After a lot of late nights filled with planning and many emails sent, my first ever creative’s retreat came together! Last weekend The Village Host was so gracious to partner with us and host our fun little event. We had the amazing opportunity to work with creative companies, meet local bloggers from Columbus and create some photo magic! In today’s post I’m sharing what A Creative’s Retreat is all about, who we worked with and where we went in Columbus. It was all around a great experience and I can’t wait to put together many more retreat’s in the future. To stay up to date with all that goes on with A Creatives Retreat, check out the link to my Instagram here.
Other Travel Posts:
Rad Tune’s on my Summer 2018 Road Trip Playlist
A Creative’s Retreat to Columbus, Ohio
The mission behind A Creative’s Retreat..
As the beginning of 2018 approached, an idea dawned on me. Why not put together trips in which creatives and cool businesses can come together? The thought behind A Creative’s Retreat is to bring together the creative community through retreats that foster creativity, collaboration & growth. The process, at this point, goes a little like this: I put together a group of a couple bloggers, I then pick a destination and we stay at a cute airbnb there! We then shoot content around town and within the airbnb photographing our vendors product and in our downtime, explore the city and get to know one another!
All around I’ve found that it’s a great opportunity to travel and create exciting content with creatives. It provides the opportunity to meet other like minded girl’s and make new friends! At the end of the day, the more we collaborate the stronger the creative community becomes. By offering creatives the ability to get out of town and experience a change of scenery, they’re able to “retreat” from day to day life and let their creative abilities run wild!
Where we stayed: The Village Host
For our retreat, we were so lucky to be hosted by The Village Host. This airbnb is located in German Village. (Which is an extremely prime location, I soon learned during my stay.) Located across the street from a beautiful park (picnic anyone?) and within walking distance from Fox in the Snow Cafe, Native Cold Pressed, Stump and Three Buds Flower Market. Each of these shops are extremely cute, so you’ll have plenty to do if you stay in German Village!
Our airbnb had three rooms, each one with the most comfiest beds! There were two full baths, one with a shower and another with an amazing claw foot tub. We really enjoyed that tub. This home had everything we could’ve wanted during our stay. One thing in particular that I really liked was the backyard! There was a fire pit, chairs and the perfect amount of space to relax in. In the living room we particularly loved how it was decorated and put the local suggestion book to use when we needed to find somewhere to eat for dinner! Among many other reasons why we loved this airbnb, the best part was how beautifully the space was decorated. It created the perfect environment to get our creative ideas going. It’s for this reason in particular why I had hoped to work with The Village Host! After staying I cannot recommend them enough. If you’re ever in need of somewhere to stay in Columbus, this is the airbnb you want to stay at.
Our vendors:
Trism
This space is amazing. Trism is an eatery, bar and event space with a seriously cool vibe. Trism is one of those places that makes eating healthy easy. You know what I’m talking about, we all have our go-to places like that! If you’re visiting or live in Columbus, allow Trism to be that space for you and if you do, I promise you won’t be disappointed. We taste tested many of their menu offerings and every single one was absolutely delicious! From breakfast sandwiches to smoothie bowls and toasts, we tried it all. My favorite breakfast sandwich was the “Jimmy Pesto.” With local eggs, walnut-hemp pesto, herb-roasted tomatoes, and arugula on local focaccia, I was in taste-bud heaven!
Another favorite of mine from Trism were the iced almond milk lattes and the strawberry avocado toast. It’s basically my idea of the perfect breakfast. Admittedly, this week I’ve found myself missing the food I ate last week from this amazing health food spot. I’m plotting in my mind how to get a Trism to open up in Pittsburgh after tasting all their delicious food! Their smoothie bowls are also very much worth obsessing over. They have cherry cheesecake bowls, a chunky monkey bowl and even a cookie monster smoothie bowl! (All of their smoothie bowls are also gluten free and vegan, yay!) See what I mean about how easy it is to eat healthy at Trism? They make it effortless.
Alchemy
We were completely covered with healthy food on our retreat because we also had the opportunity to partner with Alchemy Juice! Another cute space with smoothies, juice, sandwiches, salads,acai bowls and coffee drinks. (Perfect spot for a good, healthy breakfast in Columbus!) One thing in particular I love about Alchemy is that they don’t just stop at juice, they have a full menu of food to chose from. Another thing I loved? They were located just 5 minutes from our airbnb so it was easy for us to stop in for breakfast Friday morning. And I don’t know about you but when I’m visiting somewhere new, I don’t want to drive a whole lot. It can be stressful getting familiar with your new surroundings!
