Good evening everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend!
Nothing special about Saturday…I worked 12 hours 😥
Buuuut what a great Sunday morning!!! 🙂 I awoke slowly and it felt great!
While I was laying in bed reveling in the warm blankets while a cool breeze gently blew through my bedroom window, I contemplated going for a run. Stay under the warm covers or lace up my sneeks and get out there?!?! After several minutes…haha…I threw on my running clothes and shoes and headed out the front door. I am lucky to live by a HUGE metro park and about super close to the lake! When I head out for a run my route possibilities are endless. I am so so lucky! I know I have said this before but I have been wanting to live in this location for sooooooo long. I have been here for 7.5 months and I still love EVERYTHING about being here! There is so much life and tranquility here. You can be in the middle of everything or in the middle of nowhere.
Sunday’s route took me past the bakeries, over the marina and across the bridge that goes over the Rocky River right before is flows out to Lake Erie and down to The Cleveland Yacht Club. The yacht club is private so I wasn’t able to run through it but it was pretty cool seeing all the boat bobbing at the docks. It was a bit chilly out so I decided to put a long sleeve shirt underneath my tee. Ugh..I had to wiggle it off midway through my run because I became overheated. It’s a weird weather time of year in Cleveland (but then when isn’t?!)
After I ran home, I showered and found my way to Erie Island to blog to you guys and look up coconut curry sauce recipes. I am going to add my own selection of fresh organic veggies and lentils. This weather that Cleveland had this past weekend made for a perfect day to cook something warm and delicious! I am not a huge cook but the older I get the less of a hurry I am in and the more I like taking my time at home to do things.
I found a simple and I stress simple because I don’t like to spend a ton of money on ingredients that I’ll use once in a blue moon. So, simple = low cost and just as delicous!
My friend and I enjoyed it in cute mugs. So how that made taste even better…lol!
I wrapped up my Sunday by having great conversation with a good friend 😀 After they left I did a little meditation and went to bed early as I have yet another crazy work week ahead of me!
Until next time!
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
(Edited to add: I started this post a few nights ago after work!)
I am blogging today from Harry Buffalo with a refreshing Blue Moon on the mahogany bar! Sometimes on a hot summer day you just have to do what you have to do! I only worked my normal hours today and it felt great to get off of work at a decent hour! I went home, changed, loaded up the backpack and went for a walk. I was originally going to go to the coffee shop but hey… why not a refreshing beverage?!
Ok…Let’s dig into part two of the amazing wondrous Red River Gorge!
While the first day or so was pretty awesome, nothing could compare to the last two days. We woke up Saturday morning packed up our tents and gear and headed back to the car to drive waaaaay across the park to a place so great that I can only describe it as humbling and beyond beautiful. We reloaded on water and hiked with our packs a tiny bit to the RIVER! Down about a mile on a worn path then across this really cool little suspension bridge.
Photo: Matthew
Now when you have been on the trail for a couple of days, a body of water is a sight for sore eyes, legs, shoulders and minds!!! As we were hiking the short distance to the campsite that Dingo and Matthew had scouted out ahead of time as we were repacking and reloading on water, we were watching all sorts of people jumping off the ginormous rock that loomed above the water about 35 feet. Now that may not seem high to some people…but trust me, when you are standing on top of it and looking down it is definitely high!!!! So a couple of us quickly set up our tents and headed to the rock to jump into the cool refreshing Red River!!! Now, I am not afraid of heights but my friend Eliese is! Guess who stood atop the rock chickening out while the other jumped in like it was not big deal?! I was scared!!! What the heck dudes? Eliese was like, “Whatever man” and jumped in like it was nothing! About 10 minutes later I jumped with help of a bunch of dudes goading me and cheering me on from the other side! It was TOTALLY AWESOME!!! It felt so good to cool off and just swim around and take in all the beauty and everyone’s positivity on the shores of the river! I was in an absolute state of bliss! I ended up jumping a couple more times
Jump Rock!! Photo: Matthew
Most of us jumped from the rock and swam for a little while and then headed back to camp all “clean” (lol…) and put on clean dry clothes. Aaaahhhh…. it felt great to be somewhat “clean!” We then cooked our own individual dinner and gathered around the fire with some tasty spirits! We had sooo much fun sharing stories and comparing thoughts and notes about the trip thus far. Even the quiet ones of the group started to speak up and share…Ahem.. Matthew and Dingo. 😉 We fell asleep under the stars with clean bodies, full bellies and smiles on all our faces! It was the perfect ending to an incredible day!
