Mother Daughter Day with The Blowout Bar in the Short North

Usually about once a month I like to take my mom out to lunch somewhere nice just as a 'thank you' for helping to watch our boys a few times a week while I work. It's also a great way for us to catch up and actually talk without the boys trying to interrupt us! I've always had such a great relationship with my mom and now that I'm in my 30s and have kids of my own, I feel as though we relate more on a friendship level which is so fun!

If you're new around here, I shared when my mom had to have heart surgery back in February. She was born with a heart murmur and one of her heart valves needed to be replaced. The doctors claimed that this type of surgery is 'routine' these days, but hearing my mom needed to have open heart surgery was probably one of the scariest things I've ever heard. We take these precious people in our lives for granted sometimes and hearing that news stopped me in my tracks and made me realize what is important in life. Luckily, her surgery was successful and she has recovered like a champ! She was healthy otherwise, so I think that really helped with her recovery. Since then, she has started watching the boys again over the past few months (with the help of my dad of course 😊) and is back to feeling like her old spunky self again!

So, I obviously like to spend time with her and make her feel special every now and then! When The Blowout Bar contacted me for this collaboration, I was so excited and knew it would be a great opportunity to bring my mom along with me for some pampering!

Mozart's Cafe in Clintonville

We started our day at Mozart's for brunch per my mom's request. It is one of her favorite places! They have the best brunch menu and also really good pastries and treats! They also had live piano music playing!

The Blowout Bar in the Short North

After our brunch, we headed to The Blowout Bar in the Short North. This location was new (there are locations in Dublin and Grandview) and I was looking forward to going down to the Short North because I hadn't been there for a while! There are so many great little restaurants, bars and shops. The Short North is also know as the 'arts district' and is peppered with art galleries that display artwork from local artists. The first Saturday of every month, the Short North hosts a 'gallery hop' and will open the galleries later at night. A lot of the local shops and boutiques will stay open later as well.

We were treated like queens at The Blowout Bar! The ladies greeted us and offered us something to drink when we arrived and sat us right down for our service. We looked at the 'menu' to pick out our hairstyles. I went with the 'Manhattan' and my mom went with the "Bahama Mama'!

After our shampoos, we each had our hair blown out and curled. They are great at using specific products based on your hair type, color, texture and length. Below are the products that Coco (my stylist) used on my hair...

Shop the products below:

I was amazed at how fast they were too! We were in and out in about 30 minutes! I'm definitely going to come again maybe for a date night or girls' night in the future! AND my curls lasted a few more days after as well!

You can also buy gift certificates on their website which would make a perfect gift for any special lady in your life!

(with our stylists, Dakota and Coco!)

Clothe Ohio in the Short North

Now that our hair was looking pretty, we figured we had better go somewhere to show it off! So, we walked around the Short North for a bit and stopped in a few shops including Clothe Ohio which has some really cute Ohio themed clothes!

My outfit: jeans | lace trim cami | thermal cardigan | bow mules | handbag | monogram necklace

Wine on High in the Short North

After that, we stopped into Wine on High and sat at the bar to cool off with an afternoon cocktail! It was the perfect ending to our fun little afternoon!

It was so nice to be able to spend the afternoon with my mama and visit some of my favorite spots around Columbus!

*A special thank you to The Blowout Bar in the Short North for my complimentary blowout in return for this post!

Columbus Stay-cation Recap

We had such a great weekend staying at the Hilton in Downtown Columbus this past weekend. I will say that the weekend flew by, but I did missed my little babe. He did a great job with Grandma and Grandpa, however, so it makes me more confident about leaving him with them when we go to Germany/Austria next month.

First of all, The Hilton was awesome. It's a fairly new hotel and is very modern feeling. We got our room bumped to the top floor close to the executive lounge since Bill is a Hilton gold member (he gets a ton of points for traveling for work). The room was really nice and over looked the city. 

We didn't have any set plans for the weekend. We knew since this was our first 'get away' with out Cam, we may want to take it easy and sleep in (praise hands)! So, we didn't actually make any reservations or have anywhere we had to be which was actually nice!

