#ThisisCLE Healthy Living Blogger Tour: Part One

Disclosure: I partnered with Positively Cleveland to host an out-of-town blogger for a two-day healthy living tour. All expenses (meals, activities and transportation costs) were paid for by Positively Cleveland. I also received a swag bag of Cleveland items. As always, thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

As a Clevelander working towards enjoying all aspects of this town, I do my best to find consistency in living a healthy lifestyle. (I think I just wrote my blog’s new “About Me” statement.) So I was pretty excited when Positively Cleveland reached out to coordinate a #ThisisCLE Healthy Living Tour for an out-of-town blogger. Showing off the North Coast blogger meet up doing all of my favorite activities = one big “count me in”.

Via Positively Cleveland selection process, I was paired with Ami from Fit With Flash. She works as a TRX Bootcamp owner, personal trainer and group fitness instructor. But as you can tell from her About Me page, she’s also a classically trained ballerina, proud Louisville, Kentucky resident, world traveler and fellow #crazydoglady. When we met this Friday for her weekend of getting to know my hometown, I knew we were going to get along great.

As my usual weekends feature my duties as a part-time yoga teacher, Positively Cleveland was very supportive of Ami kicking off her Healthy Living CLE weekend at my Sweet Heat Flow at Evolution Yoga School and Practice Space on the East side.

There’s something so special to me about getting to spend time with the great community at Evolution. I call that Friday 5PM-7PM frame the “sweet spot” of my week and I was excited for Ami to meet my husband and several other “yoga” friends while getting to known my vinyasa teaching style. Ami shared she’s been adding more yoga to her routine lately, especially having fun learning how to do inversions. She kicked up to handstand with no problem – the work is paying off!

After class, we headed over to Eton Chagrin, a mere five minute drive from the yoga studio. One quick visit to lululemon athletica (#stuffhealthylivingbloggersdo) and we were ready to sit down at Paladar Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar, located at the shopping complex in Woodmere.

Being so close to both of my places of employment, Paladar is one of my go-to meeting spots. It’s where I take all of my interns for their “thank you” going-away lunches! Ami and I were STARVING but managed to make smart choices – with a few splurges! Dinner included the guacamole of the day, mojo marinated atlantic salmon (with a roasted carrot puree and savory olive pasilla sauce, sautéed kale and zucchini) and their blacked fish tacos (with adobo-rubbed tilapia, pickled onion, pineapple slaw, cabbage and cilantro adobo aioli). Delicious, as always.

The next morning, we met up at TownHall in Ohio City to fuel up for our active Saturday. I selected TownHall for its fresh and healthy menu in a well-established CLE neighborhood. The restaurant promotes a healthy lifestyle by offering features like a juice bar, espresso bar, and plenty of vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options. Too bad we didn’t have our pups — all their patios are dog friendly!

Ami and I both ordered the Wakey Wakey, featuring two organic eggs with your choice of bacon or house-made sausage. Ami jammed on the buttermilk biscuits while I enjoyed my substitution of the rosemary potatoes. And their hot sauce is killer – gives Aladdin’s a run for their money! All so good without making you feel too weighed down.

Unfortunately, the weather still wasn’t cooperating, so we spent some time crafting a Plan B for our active day. To stall a bit, we headed over to the West Side Market.

I did my best to take Ami through every nook and cranny as we both soaked in the atmosphere of a place I realized held a lot of memories for me. While standing in the balcony of the market, I found myself sharing historical facts of one of Cleveland’s most well known structures, as well as my own family stories — like buying pizza bagels as kids for school lunches and my Aunt Kathy chatting with each and every single vendor as she was an weekend regular and knew everybody at each stand. What a joy to be able to share those tales — I’m just glad I didn’t overwhelm Ami with them all!

As it misted along West 25th, we strolled south, stopping in Salty Not Sweet, Room Service and Campbell’s Sweets before heading back to my car. It was time to head south to enjoy one of my favorite healthy living destinations in all of Northeastern Ohio — and to hopefully lose the rain clouds on the way…

Check back on Friday for Part Two to read about the rest of our Cleveland healthy living adventures!

Disclosure: I partnered with Positively Cleveland to host an out-of-town blogger for a two-day healthy living tour. All expenses (meals, activities and transportation costs) were paid for by Positively Cleveland. I also received a goodie bag of Cleveland items. As always, thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

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