Short North Window Shopping in Pictures

Ohioana Book Festival in Pictures

The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes at COSI

On our most recent visit to COSI, we went and saw The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes for Kenneth's birthday. Kenneth is a big fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's writing. He recently finished reading all of Doyle's work featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson and is now working on The Lost World. We both love the BBC's Sherlock. We were both excited to check this exhibition out! Watch a short preview of the exhibition below:

COSI - The Center of Science and Industry

COSI, the Center of Science and Industry is a #1 nationally ranked science museum, right here in Columbus (Parent Magazine gave COSI this #1 rating in 2008). I first visited COSI on a field trip with my 6th grade class. I don't remember everything about the trip, but I know we had a blast! We watched an IMAX film about the Blue Angels and checked out COSI's various exhibits. The one I remember the most was the exhibit, Progress, which is still at COSI today. When I was a 6th grader I thought the 1898 version of the town was really cool, even though my friends and I spent most of our time in the 1962 side, making our own news broadcast and getting our picture taken at the vintage gas station. It was an exciting trip to Columbus for a bunch of small town kids!

Kingmakers - Short North

Kingmakers Board Game Parlour is a great venue for date night or an evening out with friends. By paying a $5 Library Fee, visitors have access to over 250 different board games, instruction and tips from Kingmakers staff - Board Game Sommeliers. To apply to be a part-time sommelier you must be able to confidently teach at least 30 board games!. 

Balletmet Columbus Presents Alice In Wonderland

The story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll in 1865, has taken on a life of its own. New adaptations of the story can be found in books, television series, movies, party themes, works of art, plays, musicals, even ballet! Some adaptations stay true to the original story, others diverge down a new path. 

16-Bit Bar + Arcade - Downtown Columbus

Opening it's doors on August 30th of last year, 16-Bit Bar + Arcade is a new bar in downtown Columbus that offers great drinks and free arcade games. I checked it out with friends last month and had a great time! 16-Bit is located on 4th street, right next to Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace. Since 16-Bit does not serve food, we grabbed dinner at Dirty Frank's before checking out 16-Bit (you can also take your hot dog and fries over to 16-Bit!).

1982 Mario

Saw 1982 Mario tonight at 16-Bit Bar + Arcade in downtown Columbus! Check back soon for a review of the bar and its neighbor, Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace!

Sugar Plum Pas de Deux

Today's holiday entertainment at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens!  Several ballet dancers performed excerpts from the Nutcracker for us.  They were wonderful!

Ohio Pawpaw Festival - Lake Snowden

The Ohio Pawpaw Festival is a three day celebration of all things pawpaw!  This year was the 15th year for the annual south-eastern Ohio festival.  I went to my first pawpaw festival in 2007 when I was a student at Ohio University and have made it back for several festivals in between that first year and the 2013 festival.  I've written a little bit about the pawpaw on my blog before (click here, here and here for some of my pawpaw photography).

The pawpaw is a tree native to Ohio with a very unique fruit (also the largest fruit native to the U.S.)!  The fruit, which is soft like a custard (or pudding) tastes like a combination of banana, mango and vanilla.  This fruit is unique and unfamiliar to Americans today because the pawpaw tree (Asimina triloba) belongs to the tropical plant family Annonaceae, the majority of the plants in this family are found in the tropics, like soursop, custard-apple and cherimoya.  The fruit is also highly perishable and more likely to be found on a hike in the woods than at your local grocery store (though you can find it some farmers' markets!)  

Westerville Mini Golf

I have not been putt putt or mini golfing in many, many years.  So many, I don't remember the last time I've been!  It was probably while on vacation with my family when my sister and I were a lot younger, we might have been in junior high or early high school.  Mini golfing was something we only seemed to do on vacation, it was kind of a tradition!

Mumford Mania in Troy, Ohio

Mumford & Sons will be playing in Troy, Ohio next weekend as part of their Gentlemen of the Road Stopover Tour in the US! Troy is just south of my hometown, Piqua, and while we are bitter rivals in high school football, I'm really excited for Troy and everyone who will be at the concert.

Water Fire & The Moonlight Market - Downtown Columbus

Last month Kenneth and I enjoyed an evening in downtown Columbus for WaterFire and the Moonlight Market on Gay Street!

Since we arrived a little before WaterFire was to begin, we walked through the Moonlight Market first.  Vendors were set up on the sidewalks and several shops stayed open late between Front and 3rd Street.  The market was pretty busy and we saw lots of great work offered by the vendors, including crafts, artwork and other home items, clothes and lots of delicious food!  We sampled some fantastic salsa from Game Time Salsa and I enjoyed an amazing cucumber-lime-mint popsicle from J Pops!  Check out all of the creative J Pops flavors and the story behind the company (it was founded as a way to raise money for relief efforts in Japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami) on their website.  

COSI & Flight of the Butterflies

Today I saw Flight of the Butterflies at COSI.  The movie was about an hour long and was in 3D.  The film itself was really well done - but I wasn't excited about the 3D part.  3D movies tend to give me a headache and Flight of the Butterflies, unfortunately, did not disappoint in that area.  Ignoring my headache (which has gone away with some aspirin), the film was great!  It went into butterfly biology (including showing and explaining what exactly goes on in a chrysalis during metamorphosis), monarch migration and the inspiring story of how Fred and Norah Urquhart (with help from citizen scientists, Ken Brugger and his wife Catalina Aguado) discovered the monarchs' hideout in Mexico.  

AMC Lennox Town Center 24 & The Heat

It was a dark and stormy night... perfect for date night!  It actually was stormy, but not so dark or spooky, when Kenneth and I went to see a movie at the AMC Lennox Town Center 24 movie theater last Saturday night.  We had dinner at Noodles & Company in Grandview, then went to see a movie.  Dinner and a movie = classic date night!