busy with a capital B

So I don't have this crazy and wild weekend of activities to share but I do have one hell of a busy week ahead of me. As usual, I enjoyed the ridiculously hot weather outside and then had dinner at Ballantine with friends and saw Horrible Bosses. Ever since the BF saw previews and the extended trailer, I knew this would be the next movie we saw even though I'm all about Ryan Gosling and his abs in Crazy Stupid Love. Oh my god - I can't wait.

I was mentally preparing myself for what will be a hectic and loonnnnng (but very exciting) week. On Tuesday, I head to Britney Spears to basically listen to her album played through the Q's sound system where she will dance and lipsynch her way through my favorite pop songs.

Complete with screened t-shirts for the Circus tour

Post concert, I'm meeting up with high school friends who I haven't seen in months and some who I haven't seen in a year, but I'll take the lack of sleep anytime to hang out with this group of friends.

On Wednesday, I'll be back at the Q with Michelle and Suzanne to dance our asses off to New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys, but I think we all agree we are more pumped to hear Step by Step and Hangin' Tough. (Although, seriously I will sing at the top of my lungs to I Want it That Way any time. You want to karaoke - I'm there.)     

Oh Joey McIntyre circa 2008

Group shot

By Thursday, I'll be sleep deprived and possibly deaf from the loud music but I'll have to rally together to take my brother for dinner after he completed his bar exam. Two days and 12 hours of testing later, I think he deserves a dinner out, don't you?

Good luck, Greg!

And, it will be the weekend before I know it. Here's to a full week!                                                                                

apparently I was a Kardashian

I had a very vivid dream Tuesday night that I was  Kardashian and woke up thinking, "OMG, did I really just dream that?" It involved a really sweet mansion with pool and a bunch of Kardashians running around and apparently I was one of them. (Because that's pretty normal, right?)

Apparently that's what happens when you go out on a typical Tuesday with a bunch of blogger chicks and one guy. Waving hi Seanski! If you would like to see what we look like according to Alexa's 3rd grade drawing, hop over here to take a peek. Who knew that girl was an artist!

This was a pre-event  mixer for us because about half of those present will see each other this weekend for the Veggie U food and wine event on Saturday all the way out in Milan. A group of 15 or so of us will trek the distance west to eat, drink and hopefully not sweat through our clothes. (Weather please cooperate and don't be too humid - I'm a mess in humidity. Who isn't?)

 So what did we do?

the menu  - we did order food

We ate. We drank. We laughed. We talked too loud and probably laughed too loud but luckily we didn't get any ugly stares. We drank some more and probably ordered the most "Shoreway Coolers" for one table. Ever.


Sadly, I woke up from my Kardashian-esque dream with the same size butt, no hair extensions or Louboutin's and continued to have equally as descriptive dreams the next night too.

Do you dream in celebrities too?

the bambinas have arrived

This past Friday, I was taking some PTO in the afternoon to lay poolside with a very pregnant friend. In the morning I got a call from Lia, my very pregnant friend, to let me know that the weather looks like we wouldn't be laying out. Damn the weather I said. She then informed me that not only was the weather the problem but that she was being sent to the hospital to possibly deliver the twins.

"They aren't coming," Lia said. I agreed - probably just a false alarm I thought. "True, your kids aren't about to show up early to any party."

After not hearing anything all day, I get a text saying "C section is being done tonight!! Don't put it on FB please." (She knows me too well.)

The girls are officially two days old so I did what I said I wouldn't do and showed up to the hospital with another friend who NEVER goes to the hospital. We both don't want to be those people inviting ourselves up to visit with our friends who haven't slept in a few days and are new parents.

Baby Olivia Marie

Baby Gabriella Rose

celebratory cakes

Everyone is doing fabulous, even though my friends describes herself as "cut in f'ing half," and the girls will be home with their parents in no time. Because they were little, I was nervous to hold them - I feel like the babies need to be a little older until I hold them. Weird, I know, but I'm nervous! They are so damn tiny and fragile! But, I can't wait to visit them all the time, buy them ridiculous outfits, headbands and shoes because that's what pseudo aunts are for!

memorial day whirlwind

Oh, how I love long weekends that bring summer back into the mix instead of the usual rain we've been experiencing in Cleveland.

My weekend was filled with driving all over northeast ohio to visit friends and family for cookouts and girls' nights - because you can never have too many of those.