We woke up Sunday morning to the patter of rain on a tent/hammock flys and were seriously debating whether or not we would be able to conquer Indian Staircase. I am SO TOTALLY HAPPY that the rain subsided and we were able to enjoy the rest of our day! We loaded up our gear and threw it in the car. We then put on our day packs and trekked out to the first stop, Cloud Splitter. Now there were 2 ways to get to this spot. The easy way, and the hard way. Dingo, Darwin and I chose the hard way…lol. It really wasn’t all that bad. The hike was pretty vertical but the distance was short…thank goodness because after consuming a few spirits the night before I was grateful for the short vertical hike! The other 3/4’s of the group chose the “easier” way gradually winding up the side of the hill that led to the rock and somehow we completely missed them at our anticipated meetup point. I stayed behind at the base of what turned out to be Cloud Splitter. I was there by myself for about 30-40 minutes and decided to turn the surrounding rocks into a bouldering outing. It was a smaller boulder but none the less it felt so good to be “climbing.” Side note: The Red River Gorge is also a hot spot destination for rock climbing.
my little bouldering problem!
It was fun climbing the different routes I found and it passed the time rather quickly. 🙂
When we finally met up with rest of group we headed up to the tackle Cloud Splitter.
When climbing to the top of Cloud Splitter you can either take the narrow winding path or use the precarious rope (God only knows how old it is) that makes the ascent way more fun. I of course chose the rope!
Photo: Not mine
When got to the top of the rock the views were impressive. However, a local guide we stumbled upon showed us the real reason why the rock got it’s name. First, we had to get to that spot.
There was climbing up an old tree log, shimmying our way through the crack of the rock and finding our footing to climb down to the “hole” in the side of the rock.
Shimmying down! Photo: Digno
When we finally worked our way through the rock we ended up here…
Cloud Splitter from afar.
Photo: Dingo
The cut out in the middle of the rock is where we ended up and going the route we went is the only way to get there. It was beyond cool to be peering out the middle of a massive rock. Second to none was the seeing why the rock received it’s name.
The rock splits the clouds! Photo: Matthew
Once you are inside of this impressive rock, you look up to see the clouds being split by the slit in the rock. We were all in awe. Knowing that this has been here for thousands of years and being able to witness this striking vision, well, it humbles you beyond belief. We are just a speck and the world is our playground.
Next we moved on to Indian Staircase. There aren’t any marked trails and the locals don’t really share too much info on it’s whereabouts. Again, they try to keep some things sacred. The way these foot holds have endured over the years is just plain awesome. Sometimes when I get to a really cool spot I sit there and wonder about how the place was back in the day. I love it!
Ok now….the ascent wasn’t that bad. However, the descent freaked me out a bit!
Pictures first, talk second!
Grooves in the granite “stairs.” We didn’t have any really good photos so I borrowed one from
Photo: http://www.reddit.com
It was sketchy going up. We had to scramble up some pretty big rocks but it was fun climbing. 🙂 However, going down…ugh… I made Matthew stay in front of me the whole time because I thought for sure I would slide off the darn thing! It was sandy and therefore slippery. I was relieved my body didn’t end up and the bottom of the gorge! I pictured myself sliding down uncontrollably like in a cartoon or something and then being catapulted way up in the air and then like Wile E. Coyote, suddenly stopping mid-air and just plummeting straight down! Hahaha…not funny!
When you reached to top you could see well over 180°! Gorgeous!! You could also shuffle your way down to Frog’s Head. Be careful though because there is nothing on but a shear drop on either side of the “head.” I didn’t shuffle down because after consuming a few spirits the night before I was not fully trusting my footing.
Frogs head
Photo: Dingo
The pictures we took DO NOT do this place justice! If you ever get a chance to visit I would make a must see on your list. It was a rather impressive journey.
We met a group of young guys who were climbing up the same as us and one kid had the most interesting design on his body.
Photo: Melissa
Yep! He was riding in a convertible without a shirt on…but at least he had his seat belt on!! LOL…..
