Weekend in Instagram: Columbus edition

This past weekend I drove up to Columbus to hangout with my best friend, Amanda.  We were both overdue for some girl-time together, and Antoine was nice enough to offer up some hotel reward so we had a free place to stay.  The weekend was filled with good stuff like tasty food, shopping and wine drinking, and here's the proof:

FYI: I think the Heidi braid is going to become my second best friend during the summer-time!

Saturday night we picked up some pizza from Mellow Mushroom.  It was the first time trying it, for both of us.  Pictured is the Red Skin Potato Pie, which was pretty awesome!

Afterward dinner we did classy things like put on our pajamas and filled up the bathroom sink with ice, to chill our wine.

We continued to be classy, each drinking a bottle of wine out of plastic cups while watching Big Bang Theory and That 70s Show.

After I picked up Cheese from his boarding place and took him back home and gave him a bath, I curled up on the couch and tried out my new nail polish I had picked up on Saturday.

Overall, it was a nice, relaxing weekend filled with laughing and perhaps a bit too much wine.  It makes me wish, desperately, that Amanda still lived in Cincinnati, so we could hangout more often.  [Insert sad pathetic guilt trip here].  Anyway, stayed tuned tomorrow for a peek into Columbus' Franklin Park Conservatory!

The Last Tea

Sorry, I was out of commission again yesterday...but I'm feeling much better today!  No more death popsicle here.  And although my coughing shakes the window panes, I feel much better...I swear!

Anyway, let's talk about two weekends ago.  The weekend before last was bittersweet.  Antoine and I had a smashing time together, which included going to my sister's tea house, The Tea Cozy Cottage.  But sadly, it would be our last visit, as the weekend before last marked the final tea weekend for the Tea Cozy Cottage.  Insert: sad face.

My sister is so adorable, I can't stand it!

The quiche of the day had mushrooms in it.  Mushrooms and I don't get along...so my sis whipped up this tasty salad for me!  How sweet is that!?

Three tiered tray goodness.

Michelle and Christian, you guys are awesome!  I'm going to miss the Tea Cozy so very much, but I know it's end only brings the possibility for new and exciting things in your future!  Love you guys.

And with a quiet goodbye and thank you, that was it.  The end of the Tea Cozy.  It's sad, there's no denying that.  But the love that weekend and in many many weekends over the last 7 years has been richly gratifying, and I hope that they hold onto those good feelings and look to their very bright future.  Knowing these two, it's going to be a future full of adventure and happiness. Hugs to you both!

Two Years & Tea Time (Two Posts in One)

Today, this very Friday, marks the two year anniversary of this little blog!  Yippee!  Aren't you proud of me for actually sticking with something for two whole years!  Well, even if you're not proud of me, I'm pretty flippin' proud of myself!  It's been good times!  And I just want to say thanks to those of you who actually read this.  In the beginning Antoine was my only consistent reader, but I think I've scrounged up a few more followers along the way...and I just want to thank you, from the very bottom of my heart, for having any interest whatsoever in what I put up on here!

Now, enough mushy stuff, let's talk about tea.  This past weekend, my lovely red-headed, extremely personable sister kindly invited Antoine and I to high tea at her tea house.  Last weekend's tea was, sadly, the third to last tea ever.  That means that next weekend will be the end.  Oh, how I'm going to miss that place.  But I'm glad I get to be there to cheer her on in all her success and be there with her for her very last tea.  Oh no!  It's getting mushy again!!!  Ack!  Stopping mushiness NOW!!

Moving on, here's a couple of pictures I took during last weekend's tea:

 Isn't she adorable!  It was the Thanksgiving tea, so she dressed up like a pretty little pilgrim.

 Hot raspberry scone with sweet creme fraiche = food porn

 I had one of my new favorite teas, Genmai Cha.  It's a Japanese green tea with toasted, popped rice in it.

 Look!  Like little baby popcorn kernals!  It's sounds weird, I know, but it tastes like Golden Crisp or Honey Smacks cereal when you put sugar in it!!  Yum!

Mmm, my favorite thing of the day...salted pumpkin caramels.  Michelle made these little beauties using her regular caramel recipe (which is awesome!) and gave them a twist by adding pumpkin, pepita seeds, and fancy french salt on top!  Delicious!

