Chicago, IL

Hi Lovelies!

Josh and I took a quick weekend trip with our friends in October of 2021 and had such a great time! We drove up on Friday and had lunch at Taquizo because Umami Burger’s dining room was closed. Taquizo was fine, but nothing stood out to us. We had chips, queso and salsa but chips were a bit stale and queso had no flavor. The tacos were good, overall rating would be 5.5/10. From there we did some thrift store shopping and then went to Paradise park bar, and that place was SO cute! So many cool photo ops throughout the restaurant. We had drinks and a snack since it was happy hour. Then we went to Big Mini Putt Club and played putt putt - it was a good time! After that we went to Emporium Arcade bar and played some games and drank for a bit, also a fun time! We ended the evening by going to Kinton Ramen and it was really great - I had the spicy pork and Josh had the garlic ramen, we would rate 8.5/10.

Saturday we had brunch at Egg Harbor Cafe and I had the San Antonio skillet with a classic pumpkin spice latte while Josh had the Habenero hash and eggs, a great place! We would rate 7/10. We then shopped on Michigan Avenue and stopped for lunch at Timeout Market, it was a cool place I jus wished they had more stores and restaurants inside. I had Cleo’s fried chicken and Josh had Polombia, we would rate the experience a 6/10. We went back to the airbnb after to recharge for a bit and get ready for the evening. We went to Hampton Social for dinner and we split the tuna tartare for an appetizer, I had the ceasar salad and clam chowder and I was amazed at how good both the items were! Josh had linguini and clams. It was a cool place but very loud, very good food. Rating would be 8/10! After we had drinks and danced the night away at Beauty Bar, that place was really cool and not overly crowded! After we ended at Nick’s Beer Garden, also a cool place but I liked Beauty Bar a lot better.

Sunday we had a full day planned but unfortunately for me and my friend, we had too bad of a hangover to do anything, so we just drove back home that day. It was a great trip overall, I can’t wait to go back!

Las Vegas, NV

Hey friends!

In September of 2021, I traveled to Las Vegas for the national HR conference. I thought it would be a great cheaper way to explore a city I’d never gone to before, so I had Josh fly in one of the last days of the conference and we stayed for 4 days. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with Vegas, I thought I wouldn’t like it much because I’m not much of a gambler but Vegas had lots more to do besides just gamble!

I stayed close to the hotel when I was by myself, but I did venture out to Casa Calavera one night and had some good Mexican food! I had the classic guacamole and the grilled shrimp taco, the guac was very good! Space was also cool. I’d give them a 7/10!

On Josh’s first night we ventured out to Sparrow + Wolf and enjoyed ourselves. We had the oxtail hummus, that night’s special of squid, and halibut for our main dish. It was a little on the loud side, but we would rate them an 8/10.

Our first full day together we spent walking the Strip going in and out of most resorts (such as Park MGM, NY NY, Paris, Venetian, Mirage, and MGM), we stopped for lunch at fellow Top Chef Alum Richard Blais’s The Crack Shack. Josh and I split the Mexican Poutine fries and he had the fire bird and I had the California drip - it was a lot of food! We probably could’ve gotten by with splitting just one sandwich. It was all really good though - we would rate 7.5/10. When we were in Park MGM, we walked around their Eatily marketplace (inspired by Italy) - it was super cool! Definitely recommend it! We ended up having lunch there another day. We had tickets to see Gabriel Iglesias in the evening and I gotta tell ya - he is absolutely hilarious! He is one of Josh’s favorite comedians, and he did not disappoint! Before the show we had dinner at Mott 32 and I have to say it was amazing! We had the hot and sour pork dim sum, crispy Szechuan chicken, crispy duck salad, prawn clay pot, and ended with coconut ice cream. I’d rate everything a 9/10!

Our second day together we drove out to explore Hoover Dam, Willow Beach, and the Red Rock Canyon Park, it was all so pretty! We stopped for breakfast at Sunrise Cafe for breakfast, I had the vanilla cold brew and cinnamon swirl french toast, Josh had the Fiesta Benedict. It was very yummy - rating would be 7/10. We wanted to kayak but didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg for a full day ride, it wasn’t beginner easy either so we opted to skip it. We did explore the area though and stopped at a local brewery Boulder Dam Brewing while we were out that way, and also stopped at Mariscos el Soto Loco and had corn in a cup and tacos - very good too 8.5/10. We went to Best Friend for dinner and had the bancho sampler, slippery shrimp, and kolbi beef. Josh liked it more than me, but I was having stomach issues that night. Still a very cool place and good food - 7/10.

