Surprise 35th!

3/7/2015 - I try to keep my blog posts centered in and around our adventures in the Cleveland area but I'm going to go a bit rogue this week. I mean I have to! Even though it happened in good old Stark county, there's no way I can't highlight this one. It was just too good.

Let's start with good old Gina... girl loves a many thing but on the top of that list and in no particular order are:

• Birthdays/Birth Dates
• Party Planning
• Buying Decorative Trinkets
• Making the People She Loves Happy
• Fancy Planned Dinner Nights Out
• Family

Now by looking at this list I know you're saying to yourself "You had to have seen this coming right?". To that I say no and for good reason >>> She lied!... A lot. She was helping Gina with Bob's birthday and needed ideas for themes and decoration. I was there when she bought stuff for my surprise party! She was working late... again, a lot! Her job schedule sucks AND it changes daily so it's easy after a while to just let all of the changes go in one ear and out the other. I went to bed earlier, did some crafty projects, and caught up on shows. She was pushing me to reconnect with old friends and plan nights out. If I showed the slightest interest, that name went on the invite list. That would explain why no one could make any plans this weekend. She apologized for us not having anything crazy go on for our birthdays. I was OK with that...actually I was relieved to some level. We do a lot of stuff. Our whole life is 1 big birthday party after another so a calm and cool birthday weekend is fine by me.

The plans as I understood them were that we were supposed to meet my parents and her sister and brother-in-law at Main Street Grille in North Canton. We were jointly celebrating my Mom's (3/2), my (3/5), Gina's (3/7), and her bro-in-law Jim's (3/6) birthdays. The plan as it stood went right along with enough of Gina's traits to be very believable. So was her constant questioning of whether or not my parents were excited to go out and if I thought they'd get along with Tracy and Jim and if the restaurant would be OK and if we should bring gifts and what are we getting everyone and on and on... She gets very nervous planning things for family and since it was nothing but family...let's just say she sweat through more than 1 set of sheets awake at night thinking about all of it -- and she blamed my snoring! Anyways, only now do I know that it was because of WAY more than just the 6 of us hitting it off as a group...

As we pulled up to Main Street Grille she was visibly and audibly nervous...and cranky. I didn't think anything of it because she gets like this before family visits and holidays. It's funny because I notice the nervous ticks since we live together. Her sister and my parents get to see the nervous at all times, dressed to impress, and the every base covered version of Gina. I wonder what they'd think if they saw her with full lion's mane bed hair, in only a flannel PJ top, laying on the couch watching Mob Wives, eating cake with her hands and no plate at 11:30 am, while the cat licks milk out of an old bowl of cereal on the coffee table... you know, like I see her. She was also buried in her cell phone which again is not out of the ordinary but this time instead of letting the world know how close she is to being cast in the Golden Girls reboot by taking a picture of some felt trinket, she was scheming and making sure everyone was ready.

SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!...

The party was a complete success! Everything about it was catered to me. Scotch and beer and booze, cigars with cutters and special matches, goat cheese dip, scotch eggs, ...everything and all my favorites! I mean look at this little collection of goodies in the picture to the left... Holy shit right?!?! I now have a special stash for very special occasions like I freakin' helped found Playboy magazine or something. I mean I got lots of booze which is cool with me. I also received gift card and a entertainment booklet filled with coupons. You people know me so well. I also got the McCoy birthday special which involves a non-birthday card (this time it was 1st communion) and a collection of non traditional birthday gifts (sanitary products). I've tried this in the past but could never commit like he can. Classic misdirection! The best gift was however was that my family, her family, and our friends old and new were there. Well not everyone but we are old and dealing with sick kids or finding a babysitter, no matter how much time you get, is difficult. No worries though. Even though you may be dead to Gina now, I'm cool with it. J/K

Instead of me getting into great detail, here are some pics from the party. Thanks to Jim, Kerry, and everyone else who took pictures. If you want to see more, go to my Facebook page, become my friend on Facebook, or ask me about them the next time you see me. Click the pics to see larger versions:

Oh Hi... all my friends...	Oh... and hi all my and Gina's family	Decorations! Mustaches on balloons	Awesome cakes for everyone!
Awwwww... BARF! ;)	Friends and Riley side	Vozar and Paul side	Desserts!

