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Friday, March 25, 2011

Weekend in Cincinnati

1st nt in Cincy - shopping at Tri-County Mall


James & I have been married for almost 19 yrs.
He's been my sweetheart since I was 15 yrs old.
There's nothing that I enjoy more than  spending quality time with him.
We are parents to 3 sons & family time is at the top of our list!
We like having them with us everywhere we go ... one, because we want them to have lots of life experiences & two, cause we always have so much fun together.
Occasionally though, James & I need to have that one-on-one time...
time to talk ... time to reconnect ... time to rekindle.

A few weeks ago, we decided to take a quick trip to Cincinnati for a 'date weekend.'
We had a marvelous time together.
Here are a few pictures of our fun weekend.

Our 1st dinner out was Macaroni Grill.
We don't have one near us, so we enjoy going when we can.
They give you crayons so you can color on the paper tablecloth.
The fella across the isle was drawing cartoon characters for his wife.
When they left, they passed all their crayons to the elderly couple behind them, who were together drawing a beautiful rural landscape, complete with a big red barn.
When they got up to leave, they brought their crayons over to us ...
& James wrote me a love note.


The rustic interior of the restaurant combined with the smells from the brick oven & the Italian music playing, well, it made for a romantic dinner, indeed.


On Saturday, we visited Ikea ... a neat shopping experience.
James bought the French press coffee maker that he'd be wanting.



We also visited Jungle Jim's ... a SUPERmarket extraordinaire! 
I'd say if you can't find it there, you can't find it anywhere!!


One of the many isles of cheese!  Look at the size of those wheels!


Even Paula Deen wouldn't know what to do with these 2 cases of butter!


Avocados the size of grapefruit

so many varieties of vegetables


Can't even imagine why someone would want to buy either of these!!!
whole lamb & hog head {there was just any part of a pig, lamb, cow or chicken!}

Kangaroo, alligator, pork brains, turtle ... eww!
 
just a portion of the many soda choices ... we brought each of the boys an old-fashioned flavor

these are all bottles of hot sauce!!

James was in heaven with isles of teas to choose from!


We look forward to taking our sons to Jungle Jim's ... such a neat experience.
They will love it!

We wanted to try some non-chain restaurants & local favorites...
& thanks to many friends & family who live in the Cincinnati area, we had lots to choose from.
We decided on Vincenzo's, recommended by an Ikea employee.
I must say, James & I both think it is one of the best Italian restaurants we've ever gone to!
{The story behind Vincenzo's is really neat ... you can read it here .}

my Gnocchi dish w/peas, red peppers & prosciutto

James' meal at Vincenzo's - Gnocchi w/mushrooms, onions & prosciutto
He was on the Daniel Fast & this was the only time he veered just a bit off of it.



The sweet end to the weekend came from Graeter's Ice Cream.
Now we know why all you Cincinnatian's recommended it ... delish!



Before the weekend was even over, we were hating to see it end.
Because we don't get away too often, we cherish these special times & sweet memories all the more.

                                            Who, being loved, is poor?  ~Oscar Wilde

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