cleveland art museum

What a week! In the past seven days, I’ve slept in my bed three times. Three times! And driven a whole lotta miles. After a great weekend, it’s good to be back!

The Last Days of Pompeii at the Cleveland Art Museum

My weekend started on Thursday … well, not really. But Thursday night, B and I got an invite to the opening of the Pompeii Exhibit at the Cleveland Art Museum where we got to experience drinks and heavy hors d’oeuvres in the new, gorgeous atrium, along with a free view at the Last Days of Pompeii Exhibit. If you haven’t been yet, you should definitely check it out. The new atrium is beautiful (my pics below don’t do it justice) and the Exhibit was really interesting. I happen to be a slight Pompeii nerd, as I did my LEP (Learning Enrichment Program … another nerd thing) independent study on Pompeii and the city’s growth and demise and read more than my fair share of books about the city many years ago. AND when my family went to Italy a few years back, I begged that we visit Pompeii (despite it being somewhat out of the way) — and we did. And it was awesome. So, needless to say, when B asked if I wanted to go, I of course said yes!

OLD photo of my brother and me in Pompeii (Mt. Vesuvius in the background!) circa 2006

The exhibit was interesting – it was basically a bunch of different artists’ portrayals of what the city looked like during its hey day … and afterwards. It wasn’t what I expected though – it didn’t have really any Pompeii artifacts, or anything like that (as I had hoped), and was somewhat … how do I put this … depressing? I mean, looking at imagery of a city’s demise, and even a few quotes and other things that likened the occurrence to Hiroshima and 9/11 – it was powerful, but not quite uplifting. But the Pompeii nerd in me loved it!

Beautiful Atrium at Cleveland Art Museum

Friday = Cincinnati and Bockfest begins!

Friday I spent the day in our Cincinnati office, having some team meetings and getting to see our space there for the first time. It worked out extremely well, because that weekend, B and I were due to be in Cincinnati to celebrate our friend Dave’s birthday at Bockfest. Being down there on Friday for work meant that we could:

1. Attend the Bockfest Parade

bockfest parade

2. Drink a few Bock Beers (And discover I like them more than I thought I would)

Ladies @ Bockfest! Anson (Dave’s wife), me and Emily (who came all the way from DC!)

Saturday = Bockfest 5k, Jungle Jim’s, Birthday Celebrations and Giant Jenga

Saturday morning, B and I got up early to run in the inaugural Bockfest 5k. I needed just about 5 miles to make it to my goal of 20 for the week, and we ended up running more than 3 if you count the mile-ish run to the starting line and back. Plus, we got a great medal – a bottle opener!

Saturday afternoon, we found ourselves heading out to Jungle Jim’s International Market in Cincinnati. I had been hearing about this place that is supposedly a food-lovers paradise, and it didn’t disappoint. There were aisles and aisles of food and produce and more from every single region of the world, a whole cheese section, a honey display (I LOVE HONEY!) AND a big candy area. I could’ve easily spent hours just perusing each section. They even boast more than 12,000 labels of wines and 1,200 beers! B and I ended up buying some honey, some candy, some candied ginger for me and some of his favorite cheese – Epoisses – that we haven’t been able to find since our dinner at L’Albatros.

jungle jims

Saturday night we hung out with Dave and Anson’s families and attended a birthday party for Dave. After the party, we headed back to Bockfest to celebrate the last night of our trip. The night included some arm wrestling, a few games of Giant Jenga, impromptu Les Miserables singing, and of course – a visit to Skyline Chili.

group in front of Giant Jenga

We drove back up to Cleveland Sunday. Phew! A fun, and tiring weekend – but hopefully a great way to ring in Dave’s big birthday!

This past weekend was the Cleveland marathon. As you may know, I was supposed to run it and my parents had planned to come in town to watch – but on Friday I learned that I would not be running. My parents still came into town and B and I showed them a great weekend and beautiful weather (for visiting not running) and more of what Cleveland has to offer.

