I moved several months ago to Gahanna and I must say, I’ve really been enjoying my new neighborhood.

My favorite so far is Creekside, which is filled with shops, restaurants and a park along the creek.

If you’re a wine person, I highly recommend giving Mezzo Italian Kitchen and Wine a try. My boyfriend and I have been there several times now and we love it! We first went during Dine Originals Week and the atmosphere was very warm and we had the seat right by the window overlooking the outdoor patio. Definitely made for a nice romantic dinner.

And during the next couple of months, Creekside is the place to be! Check out some fun things happening: Read the rest of this entry »

Zeppernick Custom Homes (click for a peek at homes on display this year)

My mom has always had a passion for decorating and interior design. Each summer, she’d take my siblings and me to model home shows where we’d spend hours critiquing the houses, debating our favorites and staking claim over which room would be ours if we lived there.

Well, not much has changed. To this day, I can’t resist stopping at an open house or visiting a home show. While the German Village Haus and Garten Tour and the Victorian Village Tour of Homes are both favorites, this year I plan to add a tour to the rotation: BIA Parade of Homes .

The annual BIA Parade of Homes prides itself on “showcasing Central Ohio’s best and brightest in the area of homebuilding, home design and landscaping.” It runs July 24-August 8 at New Albany’s Ackerly Park. Spanning 16 days, this event allows even the busiest of us to make a trip out and uncover some new ideas and fresh inspiration for our own places. Read the rest of this entry »

TORK sculptures:
15-foot-tall North American Pitcher Plants
Photo: Franklin Park Conservatory

I’ll admit, never before have I spent time thinking about meat-eating plants. As a kid, I remember seeing Venus flytraps and thinking they were cool, but it stopped there.

That is, until I saw the new exhibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory: Savage Gardens: The Real and Imaginary World of Carnivorous Plants . It runs through Nov. 14.

It’s a fascinating exhibit that is a combination of hundreds of live plants that lure, catch, kill and digest insects for energy; four larger-than-life sculptures based on these bizarre plants; a juried art show and two commissioned art works.

The group I was with had fun seeing the sculptures, then searching for the real plant. I think our favorite was the Venus flytrap. We learned that an insect has to stroke the inside of the leaf twice before the trap closes (at which point we "oohed" and "aahed" and said, "Do it again!") To make the most of your experience, I highly recommend attending the horticulturist presentation in the showroom each day at 1 p.m. Also, Family Fun Saturdays are held at 11 a.m. on the second Saturday of each month with activities and crafts.

Not being much of a gardener myself, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the exhibit. Another great surprise was the enormous sculptures, designed and fabricated by TORK, Inc. , a Columbus-based company. The sculptures, such as the brilliant seven Pitcher Plants in the courtyard, are both really beautiful art and an effective tool to better understand these little-known plants and how they function.

Savage Gardens was created by the Franklin Park Conservatory and will be made available to tour at other botanical gardens around the country.

To plan your visit to Franklin Park Conservatory and review the many programs offered there, visit fpconservatory.org .

Photo: Wexner Center for the Arts

For many people, outdoor movies carry a sense of nostalgia: childhood memories of visiting the local park—popcorn and blanket in tow—to watch a movie with friends, family and neighbors. Well, outdoor movies are back, and in a big way.

Sure, you may be familiar with the free movie screenings in NYC’s Central Park or the Screen on the Green series at the National Mall in D.C., but did you know that Columbus has plenty of its own outdoor movie options? With unique venues such as Creekside Plaza and Easton Town Center, and movie options ranging from black and white classics to animated flicks, it’s an experience that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

To get you started, I’ve put together a list of outdoor movie series throughout Columbus. All are completely free, family-friendly events that are certain to get you out of a summer rut. Pick you favorite flick, pop some popcorn and do something different this summer! Read the rest of this entry »

Ohio State Fair

Festival season continues in Columbus, and so do the giveaways.

Like we mentioned last month , members of the Greater Columbus Events Council are helping us celebrate lots of events by sharing lots of prizes.

This time, we’re featuring July and August happenings, and the ante is definitely upped: FIVE LUCKY READERS will win the following:

• A North Market Food & Ohio Wine Festival package, which includes a $20 North Market gift certificate and 2 entries to the preview party
• A VIP parking pass to Jazz & Rib Fest
• 2 tickets to the Ohio State Fair
• 2 tickets to the Dublin Irish Festival
  

To win is easy:

Simply leave a comment below, and name at least one July or August Columbus festival or special event you plan to attend this year. If you need a few ideas, visit this list of Greater Columbus Events Council members.

One entry per person, please. All entries must be posted by noon on Tuesday, July 6 . After that, we’ll randomly select five winners who are going to have a lot of fun this summer. Good luck!

P.S. Don’t forget the third and final giveaway:

Stay tuned for the last prize package, which we’ll give away in August. Check back or subscribe to this blog via your RSS reader or email to receive updates.

UPDATE (7/6): The winners have been selected and are posted in the comments. Congrats!

It’s a guilty pleasure, but I never tire of walking the streets and alleys of German Village to peek into the windows of its fabulously restored homes. That’s why I love the Haus und Garten Tour . It’s a once-a-year opportunity to get an up close look inside without worrying about whether the owner is home. This year, the tour takes place on Sunday, June 27.

Some of the homes and gardens on tour are elegant showplaces, some are urban sanctuaries, while others are funky and creative. All are great for decorating ideas or inspiration. At the least, I’m always inspired to go home and clean. This is a special time to explore the Village, check out its unique shops and enjoy its fabulous restaurants and bakeries .

