Its a Hero

Buffalo

The Little Mermaid, Retro Dog, and a Pi(e) Day Celebration // A Wrap Up

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Yesterday, after staring at my planner for what seemed like hours, I was amazed to see that we’re nearing the end of March. Amazed because it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Remy Bea’s first birthday — but it was two whole months ago!

Every single day with little kids feels like the.longest.day.ever. Everyday is jam-packed with commitments, errands, and the mundane; but somehow, we blink, and another week, month, and year have passed.

A dear friend of mine recently told me she thinks I’m crazy for keeping my schedule as jam-packed as it is; that I leave very little room for ‘down time.’ But also, that she commends me for keeping my kids active and involved in things — whether that be karate, playdates, or weekly trips to the art museum!

And this past week was no different. Well, minus one little thing:

I sent my husband on a Guys Trip to Wilmington, North Carolina to golf for 5 and a half days.

He had a blast, and we did a great job at surviving! 🙂

Here’s what we’ve been up to in the last week:

  • I took Ari to see The Little Mermaid ballet at the Akron Civic Theater. Despite my child’s affinity for all things Disney and all things artsy, he was bored. Cotton candy helped. Eh, win some, lose some, friends.

 

  • Before our ballet excursion, Ari and I went on lunch date at our favorite spot — Retro Dog! I know I’ve talked about Retro Dog previously, but it’s seriously one of our favorite spots. They serve hot dogs, burgers, fries, onion rings, custard, and beer from Thirsty Dog Brewing. The couple that owns it is originally from Buffalo and their hot dogs are a Buffalo staple — Sahlen’s!
  • Ari’s karate session ended with a bang — or a HIYA! But not to fret, T-Ball starts this week. (PS. I’ve been informed that of all of the local leagues, we signed Ari up for the most intense and most serious league in our area. Ooooops. Makes sense since they have two practices this week alone… for t-ball….).

  • Pi(e) day was a success! Thank you, Sweet Mary’s! Your French Toast Pie did not disappoint!
    PS. Can it be Pi Day every day!?!

  • After months of false starts, Miss Bea finally started (and kept) walking. She’s taken steps before — up to 8 in a row — but this was the first time she just kept going. And she hasn’t stopped! Hooray!

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  • One of the highlights of my weekend was getting a fabulous bright yellow cup from Starbucks. It made the gloomy weather completely worth it.

Guys. We survived. We survived!! Yes, we missed Chad; but we did relatively okay with being a single-parent household for a few days. It proved, both, that he can get away and have fun, and that we could do it — that we could keep on a schedule and power through whatever the week throws at us.

And this week I’m ready to take on my own happiness, ya’ll. Here’s my Weekly Mantra:

TGIM, friends! Don’t stress this Monday — embrace it!! xo

Buffa-LOVE // Part 2 // Ohhh Canada!!!

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I promise we did more than just eat on our mini-vacay (although from Part 1 I can understand how you might assume otherwise)! I’ve been trying to go through pictures since last week and I couldn’t get through all of them until today. What a WEEK! 🙂

Saturday, our first official (and only) FULL day in town, we woke up bright and early (7am) and grabbed a quick bite at the hotel before heading out to Niagara Falls!

I spent most of my young adult years frollicking back and forth across the rainbow bridge and drinking at the age of 19 on Clifton Hill, so I should be a pro at customs. But for whatever reason I FREAK OUT every time I see customs.

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Example: One time I was coming back across the bridge to the US side during a day trip (no drinking involved). The customs officer asked me if I had anything to drink. Instead of responding with a straight forward “No,” I said “Just some fruit punch!” super goofy and cheery. Tip: Customs does NOT like jokes!

Travelling across the border with a baby and a passport in my maiden name made me super nervous. But it was a breeze getting into my fave neighbor country!

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We parked on Clifton Hill and walked by the falls for about an hour — we gazed, we ooh’d, we ahh’d, and snapped pictures. In the end, that was pretty much all we wanted to do on The Hill. Cause the mini-Vegas-style attractions just aren’t really our scene right now. Instead of heading back across the bridge to the states, we decided to keep driving north to Toronto!

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It took about an hour and a half, but Moosh ended up napping for most of the drive. If you’ve never been, the city of Toronto is beautiful! And the drive into is equally as awesome. I mean, the highway is high above the city and you drive directly through downtown Toronto.

Chad used a map (my dad would be so proud — No GPS required!) to find a place where he wanted to grab some lunch. We went to the St Lawrence market and had a peameal bacon sandwich. It was delicious! Even Moosh loved it!

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Apparently Chad knew that this peameal bacon sammich thing is a legit Canada thing… But I had no idea. If it isn’t poutine, I don’t know about it. (PS. we def had the most amazing poutine in the universe in Toronto!) Mostly St. Lawrence Market just reminded me of West Side Market in CLE! It’s a little smaller though. And much more busy (if you can believe that!) stlawmarket

In addition to hitting up the crazy market in downtown Toronto, we walked around downtown for hours. HOURS!! Ari was not thrilled…

Hence this photo…

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He loved the street performers! I snapped this picture a little late, but Moosh was totally enjoying a little drum performance!

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But we loved Toronto (except for the random/crazy mall-ish area) full of religious radicals screaming at each other about Lord knows what (literally). It was a lot of travel, but I’m so glad we got out of Clifton Hill to see a bit more culture!

