a few days off

4 days off.

4 glorious days off.

Because I'm in the midst of a changing jobs, I was lucky enough to take a few days off in between to relax and catch up with friends and on my unorganized apartment. It's been awhile since I calmed down, caught my breath and took time just to bum around the city, lunch with friends and catch up with my mom and assorted group of colorful friends without hearing the beeping of my iPhone alarm clock.

What do I have planned?

What don't I have planned is the real question?

Hung out with baby Brooklyn an fab parents

received last minute cavs tickets from my favorite Nick

And there's more.....

A facial

A deep tissue and reiki massage

An afternoon with my mom and energetic little kids she teaches

Multiple afternoons with my friends who are new moms

An 80's concert

Lunch and a pedicure followed by a possible trip to a psychic and some day drinking to round out the work week


Anything else I should add to my list?

through the looking glass - jump back ball

If you weren't at the Jump Back Ball this year, you really should mark your calendar for February 23, 2013 and get yourselves and friends to this event.

photo borrowed from Monina

Last week, Alexa and Cleshopaholic helped me choose from over 10 dresses that I ordered from sparkles to sequins to one shoulder to strapless. I couldn't make a decision and was up to my elbows in everything shiny so they saved the day and picked out a winner in a brand I never wear - Jessica Simpson. Who knew, right?

Why yes it's possible to have a winning dress and by winning, I mean that NO ONE else had the same sparkly, lacy navy dress that my friends decided was the one to rock.

Pre JBB, I hosted a few friends over to sip on cocktails before we headed down the street to the main event. There's nothing quite like getting ready with your friends, especially when your friend just happens to be your personal hair and make up guru for any and every occasion. (See the talented Danielle below.)

And the process begins....

How was the party? Fabulous. As always. While I've only attended the past two years, I will say it is an event that I look forward to and always try to recruit more friends to attend because it's that great of a time. It's like nothing I've ever been to in Cleveland. This year's theme was "Through the Looking Glass" aka Alice in Wonderland in my head and the committee pulled it all together from the decorations to the food to the props set up through the theater. (Side note: As a kid, I always thought people were saying "Allison's wonderland" so I never understand why Alice had blonde hair if I had brown. Clearly, my mother should've correct me and if she did, obviously I wasn't paying attention.)

Danielle, me and Carli

the stage - loved the theme and decorations

best dressed goes to Nick with his fashionable wife peeking from behind him

Radio Active - the lead singer loves her sequins too!

on the dance floor

clutches on the ground = better dancing

Lia, Danielle, yours truly and Katie

And we did.

When the party cleared out, we headed over to Touch Supper Club for old school hip hop night. Yes, we were incredibly overdressed and no we didn't care because even Snoop Dogg likes a fancy dress.

Sunday Funday began with a trip back to Touch because we didn't get enough of a fill the night before for brunch, a round of mimosas and bloody mary's with friends.

chicken and waffles, you win

Wrapping out this fashionable weekend, I joined a few friends to watch the Oscars Red Carpet live in a not-so-fashionable outfit involving leggings, oversized shirt, pearls and the same hair I had from the night before. My friends, I was doing the walk of shame all day and loved it - I thought adding the pearls helped!  As usual if you follow any of us on Twitter, the critique session was filled with smart and witty comments from everyone but the oscar goes to Suzanne.

My best dressed goes to Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Ellie Kemper and Guiliana Rancic. Hate on J.LO but she always brings the glamour to the red carpet, even though that dress did have those random arm holes.

Ahhhhh, another successful weekend complete.


Editors note: Shout out to reader Sara(h) - it was great to meet you and your man and thanks for reading. Oh, and I also received one comp'd ticket for blogging about the JBB, in case the FCC wants to patrol this blog.

at the moment

i'm in love with these girls. I can't get enough of Sophia Grace and Rosie.




chandelier earrings, can never have too many in my book

on sale makes it even better

new flat black clutch that I've been wanting for months. hello new friend!

complete with a gold chain arm strap

hmmmmm I could find somewhere to wear these, but, the question is will my friends want to go out with me?

Harem sequin pants are so in. well, maybe not.

all three of my favorite girl scout cookies - tagalongs, caramel delights and thin mints

somebody i used to know.

there's that meeting.

the time where you picture seeing him out unexpectedly when you are looking your best with your skinniest jeans wearing your highest stilettos with a troop of your best friends.

you've played the scenario a thousand times in your head. who doesn't?

what you would say, what've you said a hundred times out loud, alone, to your friends and repeated another million times over and over in the mirror.

you anticipate his reaction, his comebacks and lies back to you.

you know it all too well.

then that scenario becomes reality and you see him and her when you aren't expecting it.

but at least you were wearing those heels, added that black eyeliner for the hell of it and had those friends with you.

your heart beats a little faster as you come close enough to kiss him while looking him in the eyes as you move through the crowd.

really?, you think rolling your eyes, this is going to happen tonight.

