WIAW: Busy Monday

March 25, 2015March 25, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

Today’s What I Ate Wednesday features some of my eats from the start of this week. And it includes some meals that are NOT homemade for once! Woohooo! Because that’s how my Monday was.

I woke up hungry! I don’t typically eat anything if I’m running early and it’s not a long run, but I grabbed a handful of trail mix from this pack that I had gotten at the St. Malachi race. I had eaten part of the package on Sunday at the movies and was happy to have a few nuts and pieces of dried fruit to quell my hunger before a 4 mile outdoor run. 20150323_070704 Per usual, my breakfast was eaten at my desk and included egg whites and veggies, made by B. We had run out of frozen veggies, so I had made some Brussels sprouts Sunday evening and B cooked up some spinach. 20150323_082222 I had a busy morning and was pretty hungry when lunch rolled around. I had some leftover soup that I had frozen – some black bean, butternut squash soup.

Disclaimer – this is not the pic from my lunch. this is the pic I took from the night before. But still just as yummy!

And since I was hungry for lunch, I was super hungry for afternoon snacks. I had a bunch of smoked almonds (from the office), a pear, a sweet potato, some tea, and lots of carrots. I had already eaten half the almonds and carrots by the time I took this pic.

snack one. already had eaten some almonds and carrots before taking the pic.

Half a sweet potato with cinnamon and honey. SO good.

After work I had a board meeting meet up at Heinen’s. I enjoyed a few glasses of wine with the glorious view of the new grocery store!

Wine at Heinen’s! (Another disclaimer – this pic is from another time…again I forgot to take a photo of my wine but I assure you I had some red wine at Heinen’s)

After happy hour B and I had tickets to the Cleveland Film Festival. For my fourth film (yup, I love CIFF!), we saw the Hollywood Shorts. Oh my goodness – they were so good! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a shorts program where I enjoyed all the movies, but they each kept getting better and better! My favorites were Today’s the Day and Dragula. The movie didn’t get out until after 9 and of course I was hungry again. I had finished the breakfast trail mix already and wanted something quick and ready (not something I’d have to make at 9:30 p.m. at night). The solution? Noodlecat! I picked up my favorite salad, the Super Salad. Its description:

Super Salad:

Noodlecat’s Super Salad.

We didn’t finish eating until after 10 and I wanted something else, so I satisfied myself with some more citrus. I’m not typically a huge orange fan, but maybe the orange and grapefruit on the salad got my in the mood? I would’ve gone for a peanut butter brownie bar that I had made last week, but B and his friend had eaten them all over the weekend. 😦

“Dessert” – okay not really but just some fruit to finish off my meal.

AND here is an update of my Fitbit for the day! My morning run, plus walking to and from my happy hour and the movies, put me at a weekday high – I never get this high unless I have a weekend (and lots of walking around) or a long run. Screenshot_2015-03-23-22-50-48 (1)

Some questions for you:

Do you have a fitbit?
Do you have a go-to quick and easy takeout meal for nights when you didn’t plan a meal and don’t have time to cook?
Do you eat before working out in the morning?

This week’s WIAW linkup hosted here!

Two football wins + two scary movies

November 3, 2014November 3, 2014 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

This was the first weekend that B and I were in town without any commitments/events/trips/weddings/etc. since August, so I was pretty excited when Friday came. What would the weekend hold? Relaxing? Going out? Running? (I know – sounds like every other weekend)

Friday night was Halloween! B and I were still pretty tired from a late night Thursday watching the Cavs home opener, so we decided to stay in and make dinner and watch Halloween movies. I can’t remember a Halloween where we did this and I must admit – it was a lot of fun! We’ve dressed up a lot throughout the years and not having to find a costume and instead just eating candy on the couch (as well as an amazing meal) while watching SCREAM was awesome. (Yes, likely another sign I’m getting old … I’m super happy watching movies and eating candy on Friday nights)

OK so this is from Thursday. The scene outside the Q before the home opener.

Slow braised pork and veggies. It tastes SO much better than this photo.

Saturday B and I had planned to get in one last decent run before our half marathon this weekend (eek!) but we woke up to 30ish degree temps, super speedy winds and pouring rain. So I decided to just hang out on the elliptical and lift weights. We decided to just take advantage of the gloomy weather and spend nearly the entire day inside – watching college football (BC WON!!) and more scary movies (including the Purge!), drinking pumpkin beers and spiked cider, and eating some more candy corn.

The Purge preview. I don’t mind a good scary movie with a plot – and this is it 🙂

We did, however, make it out for the evening – we decided to get a few drinks at Parnells and enjoy inner at Noodlecat. I discovered one of my new favorite beers – Southern Tier Warlock! It’s got sweetness and spice like a holiday or pumpkin beer but dark. Yum!