Speaking of really cool guys I want to mention a great kid we all met the night we cowboy camped on the ridge underneath a blanket of stars (and one unsightly cell tower.) His name is Thomas and he was out solo packing. He was sweet, kind and personable. I love meeting awesome people on the trail. He has his head on straight and is smart. Meet Thomas 🙂
Great kid! Photo: Me
When all was climbed, hiked, swam and thoroughly explored we load up our gear and headed down to Miguel’s for some great pizza!
Photo: Dingo Dingo chomping down on some great pizza and drinking an Ale 8! Photo: Melissa
This was a fantastic trip! I cannot wait to go back and explore all the other places we couldn’t fit into a long weekend!
Next up: Canoeing in Algonquin Provincial Park Ontario, Canada!!!!
Until my next adventure post….
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Good Morning Everyone! I hope everyone is doing awesome on this gorgeous summer day!!!
I have been on the go go go and have finally found some time to catch up on my travels this summer!
I wanted to spend the summer running and climbing, ya know… chillin’ on the rocks with friends, meeting new climbers and runners. Unfortunately I kept sustaining minor injuries that kept me from doing these awesome things! Sprained ankles, shin splints etc…(I never get rid of a pair of crutches…lol I keep them just in case! Hahaha) So I went back to my other love, backpacking! You get to use hiking poles for stability and hiking boots with great ankle support. By no means is backpacking considered easy but it is less stressful on the body then trail running and climbing. So backpacking it is!
I was able to visit some very cool places this summer! First up The Red River Gorge in Kentucky! I made this a two part post because I couldn’t possibly fit all the greatness that this trip was into a single post!
Sunrise over the Red River Gorge 🙂
I have been wanting to visit The Red River Gorge for so long and I am soooo happy that my good friend Darwin from the backpacking group decided to put this trip together. I have driven through Kentucky before but I have never really spent time exploring this great state. It was a trip that was absolutely breathtaking!
We started out on Thursday morning and roadtripped 7 hours to the gorge. We had 5 people in the car I was in. Two I already knew and the other 2 people quickly became friends! I think whenever you throw a bunch of people in a car for several hours CRAZY things will be talked about and discussed. Icelandic museums?! We had a great time and quickly got to know one another! There was another car that we caravanned with and they were equally awesome too!
When we finally arrived at the gorge we packed and repacked our packs and went on our way. The great thing about this particular trip was that we backpacked out, set up camp and then day hiked. I am soooo happy we did that! Using a day pack instead of a mulit-day backpack made exploring the arches so much easier and we could cover more ground. This trip wasn’t really about mileage. It was about really getting to explore the area we were staying at and we loved it.
So when we finished neatly and efficiently packing our packs we started on our merry way.
“Umm dudes..there is a trail around here somewhere..maybe…well…maybe not..” Our other fearless leader Matthew… Trails.. somewhere
The other leader stopped to fix is clothes or shoes or something so Matthew, Eliese and I took the lead down the trail that Darwin pointed us in. We were lead right into an in-ground yellow jacket hive!!! Matthew didn’t get stung but I was right behind him and stepped directly onto it! I was stung 6 times, Eliese 2 times!!! While I was screaming like a banshee I didn’t notice that I ran right into a pricker bush. So this is me post wrong trail/yellow jacket nest courtesy of our fearless leasder…lol..
It has healed up pretty nicely but he owes me a beer for sure! Eliese too because she turned out to be somewhat allergic and her hand swelled up to 1.5 times it normal size and her eye looked like she was in a nasty bar fight! (I won’t post her battle wounds…lol)
So… after getting back on track we found a campsite and set up camp. It wasn’t the best campsite because not too far from it was what we could only guess was a used car part graveyard. We think that one of the main trails used to be a service road way back in the day and that they would just leave used parts in the woods. Not really nice to look at but we were far enough past it that it was out of eye sight. We did find an old chair in the camp and Dingo (not his real name) was trying to pry it apart and stumbled upon a black widow and her baby spider sac!!!!! We didn’t really fear momma black widow as she was NOT going to leave her babies to come visit us so all was cool and calm. 🙂
Later that night a few people went off in search of the sunset. They found a spectacular one but I opted to lick my wounds and stay behind to build the fire along with Eliese as I believe she had had enough for the day too! BUT the next morning I went to greet the sun and this is what I found..
You really have to click on the picture to make it bigger to get the full effect of the spectacular morning…it was AWEsome!!! Those are my two friends Kathy and Melissa who cowgirl camped out on the the ridge. Love those ladies! That night we ALL joined them for a group cowgirl/boy camp.
