About the Blog

You may have noticed an increase in the frequency of blog posts. That's intentional and I hope to keep it up. I started this blog as a way to share things about myself to my friends and family, even if they already knew what I was talking about. I used to love to write and I needed another creative outlet. Now I've added the Restaurant Odyssey, soon I'll be doing an "organizing my life" series, and I plan to do a lot of fun, girly posts as well as the sometimes serious, on-my-soapbox posts.

I'm trying to incorporate labels more, so if you're only interested in the Restaurant Odyssey, you can click on that over in the "Looking for Something?" section.

I have removed the dreaded "prove you're a human" word verification b.s. to make it easier to comment. You can even post anonymously, but if you're an asshole, I reserve the right to delete your comment.

And if you'd like to follow me, go ahead, I won't bite (too hard)!


And now, because I'm again loving my hair today, this is me:

Straight on

Side view of my messy up-do

Stay Tuned,

The Gila

Bag Check

Did you notice my new look? Also, see the tag line I'm trying out, "Sometimes silly, sometimes serious, always real"? Well, this will be more on the silly side and it probably won't interest the male readers out there. But hey, I'm a girl and I like girly shit. So there you have it.

Have you ever gone to a concert or a sporting event and before you get your ticket scanned you have to let people look inside your bag? I've finally gotten better about either taking a small clutch or just using pockets in those situations, but up until very recently, if anyone had to look in my bag, it would be a frightening thing. However, I have now gone through it and purged it of Christmas receipts (really, all receipts that seem to make a home there) as well as put all credit cards/cash in the wallet rather than let them float around willy-nilly.

My friend Stephanie at Life According to Steph (and BTW, she's my real life friend as well as a blogging inspiration and she's doing a digital scrapbook giveaway right now so check it out) did a "what's in my bag" post recently and it motivated me to clean out my bag and take a look at what's inside.

First, my bag. I got it in October at the Nine West outlet in Myrtle Beach and I've been carrying it ever since. I own lots of purses, but I don't switch them out very often. I personally believe that one can't have too much animal print (although one CAN have too much all together at the same time and I've probably been guilty of that). If you don't share that belief, that's cool, but don't bust me for mine.

In the outer compartment: hair elastics, both insurance cards for BOTH cars (perhaps I should put these IN the cars), two sticky notepads, an iTunes gift card, my favorite pen that I unfairly accused Aaron of losing, some packets of Motrin, a prescription cream for some eczema on my finger that I'm very bad about using. Not pictured for obvious reasons: my W-2.

Inside: headphones, purple iPod, stamps, Altoids smalls (in cinnamon because I really don't like any other mint), tissues, car key and Mom's house key on my handy dandy Columbus Brewing Company bottle opener keychain (don't drink and drive, kids, but the bottle opener can come in handy). Not pictured: iPhone because I can't very well take a picture of it when that's what I'm using to take the pictures.

Lipstick holder, Sally Hansen Lip Inflation lip plumper (this stuff is the bomb if you have thin, nonexistent lips like I do), jump drive, wallet, pen and pencil, glasses case.

This lipstick holder is the greatest invention. My friend Lois has one and I've wanted one for years. I finally found one in Myrtle Beach at Purpleologist. The lipstick is L'oreal Caramel Latte, and look! In the mirror you can see my iPhone case - it's fuzzy tiger print.

This is what my reading glasses look like. I don't have to use them that much, yet, but I'm always glad I have them when I need them.

Makeup bag, which I haven't carried in a while because mine got gross but thanks to the Ipsy Glam Bag I get a new one each month. Inside:

Sally Hanson VitaSurge Strength Gel for nails

Benefit Hello Flawless powder in Petal

MAC lip liner in Chicory

nail file

Bath & Body Works Liplicious brown sugar scrub and lip color in Coconut Truffle

Great Lash mascara

Lipsticks: L'oreal in Ginger Spice

Sephora Rouge Shine lipstick in Tenderness (which appears to be discontinued)

MAC in one of the Viva Glam colors (maybe VI?)

MAC in CB 96

Sometimes I also carry my symphony chorus music in my bag and a water bottle if it won't spill.

So, that was fun (for me, anyway)!

Stay Tuned,

The Gila


P.S. I happen to love my hair today so here's a pic. I kind of suck at self-portraits, and please ignore my multiple chins, but I recently read a blog tip that I should have more photos of myself so, here goes nothing.

