People often ask me where I like to shop, the honest truth is that aside from Trader Joe’s and Care a Lot, I never have time to shop. In theory, I’m like many of you who like the hunt. Whether it’s yard sales, antique shops, consignment shops, gift shops or the curb, I’ve always got my eyes peeled for a “great” piece. That means something different to everyone, but to me, it means something that I can get for a good price, that I really love, or something I can get for next to nothing that I can transform into something I love. The problem is that taking time to shop around for myself gets pushed to the bottom of the list of priorities. That’s one reason I think I had such a great time in Ohio – we went ALL over town and then some to the kind of places I love to shop.

We went to IKEA on our trip – and while I really love an organized space, I’m not that great at creating one for myself. When I walk into those cubes that say, “this is my 325sq foot home” and everything just makes sense, I get inspired. I tend to enjoy things that are attractive over functional, IKEA does a good job of blending those. My big purchase was more down pillow forms to replace the ones that were destroyed (you can read about that here) and some shelves to make more room in my kitchen cabinets.

Then we were off to the Ballard Design/Frontgate/Grandin Road outlet. I was very excited because I love to sit down with my Ballard catalog as soon as the new one comes and I thought for sure there would be some steals that I just HAD to have.

Of course there were things I liked – but nothing fit my frame of “good price, love it, or dirt cheap & can transform it.” Mom got this great chandelier in cream for her bedroom so it was not a wasted trip. We then headed over to Anthropologie, which I like to peruse because I think their displays are fabulous. I usually can’t fit into any of their clothes, or afford their accessories, but I love it nonetheless.

After a lunch at Trio, where we had delicious “big salads” we stopped at Duck Creek Antique Mall. Our friend from home Ricki used to live in Cincy and said Duck Creek is a must.

We poked around Duck Creek for an hour and unfortunately ran out of time to fully explore both floors. They close at 5 and we can really empathize with employees that are ready to hit the road after a long day. Mom scored a pair of perfectly crusty green shutters for her screened porch, and I found vintage bamboo wine rack that I quite liked.
Serious shopping isn’t for the faint, we covered more turf afterwards but had to check out Cincinnati’s legendary ice cream shop Graeters in between stops.

Graeters has some of the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. Hands down. They have amazing flavors like Coconut Chocolate Chip, Mocha Toffee Chip, Buckeye Blitz, Black Raspberry Chip, Strawberry Cheesecake, just to name a few. We become Graeters experts by the end of our jaunt to Ohio. We may or may not have gotten some pints and had Graeters pack them in dry ice to bring home to our husbands and shop girls.
Some other highlights of our trip:

Giggi, Karan and Dede – checking out the furniture at Home Emporium

We checked out Miller’s in Lebanon, Ohio and were not disappointed. We all found at least one thing to buy and most of the booths were having 20% off sales.