Author: Lara

You know what I love about French Onion Soup?

It forces you sit down for half an hour, relax, and simply enjoy your meal.

Anyone can wolf down a slice of pizza in two minutes, scarf a burger in five, inhale a panini in seven, or devour a salad in ten. But if you’ve ever had a bowl of French onion soup, piping hot from beneath the broiler, bread soggy, cheese bubbling, broth hissing, and steam rising, you know that unless you possess super powers and an awesome resistance to burning the crap out of the roof of your mouth, you have to take it slow. You have to blow on each and every spoonful then sip cautiously, taking in the aroma and savoring the complex flavors of the onions, beef broth, wine, worcestershire sauce, french bread, and provolone as they blend together to form that sweet, buttery flavor.

I didn’t used to like French onion soup. I distinctly remembering groaning when I’d learn it was front and center on the dinner menu. I think it’s an acquired taste. And I’m still not in the mood for it all the time, but the two or three times a year that I do have a taste for it, I find that I enjoy it tremendously, and not just for the taste alone (although sometime after college I did, thankfully, acquire the taste for it. But don’t hold your breath on the blue cheese or brussel sprouts, mom and dad!)

I know I can just sit at the table and breathe, and eat slowly, and talk, and sip wine, and laugh between bites while I wait for it to cool. I know there’s nothing else I really can be doing but enjoying good food or the pleasure of good company while I blow on the broth or scrape melted cheese off the spoon with my teeth.

I am thankful to have taken the hour and a half break to cook up and eat a small batch of this soup tonight. I may have a lot going on and life gets busy, but that’s no excuse to not savor a tasty meal. And I’m grateful to be reminded of that every once in a while.

Today I am spending my entire morning and a sweet chunk of the early afternoon, before I run off to dramatically influence young minds and teach them how to dance like Seuss’ Whos and Horton the Elephant at job #4 and get trained to work holiday junction at job #1, in a Starbucks across the street from the place I’m paying a crap-ton of money to replace a leaking axel, install new front brakes and roaters, do a transmission flush, brake fluid flush, coolant flush, power steering flush, and install and align four new tires. Like I said, crap-ton of money. If you didn’t know already, I have a huge love affair with my Buick. The Buck is always worth it, despite the fact that we have approximately zero-and-a-half dollars with which to repair it. Ted’s truck is also acting up and with the onset of cold weather has apparently decided that starting is negotiable, so we are going to be sharing one vehicle (2 people, 5 jobs on all opposite ends of the city, insane theatre schedules that last until all hours of the night – what could possibly go wrong?) until we can afford to repair his truck in about 8.3 years. So since we’ll be relying solely on the Buick (or “the Buck” as he has been fondly nicknamed) for the next several months and since winter is so quickly approaching, this $1,700 car repair was a necessary evil. Hence why I am cooped up in a Starbucks for six hours. I will be treating myself to the ever-loving holy grail of burritos at Chipotle for lunch. I feel it is deserved after a full day of anxiously waiting around to spend a crap-ton of money and then working for another five hours after that.

What else have we been up to besides emptying our pockets, you ask?

Saturday night was the “bring your wife” Knights of Columbus dinner at Uno’s Chicago Grill. Ted is a first degree knight, but Ted works about 80 hours a week and, clearly, hasn’t had much time with which to get involved with the knights here in Cincinnati. Our friend Nick is also a knight so Nick and Linda invited us to “bring your wife” night so we could meet some other knights and enjoy some human interaction for a change (socialization – what a novel concept!). So Ted took me out to dinner, which was a great unexpected surprise! We ate delicious gourmet pizza and desserts, enjoyed conversation with a lot of other nice, funny couples and, three hours later, left after having ourselves a grand old time. We should socialize more often.

On Sunday night both CCM and ETC had the good sense to close Coram Boy and Ghost-Writeron the same day, so Ted and I had simultaneous double strike nights at our respective theatres from 3:30 p.m. until ?? (strikes are usually scheduled until midnight). So we carpooled to work, struck sets and lights, and ripped apart lumber like wild banchees. Remember, we both paid a university thousands upon thousands of dollars to teach us how to do this and to give us that coveted degree in theatre. Life is funny, isn’t it?

