Set List

(picture source)

This is where we were Thursday night. I don't even... I can't. 

Weekend Fun at Findlay Market

We spent yesterday afternoon at Findlay Market, one of our very favorite Cincinnati places. It's one of the oldest markets in Ohio. Every weekend, the place comes alive with farmers, food merchants, local growers, crafters, all sorts. Everything about it reminds me of that really fun time in our marriage, before we had kids and we just spent our time galavanting around downtown, doing whatever we wanted. 

I guess that's partly why when Nick suggested we go, I was all "Why would we take the kids there?"

Then hewasall "Because it's awesome."

and iwasall "But Sunday is our only day to just do nothing."

and hewasall "But if we stay home and do nothing you are going to end up doing lots of things." (cleaning and sewing and laundry)

then iwasall "Yeah, you are right. Let's go." 

... Jessica gets dressed and tries to stop being a poopstick. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, I got really excited and was so glad he dragged me there. 

Aren't those bright awnings so much fun? All those shops lining the little walkways are different types of food merchants. You can really find almost anything here. 

Part of the weekend Farmer's Market. The sellers always look like they are having fun in all the busyness.

Lazy Elsie, pooped before the party even starts. 

Moerlein Beers on draft. To me, the OTR ale literally tastes like Over the Rhine and Main Street. (Hendrix is enjoying water from his girly cup. He's secure in his manhood.)

Dojo Gelato is new since I've last been there. We shared sea salt caramel. Wow, was it good.

 There are always local musicians on the weekends, usually nearby all the craft and artisan booths.

Nick decided to try a key lime pie popsicle from this little street vendor. Literally the best popsicle ever- I can say that confidently and objectively.


In the car ride home, I told Nick we should spend lots of Sundays there this summer. He gave me his "why-would-you-ever-doubt-me" look. Then at home, he proceeded to make the best grilled carnitas tacos with homemade salsa ever. I know, where did this guy come from?

3 Things to Look Forward To.

We are going to see the Civil Wars tomorrow night. If you don't know them, you should probably listen to this song. Then you should probably love it.





Reds Opening Day is tomorrow. I would love to take Hendrix downtown for the parade, but it's going to be pretty cold and dreary, and Nick is working lunch anyway. But I can't wait to take him to a game soon. We took him a lot 2 years ago, when he was tiny (he was born on opening day), but not at all last season when he just would have been a pain to look after in the ballpark. I'm thinking this year he will be able to appreciate at least a few innings. He is really obsessed with "bee-boo bats" lately.

And finally, these perfect baby shoes are on their way from this shop. I spotted them a few days ago and caved last night. How could I not?  Per. Fect. 

Look what's coming to MY neighborhood!

I am pretty durn excited about this one.

Sewn Studio is opening up here in Oakley, right on Madison Rd. in February.

It's going to be a modern fabric shop, plus sewing studio with classes. I've never taken a sewing a class before, but I'm totally going to take them here. How very studious of me.

(pics from their FB page)

The space is right next to one of our faves- Redtree Gallery. But now they have swanky signs and window graphics all up. I only found out about it by driving by, and I'm pretty sure I about swerved off the road. Wait, no I didn't, that would be irresponsible behind the wheel. I would never do that. 

Please go here to follow them on FB and Twitter, especially if you are a Cincy sewer. If you aren't, well feel free to be jealous this place isn't moving in a few blocks from you. 

(P.S. Did any of you locals used to go to St. Theresa's Textile Trove in College Hill before it closed? I really liked that place and I feel like it left a big crafting void around here. But I'm very sure this place is going to be even cooler.) 

Cincy Shopping

Maybe I should say Cincy window shopping, since I have never once bought anything from either of the stores I am telling you about. But I have been to both many times just for a little fun and inspiration. The truth is, I'm not a big shopper and there is no way I would spend the money on any of the really amazing things in these shops. But there are definitely smaller affordable items in both.


You can find Mica 12V on Vine and 12th, of all places. It's a beautiful shop that carries both local artists and world-famous designers. You can lust over Angela Adams rugs while drooling over Cincy's own Three Sheets 2 the Wind's home textiles. Everything is uber-stylish.

But my all-time favorite place for swanky eye candy is called High Street, on Reading Road. The outside of the building is one of the places Shepherd Fairey installed a mural over the summer. This shop is really for high dollar interior designers to find their goods. I could imagine David Bromstad frequenting if he lived here. I think they also have an in-house design team for hire. Anyway, I always feel like I've stepped into London or something walking around in there. And I feel like I must have snuck in, because surely they have style-standards for who they let in a place like this.

Tomorrow, I'll show you my favorite places within walking distance from our house. Hendrix and I go on a lot of walks.

Loving Cincinnati

In honor of my beloved Reds clenching their division win (wooooooohoooooooo!!!!!) last night, I am hereby declaring the rest of this week "I Love Cincinnati Week." I realize most of you don't care one bit about the Reds or baseball, but it's really a pretty big deal around here. They haven't been much good in over 15 years, and now they are going to the playoffs and you can just feel everyone swelling with Queen City pride. I won't pretend I've been waiting that long for a good season, as we've only lived here for four years. But we did start loving going to the Reds games right away, as well as loving the city in general.