The next day we ate lunch at Mr Fries Man and split the lemon bacon parmesan fries - they were very good but the location was junky and run down the food I’d rate 8/10 though. For dinner we went to Top Chef Alum Jamie Tran’s The Black Sheep and had the poached pear salad and duck confit we would rate 8.5/10 - we also got to meet her as she was working that night and she’s just as sweet and down to earth in person as she is on the show! We walked Fremont St and also did the zip line at night and it was so much fun! After the zip line, we went to Lucky Day Tequila + Mezcal House and Commonwealth Bar. Both were cool spaces, Lucky Day was very loud but I think that’s what the crowd likes late at night. We also lounged in the Flamingo’s adults only pool and it was really really nice, I wished we had gone more times than the one time we had!

The day we headed back home, we stopped at an In N Out - we had to since it’s such an iconic burger joint. It was good, but honestly think it’s a bit over-rated in my opinion.

Our trip to Vegas was awesome - I will definitely go back!

Austin & Houston, TX

Howdy Ya’ll!

The hubs and I traveled to Austin and Houston Texas back in June of 2021 and we had a blast! We started our week in Austin and I’ll admit - it took me a little bit to warm up to the hype of Austin, because I felt like it was pretty similar to Louisville! I did really enjoy all the cactus and succulent plants outside everyone’s lawn. I also really liked all the food trucks Austin had - Louisville could step up their game on that!

Our first day we had dinner at JewBoy Burgers and I had the Thirsty Goat amber ale and the oy vay guey burger and Josh had the JewBoy burger and we shared a side of tots and green chile and cheddar cheese potato latkes. The line was out the door when we got there, and to top it off the owner was running the cash register and was super nice! They had a cool space, and awesome food. I’d rate it a 7/10! We then went to Wonderspaces which is an immersive and interactive art show. It was pretty cool but idk if it was worth the ticket price. We finished the night at PinBallz Arcade and stopped at 4th Tap Brewing as the arcade was BYOB.

Our second day we had breakfast at Mi Madre’s, I had the migas breakfast plate and Josh had the chorizo egg potato taco and the bacon egg potato taco. It was alright, but it wasn’t great, we would rate 5/10. We then went to explore Austin’s Botanical Gardens and loved it! I always love going to botanical gardens, they had several different exhibits throughout the gardens. I had really wanted to go to Austin’s hot springs but unfortunately it had rained too much so they were closed when we were there. So we opted to go shopping instead. We went to Uncommon Objects, Allen’s Boots on Congress Ave (got Josh some real nice boots), Austin’s Gifts, and the Whole Foods flagship store, among other shops on Congress Ave. We also tried Amy’s Ice Cream while out shopping and had their caramel whiskey with pecans and Josh had the Mexican vanilla with cookie dough - both were absolutely delicious! We had some more time to kill so we went to Still Austin Distillery and hung out there for a bit. The space was really cool, gin was good and whiskey was alright - what can I say we are spoiled living in KY! While at Still Austin, we ate at the food truck Bearded Baking Co and had their biscuits and gravy mac n cheese, and grazing board. Both items were very good, I really enjoyed the grazing board because it had savory cheesecake and I’ve never tasted anything like it before. One of the highlights of our trip was going to Little Longhorn Saloon and watching chicken shit bingo. I feel like that is something you only see in Texas. You literally buy tickets and get assigned a space and the chicken pen was numbered with the spaces and wherever the chicken shits is the winner! We ended the evening by attending a concert at Far Out Lounge and I had one of the best Italian sandwiches at Lucky’s food truck.

Monday we started the day at Gourdough’s Donuts and had the cherry bomb donut holes, nutty valentine and the fat Elvis. It was some of the best donuts I ever had - definitely recommend them 10/10! After we explored the Capitol building and the Mexic-art Museum, we had lunch at Banger’s Sausage and Beer Garden we split the boutin balls, cheddar hot link and side of fries. I had the peacemaker and haulin oats beers. Pretty cool place, I’d rate 6.5/10. We then attempted to watch the bats take off near dusk near the bridge - the bats were so tiny I couldn’t really see them but it was definitely a cool experience! We had dinner at Odd Duck and Josh & I really enjoyed it there! I had a super yummy cocktail they called hare of the duck; we had their cornbread, scallops, fried qual, and ended the evening with lemon pound cake and strawberry sorbet - all in all I’d rate 9/10, it was very good! We then ended the evening with having some mezcal at Whistlers. It was a really cool space!

