Tail End of a Long Weekend

I'm absolutely drained at the moment. Matt and I spent the weekend in Cleveland visiting my friend Heidi and her boyfriend, Kevin. We had a good time, but are both pretty tired now.

Cool Thing #1: We finally went to the Westside Market on the corner of West 25th and Lorain Street in Cleveland. If you're into public markets and re-use of historical buildings, this would be right up your alley. I believe the building used to be a bathhouse way back in the day. It fell into disrepair for quite awhile until some people came along and restored it. Now you can buy fresh produce (excellent prices), all kinds of fresh cut meats, incredible bakery & pastry items, and other goodies. I had a huge smile on my face as we walked up and down the isles. The energy was very positive in the place. My purchase consisted of a sesame & honey bar and a bar of Lindt milk chocolate from the Mediterranean store. Heidi bought seven limes for a dollar so we could drink gin and tonics to our hearts content that evening.

Cool Thing #2: Matt and I had brunch with my friend Alex and his fiancee, Liisa (yes, there are two "i"'s in that name) on Sunday. I hadn't seen him since before he and Heidi had broke up in 1999. It was plain luck that he was also in town the same weekend as us (he now lives on Cape Cod). We had a good time chatting, getting caught up, and becoming familiar with Liisa. I had heard a lot about her while in college, so it was cool to finally meet her in person.

Cool Thing #3: Heidi, Kevin, Matt and I went to the Western Reserve Historical Society on Sunday afternoon. We got there at 3pm and were able to get in for free since it was so late in the day. They had an awesome exhibit on Cleveland Police and Crimes. A little gory in spots since they detailed a case where a guy got blown up by the Mob. This is also a must-stop for car enthusiasts. There are two floors of vintage cars. I had seen them when I visited the museum with my parents in 1989, but wasn't very interested in it all. There was also a cool costume exhibit on Cocktail Party dresses (and the cocktail mixers from the time). Made me want to put on a dress, invite 8 friends over, and drink two drinks (any more would be bad!) while listening to Space Age Bachelor Pad by that guy who just died (Esquivel).

Cool Thing #4: Ok, people might laugh at this, but we had an awesome time at the Macaroni Grille. Or whatever it's called. We don't have a huge selection of restaurants out here in Jamestown. So I get unnaturally excited about the Olive Garden now and other chain restaurants. Thank God I can get to Rochester once in awhile and have REAL food from non-chain places like Sinbad's, Aladdin's, Selena's, California Rollin', etc. But we had a good time gorging ourselves, drinking Bellini's, making faces at our bitchy waittress, and.. again.. eating way too much food.

I think that sums up the trip. One night was spent drinking too many "G&T"'s.. well, two on my part was more than enough to make me silly. All good times. I'm totally exhausted. I'm supposed to be writing a press release that's going to go out tomorrow but I have no drive to even look at it. Damn all the meetings I have tomorrow!! The worst part of it all is that I found out I can access my email from work at home. That means I never have an excuse. That's bad.