New favorite! So happy Parnells has it.

Favorite salad at Noodlecat and delicious steam buns!

Sunday we woke up somewhat early thanks to Daylight Saving (yay!) so B and I had time for an 8+ mile run before our fun day began – B had scored us two tickets to the Browns game and we had club seats. It was not only a great day for a game (a little chilly but beautiful and sunny out) – but the Browns won! A great way to cap off our weekend.

b and me game

How was your weekend?

Did you dress up for Halloween?

Have you ever seen the Purge?

What’s your favorite scary movie?

Candy corn – yay or nay?

Still Summertime To Me

September 2, 2014September 1, 2014 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Well, the unofficial end of summer has come and gone. Another glorious, perfect, just-what-I-needed three-day weekend is in the books. It was filled with fun, (lots of) food, drinks, friends and great weather. While I refuse to believe that summer is coming to an end, we sure celebrated as if it were.

Friday started out with a 10 mile run before work. I finally found someone as ~~crazy~~ motivated as me to go out for a double digit run during a weekday. Don’t get me wrong – Nicole and I won’t be doing 10 milers every Friday, but a few here and there? Why not.

10mi

Friday night was pretty relaxing. B and I didn’t have concrete plans, so we opted for patio beers and pizza.

20140829_164734

So much meat on the pizza. (and so blurry)

20140829_190337

Saturday morning B and I opted for a 4 mile run, before relaxing with some coffee and a croissant before picking up our CSA. Oh yeah, there was cheese inside that croissant.

IMG_20140830_120606

And no Saturday would be complete without a trip to the West Side Market.

IMG_20140830_124028

Saturday afternoon we got a chance to hang out with our friend Eric, who was in town with his wife for a wedding. We went to Eric and Julia’s wedding earlier this summer, and it was great to see the newlyweds in Cleveland!

winking lizard

Brian and Eric. They were roommates in Boston and Eric is seriously one of the nicest, most considerate guys I know.

Oh yeah and the last time Eric was in town? 2008 Labor Day Weekend when BC played Kent State at Browns Stadium. How’s this for a throwback photo?

laborday2007

Anyway, dinner was at one of our old favorites – Noodlecat! We hadn’t been here in a while and feasted on steam buns and of course, noodles. noodlecat steam buns noodlecat noodles

Sunday morning, we invited Eric and Julia over for a champagne brunch in our apartment. We rarely do brunch so B was pretty pumped. He made some eggs and bacon from our CSA (farm-fresh bacon and eggs are pretty amazing) and I prepared an overnight french toast bake. I’m going to be sharing the recipe because it was super tasty, but also delicious.

20140831_112916

The rest of the day was pretty relaxing and productive. I got in a run, a cross training workout, some meal prep, some work and more.

Monday we had off. It was so nice to sleep in and go for a relaxing run with B and his sisters. We ended up doing around 4 1/2 throughout the flats, Tremont and a few other fun neighborhoods.

After our run, B and I met up with his brother and sister-in-law and our niece and nephew to watch the air show. Every Labor Day in Cleveland, the air show comes to town and people flock downtown to watch the planes. We had a great viewing spot and enjoyed part of a picnic with the kids. Then, we met up with some friends who have a rooftop to watch the Blue Angels. They put on a pretty good show and it was a gorgeous day.

20140901_160313 20140901_142714

Monday evening, I was pumped to have enough time to cook dinner and dessert for a great end-of-weekend meal. We had gotten some great hot peppers at the market on Saturday, so (inspired by B) I made some homemade spicy tomato sauce. Using that, we had a meatless Monday dinner – stacked baked eggplant with spaghetti squash. And mini blueberry cakes for dessert. A perfect end to a perfect weekend.

eggplant stacks

Some questions for you:

How was your long weekend?
Do you like spaghetti squash?
Do you enjoy meatless Mondays? What’s your go-to dish?
If you had to choose – French toast or pancakes?

Something about Siblings – A Weekend in CLE with My Brother

November 11, 2013November 11, 2013 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

This past weekend my brother visited me in Cleveland. The last time he came to see me on his own was more than 3 years ago – I was living in Lakewood, had somewhat just moved to Cleveland and well, it was WAY too long ago. I try to go visit him and stay with him on campus (he goes to Columbia) pretty much once a year – but I’m getting too old for his college lifestyle. The last time I visited him we didn’t go out until nearly midnight – I’m almost 30, which is waaay too old to be going out that late. I had to seriously rally and drink a Diet Dr. Pepper just to pull myself off the blowup mattress in his dorm room.

Greg and me the last time he came to see me on his own

Anyway, this weekend turned out to be a pretty a relaxing weekend with my brother. We both had work to do (he more so than I – a thesis plus hundreds of pages of reading … oh college!) so there wasn’t much going out. But it was great to just hang out with him and do everyday things with him. I hope he had a good time and it’s not another 3 years before he comes back to Cleveland!

