It's been awhile...

The last few months I've been a bit busy... I got married!! :) Right after that we went on an amazing honeymoon out in California. Since we've been back we haven't done a whole lot of new things around town. I was thinking the other day I really need to get back to the blog, so I thought why not share some pictures of beautiful California! :)

I took a ton of pictures out there, so I'm going to split this up between two posts. Don't worry I won't put you through all 1,520 of them!

Hope you enjoy Part 1!

 

 

Hollywood

Grauman's (TLC) Chinese Theater

Muppet Studios (originally Charlie Chaplin's Studio)

We saw Tangled in the El Capitan Theater!

Absolutely beautiful!

Warner Bros. Studio Tour

Pretty Little Liars fans might recognize this as Rosewood City Hall! The other side of the building is Rosewood High. It was also used in The Music Man!

This church is also used in Pretty Little Liars. It was also used in a Rat Pack movie!

This downtown was used in The Muppets (2011). There's a dance sequence in the beginning of the movie right here.

This is the last remaining set piece from Casablanca. It was a French cafe.

 

 

 

 

 

There was a Harry Potter exhibit...

Quidditch equipment

Triwizard Tournament clue

Hermione petrified (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)

Tom Riddle's Diary

Hilt of Godric Gryffindor's sword

The Horcruxes

 

 

The Huntington 

Beautiful botanical gardens, a huge library, and art collections in Pasadena

An actual Gutenburg Bible on vellum from the 1400s

 Come back next week for Part 2! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Save Our Icons

 If you have been to events around town this summer you probably have seen people in yellow shirts with a sad Music Hall and Union Terminal

Yes, that's me volunteering! :)

This group of people is the Save Our Icons group! They have been spreading the word around town this summer letting people know that Union Terminal and Music Hall are in need of a lot of repair. More repair than the yearly budget can fix. 

It isn't problems you can see from the outside it's the walls cracking and the old cement in Union Terminal letting water leak in.

 These beautiful buildings, Cincinnati's cultural icons, need help! There is a proposal in front of the Hamilton County Commissioners to increase the sales tax .25 cents. With the levy, grants, private donations, and money from the city of Cincinnati there's a possibility the buildings can be repaired! The county commissioners vote on the proposed levy tomorrow. There's something you can do though whether you live in Hamilton County or outside the Cincinnati area. You can go to saveouricons.org and sign the petition asking the commissioners to let the people of Hamilton decide if they want to increase the sales tax. You can also find out a whole lot of information and details about the initiative.

I have so many memories of going to the Union Terminal with my grandpa. It's my favorite building in Cincinnati! It breaks my heart that is in such bad need of repair. I hope they pass this so it can get fixed, so I can bring my children here and let them fall in love with it!

Music Hall is another one of my favorites! When I was little my violin school played with the Cincinnati Pops! It was absolutely amazing being on that stage! We need Music Hall for the new Cincinnati tradition Lumenocity! It's such a great way to bring the city together! 

So here is hoping the commissioners listen to the people in and around Cincinnati and let them decide if they want an extra sales tax to let everyone help pay for these beautiful buildings!
 

OTR 

Hello! Hope everyone's 4th of July was great! 

I've been quite busy lately hanging out with family and friends over the weekends, not getting out to find new adventures around Cincinnati. I've been to Bandstand Bluegrass a few times at Washington Park but that's about it until a couple weekends ago.

   Oh yes I finally made it to the Eagle!! I've heard for awhile now that it is quite good, but it surpassed my expectations! 

That fried chicken is the best fried chicken I've ever had!! We had the grits, mac and cheese, and brown sugar bacon. Wow! Everything was just so darn good! And the spicy honey? I didn't know how I'd feel about that but it was so good with the chicken and just scooping it up with a fork haha ;) The prices aren't bad at all I got the 1/4 chicken plate for about $6. The sides range between $3-5. Each side was enough to share. My fiance and I could've gotten one rather than two and had plenty. When we go back though we would probably get more than one again because they were so good!
We had to wait a little over 2hrs, but all four of us thought it was totally worth it!! I would gladly wait that long for such fantastic food!

Two hours seems like quite a long time, but they have a great system to make the wait better. You can give them your cell number and they'll text you when your table is ready! That way you can leave, bar hop, and explore OTR!

I cannot wait to go back!! :)

Bandstand Bluegrass at Washington Park

Bandstand Bluegrass is a great way to wind down after a long day at work. It's every Thursday evening throughout the summer 7-10.  The music was really great! They have a different bluegrass band every week. Made me want to go to Gatlinburg to visit the Smokey Mountains! :)

 As if a nice relaxing time isn't reason enough Eli's BBQ is there!! And yes it is just as good as going to their location, except there's no delicious sides :) Ooooo it's soo good :) If you haven't gone to Eli's BBQ you are seriously missing out!! The line got a little long at one point but nothing unbearable.

 There's Mt Caramel beer too! :)

 There was a lot of seating, benches, chairs and table, or you could bring your own and sit on the lawn. You can bring your dog too! The Bandstand runs along with Yappy Hour where you are invited to bring your dog and grab some food and beer. There's a great little dog park where you can let your dog run around and make friends.

Dojo Gelato came too! I didn't know ahead of time they were going to be there, so I don't know if this is something that happens every week. If they come, go see them!!! Wow they have good gelato! We shared a cup of Key Lime Pie Gelato and Strawberry Champagne Sorbet. Sooooo darn good. I usually hesitate when it comes to Key Lime Pie flavored things because there's either too much of a lime or crust taste. This tasted exactly like a Key Lime Pie. I couldn't believe it! I believe their flavors change, some stay but some don't. They were at Eli's BBQ the following Sunday when we were there and didn't have the Key Lime Pie. They did have Capt Crunch though and it was really delicious too :)

 
 All in all a great relaxing night at Washington Park. If I could I would go every week. If you like Bluegrass it's a great night to go, if you don't like it go anyway haha there's Eli's BBQ! :)