But back to that day! After breakfast we loaded out daypacks with snacks and water and set off to find Star Gap Arch.
Star Gap Arch 🙂 Photo not mine
We spent a good amount of time exploring the arch and just basking in it’s beauty. Now, the locals won’t tell you too much about the area as they want to keep what isn’t on the official trails sacred. I don’t blame them…but if you do explore the unofficial trails you’ll find even more raw beauty! The Gorge has so much to offer that it is impossible to see it all in just a few days!
We then went on to Auxier Ridge, Haystack Rock, Wizards Backbone, Courthouse Rock, Auxier Branch (valley), up to Double Arch and then finally back to camp.
Photo: Dingo Photo: Dingo RRG Crew Photo: Melissa The views 🙂 Photo: Melissa Cristy and Kathy yoga pose. Photo: Melissa
At one point the heat was just getting to be a bit much. When we stopped to filter water from a small river I took the opportunity to submerse my head and let the cool water flow over my hair and neck! (after everyone was done filtering of coure!) I convinced a couple of the other women to do it too and we all hiked back to camp feeling totally refreshed! It was just what we needed!!!
Dunking Kathy! Lol… Photo: Linda
Waking up to sunrises, falling asleep to sunsets. Seeing the majestic valley of the Red River Gorge from the top of a massive rock reminds me of why I put up with spiders, yellow jacket stings, and rattles snakes. Beauty has a price and Mother Nature makes you pay your dues. She is relentless in her ways but she gives what you need to survive and refresh your mind.
Stay tuned for Part 2!! Cloud Splitter and Indian Staircase are going to be awesome!! Not to mention jumping off a huge rock and swimming in the river!!! It’s going to be AWESOME!
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
I was driving home from work today and listening to a “throwback” workout station on Spotify. And when I say throw back the songs were from about 7 years ago?!? I don’t know… Anyways, I was thinking about how I was going to come home and do some yoga and then I had a brilliant idea! I am going to do yoga but to some hip hop music!!! I. Am. A. Genius! What got me going was a song by Usher. Sometimes I try to be a professional dancer in my car on my commute to or from work ;D Remember that car commercial with the woman dancing in the front passenger seat?! Eh hem… that’s me! Hahaha..I wish!
I will have to let you know how the hip hop yoga goes 😉
How often do you guys change up your workout routine? I get bored very easily if I do the same workout several times in a row. I am constantly switching it up. I had to give up running the bleachers as of late because of awful shin splints in my right shin. Today at work I was sitting at the nurses station and all of a sudden I had very sharp pains shoot up my right shin. Gosh it was PAINFUL! The physical therapist at work told me that I need to stretch more and lay off the high impact cardio for a little while. Ugh… I am going on a backpacking trip in a week so I hope to be back up to speed by then.
Yesterday a friend and I went to the park and climbed the stairs behind the nature center.
Around 134 stairs. Kind of looks like a giant bug coming your way!
My friend is very toned and muscular as he spends a lot of time in the gym lifting weights. However, I can out do him when it comes to cardio any day! He texted me today to tell me that he was soooo sore. Poor baby! So I asked him if he would put me through a killer upper body workout. I am great with cardio. Not so great at being consistent with weights…especially my upper body. And this dude has some sweet arms so I trust that the workout he puts me through will be awesome and a good hurt!
What are some of your favorite upper body workouts?
Have a great night!
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend 😀 This will be a quick little sweet post!
In my head I am still 24 years old! However, my body is 38 FO real. I would like to think that if I had to be evaluated, a sports med doctor would say my body is truly about 28 years old. (slip the doc $50 and call it a day ;))
Annnnnnyways…. I have been sustaining minor injuries from over use and improper warm up. I know better but hey when you feel good you feel good and you push your body a little harder. Enter in shin splints in my right shin, a slightly pulled muscle in my right quad and a still sensitive sprained left ankle. What the HECK dude?!?! I am a competitive person. Especially with myself. So I was chillaxing at home and wondering what the heck I was going to do for cardio and strength training while giving my lower body a rest from high impact cardio. Ugh…I can’t tell you the last time I have been to the rock gym! Totally depressed about that one…with my ankle still being sore and sensitive I cannot jump down from bouldering problems.
