A Little Inspiration

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Charlene Ann

Remember me blogging about The BFF and his life with MS? And how I said I was putting a lot of time/energy into helping the National MS Society out with an upcoming event – Locavore?

Well it just got better friends.

The BFF is being honored as the 2012 Individual of Inspiration.

And I’ve been asked to present the award to him at the event in September. If I can get through that without crying, it’d be a miracle. I give myself about 3 minutes before the tears begin….anyone on the over/under? And the fact that he literally said on the phone to me “You can call me Mr. Individual of Inspiration from now on” just makes me laugh.

But really, I’m so excited and proud that he’s going to have the chance to not only be honored for his positive attitude, despite everything, but also that he’s going to have a chance to share his story with people who many have not heard it otherwise.

If you are interested in donating, attending the event or helping as I fundraiser and look for local donations, please feel free to contact me. It’s going to be a great evening not only for The BFF and his family but also for that National MS Society.

Plus, if you come to the event you can see the entertainment that is A&C…though we’ll probably be a little more serious this time around…

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Distance

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Charlene Ann

A new favorite – this one by Christina Perri (whom I like a lot) and Jason Mraz (whom I ADORE and have for a long time).

This just sounds like a Grey’s Anatomy song…

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Focus on Cleveland – Indulgence

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Charlene Ann

First and foremost: a blog winner!

Congrats to Steph M. on winning the Melting Pot Gift Certificate! Please email me at lifeinthecle at gmail and we’ll make arrangements for delivering the gift certificate! Excited for you!

Now onto even more fun…

We’re pretty lucky in Cleveland. We have some amazing chefs and local business owners. Which is why more and more I try to buy local and engage with some of Cleveland’s best. So I’m excited to share with you the story of a Clevelander following her passion and making lots of us happy along the way.

Lilia, of Indulgence Cakes, always enjoyed baking but had never actual sold her desserts. That was in 2006. After a friend asked for an “order” things were on a roll. Within days a logo, business cards and website were on their way. Cheesecakes, cakes, cupcakes and canolli’s. To die for.

And now – she’s selling her desserts around town. Whether is be at D’Vine Wine Bar downtown where they carry her mocha coma cheesecake and offer her pastries on their party pastry menu or participating in a Corks and Cupcakes – an Emerging Chefs event where Lilia had to bake 1,000 cupcakes, 100 servings of mint julep panna cotta and 100 servings of coconut macaroons, red wine caviar and lemon curd, more and more you can see Indulgence Cakes around town.

Including at DC Pasta Company – a Dante Bocuzzi restaurant. Check ’em out as they have a standing order with Lilia for a featured dessert each and every weekend.

I’m lucky to work across the street from Lilia so on more than one occasion I’ve had afternoon treats (which my account team also loved…as in…the boys devoured within minutes…). So if you are looking for pastries, cakes or cupcakes for an upcoming event, be sure to reach out to Lilia and engage with a local Clevelander!

Yum!

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The Perfect Summer Weekend

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Charlene Ann

There are a few events I look forward to every summer…among them are some of my country concerts, annual cookouts with friends and Summer Solstice. It’s the party I wait for every single year and get excited about. And for a hot second, I actually was not going to go this year.

The weekend actually started at about noon on Friday. After wrapping up a month of timesheets (ugh!) and taking my inbox from 400 to 11 (and it’s already back up to 75), I left work and headed shopping for “supplies”. After all, Friday was the Rascal Flatts concert and we take tailgating very seriously for country concerts. There are both benefits and negatives to showing up at Blossom at 3:30 for a 7:30 concert. Benefits: drinking for much cheaper than Blossom beverages, cooking out on the lawn, making new friends, watching young kids get carded in the lot and not walking as far to the gate. The negative – sitting in the lot for 1.5 hours post concert. Such is the life. There was a hilarious girl trying to hit on her friend so we watched that go down for about an hour. Tears. Rejection. Drunken flirting. We’ve all been there.

Little Bit Country

The actual concert was so much fun. We upgraded our seats and got not bad seats in the pavilion. Totally worth it (especially when the rain was happening). My favorite Little Big Town opened and Becky got to experience my love of the song Pontoon. She also got to experience a full on “Call Me Maybe” rock out session in between the bands.

Little Big Town – Pontoon

Stand

Saturday, post-errands and relaxing, I headed to Summer Solstice with Candice and friends and again this year had a fabulous time. I love how despite the fact there are hundreds (thousands even?) people there, I still manage to run into friends.

Perfection

Me, Candice and Annie – first pic of the night

Lovely girl friends – Candice, Cortney, Reshae and Annie

New Friends, Yes Please

More Friends – Joe, Shibani, Annie and Candice, and Shaun

The event is totally worth the money and in my opinion is still the event of the summer in Cleveland. This year they had a slingshot type device that you could enter a message on and “splatter” it on the wall of the Art Museum. Always inventive at Solstice!

