What To Do In Louisville, KY

Ok, you are in Louisville, KY and you have no idea what to do. Louisville is the home to the Kentucky Derby and the Louisville Slugger.  Louisville, KY is a major food mecca.  Many stars from your favorite food shows visit Louisville and not just for The Kentucky Derby.  There is also Old Louisville which is the largest preservation district for Victorian homes in America.  Of course, there is also the University Of Louisville (U of L Go Cards) and  U of L lies between Old Louisville and the famous Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.  When the Louisville Cardinals aren't playing at the KFC YUM Center there is always a concert.  There are plenty of things to do in the city.  Oh, and our mother has a great place for you to stay in Old Louisville on Airbnb.

Below I will list some of the places to go eat, hang out, visit and just have fun.  Some of the places we frequent and some we plan to visit soon.  I will add things to the list as I think of places or you may also click on our Pinterest page Love Joy Faith- Louisville Choices.  I tend to add more to the Pinterest pages.

Food

 Ward 426
Burger Boy Diner (Old Louisville) Open 24 Hours
Ollie's Trolly (Old Louisville)
Dizzy Whizz (Old Louisville)
610 Magnolia (Old Louisville)
Bucks (Old Louisville)
Nord's Bakery (in Germantown near Old Louisville) (Our Favorite Doughnuts)
Proof On Main (Our Favorite) note: Love their bar, too.
Decca
The Village Anchor
Pearl Restaurant (Love the pho) (Located in Horseshoe Casino)
Ghyslain
Wild Eggs

Recreation

Kentucky Bourbon Trail
LOUISVILLE URBAN BOURBON TRAIL
Kentucky Science Center
Louisville Zoo
Louisville Slugger Museum
Louisville Mega Cavern
Kentucky Kingdom
Louisville Metro Parks and Recreation
The Louisville Bats -Baseball
University of Louisville Sports (Basketball, Baseball, Football)
Louisville City FC Pro Soccer 
Baxter Jack's  Sandbox Volleyball
Bernie's Volleyball


Arts and Entertainment

Actors Theatre Of Louisville
The Kentucky Center
21c Museum Hotel
Asia Institute Crane House
Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts
St. James Court Art Show
The Speed Art Museum
The Muhammad Ali Center

Bars and Clubs

Nowhere Louisville Video Bar
Proof Bar
4th Street Live
Garage Bar
The Connection- LGBT Night Club

The Caramel Treatment For Natural Hair – Stop Frizz and Shrinkage

The original recipe can be found at The Caramel Treatment – A Natural Hair Softener.  I always love to tweak recipes and make them my own.  I do it for food and hair recipes.  I know my hair isn't one size fits all so I studied different versions of this hair treatment.  I suggest you try different oils that suite you.  The recipe below was my latest batch.  It is enough for four applications.  Important note: DON'T USE BABY FOOD FOR BANANAS!!! You need real overripe bananas.

This recipe does work. It needs to be repeated every 3 weeks or whenever you just need a little help.  The treatment helps with the frizz situation.  Your hair will still frizz but not so drastically.  My hair shrinks a lot and it does help with that as well.  I do this in the summer because well it helps with summer hair.  I heard this works well for transitioning from relaxer to natural hair as well. *Everything in parentheses is a measurement for a single batch.  I make the treatment for four people and you may only need a single batch so use those measurements.  

Honey – 1¼ cups (single batch 6 tablespoons)


Olive Oil – 1¼ cups (6 tablespoons)
 note: mixed grape seed and safflower oil with the olive oil.  My personal touch.

Bananas – 7-9 (2-3) 
overripe and very soft

Molasses (Treacle) – ¾ cup (3 tablespoons)


Water – 1 cup (4-6 tablespoons)


Apple Cider Vinegar – 3 tablespoons (1 tablespoon)


Cornstarch – 6-8 tablespoons (1-2 tablespoons) depending on how thick you want the mixture to be
 (also helps with shine for hair)

Wheat germ oil – 3 teaspoons (1 teaspoon) – This can be substituted 

I add all ingredients to a blender (Ninja) and blend away.  Then I warm the mixture over low heat just to thicken it to a pudding consistency.  I leave the treatment on my hair for at least 4 hours.  I put a plastic bag on my hair to help with the treatment but I don't always use a plastic bag.  I rinse my hair after but I never shampoo.  The treatment coats your hair strands and you don't want to strip that away.

What To Do With Grief

It has been a while since I posted anything.  Grief does that sometimes.  It cuts you off from the world.  It gives you Sleeping Beauty disease, literally making leaving the bed near to impossible even when there is beach outside.  So now here I am, back from a long sleep and here is My Royal Family 4's grief playbook:

1. Counseling
2. Reading Blogs
3. Shamans
4. Spas
5. Mediums
6. Road Trips
7. Fasting
8. Medicine Wheel with Barbara Bloecher
9. Fasting
10. Reading Books
11. Qigong with Master Ding
12. TV On Demand/Netflix/Hulu Plus

As you can see the four of us have been busy and not so busy.  I have slept many days away; while the other three Ladies have fought hard to keep the walls from tumbling down.  I feel guilty but I don't know what else to do.  I do what is on our schedule.  We are all reading the same books together.  We are all studying together.  We are all searching together.  Somehow I have managed to sleep so many days away in spite of our packed schedule.

