Charleston and Savannah... a timeline!

A belated timeline.

Tuesday -  Depart Louisville and fly to Charleston (via Baltimore).

Arrive in time for a late supper with Carly and Adam at Minero.  Quite delicious!

Wednesday - M and I walk around town and explore a bit.  We hit 10,000 steps before lunch!

Since we were on a Sean Brock streak we lunched at Husk for a delicious lunch.

Pimento cheese and a bibb salad.

Shrimp and grits with a ginger beer.

After lunch we hit the road for Savannah!

In the evening we meet up with friends for happy hour then head out for supper at Blowin' Smoke.
Pretty decent barbecue!  Afterwards, Spanky's!!

Thursday - Pool day with TP. We are professionals but it was HOT!!  That evening, after happy hour we walked a little shy of 2 miles to Elizabeth on 37th Street.  The route took us through many of the squares so it was quite nice.  We were even up for the walk back!

Friday - I met up with TP and Kath in Savannah.  We lunched at Zunzi's and shopped around town.
That evening was the reception for Mr. Louisville's work thing.  It was a work trip after all! Afterwards, we hopped on the ferry across to Savannah and went to 1860 Gastropub.  It was definitely my favorite restaurant we went to in Savannah.

Saturday - Mr. Louisville and I met TP and BP for brunch.  Then TP and I took off for pool day take 2 while Mr. Louisville took a trolley tour.  A trolley caught fire across the river and we watched the whole thing!
We rendevouzed with the group later for $1 oysters and $5 glasses of wine at our hotel restaurant.

Best deal of the trip!!  Afterwards it was dinner at Huey's followed by drinks at Spanky's.

Sunday - Mr. L and I hit the road back to Charelston stopping along the way to visit with my cousin David and his lovely fiance Taylor!  They are living about 30 minutes North of Charelston for a few months so it was nice to sneak in a visit!  We lunched at Graze and caught up back in their apartment.

Afterwards, we headed back to Carly and Adam's.  It was nice to hang out and drink rose while Carly prepared the best meal of the trip!!  Coconut Mango Chicken Fried Rice.  SO GOOD!!
Mr. Louisville and I had a night cap down the street at a neighborhood bar while Carly and Adam watched the Game of Throne season finale.  We returned just in time to catch the end of the NBA final game 6 before calling it a night.

Monday - We left early and grabbed a biscuit to go and then headed home.

A great trip!

Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving... success!  Now just counting down until Christmas.  But first, a recap.  Kind of like a timeline!

Thanksgiving Eve
Mr. Louisville and Squirt come for a visit!
We walk to Bar Louie for a drink and a snack then across the bridge for a Cyclones game at US Bank with 40 of my friends.
After the game (and a few dollar beers) we walk back to Newport and head to the Southgate House Revival for a little live music.
We were home by 11am for an early morning.

Thanksgiving
We wake up early for the Thanksgiving Day Race in Cincinnati.  It was a chilly morning but we finish the 10k (6.2 miles) in an hour and 5 minutes.  Not too shabby!
After the race we tidy up for my family's annual Thanksgiving lunch at Orchid's.
Oysters!  Crab!  Prime rib!  Cheese!  Desserts!
Naps.

Friday after Thanksgiving
I head to Louisville!
We meet up with Betas at the Beer Depot for drinks and dinner.  Special visitors Sean and Ellie are in town! Yay!

Saturday
Mr. L and I have another early morning.
We bike to Check's Cafe for chili and grilled cheese.
After our nosh we bike to the Stadium for the Louisville vs. Kentucky football game.

Good grief, the game was back and forth but Louisville pulled out the win.  Fine with me as we'll be seeing them on the basketball court later this month.
Finally, it's a holiday weekend get together at Shenanigan's in lieu of Mr. Louisville's annual cocktail party.
Shew, what a weekend!

Thanksgiving down, Christmas to go!

Carly got married!!

Carly & Adam

Back in May one of my best friends got married!!  I was honored to be a bridesmaid which meant I got to be a part of all of the wedding happenings!

The festivities started on Friday evening where we had the rehearsal at the church followed by dinner at the museum!
The bride got tipsy enough to convince to go out afterwards and I suggested Igby's as a place her Charleston crew would enjoy. And they did!  So much so that I had to cut Carly off after a few drinks and drag her home with me.  Wedding day started early the next day.

