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travel

goodbye, weekend!

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Happy weekend, my loves!

I had an entire post planned about how relaxing of a weekend I hoped this would be.

But just when you think you’ve got a plan, the world spins you backwards and you’re trying to make sure you hang on!

My weekend will be extremely short. While I am saddened by this, I am actually a bit excited to be leaving for a business trip with my coworker, HT, on Sunday. We will be flying to LA and staying for a few days.

Now I’ve got a lot of things to do before I leave tomorrow!

Like take Oscar Puppy to the vet.
And do laundry.
And clean.
And pack my carry-on {the only luggage I’m bringing}.
And make sure I remember the little things like my phone charger and contact solution.
And make sure I remember the big things like my drivers license and my MacBook.

And spend as much quality time as possible with BF before I leave him for a few days!

What are your plans for the weekend?

whitewater wrap-up. a week late.

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I cannot believe it’s taken me an entire week to talk about our whitewater rafting trip last weekend! But it has been a crazy week of recovering… You’ll understand in a minute.

When we arrived at the campground for River Expeditions we found out that we and 700 of our closest friends were camping that same weekend. That’s right. Seven.hundred.people. We found what appeared to be a quiet camping area. After all, it was 10PM, I’d been up since 5AM, we had just driven for 5 hours and we had a 9AM rafting time the next morning.

We set up camp, walked to the only wash house {700 people, half of which I’m assuming were female, and about 8 bathroom stalls and ten showers? Gross.}, and decided to get some sleep to prepare for a physically tough next day.

Sleep never happened. The whole campground was loud, but we had a group of hillbillies next to us who were screaming all night. Screaming instead of talking. When they were only feet from each other. Screaming about Natty Light.

Not even our Tylenol PM we had taken could keep us asleep. And I’m pretty sure in a drugged-up haze, I told BF I wanted to throw a brick at the hillbillies heads. He asked me where I’d get the brick. I ignored him.

At around 2AM we made an executive decision to sleep in our car. Our itty-bitty, two-door, Honda Civic. So we did.

The next morning we checked in for rafting and went directly to the 20-minute breakfast line. Surely they must have something delicious if all of those people were waiting for a continental breakfast, right?

Wrong. Oh so wrong. But I’m not even going to complain about the food. I had fruit that we brought instead. What I’m going to complain about is mine, and quite a few others, request for water.

There were two options: from-concentrate OJ or coffee. Here’s the deal. Recent stomach issues and coffee or juice before going out on a 6 or 7 hour long trip in the great outdoors? Not gonna happen. So hence my question about why the water from the soda machine wasn’t working. Her response: We are putting more water in the juice. Um, ok, but what about just water? Didn’t happen.

The rafting trip itself was incredible. We were in a boat with a great group of people. There’s something about being put in a situation where you really have to rely on people around you to instantly make a group of strangers close. I loved it.

Post-rafting we ran into one of my favorite bloggers, Analiese from Tulips and Tea, and her husband Jason! This was by far, my favorite part of the trip. We hung out, fireside, for a few hours and had a lot of laughs! I hope to meet up with her again and hope our paths cross in the future!

So all-in-all, the trip was a success. But we are now recovering. BF has bronchitis and I am just trying to stay healthy.


However, we will never, ever go back to River Expeditions. The outfitter we used last year, ACE Resort, was awesome and the only place I would truly recommend to anyone. You can see my old post here to see the differences in trips.

proud to call ohio home.

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In the wake of all of the LeBron drama, I figured I’d let you all know about the awesome things that Northeast Ohio {Cleveland AND Akron} have going for them:

1. Cleveland Browns, Cavs, and the Indians. Yes, professional sports teams. They may not be winning sports teams, but they are professional sports teams. Some places {clears throat — Syracuse} aren’t lucky enough to have a single professional team.

2. The Flats. Lots of people keep themselves entertained day in and day out in the flats!

3. Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Not to mention the Akron Art Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I’ve visited zoos in other cities, and I don’t think Cleveland realizes what an awesome zoo we have. It is huge!

4. Fantastic restaurants. Not only is it home to Michael Symon’s Lola, but also to Jonathan Sawyer’s The Greenhouse, Melt Bar and Grilled {which was recently featured on Man Vs. Food}, Chrissie Hynde’s Vegiterranian, and my personal Akron fave, Crave {which is where BF took me on our first date}.

5. We are within short driving distance to Cedar Point and Kalahari. I’ve not yet been to Kalahari but have been begging BF to take me. We are also a short car ride from Put-In-Bay, a great weekend destination.

6. In addition to fun attractions, we have an awesome hospital system right at our fingertips. The Cleveland Clinic is incredible.