We're all laughing at Gina...because...well...she's a nerd!

I want to thank everyone for showing up and in the case of the Avdul's meeting us out after! I also want to thank the people who decorated and planned and baked. You are all very special people in my life and I am glad you made the time to come out and celebrate with us. It was so wonderful to see everyone and I truly felt loved by all on this special day.  A big thanks to Main Street Grille in North Canton for all of the great food and atmosphere. Their cooks made things special just for us. They let pretty much have the run of the place. Everyone there was helpful and polite all night... Plus they put up with Gina the Task Master! That deserves a standing O right there.

Happy Birthday to my mom, Jim, the love of my life Gina, and her dad Ward. There's definitely something to be said about March birthday's... the energy is like the first tulip to pop up through the ground and snow drifts. Just as you forget how awesome Christmas was because it's been so damn cold, March comes along to give you hope for spring... and cake and presents!... and booze! I certainly can't think of a better way I could have spent my birthday. Love you all!

Don't threaten us with a good time! P-i-m-p-s!

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Fleetwood Mac at the Q

First... go back and read my last 2 posts. 17 and 26 views is pathetic and they deserved to be read. I promise they're funny and insightful...

• New Browns Logo Huh?
• Monster Jam and The Capitol Theater

2/18/2015 - Dinner at the 1890 Restaurant and Fleetwood Mac at the Q

My Aunt Paula and Uncle Brad were staying at the Hyatt Regency at the Arcade and were also going to see Fleetwood Mac so of course we decided to have some dinner with them at the 1890 Restaurant which is also in the Arcade. Well not so much dinner but appetizers since they only server breakfast and lunch. Turns out the appetizers were cheap and plentiful so it wasn't as big of a let down as it was initially thought to be. The food was good but the 1 poor waitress was overwhelmed since... and I quote... "we usually only have one or two couples come in for food after lunch is over." It must be tough locked away inside the arcade with East 4th right there. It's be nice if the owners could move some more businesses in there to increase foot traffic. Anyways, if you are hungry but not hungry, they're a cheap good meal for dinner and you more than likely won't have to wait.

For Gina's birthday, I bought her, Kerry, and myself tickets to see Fleetwood Mac at the Q. They were super... SUPER excited to go and loved every second of the show. Before the show, I knew that Fleetwood Mac existed but didn't really know who they were, any of their crazy rock and roll stories, or a lot of their catalog. It's not that I didn't like them, I just wasn't exposed to them a lot. Even if I was, I wasn't really even sure it was them? After the concert was over, I realized that this point of view was easier than it looks for a guy in my situation, especially with my upbringing.

1) Being from Louisville, where the late 60's and early 70's were and are still the most popular time frames of life, many of us after high school... oh let's call us hipsters but it's really like being a dwarf among midgets since we're not much better (me included)... embraced 90's grunge and whatever came after that... Bare Naked Ladies and the death nail of rock I guess... and tried not to look back. It was that or continue to live in the Led Zeppelin, Matthew McConaughey from Dazed and Confused, Varsity Blues, Uncle Rico world that was constantly pulling us into it's black hole until we would eventually wake up the next day in our AC/DC concert t-shirt and black cut-off jean shorts like we fell asleep next to a pod in Invasion of the Body Snatchers... for douche bags. Anyways, Fleetwood Mac fell into that Eagles, Chicago, Steve Miller Band group...they weren't hard enough to rock to and unless you're parents were into them, you kinda missed that pop/middle of the road listening boat. Remember, radio and MTV told us what to listen to back then before Spotify/XM/Pandora/iTunes. That's why my generation knows about Savage Garden and not the New York Dolls. For the record I know neither... I wanna stand with you on a mountain... aw damnitt!