Tuesday was our last full day in Austin and we ended up spending it eating lunch at the famous Franklin BBQ - the pandemic worked in our favor with this one as their dining room was shut down so we got to order online and do curbside pickup (saved us hours waiting in line!). Josh and I had the potato salad, the brisket and the hot sausage link. While the meat was 10/10, I thought their potato salad could’ve been better along with their sauces, I would rate them 8.5/10. I think this is because Lewis BBQ in Charleston spoiled us as Lewis had a really cool space inside and the same meat as the pitmaster trained under Franklin’s pitmaster. Perhaps I would think differently if we got to sit in Franklin’s actual dining space? We then explored a couple of breweries to kill time. We first went to Pint House Brewing and that place was super cool! Good beer too. After that we went to Meanwhile Brewing and it was also a cool place, but fancier, they had a large outdoor area and several food trucks. We then did an AirBnb experience graffiti tour and had a good time with it! We learned a lot from it. We ended the evening with dinner at Clark’s oyster bar. We had 3 different kinds of oysters, 1 from Canada, 1 from Maine, and 1 from Massachusetts they were all good but we liked the Massachusetts one least as it was a bit too grainy for us. We also had the cocktail shrimp, and their catch of the day tile fish with an added potato. The fish was good but bland, but potato was very good. All in all I’d rate them a 6.5/10.

Wednesday we headed to Houston! We ate lunch at Ninfa’s and had their chips & queso, and the Del Mar enchilada. Everything was ok, but I’d rate them a 5/10. I hadn’t realized their specialty was the fajita and if I had, I would’ve tried that because I’m sure that is most likely better. We then went shopping at the Galleria Mall and explored Waterwall Park. We had some time to kill before dinner so we visited Saint Arnold Brewing, not realizing how huge the place was - it was a really cool space! For dinner we had reservations at State of Grace and we loved it there! We had oysters, hush puppies, tagliatelle pasta, and NY strip and fries. My only complaint was that I wish there was not powdered sugar on the hush puppies. The place was really cool decor wise too. I would give them the same rating as Odd Duck - a 9/10.

Thursday we dedicated to Beach Day in Galveston, which is about an hour drive from Houston. We visited the Stewart Beach and had lunch at Shrimp n Stuff, I had fried shrimp and Josh had grilled shrimp, the place was alright but nothing special - rating would be 4/10. We drove around the Strand shopping area in Galveston before heading back to Houston. We had dinner at Nancy’s Hustle and it was an interesting place. We had parmesan and pancetta croquettes, spicy beef and butter dumplings, wood grilled half chicken and carrot cake for dessert. The cocktails we drank were cotton cowboy and sir duke. I’d rate them a 7/10.

Friday was our last day and we spent it by going to the NASA Space Center, and the Holocaust museum. NASA was cool, Josh was really excited about it, but he didn’t realize how many kids would be there so that was a bit of a let down. The holocaust museum was really neat too. We had lunch at La Crawfish and we were disappointed. Josh had the crawfish pho and I had the shrimp poboy, neither were very good with scoring a measly 3/10. We then went to the Scoop Creamery and had ice cream nachos to make up for how bad lunch was and the ‘nachos’ were so yummy! We had more time to kill so we spent it drinking - notice a pattern? Lol! We went to Max’s Wine Dive and Sable Gate Winery, both were cool! We were almost late to our dinner reservations, but we ended with Xochi which specializes in Oaxacan Mexican cooking. We had the robalo crudos, queso de rancho, mole tasting, chamorro de puerco en salsa verde, and finished with churros and chocolate. It was located inside a hotel, and typically restaurants attached to hotels aren’t the best. The place was good, but not as good as some of the other places we went on our trip. I’d rate it a 6.5/10.

All in all we had a wonderful trip and will definitely be back someday! Have you been to Texas? What places did we miss?

Atlanta, GA

Hey there friends!