The thing is, people like to complain about living in Cincinnati a lot. A couple years ago a megachurch here started distributing bumper stickers that say "I Love Cincinnati." Now there is a knock-off that uses the same look, but says, "Cincinnati's Just OK." I think it's pretty hilarious, and I appreciate the irony. It's not like we live in NYC or anything, not even the NYC of the Midwest. BUT, there are many many good things about this area, and I'm more of a "learn to love your ground" person. I could really be happy living in lots of places, but now I live here, and I like it. So stop your complaining.

So, now that I've rambled about baseball and bumper stickers, today I want to tell you about two new-ish reasons to love the 'Nasti.

A few weeks ago, Nick and I had the chance to go on an afternoon date, so we headed downtown and tried a new restaurant in the Gateway Quarter called Senate. It was amazing.

They serve a lot of fancy Southern style food, but they are becoming known for their gourmet hot dogs. I know that sounds weird, but believe me, they are sooooo good. I'm not a hot dog person at all, but I ordered the Korean dog, which came with braised short ribs and all that other Korean-y stuff on top. Did not disappoint. And the truffle fries are to die for. Nick had goose-fat fries, also sinfully delicious. (Please don't judge my one beer, this was before I knew I was preggers.)


We also walked down to our old neighborhood on Main Street to check out the new record store that the owner of Iris Book Cafe opened right next door. It's really fun for people who like hunting through old things, and it's all from the owner's personal collection, which is amazing.

100 Bonus points for anyone who knows where that awesomely-creepy goat head used to live.

I'm in love with this cover. Maybe I'll be this foxy lady for Halloween.

Yeah, but I didn't have your number. All you wrote on this paper was your band name.

Gangsters of alliteration. 

Hmm, does a Gigolo shake his pants when they are on or off? Is this boarded up building where you do your business, or can one get a hotel room with Tony? Does that other guy have to come? These are the questions I can't answer. 

And Grand Funk wins the grand prize for all-time sexiest album cover. And just in case you didn't realize how sexy it really is, they warn you: "all the girls in the world beware!!!" You know they are serious with 3 exclamation points. 

Tomorrow, some pictures from inspiring shopping spots downtown. 

....GO REDS!

Street Art

Katie's post about street art reminded me that I have been wanting to show you guys the brand new Shepard Fairey (of iconic Obama campaign poster fame) murals that went up in our neighborhood just a couple weeks ago. Hendrix and I got caught in the rain walking home from taking these pictures tonight...  soooo yeah, you're welcome :)

You can find this one down Brazee Street off Madison in Oakley. 

I love this one because it is right on Madison Rd. on a very nice clean business building. I can just imagine most people driving by it and thinking "What the $#*% is that ugly zombie thing?" There is one just like it on Shake-it Records in Northside, but the sight is more expected there. It's called "Obey Fiend Skull." Kind of Banksy-ish.

There are more murals that went up back in February throughout downtown and Northside as part of his exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center. (The following pictures are from here.)

These are on High Street Design on Reading Rd. downtown.  (Which is so swanky and cool. I might have to do a whole post on it some day.)

This one is right on the corner we used to live on in Over the Rhine.

And this one is on the side of Shop Therapy in Northside. 

The Shepard Fairey exhibit is at the CAC through August 22, so I'm glad we still have some time to get down there and see it. When we do, I will show you their really fun children's art center. 

And in other street art news, the Banksy documentary is screening at the Esquire June 18th. I CAN'T WAIT! I think I should put my craftiness to more subversive use... what should my street art name be?

Cincicrafti Spring

So remember when I went to the Crafty Supermarket back in the fall? Well, today there is a spring one, even bigger and better than the last. For some reason, I did not know about this until 10:30 this morning, thanks to Olivia. (What a good blogity-blogging friend!)

There were about 50 vendors this time, up from 20, and I loved them all! No really, I didn't see one single thing that wasn't really cool and inspiring.

All the old Cincy favorites were there again, including Kitsch Cafe, Morninglori, and Visual Lingual. And I learned about a few artists that are new to me-

I really love these necklaces from Yellowberry. They remind me of those friendship bracelets we used to make in grade school.

These earrings by Red Raven Studios make me wish I wore earrings. They also had a slew of gorgeous belt buckles at the show. 

And this really fun wristlet by Buzz was my only purchase of the day. The artist described it as "tennis-preppy," which I thought was really funny. All of the supplies she uses are recycled vintage, even the zippers and thread. So there you go earth, happy earth day. 

If you are local, get down to Clifton- there are still over 3 hours left of handmade goodness!

(info here.) 

Bockfest

Tonight I got to spend some quality time with my boys at a medieval-themed-goat-happy-spring-beer-guzzling-celebration.

We headed down to the old neighborhood (OTR) for Bockfest 2010.

HG can barely contain his parade excitement.

There was a rolling beer goat pushed by monks...

a goat on a segway...

and a goat who thinks he's a dragon in a Chinese New Year parade?

I love to see Main Street so full of life like this.

We used to live in that middle building with the rounded windows. Top floor. It was pretty much the most amazing apartment ever. And it was above the very cool 1305 Gallery.

Around the corner you can see the new mural. Nick says it's done by the same guy who did Obama's famous campaign poster.

When it's warm we will be bringing him down here much more often.

Sometimes we really miss living here. But only sometimes.  (Nathan, stop your pouting, we don't want to move away from you.)