First time in Cincinnati

We had planned on just spending one day in Louisville, so when we woke up we hurried to the closest grocery store to stock up on Ale8. It is a ginger ale that is made in Kentucky and we can't get at home. I LOVE it! We were actually going to go on a tour of the factory but that didn't work out.

Travis also go a bag of Funions, SICK! I hate everything about them, the package is the ugliest colors, and they smell so bad! Haha, just had to let you guys know.

Hmmm, that should hold us for a little while...
We also had to stop by one of my favorite stores of all time! Why Louisville! 

Ughhhh, I love it so much. They have tons of cute stuff made by local designers and artists. I got this shirt, and Travis got this one. They have tons of great prints (someday I'll buy this one) and Big Lebowski stuff (they have a Lebowskifest every year). I wish every town had a shop like this with such great souvenirs. 

Then we were on our way to Cincinnati! We had never been there, and it was less than two hours away from Lousiville so we had high hopes. We saw this cute water tower on the way. 

Once we got to town, everything kind of fell apart. The restaurants I had researched turned out to be in the worst part of town and we didn't' feel that great about stopping. We drove around forever and finally found a place called Melt that was vegetarian friendly. It was great! I got a three cheese grilled sandwich that was pretty amazing! It had cheddar, gouda, and blue cheese. It came with some vegan chili that was great. The people at the restaurant tried giving us suggestions for stuff to do in town, but nothing really worked out for us the rest of the day.

We stopped at a random antique mall that had tons of crazy taxidermy. Look at that lion!
I loved this idea! All the profit from her furs went to animal rescue. Pretty great.
I'll take that job!

Anyone need a polar bear? I didn't even notice the turkeys until I was getting closer to the bear and one of those claws touched my back! It freaked me out!

Look at that sweet face.

There was a big case of vintage Halloween that was fun to look at, though there was nothing in my price range, but how I wish i could have afforded this cat flower frog! It was marked down to 190. How cute!

We stopped by a thrift store that had lots of great reviews. But I think this picture kind of sums the whole place up. It was just not good.

I did like this lamb planter, but everything was priced with markers!!! i hate that! and in the 30 minutes we were there, they announced 3 times that if something was missing the price you couldn't buy it, it would be taken to the back. It was just not a good experience. Blech.

By this time I was really bummed because nothing I had planned had worked out. I was being a total party pooper and kept saying we should just go home. Travis suggested just going back to Louisville because there was so much more to do that. So we did. On the way out of town we tried one more place I had looked up, and thankfully it worked out. Aglamesis Bro's is an ice cream shop that is over 100 years old! 

It was so perfect inside. We almost sat at the counter, but I was still in a funk.

Look at the cute dishes! Travis got a banana split of course, and I got a raspberry hot fudge sundae. It was so good! I'm glad we stopped here, because it but me in a much better mood.

When we got back to Louisville we used our GPS to find a theater. This is the first one it took us too. As in, an old sigh with no theater near it, and their probably hadn't been for 10 years! what the heck garmin, get it together!

We finally found a huge fancy theater where we had to pick our seats on a map, and you could get frozen margaritas and pizza. It was so different from our theaters, Travis and I were wandering around like aliens. We saw Men In Black 3, I have been waiting for it to come out! Mostly because Jemaine Clement was in it (and he is my number 1 celebrity boyfriend) but also because I like the first movie. It was silly and light, Jemaine was really gross and scary! My only complaint would be that Frank the pug didn't appear, even though they teased you with an amazing side show sign about a talking pug. The movie got out around 10 so we drove around looking for a hotel that wasn't fully booked. 
So in conclusion, Cincinnati was pretty much a bust. I doubt we'll be back. I wish we had just stayed in Louisville all three days! But, I'll be back to show you all the fun stuff we got up to on the last day of our mini trip!

Vintage Shopping In Louisville

I hadn't done a tone of vintage shopping in Louisville, and was happy to get some tips from Jamie and Gina. They both mentioned Tickled Pink Memorabilia Mall so that is where we headed first! It definitely did NOT disappoint! They post pictures of the new stuff they add on their facebook almost daily and sometimes it is TORTURE that I don't live closer!
There was so much good kitsch everywhere! And most of it at (good) estate sale prices!
Travis and Jordan digging in the basement.