For Halloween Monday I was the life of the party – waking up at 6 a.m. to get my oil changed, learning what was wrong with the Buck and just how broke this was going to make us, running errands, cleaning, laundry, cooking – you know, typical party animal shenanigans that accompany a young adult’s day off. We, sadly, had no trick-or-treaters, although we now live in an apartment so I guess I didn’t really expect any. Instead of entertaining the young’uns at our door we snacked on tasty candy, Halloween orange creme stuffed Oreos, popcorn, and apple cider while watching Rocky Horror and Hocus Pocus – two outrageously appropriate Halloween flicks. I also decided that I shall be a gargoyle for Halloween next year and I will go out and find trick-or-treaters to force candy upon if they do not come to us on their own accord. Overall, we enjoyed a really nice, relaxing Halloween Eve together at home, just us and our cavities.

Yesterday we worked. I taught a choreographed dance-off to “Thriller” to 20 kids playing zombies and monkeys at an elementary school, worked on zombie and dog costumes for said children, built a garden scene with burlap, silk plants and a wire-cutter at the theatre, and went to the first rehearsal of this world premiere production of Snow White. Just another day, but I’m thankful that these tasks make up my day rather than accounting or insurance sales (both of which I would be terrible at, btw) and that somebody actually pays me to do these fun, if not somewhat crazy, things. And it is pretty rad to be involved with so many world premieres, regional premieres, new works, living playwrights, and edgy shows.

Even after the Great Butternut Squash Soup Fail of 2011, I’ve been trying to really cash in on fall recipes as much as I can. For Halloween I made grilled and seasoned pork chops with homemade applesauce, mashed potatoes and green beans. Last night I made grilled turkey breast, cheddar and granny smith apple quesadillas served with corn and beans. I’ve done homemade applesauce twice now and it’s so good that I can’t stand not having a batch in the fridge. On the dock for the next few weeks are salmon burgers, beef stew, homemade pumpkin ravioli with apple cider broth, roasted vegetables and goat cheese, another crockpot of chili, French onion soup, and a some other dishes with pumpkins, apples, sweet potatoes, and more. I’m striving to take advantage of fresh, local, seasonal produce in my cooking as much as possible and to get creative with my dishes – much to Ted’s total horror. Ted’s never been all that adventurous of a dude when it comes to trying creative foods, so The Great Butternut Squash Soup Fail of 2011 kind of pushed him over the edge and has permanently scarred him. I was a twinge offended by his reaction to the spoonful I force-fed until I actually tried to the soup for myself. It’s scarred me as well, because I have an acorn squash at home waiting to be used and I can’t bring myself to try anything festive with it for fear of round 2 of utter squash failure.

Anyone want to post their favorite festive fall recipe in the comments below…or send me a check for $1,700. Your call. If you’ve read this far, A) Congratulations on being such a trooper and B) I’m expecting either a recipe or a check.

For all these reasons, can you see why we both could use a legitimate day off, not a dinky half day, but a real day off to traipse through a corn maze at a farm, carve a pumpkin, watch some football, jump in the leaves, go shopping, see a movie and hang out with other human beings for cocktails and appetizers? Yep. I can smell it now. But I think we’ll have to wait until Thanksgiving for that one.

P.S. Don’t forget – check or recipe! I’ve got a tracker on this thing and I’m not afraid to hunt you down.

Got you with that title, didn’t I?

One of the perks of working in the theatre is that you can enjoy qaulity entertainment several nights a week for free.

Between the two of us working at two different theatres that boast multi-show seasons, plus the free tickets that theatres tend to exchange with other area theatres for their employees and actors, and the connections we have to friends who work for other area theatres and dance companies, we are in a constant rotation of shows, so we’re really never at a loss for a good performance, if we’re in the mood to see one. And sometimes we’re obligated to see them. But really the biggest hinderance in our case isn’t the cost since we’re, very luckily, not paying $42 a ticket per show, it’s the fact that we just simply don’t have enough time or energy to hit them all. But we try to hit the ones we are required to see, and the ones that sound the most appealing, if we can make it happen schedule-wise – an even mix. Both CCM and ETC opted for a little more spooktastic of productions given that October is Halloween month. I could use some variety in my life, and both productions were regional premieres and fairly new works, so fine by me!

