Kentucky Places: Downtown Lexington Ice Rink

About a month ago, Lexington got a surprise that I think was quite welcomed - an ice skating rink smack dab in the center of downtown. I drove past it this weekend and it was great seeing families downtown and skating their way through Triangle Park. It brought a completely different, almost idyllic, feeling to downtown Lexington, especially when it's normally barren while UK students are at home for the Holidays.

image via kentucky.com

image via kentucky.com

image via visitlex.com

image via kentuckykernel.com

Details: The Unified Trust Company Ice Rink is open Monday through Friday 4:00 – 9:00; Saturday 10:00 – 10:00 and Sunday 1:30 – 9:00. While schools are closed for the winter holidays, the ice skating rink will be open Monday through Friday from 10:00 – 10:00. The fee to skate is $10.00 per ninety minutes. You may bring your own skates but skates are available from the ice rink at no additional charge. If you have questions about the ice rink you may call (859) 269-5681.

Kentucky Places: Noble Park Christmas Lights Display

Every year Paducah Power puts on a spectacular lights display at Noble Park in Paducah. 

My favorite part is watching some of the displays reflect off the pond. 

Southern Christmas

Prior to being a Kentuckian, I was a Georgia peach. Granted, I was only 12 when I moved here, but my mom was from Savannah and had a slow, southern drawl to her speech. She was mega-Georgian.

Anyway, growing up, I quickly realized the grandeur of the Southern Christmas. Not sure where the revelry comes from in the tradition with my family as we were never particularly religious. I do know that Christmas time was my favorite as a child, and to this day have really strong inclinations to keep some of the Southern traditions intact despite not having family around.

Hubs grew up in Lexington, and has a different version of a Southern Christmas than my family did. They focused much less on material items, decorations, and food than we did. Perhaps some of that comes with having a large family and enough chatter to fill the house with color.

Ingredients to my Southern Christmas:

• The tree. Real or fake, but white lights only. Ribbons must be present and theme trees are acceptable (in color or category). Multiple trees are encouraged as well if there are children - they get their own tree.
• Needlepoint stockings hanging on the fireplace mantle. Bonus if the names are on the stocking. At Christmas, stockings must be overflowing with lots of goodies. Some of my favorite things were in the stockings, just because they were unexpected and thoughtful. 
• A wreath on the front door.
• A tree skirt with tradition. I have the one my family used growing up. It doesn't match the tree or my house decor, so I cover it up. Still, I know it's there and that's all that matters.
• Food. Lots of food. Staples include: pecan pie, pumpkin pie, ambrosia, ham, turkey, giblet stuffing and gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes (fresh, not from a box, and with real butter), baked macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole with those fried onions on top, yeast rolls.
• Holiday-scented potpourri or cinnamon pinecones around the house.

These days the food is much lighter, the potpourri has been replaced with Scentsy and hubs and I don't do stockings, but I still have my little semblance of my Southern Christmas. 

What does your Southern Christmas look like?

In Photos: Governor's Mansion Christmas

Kentucky Governor's Mansion in Frankfort, Kentucky.

Gift Guide for your Favorite Kentuckian

You know the only thing I love more than Kentucky? Presents! Hence, the most amazing thing in the WORLD would be Kentucky-themed presents.

You're welcome.

I LOVE these state necklaces from Maya Brenner. Let's face it some states are prettier than others. Hawaii might be paradise but their necklace is ugly. Of course, Kentucky's is beautiful. And of course, I own the Kentucky one WITH the diamond over Paducah. 

Ok, pretend that's Kentucky. The shop can do any state. So, for the little Kentuckian in your life or the proud parents of a future Kentuckian, this little onesie is perfect.

Change it to Paris, Kentucky. Done.

I used to think spoon rings were a little lame...until I found this one.

When I lived away, my mother always described Kentucky as my roots. It always made me tear up. 

So, does this print. 