German Village has been holding the Haus und Garten Tour for 51 years now. When it started, tickets were only $1, and some of the residents thought there was no way people would pay that much to go inside some old houses. Of course, they were wrong – today the tour attracts thousands of visitors, and German Village has become renowned worldwide as a leader in historic preservation.

Save $5 with a pre-sale ticket (click here to buy) and get an eyeful in some of the most beautiful homes you’ll see anywhere.

There are lots of ways to get a great deal while you’re out and about in Columbus. Being a self proclaimed “coupon queen,” I have compiled a list of three Columbus organizations that not only help you save money, but also support local businesses:

Columbus Insiders Club - monthly deals you can use to explore the city and still keep some money in the bank.

The Columbus Insider’s Club, brought to you by the team here at Experience Columbus, highlights Columbus’ finest places to play, dine and shop.  Insiders receive a monthly e-newsletter with exclusive discounts and special offers.  Click here to register - there is no cost to join and the only information needed is your email and zip code. Past Insiders Club offers have included free tickets to COSI’s newest exhibit Titanic, a Broadway Across America Wicked pre-sale opportunity and discounts to great restaurants like Pistacia Vera and Donatos pizza.

Dine Originals Columbus – quarterly discounted certificates you can use to experience unique dining in Columbus.

Dine Originals Columbus is a community of independently owned and operated restaurants. Comprised of over 40 of Central Ohio’s favorite eateries, this group’s mission is to celebrate and support local restaurants. Each quarter Dine Originals Columbus releases a certain amount of discounted certificates that equal 30% off. The certificates range from $7 for a $10 certificate to $17.50 for a $25 certificate. The catch: When they are gone, they are gone! By signing up for their mailing list, you will receive a reminder email each quarter of when the next batch of certificates will be posted. Click here to sign up. At the time I write this, there are still a few certificates available from last quarter including Cotters, Spinelli’s Deli, The Refectory and more - click here to check them out.

Small Business Beanstalk (SBB) – money saving offers you can use 365 days a year.

The  SBB connects local businesses to neighbors in the community. Much like one of those grocery cards you have on your key chain, the SBB has their own version.  Using this card will get you fabulous discounts at independent retailers, restaurants and bars all throughout Central Ohio.  Participating neighborhoods include the Short North, Worthington, Grandview Heights, Downtown, Clintonville, Dublin and Gahanna.  To sign up for your very own free SBB card, click here .  Current offers include 20% off to The Candle Lab, 15% off food at The Worthington Inn and 10% off Sugardaddy’s Sumptuous Sweeties.

Happy saving!

Scorched Earth , 2006
Photo: Bruce M. White

If you’re up for some refreshingly cool contemporary art this summer, check out the Mark Bradford exhibition at the Wexner Center for the Arts on the campus of The Ohio State University.

I was lucky to tour the exhibit with Bradford when he was here for the opening. He is well known in contemporary art circles, yet I found him to be funny, engaging and very down-to-earth. He has a great sense of humor and I think you can see and feel this from his work, too.

Bradford is primarily a painter and a sculptor. Unique about his works is the use of paper, cardboard, rope, string and other materials, such as hair papers used for perms. (Working with his mother, Bradford was formerly a hairdresser.)

In the show, you’ll see a few pieces he created during his Wexner Center Residency, including Pinocchio is on Fire , a series of album covers designed following a staged rock event at Mershon Auditorium last fall. Another is literally a black room full of rectangular shaped paper on the walls and ceiling with music by Columbus native Nancy Wilson playing.

Impressive in scale and content, there are a few pieces that take up the entire wall, including Bread and Circuses which is a bright silver piece layered with drawings, string and paper. Another work that stuck with me is James Brown is Dead , made of a series of billboard papers Bradford scraped off of walls in urban Los Angeles. Read the rest of this entry »

Checking out the polar bears

The highly anticipated Polar Frontier attraction at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium opened last month. I have been to many zoos and animal parks across the country, and I can honestly say this is the coolest exhibit I have ever seen.

Polar Frontier represents a long-abandoned mining town in the Arctic Circle, and connects you to the animals that live in some of the coldest climates in the world.

When you enter, the first animals you encounter are the Arctic fox - Ice, Anana, Cassius and Brutus. Their habitat is a garden shed that sits against the abandoned mine and includes an outdoor yard and indoor den with visitor viewing at both. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for something totally different to do in Columbus this weekend? Head to Crew Stadium June 4-6 for USA Sevens Rugby Collegiate Championship Invitational .

This might be the first time you’ve heard about rugby in Columbus, but it’s certain not to be the last. Ohio State is one of 16 teams in this round-robin tournament, along with the traditional powerhouses of Army, Navy, Harvard, Dartmouth and Cal, plus Indiana, Penn State and Bowling Green.

Sevens rugby will be an Olympic sport, beginning in 2016. It’s a fast-paced, high-scoring game with seven players on each team battling it out for two seven-minute halves. Click here for a Spectator’s Guide.

Games are Friday-Sunday. Ohio State is guaranteed to play three matches: on Friday v. Utah at 7:50 p.m., then on Saturday v. Bowling Green at 1 p.m. and v. Penn State at 5:30 p.m.

General admission tickets are $15 and $20. Kids 14 and under are free with an adult. If you can’t make it out, it’ll be broadcast live on NBC Sports from 4-6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

For more information, visit USASevensCCI.com .