I can't wait for next weekend's tea, it's going to be awesome!  Awesome and sad.  But don't worry, I'll make sure to document it!

Black Friday (plus Etsy coupon code!)

I can't help myself, but I love the crazy that is Black Friday!  I love the wacko old ladies who'll run you down for a good deal.  I love the waking up at a ridiculous hour just to get an extra 30% off a sweater.  It's my personal dose of holiday ridiculousness...and I'm going to put it in a pipe and smoke that shit up!  Lucky for me, Antoine loves it too!  We don't even have anything we need to get this year really, only a couple of things we want to keep an eye out for, but we can't resist waking up at a god-awful time and taking part in the craziness.  Laugh all you want.  Go ahead, judge me!  Frankly I would personally judge you if you didn't look down on me just a little!  But let me also ask you this, is there any other time of the year when you can openly run into someone with your cart and they don't give a shit because it's not the first time it's happened that morning!?  Yeah, that's what I thought.  Oh Black Friday, you tug on my sadistic, rotten heart strings.

In other news...in honor of the most bat-shit crazy day of the year I've got an extra special deal for you; 15% off my Etsy Shop!  Just enter the coupon code BLACKFRIDAYDEAL when you check out and you will get 15% off your order.  This offer is valid today through December 2nd.  Enjoy!

5 Things I'm Thankful For

As I've said before, Thanksgiving has never been my thing.  And I've never been one to be overly touchy-feely and openly tell others what I'm thankful for because it would diminish this hard, rough persona I've got going on here.  Hey!  Stop laughing jackass!  Anyway, this year, I'm kind of feeling this urge to do so.  Not sure why, but I'm going to roll with it!  So, here's the five things I'm most thankful for:

1.)  Family:  I'm lucky as far as family goes.  No one is too ridiculously crazy, just a good amount of crazy.  They're supportive and loving, and that's really all you can ask for!  Plus:

...these two weirdos live just down the street and I get to bug them anytime I want!

2.)  This guy: 

And I'm not talking about the itty bitty froglet.  Antoine is pretty much the best thing that's ever happened since the invention of cheese.  Big statement, I know!  But it's true! 

3.)  These furry things:

They make me laugh and occasionally drive me a little batty, but I love the heck out of them!

4.)  This lady:

There's no other way to describe her than as my HLP (aka my heterosexual life partner).  We're in it for the long haul!  As far as friends go, Amanda is the shit and there's no disputing that. 

5.)  A job I love:

Oh, and let's not forget the fact that I only have ONE job now!  Count it...one...job!  And it's awesome!

Wedding Drunk

I have a problem when it comes to attending weddings, in that I become a total lush if there is any sort of free alcohol.  It's weird, because I'm not normally someone who regularly gravitates toward alcohol.  My college years were very bland when it came to "partying" and "social drinking".  And nowadays, if I have an adult beverage in the evening, whether it's a glass of wine or a cocktail, it's kind of a rare thing.  I almost never "go for drinks" or get wine or a cocktail to go with dinner (even if I'm doing it up fancy style).  But get me all dressed up and put me in the line of an open bar and inner lush comes out!  Seriously it's bad.  And my friend's wedding that we attended this past weekend was no exception.  Actually, it was probably far worse than any previous wedding I've been to because I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and only ate of few bites of my dinner.  Oh, and then I downed a beer and five glasses of wine.  Yeah, it went down like that.  And it wasn't pretty.  But what kind of blogger friend would I be if I didn't share with you the progression of the night's events and my subsequent slide into utter drunkenness!?  Not a very good one!  So, here we go...oh wait, did I mention that I had a camera in my hands the whole time?!  And while I was getting utterly smashed, my sister was putting 'em back as well?  So, yeah...

 Before the ceremony/before the wine.  My sister catching up with my parents and sharing some pictures from recent travels.

 My brother-in-law being aloof, as usual.

 So, here's a major difference between my sister and I, she gets drunk fast and I do not.  So, after a glass and a half of wine, sister-friend was a happy wedding drunk.  It took me a little longer before I progressed into full on goofiness.

 Christian air-guitaring-it to some trashy 90's rock music.

And then, naturally, my sweet drunk sister flipped me off for taking too many pictures of her.  I don't blame her, I'm obnoxious when I have a camera and/or when I'm drunk!