Look at this picture! Look at the polar bear about to dive under the water! This moment is so perfectly captured, look at his form! I didn't buy it because it was part of a big batch of pictures, and none of the others were very interesting. Now I wish I would have asked if I could buy just this one.

Didn't buy this little guy either. He is so sweet!

My biggest regret is not getting these his and hers ashtrays! I love them! I could have used them to hold our toothbrushes or something.

Old fashioned pet carrier! I really wanted this, but Travis said No. How cute would one of our cats look going to the vet in that thing! Uggggh I love it! I would make Phyllis get in it too.

When we were checking out they asked if we wanted to check out the garage. We didn't have the room to bring home any furniture, but there was SO MUCH good stuff back there! My favorite was a great dinette table for just 30 bucks! For real, this store is a dream. The owner buys whole houses full of stuff and prices it low so dealers will come buy it. Everything was so reasonable, I can't wait to show you what I got! Travis and I kept looking at each other in disbelief at the prices.

We tried to go to this cute place, but the owner had gone on a errand. Isn't that hot air balloon cute? It looked like they had a lot of vintage in the store, but I couldn't see what the prices were like. We'll definitely go back next time we're in town. 

Then we went to Yesternook, on Gina's recommendation. It was in an old funeral home!
Such a pretty cart. I need a good chip and dip set like that.
I came across an old scrapbook. They are usually empty so I didn't have high hopes.

The lady must have bred Pekinese. That top one is a puppy in a little high chair! I bet there are 30 peke pictures in there. And of course I collect vintage pictures of dogs.

Then I found a page of pictures of cats cut out of magazines! Sold! There are also some seemingly random obituaries, and newspaper stories about murders, and articles about dog shows. I think whoever made this scrapbook and I would be friends.

Oh man, look at how cute this Beatles card is!! If it hadn't been 8 dollars I would have bought it to put in a little frame. Oh Ringo.

By that time my sister in law was done with school and met us at Hammerheads for dinner.

Brothers waiting for a table. It would be nice to sit outside, if the dumpster wasn't sitting open 10 feet away, haha! The wait at Hammerheads is usually long and usually confusing, but it is worth it!

I got the smoked catfish sandwich and regular fries. Their truffle fries are amazing, but I always eat too many and feel like garbage later. Oh man, I love their food so much! Next time I'll try to get something different. (like the smoked mac and cheese,with truffle oil!)That sandwich is just so good!

A little anniversary trip!

We're back from out trip! It was (mostly) fun! I made it my goal to leave my computer at home, and keep off the internet for the whole three days. It almost happened, Travis' brother had his computer out so I did a little bit of comment approving and blog reading, but I was mostly good! It was actually really fun to not have been able to go through pictures while on the trip. I had forgotten about lots of these pictures until I pulled them out tonight! So you know the drill, here come a bunch of posts about our trip:

I almost always get Travis to pull off 65 North at this exit. It is so good! Look at that logo! It is hard to see, but that pink thing next to the building in the background is a pink elephant holding a martini!

So in love with that logo. Who designed it? Who thought that sad clown would sell fireworks?

Shooting me with air. Happy Anniversary!
This guy is right next to Sad Sam's. I love him.
I also love Totoro.

I'm making myself go through this lunchbox full of unmarked mix cds from high school and college. Some are good, a LOT are horrible. It has been a lot of fun to go through them.

Our first stop was Louisville. This car was parked in front of Travis' brother Jordan's apartment. I love that town. Travis would love to move there. And go to Lebowski Fest.

We picked up Jordan and headed out to Barrel of Fun! We tried to come here before, but it was closed for the season. Thank goodness it was open this time! I love a good building shaped like something else. Especially with stripes, and a papier mache ice cream cone.

Brothers.

I have never seen Travis eat a banana split. He decided this weekend it was going to be his new go-to dessert order. He ended up with 3 over the 3 days! I have to admit, it was pretty awesome. I had never had one! 

I got a derby! One of my favorite things! It is soft serve with a hard chocolate shell. Mmmm, look at how pretty it is! I prefer butterscotch dip, but not a lot of places have that.  Coming soon: maybe the best antique mall evercincinnati? more like cinci-nasty!horse betting and mint julips!