Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: Local Business

  • Witch Walk 2020

    Witch Walk 2020

    On Halloween around the stroke of Noon, witches descended upon Goodale Park in Columbus Ohio in order to make merry and celebrate the Day. After grabbing a group picture we began walking down High Street in the Short North wishing a Happy Halloween to all we encountered. We stopped at Prologue Bookstore for some of our witchy companions to purchase tomes, and then at Roaming Goat Coffee to get a Mocha Latte for myself. We continued across the street to Rocket Fizz for old fashioned candy and novelties (I bought a racing possum!). We passed a salon where we waved to a fellow witch who was giving a blow out to a client.

    We stopped to grab a bite at The Eagle where I ordered a Grilled Cheese that features three kinds of cheese and apples, yum! It came out in the shape of a heart. Aww! Next a trip to Torso where I purchased a mask that says “Witch Please”, a gorgeous rhinestone mask and a bracelet that matched my witchy garb. A quick run back to prologue and then we made a stop at Bakersfield for a Margarita and a $3 shot of Hornitos.

    We witches can make a day of it!! Happy Haunting my friends until next year!

  • Isolation Chronicles: Support Your Local Businesses

    I had posted earlier in the Isolation that I purchased a mystery book box from one of my favorite local bookshops The Book Loft. Since that purchase I have been trying very hard to support other local and small businesses in any way I can. Whether that is ordering food, buying products, or just providing support. Here are some of my favorite shops, stores that I could not recommend more.

    1. Elder Forest Soap – I call Katie and Nathan our soap people. Seth and I have almost exclusively used their soaps for the last several years. We have stalked them in a friendly “man I need soap” way to many a festival, and we think of them as friends. I also swear by their pain balm, their salves and their natural deodorant. Recommended soap scents: Rosemary, Patchouli Spice, Sandalwood Rose and Woodland.
    2. Brother’s Drake Meadery – One of the first local meaderies to open in Columbus Ohio. They make amazing meads and if you are local and no longer in lockdown you can take an awesome tour with them. They are also delivering locally and nationwide. Recommended meads: Strongarm and Battleaxe
    3. Blonde Swan Hats – I have owned many Blonde Swan hats in my life and I love them. Blonde Swan is based out of Northern Ohio and they make absolutely amazing leather and suede hats. I ordered a new hat for Ren Faire and an amazing feather piece to wear on it in the last week. My wedding hat was a Blonde Swan that cost more than my actual dress, lol. Seth’s wedding hat was also a Blonde swan. If you like Blonde Swan on facebook she is offering some amazing deals as Warehouse Wednesday too. Recommended Buys: Any and all Witch hats!
    4. Prologue Bookshop – Prologue is another amazing local bookstore in Columbus. I am a member of their LGBTQ+Allies book club, and I have been buying my books for that directly from them to support them because I have the funds available to do so.  This book club reads books written by LGBTQ authors and is a wonderful open group.
    5. Zen Bee Meadery – Yep, another meadery. I love mead. Zen Bee is a smaller part time local meadery that creates delicious session meads, which means they are lower ABV than some other meads. They are delicious and easy to drink. Recommended Meads: Braspberry, Karma Apple
    6. Witch Baby Soap – This is my favorite place to get bath bombs. They smell amazing, sometimes they have crystals and stones in them, and they are totally witchy. They offer quarterly spell boxes which give you one bomb a month for the quarter, plus soaps and extras. Recommended: Psychic Bath Bomb, Rune Stone Bath Bomb. and the Astrological Cake Bath Bombs.

    These are some of my favorite local/small businesses. Do you have some you are supporting right now? Share with me so I can check them out.

     

  • Support Your Local Independent Bookstore!

    So, in Columbus we have this amazing bookstore called The Book Loft. It is a 32 room amazing monstrosity of a bookstore that is rambling and confusing in the best way. My friend told me that once former President Clinton wanted to shop there, so the secret service came in to check it out and promptly walked back out and told him that it was impossible to clear and he could not go in. It is unclearable by the secret service amazing!

    Of course with the pandemic issue they have had to close their doors to shoppers but they are still running their online business. Last week they announced something new they are doing, Malamarkus (the skeleton god of the book loft) Mystery Boxes. You pay them $69.99 and give them a genre, book style, or theme you like as well as your t-shirt size and then they send you a box with several new books they choose for you as well as some extras and a Book Loft t-shirt. It is a brilliant idea, so to get some new books and support my local bookstore I bought one.

    I ended up with a lot of books and adult mad libs and a gray book loft shirt. I am so chuffed by my new reading material. This is absolutely worth the price. Look at all this gorgeous bounty.

    So overall, support your local bookstores, and if you would like a Malamarkus Mystery Box you can order one here. Honestly support all your local businesses. Please. They need you.

     

  • Finally Feeling Fine…Lost Weeks and Drag Queens

    I had the flu, or something similar to the flu the week of the 27th. I was achy, coughy, sleepy, barely moving and just generally blah for approximately a week. I watched a whole lot of Netflix (the new season of Sex Education is beautiful) and more crappy rom coms than I can shake a stick at. I lost an entire week being barely conscious and incredibly icky.