Josh and I spent a few days in Atlanta to split our drive back from Charleston up, it was a very nice stopping point for us. I picked Atlanta mostly because I have been obsessed with a boutique called Red Dress Boutique who has exploded in popularity online and they have a store front based in Athens which is an hour drive away from Atlanta. Josh and I have also been wanting to check out Atlanta for a while now and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so!

We arrived around dinner time and we decided to check out their popular Ponce City Market and grab some dinner there. We stopped at JIA, a Szechuan inspired Chinese cuisine and it was very yummy! We had their fish in chili oil and their fried pork belly although I will say I wish they were both spicier (because that’s what that type of cuisine is supposed to be known for). We would rate them a 7/10. Following that I stopped at Batter Cookie Dough Counter and got their bourbon brown sugar cookie dough and topped it with some caramel bits, it was delicious! We ended the night with a stop to City Winery and ended up staying there a while and eventually got their Burrata and it was really yummy!

The next day was our day to shop, we traveled to Athens where Red Dress Boutique’s store front is. We looked around Athens once I was finished in Red Dress, but honestly there wasn’t a whole lot there so we headed back to Atlanta and did more shopping. I have a separate blog post for where I went shopping and pictures of what I purchased here! We had dinner at one of our favorite Top Chef alum Kevin Gillespie’s restaurant called Gunshow. They have a 10 dish tasting menu that is meant to be shared amongst two people. Some of the dishes were amazing and some were lacking. We would rate it a 6/10.

On our last full day we started with the World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium. Both places were pretty cool, my personal favorites at World of Coke was the tasting room where you could taste various drinks that are popular from all over the world as well as their mock coke factory where you could see the various machines in action. The Georgia Aquarium was one of the largest I’ve been in and they had some animals I hadn’t seen before including the fat bellied seahorses, I also really enjoyed their Dolphin show as Dolphins are my favorite animal!

We were so hungry after seeing the attractions back to back that we picked somewhere we could walk to and stumbled on this hidden gem called Aviva Mediterranean inside a shopping center, I totally forgot to take any pictures but they were SO yummy! The owner was there and he was such a character, it was nice to see the owner there and interacting with the customers. I’d rate his place a 9/10. We ended our last day with dinner at Umi Sushi. We had their red snapper appetizer, sweet shrimp nigiri, octopus nigiri, tamago, unagi nigiri, wagyu beef nigiri, tuna nigiri, and lastly their crunch lobster box. It sounds like a ton of food but we split all of it and all nigiri were just 2 pieces. I’d rate them an 7.5/10.

The nice thing about driving is you have more leeway with when you leave, so we decided to leave after lunch. The first time we were at Ponce City Market we stumbled across The Splatter Studio and I thought it was so cool I made reservations for Saturday (the day we were leaving). It is what it sounds, you book a time you want to come and you get to splatter a bunch of paint on a canvas. It was a lot of fun! One thing to note is it takes about a week for them to dry, so keep that in mind if you are just visiting Atlanta you’ll have to pay to have them shipped back to your home. After we ate some lunch inside the market again, this time Josh had Botiwalla and I had Minero Mexican. Josh had the lamb boti kabab and I had a steak quesadilla and chips and queso. I would rate Minero a 7/10, it was very good!

That about sums up our experience in Atlanta, we enjoyed our stay here and hope to be back one day! Have you ever been to Atlanta?

Charleston, SC

Hi Friends!

What a year 2020 has been for all of us, we had planned on going to Australia this year but the pandemic had other plans us. Josh and I love to travel each year so this has probably been the longest we had gone without traveling. It had been over a year! I was starting to get really antsy and fed up with being stuck in our home town for too long.

I wanted to plan a trip but didn’t know where, I knew it had to be drivable as we didn’t feel comfortable flying yet with the pandemic still in place. I was stuck on where we should go, Josh was actually the one to suggest Charleston. I researched it and picked a date for us to go!

Charleston is a really cute city, with endless great food options and quite a few beach spots to go to as well. We ended up staying in an Airbnb on the beach of Isle of Palms and it was very nice! We loved being right on the beach. It’s a 9-9.5 hour drive for us from southern Indiana, and we aren’t morning people so we got in around 8 pm.

