Helloooooo everyone!
How are you doing on this fine day?
I'm just wonderful thank you!
How do you guys like my new header? I was getting tired of my old one to be quite honest so I just played around with photos until something fit. It's not exactly what I want it to be (it never has been really lol) but this is good for the time being! Ohhh the many faces of Jenna lol.
I'm super excited for todays post because I feel like I've been waiting forever to tell you guys all about it!
I suggest you listen to St. Vincent whilst perusing through todays post......
One of my favorites.
Perfectly suits my mood.
About a month ago my friend/co worker Lee Anne and I took a trip to Louisville KY........
....with her boyfriend and his brother.
What was the reasoning behind this somewhat impromptu yet mildly planned trip? Bryan (LAs aforementioned beau) and his brother had tickets to a concert in Louisville on a Saturday night and were planning on staying in KY for the evening. LA went to culinary school in Louisville and lived there for quite a bit, so she has tons of friends in the area. Well one thing led to another and LA and I ended up driving down after our shift one Saturday evening! We stayed the night Saturday with Bryan in a hotel downtown and then with one of her friends on Sunday night. We ran ALL over town the entire trip.
We ate a ton, we drank more than I can remember (although I have photographic evidence of a majority of it) and had an all around awesome experience. I get super antsy sitting in one place for too long. Meaning - waking up, going to work, coming home from work, seeing the same people, same sights, same this that and the other. It takes a toll on my psyche after a while. Aside from mixing up my routine at home - little weekend trips like this every few months or so is a definite must in my life. I need a break from the norm or else I'll go insane. I was born to travel - not to be a sitting duck in Dayton Ohio. So I get out as often as humanely possible. Louisville was definitely the perfect outlet for that if I do say so myself. In all actual reality our reasoning for going wasn't even just to take a break from the norm - we fully intended on going to eat and drink our way through the city - one rad restaurant/ bar at a time! What better way to spend a weekend with friends? I honestly can't think of anything better. Food and drinks? Uhhhh yes please!!
I was going to wait for LA to be free enough to be somewhat of a guest on CCH and help me tell you guys all about our Louisville experience, but she's such a busy body and I'm not a very patient person lol. Unfortunately she knows a lot more about Louisville than I do, so I may forget things here and there that might interest you guys (because I have such a bad memory) but I'll do my best! Lucky for me food and photography tend to speak for themselves - so I'm sure I'll make due!
Enjoy :)
Louisville KY
Let it be known that the during our entire three day excursion in KY - LA and I shared every single dish of food (that you're about to see). Why? Because we believe in family style dining when going to restaurants both new and familiar. Family style dining (i.e. sharing plates) lets us order multiple items from the menu - this permits us to not only eat a wide array of amazing food - but it also lets us properly evaluate a restaurant. I always say- you can't base wether or not you like a restaurants food based on one single dish you've had there. You need to base your opinion off of multiple dishes, because a restaurant doesn't just have one menu item. This is seemingly a simple concept, but I don't know many people that actually go by it. You're meant to sample everything on a menu and then make a sound decision!
Remember that the next time you go out to eat with your friends :)
Family style is definitely the way to go.
I can't think of another way LA and I would rather begin an adventure....
Raging bitch ftw.
Two and a half hours and a hasty five hour energy drink later - we were more than ready to eat - our first stop was Asiatique.....
I don't remember exactly what this was but I remember it being quite delicious.
Roasted duck breast with a spicy Asian salsa, spiced miso and aioli - served with tortillas.
Goat cheese stuffed grilled portobello with an Asian pesto ginger & soy vinaigrette.
Omg my mouth is watering just thinking about this dish. The vinaigrette was so ridiculously beyond amazing.
Asiatique definitely set the bar for the rest of our trip.
BBC.....
Against the Grain Brewery.....
This was one of my favorite places we went to during our trip.
Rock out with your hop out?
Yes please!
LAs good friend whom she used to work with was bar-tending when we were there so she hooked us up quite a bit. After my second beer at against the grain (which was actually my fourth or fifth 10%+ beer of the evening) she lined up all of these amazing beers (all hoppy IPAs or APAs I'm sure) across the bar for us.
I was like "ohhhhhhh brother no". At this point in time I was in no position to drink another drop. But what a beautiful sight it was/is! I appreciated the beauty of all of the beers lined up, and wished I could partake in festivities without getting white girl wasted and/or sick, but I knew better lol. Prior to our trip I made a promise to myself (because I'm a lightweight and need to do things like this) that I would not accidentally go overboard per usual. Which means I can't continuously drink high percentage beers thinking I can keep up with Bryan and LA.....because I seriously can't lol.
I was in dire need of food. After all we hadn't eaten anything since Asiatique, which was a couple of hours earlier!
These nachos were utterly delicious. I myself like my nachos absolutely covered in toppings, so I could've done with a wee bit more here and there. But as I said - they were utterly delicious none the less!
Fast forward about an hour and LA and I were dropping the boys off at the hotel. Let's just say that they were done for the evening lol. But the night was still young and full of possibilities for LA and I!
