Counting down to True Blood? Meet Charlaine Harris

I, along with the other CT girls (except Quilly) are anxiously awaiting next Tuesday's premiere of the new season of "True Blood". A heaping serving of Eric, with a side of Vampire Bill? Yes, please!

If you're a true fan, perhaps you already know that "True Blood" is based on a series of books by Charlaine Harris. If you're a super fan, you might be one of the people who bought her newest book "Dead Reckoning", and made it #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. If you did, here's your chance to meet the woman whose writing has inspired a new interest in hot vampires, Louisiana swamps and all things supernatural.

Charlaine Harris will be at the Main Library in Downtown Cincinnati on Saturday at 2pm to sign copies of her newest book, "Dead Reckoning". If you're planning to go, I'd go early!

 Posted by Monika

Champagne Tuesday at Cheers to Art!

The girls and I visited a cute new place in Madeira called Cheers to Art! I found out about them because they're a Cincy Chic client! It's a painting studio with a bar... so I thought how PERFECT for a Champagne Tuesday outing! We're all very creative gals, so it was fun to see us show our personalities through our painting!

We got there and they had a few big tables set up with canvases and brushes at each seat. At the front of the room was the inspiration painting that the owners of Cheers to Art! (a super cute married couple) picked out. You can go on the calendar on their site and see what they'll be painting that night, or you can book the place out for a private party if you have a big crowd. It was me and three of the CT girls, and then there were two other big groups of fun gals.

We painted a little black dress at our night while enjoying a couple bottles of Poema sparkling wine. Jill, one of the owners, helped us learn how to paint the dress, but encouraged us all to take creative license, which we did... especially after a few sips of the bubbly! :)

At the end of the night we went around the room to look at everyone's paintings and it was so fun to see how different everyone's turned out. Just even within our group, we had Aymie's who's was full of fun and flair, Monika put a cute belt on hers, I put some tulle on the bottom of mine (a painting technique I figured out accidentally but ended up teaching another girl across the room) and Lauren painted a brown dress that we affectionately called "Mr. Hanky." hahaha!

The CT girls and I had SUCH a great time! Check out the video below to share in our fun that we had at Cheers to Art!
- Amy

Spoon with Your Champagne

Girls love to spoon. And us girls love champagne. So, why not spoon with our champagne?!

It's probably not what you think, though. Did you know that dropping the handle of a metal spoon down the neck of the champagne bottle will keep it fizzy and drinkable for at least another day? Well, neither did I until we went over to our friend Tari's house for Champagne Tuesday.

After she poured our champagne and we toasted (to probably something really hilarious that I don't remember), she put a spoon in the top. I know we're all a little quirky, but putting eating utensils in champagne is just loco.

I asked her about it and she swore it would keep it fizzy longer. I didn't believe her, but I looked it up and it's apparently true! Read this article about some research that was done to test out what I originally just thought was an old wives' tale.

We drank some yummy Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut Sparkling Wine. This California-made sparkling wine is fruitier and sweeter than fine French Champagne. It's more of an introductory sparkling wine, but at approx. $15 a bottle, it's an excellent value. Times are tough... and us CT girls aren't picky. We just want to spoon. :)

- Amy

Champagne Tuesday Girls Give "Fiddler" Four Flutes Up!

We mixed a little culture with our champagne this week! The CT girls got all fancied up, shared a toast at Palomino's and went to see "Fiddler on the Roof" together. It was so nice to break from the norm - although I did miss the hours of convo and catching up we usually do at CT - but it was a fab show we all enjoyed!

Each CT gal gave her mini-review on the show below, and also shared her fav scene. Enjoy! We recommend you see it! "Matchmaker, matchmaker, [we found you] a match!" :)

MONIKA
This week's Champagne Tuesday outing was of the more cultural variety -- my fave girls and I got our theatre on by attending "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Aronoff. Having grown up hearing songs from this musical (nothing compares to watching my cousins do a beachside rendition of "Matchmaker, Matchmaker"), I couldn't wait to see this production. No disappointment here...the show was fantastic from start to finish.

My favorite part of the show was more a character than a particular scene. I'm adoring Teyve, because his character reminds me of a historical mash-up of my dad and my grandpa. Watching him try to guide his daughters in their lives, first through tradition, then by viewing their actions through a more modern lens, I'm reminded of several times where my dad and my grandpa had to adjust their view of my world to accommodate my crazy antics. I'm sure it's no surprise that I was always the one to push my luck right to the edge!

Definitely a great eve - culture, champagne (okay, maybe it was wine) and the CT girls.


