COOL SUMMER

Many thanks to everyone who came out for Cool Summer: Our House to Yours! We had a great crowd and raised about $800 for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Cincinnati, though I forgot to take any pictures! :-) That will help off set the stay of a family at the House for 36 days!

Many thanks to my partners in crime, Julie of WineMeDineMeCincinnati.com, Katy of KatesRandomMusings.com, Monika and Shannan of CincinnatiWomenBloggers.com. Also, many thanks to Below Zero Lounge for being such a fabulous host, and thanks to Lancome for setting up and doing free makeup consultations! And, of course, thanks to M2B Designs for her amazing graphic!

I think by the end of the night the overall reaction was: success!

Also, congratulations to the Ensemble Theatre Company and STOP AIDS for a hugely successful Big Hair Bingo, with pictures brought to you by Cincinnati NAMjA!

Of course, after the party and the time at Blue Bar with Cincinnati Guerrilla Queer Bar, I found myself sick with god knows what... so much so that I just woke up about an hour ago. Sigh. We're going to chalk it up to the relief from stress.

Equality Ohio Fundraiser

Equality Ohio hosted a little fundraiser at Below Zero this evening, and I had the distinct pleasure of hanging with my dears Erin Upchurch (of Equality Ohio), Cameron Tolle (of Impact Cincinnati), and Rusty Lockett (of Church of our Savior and the Gay and Lesbian Community Center), all pictured above. I did the single most shocking thing you would ever expect from me ... that is, gasp, signed up to be an Equality Ohio member. (Yes, Lynne, it's true.) Thanks to Erin we have a mini update on the Equal Housing and Employment Act (EHEA -- HB176), which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression in Ohio.

The Ohio legislature is on recess right now, but we have received assurances that there will be a vote before this session ends. As it stands, we've not had a lot of leadership emerge in the Ohio Senate on the issue, so there is a lot of lobbying to do over there, too. Law in Ohio, though, seems to read that the House can pass a bill this session and then go to the Senate next session, so we don't have to start the process over again. Equality Ohio is asking people to continue to contact their State Representatives throughout the summer to keep the pressure on them until a vote comes up in late September or early October. For information on how to contact your local representative, go here.

Other events of note this weekend:

• COOL SUMMER Coktail Hour-- Brought to you by this blog, WineMeDineMeCincinnati.com, KatesRandomMusings.com, and CincinnatiWomenBloggers.com. It's a fundraiser tomorrow (July 17th) from 7pm-10pm at Below Zero Lounge. Promises to be a great time! (Facebook page)
• Big Hair Bingo -- "Honey, this isn't your grandma's bingo." Gay bingo comes to Cincinnati tomorrow night at 7:30pm at the Ensemble Theatre Company (1127 Vine Street), benefiting STOP AIDS and the theatre. (Facebook Page)

Hope to see you out this weekend folks!

Cool Summer: Our House to Yours

From QueerCincinnati.com; Wine Me, Dine Me, Cincinnati; Kate's Random Musings; and Cincininnati Women Bloggers, with a special thanks to MB2 Designs, and to Lancome...

Cool Summer: Our House To Yours
A cocktail hour to benefit Ronald McDonald House of Cincinnati
July 17th, 7pm-10pm at Below Zero Lounge (1122 Walnut Street)
$10 Suggested Donation at the Door

Check out the Facebook event -- tell us you're coming!

Social media, meet the print media

Kudos to the excellent women over at Cincinnati Women Bloggers for the excellent coverage they received this week in the Enquirer. 

You ladies deserve the great attention. These blogs are written by some of the most amazing women you will ever meet, and I consider it an honor to know y'all. 

Although I'm totally getting tired of all the attention you're getting. HA!

Make sure you follow all the wonderful work these ladies are doing over at thir central blogsite.

CWB Holiday Social...

...was AWESOME! Got to meet some great new people!!! (Sorry, my pictures SUCK) It was awesome to hang out with:

• Kate (my chauffeur and BFF for the night)
• Liz from get in mah belly
• Kevin of Strategic Public Relations
• 5chw4r7z (ha, Liz, I spelled it out!)
• Erin Marie of Don't Call Me Mrs.
• AmyinOhio
• ShannanB of Mommy Bits
• Monika of Such a Redkatblonde
• Debba of Girlfriendology
• Lenna of CincySpin (new to the scene!!!)
• Liz/Angela of JulietandJuliette.com

It was a great event and word on the street is that we raised over $800 for The Interfaith Hospitality Network of Northern Kentucky!!!

Thanks to all who came -- including Twitter friends, new and old!!

Cincinnati Women's Bloggers Holiday Social

Aight, gusy and gals. 'Tis the season -- HOHOHO (well, almost). But I wanted to call everyone's attention to an event I will be attending...
The Cincinnati Women Bloggers site is fabulous and fierce and written by strong, intelligent, independent women who have something to say. I have met, I think, all of the contributors and they are some of the most genuine and wonderful people you will ever come into contact with.

If you go to the link (by clicking the picture above, or here) you can vote (until 11/29) for the charity that the event will benefit. I won't tell you who is currently in the lead, though I have to say it's not the one I voted for :-(. But they are all three such great charities (Women Helping Women, the Interfaith Hospitality Network, and the Freestore Foodbank)that it's hard to be angry at them. 

This is me confirming my attendance and recommending that the rest of you do, too.