 Classy.  Please note the coconut bra my sister is wearing!  At this point, I was getting a bit stumbly...hence, this is the only half-way decent shot of the six or so I took during their photoshoot!

 How Mariemont gangstas roll at a wedding!

 And this is after my fifth glass of wine, after some spastic dancing on the wedding floor (making a fool of myself) and collapsing onto poor non-drunk Antoine several times.  

 Drunk photography...it's the thing of the future!

Evil brother-in-law from outer space!  Aka, best picture EVER!

Wedding drunk Jessica was all absurd giggling and awkward dancing, post wedding drunk Jessica was a different creature altogether.  Now, let me tell you the scary tale of what happened when wedding drunk Jessica was removed from her warm and fuzzy wedding atmosphere.  *Warning* Adult Language and Child-like Behavior to follow!!: 

So, the first to leave the wedding from our little familiar group were my parents.  You could tell that they were tired, as it was far past their bedtime, and they'd had enough of their drunk giggly daughters for one night.  Shortly after, Christian & Michelle and Antoine & I started saying our goodbyes and giving our hugs and stumbling (Michelle and I) into our respective cars.  On the way back to our hotel I attempted to give Antoine drunk directions...which I'm actually pretty good at, surprisingly enough I have a good sense of direction regardless of my blood-alcohol level!  So, we make it back to the hotel, where maneuvering the turns of the hallways becomes a little too much for my balance to handle.  Then back at the room it becomes apparent that I am no longer happy wedding drunk, but instead I've transitioned rather quickly (because of the lack of food in my stomach) to obnoxious annoying pain-in-the-ass drunk!  Luckily, this is not a planet I visit very often when intoxicated, but on rare occasions alcohol has been known to take me to this scary (for others) place.  Commence flailing around, whining and yelling by drunk obnoxious and absurd Jessica.  Unfortunately, all of this childish behavior was directed to poor defenseless Antoine, who was checking his email on his phone.  Then I begin telling him that "You're not taking care of me!  You're horrible at taking care of me!  YOU SUCK AT TAKING CARE OF ME!!!".  Antoine continued to ignore me, because that's what you do when your girlfriend has turned into a wailing toddler.  And then apparently, I decided to throw an even bigger fit, throwing pillows at poor Antoine and calling him an "ASSHOLE!!!".  Just for the record, I do not remember any of this!  Apparently, I let one of my other personalities come out at this point and I was no longer the Jessica you know and love.

Then apologies were made and I passed out.  Cue 5am wake up.  My head was spinning so bad that I could barely get out of bed to go to the bathroom (to pee...strangely enough, I didn't get sick!), and once I finally made it to the bathroom I nearly landed on the tile floor instead of the toilet seat.  Once I made it back to bed I couldn't go back to sleep since everything was spinning and my head was pounding.  And after 45 minutes of laying there in agony, Antoine, sweet sweet Antoine who I had called an asshole not 5 hours ago, drove me to Giant Eagle so we could get some much needed Advil and ginger ale for hungover me.  Then, he bought me a biscuit with honey on it and some tater tots from Chickfila so that I'd actually have food in my stomach.  What a sweetheart!

Anyway, not one of my finer moments, but that's how it goes sometimes.  My hope is that the next wedding I go to I can control myself a little better...but I'm not promising anything!

South Haven & Saugatuck

 For Day 2 of our Michigan trip, I planned for us to explore the small beach towns along Lake Michigan.  First up was South Haven.  It was only a short drive from the KOA we were staying at, but boy was it worlds apart.  Our KOA was situated in poorer, rural community called Covert.  But just ten minutes away was South Haven...a pristine little world that seemed to be trapped in a bubble.  Beaches, a lighthouse, a harbor filled with boats, large houses sitting on the water's edge and finely manicured/landscaped lawns.  Sadly, South Haven's main beach was the first of many beaches that day with large signs demanding that dogs not set foot on the beach.  However, we were allowed to take Cheese for a walk along the harbor and out to the lighthouse.
 

 South Haven

South Haven lighthouse

 The harbor

 Another view of the lighthouse (I wasn't too wowed, but at least we got to go for a little walk with Cheese)

I have no clue what these are supposed to be...

 Cheese, post-walk out the lighthouse.  It doesn't take much to tire out a basset!