AYMIE
I always look forward to Champagne Tuesday! But this past CT was even more exciting!  My favorite girlfriends, champagne and the theatre! I grew up in the theatre (on the stage, behind the stage and in the audience), so when Amy told us that we had tickets to see “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Aronoff I couldn’t have been more thrilled.  Although I had seen the play before (15 times actually…only because I was part of a staging of years ago), I couldn’t wait! I love live theatre for so many reasons and one of those is that no performance is ever the same.  So there we sat, the CT girls, in Cincinnati, Ohio at the beautiful Aronoff Center experiencing Broadway.  And then it happened…Tradition!
This performance of the classic Broadway musical did not disappoint. We all left humming the songs and already reminiscing about one of the BEST Champagne Tuesdays EVER!!


LAUREN
Fiddler on the Roof is a gem of a musical.  It illustrates the strong notion of tradition and family with interludes of love, lust and introspective thoughts from the lovable Poppa of five girls, Tevye. 

My favorite part was the wedding scene.  Seeing all the male dancers wooing the ladies with their leg kicks and singing, I couldn't help tap you foot along and celebrate with them.  The fiddler also played a great role in the musical.  He would show up and play in most of the closing scenes.  If he wasn't playing, he would be scene on the roof or sitting on the ground away from the main story.  This portrayed the metaphor for survival in a tangible way, as he would appear and disappear with the scenes and lights.

Overall, you know what you are going to get with this musical and the Aronoff's version was nothing short of that.  

AMY
I didn't get out much as a kid apparently, because I didn't even know the "Fiddler on the Roof" story. So, the entire performance was all new to me. It was new, yet, several quotes and lots of the music I had heard countless times before. My favorite part of the performance was when I realized that Gwen Stefani's "Rich Girl" song was actually sampling a Fiddler on the Roof song! I also enjoyed all the memorable quotes... some of my favorites:

Villager: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
Tevye: Very good. That way the whole world will be blind and toothless.


Tevye: [to Lazar Wolf] "I always wanted a son, but I wanted one a little younger than myself."

Mordcha: "If the rich could hire others to die for them we, the poor, would all make a nice living."

"…if our good fortune never comes, here's to whatever comes."

"Sunrise, sunset - sunrise, sunset - swiftly fly the years... one season following another, laden with happiness and tears."

Cupcakes and Wild Hibiscus

Wild Hibiscus Flower garnish

Aymie, one of the CT girls, just moved into a new loft and her mom was in from out of town, so we had a little Champagne Tuesday shin-dig at her new place.

It was super fun, complete with her mom's significant other playing a concert for us on a keyboard. :)

I brought "Cupcake" Prosecco (because cupcakes and champagne sounded like the best combo EVER). It was a little sweet for my liking, but it was good. Plus, it was only about $10 at The Party Source.

The Cupcake Prosecco is made in the Charmat Method where the second fermentation occurs is large stainless steel tanks. This is a less expensive procedure that produces softer, slightly sweet sparkling wine.

Cupcake Prosecco is a very light golden yellow, with lots of soft bubbles. The nose is fruity with grapefruit, peach and orange, with a hint of buttered bakery goodness on the finish, but not pronounced like champagne. This is a great palate cleanser or an aperitif.

Aymie is the hippy in the group, so leave it up to her to give our champagne some flower power! She bought Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup to garnish our champagne.

They made our champagne flutes look SO pretty, and they were actually really good to eat! We highly recommend them if you want to make your bubbly blossom!

-Amy

Personalized Champagne

Two years ago, we decided to get together once on a Saturday instead of Tuesday. We did it during the holidays so we could exchange gifts, get dressed up and stay downtown.

The CT Saturday bottle I made on MyMoet.com

This year’s “CT Saturday Holiday Celebration” was so much fun! We went to Bistro, FB’s and then Knock Back Nats. (yes, the night got progressively less classy) : )

Part of my gift to the girls was a bottle of Moet. I didn't have time to do it, but they had a cool option to get the bottle personalized at MyMoet.com. It was so cool I had to share. You just go to the site, choose your size of bottle, type in your message and then you can preview it and buy it if you want!

Thought I’d tell you about it! How cool would it be to bring a personalized bottle as a host gift to a party!?

- Amy

HAMBingo

Top 10 Reasons Champagne Tuesday at Hamburger Mary's was off the chain...for me at least:
1.  I'm hungover today due to the number 69.
2.  I have a multi-colored array of condoms in the trunk of my car, this still after I tried to pawn one off to a tranny and some inner-city youths.
3.  I need to brush up on my Spanish.
4.  Mr. Sushi closes at 11pm and so does every other venue Downtown that serves food.
5.  I woke up without pants, but did manage to still be wearing a shirt with BINGO written on it.
6.  Bella doesn't like me when I drink.
7.  I have 64 pennies in my purse, but my drivers license has disappeared.
8.  2010 taxes will include a donation to Planned Parenthood.
9.  My alter-ego is Nancy from Weeds.
10.  We were two CTers short, but we still managed to live it up BINGO style.

-Lauren aka Nancy Botwin
"Yes, this is actually totally NORMAL.  We are ALL normal."