I was quite the cheerleader today!

It all started off by going to the gym to teach Group Power with J and this lovely lady:

Ms. GreenDogWine!

Sidenote: Doesn’t she look super happy for a Saturday morning? I was a little jealous (mad?) that she looked so perky to be honest. I NEVER look like this in the morning. (it’s true, ask J)

Anyways, I like to believe that I cheered the participants in my class to push themselves to their limit this morning. I know I sure did!

After getting home from class J and I headed out on our bikes to cheer on my fabulous family during their 60 mile walk for the cure! These people are truly amazing – it’s such a great cause. The least I can do is bake them some cookies and cheer them on!

My Uncle Denny set up the “cheer station”, complete with popsicles, candy, water, and a big bowl of ice water with paper towels for people to soak and wipe their faces with. I think the paper towels and popsicles were the biggest hit – they were so grateful.

Here come 2 of the 4!

Cute, right? My Uncle Denny had been waiting all day for my Aunt Pat! This was right around Mile 16 or so for them today so they decided to take a break and visit while we waited for the other 2.

And…..here they come (the 2 smiling in the front)!

I love that I was able to be a part of this experience. I know first hand what a difference it is to have people cheering you on (especially family!). It can be the difference between finishing and finishing strong.

Good job, Ladies!! You are all AWESOME.

I was quite the cheerleader today. I guess when you’re as old as I am this is the only way I’ll ever get to be a cheerleader, huh?

Do you like to participate in races? Run/walk/cheerlead??

To celebrate today being Friday, I thought I’d share with you a few of my favorite things.

1. Jersey Shore!

I secretly heart Vinny…..

He’s kinda dreamy, right? In a fist pumpin, quido kinda way??

2. Warm, homemade bread!

I just discovered Joanne’s blog, Apple Crumbles, and knew right away I wanted to bake the St. Joseph’s bread she made. It goes from this:

To this:

Gorgeous, right? And it is so soft and pillowy inside, just like the bread you get in the bread basket at an italian restaurant. SO GOOD!! Check out Joanne’s blog for the recipe. You’ll thank me.

3. M&M cookies (are you sick of seeing these yet?)!

This time I tried to color them pink, but they came out more flesh colored than anything else (a little weird, I know). I wanted them pink because four of my aunt’s are participating in the 60 Mile Breast Cancer walk this weekend and I’m hoping to give these to them tomorrow as they walk through the city next to us. Pink or not, I think walking 60 miles gives you permission to eat as many cookies as you want! It’s a fact, actually.

4. Running pain free!

The weather finally cooled off a little so J and I headed to the park after my bakefest. J walked Diddy while I went for a run. Yep, 5 miles today, people!!

J caught me on the return route:

I think I’m about to make a comeback.

5. Enjoying a nice walk through a beautiful park with my pup and handsome husband (btw, J totally took this picture without me knowing).

What are a few of your favorite things right now??

……..And it feels so good!!

This picture is from the Father’s Day 5k we ran because I didn’t get one of the 2 of us yesterday, but you get the idea. I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally get my boy back!! This kid has a better social life than I do. I don’t kid. He hadn’t slept at our house since last Wednesday night due to multiple sleepovers at friend’s houses and being with his father for a night!!

The boys looked a little tired when we met halfway for the “exchange” last night:

C’s friend moved about 45 minutes away last year so we meet halfway and do an exchange with the kids so that they can still play with each other. They weren’t tired enough to pass up being silly, though:

I can’t tell you how nice it was to have C home. The house is too quiet without him! The first thing he asked after we got settled in was if we could make more pop. This time him and J made orange.

Here’s the taste test:

Verdict?

This was C’s favorite hands down. He LOVES it!

Looks like we’re 3 for 4 so far. J made the lemonade this past weekend and it was just OK. It tasted a lot like Squirt. Have you ever had Squirt? I’m not a fan. But it’s always in my parent’s fridge – they’re the only people I know who drink it! Hehe.

