Monday, September 30, 2013

Date 100 - Still In Progress!

Date: Saturday, September 28, 2013
Type: Out On The Town, Creative
Cost: $$
Planned By: Both

We have been planning to do this date for a long long time. It took us a while to decide to finally do it but what better time than our 100th date night! That's right this is date number 100.. and we are Still in Progress!

So for those of you who haven't heard a Progressive Dinner you are in for a treat. During a progressive dinner you get appetizers, entrees, dessert and drinks at different places. So living downtown, we decided it would be a great way to check out some different restaurants!

Appetizer -
We started in the Playhouse Square district, and got chili fries at Dynomite. This is a walk up restaurant with a great outdoor patio. It is only a couple months old, and it really adds something nice to this district. The fries were really good, and maybe someday will stop by for one of their interesting burgers!
Drinks -
We took the C Line free trolley over to the Warehouse District for some before dinner drinks. There are a few specialty bars downtown and we have been wanting to try out D'Vine. This wine bar had an extensive wine list, and we couldn't choose just one to get. So we decided to share a flight of four different wines. We got the sweet sip flight which consisted of Wente Reisling, Blue Bottle Reisling, Hogue Reisling and Bellafina Frizzante. They were all very good and each had its own flavor.
Entree -
We took a nice walk over to the East 4th Entertainment District for our entrees at La Strada! La Strada is a Mediterranean bistro. It is inspired by Italian, Turkish, Spanish and Greek kitchens. We sat outside and listened to the live band playing on East 4th Street.  We shared the Chicken Parmesan and the Americano flat bread pizza. Both entrees were delicious and I'm glad we chose to split them!
Dessert -
Dessert was the course I was most excited for. We decided to go Colossal Cupcakes in the Gateway District. This place is adorable. It has a huge cupcake next to its sign outside, and the interior is pink! The decor is pretty girly and shabby chic. I have been waiting to go here for far too long. Adam got the Apple Cider Cupcake and I got the Chocolate Almond Raspberry Cupcake. We both loved our them, and neither of us offered to share!
This date was fantastic. I loved every minute of it. We made sure to go to all four main districts of downtown Cleveland. We had never been to any of the places we stopped at. I recommend every place that we tried. They had great customer service, food, drinks and ambiance! Anyone can do this date, and every one should!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Date 99 - I'm On A Boat!

Date: Saturday, September 21, 2013
Type: Out On The Town, Double, Culture
Cost: $$
Planned By: Both

While living downtown we want to make the most of everything we have within walking distance. Also while living in Cleveland we like to utilize beautiful Lake Erie as much as possible. So for this double date we did both.

Michelle and Jim visited from Columbus for the weekend so we asked them to take do a lunch double date with us. This was no ordinary lunch date. We took a lunch cruise on the Goodtime III!
The day started out very gloomy. We had to walk in the rain down to the boat at the East 9th Street Pier. We got our tickets and boarded the boat. There was a buffet style lunch consisting of roast beef, chicken, potatoes, green beans and carrots, and a salad. This lunch wasn't that great. It filled me up but I was expecting something a bit nicer. For dessert we had brownies, that were actually pretty good!
During the cruise there was a narration as we sailed down the Cuyahoga River. It told us lots of interesting facts about the history of Cleveland as a port city. I mean they weren't that interesting, but I did learn a couple things. For the second part, we cruised around the harbor and got really nice views of the Cleveland skyline. As we headed back to the dock the sun came out! The better weather brightened everyone's mood for the end of the cruise.
All in all, it was nice to do once. I'm glad we went, but I probably wouldn't do it again. They do have dinner cruises, and dancing cruises that might be a bit more upbeat, but the lunch cruise wasn't that exciting.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Date 98 - Settle Down.

Date: 8/17/13, 8/25/13, 9/7/13
Type: Friends, Family, Love
Cost: $$$$
Planned By: Friends/Family

A lot of our friends and family are settling down and getting married!! We are at "that age" so it isn't very surprising. Date night got put on hold for a few weekends because we went to three weddings within four weeks!

First, was Tim and Liisa. We worked with Tim at Boyd Dining Hall for three years. We were so happy we could celebrate with him and Liisa. Their wedding was in Kentucky, right across the river from downtown Cincinnati. It was a beautiful wedding and reception!
Second, was my cousin Hayley and Riley. I was very excited for this wedding because I knew I'd get to see a lot of family members that I rarely see. My sisters and I had a great time dancing and eating candy from the candy bar! She had her gorgeous wedding at a country club near Akron, Ohio!
Last, but definitely not least was the wedding we had been waiting for for over two years! Right before we graduated from college our really good friends Laura and Sean got engaged. They both wanted to finish up school before getting married so we had to wait a little bit for the big day. The whole group was there. We were able to attend the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, ceremony, reception, after party and brunch the next day. Laura chose to have six of her sorority sisters (including me) read the petitions. We were all very honored to be a part of her wedding. We had so much fun at every event during the weekend, and it was so nice having the entire group together again! It was a wonderful weekend, and I can't wait for the next wedding in this group!