And now I need to go. Between Rascal Flatts, Solstice and our Solstice “After-Party”, I need some sleep. Just another Happy in CLE kinda weekend.

Don’t forget – you still have time to enter to win a Melting Pot Gift Certificate! 

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Fondue and Fun

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Charlene Ann

Blogger Note: My dear friend Julie is away dealing with that storm Debby while on vaca and asked me to blog for her – check out my guest post at Wearing Mascara!

I love a good meal. I especially love it when it’s with some friends and at a nearby West Side location (nothing against the East Side, of course!) So an afternoon invite to join some fellow bloggers at Melting Pot in Westgate was kind of a no brainer for me (plus I was not feeling like cooking dinner Monday).

And it was kinda the perfect Monday night kids.

Starting with a delicious cheese fondue with plenty of dippers (I think we ended up liking all of them after the Swiss was switched out). The California Salad was so so good and we were all excited for the entree. Pictures do not do all this food justice. Overheard was a lot of “that’s delicious in that particular dipping sauce…” “you’ve gotta try the sirloin”…”seriously that pork tenderloin is to die for”…you get the point.

And here I thought we were there just to eat. But no…Aveda School and Salon had some students there to provide services, tell us about their products and give some general pricing information. And who doesn’t want a great chair massage (I admit it, I had a massage done on Saturday but this was a fantastic follow up).

Happy Bloggers – excited to have been able to hang out with The Logo and Tabs!

And the best part – chocolate fondue. We were all pretty much in seventh heaven by this point. My favorite had to be the Cookies and Cream Marshmallow Dream (with bananas…strawberries….oh yum).

Oh and I can’t forget the amount of wine we had and how delicious it was. I started the evening off with a berry mojito. It was different than most mojitos but refreshing nonetheless. We had the option of pairing our meal with wine or with beer. I went with wine – surprise. I’m not usually a HUGE red drinker but I loved both the Coppola Diamond Collection Claret and the Cabernet Sauvignon. Both perfect with the entree and the dessert. Both white wines (a Pinot Gris and a Chardonnay) were fantastic too.

Female bloggers are always happy to have cute male servers

I know what you are thinking – that all sounds delicious. And you are right it was. The lovely folks at Melting Pot want to let you in on all this fantastic-ness and provided me with a $25 gift certificate for one lucky reader.

How to enter: 
1. Like The Melting Pot Cleveland on Facebook and leave me a comment letting me know that you did.
2. Follow The Melting Pot Cleveland on Twitter and again – leave me a comment letting me know that you did.
3. Leave a comment letting me know what your go-to wine is for relaxation is.

A winner will be chosen at random just in time for the 4th of July weekend on Tuesday, July 3rd. Best of luck friends!

Thanks for having us!

Disclosure – I was given a $25 gift card to use as a giveaway for my readers in return for this post. Melting Pot treated myself and a few other local bloggers to dinner on Monday night but all opinions, as always, are my own. 

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Back to the Grind

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Charlene Ann

Another summer fun-filled weekend in the books. Seriously, this summer is already going way too quickly. The first summer concert is happening on Friday – Rascal Flatts – with the roommate and I’m beyond excited. I love those boys and Little Big Town is opening up. Not to mention, I’m taking a half day, we’re packing up early and heading down to tailgate. Yes – it’s that serious.

Friday, I was super excited to be invited to attend the Mark Shapiro Town Hall at Jacob’s…I mean, Progressive Field. The opportunity to ask questions, learn more about the Indians 2012 initiatives and get my pic with the man, Mark Shapiro, made for a great day!

Saturday, I was able to relax by Julie’s fantastic pool while she’s away on vacation (yes, I’m jealous) and then meet up with some friends for drinks and lots of laughter. Between discussing the differences between Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw, planning summer parties and just picking on Josh, it was a great night with great friends.

And here we are back to the grind…with a business trip scheduled, lots of MS Fundraising to do and a couple of happy hours along the way.

Thank you Mo for this laugh today.

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Roll Tribe

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Charlene Ann

I’ve been on a little bit of a Tribe streak this week. Friday went to the game with some coworkers, Tuesday enjoyed the Social Suite and Friday will be attending the Town Hall with Mark Shapiro (pretty excited for this one!)

As always, I love going to the Social Suite and unlike last year where everyone was convinced that I was bad luck, so far, we’re on a good streak this year. Shaunte was able to have her first social suite experience and needless to say we had a blast. Between nonstop talking and laughter, dinner in the media room, awesome summer weather and the perfect ending to the game (walk off home run in the 10th inning), it was a much needed great night out with a fantastic friend. Now onto the pictures…

Thanks as always to @Indians for a fantastic time!

Disclosure: I was invited by The Cleveland Indians to hang out in the Social Suite. All opinions are my own. 

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My Love Letter

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Charlene Ann

About a month ago, one of my loves – Michael Symon – wrote his love letter to Cleveland. Of course, I adored everything he said (you people think I’m kidding about him being a celebrity crush of mine…). But he also inspired me to write my own love letter to the city that I’ve grown up in – here it is.

