WARNING: Be prepared for me to boast about how amazing my weekend was.

As some of you may know, I lived and worked on Put-in-Bay, a tiny island in the middle of Lake Erie, for two summers.  I was hired at a tiny bakery that sits on the end of the main drag.  The owner, Pauline, is currently 79 and still makes her way up from Florida every summer.  Her daughter Beth, who lives in Costa Rica, moves to the island every summer and helps her mother.

 Long story short, Pauline and Beth are the two most loving people I have ever met.  The two summers I spent on PIB were the best of my life. Unfortunately, I was unable to move back this summer due to a job I had in Toledo.

But fall break was the perfect opportunity to go see them.  On Sunday afternoon, I headed to the tiny island.  When I arrived at her house she had a delicious dinner waiting and we all just hung out and played cards.


In preparation for October Fest, I woke up bright and early on Monday morning and helped Pauline, Beth, and a close friend Ursula roll over 500 cabbage rolls.  I said my goodbyes around 4pm with cabbage rolls in one had, and two chocolate banana muffins in the other and wished them luck with the upcoming festival and travels back home.  Until next summer, PIB.  Can't wait to be united with my second family in a few short months.

But wait, there's more!
This was not the end of my travels this weekend.  Me and my best bud Chase took an impromptu trip to Cleveland because I've never been (crazy, I know!)  We pretty much just walked around and explored the city.  It wasn't too busy because there wasn't anything going on, which made it even better.  We happened to turn down the cutest alley and came upon a super cool brewery (Butcher & The Brewer).  Both of us have an undying love for beer so we sat down and both got a flight.  I kid you not, this alley was the cutest alley I've ever seen!

So we sat there for an hour or two and just enjoyed our beer :)


After we finished our flights, we walked around a little more and came across a homeless man who began talking to Chase.  Instead of walking away, Chase had a conversation with the man and discovered that he LOVED corned beef so Chase and I ran to the nearest sub shop and Chase went up the counter and ordered a corned beef sammy.

I don't think the man believed Chase when he said he would be back with food, but he showed him that there are still good people in this world. I almost started crying, because it was honestly the most genuine act of kindness!

After giving the man his food, we were on the hunt for our own.  We had our minds sent on Barrio, an AMAZING taco place that is extremely popular in downtown.  We waited for awhile, but the wait was soooo worth it.  I ordered on taco off the menu and created one myself.  I must say the one I made was much better aka call me Chef Flay.

I can honestly not put into words how great my weekend was.  I hope to have more days like these because they were some of the best I've ever had.