Starting 2010 off right

This is something I haven't been doing...

Most people start off a new year with resolutions to eat healthier - the BF and I baked a cake last night and had a piece (or two) at 10 o'clock; start a workout plan - I did just find a new yoga studio on my side of town that I'm already loving, so one point there; or get more sleep - we've been up past midnight the last few night playing Wii or watching old episodes of The Office on Netflix (I got him hooked on my favorite sitcom, oops).

Then there's me. The girl who resolved to clean up her sailor mouth. Which, is going pretty well actually; aside from the moment when I woke up today and realized I'd slept an hour longer than I wanted to.

My attempts at starting work by 7 a.m. have been foiled by the late night Wii playing I suspect. Needless to say, the day started with a giant F bomb.

This morning the BF mentioned in passing that I should have made it a resolution to break my dependence on the snooze button and he's right...there are some things I seriously overlooked when making my resolutions.

Who cares if it's already the 6th. The point is, I'm acknowledging these weaknesses and intend to work on them in the coming months.

So there. *raspberry*

-Clearly, the first on the list is to stop hitting snooze. I'll allow myself one snooze per day from here on out.

-Drink more water - I feel like I've been dehydrated ever since New Years. The soda drinking has come to an abrupt halt as well, so that should help.

-Get out of debt - this is huge and really should have been at the top of my resolution list from the beginning. It's very doable.

-Be in the moment - and appreciate the moment. Even the not-so-great moments. We so often fall into the trap of looking ahead, and sometimes, dwelling on the past, when there are amazing things happening right under our noses in the present time. This is a piece of advice I recently received and it's a damn good one, if you ask me. So, I'm going to try to live by it!

-Actually stick to my to-do lists - I love making lists (as you can tell) but I often set them aside when I get busy. So, let's try this again. It certainly won't be happening with this list ;-)

There are a lot of current projects in the works so I need to make sure that I take care of myself and stay on the ball with these resolutions. Baby steps to improvement...

And, just for shits and giggles, here's a picture from NYE. It started out as a decent photo - then our friend Tim took a flying leap onto the BF.

How are your resolutions going so far?

Cheers!

-A

p.s. - by popular request, I'm starting to add a little more of myself back into this blog. So keep coming back to catch up on the shenanigans of my life.

An Ode to Broom Handle

This year, New Year's Eve was spent at home. The boyfriend and I hosted a few of our skydiving friends at our new place. It was an attempt to keep things tame and not have to be out driving around with the drunk crazies after midnight.

The latter was successful...

During the night we ran into our neighbor and invited him over for a drink, as sort of a peace offering I suppose.

Wait, let me back up and explain.

When BF and I started the move in process, we met one set of neighbors - the ones with whom we share a living room wall. The wife seemed nice, and he, well, he was wasted. It was a Wednesday evening and when he introduced himself he was literally stumbling in place with drunkenness.

I forgot his name.

A couple days later, on Saturday evening, we were sitting in the kitchen after a day of skydiving, playing with some of our equipment when we heard this tapping at the sliding glass door.

We looked over to see a broom handle coming over the fence. BF opens the door, thinking the neighbor wants to be, well, neighborly, when he tells us that we've woke his wive up, twice, and need to be quiet.

HUH?!

We inquired about what we were doing that was loud, as we had been sitting in the kitchen for quite some time, and he couldn't tell us anything aside from the fact that we were being loud.

Personally, I think he's a total puss and is afraid of the wifey over there.

Anyhow, after this incident he was appropriately nicknamed, Broom Handle.

So fast forward to New Years when, long after midnight, Broom Handle comes home with some friends. As he's standing outside, we invite him in to share a drink. This is, of course, after we told him that we'd nicknamed him broom handle.

Come to find out, his name is actually Rod.

Rod.

Yes. Seriously.

A round of shots is poured and ROD decides to toast to a "quiet" New Years. And he wasn't joking.

I decide right then and there that he will forever remain Broom Handle in my world.

A little later in the evening he decides to invite himself back into our house to let us know that it's getting late and needs to get a little quieter. He asked us - somewhat nicely - to turn the music down.

"Anything for you, Broom Handle!" was the oh-so-sarcastic expression that leapt from the BFs mouth.

After being ignored, and probably realizing he was ignored, he wandered over again, let himself into our house and told a friend of ours to quiet down, that his wife is trying to sleep.

Ugh, I can see we're going to have some issues with this guy in the future.