I am going to give you the list of books that the four of us are reading.  If you are grieving or even if you are not you might like the reading list.  You might find it interesting or not.  If you are grieving it may give you some temporary peace.  If you are bored well it might change your thought process.  I don't have much to share right now.  WE, My Royal Family 4, are grieving and we are also reading.  It is part of our search.






     





    





All books listed above can be found on Amazon:

Sepher Rezial Hemelach: The Book of the Angel Rezial by Steve Saved

Matrix Energetics: The Science and Art of Transformation by Richard Bartlett

Into the Matrix: Guides, Grace, and the Field of the Heart by Richard Bartlett D.C. N.D, [ The Matrix

Energetics Experience Kit [With Cards and DVD and Study Guide] ] THE MATRIX ENERGETICS EXPERIENCE... by Richard Bartlett,

The Physics of Miracles: Tapping in to the Field of Consciousness Potential by Richard Bartlett DC ND,

E-Squared: Nine Do-It-Yourself Energy Experiments That Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality by Pam Grout

Ask George Anderson: What Souls in... George Anderson, Andrew Barone

Walking in the Garden of Souls... George Anderson, Andrew Barone

We Don't Die: George Anderson's...

The Pleiadian Workbook: Awakening Your Divine Ka by Amorah Quan Yin

I Am the Word: A Guide to the Consciousness of Man's Self in a Transitioning Time by Paul Selig

The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra (2008), 

archangels and ascended masters by doreen virtue

Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe by Robert Lanza and Bob Berman

Oneness by Rasha

A Journey to Oneness: a Chronicle of Spiritual Emergence by Rasha

We are reading more than the books listed above and I will add more to the list when I feel like it.

In addition to reading we are doing major TV marathons: Supernatural, Resurrection, Believe 

These three shows are just a few we are watching.  They tend to get our minds off the things we don't want to think about.

One day I hope to do a vBlog about what we are doing so check back later.

Living While Mourning

I loved my husband and tried to integrate him into every part of my life.  My sisters loved my husband like a brother.  My mother loved my husband as if he were her son.  None of us could imagine living in a world without him physically being present.  It seemed impossible. 

Bryan left the physical world December 13, 2013.  That is right, he moved on to the other side less than two months ago.  We celebrated Christmas, New Years, my birthday and went on our first road trip without him during the roughly month and a half since I last physically saw him.  (Note: my sisters, my mother and I have seen him in spirit a few times but we are so distraught that I feel it affects those experiences.)

We did our best to get through Christmas, New Years and my birthday.  If it weren’t for my Aunt Crystal, cousin Shawn and Erik we really would not have made it through.  They dropped everything in their lives to help the four of us at great inconvenience to themselves.  They gave their very best for us and allowed us to mourn while celebrating all the holidays. 

Bryan’s parents and siblings handled his loss with a grace I did not have.  They were completely beautiful in handling the loss of such a wonderful son and brother.  I could only hope that one day I could be as graceful as they were.  (Note: May we never have to show such grace because of a tragedy again.  May all of us show grace in the way we live and may we never experience this kind of pain again.)  Bryan’s cousin was the only person who could calm me down on the day I discovered my husband’s body.  She may not know it but she gave me information that I needed.  She and my sister Joy together handled getting information to all family members on both sides.

We are all trying hard to live with the way our world is now.  Dealing with me is not the easiest thing during normal circumstances and right now it is near to impossible.  I am not a social person but as part of a group I am very social.  My sisters look at going out as fun.  I see going out as my job, which is a good thing, because if it weren’t my job I would never leave the house.  The point is, because I see being out as part of my job I went out New Years instead of staying at home.  I cried all night.  The lyrics of the songs just tore me apart.  Same thing on my birthday, we went to a casino to celebrate and to hear a live band.  I cried so hard that I was embarrassed.

The road trip we took was a trip Bryan had planned for us years back but we never took.  It was strange because Joy made the arrangements without remembering that Bryan had made plans for us to go there many years ago.  While Joy was booking the resort she kept commenting that Bryan was picking the resort.  She was right, he was.  It was very healing for us to be there.  We received several treatments including Body Talk, which has really helped us.  The Body talk treatment was so powerful we will continue to have them with our local practitioner.  I felt good at the resort all day and all afternoon but by dinner (every dinner at the resort) I cried.

Faith came up with a wonderful idea today.  She basically said that maybe we need to figure out how to have fun at home and it will help us have fun out.  That isn’t what she said but I can’t put it the way she did.  I just know that she had us play Black Jack today in the breakfast room and I feel better.  I can at least attempt to write.  Faith allowed me to feel happy.  I think that she believes that if we practice living at home as if we are out that maybe one day we can go to the real Black Jack table or dance floor or spa or fancy dinner and make it through without crying.  We can live the moments we are in and not the moment we want most to change.

