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...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...singing.

This past weekend I went on a singing binge.

It started on Saturday morning, I woke up early to sing with my friend's band at the Midtown Cleveland Healthline Classic Race. It was cold, windy and awesome. We did covers from "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" to "Friday I'm In Love" to "Good". By the end of the morning I was freezing, but my voice was warmed up for the singfest that was about to happen.

Sunday I spent the day watching football with some friends. We were all pretty tired from the previous day's festivities, but a couple of us perked up at the idea of Sunday Karaoke at Flying Monkey in Tremont. We arrived, we sang (my selections included "I Think We're Alone Now" & "Cryin'"), we stayed out too late - it was a success.

Monday night I went with a few friends to a Yelp Elite party at Beachland Ballroom. The theme? Costumes & Karaoke! Dressed in semi-80s clothes (a.k.a: my own clothes to the extreme), I first tried to sing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", but the CD didn't work. So after some more consideration I went with "Something to Talk About". Eventually the party was drawing to a close, but my friends and I hadn't sang quite enough yet, so we made our way back to Tremont for karaoke at Prosperity. Yes, it was a double karaoke night! We gathered at the front corner of the bar and started putting in our requests. It was a pretty full room at this point, so the pressure was on. Then the DJ called my name and there I was, singing..."Don't You Forget About Me".

As Monday turned to Tuesday, my three-day sing-a-thon drew to a close. By the end of it I was exhausted, but I'd do it again and quite possibly I will. See you around the microphone!

...lalalala!