Feisty morning

That's the most accurate way to describe me this morning.

Feisty.

And NOT in the good way.

I blame the weekend. It was one of the best I've had in quite some time. So of course, waking up this morning knowing it was over and I had to return to the daily grind put me in an immediate funk.

Now, I'm not much for blogging about my weekend adventures, but this is one worth telling...

Or at least, I think so.

........................................

Last week on a whim - which is pretty standard for her - my dear friend Christina decided to make the two hour drive up to spend the weekend.

In our oh-so spontaneous fashion we decided to go sky diving on Saturday. Unfortunately, the winds did not cooperate at 20+ mph so we got pushed back to Sunday. Don't worry though, we did get to kiss the sky, after all.

But back to Saturday...

Once she got into town and we had an exciting reunion - two months is too long, we need more regular contact, lady - and then our stomachs got the best of us. Seeing as it was a beautiful day outside we headed to a local patio to post up and stuff our faces.

Oh, and we proceeded to burn our shoulders in the mid-day sun as well, but if that's the worst of it, I can deal.

After lunch we discussed the plans for dinner - being the food-obsessed runners that we are - and came up with a great plan to cook out at my place. Since I don't have a grill it was more like cooking in than out but it was tasty, regardless.

Our idea required fresh produce - tacos and Corona anyone? - so we popped over to the West Side Market for a bit.



Now, I have a confession. I've lived here for two years and this was my first trip to the market.

I know - I should be shunned for that.

But now, I'm addicted. This is definitely one of Cleveland's gems. I'll never buy my produce from anywhere else. It makes Giant Eagle look like the Bloomingdale's of the grocery world. Way too expensive for my taste.

And the vendors there are great. Since we were stocking up on veggies for my famous guacamole - okay, so not quite yet, but one day it will be...maybe this is where Bobby shows up for a Throw Down eh?

Sorry, off track.

So we were perusing the market and needed two fresh jalapenos, which the vendor gave us for free, and one lime, which we also got for free.

How nice are these vendors?

Or was it because we were two 20-something chicks in tank tops on a hot day that worked in our favor? We may never know for sure.

Getting a group around wasn't too difficult - free food and beer on a beautiful day pretty much sells itself. Needless to say, the guacamole and the taco party went over well.

(Pictures of the lovely spread to come.)

Then my friends and I headed to the rooftop deck to soak up a little more of the beautiful weather - once the wind died down that is. Though conversation was cut short again as us girls decided, once again, that our stomachs were more important and we headed to East Coast Custard to finish off the night.

Yep, you heard me right. We finished the night with ice cream. Where most other 20-somethings were doing shots of Patron and grinding on each other in the club basements on West 6th street, we were yawning, finishing our custard and preparing to put on our comfy pants and head to bed.

LAME.

But I have to admit, it was pretty awesome. After all, we did have to get up a 7:30 the next morning to jump out of an airplane.



I'll spare you the details, you get the idea of what happened. We did an hour or so worth of training, watched our instructor pack the 'chute and off we went.

Though it's worth noting that we both pulled our own 'chutes, learned a series of hand signals, and passed the progression course. We're cleared to solo jump within the next 30 days! With our log books growing, we're now officially sports parachutists.

Highly recommend Cleveland Parachute if you're from NE Ohio and in the market for a great jumping experience.

And now....well, I'm sad that my lady friend has left me, and a little feisty now that I have to go back to real life.

I learned this weekend that happiness [for me at least] lies in spending time with good friends and jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.

How was your weekend?

Cheers!

-A