2) Everyone from the band sings and some even had solo careers. Axl Rose sings the songs for Guns and Roses. Kurt Cobain sang the songs for Nirvana. James Hetfield sings the songs for Metallica. A song by any of these bands comes on the radio and you know who it is. This is not the case for Fleetwood Mac. Not only does everyone sing but they each have sang classic songs in the band's catalog. Oh and some of them have had successful solo careers so it could be Stevie Nicks without the rest of the band. Confusing, if you're not familiar with what the heck's going on like me. I was shocked with the amount of songs I knew... I actually recognized about 75% of their set. Of those I related about 3 songs to the band. The rest existed in trips to Belden Village in mom's car before I was allowed to change the channel to 107.9, commercials, and movie soundtracks. Most of the mall trip songs were sung by Christine McVie surprisingly... I mean that I recognized from their set. Of all the songs I ever heard on those trips it was a tie between Fine Young Cannibals and Elton John.

3) The Beatles and Led Zeppelin... I know little about most old bands because I know so God Damn much about the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. Enough already. We can all agree they were great and should never mention it again. We don't wake up every morning and say "Holy shit look how green the grass is!"... well also because we live in Ohio... which is why I couldn't in all good faith use "blue the sky is". Oh I got it! We don't all wake up every morning and say "Holy shit look how grey the sky is!" Right?!? With that being said, we can all now move on to bands that they have influenced over the years... for instance... all of the bands that came after them.

All-in-all the concert was great! They sounded like they used to, all the band members were present, and I had a great time singing along to songs I knew but didn't know were from them. Plus I always love it when Gina looks over at me every 5 minutes and says how awesome something is! Usually the awesome thing is over before 5 minutes so I finally get to hear her sing my praises! Happy Birthday honey. I love you even though you're 10 years older than my preferred age range for lovers :) Just kidding of course... it's more like 15 years and I love you to the moon and back!

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Go eat at a church fish fry this lent even if you aren't in a religion that believes in the holiness of not eating meat/eating fish on Friday's for a span of 40 days in the winter/early spring. It gives you that weird old world experience that your grandparents told to you about before there was McDonald's and their 2 filet of fish for $2 deal. Get back to your roots America! You can also get this experience at fun old establishments like we did at Prosperity Social Club. Don't do it without reservations though! In these old ethnic neighborhood this kinda stuff is still as popular as ever especially when the food is as good as it is here. I promise I won't tell your God or Goddess of choice that you went.

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By the time this posts, I'll be 35... ::sigh:: I'm now at the upper bound of that age range that is currently changing the world. As Millennials move to urban cores and downtown's across America, leave their cars behind for bikes and the joy of a good walk, and demand a unique experience that you can't fulfill with a brand name... I can now only say that I have one more good year to do something memorable before I fall into the group who's future becomes entrenched in the suburban life of kids and dogs, green yards and good schools, and Applebee's date nights once a month. I certainly can see myself doing some of that and enjoying it at the same time but I see it all on my own terms. My terms are a hard sell though and my selfish nature demands that if I have to fit a mold, I'm going to bend it a bit to fit me. I can't say that this past year living in Tremont has been good for my outlook on life outside of this city. It actually makes me want to live where the pin on Google Maps lands when you search for Cleveland, Ohio. I want that to be where I am. So close that when you look it up on a map, my face shows up on the little man you drop in to get to street view... but I'm 35 now. That leaves me 1 more year to "grow up" and leave the revolution of the young behind. I unfortunately don't have anyone to pass the torch to or a monument erected in memory to my small piece of the fight. I only know that after I leave this city, one second of the number of years it continues to progress in it's current direction before falling again is thanks to me and the time I lived here. My blog, purchases, taxes, patronage, and constant cheer leading is the equivalent to 1 second of time that this city thrives without me. I made that happen.

Although my life will be for sure filled with happiness and joy, I am a man who found his passion too late in life to be able to properly enjoy it... and for that I will remain a drop emptier and forever regretful. Sleep on that Clevelanders as time slowly tics away... love ya!

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