So I decided to pull out my yoga mat and do more than just the normal routine of awesome stretches.
yoga at the beach dudes 🙂
It has been a while since I have attended an actual yoga class on a regular basis. I used to go all the time when I lived in Southern California. In L.A. you could go to a yoga class pretty much anytime of day, even midnight. I loved it! Now that I am back in Ohio it is a little harder as the studios are more spread out, the schedules aren’t really that conducive and the variety of yoga just isn’t there. Well not as much as SoCal. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and YouTube the crap out of online yoga! Benefits? Free and I can do it in my own home. Sounds pretty good to me. Except I get bored at home and generally dislike working out at home. And since I am problem solver..hahaha…I took my mat outdoors. I would say 4 out of 7 mornings you can find me at a local beach or grassy park running through various yoga poses.
sunrise yoga 🙂Yoga on the hill top!
I feel so much stronger than I did a week ago! Especially in my shoulders which are a tough spot for me to train. Before I head out the door I look up new poses and/or poses for what body parts I am struggling with. It is so easy to do and the benefits are amazing. I know I am walking taller and straighter too! Now I just need another yoga mat. One for indoors and one for outdoors.
As I was driving home from work this evening (Sunday as I am writing this) I was flipping through the stations on the radio and Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ came on. I was totally dancing, singing and rocking out on the highway home. After it was over I found it playing on ANOTHER station. I mean the universe wanted an encore of my first performance right?!?!?!!! I gladly obliged and rocked out aaagain! I didn’t care who watching me as the passed me by. I was having too much fun! I almost forgot to mention how AWESOME SAUCE I sounded!!! Move over Steve Perry!!!
Peace out til next time and namaste dudes!
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Here is the deal. No one and I mean no one is happy 100% of the time and no one has it totally and completely all together. If they say they do they are probably fooling themselves in one or more aspect of their lives. IF we have it all together then that means that we have stopped growing, searching and learning. That we have become content and complacent in who we are and what we do. I write this blog because it is a creative outlet for me as well as journal, therapy session and reflection pool. It is true that I am a naturally happy person but I have my struggles just like the person sitting next to me. Someone recently said to me, “You seem like you have it all together.” I immediately told them I do not. However, I do try to focus on what I do have together. I always try to focus on what I am grateful for, what I work hard for and what I can do to help people. There are certain areas in my life that could use some help and some guidance. Those areas have always been a struggle for me. BUT the great thing is, is that we can lean on each other. We don’t have to go through life’s tough questions, moments or feelings alone. Chances are someone you know very well or very little may be going through the same thing and asking themselves the same questions you are asking yourself.
An old friend (from a billion years ago) and I started talking recently. Out of the blue we struck up a conversation via Facebook and he reached out to me in part because of my writings in this blog. We have had a few brief but really cool in-depth conversations about spirituality and happiness. I am really looking forward to conversing again with him soon. I am so glad that this blog has started a dialog between us! The same questions that I ask myself are the same questions people are asking themselves and it is a really awesome thing that we can chat about all of it. The most important thing is that no one is diagnosing, judging or has any ulterior motive.
I have found that sometimes it is easier to talk to someone other than our significant others or family members about what it is we are going through. Sometimes it gives you a different perspective on your situation or gives you insight on how to approach your significant other about the thoughts and feelings you are having. Conversing with a member of the opposite sex outside your relationship doesn’t always mean that you are looking for something that you are lacking in your relationship. Sometimes it means that you are looking for someone to connect with (male or female… who cares?!) that may help you reconnect with your significant other. It helps you see the light.
What I am saying is that there are so many outlets in this world that we can reach out to. Nature is a HUGE one for me. My dad always said to me growing up, “Lori, don’t ever forget that we are a part of nature too.” Reaching out to other human beings, even though you may not have talked to them in quite some time, could be just the thing you need.
A while ago when I was going through a tough time I reached out to a person from high school via Facebook. I asked her questions (about questions that I was trying to figure out) based on her Facebook posts about God and divinity. She was so very nice and helpful! Yeah, it was a little strange to be reaching out to someone that I haven’t spoken with in 20 years but that is a great thing about social media, you can put yourself and thoughts out there and you may just very well be of help to someone else. (I will not get into the negatives about social media right now…hahaha.)