he approaches you almost immediately upon arrival and walks away from her to ask you meaningless questions. how are you? congrats on the new job. he just heard. are you excited? did you get a big raise? all questions which are none of his business but you answer in short responses, wondering why you don't feel something. where is it? where is the rush of anger? rush of emotion?

everything you wanted to say, all those words you prepared for that encounter, all falls to the wayside. you realize it doesn't matter anymore.

there's nothing more to say. all those thoughts crumble around him, all the jabs and insults you want to throw, you don't need to defend yourself, you aren't fighting for anything.

it just doesn't matter anymore.

and you realize he's just a shell of the person you knew. not the one you slept next to you for years. not the one you were planning the future with. he doesn't even look the same.

wasn't he taller? did he always mumble when he was nervous? who is that cute guy at the next table staring at me? wait, I think he is checking me out. how much longer can this last because I want to go talk to that guy?

he wishes you a good night and walks away, back to her, and you turn to your friends who crack a few jokes, buy you a drink and then you spend the rest of the night laughing, flirting and dancing feet away from them, knowing that he was just someone you used to you know.

case closed.

new chapter.

beads, beads and more beads

While I'm only 25 percent Polish, my Hungarian grandmother used to cook all traditional dishes from both countries because her husband was 100 percent Polish. Growing up in Lorain, you ALWAYS had paczki on Fat Tuesday - I don't remember ever not eating paczki from Kiedrowski's Bakery.

Apricot and poppyseed are my absolute favorite along with lekvar but my good friend, Lindsay, reminded me that my non-Polish coworkers probably won't the traditional flavors, so I purchased a dozen of assorted jelly for them.

So, have a paczki, or three and eat and drink your heart out today! One of these years, I'll make it to Mardi Gras down in New Orleans, too!

Celebrating my Polish heritage with paczki from Stan's Bakery

Happy Fat Tuesday!

adventures in allison's weekend

I absolutely love my Sunday night routine. I actually just love the night part where I'm all alone after running around all day, relaxing with a cup of tea and toast, watching Mob Wives and taking note of how NOT to act in public with a group of ladies and can finally blog about my weekend antics.

Friday:

Dinner with friends at XYZ Tavern where we waited almost an hour but it was well worth the wait, as always.

hello 16 oz of fun to kick off fun Friday

We headed over to Market Garden Brewery to celebrate Laura's fabulous birthday. (You know how much I love a birthday party, people, I take them seriously!) And, let's just say it was the place to be on what I thought would be your average low-key Friday night out where I ran into some blasts from the pasts from college. Oh, how I loved my days at Kent State......

Birthday girl, Laura, her BF Mike and yours truly

3 kick ass sidekicks for the night

Saturday:

My friends and I headed east to attend a reverse raffle for a friend's cousin where we all entered a million raffles and danced the night away in his honor complete with an incredibly off-key serenade to Whitney's "I Will Always Love You."

Phillip Devito Foundation

my friends were major winners, me not so much but there was an Aveda basket calling my name!

college friends Erin and Katie; post picture we sang our hearts out to Whitney

Sunday:

Let's not forget that the 21st annual Jump Back Ball is coming Saturday night at PlayHouseSquare and over the past two weeks, I've legitimately ordered 12 dresses from Zappos, Nordstrom, and Dillard's. That's fashion dedication!

CLEshopaholic and Alexa came over to throw our own runway show complete with shoes and jewelry while letting our very own Tim Gunn aka CLEshopaholic critique our choices. I needed honest opinions because I was swimming in a sea of glitter, sequins and one-shoulder dresses.

"I can tell you that at least a dozen girls would have tried that dress on and could be wearing it."


"No, it's TOO safe. Next!"


"Where did you get that? That looks like something you could buy at Forever21."

"No, next, it's been done before."


"I like it, don't love it, but very predictable. We don't do predictable."

Good news - we both settled on dresses with the help of our very honest and fashionable judge and have a little work to do before Saturday to complete our looks.

Next, I headed over to the Rock Hall because it only took me seven months to finally take myself over to the Women Who Rock exhibit. Oh, I heart all pop stars from the 80s and beyond and I completely got lost for an hour and half looking at Lady Gaga's Grammy costume, Britney's 2000 VMA sequin outfit and Cher's Bob Mackie creations.

If you have seen it, you will agree that those ladies are tinnnnnnnnyyyyyy. My god, they are all zeros or smaller with the exception of Donna Summer who has some cleavage based on the dress on display.

open until 2/26 and well worth it

I closed out this weekend with a takeout dinner with my family with entertaining and memorable conversation where they needed instant updates on my life - what I was doing this, what am I wearing to Saturday's event, how did I blow my tire out last weekend, what is going on with your dating life, etc. Apparently, I haven't been filling them in as much as I though I had.

Oh how I love this pizza.