On Thursday night after work we traipsed up to Mt. Admas, a totally gorgeous area of town we’d love to live in, to try out City View Tavern, which Cincinnati Magazine rates as the #1 burger in Cincy, and then we stopped for an ice cream at Baskin Robbins and finished out our night seeing Coram Boy at CCM. On Friday night we dined at an authentic Mexican restarant in downtown that recieved rave reviews from our co-workers and then sat in on both the regular production and understudy intern performance of Ghost-Writer at ETC.

City View Tavern is this tiny little hole-in-the-wall tavern near the top of Mt. Adams, which is at the top of one of seven hills of Cincinnati. You drive up a series of long and winding streets, past the monestary, that snake up the mountain. Nestled in a residential area on a ridiculously narrow one-way street on a steep hillside is City View Tavern. It’s tiny but clean and charming, has a sweet little bar with a small selection of beers and a few liquors, a handful of tables inside (but no table-side service, bar only), a menu with five items (all burgers), a pool table, and no music blaring on the stereo, but the bartender has a slew of board games you can play at your table. The real draws are the burgers, which were indeed very good (we ordered the Big Ted Delux – the name was coincidental, but totally appreciated. The vegetarian version was called Big Ted No Ted), and the phenomenal views of Cincinnati. I can totally picture us steaking claim to one of the patio tables out in the back on a warm summer’s eve, ordering a round of beers and burgers, and widdling away a few hours enjoying a warm sunset view and playing scrabble. It was good stuff! Hole-in-the-walls usually are.

I’ll come clean here. I was really intrigued by the storyline of Coram Boy, which is why we put in for the comp tickets. It sounded so interesting! But I also knew it was nicknamed the dead baby play and had heard the tales of gory CCM production meetings discussing the burial pit onstage, and the baby they’d made that moves and cries and then (at least in early rehearsals, they toned it down a lot by the time it reached the stage) was supposed to die a pretty gruesome on-stage death. Given all that uplifting information about this epic three-hour production, I was having second thoughts about if I was in the mood for something so long and dreary on an otherwise relaxing Thursday night. But my interest, thankfully, got the better of me. The play was first performed on the London stage in 2005 and this was its regional premiere, and the plot did sound really, really good! So we went. And it was awesome. It was dark, a period piece, but it had many moments of humor and joy. It was intriguing and kept you on the edge of your seat, just waiting to see what would happen next. It was perfect for Halloween, but not at all scary. Asthetically, there were some truly beautiful moments onstage where the costumes and lights and colors and props and fog and music all blended together to form completely lovely pictures. I found the acting to be good and the roles great, meaty roles for actors and actresses looking to sink their teeth into a something new. The show also features a good deal of music and some singing (though it is not a musical) and the Cincinnati Children’s Choir played a pretty large role in the production. Cute kids! And those three hours that I’d thought would be long and exhausting pretty much flew by in no time – lots of “ah ha!” moments and unexpected, riveting, twists and turns. It would make a great novel! I won’t waste time detailing the plot to you, but I would recommend reading more about it here and here. Don’t let the nickname turn you off. It was an excellent production and I’d put it right up there with the top three shows I’ve seen at CCM: Evita, Coram Boy, and Rent.

Friday night after work we left the car parked at the theatre and took a brisk walk downtown to Taqueria Mercado for some Mexican eats. We’d heard the rumor that this place was authentic, but I’m a tex-mex expert and hold Mexican food to high standards. I wasn’t disappointed! It was delicious. The chips were hot, cripsy and flaky, the salsa teeming with cumin and a spicy aftertaste, the cheese was creamy and authentic Mexican, and they used a ton of cilantro! The flavors were to die for. Ted downed a burrito as big as his face and I had two small quesadillas – shrimp and steak. We’ll definitely frequent Taqueria Mercado in the future. Just like being back in Texas!

