Monthly Newsletter: March 2023 (No.14)
Welcome to Our Technicolor Life! We are a husband and wife team that lives a vintage lifestyle in full color through our many adventures in our tea room, travel, entertainment, and art. Follow along each channel that makes up Our Technicolor Life.
We are Jeff and Carrie Ketterman. During the day, Jeff is a General Manager with Kasgro Rail Corporation Management Division. With a fleet of over 500 heavy-duty cars, Jeff works daily to provide solutions to various needs of the multi-dimensional rail transportation industry. By day, Carrie is a painter, illustrator, and author creating murals, & paintings.
After closing up shop for the day. Jeff and Carrie host themed tea parties out of their historic home at The Old Capitol Tea Room, travel to festivals and vacation in The Not So Long Trailer, and have two bands, a 1950s style band, Rosie & the Rockabillies, and a 1920s style band, The Tin Pan Alley Cats. Each of these channels makes up our Technicolor Life.
TEA
After a little break and enjoying the living room area of our house the past two months, it is time to move the furniture around and set up the tea room tables and chairs for the 8th season at The Old Capitol Tea Room. Our Spring events are up and live for ticket sales and we currently have just a few tables left before being sold out for Spring. Currently there are tables available for our 1940s Music That Helped Win The War Tribute Show featuring 24 hit songs from the 1940s, 24 costumes, and an accompanying audio & visual chronological history of World War 2. This tribute show features the most live singing of any of our tea events so if you're looking for music, this is the tea event for you!
Be Our Guest, Lucy & Desi Tribute Show, Mad Hatter Story Time, Mary Poppins Sing Along, and Breakfast at Tea-ffany's have all sold out. At the time of this newsletter, we currently have 5 tables available for our Music That Helped Win the War Tribute Show on Friday March 31st at 7pm. Check out the links below if you are interested in attending this tea event.
Summer tea events will go live Wednesday March 29th at 11AM so mark your calendars for tickets to go live. We've got some exciting fan favorites returning to the tea room this summer and a few new additions!
Private Parties
Our private party information has been updated with a private party booking form and booking availability. In 2023, private parties will primarily be hosted on weekdays and weeknights with limited weekend availability. We host baby showers, bridal showers, birthdays, book clubs, church groups, meetings, etc. The cost is $35/person (kids and adults) and include a traditional afternoon style sweet and savory tea tray made up of finger sandwiches, desserts, selection of 3 loose leaf teas, and tax. We require a minimum of 15 people to book a private party and can seat 32 comfortably between our dining room and living room.
There is a $100 booking fee to be paid in advance to secure your desired date. This booking fee secures your date, time, and two hours in the tea room. This booking fee is non-refundable and does not go towards your final bill. October, November, and December are our busiest months of the year and private parties are NOT available on weekends. We are happy to look at weekdays and weeknights during these months. If you are interested in a private party, please fill out our Private Party Booking Form. We do require the $100 booking fee at the time of your booking to secure your date at the tea room. This booking fee is non-refundable and does not go towards your final bill. Final headcount and payment must be submitted one week prior to the event.
The private party booking form now includes party time frames for you to select. Our public tea events do take precedence over private parties. If we have a Friday/Sunday public tea event, we do not host private parties the Saturday in between.
Weekday Private Party Time Frames
12-2pm OR 1-3pm
Weeknight Private Party Time Frames -
5-7pm OR 6-8pm
Weekend Private Party Time Frames
12-2 pm OR 1-3pm
TRAVEL
Oddities & Curiosities Expo
We had the chance to check out the Oddities & Curiosities Expo 2023 that came through Louisville on Saturday. A lot of really interesting stuff on display in the various booths. I have always been intrigued by side shows, and most of my summers in my youth involved a trip to Coney Island where my dad and I would watch their side show. In fact, I got to be such a regular there that the acts knew me and would invite me and my dad on stage as a participant at times. My dad once laid on the bed of nails and I was the “human conductor” once! I had current running thru my body and they lit a torch by touching it to my tongue!! 🤣😜
We picked up a few cool things at the expo, including a “Ghost of Southern Indiana” book, and enjoyed people watching.