We started with dinner at The Obstinate Daughter on night 1. We had their geechie frites, Pappardelle pasta, and Rutledge pizza. We thought their pizza was really good and the frites were good, we were a bit disappointed with the pasta, it just didn’t have a fantastic flavor profile. The space itself had a cool vibe, but it was a little difficult to find as it was in a space that had other stores and you had to walk upstairs to find it. Overall I’d rate it a 7/10.

Our first full day we started with seeing The Drayton Hall and Magnolia Plantation & Gardens. Both were cool places, I recommend seeing if you have time! The Drayton Hall is an 18th century estate that is the nation’s earliest example of Palladian architecture. Shown below are the original blue walls and ceiling that were hand crafted. At Magnolia Plantation & Gardens we toured the main grounds, I don’t believe you can enter their plantation currently. It was a pretty place, but I bet it is even prettier in the spring when the flowers are in bloom. I loved all the moss trees and they had a cool bush maze we went through too!

We ate lunch at the historic 82 Queen Street, it was my favorite restaurant of all the ones we went to! I had their Bloody Mary, and barbeque shrimp and grits. Josh had the crab cake benedict, and we split a bowl of their famous she crab soup (it was my favorite thing we had).

After lunch we had explored The Battery and shopped along King St. The Battery is an extensive row of really pretty mansions, below are a few shots of my favorites. King St is a really cool area of local boutiques and restaurants, I will talk more in depth about what shops I enjoyed and bought stuff at here!

For dinner we went to the award winning Rodney Scott BBQ and split their whole hog, hush puppies, and mac n cheese. Rodney Scott BBQ is known for smoking it whole hog and serving Carolina style. Josh was looking forward to this so much, we were both a tad disappointed. I guess you can call us BBQ snobs, it just wasn’t that exciting but it was good! I’d rate it a 6/10. After we ate dinner we explored some of Charleston’s breweries and they did not disappoint! We went to Palmetto Brewery, Revelry Brewing, and finished at Holy City Brewing. Revelry had super cute balcony seating and Holy City had the best loaded fries I’ve had in a long time! I guess Josh and I were so hungry that we forgot to snap a photo of said fries.

Monday we hung out on Isle of Palms Beach which is where we stayed. It was nice and sunny, Josh and I stayed there until lunch time. For lunch we just went somewhere we could walk to and that would also not take much time as we had a sunset sail tour to go to at 4. We ate at Acme Kitchen and I had their whistle top shrimp and grits with fried green tomatoes, and Josh had their fish catch of the day sandwich. Place was okay, about what we expected. I’d rate it a 5/10.

The sailing tour we did through Charleston Harbor Tours and it was amazing! It was actually REALLY windy at the time so it worked out perfectly for the sails. We had time to kill before our dinner reservations so we checked out Edmund’s Oast Brewing Co and they had a really cool outdoor seating area and great beer! Highly recommend! We ended the night with dinner at Husk. At Husk we started with their house cured meats charcuterie board and then split their catfish and ended with apple pie. Husk was good, we would go back for sure! My personal favorite was the apple pie. I’d rate them a 7/10.

Tuesday we visited Folly Beach as it was one of the highest rated beaches on the internet in Charleston but honestly we preferred Isle of Palms beach. Folly felt too touristy for us, it definitely had all the souvenir shops and family friendly restaurants. We did find a light house on Folly Beach though! For lunch we ended up going to Lewis BBQ. When I was doing my initial restaurant research the highest rated were Lewis and Rodney Scott, I didn’t want to eat at 2 BBQ places in a few days time so Josh and I had narrowed it down to Rodney Scott because of the Carolina style BBQ for something different. Well we talked to the locals in passing at shops and other restaurants and they all told us to try Lewis, so we did and we are SO glad we did! It had such a cool indoor and outdoor space and was hands down the best BBQ we have ever had!! We had time to spare before our dinner reservations so we killed time at Wine and Company and happened to walk into their special wine tasting night and got to taste 5 wines for the SUPER cheap price of $10 a person! It was such a fun experience. We ended our final night in Charleston at Darling Oyster Bar and we both tried raw oysters for the first time and definitely understand what all the hype of oysters are now! They are SO delicious! We also had their blue crab tagliatelle.

Well ya’ll, that concludes our trip to Charleston. We absolutely loved every second of it and all that Charleston has to offer. We will for sure be back! Have you ever been to Charleston? What did you love?