Dear Cleveland,

You’ve become my best friend. The city that I love and the city that loves me back.

A few years ago, I was ready to walk away. Move to Chicago (my second favorite city in the US) and leave you behind. I was young and looking for the big city lights, but soon realized they were in my back yard.

You were the place where I’ve met my best friends, including The BFF, who’s changed my life and made me a better person. Where we had our annual Thanksgiving Keggers, followed up with Turkey Bowl the morning after (with a killer hangover). You gave us Great Lake’s Christmas Ale at each of those parties, creating memories we remember through pictures, phone calls and walks down to my “second parent’s” home.

You helped me to discover my true love for this city when I changed careers from non profit development/marketing to working at local advertising agencies. Throughout the last few years, I spend more time downtown than I have in years previous. Indians games with friends where we laugh so hard tears roll down my face. Dinners and drinks at some of my favorite restaurants on East 4th street. Cheering on our own Iron Chef’s – Michael Symon and Jonathan Sawyer.

You’ve taught me about heartbreak. You know exactly what I’m talking about too – the Browns games. The Indians. The Cavs. That’s all that needs to be said.

You’ve also taught me about hard work. Success doesn’t always come quickly. But you’re the type of city that won’t stop trying. Opening new attractions, restaurants, and rebuilding downtown. Every day I see something changing in the city and am excited.

For that lesson, I thank you.

Sincerely,
One of your biggest fans

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The Winner is…

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Charlene Ann

Team Blonde, of course! Did you have any doubts? 

Yes, they had more girls. But we had the heart to go out there and leave it all on the field and bring home our victory trophy.

Our coaches prepared us. We knew our offense and our defense and with their inspiring speeches, we weren’t going to let them down. And we weren’t going to let our Captain Cara down (you’ll be back next year!)

The game was close, but we were not going to let Team Brunette score. We were able to show off two of our awesome victory dances (including paparazzi and grenade). Big shout-out to our MVP – Mags – for leading our team to victory and keeping us laughing in every practice, at the game and at the Victory Party.

Of course, we were all winners in the fight against Alzheimer’s, raising more money than some very large cities in our first annual event. If you haven’t donated, and still want to, visit BvBCLE to continue to support our team.

Big thanks to the sponsors and supporters of the event, our coaches and teammates. Everyone did an awesome job in organizing this event and I know Team Blonde is already looking forward to bringing home the trophy again next year.

And of course, post-game, we had to celebrate in style. Champagne in the trophy and drinks at Becky’s Bar and Grille, followed up with more drinks at Bar Louie. Great times and great teammates.

All in all, a great event, a great victory, great teammates and coaches and all for a worthy cause. Can’t wait till next year Team Blonde!

Disclaimer: I’m an official BvBCLE Blogger and participating on Team Blonde (my natural and current hair color). As part of Team Blonde, I was required to attend four practice (check) and raise $250 (check) toward our goal of $25,000. While we’ve reached my goal, I’d love for you to continue to support us in the fight against Alzheimer’s Association. All opinions are 100% my own. 

(Photos courtesy of Rob Malcom)

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Time for the Touchdowns (and Dances)

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Charlene Ann

We’re officially only one day away from the big game – The Blondes vs. The Brunettes. All of our hard work, including on our touchdown dances, is coming to this moment.

On behalf of Team Blonde, I wanna give a big shout-out to our coaches for giving up their time to hang out with us Blondes and help us prep for the game. Also to my awesome teammates – this has been such a great experience getting to meet other young professionals in Cleveland and I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with each of you (and dominating again next year).

I promise there will be recap of the game as soon as possible.

But, of course, we have to remember what this is all about. Raising money for the Alzheimer’s Association. And both the Blondes and Brunettes put together an A+ effort to raise money. I’ve had friends participate in other cities in BvB and raise about $15,000-$20,000. But, we in Cleveland, stepped up. As of tonight when I checked BvB, we’ve raised close to $35,000 – far exceeding our original goal. And there’s still time for you to join in and help us keep bringing in the dolla bills. Make a donation here online or join us on Saturday at the big game.

When:  Saturday, June 16, 2 p.m. (kickoff)
Where: Hosted by Cleveland State University at Krenzler Field (E. 18th St. and Chester Ave., Cleveland, 44114)
What: Cheer on your favorite team as Blondes battle Brunettes on the gridiron, followed by a Victory Party where everyone can join in the fun!
Victory Party: All game day attendees will receive a FREE drink ticket to celebrate with our players and coaches after the game at Becky’s Bar and Grill (across the street). A portion of all food and drink sales will be donated by Becky’s to BvBCLE.

Disclaimer: I’m an official BvBCLE Blogger and participating on Team Blonde (my natural and current hair color). As part of Team Blonde, I’m required to attend four practice (check) and raise $250 (check) toward our goal of $25,000. While I’ve reached my goal, I’d love for you to continue to support me in the fight against Alzheimer’s Association. All opinions are 100% my own. 

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