We decided that it was more than necessary to spend the remainder of our evening at the hottest gay bar in town.....
And by 'hottest' I don't just mean that it's the most popular gay bar in town - I mean the gay men there were seriously hot lol. I've been to a gay bar or two in may day, but never have I ever been anywhere like this lol. 'The Connections' was an experience to say the least.......
At one point in time there was a man showering behind the bar. Yes. Showering. There is an actual glass shower behind one of the bars and there was just a man showering it up. It takes a lot to catch me off guard.....but the naked man showering definitely did it haha.
Let me just say that this place is HUGE. When you look at the building from the outside it doesn't look as big as it really is on the inside. There are bars in random rooms all over the place. There is a big piano looking room, a couple of upstairs areas, a dance floor, two rooms off the side of that, the room where the naked man was, a couple of secret back rooms, random small rooms between hallways, and a room for the drag shows. Room after room after room! I kept getting confused/lost when I was walking around....but let's face it.....that's probably because I was a little off kilter lol.
We had a few drinks, danced, sang a ton of Whitney, watched men walk around the bars in their underwear, and ended the evening watching a very entertaining drag show.
That's not to say that I'm not a social person and want to be left alone the whole time - because that isn't the case. I'm typically the life of the party type of gal. But as a young girl it's nice to go to a busy club without getting ogled or mildly groped by strange drunk men.
It's a good thing that I'm not a conservative/snooty/hoytie toytie person in the least bit or else I think I would've been scarred by the whole ordeal lol. But I had an absolute blast at connections!! I can't wait to go back to Louisville so I can spend another Saturday night there.
This was the last photograph taken our first night in KY.....
After walking back to the hotel from the bar (because we were too drunk to find my car....which in retrospect was a really good thing lol) I distinctively remember walking down the hallway at 3 in the morning shouting "Omg these floor are horrible! I have to take a picture!"
Lol that I did.
Cue Sunday morning walk of shame.......
I woke up Sunday morning still drunk from the night before -of course lol. All I wanted to do was sleep in til one but we needed to be out of the hotel by eleven. First things first - we had to get dressed. But seeing as all of my clothes were in Gertrude (my car) I couldn't get dressed and ready for the day until I actually found her lol. So LA and I walked around downtown, in our previous nights clothes mind you, until we found Gertrude. Lucky for us it was only a ten minute excursion. It was hilarious because I was clearly walk of shaming it up. No one walks around at 9 in the morning dressed like that lol. That's not to say that I was skanking it up attire wise- but there was no hiding the fact that I had quite the night prior to lol.
My defining moment was probably when we walked past the fire station. Sigh - need I say more? Lol.
Once we found Gertrude in the distance we had a little more pep in our step. Just had to pass this firestation and Gertrude was a hop skip and a jump away! When we were approaching the fire station we looked to our left to see a fireman standing behind the glass garage door waving - so we of course waved back. A few steps further and there were a couple more fireman. By the time we were actually passing the station ten men were standing up against that window waving at is. Without missing a beat I (the clearly still mildly intoxicated person that I was) smiled really big and started eagerly waving back lol. I'm sure they all got a kick out of us.
Sigh.... a fire station.... really? Couldn't I have passed a Mc Donalds or something lol, not nearly as shameful! Then again when have I ever really been ashamed of myself? Not very often I can assure you.
Post walk of shame pick me up......
Bryan and his brother were nice enough to get coffee for LA and I in the morning while we showered and got ready to check out of the hotel. You can't confuse my coffee for anyone elses. My lipstick stained cups used to drive my ex absolutely insane. It's like a trail as to where I've been lol.
We had the most AMAZING breakfast with LAs friends at North End Cafe.....
We were in absolute breakfast heaven! It is my favorite meal of the day after all! Per usual - LA, Bryan and I decided on three separate menu items and split them!
Bryan ordered the corned beef hash....
LA ordered miggas....
And I ordered sausage biscuits and gravy!
HOLY YUM. Breakfast was beyond amazing.
After parting ways with Bryan us girls walked around downtown the remainder of the day popping into random quirky shops and such along the way.....
I've always wanted to have a signature hat. But I've just never really found a hat that looks all that great on my head. Not to mention I hate when my curls are flat. Sigh. Can't win em all lol. One day I'll get an awesome hat.
Prior to our trip I was looking for a cute purse with a long strap and a lot of zippers/storage space on the inside. Lucky for me I found the perfect purse in one of the little boutiques! The bow on the front has potential of falling off, but I'm a crafty gal - I'll just hot glue gun another bow on in it's place!
I love this purse so much.
I've been wearing it non stop ever since!
We stopped by Cumberland Brews for an afternoon drink......
I think this 'meet your surver' section is so rad! I wish we had this sort of thing at Olive for both cooks and servers lol. Mine would say something along the lines of.....
Jenna believes that she's funnier than anyone she's ever met. We don't have the heart to tell her otherwise. She is a never ending talker with a honey obsession, a tendency to be quite clumsy, and "that's what she said" jokes for days. She loves her dog Marcie just about as much as she loves her car Gertrude. She likes her IPAs hoppy and strong.
Perhaps one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen......