Seriously, I think he's afraid - clearly of his wife, possibly of the BF. Grow a pair, dude, and tell us on our side of the fence if you have a problem. Don't be a douche and involve one of our friends.

Needless to say, in the end, I hate him more than I did before.

But thanks, Broom Handle, for the small (very small) amount of entertainment I could provide here on my blog today.

I suppose, this could be considered a RANT.

Aside from this, New Years was fantastic. Hope y'all had a great one!

Cheers!

-A

2010 - Here I come!

Today I'm going to veer away from consumer reviews and take a look at everything 2009 brought. It certainly was a life-changing year for me, so much happened, so much changed and it's ended incredibly. It's safe to say I'm happier than I've ever been.

There have even been some recent circumstances that proved to me just how great things are now! But that's far from the point...

Today I'm looking back on some of those events that have brought me to where I am today and maybe I'll even put some of my resolutions out there for y'all to hold me to.

By the way, the inspiration for this post comes from a lost blogger buddy who I recently caught back up with on the 20SB network. He was missing my "old blog."

So, this one is for you Matt!

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I was thinking about going month by month here, but some months have nothing to report while others are jam packed with excitement. Then I contemplated numbering them, but I couldn't decide if I should go in order of importance or chronologically. So this is what you get. Deal with it.

• Spending 5 days in the Caribbean - This was in March/April last year. I learned that I shouldn't take trips during March Madness. I can't stand missing the games. I also learned that at least one full week vacation is needed every year, if for nothing else than my sanity.

• Making my first skydive - as y'all are probably acutely aware, this opened the biggest door of my life. Because of this tandem jump in Miami I have learned so much about what I'm capable of accomplishing. It also brought me so many new experiences: jumping from balloons and helicopters, meeting new friends, becoming a Skydiving Blogger, introducing me to the love of my life, giving me a community of people who encourage and support one another...the list goes on.

• Sticking to my vegetarianism - this is something I resolved to do last year and, aside from the occasional cheat, I've done a pretty good job. I'd like to get even better this year.

• Being a part of my big brother's wedding - this was an incredible weekend. I have a new sister and she's lovely! And Michigan State beat Michigan this day too.

• Getting a dog - and then doing the right thing and providing him with a better home. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but on the "trial weekend" Otis and I had, I learned that there was no way, what with my frequent travel and skydiving, that I could provide him the home he deserved.

• Going to Bridge Day - this year I was the personal photographer for my boyfriend at Bridge Day. There were some things that happened that will forever stay at Bridge Day, but needless to say it pumped me up for my first BASE next year. This was also the weekend of my first interview with Traventure Man - and the start of a new friendship.

• College reunion in Los Angeles - finally, the old college crew got together! We spent 5 days together in LA, where Chris and Jon moved after graduation. It was incredible. We even got to meet Josh Duhamel at the Dodgers game. We learned that none of us can drink the way we used to - some of us found that out the hard way. I hope we can do this again next year!

• Losing a friend - this year some of my friends and I went through the loss of a dear friend. Here's a little something about Dan. The community that came together to celebrate his life is incredible.

• Spending Labor Day at the Work Stinks Boogie - here's a great recap on that weekend.

• Moving in with the boyfriend - this is currently still in progress. Tomorrow is the final move in day and I couldn't be more excited.

So I have some lofty goals for 2010 - here's a snippet of what I'm looking to accomplish:

• Stop spending money during work hours - read: online purchases, trips to the snack shop. So much of my paycheck would be saved if I made my lunch at home and quit making trips to Starbucks. Office coffee is just fine - especially since it's free!

• Pull off a successful Jump for Diabetes - the BF hosted the Inaugural Jump for Diabetes last year and I sold a few raffle tickets. This year, we're partnering up to make it an even bigger success. Lots of planning to be done.

• Bring the cursing down to a minimum - my potty mouth has gotten bad. Really bad. It's not attractive and certainly something I'm not proud of. Naturally, there are moments where it is necessary, which is why I'm not resolving to quit altogether. Baby steps with this one - but I've been challenged, so bring it!

• Learn to snowboard - even if it's just enough to get myself down the hill for now.

• Grow exponentially as a skydiver - I'd like to become a better freeflyer, get my coach rating, dabble in freestyle, travel to as many boogies as possible, become a better freefly partner, gain strength, flexibility and control...so on and so forth. This also means growing my profile in the community as the Skydive Chick. Check me out on Twitter and over at my blog.