Ruthie, Jay, Me, Brian, Mara

Carly and I were up around 8 to start the day.  Pink Lou Lou arrived to start on hair a little after 8 and my friend, Leyla, came over to finish up with makeup a few hours after that.

It was funny to get a few professional photos at my house first.  Hi, bar cart!

My bike with the brides shoes.

After we were all ready we took a few pictures at my house then were off to Covington for some more formal shots.  It was funny because there were about 5 other wedding parties that came through the same park to get pictures.  I decided our bridesmaid dresses were the best and I felt bad for other brides having to see Carly.  She looked STUNNING!!

From there the limo scooped us up and we scurried into the waiting room at the back of the church while everyone arrived.  This is one of the only pictures I took that day.  The rest I took from the photographer.  It was nice to put my phone away and just enjoy the day.

The ceremony was perfect and then it was time to party!  The wedding party hung out and drank in the limo while Carly and Adam got some sunset pictures then it was off to the Reception.

Drinks!  Eats!  Dancing!  Drinks!  Cake!  Dancing!  So much fun!  The end of the night was a blur but I definitely went home and crashed.  Hard!

So lucky to have those Hickeys in my life.

March Madness

Have I mentioned how much I love College Basketball?  Particularly, University of Kentucky basketball.

#8 Kentucky beat #9 St. Louis, #1 (and undefeated) Wichita State and last night we beat #4 Louisville.  I won 2 bets from picking KY over Louisville which made this Sweet Sixteen win so very sweet. 
I will say that if Louisville had won I was going to root for them all the way.  I've grown fond of that team since I went to a few of their games this year. 

We are now down to the Elite Eight and have a tough game this Sunday vs. #2 Michigan.  But I have the Cats going all the way! 

Ohhhhhhh. C! A! T! S! Cats!  Cats!  Cats!!!

Go Cats!

Asheville, a timeline!

I love a good timeline.  Don't you?  This past weekend I went to Asheville, NC for my friend, Carly's Bachelorette party.  My adventures below, if you're interested.

Friday 
11:00am - Hit the road!

1:30pm - Picked up Carly's friend, my new friend, Natalie, in London. 

5:00pm - Checked into our hotel in Asheville.

6:30pm - Dinner at Curate.

8:00pm - Drinks!  UK game!  Dancing!  Slefies!  Shots!  At Pack's Tavern.

? - Called it a night.

Saturday
12:00pm - Brunch at Mayfel's.  The bloody mary bar was a serious highlight for me.

2:00pm - Another bloody at LAB followed by some shopping.

3:00pm - Wicked Weed for some solo time.  I drank a delicious Mango Jalapeno Blonde Ale, watched the Louisville basketball game and made some bar friends.

4:00 - Met back up with the crew at Barley's for a beer and the rest of the game.

6:00pm - Back to the hotel to get ready and shower Carly with gifts!

8:00pm - Dinner at Blackbird.  Predictably, I ordered the cheese board.  Lindsey wanted the fish special, with chicken instead of fish.  COuld they do that?  The chef was so amused he came out and asked her exactly what she wanted.

10:00pm - Back to Wicked Weed to end the night. 

Sunday
9:00am - Headed home.

3:00pm - Met friends at the Village Pub for the UK game.  We played the #1 and undefeated team Wichita State and won!!!  A most excellent end to the weekend.

Let's play catch up!

Happy Holiday weekend!

Here's what I've been up to.

Weddings!  Predictable. I had three Saturdays in a row celebrating my friends' nuptials.
First up...  Kristen and Gerry!  Their wedding was in Lousiville so I made a weekend out of it.  The wedding was lovely and I was able to spend some time with the bride before I skipped out before supper to meet up with my friends Katie and Casey.  We went out to eat at Holy Grale and then for drinks afterwards at Flanagan's.  K & C were the best hostesses!  Hadn't seen them in a long time (years maybe?) so it was good to catch up.

 

There's a funny story about that cup...

Last weekend I celebrated Taylor and Garrett!  They eloped in New York City, Central Park, last month so this was just a fun reception.  It was at York St. Cafe (bonus!  I can walk there from my house!) and it was so nice!  This couple, they've got charisma and style.  DJ Buttonz played some fun music and we got pretty dancey.