This whole post takes me back to the previous one about sharing stories. The art of conversation. Intimacy in conversation, romantic or platonic, has the capability of being salutiferous.
Peace, love and lots of reaching out,
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.” (Maybe he was talking about having a conversation!)
“This is intimacy: the trading of stories in the dark.
This act, the act of quiet night time talking, illustrates for me more than anything else the curious alchemy of companionship.”
~Elizabeth Gilbert, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage.
I am reading the above mentioned book and I am slowing down my reading of it dramatically because it is one of those books that you don’t want to end. That aside, the above passage struck me with such force that I had to put the book down and savor those words. In such times as our current ones when intimacy typically means bra’s, underwear and sex, it is nice to be reminded that other more “innocent” things can be intimate. The art of conversing in the night with someone that makes you feel alive, safe and/or needed creates a kind and warm intimacy.
Continued from above…
“Because when Felipe described his father’s swimming stroke, I took that watery image and I stitched it carefully into the hem of my own life, and now I will carry that around with me forever. As long as I live, and even long after Felipe has gone, his childhood memory, his father, his river, his Brazil – all of this, too, has somehow become me.”
Once in a blue moon do I have those beautiful sacred conversations with someone where I carry a part of them with me. When someone is comfortable enough to share the most intimate parts of their life journey with me, I cannot help but keep it stored in my mind and heart. There was, are and will be moments in my life where the intimate conversations affect my thoughts and feeling and actions.
I still love to have long conversations face to face with someone. No phones, no computers, no tablets. Just two people sitting or laying around talking. Talking about what ever comes to mind. Whether it be adventures, life, work, dreams, family, or crazy silly things that comes to mind like airplanes being UFO’s…lol. You can share those thoughts.
A while ago I had a great night of conversation with a friend. We talked and laughed and almost peed our pants about so much into the wee hours of the morning! But, the lovely part was when he opened up to me about the losses in his life. When someone can share those thoughts and feel free to express those emotions, it means more to me than the rest of the conversation that night. There was trust. There was safety inside that space. There was a friendship that was being built.
I love when people share stories with me. It means that they trust me and I appreciate that. Just make sure that that person is willing to hear your stories too. You know someone is sincere as a friend, significant other or what have you, if they then in turn want to learn and know what is going on with you and really listen attentively.
So invite a friend over or cuddle up with significant other and turn off the electronic devices and connect through conversation. Also, look them in the eye. Why are people so afraid of looking at someone while having a conversation. Is eye contact too intimate? I don’t think so. I think it is just respectful. To see and hear someone is beautiful.
Peace, love and lots of good intimate conversation,
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
It has been a while! I finally have internet connected in my new ”new” apartment! (I moved from one unit to a new unit with a balcony!) Also I have been putting in a lot of hours at work so I haven’t really had the time to hit the cafes and take advantage of free internet. Cox Communications had to come out and completely run a new wire across my building and into my new “new” apartment because my particular apartment was never wired in the first place. So it is all done and I am a happy camper!
Aaahhhh!
I love love love my new “new” apartment! Most mornings you can find me out on my balcony meditating before work while waiting for my coffee to cool down as it sits on the upon the window ledge. There is this very strong and beautiful oak tree just in front of my balcony that stands tall and proud. I watch the birds and squirrels scurry through and around it all the time. I love the balance that is the area where I live. I get to listen to birds, watch bunnies hop through the lawns first thing in the morning and listen to the sounds of my new city. I LOVE THIS BALANCE!
So much fun has happened this past month! I threw a surprise 40th birthday dinner for my sister Lisa at Burntwood Tavern in Rocky River. This place is one of my favorite places to eat in my neighborhood. The atmosphere is upscale rustic, with great fixtures and a GIANT fireplace out on the patio where you can sit in a big leather couch all year long! The great thing about this place is that the food and atmosphere are amazing and yet TOTALLY affordable. You will not break your bank dining here. Plus their happy hour is restaurant wide, not just at the bar! Also when making reservations the staff was so nice and accommodating as they let me store my sister’s huge birthday cake in their fridge! If you are in town or live in the area, check this place out! (Um..it is also next to my favorite coffee shop Erie Island Coffee! Win! Win!)
My sister’s surprise dinner was awesome for a couple of reasons
She was getting upset during the weeks leading up to it as she thought no one was planning a 40th anything for her. Hahaha!
She had NO CLUE and was completely surprised!