Ghost-Writer was a completely different experience than I had envisioned. For starters, it was only an hour-and-a-half long with no intermission – a far cry from Thursday night’s 3-hour epic production. I’d read the play previously, several weeks ago, and from that read garnished an idea in my head about what everything would look and sound like. Perhaps this isn’t the best method, but I like reading plays and when you’re working on a study guide and curriculum standards for it, you kind of have to read the play ahead of tme. I enjoyed the play and I thought the actors put a neat spin on things, playing them in a way that I hadn’t even thought about, which was cool. But I also really enjoyed reading the play and, being that it is a play about books and authors, reading it brought a certain level of understanding and intimacy to the work. The concept of the play, if you’ve never heard of it, is a very interesting one and based on a true story, which is even neater. It follows a renowned author and the brainy female typist he hires to types his novels as he dictates them through a nearly twenty year relationship. After the author dies his typist continues to type his last novel until its completion, claiming the words are his words but told through her fingers, leading the audience to determine whether she finishes writing the book, or if his ghost finishes the book through her. Clever stuff. It’s at the end of its run today, as is Coram Boy, but they’re work checking out if a they’re coming to a theatre near you – support local theatre!

I could get used to dinner and a play a few times a month :-) Luckily, we can! Now if only the dinners were free too…maybe I should become a food blogger too? Feed the habit, so to speak.

I have to tell you how funky Ohio weather is! It’s still October and we woke up with a hearty layer of snow white frost on the grass, roofs, trees, and vehicles this morning. I’m still of the solid opinion that October is far too early to have to use an ice scraper (just as I am also of the solid opinion that Christmas music and decorations should not start rearing their metallic and shiny heads until December 1st, at the absolute earliest), but clearly, this isn’t my call. Regardless, today it looked like winter out. It was cold and foggy and white. Then as soon as I crossed the state line into Kentucky on my way to work, it was suddenly, magically fall again. The river between Ohio and Kentucky was glassy and calm with thick spirals of steam hanging off the water, the sun was shining bright golden orange and the trees were absolutly ablaze with the brightest fall colors I’ve seen all season. Not a hint of frost to be found. Purely gorgeous. It was like two completely different worlds seperated only by an abstract state line.

I’m not ready for it to be winter yet. Not at all. I quite enjoy fall and could bask in its glory for another three months, enjoying spiced cider and bonfires and pumpkins and leaves until the cows come home. But apparently it’s time for me to haul my winter wardrobe out of storage anyway. Boo.

At least in these parts we see some glorious sunrises and sunsets in the late fall and early winter!

So, my butternut squash apple cider soup…

…was not quite the hearty, creamy, flavorful, tasty meal I was envisioning. In fact, it was kind of gross. Pretty, and just the right consistency, but gross.

And I’m really sad about this.

Not only did I spend a couple bucks and nearly three hours preparing it, but now I have a giant vat of not-so-tasty soup taking up room in our fridge that I have no idea what to do with. The soup was inspired by an absolutely phenomenal butternut squash apple cider soup infused with roasted red peppers that we had in Door County last month. It was so delicious that I was just dying to recreate it!

I like butternut squash. I like apples. I like apple cider. I like onions. So what’s the problem here? Sunday night I plucked two different recipes for this soup off of Food Network and Epicurious.com and, like I usually do because I like to tweak recipes and put my own twist on things, I combined them to form one recipe of epic awesomeness. I don’t change big things, just little ones here and there. This has never failed me in the past, but this time I’m not quite sure what the culprit was.

I have a sneak suspicion it was the yellow onions that both recipes called for. I think they added an awkward sweetness and odd flavor mix to the apples and butternut squash that could have been avoided by using a spicer onion, like a white onion. But if that’s the case, then why did both soup recipes receive rave reviews and nobody else seems to think the yellow onions were a problem? I took a bowlful of the soup out of the pot and tried adding a bit of roasted red pepper paste to spice it up, which helped tone down the sweetness a touch, but did nothing for the flavor. So I scooped out a bit more of the soup and added some cream to it. It helped neutralize the flavor a good deal so it was manageable to choke down a spoonful, which was better than nothing, but by adding cream the soup went from super healthy to less healthy and more creamy. And it still wasn’t good enough to eat an entire bowl of.