The last of the three weddings is for my friends, Kiley and Noah, tomorrow evening.

Oh, but speaking of weddings!  I went to my friends Carly and Adam's engagement party and I was asked to be a bridesmaid!! I've attended many weddings but have only been in two so far (my sister's and Mara's).  Honestly, there are only a few friends left that I'd like to be a bridesmaid for.  Otherwise I'm happy to just attend the festivities.  But, Carly is definitely one of those few!  So excited for the upcoming year!

A new bike!  My previous bike got stolen when I moved into my new house.  So, I wanted to spend some money on a good bike since I love to ride around the city. Nothing serious, so I didn't need a 20 speed road bike but this Public 7 speed is perfect for the city.  And cute, to boot!  It took longer than expected to come in since I ordered it through a small bike shop here in Newport so they threw in a bell, flower vase and rack for me.  My favorite thing lately is to ride up to Washington Park for Bluegrass Thursdays or to Findlay Market on the weekends.

House parties!  Last weekend I had my co-workers over to celebrate the end of our fiscal year.  We had a good time and I made quite the spread...

Peach Shortbread with blueberry sauce, caprese skewers, ham & swiss and turkey & colby jack sandwiches, spinach and artichoke dip, vegetables with a wasabi goat cheese dip.

Lake weekend!  My friend Becca's family owns a nice home right on Lake Norris so she invited a few gals down for a weekend.  So, so nice!!  Their dock is right by the house so we hung out and swum around, took the boat out a few times, road jet skis.  Lake life is nice, I totally get the appeal.  I made these and they were a hit! 

Kelly, me, Leyla, Katie, Becca, Stacy.  Elle's fingers are in the picture!  A budding 4 year old photographer!

Becca's friend Stacy and her daughter Elle came up from Charlotte.  It was great to meet them and seriously, Elle was the best little gal ever!  Fun times.

Food!  It's been so rainy here lately that I've been spending some time in the kitchen.  I made the best lunch ever today!  My favorite blogger and my favorite cookbook never do me wrong.  Seriously, the tomato scallion shortcakes with whipped goat cheese was easily the best thing I've made in a while.

I don't think I'm allowed to post the recipe, so you'll have to buy the book.

Look!  The recipe I made is the cover photo.

Best Weekend Ever?

Thursday
Mel came to town!  I love that lady.  She's in Chicago doing her residency in Neurosurgery (no big deal) and I got to spend lots of quality time with her!  We went to see Keller Williams at the 20th Century Theater.  Fantastic!  The best part was set break.  My friend Jen and I met Keller!!!!  We happened to be out back when he came out the back door.  We chatted a bit, played it real cool...

Friday
Keeneland.  Mel and I met up with some friends around 1 at the track.  Super fun, but a cold and rainy day so we stayed indoors.
We left Keeneland, hit up Pazzos for old time's sake and then went to another friend's house to meet up with Carly!!  Carly, Mel and I left to grab dinner together at Grey Goose in Lexington and had a lovely time.  Love. Those. Girls.

Carly, Mel and I

We even drove around and visited the old house were we lived for a year and then by the apartment building that I lived in my Junior and Senior year that is no a completely empty lot!

Rose Lane no more!  Sad vacant lot.

468 Park in Lexington.  Memories...

I didn't get back until rather late that night so I stayed in and finally watched True Romance which has been on my "to watch" list for a long, long time.


Saturday
Katie's bachelorette party!  We met up at OKBB (Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar) then had dinner at Brewriver Gastropub then went to Japps to dance.  Wooo!

Bride to be is in the middle.

Sunday
BENGALS vs. STEELERS

Bengals vs. Steelers - October 21, 2012

I took Justin to the game with me and had an awesome time. I got to see a lot of friends for tailgating and I even shotgunned almost an entire tall boy!  I used to be quite the beer chugger in college so it was funny to show everyone that I still got it.  The Bengals lost but it was a night game against a big rival so it was so fun.

Whew!  I am worn out but it was worth it.

Charleston

I just got back from visiting my friend, Carly who lives in Charelston, SC.
It was so much fun spending time with her and her boyfriend, Adam. She's one of my nearest and dearest so a visit to the low country was sorely overdue. 
I even started this blog after years of stalking hers and finally following suit.  Yet another thing we now have in common!  Just adding it to the list...