Wedding Shower Weekend!

Whacky weather lately, huh? On Saturday, despite the unpredictable weather, the day was made extra bright when we celebrated Julie and Ryan's Wedding Shower with friends, family and fun bridesmaids!

I am so honored to be a part of Julie and Ryan's special day, and this weekend we kicked off the festivities!

Bridal Party!



The Happy Couple!

Her pink and black color theme carried throughout, from table cloths to pink lemonade!





JP looking like the beautiful bride-to-be
Me being a creeper winking at someone in the background

Adorbs and Delish!

The wedding shower included sweet treats, beautiful flower surprises from the groom, and fun "how well do you know each other" couples' quiz. They looked happy and relaxed and it gave the bridesmaids a chance to catch up and get to know new faces too.

 

Later that evening, we headed down to W. 25th to have some girls-only fun at the bachelorette party! It started with dinner and drinks in the private room at Bar Cento.  *Shout out to Moira for taking care of us!* :)

OMG! JP is getting Married!

Best Bachelorette Party Gift!

After dinner, we had a whirlwind of a time at Market Garden Brewery, awkward encounters at

ABC Tavern and finished the night with an unexpected rain storm on the patio at Nano Brew. It was laughing, fun, not-THAT-obnoxious-party, time. I must say, I'm thankful that Julie is such a laid-back, witty,  sweet, and go-with-the-flow gal. Call her anti-Bridezilla! Yes, I am one grateful bridesmaid (and taking notes for future reference!)

And big thanks to the co-maids of honor Gina and Emily for throwing a rocking wedding shower/bachelorette weekend! Pyaw!

Color me bad!

What was your best/most memorable bachelorette party? Have any fun/cool bridal party tips or traditions I should note for the big day?  Share your positive thoughts!

Weekend Recap: Reunions, Brunching, Flea Market, and Rum in CLE!

On Friday, I met up with two of my ol gal pals, Catie and Marie for some good times. I was in for quite the healthy/delicious meal at Catie's house when she made an outrageously good vegan pizza. I'm so lucky to have an awesome friend who also is a dietian and fabulous chef! Triple threat :)

Vegan pizza made with cornmeal,
buffalo tempe, peppers, onions, black olives, sauce
 and deliciousness!

And then I met Marie out for a drink in Ohio City and received too many unsolicited pick-up lines.... Ayayayi! So it was an interesting start to the weekend sans any photos. (Probably the best for everyone's sake). When I'm with Marie...shenanigans always ensue along with lots of laughs :)

Saturday, I met up with more gal pals for brunch and a day full of adventures around CLE! We started off by brunching at Stone Town, which opened up this past fall in the bottom of 668. Good southern style eggs and fried green tomatoes! Yum!

Post-brunch, we headed over to CLE's old Slovenian neighborhood in St. Clair-Superior to check out the new Clevleand Flea.

 

"So what is The Cleveland Flea? Part urban treasure hunt, part culinary adventure, part maker center. An organized maze of experiences, The Cleveland Flea celebrates the thrill of the hunt and discovery of new to you treasures." source.

JAM packed space with flea market finders

Gina and Kayla showing off their treasures!

From hand-crafted jewelry, presents for your pets, soap, clothes, glassware, vintage finds, and upcycled goods...this place has tons of treasures! It was fun for me to visit an emerging neighborhood that's being revitalized by shining up the good ol stuff, creating new arts and crafts, and showcasing CLE's ethnic history too!


And speaking of making history, Portside Distillery is making some (rum) waves on the East Bank of the Flats. The girls and I continued our adventure by going on a wild goose chase to find the new rum distillery. Although they have no marked signs on the outside of the building, it was a welcoming fun place that kinda made me feel like I needed to do the secret knock at the door to get into the underground bootlegger :)  The area around the distillery will certainly transform once its neighbors in the new Ernst & Young building move in. More booming business!

We found 'em!

 

The place brews up some hoptastic IPA and some fancy rum too! Personally, I am more of an IPA gal myself, but after learning more about the process of distilling alcohol and getting a fresh taste of it too, I certainly have a new appreciation for rum!



Dan, one of the owners + silver rum + me cheesing

Dan, who is one of the three owners, gave us an incredible tour and explanation of how the process works to distill alcohol. He has a background in physics and chemistry but an affinity for good booze, so he does this as his hobby! How cool! And he was dropping some serious knowledge bombs on us, accompanied with a deep love for CLE, and goofy humor.



Dan explaining the chemical process--
and the copperpot that was made in neighboring Tremont!

Gina + Portside Silver Rum

 The Portside Distillery is slated to open a restaurant and bar on site too, which will be another exciting addition to CLE, and one of a kind venue. To stay updated be sure to like them on Facebook.