 "Dude!  I'm chewing on a stick here.  That's just rude!"

After our little trek out to the lighthouse we decided to take a little break, mainly because Cheese refused to walk anymore, by the harbor.  The landscaping around the harbor was insane.  Everything was so green and perfect.  We rested for a bit there as walkers and joggers passed us and made their way towards the lighthouse and the beach.  Finally, after the Cheese-man decided he would move again, we made our way into the town center.  It was cute and had a small-town feel to it, yet it was filled with adorable little shops.  Unfortunately, when you have a dog in tow there's really no chance to shop or browse such little stores.  Well, unless it's a pet store.  In the middle of town we found a little boutique pet store.  Normally we aren't the type of people who frequent that sort of pet store...it's just too frou-frou for our taste.  But it was the only store that allowed dogs, so we couldn't pass it up!  The lady behind the counter was very nice and even gave Cheese a cheese-flavored treat.  We perused the store, jaws dropping at the price tags on various dog toys ($20-$30...eek!).  We decided that since it had been Cheese's first birthday the week before we had to get him something...

So, naturally, we got him a ridiculous dog treat in the shape of a big purple donut!  

 On the edge of town we noticed a little open-air farmer's market filled with fresh produce, baked goods (I might have drooled a little bit), soaps, and candles.

After a couple failed attempts trying to find a dog friendly beach in South Haven (read: 3 attempts), I was thoroughly frustrated and ready to make our way up the shoreline to Saugatuck.  When I was looking for places to visit in Michigan I had enough sense to research dog friendly restaurants.  And in my searching I stumbled across Hercules Bar & Grill in the little town of Saugatuck.  I wasn't sure what to expect since Urbanspoon called it "Hercules Hot Dogs" and said it had an outdoor patio that allowed dogs...and that was it.  Antoine and I were totally expecting a little hot dog stand with picnic tables.  Instead we were pleasantly surprised to find a lovely little outdoor patio tucked away like some sort of secret garden.  It had a relaxed and cool vibe about it, but on the inside the decor was sleek and modern.  The restaurant was not only dog friendly, but openly gay friendly, which was very nice to see.  They had both a full menu of entrees and a back menu with Greek inspired casual options.  Since we were in the patio and on a budget we went for the more casual/budget friendly menu.  I got an Italian beef sandwich and Antoine got a steak sandwich...both were very good!  Cheese was given a small bowl of water with ice cubes to cool him down, a nice little touch provided for K-9 customers.  All in all we were blown away; not only because Cheese actually behaved himself while we ate lunch (even with a little girl sitting just 5 feet away from him at the next table...he LOVES kids), but also by the good food and the welcoming attitude that Hercules offered. 

 The patio at Hercules.

After lunch we took a little walk around Saugatuck.  Like South Haven it was pristine in its appearance.  Beautiful little shops, a nice harbor full of boats and tree lined streets downtown, but we preferred Saugatuck over South Haven.  It wasn't just the fact we were able to have lunch with Cheese, but the town and the people in it were just more open and welcoming.  People stopped to say "hi" to Cheese, one guy even gave him a dog biscuit, and people seemed cheerier.  It seemed like a great place to get a room at a local bnb or rent a house and spend the weekend visiting/exploring.

Museum Goodness

My apologies in advance for the crazy amount of pictures. Editing down has never been my strong suit!

The Louisville Museum of Art & Craft...

Part of a high school art exhibit that was really remarkable.

Also part of the the h.s. student art exhibit...a condom dress! Had a little chuckle with this one, but actually from far way I had no idea it was made of condoms, it just looked like a pretty little dress!

Hand stitched quilt.

Thought this was fun.

Close up of woman outline.

Crazy animal/demon masks.

Creepy baby doll art...Love it!

From the 21c hotel's museum that is free and open to the public...

Glycerin fighter planes that are slowly melting from the heat of the spotlight pointed at them.

Fun little piece of interactive art near the elevators.

A creepy exhibit of children's stuffed animals that have been turned inside out and re-stuffed! This bunny is strangely still kind of cute.

But then, there was a wall of electronic stuffed animals that terrified me! They were not so cute and there was a button you could push to start all the stuffed animals electronic functions at once. Antoine pushed the button! And I'm surprised I didn't have nightmares! It was terrifying!

View into the downstairs galleries.