Ok, I’m off to spend more time with my boys. Today is a rest day and I’m soaking up every minute (Matt, you should try it – it’s divine!  haha).

Man Vs. Food is on tonight (and C’s already asked if we can watch it – I love that my 8 year old is a foodie!!).

What’s the longest you’ve ever been away from your loved one??

Man, I can’t believe it’s after 10:00 already! This day has just FLOWN BY. My work day was very stressful and intense so by the time I got to the gym I was so ready to release my pent up aggression on the participants in my class! No, really, I love them, and class was packed tonight so the energy was buzzin! Mondays seem to always be that way. I think I worked harder today than I have in a long time – does that happen to you? Do you work out harder when you’ve had a bad day?

Anyways, I mentioned yesterday that J and I were going on a Sunday afternoon date! We took Allison mentioning The South Side on her blog a million times (love you, gurl!) as a clue that we should check this place out for ourselves. We’re both glad we did!

The outside was cute. Can you see the “SS” on the gates (for South Side, duh)?

The arrow is pointing to where J and I got seated. It was PERFECT. The weather finally broke in the afternoon and it was 80 degrees with no humidity! It was so nice to sit outside and not have to worry about wiping my forehead with napkins.

We ordered the hummus appetizer to start since we were both starving.

It looks so pretty, doesn’t it? And it was good, just nothing special. Sabra’s got them beat!

I ordered the veggie black bean burger with a side salad and was so impressed:

It wasn’t just a frozen patty warmed up like I find at most places. This thing was homemade with black beans, corn, edamame, and spices! I even said to J “I think this may be the best black bean burger I’ve ever eaten”. And I’ve had my fair share. Trust me, there aren’t exactly a plethora of veggie options at a lot of restaurants, so this is a staple of mine.

Honestly, though, the food could have been terrible and I wouldn’t have cared. It was just the most perfect atmosphere.

J keeps making fun of me because I said at one point “I really like it here”. And I guess I said it with a little bit of a sigh and with enough compassion that I sounded pretty crazy. Hehe.

After our early bird dinner we headed to pick up the other favorite man in my life. He had been with his father for the weekend, and we were taking him straight to his friend’s house for a sleepover (until tomorrow!!). So what kind of mom would I be without stopping for ice cream first?

I didn’t get a good picture of the 2 of us, but just look at this one:

Is it just me, or do we look exactly the same here?? So intense. In my defense, it had been over a year since I had chocolate peanut butter ice cream from Baskin Robbins so I was pretty much in heaven. That cone didn’t stand a chance!

Hope you had a great start to your week!

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor??

How is everyone’s weekend?! Mine has been nice and low key, just how I like it, since it doesn’t happen that often!

Yesterday was C’s last baseball game of the season. Sadly I missed most of the game because I was teaching Group Power, but I did catch the end and get to share in the “end of season celebration”!

Poor guy looks pretty rough here, huh? I felt so bad for the kids – it was one of the hottest and most humid days of summer and they were in heavy t-shirts, high socks, and long pants. They went through that entire orange water cooler in less than an hour and a half!

To celebrate the end of the season, I made C’s favorite cookies for the kids. J actually had a great idea to color them green and use the green and yellow m&m’s on top for the team colors. They were a hit!

The Athletics:

I have to be honest. This was a rough season. If C wants to play again next year, J and I are going to try to get him on a different team with kids from his school. It’s hard for him to play with kids that he doesn’t know very well and only sees during baseball season.

We both let out a sigh of relief that this year is over. It was fun, but it’s also time to move on.

Speaking of a sigh of relief, I ran 4 miles this morning with NO KNEE PAIN whatsoever!!

It was definitely hard, and the humidity killed me, but I’m so ecstatic! I haven’t had a good pain-free run since the Cleveland Marathon, and what a kick in the pants. My endurance is shot. Sheesh, it’s like starting from scratch. I won’t lie and say that I’m not disappointed, but that’s OK. I made a promise to myself to train SMARTER not HARDER. Hold me to it, ok??