Her closest friends, co-workers and family were all in attendance to totally suprise her.
And the look on her face as we took the blind fold off was AWESOME SAUCE! (my sister is the most Italian looking of all of us [our mother is full blooded Italian via her grandparents from Napoli] complete with beautiful olive skin so when she turns red it isn’t really red is more a maroon!)
It was a beautiful, fun and delicious evening and I am so glad she loved it! I forgot to ask permission from the guests if it was okay to post their pics, so that is why I am not sharing pics from the dinner 😦
I will catch up more later… I am off to work!
Peace, love and lots of warm sunshine,
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
I wish I could describe to you in detail the clouds that were hanging in the sky on Tuesday… I was driving home from work and could not stop staring up at the crazy eclectic clouds. It was one of those afternoons where the sky was a bright radiant blue and the sunshine was floating between clouds casting highlights and shadows. There were clouds of all shapes, sizes, colors and fluffiness…(that’s right..fluffiness!) There were massive walls of clouds next to wispy ones, storybook clouds intermingling with gray one’s saturated with precipitation. All the while the sky was a radiant beautiful blue. I am not a very good flier but when I am up above the clouds I become very calm. I really love flying through them… how cool is that?! All the Gods were doing there finest work that afternoon and put on the most beautiful display. People love posting pictures of rainbows, and yes they are very pretty, but I absolutely love clouds.
This is a picture of some very interesting clouds that I took while traveling by train through Utah. I forget what kind they are.
(a quick shout out to my friend Howdy…) I always used to call up my friend Kevin a.k.a. “Howdy” and ask him about the clouds I have seen because he went to school and became a meteorologist. He would always have the correct answer and an explanation of why they looked the way they did! Now my old friend is among them up in heaven…
This is a short and sweet post tonight..
Peace, love and lots of warm sunshine,
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Hello! I just had the most amazing weekend! I hope you all did as well 🙂 My weekend was full of dancing, the beach and working out times 2! I want to start a new segment on this blog titled The Everyday Outdoor Adventurer. I love meeting new and inspiring people in and around my area! But first let’s talk about Friday night!
Friday night…lol! Some girls from work and myself headed out Friday night to go see That 80’s Band at Vosh in Lakewood. This band tours locally around Ohio and will be back in the area soon so you can better believe we will be seeing them again! We walked into a semi-swanky night club to all of our favorite 80’s music blaring from the stage. This band is GREAT! They do the most amazing covers from Michael Jackson to The Bangles and they even did a great Journey cover (and that is hard to do!) It didn’t take us long to order our drinks and head out onto the dance floor! Now, I am NO great dancer but how did you really dance in the 80’s anyways?! We danced ALL NIGHT LONG! They even ended the night with one of my favorite songs, Cheap Trick’s I Want You To Want Me (which was actually released in the 70’s.). I love dancing around my place when that song comes on! It is so upbeat and catchy! I do not have pictures from that night (probably better that way..lol!) Sadly the last song of the night played and we had to head home. 😦 But I didhave a little keepsake from our all night dance session… I woke up Saturday morning and my neck was soooo stiff! I was dancing and whipping my head around way too much. Really glad there aren’t any pics or videos 😉
After I was positive that I didn’t throw out my neck, I ventured down to the shore with a hot delicious cup of coffee from Erie Island Coffee Company. I cannot express to you in words how blissfully happy I am to be living 1 minute from this amazing coffee joint!
Mmmm….
So after picking up my favorite local brew Saturday morning I headed down to the beach. I don’t know of anything I love more than sitting on the warm sand, digging my toes in and gazing out at the water with a cup of coffee in hand. The beach I went to is also my favorite beach to scope out driftwood. I love the way the sun and water strip away layers and produces a soft weathered beautiful piece of wood. I always wonder about the journey of the pieces I bring home. Where did it come from, how long had it been in the water? Here is one that I would have loved to bring home but it was WAY heavy!
gnarly
So I am sitting there sipping my coffee with the warm sun shining down on me just loving life at that moment when this guy comes trotting down the sand with his kayak. Let me explain the water conditions that morning. It seemed almost as if the earth had stopped rotating. The water was as smooth as glass as far as my eyes could see. I didn’t really see any movement and would have been unaware of any if not for the ever so gentle lapping of the water coming to say hi to the shore. In other words it was perfect for kayaking.
