It’s confirmed, internet. The older I get the faster time passes. A friend speculated it’s because we do more and remember less…which I tend to agree with.
July was a great month full of summer fun, friends, and work. Oh so much work! Here’s the month in photos (prepare your eyes for lots of food…because I eat a lot).
On the first of the month we went down to visit V’s little sister and her boyfriend. There was an outdoor festival going on that we walked around for a while and then we ate dinner at The Canton Brewing company. Their drink the Ginny Palmer was, in fact, very gin-y.
I’ve been really inspired by calligraphy and watercolor lettering lately so I thought I’d bust out my old (seriously old) watercolors and brush up (pun intended) on my strokes.
I recently joined the AIGA Cleveland board of directors as the blog chair. The first event I went to was the Get Out the Vote poster exhibit at the Galleries at CSU. This was one of my favorite posters because……meow.
I’m on a crazy mission to do as many Cleveland things as possible this year and next while we live downtown…and of courseeee we had to go to the Cleveland Flea one weekend (mostly in the name of trying to find records but instead we found mini donuts…with nutella).
We found a really cool record shop in the Collinwood area (Blue Arrow Records) that had a really good selection but I wanted to go mainly because they have SHOP CATS.
A new girl started at work and sits just on the other side of my desk. She’s really friendly and also happens to live DT so we went to lunch and get Mitchell’s one day. I introduced her to the vegan salted caramel. I’m pretty sure it changed her life.
I followed V to Philadelphia for a little while to escape the RNC happening in CLE. Thankfully for the city the RNC didn’t turn out nearly as crazy as everyone had imaged, but I’m still happy to have gone away with him for a little bit (he was speaking at a conference in Philly). The first night we were in town we got cheesesteak’s because you can’t NOT get a cheesesteak in Philly.
We only had one full day to spend together so naturally I made us spend it sight seeing. Here’s the (very disappointing and in an incorrect location) LOVE sculpture. It’s so small in real life!
There are a lot of historical things to do in Philly but since it was hot out and we had limited time (and energy) we made a decision to just see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. That fell through because tickets sold out so we walked to the Betsy Ross house. I’m a sucker for period homes that are decorated as such and have actors in them so this was a win for me.
That night, despite the cheesesteak we had the day before (and the cheesesteaks we would have afterwards) I made dinner reservations for us at The Fat Ham. I’m also a sucker for “fixed menu” dinners…where they have a set menu and serve it in courses and that’s it. It’s basically a pre-defined meal and you pay one price for it. At The Fat Ham on Sunday’s they have a fixed menu for $30. It was just fun to experience the best a restaurant has to offer and enjoy a good meal with someone special. (And day-um was that red velvet cake DENSE).
Beyond the day we got to spend together sightseeing I was on my own basically 95% of the rest of the time. One of my favorite places in CLE is Saigon for their bun (rice noodles) so I looked up some Vietnamese places in Philly and found this one called Saigon Cuisine. The bun here wasn’t as good as my Saigon’s but it was decent! I thought the most interesting part was the addition of fresh mint.
One night we got conveyor belt sushi at a place called Pod by by the hotel. Seafood will naturally be a little fresher here since it’s closer to the ocean and it was actually priced really reasonably.
The hotel was literally next to the University of Penn bookstore. Like I could walk out of the hotel and into the door of the bookstore in less than 20 steps. It was huge and amazing and I worked here for a few hours one day.
The Saturday that we were back in town (this past Saturday) we went to Grumpy’s for breakfast and then across the street to a new (to us) record store: A Separate Reality. Shoooooot, internet. This is where all the Parliament in Cuyahoga county is! No joke, almost all of the other record stores in town don’t even have any Parliament.
Saturday night I did something I don’t do often because I’m not actually that “girly.” I had an at home spa night. I did a face mask and used ultra fancy face cream (Bobbi Brown, holla) and all sorts of other things. It was super relaxing and nice to just focus on my own personal well being. I might try this again this weekend…
The Sunday after fun Saturday I had an ALL DAY meeting. Not gonna lie, I went to bed at like 4:30 the same day so it was kind of rough to be interacting with people for 8 hours straight, but the meeting was productive and I learned a lot.
On Monday, bless his soul, V brought my home cupcakes from Colossal Cupcakes. This is oreo cheesecake and cinnamon roll. Two of my favoritessss.
Tuesday we had our first Northeast Ohio Women in Tech meeting and it BLEW ME AWAY how many people turned up and supported us. I’m so excited for this group and couldn’t be happier and more humble to be involved in organizing it.
And now we’re here! July has been a whirlwind of planing for Women in Tech, AIGA stuff, side business work, my real job, and life. I’m exhausted but I’m hoping and praying that at the end of next month V and I can take a nice vacation to the New England coast.
What’s an image or two that defines your July?