Sigh.

So, do you think I can salvage this? I talked to a few soup connoisseurs at work today and one suggested adding a squeeze of apple cider vinegar while the other suggested adding more curry powder. They’re both good ideas and worth a try, but it’s not just the sweetness I’m concerned with. It’s the actual flavor.

Anyone have any advice on how to fix this? Do you think it can still be salvaged as a soup, and if not, can it be salvaged as anything else? Perhaps a base for something?

I love the smell of fall in our kitchen on a cool October day. I raise the blinds, open up the windows and enjoy the windy gusts that send brightly colored leaves spiraling down from the treetops by the hundreds while the church bell a few blocks away chimes out the time with a series of lyrical gongs. I cut apples, and pumpkins, and squash, and garlic, and unwrap caramels and appreciate the mornings I have off to take advantage of the tasty fall crops. Sometimes I turn on music, and sometimes I just enjoy the silence and the sounds of nature. It’s relaxing and helps me regroup or stay grounded in the midst of a busy life.

Despite the strains of adjusting to life in an apartment again, I am grateful to still have a pretty view and a full backyard, even if we do have to share it with other families. Though I loved our backyard at the house because of it was huge, and gorgeous, and Secret Garden-esque, and very private, it was also uneven, ridden with large holes from the wildlife that set up camp there, and the grass was questionable as to whether it was going to be dirt, weeds, or simply dead that season. Here we have a large, expansive track of soft green grass bordered by a forest of healthy trees that are now breathtaking shades of yellow, orange, and red. We have a few too many dogs living here for there to be bunnies, unfortunately, but we do have a handful of very large, bushy-tailed, bold, squirrels who frequent our grass and occasionally patter right up to the back door, nut in mouth, to say hello. They’ll hop up on the top of the grill, directly outside the living room window and stare at you while you stare at them, and then they’ll take a seat on the Adirondack chair to snack on their prized nut. Gutsy, aren’t they? But I love squirrels, so I take delight in this. Today I watched one, not more than 6″ from our window, use his claws to diligently dig a small hole for his nut, bury the nut, carefully cover over it with grass and dirt, then pick up a leaf and place it on top, for good measure.

So far this season I have made pumpkin mac n’ cheese, chili, autumn apple Waldorf salad, caramel apple cider cookies, taco bowls and Philly cheese steaks (it is football season, after all!), homemade applesauce, roasted pumpkin seeds, and now a butternut squash apple cider soup infused with a roasted red pepper glaze and a touch of cream. It’s simmering on the stove. We’ll see how it turns out. Still to try on my “fall goodies” list are homemade soft pretzels with a beer cheese queso, pork chops and applesauce, butternut squash ravioli with apple cider broth, baked pumpkin oatmeal, creamy cauliflower soup, zucchini bread, turkey and white bean chili, french onion soup, pumpkin snickerdoodles, sweet potato casserole, and thai lettuce wraps.

The most challenging recipe so far has been this butternut squash apple cider soup. Good Lord. I would liken cutting a butternut squash to cutting through elephant tusks. I actually had to look up directions on how to peel, cut, and seed them because I thought “I must be doing something wrong” when my vegetable peeler simply couldn’t hack it’s way through the skin. Turns out butternut squash are just tough little buggers. Though I did learn that their seeds can be salted and roasted just like pumpkin seeds – so I’ll be eagerly trying that out tonight as well. Butternut squash, much like humans I suppose, do not like to be skinned, cut open, or gutted. I cannot say that I blame them. It sounds uncomfortable, doesn’t it? I think I’d put up a fight too.