Meet my friend's new puppy, Mira

First stab at making funnel cakes since the rain kept us away

However, you better believe I spent some time outside laying out and planting a few flowers too.

I was hopping all over the place from the far west side back to the east side and then the Detroit shoreway neighborhood yesterday for a long motorcycle ride. From the east side, we came down Chester into the city and the ride in was an interesting way to view the city, seeing as most of the area was deserted for the weekend. I've never noticed some of the remodeled homes that are on Chester, leading into the city. Normally, I'm driving so I'm not paying attention but this time I had to chance to look all around and just hold on for dear life so I didn't fall off the bike.

We stopped for dinner at Reddstone but they stopped serving dinner so we headed over to Stone Mad for a late dinner. Who knew we weren't the only ones who didn't attend a cookout on Memorial Day?

I'm all about the warm weather and don't want to hear anyone complain about it. Here we come summer. Now, if I can just get bathing suit ready and not scare my neighbors?

ga-ga ooh la la

While I'm sure you've read all about the concert last week or were at the Q yourself, I haven't had time to sit down and blog about it until now. This would be my third concert in two years and it was an exact repeat of the Monster Ball last year, but that didn't stop my friends and I from going again last week.

serious glasses made my friend's mom

Had to take a pic of these girls - so cute

These guys were die hards.

the glasses were a hit.

All in all it was  a fun night even though Gaga was about an hour late but the girl danced her ass off for two hours. My friends and I never made it to our actual seats, instead, we went out on the floor were incredibly close to the stage. In person, that Lady Gaga is one tiny chick, running up and down the stage in latex and high heels.

Were you there - did you like it, love it or hate? And, will you be at the Born This Way tour because you know I will be!

dark ride: vip experience giveaway

While I enjoyed a relatively low key weekend featuring brunch at Lucky's Cafe, a quick trip into Banyan Tree and seeing the King's Speech at Capitol Theater, I'm already looking forward to next Saturday because a kick ass party I was invited to along with Alexa, Alana and CleShopaholic.

This Saturday, Playhouse Square, 96.5 KISS FM and Cleveland/Akron Lexus dealers are hosting Dark Ride: VIP Experience and launch party of the Lexus CT200h starts at 8:30 p.m. in the State Theater with performances by Jay Sean, DEV and DJ Flaco.

For 700 lucky attendees, you will walk into the State transformed into the Lexus lifestyle experience to a nightclub with a red carpet, champagne, Absolut martini ice bar and hor d'oeuvres with special performances throughout the evening and the new CT200h on display. (I may try to even drive it out of the place somehow.I haven't quite figured it out but I have a few days to craft a plan.)

Tickets are available for the VIP event at Metro Lexus on March 15 from 5 to 6 p.m. (look for the KISS FM street teams), on KISS FM, from Metromix here or from my blog, so you can't purchase tickets for this anywhere.

However, the lovely ladies at Playhouse Square gave me 2 pair of tickets to giveaway for Saturday's event.

To enter:
1) Leave a comment of your favorite rap/dance/booty shaking song of all time.
2) Tweet about the contest  - I want to go to the VIP Dark Ride on Saturday with @allisonpeltz and @playhousesquare.
3) You must be 21 to enter and you HAVE to LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS because otherwise how will I contact you to pick up your tickets?

Contest closes on Thursday, March 17, and I will announce the giveaway shortly after winners are chosen.

Disclaimer: PlayhouseSquare provided me with tickets for this fabulous events and I'll be attending with friends, dancing all night long.

B. Lux meets my living room

As you  may know from reading my blog, I like to shop. I like to shop a lot. I like to shop for clothes, dishes, housewares or candles and can be regularly seen checking into every T.J. Maxx or Marshall's on the east side of Cleveland. I will drive and search for deals.

Last year, I wrote about the opening of B.Lux Boutique in Hudson, which is owned by two of my friends, Lia and Michelle. If you've never been, it's a stylish boutique filled with dresses, shirts, jackets, scarves and my favorite t-shirts from Michael Stars t hat aren't going to break the bank. Prices are anywhere from $36 up to $90 for jeans so it's completely affordable.

The girls approached me and asked if I'd be interested in hosting a bunch of my friends at my house and they'd bring champagne, cupcakes and a whole closet full of clothes. Beforehand, I described what some of my friends worked and where I thought they shopped, so they would have an idea of what brands/clothing would be of interest to my friends.