On Sunday, we hit one of my favorite brunch places, Touch Supper Club, for a reunion with friends and familia from JCU. Marie now lives in DC and we'll be going down to visit her in 2 weeks to celebrate Steph's bachelorette party. And well Kay, he's the one that everybody loves :)

Marie, me, Kay & Steph getting our brunch on!

 

 

The Touch Breakfast Bowl. Never fails me!

 Always great to catch up with friends over some the best brunch :) The rest of my plans for Sunday post-brunch didn't end up panning out how I intended, but it certainly was an action packed weekend of reunions, brunching, flea market discoveries, and wild goose chases for rum that maybe it's best if I sit back and digest the weekend!

Have you been to the CLE Flea? What's your best flea market find? Have you ever gone on a brewery or distillery tour? What's your favorite local CLE drink?

 

Hope you have a good week, kids! Keep JAMmin!

Weekend Recap: Spontaneous Spring Adventures in CLE



Do you ever have one of those perfectly planned weekends in which the plans suddenly fall apart? Ughh..usually I get super bummed (hello, I plan events, what do you expect?) But thankfully, with the changing spring wind, the spontaneous spring adventures blew into CLE when I least expected it...

 

On Friday, I got the unexpected call to go and check out the newly opened World of Beer in Lakewood. The place boasts 52 beers on tap and 538(ish) bottles of beer (heavenly for any craft beer lover, and yes... I asked the bartender precisely how many bottles of beer they had...)

I met one of my besties, Kay, as an unplanned night unfolded. Kay was my very first friend I made in college and everytime we get to see each other it's always a fun evening of reminiscing, joke-cracking, and catching up :)



J + Kay

After catching up with Kay, I was venturing back home until I (literally) ran into these crazy cats. What a lovely surprise! As the weather begins to turn, the kinetic Cleveland energy intensifies! Random nights out and about culminate into unforgettably fun times.

Why hello der: Brett, Jenna, me, Ryan and Julie

While enjoying the live music playing, I turned around and asked some fellow patrons to take our above pic.... turned out Jenna knew one from college that she hadn't seen in nearly 10 years. What are the chances? Only in CLE!

Jenna givung thumbs up. Andrew the awesome picture-taker. Josh the former college classmate.

We had a long chat about CLE and how it's a great place for young people. You just have to be willing to go out and have an adventure. People who complain about CLE aren't really seeking positive change or new experiences...conclusion? Quit your slackin, and make sh*t happen!! :)

3 cheers to unplanned nights with old friends, new friends, dinner, drinks and live music!!!

And how about this new weather that's (finally) popped!?!?! I woke up to the birds chirping and sunshine on Sunday. So what's a girl to do? Get her spring gardening on! I went out and grabbed some bio-degradable starter pots along with some zinnia & marigold seeds. (throwback to the awesome spring seedling science projects in grade school..ya-yuh!)

After doing some planting and going to town cleaning up the garden beds, I headed over to Market Garden Brewery to meet Evan and keep soaking up the SUN-day fun day and Vitamin D on the patio!!! Ahhh gloriousness!

EV Loves CLE!!!

New season bridges new development in CLE!

After Market Garden we cruised over to Tremont to get our sugar fix during the springy Sunday at Tremont Scoops! It just opened along Professor Ave. and is serving up some flavored favorites with a side of excellent customer service! I'm pretty sure I squealed 1) because I was so excited/proud my gal pals opened up this adorable place! 2) they had my FAAAAAAAVORITE ice cream there and I can never seem to find it anywhere or in stores.

Meet Nikki and Ann
two of the lovely ladies from the team at Tremont Scoops!

Biiiiiiiiig cheese! So happy that I found some Superman ice cream

From trying new watering holes, fun run-ins with friends, happy spring seed plantings, soaking up the sunshine on patios, to discovering that my fave childhood ice cream is being served up nearby....I'd say it was one happy unplanned surprise after another during this spring weekend in CLE! Those are the best :)

 

 

How was your weekend? What new surprise did you recently uncover in CLE?

 

Tranformer Station in Ohio City, YOLO & Super Bowl Sunday, Baby!

Have you heard? The Transformer Station in Ohio City is now OFFICIALLY open! Woohoo! As an art-lover and Cleveland history nerd, I was thrilled to learn that the Cleveland Museum of Art would be opening a "satellite" branch, so to speak, on the west side.

"The Transformer Station is owned and operated by the Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Foundation in order to share work from the Bidwell collection and to inspire creativity and innovation in our community. The Bidwell Foundation has agreed to loan the facility for six months of every year to the Cleveland Museum of Art which will develop original contemporary art exhibitions as an extension of its programming in its home on University Circle." 