For Bryan Santo Scichilone- Praises, Compliments And Thank Yous

Dear Bryan,

I thought you knew how proud I was of you.  I hope you know how much I appreciated you.  Just in case you did not know I am telling you now.  I know I verbalized these things but I think you really didn't take it to heart

1. Thank you for marrying me.
2. Thank you for loving my sisters as your own.
3. Thank you for loving my mother as if she were your own.
4. Thank you for being our friend.
5. Thank you for being our greatest coach, cheerleader and fan.
6. Thank you for always taking care of me.
7. Thank you for always being proud of me no matter what I looked like.
8. Thank you for our many road trips together.
9. Thank you for hanging out with me even when I was doing nerd things.
10. Thank you for always proofreading my work.
11. Thank you for embracing all the odd things about me.
12. Thank you for being the greatest partner in the world.
13. You are so handsome.
14. You are so much fun to be around.
15. You always saw good intention.
16. You always looked for the best in everyone.
17. You are a man's man who is very comfortable hanging with the girls.
18. You have beautiful eyes.
19. You have a great singing voice.
20. You are the champion of the weak.
21. Your body is amazing.
22. You are very athletic.
23. You amaze me because you can do with your body what many humans cannot.
24. You are a great writer.
25. I feel as though God tailor made you for me.
26. Thank you for supporting me in my decisions.
27. Thank you for respecting me as an individual.
28. Bryan is so great at making baked goods.
29. Bryan is so good at prepping us for road trips.
30. Bryan stopped a man from killing another man in broad daylight in 2013.
31. Bryan stopped a group go kids from beating an older man to death after Thunder Over Louisville (2013).
32. Bryan is a man who stood up against violence.
33. I loved that Bryan volunteered with Adult reading programs.
34. Bryan encourages people to find their own voice as a writer.
35. Bryan sees what you need as a person and he would try to provide it.
36. Bryan is very intelligent.
37. Bryan is very intuitive.
38. Bryan makes my life worth something.
39. Bryan helps me dream bigger.
40. Bryan is the king maker and the king.

For My Husband

Bryan I am not angry with you. I am your wife. I will always be your wife. You will always be my husband. I wish I could celebrate the best of us. I wish while we were on the same plane you could have seen the best of me. If I live past this moment I promise you, you will see my best. I promise you that you will see how great my love for you is. You are the man I loved to show off. I will show you that I can be a great wife. Build our world on the next plane. Make it bright and wonderful. Be there to receive all four of us. We will be new and you must show us how much fun the next life is. I give you permission to see everything in my heart, soul and body and mind. There are no locks. See it all. Know it all. I give you permission to speak to me whenever you want. I give you permission to show yourself to me whenever you want. I give you permission to move forward whenever you want. Go into the light and make a home for us. You were always a great man now become an even greater being. Let no one hold you back. Let no thoughts hold you back. Let no regrets hold you back. I am your wife! I love you now and always!

I sent this to him this Sunday at 7:53 PM.  I post it now in hopes that if he could not feel my words then that maybe others reading it will help him feel it.  I am...I just am. (Please note "if I live past this moment" only means I know I am not guaranteed any moment past the breath I have now.) Bryan passed away on the 13th Friday of this month of December in the of year 2013. 

My love, Bryan Scichilone.

Bryan's guest book

Christmas Party Kickoff-"Sister to Sister" (Getting In The Christmas Spirit)

Aunt Crystal wears the white hat.  Mom wears the Red.
The White and Red Queen

Our Aunt (Mom's sister) always throws a party the first Saturday of December titled "Sister to Sister.”  It is her way of celebrating her relationship with her sisters and other women.  It is her official Christmas kickoff party.  She never cancels, not during a snow storm, not during an ice storm, and not during a tornado.  It has become a tradition.  This year was no different.  We had a winter storm that Friday, and yet we were all there and ready to party.

Now, many of my Aunt's friends are older than her.  In fact, some of the women are at least 20 years older, so the party is kind of a strange and wonderful mix of women.  The point of the party is to have fun and, oddly enough, everyone does.  Now, at every party there is food, but this party is a little different.  My Aunt, who makes wonderful food, keeps it simple and tasty for this party.  We all eat well, but the main course is experiencing a day together.  It is a moment in time that makes you feel good about yourself and, frankly, privileged to be a woman.  Trust me, the guys have their own party that day, but I doubt it was as lively.

My Aunt's "Sister to Sister" party allows everyone of us to be little girls and grown women at the same time.  We play games.  We sing songs (Twelve Days Of Christmas every year), and we dance. Yes, we have a grand old time.  My Aunt may not know how much everyone appreciates her party, but we do! I admit sometimes I have a little panic attack before going.  I am not always feeling very social or in the Christmas spirit, but by the end of the night I am always glad that I came.  Plus where else am I going to see an 80 year old woman drop it like its hot!!! My Aunt's friends may be older than her, but they sure can party!