Living room taken over by clothes

Owners Lia and Michelle

Sampling of the clothes

About 15 friends showed to shop and eat and get a tour of my new house, which hopefully will change drastically over the next few months. (I have lots of decorating to do.) I walked away with three new dresses all for about $100. Prior to each season, I'm thinking about hosting one and it will be a great excuse to have everyone over again.

If you are interesting in having your own B. Lux shopping experience, contact Lia or Michelle for more details and booking information. They'll bring their rolling racks to wherever you want. As a hostess, you will also receive a $50 gift card to spend that day or later at the store. Plus, you get to have first dibs on any of clothes you see while they are setting up. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

mistaken identity (all at a dinner)

While at a delicious 5-course preview diner at the Washington Place Bistro & Inn, a new friend, who I called channel 19 (bet he never hears that), otherwise known as  Jason pointed out something about the BF.

(He doesn't know my family so he couldn't possibly know about the brother/dad comparisons.) Could he?

Oh no. He couldn't.

Jason says to the BF, "Could you saw a few sentences? I want to test something."
So, the BF starts to act as if he's giving the weather to the weatherman and Janet and Jason bust up laughing and say, "You look and sound like Nicholas Cage. Almost right from National Treasure."

Sean and Alexa agree and the BF has another feather in his cap for being told he reminds them of  Nicholas Cage.

But, back to the dinner. I apologize in advance to anyone following me on Twitter Monday night because I tweeted throughout the whole dinner, including pictures of each and everyone one of my dishes.

Menu:

• roasted beet and goat cheese salad (chef's garden beets and greens, almonds, mackenzie creamery ranch)
• oxtail pierogies (oxtail ragout, ohio city pasta truffles potato pierogie, caramelized onion, horseradish creme fraiche)
• dayboat scallops (butternut squash risotto, pearl onions, apple cider, beurre blanc, micro greens)
• braised pot roast (c.a.b., chef's garden carrots, roasted garlic mashers, big red reduction)
• pan seared wild pacific salmon (cauliflower gratin, fine herbes)
• housemade chocolate brownie (chocolate jeni's ice cream, bittersweet chocolate drizzle)

Chef Jonathan Guest (right) and owner Scott Kuhn

My taste buds rated my favorite dish as the scallop then beet salad then the cauliflower gratin and chocolate brownie. I'm a sucker for dessert and anything with chocolate automatically gets my vote. Before we cleaned our plates, Scott took a few minutes to talk about dish from where the cheese is from to his love of beets to where the pea tendril came from on top of the scallop. It's all in the details!

But, let's not forget that Scott and his magical team didn't only redo the restaurant but renovated all inn rooms, too.

Scott Kuhn with the BF

Alexa bet me to take a few sensual pictures on the bed and I was totally going to take her up on it, but good thing Scott knew we had dirty minds and made sure to tell us that the bed was boxes. It wasn't an actual mattress to jump on. Anyway, we were adults, didn't jump on any beds and took a peek at the rest of the unfinished rooms with fireplaces! Sign me up for $159 on a Saturday night that includes brunch the next day.

Not bad for a Monday night after a holiday weekend, eh?!

the one where we are the old people bowling

There are very few places I feel too old to enter. Some people might think that shopping at Forever21 at 27 is too old, but I'm still a fan of some of their clothes (what I can fit into) and like the jewelry. How can you go wrong with $7 necklaces?

I don't think I'm too old to wear leg warmers or leggings or even the occasional headband without all the sparkles.

Anyway, friends invited us to go bowling last Friday. I thought it would be an uneventful bowling night where I would terrible as usual and the boys would create some kind of contest to see who could do the best. I was right about the bowling contest and my terrible bowling. I was embarrassingly terrible.

What none of us expected was to walk into cosmic bowling. Filled with 50 teenagers. Only teenagers in the bowling alley. Plus my friends.

I do believe we were the creepy old people. What makes it even better was that I knew a 13-year-old there and she agreed we were the old people.

Cosmic bowling has come a lonnnnnnnggggg way from where I remember. Not only is there a DJ taking requests but there are text screens.

Notice the teens and text screens

You can text whatever you want on there. Well, at least within reason because it edits out certain words like "creepy." I know this because I tried to send texts like "who is the guy in the creepy browns shirt?" when referring to the BF in between seeing "beachwood rocks" or "orange girls are the best."

One girl was there with a group of girls celebrating her 16th birthday and I swear they didn't look a day over 13. They looked so young, I don't remember looking that young, but then again maybe we were.