Stop #6 - Bernard's Tavern

Here is why I should not procrastinate on writing these restaurant posts: I didn't write down what we ate and now I'm not sure I remember. So, let's see how this goes.

On a Friday before Christmas, we first walked to the movie theater to see Lincoln. (Loved it, by the way. Look for a movie-themed post closer to the Academy Awards.) On our way home we stopped at Bernard's Tavern for a late dinner.

We've been to Bernard's before. It's been open about three years in the old East Village space (and before that, Union Station). Bernard's is the closest thing the Short North has to a sports bar, in that they have a lot of TV screens and sports are shown on said screens. But they also have events like Karaoke Night and Trivia Night. When we've been there to watch games it's usually a weekend afternoon or we might go for happy hour. They DO have a lengthy happy hour - 4:00 - 8:00 on weekdays, with 1/2 off ALL beers, 1/2 off selected appys, $2 well drinks and $1 off glasses of wine. And they have quite the selection of beer, conveniently listed on two big chalkboards, although I'll bet the servers are often asked "what's on draft?"

This is from their website so it's not necessarily current.

This night was our first time being there on a weekend night after 9:00. It was loud and crowded, mostly with 20- or 30-somethings, but there were a few older folks like us. We did get carded at the door, so that was exciting.

I ordered a Blue Moon, which you'll find I order pretty often. I have no idea what Aaron ordered; I'll have to ask him, but you can see it was darker than mine. Aaron tends to either drink dark beer or cheap American beer such as PBR and Miller High Life.

Apologies for the darkness of the pic.

As for food, I always, ALWAYS get the Portabella Mushroom Sandwich. Just look at it on the menu: carmelized onions, goat cheese, pretzel roll? Yes, please. But for the sake of you, dear reader, I ventured outside my Bernard's comfort zone and got ... "Not Your Mom's" Grilled Cheese and I naturally added the apple wood smoked bacon. The menu says "the secret is in the dijon mustard sauce." Unfortunately, while I love spicy and flavorful food, when it comes to grilled cheese I'm not a condiment kind of girl so I really didn't have an appreciation for the dijon mustard sauce. But it's a perfectly good sandwich. I also got a side of sweet potato fries, which are crinkly and likely frozen.

Aaron ordered a burger. I think it was the Ginny's BBQ Burger. I do remember that he misordered the doneness - he normally does medium but for some strange reason "well done" came out of his mouth. So he wasn't thrilled with it but I think that's just because of his error in ordering. He had Cajun fries, which also may be frozen but they have a tasty Cajun seasoning.

Bottom line: Bernard's has pretty decent bar food, a great happy hour, and you can watch a variety of sporting events there. On weekend nights, it seems a little more "clubby."

Check out the exposed brick and the jukebox!

Stay Tuned,

Spidey and The Gila

In Wine There is Truth

Aaron is a great gift-giver. Back in November we were near Destin, Florida for a long weekend with friends. On our last day we stopped at a shop, 30-A Art & Junk. It was Sunday and the shop wasn't open but there were lots of pieces outside that were available for purchase (and an honor system box in which you could put money). One of the things I liked was a sign made out of license plates and mounted on an old shutter. We didn't consider trying to buy it that day since we were flying, but Aaron surreptitiously grabbed one of their business cards. He later called the shop and managed to get a sign shipped to Columbus.


So this is what I unwrapped on Christmas:

We found the perfect place to hang it: above the doors to our screened porch.

I know it looks lit up, but that's just the camera flash
reacting to the reflective surface of the license plates.

For the record, Aaron also gave me a hat (red), a scarf (animal print), a pair of touch screen gloves and some stocking stuffer treats. I gave him cuff links, 2 hats (it was a hat kind of Christmas), new biscuits and long underwear (because the man has zero body fat and is cold ALL the time).

I think that this weekend the last of the Christmas decorations will be put away. And thus ends the Christmas season.


Stay Tuned,

The Gila

Stop #5 - Dane's Dessert Cafe

Subtitle: The one where we realize that we're not very good with our timing.

On a rainy Sunday we wandered to Dane's Dessert Cafe. This is a place that's not right on High Street, so it's not that easy to find; in fact, they've been open over a year, and I'd never heard of it until we were figuring out where all we need to go on our tour.