I don’t do this every day. I typically have Monday and Wednesday mornings off to cook, clean the house, do laundry, run errands, blog, catch up on emails, work on scheduling and planning, and do educational outreach work for the dance/theatre/pedestrian movement company I work for. On Monday and Wednesday afternoons I teach musical theatre classes at an elementary school as part of their fine arts program. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work at the theatre doing any number of ed. outreach related things, teaching, or straight-up arts administration, and on Fridays, Saturdays and some Sundays I’m still at the museum. In between all that I often have meetings for any one of the four jobs. They are all going very well and I’m thankful to simply be employed, but I really love my Monday and Wednesday mornings to catch up on life.

I’ll post photos and the recipe for the butternut squash apple cider soup if it turns out as tasty as it sounds. Happy Wednesday!

Thank you all so much for the congratulations and well-wishes on our anniversary! We are so lucky to have such sweet family and friends.

We had a really nice anniversary weekend – it was perfect! We both had to work Saturday for a few hours in the morning and early afternoon, but after work Ted picked me up and we spent the rest of the afternoon at EnterTRAINment Junction, a model train museum in northern Cincinnati up near West Chester. We both like model trains so it was neat to walk through miles of track and see all the detail that is put into the models, scenery, and even the little people in the models. Hidden throughout the models and in the scenery were tiny halloween pumpkins and a number of little dinosaurs that you could try to locate, which was a fun challenge to try to find them all. There were also a lot of train fun facts and quizzes. We enjoyed the museum a lot and thought it was a lot of fun to check out such an interesting hobby. It’s something we’d both like to get into one day – in like 50 years when we’re rich and old and super boring, but still absurdly happy (we hope!).

For dinner we tried to finally get in at the fancy, delicious Italian restaurant Bella Luna (it always wins at the Taste of Cincinnati festival) but the wait was over two and a half hours. Lesson learned. So our second choice was Montgomery Inn Boathouse downtown on the river between Cincinnati and Newport, KY. It’s a beautiful location with a gorgeous view and the food is always fantastic – a crowd favorite and a nice place to celebrate something like an anniversary. Because there was a wait there too, though certainly not as long, we enjoyed a tasty drink of Jim Beam Red Stag at the bar and then dined on ribs and duck for dinner with a pretty backdrop of the downtown skyline and the night time city lights reflecting off the river. Our food was completely delicious as usual and it was so nice to just spend time together, talking and enjoying each other without all the distractions of busy schedules and technology.

We had originally intended to try to catch a movie after dinner, likely 50/50 or The Help, but damn, we’re getting old and because of how far away pretty much every movie theatre in the city is from our apartment and the late show times, we pansy’d out when we realized it would be well past 1 a.m. by the time we got home. We’re lame, we know. But even at the ripe old age of 25, 1:30 a.m. is well past my bedtime! So instead we rented the new Transformers movie and came home.

We broke out our crystal toasting flutes and cake service set from our wedding, pulled out our wedding cake topper, and played our first dance song through the speakers in the living room. We danced to our first dance song, shared slices of cherry cake from the top layer of our wedding cake (and wow was it incredibly delicious for having been frozen for a year!! SO good!!) and toasted to our first year of marriage with a bottle of our favorite wedding wine from Door County. We watched Transformers until I fell asleep, which was approximately 20 minutes into the movie, as usual. It was a really lovely night.

On Sunday Ted had to head in to work for a few hours again, but I had the day off so we went to mass together, did our weekly grocery shopping together, and then I stopped in at the Cincinnati Art Museum to check out the new Art Deco exhibit – fashions and design from the 1920s. Obviously, I couldn’t pass this up! I adore1920s fashion. Anybody want to buy me a sweet pair of t-strap heels and a cloche hat? Please! It was a beautiful exhibit! But then again the whole Cincinnati Art Museum is pretty incredible! We spent the rest of the day watching football and cheering on our Packers.

How did we get so lucky? :-)

Last Friday, in honor of my miraculous day off work from all four jobs and our impending one year anniversary, I called an impromptu “Treat Yo Self!” Day.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBBAyWLX6dE]

Sounds expensive, right? How I wish I could afford a Treat Yo Self day with the likes of fine leather goods! Oh, the things I’d cross off my “maybe one day” list! A new quilt that isn’t ripped for our bed, a purse that isn’t falling apart at the seams, some pretty new clothes! Sigh!