Friday, I hobbled back into work after hearing the diagnosis from my new doctor. I was in a bad mood, as my coworkers probably could pick up on, and so I was grateful when two of them asked if I wanted to grab margaritas after work. Now if it had been two days before my race – I wouldn’t have been drinking. But two days before a race I couldn’t run? Margaritas sounded great!

margaritas from zocalo

Friday night, my parents arrived and B and I introduced my parents to Greenhouse Tavern. Their first experience was not disappointing – they both loved their Ohio beef burgers, I enjoyed the seafood special (with local Lake Erie Walleye) and B enjoyed the lamb burger – which of course I snuck a taste of, yum! After dinner, we walked around and I showed off some of the new sights, including the new Casino. We didn’t go in, but the street was bumping!

Saturday morning we met my parents and headed over to the east side to experience the Rembrandt Exhibit. The last time I’d been in the Cleveland Art Museum was actually with my parents (last year), so I hadn’t seen this exhibit yet. It was really cool – not only was it a traditional art exhibit that showcased the artist’s work, but it also showed some works that were originally thought to be Rembrandt, but were later discovered to be either works by his fans or members of his studio. The exhibition showed how you could tell what was a real Rembrandt or not, and even showcased some work where it was yet to be determined if the works were his or not. The exhibition was also interactive- we tried out the audio tour and heard a few experts’ opinions on key pieces and played with the computer that let you digitally uncover a Rembrandt work (and see what had been done to touch up the painting through the years, so experts aren’t even sure it’s his). If I had better reception I would have been able to scan the QR codes to learn more about select paintings. If you haven’t gone yet, I definitely recommend checking it out – it’s here until May 28!

my family near the cleveland art museum rembrandt exhibit

Hanging out near the art museum

After the art museum, we walked (I hobbled) around Wade Oval and then enjoyed lunch at Trattoria in Little Italy. I’m still eating leftovers of the spaghetti and clam sauce!

After our lunch, we headed to Progressive Field to watch an Indians game. Despite having to miss the first inning (for some reason, Will Call couldn’t find our tickets … and then they did but only found 3 of the 4 tickets … and then they still couldn’t find the 4th ticket and so on), we had purchased better-than-usual seats through the Cleveland marathon discount code and got to enjoy a fabulous game, up close. Both my parents were impressed with our affordable but still great seats (as you can imagine, being from NY, my parents are accustomed to pricier Yankees tickets) – and a great ending to the game (we won and Perez struck out three batters in a row in the last inning). Oh, and we also got up on the Jumbotron – the third time this season for B and me!

B and I at the Indians Game

After the game, B went home to relax before the race and my parents and I checked out Colossal Cupcake for dessert. We split two cupcakes – the chocolate peanut butter cup and the almond – which were delicious but slightly more expensive than I expected. Still, it’s nice to have a dessert shop open late downtown! (Dear awesome ice cream shop, like Yogurt Vi or East Coast Custard Truck– please come downtown soon! Thanks, signed Melissa).

Saturday night, in true pre-marathon fashion, B and I watched Saint Ralph. If you haven’t seen it and appreciate a Canadian feel-good (well, sorta) sports movie, I definitely recommend it. We watched it before we ran the Columbus half marathon and B watched it before he did the Tough Guy in England, so it was fitting that he watch it before his first marathon.

Sunday, B woke up early to head to the starting line at 6:15 a.m. I couldn’t sleep, and made it to my parents’ hotel by 7:45 to join them for breakfast and stake out our first marathon watch point- just about the halfway point. B came by, feeling dehydrated, and at the last minute, his sister Katie (who wasn’t supposed to be running), jumped in and decided to run/walk the rest with him. A few hours later (and some sunburn later), my parents and I cheered on hundreds of other runners and saw B finish strong. I’m so proud of him for finishing the race – especially in the heat – but still disappointed that it’s not something I can cross off my bucket list. I’m so glad my parents were around – it was so great watching all the runners finish, but still was a constant reminder of the fact that I wasn’t able to compete with them all, and my parents helped to cheer me up. Anyone want to train with me for another marathon as soon as my aircast is off?