The opening exhibit, "Bridging Cleveland" by Vaughn Wascovich was the perfect choice of beautiful artwork to "bridge" the rugged industrial history of Cleveland to modern day art housed in a restored industrial facility. Rust belt chic! "The Transformer Station was built in 1924, and is one of sixteen substations built by Cleveland’s one-time private transit provider, the Cleveland Railway Company. The substation converted power for the Detroit Avenue Streetcar Line, which carried 19 million riders annually at its peak"(source).

Innerbelt Bridge

See what I mean?  Eerily stunning. Raw beauty. Cleveland captured. Bridging our past to the present day.

my favorite!

CLE love!

You should totally check out the Transformer Station in Ohio City, if you haven't already. It's a treat to have such a reputable arts organization now on the west side! Appreciate CLE beauty and art, both past and present!

After checking out the exhibit I headed over to Battery Park Wine Bar for some dinner and a glass of vino with my Mom! I'll tell you what, a girls night with your mom as an adult is thebomb.com! I'm lucky she's awesome, and hilarious!

cotton candy winter sky!

 As we made our menu choices, my Mom noticed the catchy pop culture company menu tagline. YOLO. Of course, she wanted to know what it stood for. "You Only Live Once," I told her. She loved it. She then dropped the best knowledge bomb dating advice a mother could possibly offer and it went like this, "Jessie, you're mature for your age. Don't date anyone under age 30, because they're all just a bunch of pant-peers. YOLO."

I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. Man, I love her. Yes, crybabies, please keep it moving!

Battery Park Wine Bar
Grape, camembert cheese, pesto, & balsamic reduction pizza...YUM!

Our delicious menu choices! 

Battery Park Wine Bar
Stuffed grape leaves...always a big fan

We had a wonderfully good time and I was home and in bed by 9pm. Sometimes, those are the best weekend nights!!!

Pancakes, baby, yeah!!!

I started off my Sunday early and grabbed brunch with my besties and nieces. Seriously, I can't get over how quickly they grow after each week that I see them. They always bring me back down to earth, and really remind me of that "YOLO" theme. The world is their oyster! (...or  chocolate chip pancake for that matter!)

Open wide!

Sharing is caring! And these little love bugs always brighten up my day! They are officially becoming big girls and even using fancy utensils. Haha.

Get it, Chloe!!

Got the sassy smile down, sister :)

Post-brunch with the babes... I headed out to my sister's for her annual Super Bowl Party. Everyone brought their favorite Pinterest recipes (yes, finally made something we pinned!) I meant to take a picture of all the pinned party apps...but let's be honest, I hoovered that stuff down! Gina's Slow Cooked Pulled Chicken Sliders were a HUGE hit. Get the recipe here! And follow her BeautyFoodie finds on Pinterest.

Hahahaha!

As we chowed down, cracked jokes, soaked in the creative advertising during the commercials, and (semi)-watched the game, all of us girls were anxiously awaiting Beyonce's stellar redemption half-time performance. And seriously she worked it. <so much she blew out the stadium power, flipped the "off switch" from all those Bootylicious moves, insert the endless punchlines you read on social media during the power outage> As the guys all yelled at the TV because of the game delays, compared stats and checked their squares...we cheered... GO TEAM BEYONCE!

Left to right: Kayla, Gina, Jenna, me, Gizelle and Donna (Julie, pictured in spirit)
Go Team Beyonce!!!

Did you dig the Beyonce/Destiny's Child performance? I wish I could rock a Super Bowl dance routine/performance post-baby like that. YOLO, right? Work it, girl!

 And in case you live under a rock...catch the 2013 Super Bowl Halftime Performance here! How did you spend your Super Bowl Sunday? Have you been to any of Cleveland's awesome new art exhibits? Share your thoughts! And keep JAMmin!

Wordless Wednesday: A Christmas Party For a Cause!

Christmas Ales
Photo by JAMinCLE

 

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Christmas cookies
Image source

 

 

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Your best ugly Christmas sweater, seriously, does this come in my size???
Prize will be awarded for "best" dressed!! So bring your game!
Image source


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A Christmas Party for a cause!

Join myself and other Cleveland Foodbank: YP Pantry members to indulge in some holiday  festivities, meet other young professionals, learn about the YP Pantry mission & support a great cause!
Monday, December 17
6pm-9pm at Bier Markt
15% of your bill will be donated back to the Cleveland Foodbank
Register now for the event by clicking here and get all the event details

 Hope to see you there and share in the holiday cheer!

 

**Full disclosure, I am a Council Member of the YP Pantry, all opinions expressed are 100% my own**