Alchemy supplied us with 3 smoothie bowls, 3 toasts, 3 sandwiches and almond lattes. Needless to say, after we took photos, we were in food heaven! I loved the toast and sandwiches but I think my most favorite part was the smoothie bowls! I chose to try the nutty dragon and blueberry almond butter bowls. After eating them for breakfast, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle the day! It definitely made me feel inspired to start making some of my own now that I’m home. I haven’t always been one to drink almond milk lattes until I tried Alchemy’s. However, after trying them, I’ve become such a fan! It’s definitely inspired me to start making my own iced almond milk lattes too. I can definitely use them on long days at home in the office!
Aroma Soy
Nothing’s better than a good candle to burn. Actually, scratch that! There’s one thing better than that, smelling all kinds of various scents candles come in! Aroma Soy’s candles are made from hand and smell insanely good. We were so happy to be gifted the eucalyptus mint, lemon mint and oak moss amber candles! Each one impressed us with just how good it smelled. But enough of my gushing about how they smell, let’s take a moment to talk about this amazing candle business.
Aroma Soy is a woman owned, soy wax candle business based in Ohio. Her candles are hand poured and offer a great green alternative to most of the other candles on the market. It’s amazing to me as I’ve taken time to rid my life of toxic products, how much they pop up in our everyday lives! Candles aren’t always made free of dangerous ingredients but Aroma Soy candles are. Her candles are made of 100% soy wax, zinc free cotton wicks and phthalate free blends of oils for fragrance. Out of the three candles we were gifted, I decided my most favorite one was the eucalyptus mint! If you’re looking for more of a cologne scent, I’d go for the oak moss candle and if you’re into lemon, the lemon mint candle of course!
The Little Donut Shop
In Pittsburgh, we all know and love Peace, Love and Little Donuts. In Columbus, The Little Donut Shop is the place to be! I love that they’re located across from Ohio State because this area has a lot of cool places to go like Urban Outfitters and Trism just down the street. But more importantly, the donuts don’t disappoint. They come in so many yummy flavors like chocolate pretzel, strawberry shortcake, fruity pebbles and milky way, to name a few! I think my most favorite flavor was the strawberry shortcake one but honestly, they were all insanely good. Sometimes you need a little balance in your diet with delicious treats like donuts! When you’re feeling like this, The Little Donut Shop is a must try! And if you’re in need of a little caffeine pick me up, they serve Peet’s coffee too!
Other flavors that you seriously need to try are the cinnamon roll, cookie dough and birthday cake donuts. Talking about these donuts make me crave them so much! I know if I’m ever back in town I’ll be stopping by this donut shop. I love that their donut flavors are very diverse (making me want to try them all!) but what’s also just as cool, is the fact that you can order them online. During the age of food delivery apps, I can’t tell you how useful this is! If you’re not in the mood to pop into the shop, you can order their donuts through Uber Eats, Amazon Restaurants, Skip the Dishes. This is perfect for late mornings were it’s all you can do to change out of your pajamas and make it to the couch. (lol you know those rough mornings, we all have them!)
Seventh Son Brewing Co.
There’s nothing better than having the opportunity to partner with local businesses like Seventh Son. A brewery that was the result of a couple childhood friends coming together to put their vision into action, beginning in late 2010. It’s now since grown into much more from a space to rent for events, to a food truck you can spot around town in various locations. Seventh Son is in a great location too, in Italian Village and next to a lot of cool places we spotted along the way such as the Mexican restaurant Cosecha Cocina.If you drive further down the road, you’ll also find the Fox in the Snow Cafe location with the mural that you’ll find posted all over Instagram under their geotag.
I’m always down to try new beer, so we had a lot of fun trying the different drinks we were given. I can’t decide if I’m more of a dark or pale ale kind of girl because I liked both! Seventh Son was also very kind to gift us with a set of glass cups with their logo on it. We definitely put them to good use on our retreat! If you ever have the chance to stop by their brewery, be prepared to be impressed. The vibe is really cool and their space is decorated spot on. (think Nashville/western kind of vibes) I could definitely see myself spending a lot of evenings there if I lived in Columbus!