7. Cleveland Yoga. By far the most amazing yoga studio I have been to. The community and the practice are so strong!

8. BF and I and {most of} our families and friends live here. What else could a girl ask for?

But really Northeast Ohio is just a great community with great people and plenty of things to do and see. I’ve been here and there and everywhere, but I’m still proud to say I’m from Northeast Ohio.

spas with car-wash-like showers.

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On day three of our Maine adventure, we had scheduled a couples massage in the hotels ridiculously awesome spa.

We slept in, went down to the spa, changed into our super comfy robes, and met in the couples massage area.

{image here}

It was a very relaxing hour. I had a deep-tissue massage while BF had a hot stone massage. It was his first massage ever and who am I kidding, only my second and he said that he wants to get one every month now.

But even getting one every month would not compare to the spa at the hotel.

Post-massage, we went back into our respective mens and womens sanctuaries where we spent some time in the steam room relaxing.

Post-steam room, I was a hot, sweaty mess! So to the shower I went.

Except this wasn’t like any shower I had ever seen. It was pretty much like a spaceship 😛 I had to program the shower and then water came from everywhere! Rain shower from above and spray from every wall! Super fantastic.

Post-shower I cleaned myself, dried my hair, and met BF out in the spa area, where he immediately asked me, “did you use the shower? It was like a car wash!” He’s so silly, that one!

What a great way to start the day, though. Spa massages, steam room, and relaxing shower… Certainly an experience we will not forget!

PS. Thanks for reading my sporadic posts this week. This upcoming week will probably not be much better, but stick with me! There’s just a lot going on.

seafood, more seafood. and boots.

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Thanks for all the great comments on part one of our Maine trip! Sorry it was so lengthy. FYI, this one will be too.

After BF and I checked into our hotel and took a walk to the beach, we decided it was about time to get our seafood on! I mean, that’s pretty much the joy of going to Maine, right? All the lobster you can eat?

So we headed to the Lobster Shack at Two Lights {which was oh-so-conveniently located about 3 minutes down the road from our hotel}.

This place was a must-see spot from pretty much everyone we spoke to. It was right on the ocean and definitely had character… and delicious food!
We each had a lobster roll boat, which consisted of the lobster roll {the bun in the back of the ‘boat’ with lobster and mayo}, fries and cole slaw. Delicious! So delicious that we went there the first day AND our last day in Maine! {True story}

Besides sleeping in in Maine, we also ate a lot more seafood.

BF with his lobster meal!


I wanted lobster, but I wanted to BF to enjoy his {if I would have gotten lobster too, he would have ended up pretty much shelling mine as well… as he always does… he’s fantastic :)}

We walked around the Old Port in downtown Portland and also went to Freeport to see all the Outlets. Well, specifically, the LL Bean Flagship store! We didn’t really buy much of anything {except for another yoga mat from Nike and a pair of shoes from LL Bean}.


{That’s a giant boot, folks.}

And we also stopped for whoopie pies. Dang those are good!


{image here}

Portland, Maine :: Road Trip and Hello Hotel!

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Our trip was amazing. Like, straight up incredible.

It only took us about 7.5 hours to get there.

Not bad considering the donut stop and multiple bathroom breaks thanks to my non-existent bladder.

BF and I packed up {I brought about 15 outfits for 4 days; BF brought a tiny bag for his week away from home} and headed out first thing Monday morning.

Our first stop was in Massachusetts. We went to Kanes Donuts, which I earlier discovered while drooling over watching an episode of something or other on the Travel Channel.

I’m not even a big donut eater. I mean, I can’t even remember the last donut I indulged in. But I like road trips with food destinations, so I thought, why not?

{Kanes Donuts}

We bought a half dozen of their famous, hand-rolled little gems!
{Delish!}

After we got out of the Boston area, we drove to our hotel.

I’m not sure if I told you how I heard about this place. It was part of a getaway boutique on RueLaLa. The hotel is generally way out of budget. Way out of budget. But we got a really awesome deal.

Well, BF said on the way, “What if it is just like the Holiday Inn.”

I started to freak. Thinking, “Oh my gosh. What if it is??”

Well it definitely wasn’t.

{Inn By The Sea, Portland, Maine}

Our room was incredible! I have never stayed in a five-star hotel before, and I’ve gotta say, I was extremely impressed. I would recommend the Inn By The Sea to everyone!

{I love this bed. True story.}

{I was taking a moment to just take it all in}

After we sat in shock and awe at our room got settled in, we went for a walk down to the beach. Yes, it was a bit chillier than we would have liked, but it was still incredible.

{me & BF}

Even these first few moments in Maine were fantastic memories.

Next up, part two of our Maine trip!