    Then on the first day I was almost feeling human (Sunday) I went with my mom and my sister to a brand new drag brunch in Columbus at Local Cantina called the Moustache Riders Drag Brunch (interesting note the name of their house margarita is The Moustache Rider.) The food, and drinks, were delicious. The entertainment was top notch. We will definitely go again.

    I am finally feeling truly better and healthier and I am trying to get myself back on track.

  • I Got to Attend A Body Positive Pool Party!!

    I Got to Attend A Body Positive Pool Party!!

    About a month ago an event popped up on Facebook. It was created by a group called the Fat Babes Club of Columbus and the event was called Body Positive Pool Party. I was immediately interested. Then my friend Sarah asked if anyone was going so she and I made a plan to go together. We waited eagerly for more information. So when one Saturday morning at 7 am I was waiting for  mom and sister to pick me up so we can go garage saleing and a notification came that tickets were on sale I immediately snatched up two tickets. Then I found out that my friends Julie and Megan would be coming too. This was going to be so much fun!

    Saturday I threw on my Harry Potter bathing suit and met Sarah in the parking lot across the street from the Westerville Jaycees Pool. When we got to the door they were not quite open yet, as they were still clearing the pool of daily visitors. We were the first people to begin forming a line into the event. By the time the gates opened there was a nice sized line behind us, and the party was ready to begin. My id was checked and a blue heart was drawn on my hand to show I was old enough to drink and in we went.

    Immediately into the party room there was a bar to the left and beside it was a table loaded with raffle items. As you walked through you passed a table with little bags of chips, cookies and pastries. Once you got out by the pool there was a DJ set up spinning vinyl all night and the pool was full of fun inflatables. Sarah and I claimed some chairs and then hit the bar.

    The bar had sodas, natural light strawberry lemonade, bud light and several flavors of white claw. I am a fan of white claw so I started with a raspberry. I moved to the raffle table and they had some amazing raffle items: gift baskets from local businesses and companies, make up sets, skincare sets, and more. I bought 15 tickets for $10, and put them into the drawings for a basket from Wild Cat Gift and Party, Uproar by Babe Roar, Urban Decay, Benefit Cosmetics and a couple of others I have forgotten.

    I got a tattoo this week which was stupid honestly since I knew I had a pool party this weekend, so I decided that I would not “Swim” but would get in the water keeping my arms out. I got in and there was this adorable unicorn floaty that I decided I needed to get on. Some lovely ladies helped me and I floated for exactly 2 seconds before the unicorn bucked me off and I was fully energed in the pool. Oops. Not intentional, but still What the Hell, Unicorn? I watched him buck several others as well, so it was obviously nothing personal.

    Julie and Megan arrived around 8:30 or so, and I lounged beside the pool drinking while they swam and chatted with me. Sarah got pulled into doing some footage for the people who were video recording the event. She went down the slide about 3 times, and ended up doing some under water and jumping in shots.

    They called the raffles at 9:45, and Julie won a package of facial cremes etc, and I won the Benefit Cosmetics Brows before Bros set. It had eyebrow powder, a pencil and a filler along with a pore shrinking primer and a They’re Real lip stick in Lusty Rose. I was so excited!

    There is going to be another one in August and you know that if I can I will go again.

  • Wednesday Ink Therapy

    Wednesday Ink Therapy

    My little sister and I have been sitting on a couple of gift cards to a local tattoo parlor for months, and had been putting off a plan to go get the tattoos done for almost as long. Something always came up, or one of us was sick, or the weekend was just too busy. Well finally early this week she texted me asking if she took Wednesday off if we could finally go get our tattoos. As Wednesday is my day off (I work 4×10 MTThF at the moment) I was in.

    We agreed to meet at Defining Skin at noon on Wednesday since that was when they opened, and we would figure things out from there. I was, of course, twenty minutes early as is only right and proper so I sat in my car taking selfies until Traci arrived. It turns out she had the foresight to call ahead and Charles Martin (@tmberwolf) would be able to get us in, but not until 1:30. That meant we had some time to kill.

    Traci hadn’t eaten yet and I only had maple pecan puffs, so we decided to go get something to eat and since Brewdog Franklinton was nearby it seemed an obvious choice to us. Because you have to get a beer if you go to Brewdog I decided to try their Franklinton Dumpster Fire (The night before this location opened the dumpster caught fire very dramatically and they thought they may not get to open) which is a sour gose. It was delicious with berry and a lovely smoky aftertaste. Traci got a Sucker Punch Cider from Mad Moon, which was delicious and much too easy to drink. For lunch I got cauliflower wings with blue cheese dip. They were so good. I could have moved into that dish and lived happily for some time.