Happy Monday, everyone! Let's get dieting in preparation for this weekend's events.

snowshow weekend part 2

After a long day trip, a few games of flip cup and meeting new friends, most of the group was up and ready to kick some ass on the slopes on Saturday morning.

Well...my friend Amber and I had serious intentions of going skiing and then snow tubing, I swear we did.

I mean, we even left at 10 a.m. to head up to the town to look around and then met the larger group for lunch knowing that we'd plennnnnntttty of time to snow tube because based on the wind, we wouldn't actually be skiing.

snowshoe!

proof - we were out in the snow

longest lunch of our lives

After the three-hour lunch with the group, Amber and I headed down to the snow tube area because we were determined to tube but we had to be back up to the town to catch our ride back and ultimately didn't actually snow tube. So, to make up for the fact that we did no actual snow sports of any kind, we climbed up a mountain of snow with a group of kids and slid down on our asses to get snowy and to act like we participated in some kind of winter activity.

The group spent the last night at the house with another dance party but this time to the one and only Whitney Houston. After a friend received a text she died, I took over as DJ and we danced around celebrating Whitney by singing our asses off key like only a bunch of white girls can.


I wanna dance with somebody from Allison Peltz on Vimeo.

the boys didn't dare ask us to move our dance party

I don't think security could've gotten up the driveway

some new friends

of course we didn't actually use the shovel for snow

Cheeseeeeeee!

This trip pretty much rocked and a big thanks to my friends Gretchen and Mike for organizing the whole thing and gathering a fabulous group of friends from DC, Charlotte, PA and Cleveland to for an incredibly memorable weekend.

See you girls in April for our annual girls' DC trip!

the big Vday

Ha ha - Let's get real - Do girls really do this?

Sh*t, let's hope not. Leave them in the past, ladies!

Happy Valentine's day to you and your significant other!

happy vday - who doesn't love candy hearts?!

What will I be up to? I will be wearing some red or pink and thought it would be hysterically cliche to go see the most lovey dovey movie out there right now - The Vow - with another single girlfriend.

Who doesn't want to look at some eye candy for two hours? Channing Tatum, I'm lookin' at you!

snowshoe weekend trip part 1

I don't even know where to start as I sit here drinking tea and watching a tribute to Whitney on NBC. Because my weekend was filled with too much fun, I figured I'd divide my recap into two posts mostly because a) I'm tired and b) the Grammy's are going to be on and you knowwwww I love me some music!

The trip to Snowshoe started just like another trip does with an early wake up time to make the 6 hour drive to the snowy mountain. I was packed and ready to hit the open roads with my iPod and best singing voice of course.

colorful outfit ready to go

Somewhere around Marietta I decided to stop, fill up my tank and run to the restroom and it was about this time where I pulled an "Allison" and totally ate the curb on my way out of the gas station.

How did I manage to do this? I don't know.

How do I do anything I do? I still have no idea and Dad don't answer that!

As I crossed over in WV, my tire pressure gauge light came up and I do believe I said, "mother of god, you have got to be kidding me!," knowing full well what I had done. I drove a few miles realizing that I probably messed up the tire more than I actually wanted to know, pulled over, saw the nice little tear, immediately turned around and looked up the nearest tire center to hopefully make it there before my tire went flat.

proof I can't drive

So, I hung out in the pleasant Glotfelty Tire Center, checked up on my current events, sent a few emails for work and was on my way $129 later to the awaited ski house, where I couldn't wait to get a beer in my hand.

I made it and so did the snow

What was supposed to be a six-hour trip turned into an eight-hour trip so this --------> girl was ready for several beers, a meal and lots of laugh with all the housemates for the weekend who I had yet to  meet.

assigned sleeping arrangements

been dying to see these fools - Gretchen and Amber

I dominated at beer pong, sadly, my teammate Amber did not

boys waiting their turn

reliving our college days with a game of flip cup

cooking with jello shots. always a great idea.

everyone does the skinny elbow....

Somewhere between flip cup and the dance party to my sweet mix of old school hip hop and pop music, I called it a night to prepare the next day which was supposed to involve skiing and snow tubing. Oh, how easily we got distracted.......

i'll show you a ski bunny

That's right.

This girl right here is heading skiing over the next few days. We are staying at the house below with 25 friends of friends this weekend in West Virginia.

how much fun does that look!

I'll be joined by a few of the usual suspects pictured below and a lot other people I don't know. But we all know that makes for a great party!

Have I ever skied?

I don't think you can count Camp Fitch in 6th grade........

However, I am somewhat athletic so hopefully I will be able to pull it off. Maybe for an afternoon. Or for an hour.

While I'm not a ski bunny yet I am REALLY good at sipping cocktails in a hot tub or sitting at the bar with a bunch of people I don't know and socializing into the early hours. Either way, we will all have an amazing time together.

So, that will be my weekend - here's to coming home without any broken bones, sprains or any other crazy fluke accidents that would only happen to me and navigating myself to and from the destination by myself.