And to prove I DO care about Kentucky fans, what every UK fan needs - a portable UK fire pit. :)

Her Kentucky Entertaining: A Piece of Home in the Big City

Her Kentucky is thrilled to present a guest post from Amy Hille Glasscock.  Amy works on energy issues as a lobbyist by day, and by night she likes to throw parties of all sorts.  Amy is from Berea, Kentucky, holds degrees from Berea College and the University of Kentucky and currently lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Will and their cat, Kira.  When she isn't planning a party she likes to blog about her party adventures at MidCitySaturdays.com. 

This past weekend my husband and I held our annual holiday party at our apartment in Washington, DC. I think the most comments I received came from one item of holiday décor we had prominently displayed over our dining table. It was rustic, yet elegant, modern yet timeless, rough yet sparkling. And I’m going to tell you how to make it too!

You see, a few years ago I saw a picture of a white branch with Christmas ornaments hanging over a dining table as a DIY suggestion in the cb2 catalogue. It seemed like a fun idea, but utterly impossible to recreate in an apartment in the city. First of all you have to find a branch. This requires some sort of recent severe storm to have occurred so that you can walk to a park and find a branch worthy of your project. If I were to find the perfect branch I would hope that it would be in the exact length I desired because I certainly do not have a saw in my small tool box! Then I would have to walk to the local hardware store and buy a can of spray paint, which wouldn’t be that hard, but there also wouldn’t be a great selection (I do love and support my local hardware store though!). But then where do I spray this thing? The only options would be to borrow a friend’s yard (I have no friends with yards) or carefully cover my patio in newspaper so that I do not spray any of the concrete. It’s just not easy.

When my husband and I decided to drive home to Kentucky this Thanksgiving instead of flying, a light bulb popped up over my head and I thought “branches, painting, sawing, crafting, Kentucky!” Yes, my old Kentucky home, where all things are easier. As soon as I got to Kentucky, I picked up a can of glossy white paint at Lowe’s. Then my dad and I walked around in the woods at their home outside of Berea looking for the perfect branch. His recommendation was to look for cedar or pine as most of the bark would already be gone. After about 45 minutes of searching (so many options!) my dad went to get his saw and I sawed a great branch off of a fallen cedar tree.

I was able to spray to my heart’s content outside at my parents’ place without ruining anything except for some grass that will grow back. It took me a couple of days to spray the branch. I ended up getting a different can of paint with a built in primer which worked much better than the first can (dried wood is very absorbent). It didn’t end up being super glossy white, but it looked more rustic and I was definitely okay with that. I asked Dad if he could spare some extra fishing line for hanging the branch, and he gladly cut off about six feet. When it was time to load the car and head back to DC, the branch fit in the back seat easily.

Fast forward to last week (oh, and yes, we had a lovely Thanksgiving, and you?). We used the fishing line to attach the branch to our light fixture above the table and found some sparkly purple and silver ornaments at Target to hang from the branch (with white thread). I saw a similar purple and silver branch display in a Manhattan store front the week before and was inspired by the color combination. 

Come party time last Saturday, with the lights down, and candles lit, our branch looked suspended in mid- air and absolutely fantastic! The total cost was about $15 and the new ornaments accounted for $10 of that. You may already have some you’d like to use! 

While the hanging holiday branch was beautiful, it also represented in some ways a combination of where I’m from and where I live now. I couldn’t have done it without the resources available to me back home and help from my parents, but the inspiration came from a catalogue and a city sidewalk dressed in holiday style.

Kentucky Places: Shaker Village

When I was in the fifth grade, we took a field trip to the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. I can still remember the village like it was yesterday.
Shaker Village is located in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, which is about 45 minutes from Lexington, Kentucky.
Shaker Village is an original Shaker Religious Community that was active from 1805 to 1910. It is now a preserved National Historic Landmark.
The Village has a Living History museum where you can watch craftspeople display broom making, woodworking, spinning, and weaving.