Friday included some working at a coffee shop, some vegan food at The Flaming Ice Cube and some dinner at Noodlecat.

At Flaming Ice Cube

Some of our awesome food from Friday is below (not pictured – appetizers or main course at Noodlecat, pumpkin cookies, my PUMPKING beer, Buckeyes or zucchini bread):

From top left, corn chowder from Flaming Ice Cube, Soba Noodle Salad from FI, Braised Beef Bun from Noodlecat, Pesto Burger from FI

Saturday, B and I started our day by going for a leisurely run outside. I was having a hard time breathing for some reason, but it felt SO good to just be having a relaxing run – no racing. Then we decided to head to Tremont for some coffee and pastries, and holed up in Loop to do some work.

A little work in a coffee shop

We of course enjoyed the fall colors that are still here and took a few pictures in the park while we were hanging out in Tremont.

Greg in me in Tremont

Then we hit the West Side Market to pick up groceries for dinner. We bought some butternut squash, chicken sausage, peppers and onions. And made an awesome dinner together of some goat cheese, quinoa and chicken sausage stuffed squash – recipe coming soon 🙂

Chicken sausage and goat cheese stuffed butternut squash - i crashed the web

The finished product.

Greg is cooking!

Saturday night included some more studying (I’m an awesome study helper. Just ask Greg. He’ll probably remember 3 more Russian vocab words thanks to my mad studying skills) and some deep chatting / thoughts about the future and me passing out from a corn bread coma pretty early.

Sunday meant dropping my brother back off at the airport 😦 I was sad to see him go, but am so excited to see him in just over a month for the holidays! After the airport, B knew I was sad to see my brother go, so he took me to Starbucks and then to the park for a fiveish mile walk. It was another great fall day in Cleveland and it was great to walk among the colorful leaves.

Yes, I took a selfie.

weekend walk with b

Hope you had a fabulous fall weekend as well!

I Love Fall Weekends

October 16, 2012October 16, 2012 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

“I love fall. Except for that nagging feeling that winter is coming and then it’s going to suck when it snows and is cold.” ~ anonymous

Fall leaves outside of Cleveland

It’s already mid-October and I’ve been lacking in a fall weekend update post. Why? It’s not because I have nothing to update – it’s because instead of taking the time to post, I’ve instead been having fun and enjoying the beautiful fall in Cleveland (and New York and Columbus). There’s just so much going on and the weeks and days seem to go by faster and faster! So here are some highlights from the past few weekends (in no order):

Wedding Shower

B’s cousin is getting married next month (YAY!) so we went down to Columbus one weekend to celebrate their upcoming nuptials. Festivities spending time with B’s family, lots of Italian food (of course), and a bridal shower with funfetti cupcakes (the bride’s favorite), sangria (why not?) and so many cute Snoopy (the bride’s other favorite) decorations!

The beautiful bride-to-be (middle), her sister and me
I totally stole this photo from the bride’s friend and photographer: http://www.facebook.com/Ave23Photography

Guess the bride’s favorite cartoon?

My Parents Visit

My parents visited! Instead of a gorgeous fall weekend where we went apple picking, walked to the West Side Market and took part in the 100 year anniversary festivities (which I had planned), it rained and rained and rained. So we saw a movie (Looper!), tried some classic Cleveland cuisine (Hecks burgers and Noodlecat!) and enjoyed each others’ company, mostly indoors (and may have caught a SATC marathon … sorry B!).

When it finally stopped raining, we found a rainbow!

The Weekend Where We Go to NYC

When B and I heard that my grandma was in the hospital unexpectedly, we made an impromptu weekend trip to NYC to visit her and my family. A quick trip (about 24 hours) that involved waking up at 3:15 a.m. to catch a 5:30 a.m. flight from Akron, we got to not only visit my grandma, but got to see each of my uncles, enjoyed lunch with my brother, dinner with my parents, aunt, uncle and cousin – and a movie (Perks of Being a Wallflower = amazing)!

Visiting my grandma

I got to catch lunch with my brother!

And the weekend where I tailgate and go to a Browns Game

My coworker Samantha has been trying to get me to go to a Browns game with her for forever. We were SUPER close two weeks ago, but just as we were about to buy some tickets, it started pouring and hailing out – so I decided to head home from our tailgate and take a 4 hour nap, as opposed to watching the Browns lose. This weekend, though, Samantha tricked me. She had me buy the tickets ahead of time – how could I back out?

The game and pre-game festivities were great! We checked out the new bar, Winks, and caught a Browns win – the first of the season! Who knows – maybe I’m good luck?