Cleveland's Best

In the last 10 days,

• Mary and Doug got married!!!
• Jenn and I had the greatest sleepover of all time (at my parent's house).
  
• I rode a horse for the first time in 2 months... WAY overdue.
  
• I got my hair chopped!
  
• Joey met his new BFF, Chandler, and it was love at first sight.... Chandler is a girl.

This weekend we were able to relax in Cleveland, which is always nice considering our crazy summer. We didn't do anything too exciting, just checked out a few new places nearby that we heard were great... and they were! Cleveland's best pizza and Cleveland's best ice cream are within a 5 minute drive from our apartment! We showed up to church this morning to find it was canceled due to a plumbing problem... so we went for breakfast at a coffee shop down the street from our place, Erie Island Coffee.

This leads me to "The List"... this list of Cleveland's best and worst (according to me).

The worst:
While Jon doesn't appreciate my negative Cleveland comments, I must say driving here is much more stressful than what I am used to... and that's the polite version of what I would really like to say about Cleveland drivers! Other than the driving, I can't complain too much. In fact, I really am enjoying living here despite missing everyone from PA.

Walking Joey on a leash is not the greatest either, particularly when he squats 15 times before finding the perfect spot... but on to the good stuff!

The Best:
I have discovered many things I love about living in Lakewood, which is the first tier suburb of the city of Cleveland. Here's the list!

• A local chocolate company, Malley's Chocolates. It's amazing. I have a bumper sticker from there, and I can win money if they spot me! Still waiting on that...
• We can walk to SO many things! (countless restaurants, Pizza, coffee, beer, dry cleaner, my hair salon... the list goes on!)
  
• We live above a bakery, so it smells good ALL the time.
• The Dog Park. It's only a half mile from us so we can either walk or drive Joey down to run around and be free from his leash!
  
• Edison's Pub. Although it's not technically voted "Best Pizza in Cleveland", Jon and I beg to differ. Jon says "it's a hidden treasure, AKA the best kept secret this side of Chicago" (direct quote).
• There's so much to do here. The options are endless! (Slightly different from Lancaster County)
  
• Lake Erie. It's half a mile from our apartment and there's lots of park and beaches on it to enjoy.
  
• My favorite restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory, is less than a 10 minute drive! And another favorite, Smokey Bones, is nearby too!
  
• Francesca's, a new favorite store, is .8 miles down the street from our apartment. A little dangerous, but still awesome.
  
• My new favorite place, as soon as I get a chance to actually go there, will be The Chocolate Bar in downtown Cleveland. I've heard it's amazing and with my love of chocolate I think it's going to be heaven on earth when I get there. (I'll let you know!)
• Being married and living with Jon. I must say it's been so nice not to have a 6 hour car ride between us! and being married is pretty great too.
  

I think that about wraps it up for now. Here's a few pictures from the latest events mentioned before....

P.S.- Mom, just because I love all these things about Cleveland doesn't mean I don't miss PA. Don't worry, we're still planning on living closer some day!
































































































This last picture is of my Parents' cat and her last kitten... WHO WANTS HER?! :)