I think J and I are going to take advantage of our free afternoon and try out a new restaurant (to us) in the Tremont area. It’s a Sunday afternoon date!

What are your plans for the last day of the weekend??

Hey hey!!! How is everyone??

Things here are great. I had such a good time last night!! Got home way past my weeknight curfew, so I’m feeling it a little bit today. You’ll see why in a minute.

I headed downtown to The Greenhouse Tavern last night with Allison and Carly. They were holding the Au Bon Climat Wine Dinner, pairing the food of chef and owner of The Greenhouse Tavern, Jonathon Sawyer, with the wine of Au Bon Climat winery.

The Greenhouse Tavern is located in downtown Cleveland on East 4th Street. East 4th is rapidly becoming Cleveland’s hotspot. Check it:

I wanted to give you an idea of where the restaurant is located:

Right next to the House of Blues. Cool, no?

Since they weren’t ready to seat us yet, we started at the bar.

I should have known right then and there that this was going to be a problem. You see, I had just run outside in the crazy heat before we left and had no food in my belly (saving up for the dinner!). The wine hit me FAST. So as soon as we were seated in the cutest private seating area EVER:

I dominated the bread basket:

And then listed to Jonathon Sawyer and Jim Clendenen talk about the food and wine pairing. All the while being served more of this (yes, all 3 glasses are mine!):

This is trouble, my friends.

But the food was fantastic! I mean, I’m no expert on pairing food and wine, but both were amazing! I would go back to The Greenhouse Tavern in a second. In fact, J and I are planning a night out ourselves – he was jealous he didn’t get to go!

It’s pretty amazing. Chef Sawyer and his wife are younger than J and I, and they are making quite the impression. He even won one of Food & Wine’s best new chefs of 2010 awards!  Cleveland’s lucky to have him and he’s one to watch, that’s for sure!

All in all, it was the perfect night. Good food, good wine, and even better friends.

You can’t ask for more than that.

So, today I came home to find an exciting surprise on my front porch:

Hello, SodaStream!!

I was so excited when they agreed to send me their product to try!

I think we all were excited because the 3 of us completely stopped what we were doing to help open the box and see what was inside!

Check out the loot:

They even let me pick the flavors I’d like most!

We also got a sampler pack. The sampler pack contains 12 flavors, and each little container will make one liter.

We were all dying to try it out!

Here’s how it goes down:

1. Load the CO2

2. Click the back cover on

3. Add water to the one liter bottle and attach to the sodastream device

4. Pump the top 3 times to “sodafy” the water

5. Pick a flavor…..

…..And pour it in

6. Shake lightly

7. Done!

8. Pour

9. Drink up!

10. LURVE………

Our 10 step process seems a little longer than theirs:

But it’s more fun when you work as a team with your family!

We were all seriously giddy when making this pop. It was so fun (and easy)!! This will go PERFECTLY in our bar in the basement. We can’t wait to try the other flavors!

Oh, wait, we did.

Root beer floats anyone??? YUM!

So far we’re 2 for 2.

Thank you, sodastream, for these yummy drinks – we can’t wait to try ALL the flavors!!

So, here’s the loaded question: Soda or Pop?? What do you call it? I’ve always called it pop, and always will!!

I feel like Mondays are always so blah. Luckily tonight I got to switch up my routine a little!

I taught my normal Group Step class, but it was so fantastic tonight! I had lots of new people, and everyone did so great with all the new programming! I’m so proud of my crew. I left class feeling renewed!

Things only got better when I drove to pick up this package:

No, it’s not from Whole Foods – it’s actually BETTER!!! Yes, can you even believe it?

My homegirl, Carly, is totally helping me out with an event I’m hosting at the gym on Wednesday. I love her logo:

And check out how cute the back of her cards are, too:

She donated some homemade “laraballs” (smaller, homemade versions of Larabars), and a little prize pack for the winner of the event of homemade granola and 3 kinds of biscotti.

Since I had just come from the gym and my tummy was a grumblin, I broke out one of the peanut butter & jelly laraballs.