The guy who was nice enough to chat with me and let me take his picture is Marty. We had a nice chat about kayaking and our love for being out on the water. Him and his wife just launch their boats and go. How fantastic?! He also invited me to a drum circle 🙂
Typically, people gather to drum in drum “circles” with others from the surrounding community. The drum circle offers equality because there is no head or tail. It includes people of all ages. The main objective is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other and themselves. To form a group consciousness. To entrain and resonate. By entrainment, I mean that a new voice, a collective voice, emerges from the group as they drum together.”
~courtesy of Wikipedia
I have not been to a drum circle since Venice Beach. I do enjoy them but I am not a devotee like most of the people who attend. But still I will definitely have to check it out and see how ones in Ohio compare to ones in Venice Beach…lol.
I also met Eric! I was gazing out at the water when this figure came slowly into focus. I knew right away that I had to talk to this person.
Eric is a stand up paddle boarder and a Lake Erie surfer. Two things that I definitely want to try! We talked for a little while about both sports and how he got involved in them. I don’t know how much backpacking I will be doing this summer with SO many other cool things to get into!!!!! Turns out Eric made his own board and paddle. He doesn’t sell them but did give me a number to a person who does and it turns out the place is right down the street from me!
I love meeting The Everyday Outdoor Adventurer when I am out and about. I love their stories of how they got involved with whatever it is they are doing at the moment. That is also how I find out about other cool and different things to do in the Cleveland area. I love people and find most to be very interesting when you get to chatting. 🙂 With that being said I could probably make friends and hold a conversation with an inanimate object too, that’s how much I love talking! I find that 10 times out of 10 when I approach someone, they are totally cool with me snapping their pick. It is all in how you ask 😉
After leaving that beach I went and picked up one nephew and two nieces and headed back down to the beach! Seriously though, it was the perfect day to be there!
We had such a good time! We packed a lunch and some sand toys and were on our way 🙂 It was such a perfect day to be out at the shore. Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuust perfect! I loved that they kept talking about how they love being out in nature and exploring. They had so much fun out on the rocks and climbing in and out of the ones with little tide pools. They buried each other. And they dug holes in the sand so deep that when they went in they were up to their knees! Of course we covered them in and packed them down so no one would be strolling along and fall into one. After we packed up the toys and lunch we headed out to a local ice cream shop and topped off our afternoon with dessert. Dairy Grove in North Ridgeville has some of the best custard I have ever had!
After two days of non stop fun it was time to get in a good sweaty workout on Sunday morning! I led a small group of people on a cardio session out in Rocky River Reservation. I have talked about this set of stairs before in a previous post. Although this time instead of going up and down with 3 different types of stepping, we also included a 1/3 of a mile loop run in between each set of stairs climbing. It was fun and hard and exhausting but it felt sooo good! What felt really good was the brief slightly chilly rain that surprised us during our workout! It was a nice happenstance 🙂
But the workout for me didn’t stop there! I am starting to run with my niece Molly. She is in track and asked me to run with her and I so totally gladly said I would! So after a mile run and 5 sets of 134 stairs I went to pick up my niece and go run another couple of miles! Hahaha..I am going to feel it over the next few days. We ran and then did a bunch of running exercises and then concluded our workout with a good 20 minutes of stretching. Ahhhhh…. Then we headed home to shower and go to my other niece and nephew’s track meet to watch them run and jump!
It was a jam packed friend and family filled weekend and I could not have asked for a better one!
I hope you all had a great weekend too! Let me know what fun things you did this weekend in the comments section below!
Peace, love and lots of warm sunshine,
~Lori
“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
I only worked my normal hours today and it felt great to get off of work at a decent hour! I went home, changed, loaded up the backpack and went for a walk. I was originally going to go to the coffee shop but hey… why not a refreshing beverage?!
I would like to think that if I had to be evaluated, a sports med doctor would say my body is truly about 28 years old. (slip the doc $50 and call it a day ;))
There is this very strong and beautiful oak tree just in front of my balcony that stands tall and proud. I watch the birds and squirrels scurry through and around it all the time. I love the balance that is the area where I live. I get to listen to birds, watch bunnies hop through the lawns first thing in the morning and listen to the sounds of my new city. I LOVE THIS BALANCE!
Now my old friend is among them up in heaven…
Wildflowers Lori 