Astute readers will clue in that Dane's specializes in ... wait for it ... desserts. More specifically, they create sweet concoctions of freshly made crepes or waffles, add ice cream and maybe some fruit or Nutella, and certainly some whipped cream. They also serve cakes and sundaes. They do not serve alcohol, in case you were wondering.

The day Aaron and I visited Dane's we had not yet eaten and we were pretty hungry, but we weren't really eager to jump right into a big dessert. Luckily, they serve savory crepes as well, but if you look at the menu, you'll notice that the savory section is quite small, but the owner is from Jamaica and the non-sweet options definitely reflect that so we were intrigued.

We started off with one of the Golden Krust Patties. This is a baked pastry filled with your choice of meat or vegetables. We got the veggie one, and it was spicy and delicious. I also had a Mango Tango smoothie (I really love mango).

This doesn't look like much, but it was quite tasty!

We each ordered crepes: Chicken Florentine for Aaron and Jerk Chicken for me. Aaron's was pretty dry and bland. Mine at least had the jerk flavor (and my beloved mango salsa on top) but it was inconsistent. One bite would be filled with fantastic Jamaican spices and the next would just be ... blah.

By now we had run out of time, as well as room in our bellies, for dessert. And that's when we realized that we were starting a trend. You'll remember that Mojoe Lounge is famous for their brunch, but we went at night. Dane's does desserts, and we had not one bit of dessert. And you'll soon find out that we'll hit three restaurants in a row that all have great patios and we'll probably be there in March. Ah, well...

Photo: www.danesdessert.com (since we didn't actually have dessert)

Our server was the daughter of the owner and she was super friendly. The "Dane" of Dane's Desserts is her brother and his picture is on the wall. I really like the concept of this place and I want it to succeed. I've read some very mixed reviews, but it's still around a year after opening so I'm hopeful that they can make it work.

And one of these days we just might break our own rule and go back before we're "supposed" to, just to split a crepe (and I do mean split, because they're HUGE).


Stay tuned,

Spidey and The Gila

Looking for an act of kindness to perform?

A lot of people have been jumping on Ann Curry's suggestion of "26 Acts of Kindness" in memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I know some people who strive toward doing an act of kindness every day, or every week. If you're one of those inclined toward performing acts of kindness (random or otherwise) and you're looking for ideas, here's one.

My friend Dawn lives in Georgia. Last Friday her sister-in-law Susan was driving with her two sons, Mason and Zach, and Dawn's son, Dylan. Susan missed a stop sign and her car collided with a semi. Mason and Zach were killed. Susan and Dylan both underwent surgery and thankfully they will heal from their physical injuries. Susan's husband Marshall is a fireman and sadly ended up at the scene.

This was a horrific accident that claimed the lives of two young boys (they were 12 and 6). Although I don't know Susan or Marshall, I've known Dawn, as well as Susan's best friend Erin, for over a decade and I'm heartbroken for this family.

A memorial fund has been set up and, if you are interested, the link to donate is here. A completely free way to support the Greene family is to keep them in your thoughts and if you pray, include them in your prayers.



UPDATE: Dylan (13) has been released from the hospital and Susan is to be released today. While this is great news, she also has to return to a quiet, empty house. Please continue to lift them with your thoughts and support.

Another way to pay it forward is to thank your local fire department. Dawn said that her brother's fellow firefighters never left his side and even when the hospital kicked them out, they stayed in their truck in the parking lot. Firefighters and other first responders experience things that no one should have to witness, and we've all been made aware of this through Hurricane Sandy and Newtown, not to mention the recent tragic event near Rochester, NY.

When last year's fires were raging in Colorado, my friend Candy (check out her blog, too) started a "Hug a Firefighter" campaign to honor her firefighter brother and all those who bravely rush in when the rest of us are  running to safety. A hug (or a handshake) costs nothing but says so much.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's 70th birthday. Over the years she's been a daughter, a sister, a teacher, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend. She was my first piano teacher and she was a church organist for years (she still subs on occasional Sundays). She's very creative and talented, although she'll deny it. She's a great cook and an even better baker. Happy Birthday, Patricia Anne Reiter Tickner! I love you.





Isn't she adorable?



My mom and her mom



With me at my wedding



With my brother at his wedding



Four generations in 1998



My mom and dad