Holy heck. These are SPOT ON. I’m half tempted to keep these ones for myself and pass out the other flavors!! (just kidding, Carly! well, sort of)

The other flavors are Cranberry Pistachio, Ginger Cookie, and Roasted Cashew. YUM! Look at all of them!

You know C had to taste test, too. What did he think?

8 yr old approved!

If you’re in the Cleveland area, please give Carly some love. You can check out her blog here, and follow her on Facebook here.

Thanks again, girlie!!

Hey, all!! How has your weekend been so far?? A good word to describe my weekend is HAPPY.

I mentioned in my last post that we had friends over on Friday. I wanted to show you this cute pic J took of me, C, and my BFF’s son, Evan:

Doesn’t this just scream happiness?? It was such a good time hanging out and experiencing Evan laughing, talking, and rolling over (!!).

Saturday morning I caught my two favorite guys doing this:

Sharing the bathroom while getting ready. I don’t know why, but it just made me so happy (and want to grab my camera to catch the moment!).

Then today I spent the afternoon with these lovely ladies:

That’s Angelina, Allison, and Caroline! Seriously, how cute are they?

After a little “happy hour” at Angelina’s apartment, we headed down to the Taste of Tremont for some good food, drinks, friends, and laughs. It was quite the event! Check out the crowds:

We browsed the street to check out the sites:

Even saw a local Cleveland company (C.L.E., Clothing Co.) supporting one of our own:

This shirt is for Alexa’s blog, Cleveland’s a Plum!!

And then started narrowing down our food choices. I have never been to Michael Symon’s, Lolita, and was stoked to see they were actually offering a non-meat option!

I’m not usually one to pick a heavy dish, but I couldn’t help myself. I purchased both the mac and cheese and the mint lemonade. I have to say, both were FANTASTIC. Wow. I don’t know if I could have eaten a full entree of the mac n cheese, because it was so rich, but the small plate portion I received was perfect. And the lemonade. I can’t tell you how much I loved this. Just sweet enough, this is exactly what I was craving in these 90 degree temperatures. So refreshing and wonderful!! Thank you, Michael Symon!

And, of course, we couldn’t leave without enjoying a few cocktails!

Me and my gurl, Allison. Love her!

So there you have my HAPPY weekend. Now let’s just hope my week is the same…..!

What word would you use to describe your weekend??

Wow, why do Fridays always come and go so fast?? Sigh……..

In any case, today was very successful! Check out our green bean plants:

Do you see the basil plant growing nice and tall behind the green beans, too? The plants are in competition!

Sorry the colors are a little washed out in the picture above, I was playing with the settings on the camera…..aren’t the beans oh so pretty, though?

I gave them a good wash, and then set the bowl in the fridge to use for dinner tomorrow!

Can’t wait!

After lunch I pulled out the ingredients to start baking another banana bread (since the one I baked earlier this week was already finished today and we had MORE ripe bananas to use!). Yeah, we always have an unusually large supply of bananas in our house.

But then this happened:

I don’t think I’ve ever dropped an egg since I’ve really started baking. Weird. Good thing I had just bought a new carton of eggs!

The end products:

The loaf on the left is the same banana bread recipe as Tuesday, but this time I added some crushed walnuts. The loaf on the right is a recipe completely new to me: Cinnamon Bread!!

Oh my. It’s actually not too sweet, just enough. Those brown swirls are a combination of brown sugar, cinnamon, and margarine – YUM!

I think this would be perfect for french toast!

We each had a piece straight out of the oven with a little butta – and it was OH SO GOOD. C said to me right away “This is the best bread you’ve ever made – I’m having this for breakfast every day until it’s gone!” Guess it was a success, huh?

You can find the recipe here. The only changes I made was to use whole wheat flour, and I had to make the buttermilk substitute (1 TB white vinegar and milk to equal 1 cup total). I can see myself making this bread for holidays to come, it has brunch written all over it!

Hope your Friday was a success!