Beechwood Place

Well............as Ohio has blessed us with a lot of rain this spring, last weekend it was too wet to go on an actual walk, so we got our exercise at Beechwood Place, a rather posh mall in Cleveland.

The mall itself was very nice, except that it was so nice we could not afford anything there. They had valet parking in front of a Saks 5th Avenue, among other things. However, with posh stores comes a very comfortable setting, so we pretended we were Sir Kurt and Lady Hanna and let the adventure continue from there.

I can review this in two ways: as a mall, and as a walking experience.

As a mall, although it was a very enjoyable atmosphere, despite all the elite stores there was little variety. We didn't see a single bookstore, among other things. Also, retailers catering to the wealthy tend to get a little sycophantic at times. And finally, the heat was on in some stores, which in the case of Pottery Barn, created a sauna feeling.

One point I did like was that they had a Chipotle-like eatery called Currito, but one of the "meats" they offered for their burritos was tofu. The tofu was soaked in a paprika mix, so it was fantastic tasting. Kurt even liked it more than his chicken.

Also, Currito had a Nutella milkshake. It was evilly delicious, and we are Nutella fiends.

As a walking experience, I still think Polaris Mall in Columbus has the best configuration for an optimum walk, but we still got our exercise in, which is what counts.


I made Kurt try on this hat.

After the walk. Yea, we're cute.


I told Kurt to convey the fact that we didn't spend any money, in photo form. This is what he came up with.












I also tried to express "We didn't spend money!" and went a little crazy with the camera. Also, I am gesturing to my windblown hair - we were under a wind advisory for two days (the night before we were under a tornado warning and had to go in our laundry room for an hour) so I was blown to our car in the parking lot.

Tomorrow is supposed to be mostly sunny, so we are going to trek once again in the great outdoors.

On a side note, this blog may not be updated as frequently as I would like, as I will be having surgery on my jaw. However, I will be posted updates on my everyday blog, Hanna's Commonplace Book, so you can check updates on there. Ciao!

MS Greater Akron Walk

Ack! I am so behind! We have been crazy busy around here. We have done two walks since my last post, having missed a weekend due to a bout of bronchitis on my part.

On April 24th, we went to a benefit walk for Multiple Sclerosis. Our friend from work, Marybeth, has been doing it for years and every year her team gets bigger. Several of us from work went along.

The really cool thing about the walk was that the route took us right through the Blossom Music Center, so we actually walked our dogs through the rows. As it was a dog friendly event, we only brought Leo and Cordy, as Esme would have gone simply ballistic.

Here's the photos from the event. They are mostly of dogs that were on our team. Unfortunately, the pictures are not of a great quality, but it's all I have.



Kurt walking Leo, who of course hid behind the tree right when the picture took.



Marybeth and Matt and their huskies, Watson and Tasha.



I love this picture. This is Jackee's Yorkie, Remington.



And finally, this is Jackee's daughter's dog, Max. He's a dachshund mix and absolutely ADORABLE.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Cordy, who was in my coat shivering most of the time. Other than that, it was a good time for a good cause.