Loving/Craving June 2014

Sorry. In case you haven't already figured it out, I'm bad at blogging. It's a new thing I'm adding to my routine and my routine has been shaken up quite a bit lately. I've been really busy with work and moving and such so I haven't posted in quite a while. It's also really difficult to find inspiration or even motivation when one is permanently exhausted. I can say I just moved from the East to the West side of Cleveland. For those of you who aren't from Cleveland that's kind of a big move, especially because I haven't ever lived on the West side. It's a whole new set of scenery that I'm still trying to figure out. There's a lot of freeway driving involved with living on the West side, and not only because I work on the East side but because that just seems to be the way this side of town is set up. I'm so not into the freeway. So to keep this post simple I thought I would do simple little lists. Things I'm loving, things I'm craving that sort of thing.

Things I'm Lovinggg

1. Too Faced Melted Lipsticks in Nude, Peony and Coral

2. "Fancy" by Iggy Azalea

3. Hanging out on my new porch!

4. Fresh, in season peaches

5. Daisy Duke short shorts

6. Condos that overlook Lake Erie

7. OCC Lip Tar in Black Metal Dahlia

8. Luchita's Restaurant on W. 117th

Things I'm Craving!!

1. A pitcher of pina coladas in a shady spot on the beach

2. A beach day in general

3. Vacation of any sort

4. Drinks at Porco's Lounge

5. A Diet Coke
6. An Electric Wizard tee I can cut up
7. Map Of Middle Earth Leggings from Black Milk

Spring Jams

I'm in a weird place right now and actually haven't been finding/listening to much music at all, let alone new music. Please help me out! Despite this fact, I've put together a short playlist of the things I have been listening to. Most of the songs are pretty old at this point (some more than others, I'm pretty ok with this mix as representative of my tastes). The first song on there is by a band called cruelster who I've mentioned in a previous post. They're from Cleveland and they're awesome. I'm currently majorly into their most recent album, potatoe boys, which you can get on their bandcamp.

                                              

Spring 2014 Jams from katcade822 on 8tracks Radio.

Cleveland is the Reason

So it's been warm the past few days in Cleveland. Finally. Which was welcome for about 15 minutes and now it's way too warm for me. But that's a Midwesterner for ya, never gonna stop bitching about the weather. But because it was warm I decided to head downtown early before work one day and take a walk through the city and down by the lake. I have a major thing for large bodies of water, they both fascinate me and terrify me. So in the spirit of this adventure I'm gonna share some pictures from my walk and dedicate this post to all my favorite things in Cleveland! It really is one of the best cities on the planet, but it gets so much crap. Yes, it's an old steel town. Yes, there's a lot of poverty. Yes, the weather sucks. However, it's also a huge hub for music and art and food and beer! I consider all these things good things and there are so many up and coming neighborhoods. It's very easy for me to find new things to do and new places to go because there are so many!

The Cleveland skyline is one of my favorites in the country. It's so beautiful to drive down highway 2 late at night with the city lit up to your left and the dark expanse of lake to your right. It's truly fantastic. 

Lake Erie may not have crystal blue waters or even be clean, but it's still really nice to sit by the shore or on a pier and feel the breeze and look out into the emptiness. 

Rare shot of sunshine over the city. Big ol' fluffy clouds. Love it. 

And now I guess it's time for me to espouse my favorite places in Cleveland! I think I'll start with...

Bars

My friend Marija and me at ABC Tavern Uptown

(let me preface this by saying I love divey bars)

ABC Tavern (both Uptown and Ohio City)

B-Side Liquor Lounge and Arcade

5 O'Clock Lounge

Now That's Class

Happy Dog

Tremont Taphouse

I love all these bars, they're all super chill and have great prices on drinks. ABC and Taphouse have extensive beer selections, even though I always end up with a Pabst haha. Great atmosphere, and most of these places have great food too (especially ABC).

Concert Venues

Good buddy Dave in front of the Grog Shop

The Grog Shop

Beachland Ballroom and Tavern

Mahall's 20 Lanes

House of Blues

Now That's Class

Like I said earlier I like divey spaces so Grog Shop comes out on top of this list. It's a nice small venue and the stage is pretty low so it's a very intimate concert experience and the people who work there are awesome. And Mahall's has bowling and good food (my friend never shuts up about their fried chicken). The Beachland is a Cleveland staple venue, but it's a little far out of my way and their shows are either really great or I don't care but when they throw a show they do it right!

Restaurants

Me about to chow down on the Melt sandwich of the month

Los Habaneros

Barrio

Ohio City Burrito

B-Spot

Melt

Luchita's

Chinato

As you can see, I love Mexican food. Every time a new Mexican place opens up I am the first in line. I'm also big into sandwiches. Melt is a cleveland staple, they have a bunch of locations around the city and have recently opened up a spot in Columbus as well. B-Spot is a Michael Symon restaurant that does burgers, which are great, but i'm waaay more into their milkshakes (which you can add alcohol too which is really why they're so awesome). Chinato is the swanky place on this list and is pretty pricey but it's a Zack Bruell restaurant so you can expect good things. 