These pictures don't do the coloring or the architecture justice.
This building is just beyond beautiful.
Everyone was taking pictures of it.
We had a quick bite to eat at Safier in mid afternoon.....
Let me just say: this is the best hummus I've had in my entire life. And I've had an awful lot of hummus in my day. It was like the second I tasted it- I immediately knew that was the way hummus was meant to taste. OMG sooooo good!
When I go back I will definitely make a trip to get more hummus. Totally worth it.
Dinner at Boombozz......
This was precisely the point in time where I started to feel really sick. I wasn't drunk by any means (although I was drinking) but I think that the steady stream of drinking since the night before and lack of water did me in. I didn't really eat much of anything (which I regret because the appetizer and pizza were very very good) for fear of getting sick. I unfortunately felt like crap the entire dinner long, which sucked because it kind of kept me from really interacting with the group.
Fast forward to the end of our meal and about three gallons of water later and I felt heaps better.
We finished our evening off at her friends apartment - drinking a handful of IPAs and telling tons of stories.....
Cue beautiful view on Monday morning....
Couldn't go without taking a few pictures of the amazing view of Louisville from the apartment!
We ended up sleeping in til about 11 or so. Much needed rest after a busy weekend. But the fun didn't stop there. Ohhh no - we had a few more hours to kill before our drive back to Ohio.
Lunch at 'The Falafel House'...........
Atomic falafel = delicious
After lunch we went to a beautiful cemetery......
Which is a must go to place if you're ever in Louisville. I can't for the life of me think of what it's called, but it's a massive place. I'm sure if you've been there you know what I'm talking about. It's so easy to get lost it's so big!
So it's common knowledge that this cemetery is home to peacocks. There used to be a little group of them but all but one were killed by wildlife in the area. So of course we were out hunting for this peacock. I was so confused as to how we were going to find this thing in such a huge cemetery. But LA knew we would find it eventually. And I'll be damned......
LA found that sucker in fallen over bamboo by the lake....
She got just close enough to snap a photo. But of course a photograph wasn't enough, Lee Anne wanted to pet the peacock! As she stuck her hand out to touch it's feathery tail - it booked it faster than anything I've ever seen! LA started running as fast as she could after this thing trying to catch it (I still don't know what she would've done had she gotten a hold of it) I the clumsy person I am rolled my ankle running after her whilst she was chasing this big bird lol. I swear never a dull moment in our lives.....It was a big ordeal to say the least haha.
What would our trip to the cemetery be without more beer lol.
What sneaky snakes we are.
IPAs all the way.
Grass growing through the cracks of the little building.
I love things like this. It amazes me to no end.
Our final stop in Kentucky before our departure.....
The culinary school LA went to has this bakery where in the back they hold baking/pastry classes and such, and up front they sell all of their creations! You can actually see the classes taking place from the inside of the shop. What a wonderful way to not only prevent waste, but to also raise money for the school (or at least I'm assuming that's where the money goes). I being the huge desert person I am was in absolute heaven......
I told LA from the beginning of our trip that I really really wanted to have desert somewhere. I'm so glad we actually ended up getting some before we left! We made a mess of my car from all of the powdered sugar and crumbly bits. But it's a small price to pay for delicious deserts :)
We waited to have dinner until we were passing through Cincinnati so we could get a bite to eat at Thai Express......
First of all let me just say that this meal was delicious....prior to my burning the shit out of my mouth that is lol. I can't remember exactly what sauces we got and what their spice levels were. All I remember is that the one on the right (the redder of the two) made me cry lol. My eyes were just streaming nonstop. It was so hot lol. And my hands were a freaking mess so it's not like I could even wipe my face. LA of course had a big ol kick out of this and was taking pictures of me all the while lol.
When she went back into the tiny restaurant to get a drink she told the little old thai women that took our order how my eyes were watering so bad - and then they had a big ol laugh at my expense too lol. The funny thing is - is that I really like spicy foods. That's not to say that I can take really spicy foods lol, but I typically like them. But this stuff was just on another level of heat entirely. LA must have a stomach of absolute steel. I couldn't take it!
I couldn't leave Cinci without getting bubble tea/boba......
Yummmmmm
I really wish we could've stayed in KY longer than we did! I had an absolute blast the entire time I was there. One day in the near future I'm sure I'll make a trip back down for one reason or another.
And there you have it boys and girls - my trip to Louisville!
Well I hope you guys enjoyed reliving this experience with me! If you ever get a chance to go out of town on a fun little weekend excursion with your friends I highly suggest you do so! It sort of reboots, rejuvenates, and refreshes your mind! You might be thinking " I don't have any money to go on a trip." pshhhh what do you think I'm made of money? I'm broke as a joke, but I made it work! I shared half of my meals, I budgeted, I saved for a couple of months prior to. It was a very cheap trip compared to what it could've been. Don't make excuses! Just make it work :)
I'm starting to feel a little antsy in Ohio right now. Pretty ready to get out there and discover more things! I'm seriously entertaining the idea of planning another weekend trip for the near future! Only time will tell. Stay tuned.....
xoxox - Jenna
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