HerKentucky Shops! Black Friday in Kentucky
I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving and is ready to start their holiday shopping!
While I'm not a big Black Friday shopper myself, I sure can't keep from checking out the online sales from Target and Nordstrom and... well, you get the idea!
For your shopping convenience, here are a few of the best Black Friday sales and going on across the Bluegrass State.
- BBQ & More (Paducah): Free Paducah Ornament with $100 Purchase at their Sip, Sample & Shop Event Friday & Saturday November 27 & 28, 10-5.
- Daffodils (Prestonsburg): Open Thursday 11/26 9 p.m. - Friday 11/27 2 a.m. First 100 customers receive a free gift!
- My Kentucky Tee: 15% off All Tees for Subscribers only. Friday 11/27-Monday 11/30.
- Omar + Elsie (Lexington): 10% off storewide; $100 in gift cards for $90. Friday 11/27 from 10-6.
- Two Chicks & Company: Online specials posted on Friday and Monday.
- Rodes for Him & For Her (Louisville): Tax free Shopping Friday 11/27 and Saturday 11/28.
- Kentucky Branded: All inventory buy one get one half off (online only).
- CycleYOU (Lexington): Membership, gift certificate, and merchandise sale 11/27-29.
- The Bug's Ear (Elizabethtown): 11/27 midnight- 2 am: 20% off entire in-store purchase; 9 am-6 pm: 15% off entire in-store purchase.
- Shop Local Kentucky (Lexington): 10% off entire in-store purchase; free t-shirt with $20 purchase.
- Primp Style Lounge (Louisville): 20% off packages; 15% off products; gift card deals and more!
Happy shopping, y'all!
Blue and Brown Kitchen Print Patchwork Quilt
Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!
Julia Child said that "People who love to eat are always the best people." Let me tell you, this Thanksgiving, Julia would certainly approve of everyone at my house. We've feasted and given thanks, and we decorated the sofa with this gorgeous cooking-themed quilt that my grandmother made for me a few years ago. I love the fun prints and colors in this one!
HerKentucky Shops! Target Pajamas One Day Sale 11/24
This week, HerKentucky wants to make sure y'all spend as little time as possible at the mall. This week kicks off the holiday season, and why would you bother standing in line at the mall to fight over sweaters and blue-ray players when you could be fighting with relatives and listening to Adele?
I mean, obviously.
In the spirit of staying away from Black Friday, we're sharing sales and shopping events that keep you out of the malls this week here on HerKentucky.com as well as over on our Facebook and Instagram pages. While we're mostly focusing on local stores and Kentucky-made products, I just couldn't resist letting y'all in on a one-day sale at Target. Because, let's be honest: you're going to go to Target this week. Probably today. So, you should pick up some of the absolute BEST pajamas while you're there.
Target's Nick & Nora flannel pajamas are my holiday favorite. They fit great, they hold up well, and they're simply adorable. I've amassed quite a collection over the years, and I'll probably pick up a pair or two today, because all pajamas are 40% off today only at Target! Use code SLEEP online, or shop in-store.
And, go ahead and buy an extra pair. You'll love them.
(This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions about Target and Nick & Nora are my own. I seriously love those pajamas.)
HerKentucky Shops! Hadley Pottery One Day Tabletop Sale 11/23
Black Friday is not my jam. In fact, Black Friday is the only thing I like less than Justin Bieber or Duke Basketball. You get the idea.
On the other hand, I love to shop, and I really love going into December with a good chunk of my holiday shopping already finished so I can focus on enjoying the Christmas season. Of course, I prefer to shop locally when I can, and I love to find unique, Kentucky-made gifts when possible.
The Hadley Pottery Tabletop Sale lasts today -- Monday, November 23rd -- and provides you a rare 15% off the unique, hand-painted, Louisville-based pottery line. Sale prices are marked on the Hadley website, and the discount applies to plates, bowls, mugs, and cups.
Happy shopping!
Fair Isle For Fall
Fair Isle sweaters are a traditional favorite for fall and winter. The traditional knitting pattern is named, obviously, for Fair Isle, the most remote inhabited island in the United Kingdom. This tiny corner of Scotland, one of the Shetland Islands, is perhaps most famous for knits that have a limited palette of five or so colors, use only two colors per row, are worked in the round, and limit the length of a run of any particular color. For those of us who aren't knitters, that basically translates to rows of small, intricate patterns.
Sir Paul in Fair Isle
The pattern was popularized 1920s when Edward VIII, Prince of Wales, took to wearing the pattern.