• Reconnect with my love for photography - I've just been plain bad about this. I'd really like to travel more, get some scenery. Maybe I'll head out to the slopes and take some pictures of the boy doing his thing.
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So tell me dear readers, what did you accomplish this year, and what are your goals for 2010?

Cheers!

-A

RANT: Fitworks

I'm all about customer service! If I have a problem, it can be easily resolved with friendly customer service reps.

In fact, I often respect a company more when an issue is taken care of smoothly and they are doing everything in their power to ensure that I'm a satisfied customer. You may notice that a lot of my RAVEs about companies has to do with good customer service.

Well, now I have a rant about a company because of their sales people. READ: before I'm even an actual customer. Yeah...not good.

So for those who may not know, I'm moving. Not very far, just to the other side of town, but far enough that it requires me to look into new services such as a gym.

(Yes, for those who are wondering, I'm moving in with the BF. It's an exciting time!)

Anyhow, I did some research online and found that Fitworks in Mentor has a good special running right now. So I decided to print off a discount coupon before visiting the facility.

Of course, in order to get the discount, you have to give them all your contact information. In hindsight, I should have "accidentally" transposed two digits in my phone number.

Almost immediately I was receiving calls from their sales reps. When I didn't answer, because I was at the office DURING WORKING HOURS, I received an email. I replied politely and said that I'm in the process of moving, I may be in this weekend to check out the gym.

Later that evening I receive another call from the gym, but this time no one left a voicemail.

This weekend rolls around and I'm running around like a mad woman, moving, and shopping and everything. No time to hit up the gym. Well these sales folks hated that, because on Sunday I received THREE calls and two voicemails - within 30 minutes!

I called back one of their reps and told them I'm busy moving, I'll try to stop in soon.

His response was: "ok, but we only have specials through the end of the month." I almost retorted that those specials will then be replaced with new ones, but I bit my tongue.

At this point, I think I'm done. NOPE!

Yesterday, again, during working hours, I receive a phone call, voicemail AND email from these people. My response was simple - I was considering getting a membership, however, I'm really only interested in the classes you have to offer. Given the recent spamming from your sales force, I've decided to go with a nearby yoga studio that doesn't call me 3+ times a day just to make a sale.

Then I asked them to please remove me from any lists I'm on so I no longer receive any phone calls or emails. Thanks! :-)

I haven't been contacted since - though it has only been 24 hours, so we'll see... Let's just hope they get the hint.

Sure, it's not exactly "customer service" related, but spamming potential customers doesn't get you anywhere. At least, not with me.

Did he really think "if I call one more time maybe she'll get fed up and buy a membership." SERIOUSLY?!

I get that the economy is down, and everyone needs that extra commission, but be a little courteous of my time and let me make the decision on my own. In this case, you made the decision for me, Fitworks.

On the plus side, I can't wait to start my new yoga classes after the first of the year!

Cheers!

-A

RAVE: Diet Dr. Pepper

Before I get into today's Rave, I'd like to point out that yes, I'm aware that I haven't had any Rants lately here in the blogosphere, mostly that has to do with the fact that I haven't been overly displeased with anything as of late.

Until I have a true reason to bitch and moan about a company, product, or service, I'm going to continue raving about those people, places, and things that bring a smile to my face. After all, there's no reason to complain, just for the sake of hearing my own voice.

Let's get on with the show, shall we?

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For as long as I can remember, Dr. Pepper has been one of my favorite sodas. Growing up, my father wasn't supposed to drink dark colas (read: Coke or Pepsi for those who may not be aware) because they're not so gentle on your stomach.

To break the monotony of drinking only Sprite or ginger ale, my dad turned to Dr. Pepper, since it's not technically a "cola."

From a young age I was hooked. But then I gave up all soda for about 5 years of my existence - that is, until I moved to Texas, where I noticed that Dr. Pepper is in ALL the fountain machines.

Not only that, they actually have DIET Dr. Pepper in the fountain machines. Yummy.

As a girl who doesn't like to drink empty calories, this appealed to me very much. And yes, Diet Dr. Pepper does taste like regular Dr. Pepper. I even find it to be a little more refreshing.

Now the other day, the BF and I were walking through the store and came upon Diet Dr. Pepper Cherry. I immediately thought, "there's no way this can be good. The soda already has so many different flavors in it." But we walked out with a 2-liter, prepared to give it a whirl.