The first night we decided to keep it casual. We went to Bakersfield which is a new age/modern, western-style Mexican restaurant/bar right in the heart of the Short North. Their tag line is simply 'Tacos. Tequila. Whiskey.' to sum it up! We enjoyed some fresh margs as we waited to be seated (I ordered a skinny one).

It was so delish, I had a second during dinner! We started with the queso app because when in Rome... I had the fish and short rib tacos for dinner. Bill ordered 2 of the braised pork ones which had a little more spice. I really loved the fish taco which came with nice, crispy chunks of mahi mahi, Tabasco lime sauce, citrus slaw and cilantro. It was so good!

Sandals: Express | Jeans: Express | Top: Francesca's | Earrings: Kendra Scott

After dinner, we headed across the street to Forno for a few more drinks. Hey, we didn't have to drive anywhere and we knew we could sleep in the next day so we were living it up! I really love the bar at Forno. It is very modern feeling, but not too uptight. We hung out there for a good couple of hours before heading back to our hotel room.

The next day, we slept in until 9:30am! Whoo hoo! It felt glorious! We (also see, I) were feeling a little sluggish Saturday morning so, we took our time getting ready for the day. We walked around some of the shops in the Short North for a bit before deciding to have brunch at Tasi. This place is a hidden gem located in a back alley that is hard to find if you haven't been there before. It is also a small space and there is usually a pretty long line to order food. Luckily, we got some seats and the line moved pretty fast. I ordered the breakfast croissant sandwich and Bill had the breakfast burrito. 

After brunch, we went back out to Park street and Vine where there were lines of food trucks and live music playing. It was Park Street Festival which is an annual festival on Park street. It typically gets pretty crowded at night, so we wanted to make sure we got to the good food trucks before the crowds. That makes us sound so old! Bill had Chicago style hot dog and I had a Polish all beef hot dog with mustard and grilled onions (obviously, the diet was out the door this weekend).

After being in the hot sun for a while, we decided to take a dip in the hotel pool that afternoon, which was exactly what we needed to be re-energized! 

Then, we went back up to the hotel to relax for a bit. I showered and got ready for the night. It started pouring when we got back up to the hotel room! I'm so glad we came back when we did!

For dinner Saturday night, we decided that sushi sounded good and it so happens that Haiku has a great dining patio as well (which is on my summer bucket list). 

dress (old): francesca's | wedges: Vince Camuto (similar) | iphone case: Rifle Paper Co | earrings: Kendra Scott

The sushi was so good! It started to rain during dinner, but luckily the patio is covered!

We met Bill's brother and wife for a bit after dinner at Bernard's Tavern, then headed back to the hotel around midnight. 

Sunday, we had continental breakfast in the hotel and then headed out to walk around the Short North for a bit. We had the most delicious (and strong!) coffee at one line coffee. 

We hung out there for a bit before the shops opened at noon. We walked around a vintage antique shop  for a bit while I admired these mirrors...

We also visited an oil and vinegar shop called The Green Olive Company, where we got to taste test different flavor combos which was really fun. We bought the butter oil (good for topping popcorn, etc), Chipotle oil (good for chicken and seafood marinade) and I got the Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar for bread dipping and salad dressing. It is soooo good!

We popped in and out of a few other shops, then headed to The North Market for lunch. The North Market is one of my favorite places downtown. You can find such a variety of foods and sweets there! We split a club sandwich from Katzingers Deli (their sandwiches are huge!). 

I also picked up some flowers and macaroons for my mom as a thank you for watching Cam. 

Shortly after lunch, we headed home. It was sad that the weekend flew by so fast, but I was also very excited to get home to my baby :)

Just looking at the photos, it seemed that the weekend turned into a bit of a 'foodie' tour lol! What can I say, we love to eat! This past weekend was one long cheat meal for me... Back at the diet this week :/

*PS - I was not paid by any of the places mentioned in this post. I just wanted to share our experience and opinions are all my own!

Would you plan a stay-cation in your city/town?