Prince Eddy in Fair Isle
Over the years, Fair Isle knits have become synonymous with leisure, outdoorsy activities, and a traditionally British aesthetic.
#squadgoals
I love that Fair Isle sweaters work well year after year. They never really go out of style. I may have a problem with collecting pink ones, though...
Modern Fair Isle knits aren't just relegated to stuffy sweaters. Here are some great Fair Isle pieces at every price point, ranging from traditional and preppy to modern and irreverent.
Five Things You Need To Know About The Kentucky - Duke Rivalry
Tonight, the University of Kentucky Men's Basketball Team takes the court against the Duke Blue Devils. For many of us, this is a game fueled by intense rivalry, which makes it rather surprising that this will only be the twenty-first time the teams have met over the span of eighty-five years.
As we count down to tip-off, here are a few must-know trivia tidbits to fuel your #BBN obsession. Go Big Blue!
The Atlanta City Auditorium, site of the 1930 Southern Conference Championship.
1. The Kentucky-Duke rivalry spreads over eighty-five years. The teams first met in March 1930 in Atlanta, at the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament.Duke won that game, 37-32. (Duke went on to lose to Alabama in the finals.)
2. The teams have met twenty times: Kentucky has won 11 of those games, while Duke has won 9.
3. The record for most points scored by a single player in a Duke-Kentucky game is held by UK legend Jack "Goose" Givens in the 1978 National Championship Game. Givens scored 41 points, including 18 fields goal.
4. Kentucky holds 8 National Championship Titles; Duke has 5.
5. The 1992 East Regional Final game is remembered by most Kentucky fans as perhaps the most painful loss to Duke. The 104-103 overtime Blue Devils win included Christian Laettner's memorable technical foul against Aminu Timberlake and that last shot -- you know the one, because the Worldwide Leader shows it a thousand times every spring -- well, you know how it ended.
Louisville's French Connection
A look at some of the symbols and stories of French influence in Louisville, KY.
Over the past few days, we've all been thinking of France. The recent tragedies in Paris have been in our hearts and on our minds. Here in Louisville, our city reflects French heritage in so many aspects of our everyday lives. Fleurs de lis adorn everything, we sip whiskey that carries the name of a French ruling house, and our city itself bears the name of a French monarch. In fact, our city was French well before it was a city or even part of Kentucky: the Falls of the Ohio were once home to an outpost of La Belle, France.
Among the earliest settlers of the areas now known as Louisville, KY and New Albany, IN were second-and third-generation American-born French, the descendants of Hugenots who had fled France in the late 17th century to avoid religious persecution. These adventurers followed René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle's expedition into the area. The next wave of French settlers included by the French military forces who'd allied themselves with American troops during the Revolutionary War. A third group of French settlers were members of the clergy and nobility who fled the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, settling in the commercial areas known as Shippingport and Portland. The strong ties between early Americans and the French are still reflected in the heritage and branding of modern Louisville.
Fleur de Lis
When the city of Louisville was founded by George Rogers Clark in 1778, legend tells us, he carried a French naval flag bearing three fleurs de lis; until the consolidation of the Louisville metro area, our city's flag included three fleurs de lis as well. The fleur de lis icon -- the stylized lily that represents nobility in French heraldry -- is visible all over Louisville as a symbol of our city.
Fleur de lis pottery at Louisville Stoneware. Stoneware is located in the historically French Paristown Pointe district.
King Louis XVI
The area now known as Kentucky was still part of Virginia in 1780, the year in which Louisville's town charter was approved. The Virginia General Assembly named the town in honor of King Louis XVI, whose soldiers were allied with American troops in the Revolutionary War. Although the French king soon fell out of favor with his own subjects, who overthrew the monarchy in 1791, the Derby City continues to honor a leader who assisted the United States' fight for independence. In 1967, Louisville's French sister city, Montpellier, presented the city with a statue of Louis XVI.
Bourbon
Louisville isn't the only Kentucky place whose name reflects the French monarchy. Bourbon County was first established as part of Virginia in 1785 in honor of Louis XVI, a member of the royal House of Bourbon. The present-day Central Kentucky Bourbon County reflects the historical county from which it was carved. Of course, Kentucky's bourbon county is recognized as the home of bourbon whiskey, that special concoction of corn, wheat, and limestone water for which Kentucky is famous.
Here's to the French settlers who made Louisville a distinctive and charming city. Salut, y'all!