinks and a quick song on the jukebox ('Call Me, Maybe' - which I should note that when I went to play this song, a couple guys standing nearby threatened to pop my pizza hat if I played it. I played it anyway and called their bluff).

The next day it was really nice out and I met some friends back at the Flying Monkey patio later in the afternoon. We decided to go to Edison's for some pizza and it was suggested that I should run home and grab Pizza.

So I did.

Pizza enjoyed a slice of pizza with us, before we went back to Flying Monkey for Sunday night karaoke.

Now Pizza is slowly deflating and getting smaller, as that's what normally happens to balloons. But I'm not sad, because we'll always have our balloon memories...and Joe Haden.

(*thanks for the photo memories, Cami!)

I love...peanuts.

Happy Peanut Week!

Wait - what?! You don't know what Peanut Week is? Well okay, it may not be an official holiday, but within the walls of Hoopples in the Flats - it's been Peanut Week, all week.

Now you're asking: what exactly is Peanut Week? Well, I'll tell you. It's a week where Hoopples provides tons and tons of free peanuts. You go in. You eat the peanuts. You throw the peanut shells on the floor. And tah-dah - you're celebrating Peanut Week!

I found out about this during a bar crawl in the Flats last weekend. We started at Hoopples and written in chalk all over their walls (ahem, "chalk") was: "Peanut Week!", as well as the phrase "Shells on the floor!" and this adorable peanut picture (which, as I told some friends when promoting peanut week, is so cute it almost makes you not want to eat peanuts...almost.):

I was intrigued. Upon speaking with the bartender I found out the details and was sold. I got some other friends in on the deal and we chose yesterday as the day to stop out and throw some shells on the floor.

And let me tell you, they weren't lying about shells on the floor. We walked in and *crunch, crunch* shells were cracking everywhere under your feet. Our group grabbed a couple tables, ordered some beers, cheersed to Peanut Week and quickly plowed through several baskets of peanuts. At first it felt a bit awkward to carelessly throw the shells on the ground, but all you had to do was look around to be reminded that they wanted you to do it. Soooo...we totally made it rain peanut shells in Hoopples! We were throwing them on the ground, throwing them over our shoulders, dropping and stepping on them. Anyway you can think of to throw shells on the floor - we were doing it.

Proof of Peanut Week

On top of all this peanut action, the draft also started last night and Hoopples had draft-related games going on...that's right, it was Peanut Week, with games! They provided us with football bingo cards and Browns trivia sheets. A couple friends and I answered only three of the trivia questions and turned in our sheet - fingers crossed. As for the bingo, it was on! The bartender let us know he had nine official bingo prizes. As the draft went on people were yelling "bingo" left and right. I was getting nervous. Eventually I knew all nine prizes had been claimed and I went to use the restroom, abandoning my bingo card and feeling defeated. But a bit later some friends yelled: "Jenny, you got bingo!" I thought the prizes were done? Wrong. Turned out there were a few more prizes up the bartender's sleeve: free beer! I claimed my prize and happily drank it.

At the end of the night my stomach was full of peanuts and I was ready to head home and have peanut dreams.

So now you know about Peanut Week. Don't worry, it's not over yet, so if you haven't been then there's still time to make a visit and throw some shells on the floor.

Happy Peanut Week!


such a cute lil' peanut - right?

I love...2012.

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great weekend as we said goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012.

I had a pretty busy NYE weekend in the CLE, here's what happened:

Friday: I went to happy hour at Happy Dog for some...happiness. My friends Carrie & Dave, who moved to Michigan several months back, were in town for the weekend and gathered a bunch of us there. I enjoyed a hotdog with egg, pepperjack cheese, cucumbers, & house ketchup - yum. Eventually some of us walked across the street to a Holla Days party that friends were throwing at the new Spice Kitchen + Bar. The place was packed and I got to catch up with several people I hadn't talked to in awhile - holla! A few of us made our way back to Tremont, stopped in a couple bars and ended the night with...Edison's pizza (surprise!).

Saturday: Carrie had crashed on my couch for the night, then in the morning I gave her some NYE dress options and we had a mini fashion show. Once that was done, we picked up my friend Cami and drove over to the Coventry area to see friends in town from Chicago. We grabbed lunch at Melt - sure there was a wait, but the grilled cheeses were delish. Then it was back home to get ready for NYE! I had a new shiny dress, a blazer with a big flower pinned on it, some stickers and drink hangers for the night, and this song playing as I finished getting ready (aww, Zooey & JGL!):

Once I was ready (and stopped replaying this song), I went to my friends' apartment downtown and we all made our way to D'vine Wine Bar for dinner. We started out with some fancy drinks and a ton of appetizers. From there we proceeded to have a "No Covers" bar crawl where we bounced around to places that weren't having packaged NYE deals, which included Nauti Mermaid, Map Room, Little Bar and Flannery's.