Napoleon Dynamite Movie Night
Well, that was fun! We had such a great time attending the Napoleon Dynamite event hosted by madhatterproductionandevents at Louisville’s Memorial Auditorium, last night. Not only did we get to meet Jon Heder (Napoleon), Efren Ramirez (Pedro) and Jon Gries (Uncle Rico), but we shared the stage with them for a dance off! Carrie (as Deb Bradshaw, Napoleon’s girlfriend), got to dance with Jon Heder, which was clearly the highlight of our evening.
The event got off to a rough start when the event space couldn’t get the sound to play for the movie that was to be shown before the Meet & Greet.
After an hour of trying without any progress, they sent out a distress call to the cast who had gone out to eat while the movie was to play. They came back to the theatre, were given microphones, and then proceeded to improvise with live voiceover, which was hilarious!
It’s also really nice to have crazy friends who like to dress up and play as well. 🥰
Lou Lou on Market
Checked out a great new restaurant, Lou Lou on Market in Louisville’s NuLu area on East Market St. It opened in December. Great food at a reasonable price, plus they have a great little speakeasy bar in the basement - Stave.
The New Orleans-inspired restaurant features some great Cajun dishes and NOLO signature drinks, their French 75 and Sazerac cocktails were spot on! Of course, as a NOLO inspired restaurant they feature Bananas Foster as a part of their dessert menu. Their offering is in the form of a decadent cheesecake.
We ventured down into Stave after dinner and Pete Peterson and his jazz combo was playing. Pete is unreal. I have never seen anyone’s hands cover as many keys and move down a keyboard as fast as Pete’s. His jazz combo, The Buzzard is there every Saturday and Monday night!
Cincinnati Cooke Family Road Trip
It had been awhile since we last had a proper Cooke Family outing so we made up for lost time and had a doozie of a field trip day to Cincinnati!
As any Roadtrip should, we started off with a visit to Plehn’s Bakery before heading to the Queen City. We used to ride bikes there every Saturday morning for breakfast so while there was no time for bikes, there is always time to stop in and pick up some goodies.
Our first Cinci stop was to the American Sign Museum. The American Sign Museum is dedicated to the art and history of commercial signs and sign making. It is also the largest public museum dedicated to signs in the United States, covering more than 100 years of American sign history in 20,000 square feet of indoor space, the museum is a walk through the ages of technology and design.
After the American Sign Museum, we headed to the Newport Aquarium. Jeff and I had been years ago and I remember really liking it and kept hoping we’d go again. This aquarium is fabulous and so many tunnel tanks to walk through, white alligator, incredible stingray exhibit, penguins, and a chance to walk the shark bridge suspended above a tank full of sharks! Too much fun!
And being in Newport, we grabbed some lunch at the Hofbrauhaus. We needed a bit of fuel for our one last stop to Jingle Jim’s! Talk about the ultimate Cincinnati getaway day!
Sacred Heart Model School City Champions
It’s s always a good day to be a Sacred Heart Model School alum but even more so on February 18th! Say hello to the 6th AND 8th grade basketball champions! It was excellent seeing some of my grade school teachers, high school basketball coaches, and a visit to my old stomping grounds at Assumption High School. Way to go Bears!!! Also I'm a little jealous that we have an actual mascot now for games. We've always been the Bears but we legit have a Bear!
Savannah
The end of February took us back to our favorite city, Savannah for Jeff's work conference and I was ecstatic. I need no excuse to head south to this magical city and was tickled pink to steal a few days away in charming Savannah. Once out of the daily meetings, we took off to the historic district, hiked in Wormsloe, Skidaway Island, a quick trip to Tybee, strolls along the River Walk, a late night ghost tour and of course, fabulous food. If you ever need travel tips for Savannah, I'm your gal.
ENTERTAINMENT
Rosie & the Rockabillies have been busy in rehearsals with our new guitar player, Brandon. He joins us from Charleston, IN and brings a great old school style to our rockabilly style as a well the additon of vocals. We are very excited to welcome Brandon to the Rosie crew! We've got a fun summer line up of festivals and concerts on the calendar and are excited to showcase some new songs. Check out our upcoming events section for all of our Rosie & the Rockabilly gigs coming up.
The Tin Pan Alley Cats are also adding dates to the calendar, specifically for private bookings. If you're hosting an event or special occasion and need some live pre-dinner music or lively tunes post event, check out the Tin Pan Alley Cats. We cover 1920s-1960s tunes with an energetic stage presence a la Post Modern Jukebox.