    We headed back over to Defining skin where we filled out all our paperwork and waited for Charlie to be ready for us. Traci and I were both getting text; Traci a quote from Kingdom Hearts – “One Sky One Destiny” and for me one of my favorite words and a tattoo I had wanted for a long time “Bibliophile.” I wanted mine to look as much like typeset as possible, and Traci wanted hers to be script. He got them together, made the stencils and I was up first. I was afraid that the wrist would be super sensitive and uncomfortable, but it really wasn’t bad at all. All in all the whole tattoo took about 15 minutes, which is so much quicker than all my other pieces. Traci was up next and she wanted hers on her chest under her collar bones. He got it lined up and spaced out, and then got to work on her. Hers took 30 minutes or so, not very long at all. She said the chest didn’t hurt badly either, but I don’t know if I believe her.

    We are both so happy with our new ink. The only sad thing about it is that I am going to a pool party tonight and I can’t get in the pool with my fresh ink. Oh,well. It is worth it for the awesome. I am just going to put my feet in and look at my beautiful and long time coming tattoo.

     

     

  • Miss Creant Only Wants World Peace.

    Miss Creant Only Wants World Peace.

    This weekend I went out on the town with The Lady Gang for Pageant Night, a creation of my awesome friend Susan because I took her to a store in my hometown and she purchased her very first tiara. (Every woman should own at least one tiara.) We all wore tiaras, some form of “pageant” dress and made ourselves pageant sashes with names like Miss Creant (mine), Ms Aligned (my sister), Miss Chevious (Kristan), Miss Adventure (Mary), Miss Articulate (Dorothy) and Miss Behavin’ (Susan). Then we called an uber and headed to one of our favorite Columbus bars, The Light of Seven Matchsticks.

     

     

     

    The Light of Seven Matchsticks is a speakeasy style bar underneath a Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza. It is dark and moody. The menus are housed inside of books (Ours were I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Huckleberry Finn and a third that I just cannot remember. The cocktails are modern twists on old classics. The food is delicious. There are strange decorations and the booth area we were in had a mail slot to put your order, written on a library checkout card, through and a little door where drinks and baked goat cheese are passed through.

     

    We moved on by another Uber to Two Truths, another favorite Columbus bar, where the absolutely charming bartender created for us more delicious cocktails. I got my personal favorite the Local Socialist. And tried a new cocktail, Summoning Solstice, because it involved setting things on fire and I was very intrigued. They were both absolutely delicious. I also realized that one of the bartenders was a belly dancer I have seen dance (Karen), so I spent a bit of time drunkenly praising her which she gracefully accepted and absolutely deserved.

     

     

    We walked to two more balls, that were okay but nothing special. We had some lightly out of focus photos taken by some lovely lightly drunk women who were impressed by our finery. We were treated to shots by a young woman whom one of us convinced that we were all brides to be. Then we grabbed another Uber to take us back to Susan’s where we ordered pizza and snuggled puppies before heading home.

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  • It Sounds Better on Vinyl: Record Store Day 2019

    It Sounds Better on Vinyl: Record Store Day 2019

    My alarm began playing “O’ Fortuna” this morning at 5:oo am, which is a painful situation on a Saturday. Today, however, I was ready and willing to get up hunk my hair into a pony tail and, with my husband in tow, head to stand in line waiting to get into Spoonful Records for Record Store Day.

    Spoonful is a lovely smaller Record Store in downtown Columbus. I found them through social media when they held a clean copy of Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual for me. We have been back a couple of times since picking up this or that.

    For RSD this year they had a lot of special buys including a Devo box set I was hoping to get my hands on. We got into line about 6:15 am or so, and joined the already awaiting group. Around 7:30 the owners came through asking about box sets. and in her hands was the Devo. I spoke up and that guaranteed me the Devo box set. Hells Yes.

    Other than the box set I picked up a vinyl pressing of the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack which is on gorgeous orange and blue vinyl, a used Heart vinyl and a used Peter Cetera. We got a spoonful records tote, a pearl jam pin, and a coupon for free admission to the Columbus Museum of Art. Then I had to go home because I have plans for tonight.

  • Things I love Thursday – Bath and Booze Edition

    Things I love Thursday – Bath and Booze Edition

    Last Friday my husband and I used a Groupon to take a tour and tasting at Middle West Spirits/ OYO, a Columbus Distillery. We were beyond impressed with the breadth of flavor that they have achieved in their spirits. They also have a really impressive set up, and the restaurant/ bar is going to be amazing once it is complete. We purchased a bottle of their barrel aged honey vanilla bean vodka and their Pumpernickel Rye Whiskey. The groupon got us two of their glasses as well. And we purchased a bourbon board game for Seth’s dad for Father’s day. You can find out more about them here.

     

    Of late I have become a frequent purveyor of the bath bombs from Witch Baby Soaps. I am beyond impressed with the quality of the bombs. They smell delicious, last a long time, and leave your skin feeling soft and beautiful. In the last two weeks I used two from the Tarot Card collection: Death and Two of Swords. I highly recommend both. You can find Witch Baby here.