Bands

Thaddeus Anna Greene playing during Brite Winter Fest this year

Thaddeus Anna Greene

Bad Noids

The Suede Brothers

Blaka Watra

Cruelster

These bands play regularly all over the city and are always great. Always. Thaddeus and Suede Brothers play blues-based hard rock (Thaddeus tops this list as my favorite band in the city, I have never been disappointed). Bad Noids and Cruelster play very different but equally awesome legit punk music. No bullshit, nothing fancy. Blaka Watra are very much like a heavier version of Warpaint, kinda shoegazey. Keep in mind these are just my favorite currently active local bands, there a bunch more that are either no longer making music or have gotten too big to just be local. 

Well, that's a lot of stuff to check out, so I guess it's time to plan your weekend trip to Cleveland now! There's tons of stuff to do that's not on this list, this is just a great place to start to have a very rock n' roll weekend out on the town. There are plenty of more upscale places in the city to hang out and have fun, but as a broke young person these are my top picks. Happy Cleveland-ing!

*All these photos are mine except the photo of me at ABC which is my friend Marija's

Shopping Haul!!

I went shopping today. I can't really afford to go shopping, but i did anyway. Solely in honor of my first day off in a long time. And I got a little bit of everything so I can't even be mad at myself, and I got one refill of something I needed. 

The main reason I went out shopping was to pick up #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso, the CEO and founder of Nasty Gal. I'm obsessed with everything they sell on that site, plus I haven't read a book in a while and I figure it's about time. 

Shoes from Forever 21. They're pretty comfortable on but I'm not used to this kind of sandal so they're a little awkward but I will get used to them. 

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer in original. Anastasia Brow Wiz in Ebony, Nyx lip liner pencil, and Too Faced Melted lipstick, the coral one. All from Sephora except the NYX lip liner which is from Nordstrom Rack. The Brow Wiz is a refill and I love it, allows you to build up the tone and goes on nicely. I've heard wonderful things about the Melted Lipstick so I decided to give it a shot. Plus I'm super into coral right now and I don't have any coral lipsticks so this was a perfect addition to the collection. 

The watch is from Nordstrom rack and it came in a Fossil box but I know it's not a Fossil watch. So I have no clue what it is. The little red bag is from Forever 21. It has a gold shoulder chain as well, and I thought it would be the perfect little going out bag.

This was the Holy Grail of my purchases. The Michael Kors patent leather shoulder bag :))) It was my splurge at about $130 from Nordstrom Rack. I'm in love with it. So so very in love. I'm not super into gold details but I'm totally okay with it on this bag. It was hard to pick between this one and the white one, but black is kind of my signature so I decided to stick with it. 

Shoe Cult

I just purchased the most amazing shoes from Nasty Gal!! When they were first released they were priced at $120 but by the grace of the shoe gods they've been marked down to $49. And I received them yesterday, my birthday, which was just such incredible timing.

I've worn them out once so there's already some scuffing, which I guess is only noticeable if you're looking for it like I do. 

The soles are lightly padded so you're not just walking on wood all night which is great, but these do seriously hurt your feet after a while. You get a good few hours of badass strutting before that happens, though. Thats when I know my feet hurt, when my strut goes from a strut to a close stepped funeral walk. 

Ideally I would love to wear them with short shorts and a kimono shawl top with some big ol' sunglasses, but sadly I do not own a kimono shawl (yet). Sadly, I no longer see these particular shoes on the Nasty Gal website but all the shoes from their own line, Shoe Cult, are absolutely incredible. I'm a sucker for a huge platform shoe, whether it's wedges or heels, and Shoe Cult just may be one of my favorite shoe lines. These are also the only white thing in my whole wardrobe for the most part.

Botkier Handbags

So today I was paroozing the blogosphere and came across *shock* a label I've never heard of!! I was looking at Song of Style and her gorgeous photos and came across one of her at Coachella holding one of the most beautiful bags I have ever seen. The label is Botkier New York and their handbags are totally gorgeous, and totally on the affordable end of designer handbags! Needless to say I feel head over heels in love with their cuts and their spring colors (which is shocking because I hate spring colors). Here are some of my favorite bags from their current season.

Linea Crossbody

Logan Small Satchel

Valentina Satchel

All these bags are currently available on the Botkier website and there are some from their previous seasons on Zappos. If you're in the market for a beautiful new handbag, I would seriously consider these. Not only are they gorgeous, but they aren't covered in branding or logos! I love a bag that can stand alone and speak for itself without relying on being a popular label (not to say some of those aren't great, I for one love the classic Chanel logo and the Louis Vuitton monogram printed bags). These bags are classic with a twist, and they all come in a variety of colors to match any wardrobe! Love <3

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