Hang on Sloopy!

First off let me just say how much fun I am having with this pizza challenge! With each place I get to eat good pizza (none of it has been bad so far) and enjoy great company with people that make me excited to find the best pizza I can! It has been an enjoyable surprise to have so many different people join us in eating a pizza along the way! I cannot wait to see who else will be involved with crossing #26 off the list!

With that said, it’s time to put one of my favorite pizza places to the test! Sloopy’s Sports Café holds a dear spot in my heart and I can only promise and hope you will trust that I did my best to be as impartial as possible for this one! Located in the resort town of Lakeside, Ohio Sloopy’s has been one of my favorite vacation eateries for years. As you can tell by the name it is a sports themed restaurant, mostly reflecting many of my beloved Ohio teams, and during the summer it is only the rarest of occasions to find it not packed to the wall with hungry Lakesiders! And in my defense, this is not the type of place that only ‘seems’ good because it holds a nostalgic flair; Sloopy’s regular competes and wins worldwide prizes and recognitions for its pies and more specifically, it’s delicious sauce!

The best part of this pizza stop was getting to enjoy the food with my family! We stopped by a few months ago while visiting with my parents, Doug and Debbie, in Willard, Ohio, about an hour south of Lakeside. They knew Sloopy’s was definitely on my list of places to try and so made a point to take myself, Amy, my brother Seth and his wife Gretchen, my nieces Sydney and Alex, and my nephew Dominic across the bay bridge and through the Lakeside gates!

Our appetizer of choice was the cheesy bread and it was cheesalicious! Fairly basic when it comes to pizza shop cheesy bread but as delicious as any we have found yet. Sticking with the rules we ordered two pizzas, a cheese and pepperoni for everyone to share and a specialty pizza to rate on the pizza scale. We landed on the “Woody Hayes”, a cheese pizza with frest cut vegatables and pesto sauce. Instant reviews from everyone were two greasy thumbs up! The sauce was different but fit perfectly with the cheese and fresh veggies. We scarfed everything down, returned to our vehicles, and sang happy remixes to “Party Rock Anthem” the whole way home!

So! Amy and I have put it to the scale, and here is how Sloopy’s Sports Café scores:

Sauce= 5

Cheese=5

Toppings=4

Crust-=4.5

Overall-=4.5

Additions (Cheesy Bread)=3

TOTAL SCORE: 26/30  And so Sloopy’s quickly knocks Pizza Joe’s out of first place with great pizza and great memories! Next up? I’ve already hit up 3 other places!!! Reviews to come quickly!!!:)

It Could Be a Yes, It Might Be a No, but it is Definitely Not a Maybe

Within the past week I have received 4 rejections, 3 jobs and one grad school. One of those rejection letters was from my alma mater, only worth mentioning because despite the numbness I have developed in defense of opening up those dreaded envelopes that one still managed to sting pretty bad. 4 more dejections to add to the list, 4 more definite ‘no’s’ from places I had hoped would give me an excited ‘yes’.

In the movie “Yes Man” Jim Carrey plays a loveable albeit reserved character that has grown accustomed to saying no to everything around him; to people on the phone, those who want to hang out with him, even the guy standing outside the café handing out fliers for the local theater. After a…epiphany, Carrey decides he will say yes to everything that comes his way. The movie of course takes it to the extremes but the point is a good one and ultimately his character learns some great life lessons, meets a pretty lady, blah blah blah. But the idea is a good one, and one I have considered trying out for some time. I even thought about putting it on my 30@30 list but was afraid of where it might lead. So up until now it’s been only a good thought and nothing else.

But ya know what? I’m tired of being told no, and I’m tired of being rejected. Last week, after the first 2 let downs came my way, I decided that I needed to change and be more of a ‘yes man.’ After all, these jobs are not ‘no’s’ to me, but ‘yes’s’ to God. Yes that He has something else planned for me and yes that I need to trust and say goodbye’s to ‘maybe’s’ and let go when I am told no!

So guess what? Friday night Amy received a text and asked me if I wanted to get up in the morning at 6 A.M. and run 12 miles with our friends Nicky and Chris in downtown Pittsburgh. I initially said no, it was supposed to be cold and snowy, it was really freakin’ early, and I had just run 8 miles that afternoon. But after I thought about it, I said yes (although I didn’t want to). It was one of the best run’s I have had during my training. Chris and Nicky were great and we had an amazing conversation the whole time. It was so uplifting and exactly what I needed. They told me they pray for Amy and me almost every night. I had no idea and practically felt myself smiling finding out they cared that much for us as friends, something I still would not know if I had said no.

After the 12 miler I went home, ready to shower and settle in for food, a nap, and some basketball. I got in the shower and Amy asked me if we were going to my niece’s birthday party in Ohio. I said no, thinking of how I tired I was and that we needed to save money, etc… But we discussed it and again, said yes, left within a half hour, drove 8 hours round trip, and had an amazing time hanging out with one of my favorite people in the world, Sydney!

I don’t know what will become of this saying yes thing. But it has only been a week and already I feel more loved and connected to those around me. I’ve even talked to 3 telemarketersJ! But no matter what, ‘no’ is out, ‘maybe’s’ are not worth living, and ‘yes’ is my new favorite word.