Ahh, high school days.

the last wedding

It's been a busy wedding season for me this year. It started in March with my cousin Lauren's wedding, my high school friends' party, my cousin Mike's wedding,  my friend Erin's Cleveland party  and don't forget about my quick trip out to Vegas in August. So, this is it. We ended with Jerrod and Meaghan. The last one in 2010.

Instead of posting all the pretty posy pictures, I thought I'd share the action shots from the wedding, mostly taken from the dance floor. You know, the ones where we are dancing, drinking and having a ton of fun.

three amigos

max and amanda

 

 

 

The bf and me

surprise Francesca!

Piggybacks are cool

Leg air guitar

Just dance.

Dancing with stationary props

And with that, wedding season has come to close.

back from mexico

I'm back!

After a full seven days in Riviera Maya and no social media, I'm back in the city of Cleveland. Oh, how nice it was to be away a week. I left my phone at home, like I said I would, and only sent out a few last-minute tweets at 6 a.m. before we left and only logged onto Facebook once. I didn't check anything but just posted a quick update to say I'd arrived in Mexico with my friends.

We had a blast. We had perfect weather - 90 and sunny with only a little rain mixed in for no more than an hour. Our hotel was clean, the food was delicious and the it wasn't at capacity, which meant no major lines at bars for drinks.

I loved that my biggest decision was, "Which pool do you want to start off at today?" and "Should I drink a mojito, miami vice or pina colada?"

So, here's our week in pictures with funny captions by me.

We went ziplining

His face is priceless AND he's afraid of heights.



We swam in a fresh water cave.

We visited Tulum.

We swam in the ocean.

Boys proved you can do a push up and drink out of the straw at the same time.

We compared calf sizes.

The boys wrestled on a kid's toy and got yelled at by the lifeguards.

We go fishing after our girlfriend/wife asks us to go with someone reputable instead of the random guy who approaches you with a boat called "Tequila Sunrise" or "Poverty Sucks."

We drank too long in the hot tub without remembering to rehydrate ourselves with water.

We played with fish inside a pipe.

We posed for pictures on our last night - some more tan than others.



season premiere

Apparently I left out one key show in my fall recap from last week. How could it slip my  mind!

How could I forget about the teen drama known as Gossip Girl set in New York City! I mean, when it first came out I remember making fun of my friend, Erin, for watching it. She would tell me, "Allison, it's not a teen show. There are teenagers in it but these Gossip kids put the Dawson's Creek gang to shame."

So, one night I tuned it and was hooked ever since. Yesterday marked the fourth season premiere and the second time my friend her season premiere party.

With our vacation coming up this week, I didn't over book myself with evening events, knowing I need to tie up things at work before I go and want to make sure I get in every last-chance workout I can get in.

However, I wasn't going to miss Coney dogs, Eiffel tower cookies and goodie bags to kick off a week.

the spread

 

Look at the Paris cookies!

Lia, our host!

Preparing for the season to start

Goodie bags for the guests

My new watch

Do you host or attend TV parties and for what show?

what happens in vegas, stays on Facebook

Because of all the fun my friends and I had this weekend in Vegas, I was completely spent on Sunday and couldn't type a single thing. Hell, I could barely move from the couch up to our bedroom. After staying up for 24 hours on Friday and getting only 10 hours of sleep between the next two days, I needed to get to bed quick.

My eyes were puffy and my contacts hurt like knives to put into my eyes this morning. I was a little tired but looked like a train wreck, so I mostly stayed inside my office today so people didn't wonder, "What happened to Allison?"

So, let's get on with it - who wants to see photos? I can only show you the bachelorette/bachelor party and the Rumor pool on Saturday, which somehow none contain the actual groom! I'm pretty sure I received the nicest stop-tweeting-about-my-damn-wedding text ever from him because none of the guests can publish anything on any social network sites (Um, does he know I'm addicted to Twitter?) until the wedding appears later this week in one of your favorite gossip magazines and web sites. I also have quite a few good video clips of whole trip, including waiting at the airport, the bachelor party, our pool day and the wedding ceremony and reception.

Posing in Rumor Hotel before we left for the Hard Rock

Joe isn't that short, he just needed to stand in water to avoid burning feet

what I could do every day of my life - hang out with friends and safely tan

Atrium at the Bellagio

We were tired, but you can't tell, right?

Stay tuned for a wedding video montage!