Sunday: Hello, 2012! After waking up at my friends' apartment and being sad that our NYE celebration was over I declared that I would start texting my friend Lindsay "Happy New Day!" every day. I got myself together and went to Cami's house for a brunch with our Chicago friends. I also saw my second fashion show of the weekend when Cami had her dog Zukey model his puffy winter coat. We all separated for a bit before meeting up again downtown at Map Room for the Brown's game. Later on we went back to Tremont for Sunday karaoke at Flying Monkey. Apparently most of Cleveland had the same plan, because the bar was packed and the karaoke wait was long. Eventually I sang "Addicted to Love" and headed home with Carrie and Dave who were staying at my apartment for the night.

Monday: After Carrie & Dave left I texted Lindsay "Happy New Day!" and met some friends at Southside for Bloody Marys. We recapped the weekend and started making plans for parties in 2012. Later on I went to a friend's house to watch The Bachelor season premiere. As usual, the show served up a lot of drama, tears, crazy ladies and valuable life lessons.

Now several days into 2012 I'm excited to see what the year will bring. May your own 2012 be full of happy!

(*I should also note that my friends and I started pondering 2012 mottos [like the famous 2010 motto: "Be like Jenny in 2010-y"; and the not so famous: "Name your drink giraffe 'Kevin' in 2011"]. Some possibilities: "Rearrange your shelves in 2012"; "Don't date elves in 2012"; "Be yourself in 2012"; "Don't smell in 2012"; "Be like Jenny in 2012-y". Lots of good options, but I've decided to wait a few more days until selecting one to live by for the year. Feel free to throw in a vote or a suggestion...)

I love...Thanksgiving.

"Bloggle, bloggle!" That's the sound I think my blog would make if it was a turkey.

But my blog is not a turkey, it's a blog. That's why tonight the sound coming out of my blog is "type, type, type" as I recap a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. A lot happened, so grab some leftovers, sit back and get ready to use those fancy reading skills...

Wednesday night (Thanksgiving Eve) I went to a birthday dinner with some friends at Crop's new location in Ohio City. The space is awesome and the food was yummy. After dinner we went to Market Avenue Wine Bar for another drink. There we saw a man that we were pretty sure was Cleveland Browns' player Peyton Hillis. As he left I joked that it wasn't him because he wasn't holding a football and he was wearing a belt. My friends pointed out that football players wear belts while they're playing. I suggested they should instead wear some sort of bodysuits. As we discussed the "belt vs. bodysuit" topic we lost track of the Mr. maybe-Hillis, and that was that. Later on we said our goodbyes and I found out that some other friends were nearby at Dragonfly. I stopped by to say hello, danced a quick salsa dance, then we walked down the street to Speakeasy to dance some more, and then we walked around the corner to Touch to dance even more. Looking back, this night of dancing was the perfect way to prepare for the day of eating that was to follow.

Thursday morning my sister Lisa picked me up and we headed to the airport to fly out to Washington, DC where our aunt and uncle live. At the airport ticket kiosk I went to enter the first three letters of my destination city and my sister and I were quite amused when the option of "Batman" appeared on the screen (mainly because of this Crank Yankers phone call that my sisters and I are obsessed with). After the flight, our parents picked us up and we went to our hotel to freshen up before dinner. There we were greeted by our sister Susan and two of her kids, Sean & Ryleigh (we missed you, Bill & Conor!). Ryleigh has finally remembered my name without prompting, which made my afternoon as she ran down the hall yelling "Aunt Jenny". We all squeezed into my parents' van and headed to our Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Mike's house. I walked in carrying a cooler my parents had packed up, which resulted in my relatives asking if I was ready for a Thanksgiving tailgate (actually, it didn't sound like a bad idea). I helped in the kitchen by rolling the crescent rolls with Lisa (a stressful and important job) and filling the water pitchers. Not to toot my own horn, but that was some of the best bread and water any Thanksgiving has ever seen! We ate, we drank, we Thanksgiving-ed it up.

On Friday everyone did their own thing during the day. Lisa and I visited the National Portrait Gallery, then wandered a bit and visited the very rarely seen Starbucks. That evening all of our cousins met up for happy hour in the Georgetown area. Then we headed back to our aunt's house for some pizza, which was eventually followed by our goodbyes since we were all headed our separate ways on Saturday morning.

The 2011 Thanksgiving weekend is now drawing to a close and I'm thankful for every deliciously wonderful part of it, from my friends to my family to the dancing to the laughs.

I hope your holiday was deliciously wonderful, too!