Alas, we’re still on a budget and the last time I checked, this is still reality. So Treat Yo Self day had to be luxurious but also done on the cheap.

The last time I got my hair cut at a really nice salon was….never. That’s right. Never. The nicest place I’ve ever had my hair cut was at a place called Snippers. Simply put, I’ve never had the money to blow $75 on a haircut, and when I have had $75 to blow, I’d much prefer to blow it on a new outfit or some other more sustainable treat that lasts longer than six to eight weeks. My hair isn’t particularly finicky. It doesn’t require high maintenance styles or perms or coloring or special treatments even, so the run of the mill hair cutting place has always been fine by me. But that’s all those places are – just fine. You tell them what you want, they spray your hair with a water bottle, they cut it, they charge you $12, and you’re out the door. If you want it shampoo’d or blown dry, that’ll be an extra $7, please. By then you’re up to $19, plus tip.

But my hair was getting really long, dull, lifeless, and just plain grungy. I haven’t had a real haircut since before we got married. That’s pathetic, people. It was time. I’d planned on going to any old place, like I usually do, paying my $15 for an average haircut, and moving on with my life. But then I discovered I had one whole entire day off work with no obligations! What to do! What to do!? Ah, yes! Enter “Treat Yo Self!” day. And then I remembered that Cincinnati has not only an Aveda Salon, but an Aveda Fredrick’s Institute where they teach students cosmetology and the art of great hairstyling. Then I read that those students need people to practice on. Then I read the slew of awesome reviews and how wonderfully pampering it was there. Then I read that it was only $17. Then I was sold. I booked my appointment and happily made the 45 minute jaunt to the far north side of Cincinnati to try my luck at a cheap yet luxurious haircut.

Y’all, I want to live there.

A) They just relocated and had officially moved in only last week, so the place was gorgeous, and B) I was paired up with the super sweet and very talented Laura (she pronounces it Lara, just like me!…it was fate!) who made my life pure heaven for the next hour and 45 minutes. My session started out with a hairstyle consultation with Laura, and then her supervisor/instructor Ben came over and all three of us consulted together and came up with a style that would work well with my hair, face shape, style, schedule, etc. I was offered piping hot tea and whisked off for a relaxing neck, back, and shoulder massage, followed by an oh-so-amazing hair shampoo and conditioning session with a scalp massage, and then a mini hot towel and soothing lotion facial in a quiet little back room. After that little piece of heaven that I absolutely was not expecting, it was time for my haircut. And it was incredible. There was such attention to detail, and such a desire to make sure it was done correctly, and that I was happy every step of the way. She cut 7 inches off, took her time cutting and layering my hair, then she applied all sorts of lovely, yummy smelling Aveda products, dried, and styled my hair. It took well over an hour. And I love me some yummy-smelling Aveda products! All for $17. Seriously, $17. And they’re not even allowed to accept tips! All that pampering and it’s even cheaper than Great Clips! It was, quite literally, the best hair cut I have ever had in my life. I am so happy to have discovered this place that I might actually do what I’m supposed to be doing and go in every 8 weeks to get my hair trimmed. I mean, hell, if they treat you like that even my limited budget can afford a Treat Yo Self day for less than $20 every other month! Plus, I don’t look like a rat anymore. Pure bliss!

Earlier that day I’d done my own pretty manicure and pedicure, and for dinner Ted and I used a gift card to one of our favorite little pizza joints – Hyde Park Pizzaria – that my sister got us for our birthdays. For $17 (um, plus fuel…Cincinnati’s a big city, friends) I got a luxurious massage, facial, shampoo, haircut, style, manicure, pedicure, and dinner out!

I’d say Treat Yo Self day was a complete success!

P.S. The pictures totally don’t do it justice. It’s really hard to take a flattering picture of a hairstyle by yourself…it looks much better in person!

How would you spend Treat Yo Self Day?