Cat in the Hat
Leading up to Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2nd, it is "Read Across America" Dr. Seuss week! Jeff or should I say the Cat in the Hat made a special appearance at Morgan Elementary. The Cat in the Hat read a couple classic Seuss tales to a fantastic group of reading fans.
ART
Camping Critters
It's been eat, sleep, draw repeat around here these past two months. Jeff and I have been working on a children's book series for the last couple of years and we are happy to have the first in the series finished! Coming this Spring we can finally unveil our series, "Camping Critters" inspired by our real life travels in our camper, "The Not So Long Trailer" and our favorite movie, "The Long Long Trailer" starring the one and only Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Jeff wrote the story and drew the illustrations. We are having it published and will be sharing how to order very soon so stayed tuned for our very first book in the series, "Lucy and Ricky Raccoon Buy A Camper" by Jeff and Carrie Ketterman.
Lucy Coloring Book
Another item that has been on my to do list for far to long is to create a Lucille Ball coloring book. Well I took these past two months to complete the designs for my Lucille Ball coloring book featuring memorable quotes and scenes from "I Love Lucy". Perfect for Lucy fans of all ages, this coloring book features Lucy, Ricky, Fred, Ethel, and some fun mid-century modern designs for hours of coloring fun. We are excited to bring these two books to life and continue celebrating our love for all things Lucy!
New Art
Speaking of to do lists, my main New Year's Resolution was to get back to my roots in painting and in art in general. I've been painting, designing, and creating like a madwoman these past few months and have completed an Etsy shop changeover featuring my latest paintings and designs. Make sure to follow Maiden Kentucky on Facebook, Instagram, and Etsy to see all of the artwork I have available. I'm adding one of a kind original paintings, canvas prints, wood paintings, original designs and more.
All of these are available on my Etsy!
With Spring upon us that means we are getting closer and closer to the most exciting 2 minutes in sports - The Kentucky Derby! So we pause for a brief moment in painting to play in tulle, flowers, and fabric with the creation of some Derby hats & fascinators. My studio is currently an explosion of bring florals. These are one of kind Derby hats & fascinators created by yours truly and are for sale now on my Maiden Kentucky Facebook page and Etsy shop.
LIFESTYLE
Our house may have been built in 1916, but as of this past month, we've transformed our basement area into a Mid-Century Modern inspired bar. Inspired by one of our favorite haunts in Savannah, Planter's Tavern in the basement of The Old Pink House, we noticed we had similar dark wood beams and layout that would match our ideas for a home bar area. The pool table has always been in the basement and came with the house. (Thank goodness it was moved well before we moved in. If you can believe it, the pool table used to be on the third floor!) We'd always had plans to finish the basement space but never really got around to it. Until these past few winter months. Jeff built our bar that doubles as storage and we used our collection of bar ware to fill in plus a few new additions found thrifting at Fleur De Flea in Louisville. Jeff hand painted the wood design on the floor and the walls a nice dark brown to match the beams and added carpet to the work out area. It's all about balance right? Work out and then head across the room to the bar. The basement area has been completely transformed and is such a better use of space especially once our living room turns back into part of the tea room areas We've decided to call it The Elm as a nod to the historic Constitutional Elm just 250 feet from the house.
This concludes our February as we move into March in Our Technicolor Life! Please explore the website and share with friends & family! This website our one stop shop for all of our events and information. Don't forget to subscribe so you stay in the loop and check out our upcoming events section right on the home page!
Yours truly,
Carrie & Jeff
AT A GLANCE - MARCH EVENTS
Private Party Booked Sunday March 5th (Not Open to Public)
Friday March 10th 7pm Be Our Guest Tea & Storytime SOLD OUT
Sunday March 12th 3pm Be Our Guest Tea & Storytime SOLD OUT
Friday March 24th at 7pm Lucy and Desi Tribute Show SOLD OUT
Sunday March 26th at 7pm Lucy and Desi Tribute Show SOLD OUT
Friday March 31st at 7pm The Music That Helped Win the War Tribute to 1940s WW2 Music
Sunday April 2nd at 7pm The Music That Helpedin Win the War Tribute to 1940s WW2 Music SOLD OUT