New Articles

I have 2 more reviews in CIN Weekly this weekly. One is a review of The Bar at Palm Court in the Hilton Netherland downtown. The other is a restaurant review of Sweet Basil, a Thai/sushi place in Northern Kentucky. We enjoyed both! Hope you enjoy the articles.

Freelance Update

This week's CIN Weekly features my review of Market Street Grille, one of the few West Side restaurants I've found to satisfy my East Side taste. I know, I sound like a snob, but this vegetarian isn't down with all the meat and potatoes-style home cookin that my hood has to offer. You fellow westies must check out Market Street if you haven't been there already. It's worth the drive to Harrison.

Giddyup

I think I had too much fun last Friday night. We started off at The Palm Court with Doug and Sue to collect info for my article. The space was beautiful and we had excellent half-price drinks. Next we checked out Trattoria Roma, an authentic little Italian Restaurant, and had yummy dinners and a few glasses of wine. It was really warm out, so we decided to sit outside at Cadillac Ranch, a new mega-bar downtown, and have a few more drinks. I hardly ever drink too much, but I always seem to overdo it a bit with Doug and Sue. I think I get so wrapped up in talking that the liquor just slides on down without my noticing. Anway, I had a pretty good buzz going, so I decided I wanted to ride the mechanical bull. Totally out of character for me, but it seemed pretty harmless (there's a big inflated ring all around it), and Sue said she'd ride with me. After standing in line for a while and making sure to tip the bull operator, it was our turn. The only time I had second thoughts was when I had trouble actually getting ON the bull, but adrenaline (and a helping hand from Sue) were on my side, and I eventually pulled myself up. I clutched both the leather strap and the horn, while poor Sue only had the back of the saddle to hold on to. We didn't last long, but it was fun. Sadly, the camera phone pics were really bad.

Back from Hiatus

Like many of our favorite television shows, I'm back from hiatus. I didn't take an intentional leave of absence from the blogging world; life just got busier than usual for a few weeks.

As many of you probably read on Katie's blog, Katie, Casey and I took a long-weekend trip to visit our uncle Mark (my mom's youngest brother) in Tampa near the end of September. Mark and I were very close when I was growing up, and we've kinda lost touch since he moved to Florida, so it was awesome to spend some time with him. We also saw Grandma Marie and Uncle Dave (another long-lost bachelor uncle) while we were there. It was very relaxing, and it was fun to spend some concentrated time with my perfect little nephew.

I've been doing a lot of freelance work since then. For our anniversary, we went to Market Street Grille in Harrison, and I wrote a review about it. I'm also writing 2 reviews this week—one of Sweet Basil, a Thai and sushi place in N. Kentucky, and the Palm Court bar at the Hilton Netherland. We're actually scoping out the Palm Court tonight with our friends Doug & Sue then dining at Trattoria Roma. And freelance proofreading has kept me busy too. I'm trying to take on as many projects as possible to pay for our latest unexpected expensive household repair: a new central air conditioner and furnace, which we had to replace at the beginning of September.

And I won't lie: TV has my full attention again now that the new season is starting. I still love Heroes, Brothers & Sisters, The Office, America's Next Top Model, 30 Rock, and I'm keen on a couple of new shows too: How I Met Your Mother (new to me), Dirty Sexy Money, and a few others I've yet to check out (thank god for the DVR).

So that's the high-level recap. Hopefully I'll find more time to post more in the coming weeks. And I'll be sure to link to my 3 reviews when they're published in a few weeks.