By the time we arrived back at our hotel, Moosh was ready for bed. And so were we. All completely exhausted.

Thanks, Canada, for the awesome day!

 

Buffa-LOVE // Part 1

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I spent the better half of my young adult years in New York State. First in Buffalo, then in Syracuse. Basically everywhere but NYC. And if you think that NYC is the ONLY place to be in the great state of NY, you’re wrong. You’re completely wrong.

Last weekend Chad, Ari & I made the trip back to Western New York for a mini-vacay! To say I was excited about the trip would be a huge understatement. In fact, I hardly slept the night before. I couldn’t wait to get back!

I’m lucky to still have great friends who live in the area who hooked us up with an awesome deal at a hotel. So we stayed at the Hampton Inn in Williamsville — a quaint and adorable little town just east of downtown Buffalo.

As soon as we got in we immersed ourselves in Buffalo “culture.” I’m embarrassed to say (well, not really. Not much embarrasses me) that much of the Buffalo “culture” I was excited for was the food. Ohhhhh the FOOD!!! Buffalo food is definitely not healthy. Not by any means!

Buffalo is home of, well, the Buffalo wing. Or as New York knows it — the chicken wing. Chad & I have both been to the Anchor Bar (famous as the original chicken wing location), but neither of us had ever been to it’s main ‘competitor’ — Duffs!

So our first order of business — Duffs Wings. All I have to say is OMG OMG OMG. Their wings completely blew Anchorbar out of the water! I seriously didn’t think it was possible. But I’m a complete Duffs convert.

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Chad wonders how I spent so much time in Buffalo but never went to Duffs. Truthfully? I think I have been there. But I don’t think I had any wings (how is that possible??).

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Moosh thought the food was kinda awesome, too! He ate pretty much all of my french fries (so I ate all of Chad’s!). The wings were so crispy! Yum!!

Later that night (after a long walk and a swim!) we ordered an awesome pizza from La Nova and sipped on some Loganberry!

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Over the next couple of days we managed fit in some poutine (french fries, cheese curds & gravy for the WIN!!), sponge candy and Mighty Taco! — things that are native to that region! Chad said that the tacos were just ‘ok’… but he doesn’t know good fast food. 😉 ha!

I swear we did more than eat during our trip! More to come!

the most wonderful time of the year.

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How I know my favorite season is here:

1. Pumpkin everything. And. I. Love.it.

2. I no longer am getting funny looks for wearing 3 layers of clothing. Note: People do not think cardigans are appropriate summer attire.

3. We are five days away from my birthday. Yep, the big 2-6 is upon us!

4. I don’t recall the leaves changing color, but suddenly fallen leaves are all over our yard.

5. I want to do nothing more than cozy up with BF near the fire and watch awesome Fall TV, like Glee. Another sidenote: Holy heck I love that show.

6. We are thisclose to my fave holiday, Thanksgiving. Which means I am inches from going to Denver for the first time for Thanksgiving.

7. Football is back and the Bills are still losing, and I still love them. And I know have an excuse to drink beer and eat hotdogs on a Sunday again. Win!

8. Chili and amazing breads are back to being a staple in our diets.

9. Gray skies: they are just comforting this time of year.

10. Marking the anniversary of another year with BF. Yes, this just got a little cheesy. And now it’s done.

This has been part of Mama Kats Writers Workshop!
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Fall is for football!

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So I have already “failed” at one of my goals. And by “failed” I mean altered.

We decided against going to the Akron vs. Syracuse game this weekend. There was a chance for rain and it was suppose to be pretty windy.

However, Thursday night we accepted an invite to go to the last preseason game of the Cleveland Browns. They played the Chicago Bears. We had a blast!

We had Legends Club tickets and great seats. And if we hadn’t had to wait 2+ hours in traffic beforehand, it would have been an excellent experience. But… we did. That was the only less-than-awesome part of the night!

It was my first game in this new {to me it’s still new} stadium. I have to say, the stadium is gorgeous, but the ticket prices are outrageous. Yes, our tickets were free because we went with friends… but the tickets were $285 a piece! A piece! Insanity.

The Cleveland Browns aren’t even good and they charge that much for 300 level tickets? This should be illegal. Just saying.

Perhaps I will go to another Browns football game. But I prefer Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo. Not only do my Bills play there, but the seats are cheaper and the fans know they shouldn’t dish out mega bucks to see their fave team lose.

totally down.

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I’m bummed. I’m super super bummed.

I was going to leave for Ohio last night. But there was a storm last night in Buffalo (the city I have to drive through to get there). Blizzard like conditions. White-outs. Zero visibility in places.

My idea? Leave in the early morning. So I woke up at 4am, packed up my car, and headed west. The weather in Syracuse is fine. Very little snow & clear roads… well, when I got to Rochester, I decided to tune my iPhone to a Buffalo radio station.

Well it’s a good thing I did, cause they had just announced that the interstate 90 (the interstate that goes from Syracuse to Cleveland) was closed west of Buffalo. CLOSED!

So I made an executive decision decided to turn back around and head back to Syracuse.

So no BF this weekend. No family Christmas party. Nothing. I’m so blah and bummed right now…

and it will be another two weeks before I attempt to make another trip back to Ohio for Christmas. Yes, I used the word… attempt. Nothing is guaranteed in this weather. And now I have to go another TWO weeks before getting to see BF.

Brace yourselves… it’s gonna be a rough one.