To my surprise, this drink was fantastic! In fact, we went and bought a 12-pack of cans last night, and I'm currently enjoying one of those cans as I type this.

It's incredibly smooth with a distinct cherry flavor that's not overpowering by any means.

There's not much more I can say about it other than you MUST try this one yourself. I've also seen that they have a Chocolate Covered Cherry flavor as well. I may have to get around to trying that one out in the future.

Cheers!

-A

RAVE: Dave's Cosmic Subs

It appears as of late that I've been doing most of my reviews on the food and beverage industry. What can I say, I'm a girl who likes to eat!

Well today's review isn't going to be much different thanks to my current obsession: Dave's Cosmic Subs.

This NE Ohio-based sub shop blows Subway, Jersey Giant, and all the other sub chains away.

When I first moved to Cleveland almost 3 years ago (holy crap, hard to believe I've been here that long), I noticed Dave's as it sat on the Detroit Rd. "strip" in Lakewood. It was one of those places that I asked friends about, some swore by it, others said it was bland.

So, given that I'm not a huge sub person anyway, I decided to spend that $5 elsewhere.

And then came the day I was introduced to Dave's. My boyfriend and I were out in Mentor, heading to Pennsylvania to skydive, and decided to grab sandwiches on the way out to the dropzone.

At first, I wasn't thrilled with the sub, but in my defense, a friend of mine had passed the night before and my appetite just wasn't up to it's usual standards.

But the customer service experience was good, so I was willing to go back when the boy recommended it a couple weeks later.

To my surprise, I fell in LOVE with these subs!

As a vegetarian, I have multiple menu options to choose from, all of which include the incredible and addicting Dave's sauce. Mmmm...I can't even explain how yummy it is!

The bread is always fresh and they're totally cool with swapping out wheat bread upon request.

All that combined with the fresh veggies and cool, laid back atmosphere, it makes for a great dining experience.

As a west sider, I'm still very partial to the Dave's in Mentor where I've come to know one of the owners, Anthony, and his crew. He always remembers what the bf and I are going to get when we come in - even my substitution with no artichoke hearts on the #12.

(Some of the guys from the Mentor Store. Photo from Facebook Fan Page.)

It's this type of neighborhood feel that keeps me coming back to Dave's in Mentor.

Occasionally I'll hit up the Lakewood location out of convenience to my place - and to get my fix when I'm not on the bf's side of town - but it's not nearly as chill, friendly and laid back as the Mentor location that I have come to love.

Here's an overview:

Price: $$ (Right on par with other sub shops)

Menu Selection: **** (even for a vegetarian there are plenty of options)

Taste: ***** (not a single complain on the freshness and taste)

Service: **** (especially at the Mentor store)

Atmosphere: **** (chill!!)

If you're in the NE Ohio area, I can't recommend Dave's enough. It's quick, it's fresh, and it's freaking delicious.

In fact, I might just be getting some tonight.

Cheers!

-A

RAVE: Danny Boys

For the past year one of my favorite West side (Cleveland) restaurants has been Danny Boy's in Rocky River.

With it's cozy atmosphere and Frank Sinatra theme, it sits quietly along Lake Ave., awaiting locals and regulars who enjoy the expansive menu.

Between the incredible pizza, unique sandwiches and to-die-for bread that accompanies every salad, Danny Boys has some of the best comfort food I've experienced in Cleveland.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of their pizza. The cheese and sauce combination they use is mouth watering and the crust is quite tasty. But I've yet to be dissatisfied by any of their dinners. If you're hungry, I recommend a pasta dish - a gigantic portion that comes with salad and yummy bread. Those dinners usually end up stretching well into meals for the next week.

The atmosphere is very chill. Upon walking in you can immediately tell it's a family-run operation. There are tables with chess and checker boards where you can play while you wait to be seated. The waitstaff wear shirts with quirky slogans and the sandwiches are named for famous people and mobsters.

And let me tell you what, the price is right! A dinner for two is always under $30 bucks.

If you're in and around the near West side, or want to make a trip for some fantastic grub, I highly recommend Danny Boys. It's definitely worth it!

Price: $$ (beyond reasonable for the portion size)

Menu Selection: **** (when I'm not getting pizza it takes me forever to decide!)

Taste: **** (yummy!)

Service: *** (sometimes it's a little slow, but my soda is almost always full!)

Atmosphere: **** (chill)

Cheers!

-A