When you read you begin with A-B-C

So there’s been this old school email-chain-style quiz going around the blogosphere.  I used to love these types of quizzes when I was a youngin’ so I couldn’t pass up this opportunity to play along.  Hope you enjoy… let me know if you’ve played along too!

Yes, I’m late to the game, but I wanted to play the blogger ABC Game that I saw some bloggers do this week.

A. Age: 24.  Twice the age I used to be when I would fill these surveys out.  Can you spot me in this pic??

B. Bed size: Full.  It’s cozy.

C. Chore you hate: Putting anything away.  Laundry, dishes, etc.  (Robert, do NOT weigh in on this )

D. Dogs: Want.  Have 3.  Once, my dog Bailey had 11 puppies.  ELEVEN!  Those were happy times.    I miss my dogs every day, and dream of getting a puppy of my own to love.  *sigh*

E. Essential start to your day: Brekkie and some tea.  The tea is absolutely non-negotiable.  It doesn’t necessarily have to have caffiene, it just needs to be warm and delicious.

F. Favorite color: Purple!!

G. Gold or silver: How about white gold?

H. Height: 5’4.

I. Instruments you play: I played the clarinet in elementary school, but sucked at it.  I never liked singing, unless I’m in the car.  Or lip syncing the words of every song to Robert.

J. Job title: Senior Accountant at Kabletown…

K. Kids: Currently I prefer children that I can spoil, but give back to their parents when they become too loud and whiny.  One day I’d like to have 3ish children.  Robert might disagree with that number…

L. Live: Grew up in NJ, living in Philadelphia Suburbs.  Gotta love the Mid-Atlantic.

M. Mom’s name: Ann

N. Nicknames: Grandpa calls me Casseranda Pacasandra.  A lot of people call me “cass.”  In high school, they called me “Sarah.”

O. Overnight hospital stays: N/A

P. Pet peeve: I have to narrow down to just one pet peeve?  Oy.

Q. Quote from a movie: Pretty much anything from 10 Things I Hate About You. (RIP Heath Ledger)  “I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”

R. Right or left handed: Right.

S. Siblings: Younger Brother, Michael… soon to be Sister-in-law, Corinne (and FBIL, her husband Ramie!)

T. Time you wake up: Gym morning? 5:30.  Other weekday?  6:45.  Weekend?  Late.

U. Underwear: Comfy

V. Vegetables you dislike: Mushrooms, if they count.  Also not a fan of Swiss Chard.

W. What makes you run late: I’m late all the time and I’m not sure why.  Sometimes I think I even get distracted by floating dust particles in the air.  Whoops.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth, and arm X2.

Y. Yummy food you make: Robert says everything I make is yummy.  (Just kidding.)  He’s been liking some of my soups lately, especially the Black Bean Soup

Z. Zoo- favorite animal: Giraffe!

Did you play the ABC game?  Send me your link!

Time Machine Tuesday–Cleveland Rocks, Part 2

Back to the Cleve!  When we had left off, I had spent Tuesday evening at happy hour, but missed out on some yummy food.  I was determined to make Wednesday different! I had heard that the Rock and Roll HOF was open late on Wednesdays, so the new friends that I made at Happy Hour and I made our way down to the lakefront. 

The HOF was so cool!  We saw Johnny Cash’s tour bus…

these neon signs from the Gwen & Moby “Southside” video below (does anyone else remember this song from the 90′s?)

Onto the third track in our soundtrack… flashback!

…the iconic Weezer sign… and gosh, so much more.  There was even a whole Bruce Springsteen exhibit, which I appreciated as a native New Jersey-er!

Plus we got to see an amazing sunset!

Afterwards, we continued our food tour at The Chocolate Bar, on Euclid Ave.  I was torn in between getting the “Chocolate Baguette” – toasted baguette. smooth dark chocolate. coarse sea salt. served with an olive oil and chocolate dipping sauce, and the “Chocolate Bar Pasta” – fresh pasta tossed with white chocolate cream, fresh basil, white pepper and white wine.  I decided to either go big, or go home and went with the pasta!  It was good.. but not quite what I was expecting.  It was similar to alfredo sauce, but needed a little bit more salt and pepper.  Still great, especially when enjoyed next to a Chocolate Mint martini

The last day of the food tour of Cleveland was by far the best.  We had gotten out of training early, and on the way back to the hotel, I swung by my favorite Cleveland establishment, Phoenix Coffee.  I don’t think I’d mentioned yet how much I loved this place.  It was cute and funky, the staff and I were bff by the time Friday rolled around, and they had the best coconut tea I’d ever tried. 

On the walk over, I realized that the sun was actually out (it had been raining off and on all week) and I wanted to keep on walking.  The staff at Phoenix directed me down to the waterfront, and off I went.

Fourth track to our soundtrack:

With a cup of tea in hand, and the new Jimmy Eat World album playing on my iPod, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to explore the city.  I had come into Cleveland with a bad attitude, I’ll admit.  But the city totally won me over.  Everyone was nice, the food was good, and the city was actually gorgeous.

And the day didn’t end there!  Stay tuned for one more post… one of the best meals of my life!

Have there been any cities that have caught your attention when you didn’t think they would be much to write home about?

The best thing that happened this weekend:

Robert and I are standing, talking in the bedroom.  He’s about to take a shower so I start to load Pandora on my phone so I can have a Lady Gaga dance party while he’s in the shower.  Pandora loads faster than usual, and in the middle of conversation, this happens:

Upon hearing this voice coming from nowhere (he didn’t realize I turned on Pandora), Robert freezes and goes “what is that?” 

[source]

Gaga proceeds with “Don’t look at me like that” and omg, guys, you’d think we were being invaded.

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The look on his face was priceless. I think I laughed for 20 minutes.

Edited to add: the only thing funnier than the scenario above would be Robert’s reaction to this post.  Priceless.