Spectacular September: A Recap of My Birthday Month in Ohio!

What a fabulous month of September—and of course, it always is, since it is my birthday month! My favorite time of year stretches from April through the holidays, and we now are heading into the end of summer/beginning of fall, which is always a great time of year. I love the cooler air, warm sun, the fragrant mums, and the colorful pumpkins all around. It’s also a great time of year for fashion, food, drink, and home decor! So keep on reading to learn all about what I did this month.

MY BIRTHDAY

I ended up having a lower key birthday this year, and it didn’t help I ended up getting sick ON my birthday (no joke!), but it was still fabulous!

My family and I ended up trying out Santosuosso’s in Medina for some Italian food and wine on Saturday. The wine selection was great, and it awesome catching up with everyone for my birthday! This is a great place to check out if you want to try some different wines and Italian food.

Velvet Devil is a highly recommended favorite!

On Sunday, my actual birthday, my mom made me a fabulous dinner and got me the most beautiful cake I’ve ever had for my birthday, from the one and only Michael Angelo’s Bakery!

It was absolutely beautiful and soooo delicious. White/yellow cake with buttercream frosting is my favorite, and my mom hit it out of the park ordering this one. If you have paid attention to my previous monthly recap blog posts, I have talked about how much I love Michael Angelo’s Bakery. Their cakes are fabulous, as Khloe Kardashian even ordered Tristan Thompson’s 30th birthday cake from there!

It was a great birthday full of perfect celebrations and awesome gifts! I think I will be able to have Starbucks free for awhile!

COLUMBUS TRIP

In Mid-September, I was able to go down to Columbus for a work conference. Every now and then, we get to stay in a great place, and this was no exception! The Renaissance Columbus—Polaris—Westerville just opened in May, so this is a super brand new hotel! You could totally tell—it was modern, clean, and felt very luxurious.

Although this trip is not super focused on Cleveland, I was so impressed with the hotel, I had to feature it on my September recap of the blog—especially as Columbus is my second favorite place to be besides the CLE! The rooms all had wood laminate flooring, which I absolutely preferred over carpet. The bathroom was super modern with fun lighting, cool tile features, and a luxurious shower. The dressing area had a fun welcome bench, the bedroom furniture was super minimalist and modern, and the beds were very comfortable!

If you ever go to Columbus, I would definitely recommend this hotel! The bar was so fun, the wine was good, and the food was fabulous!

BURNTWOOD TAVERN—CUYAHOGA FALLS

I know I talk about Burntwood Tavern all the time—and here we go again—but I wanted to recommend trying out the Burntwood Tavern location in Cuyahoga Falls. I typically go to Brecksville (by my house) or this location, as it is a hop, skip, and a jump away from my work. It is not uncommon that we go to work lunches or happy hour here often.

It is located in Downtown Cuyahoga Falls, right on the Cuyahoga River. If you get a chance, I would recommend sitting on the balcony over the Cuyahoga River. It is a great, unique view and an fabulous opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty of Ohio!

MICHAEL ANGELO’S WINERY

So, as you read above and in previous posts, Michael Angelos’s bakery is our go-to for birthday cakes and any other bakery. I was super excited to learn that they were in the process of building and opening a winery off of Broadview Road, right on the border of Broadview Heights and Richfield, Ohio—just a few minutes from my house!

During the month of August, they appeared to have a soft opening, where they were primarily offering ticketed events in the evenings. This did not really appeal to me, and I was kind of disappointed with the opening, but soon became excited again after learning they were ready to serve people in the evenings until 8 with food!

Once this became a regular occurrence at the winery, my family quickly made plans to go check it out the new place this past Friday. As you can see above, it is a beautiful building with very minimalist decor and modern touches.

Once we arrived, we walked around the winery determining where we wanted to sit. There were a variety of options—on a patio overlooking the vineyard, a courtyard area, the bar area, or inside on couches and high top tables. Since Friday had beautiful weather, we wanted to sit outside, but once the sun started to go down, it was getting cool out. We definitely would have stayed outside if they had outdoor heaters (this would be awesome!).

So we ended up sitting inside. Once we got settled, we were ready to order our food. The set-up for ordering is very similar to Sarah’s Vineyard (featured in my May post), where you order your food and drinks at the bar, and they deliver to you. The only downside to this winery is that you order your wine at the bar and your food at the bakery counter (yes, you can still get Michael Angelo’s bakery here!), which can cause a lot of up and down. I was kind of tired after running around and was ready to sit down and relax! I don’t mind going up and ordering—I would just prefer ordering food and drink in one fell swoop. This also makes it easier to save your spot! I see how it can allow you to walk around and enjoy all aspects of the winery, but on Friday night after a long week, I would have preferred to have less running around to get my food.

So to start my evening, I wanted to try a good variety of their red wines, so I went with a red wine flight sampling. My favorites are Merlots, Cabernet Sauvignons, Pinot Noirs, and Red Blends, so that’s exactly what I went with, and every single wine was VERY good. The wines are high quality and very tasty. Now that I have sampled all of them, I would be comfortable ordering a bottle and enjoying some food. If you like wine, I would highly recommend any of their wines—super smooth and what I expect from a red wine.

After ordering wine, we ordered their bread and dipping sauce, which was delicious baked bread and a great olive oil dipping combination.

I ordered a house salad and crab cakes and also was able to try some Sliders. The food was excellent! I thoroughly enjoyed my small plates with my wine. It was a very good combination.

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Michael Angelo’s with the food and wine. I would definitely go back, and in order to make the experience better, I would order a bottle of wine and the food, rather than flights and single glasses of wine.

I love that such a great winery is such a short trip from my house and will definitely go back again. If you are in the Broadview Heights/Brecksville/Richfield area, I would highly recommend checking it out!

COLLABORATIONS

Because my work and personal life have been so busy, I probably have not made my blog a priority, so the past two months were kind of slow with collaborations; however, I have TWO so far for October, including a jewelry collab, as well as some exciting coverage of the Designer Dress Days from the National Council of Jewish Women this month! So stay tuned!