Pet Fashion Show at Performance Lexus

The Pet Fashion Show I’ve been telling my readers about for the past couple of weeks was PAWesome! :)

Cincy Chic held this third annual event at Performance Lexus in Mason. They were amazing hosts for the event... they even changed their valet parking sign to say "valet Barking" haha!

Ralph Sells, the General Sales Manager (perfect name for that job, right?!), was SO creative. He came up with great drink recipes like "Bloodhound Punch" (for the sangria) and "Poodle Punch" (for the white wine spritzer).

We also had puparazzi on the red carpet, tail-wagging treats, howl-worthy shopping, a canine couture fashion show, and a phoDOGraphy booth that captured lots of candid canine Kodak moments.

The pics of the fashion show are up on our site, and there are more pics up on our photographer’s Facebook page. Enjoy.... They're dog-gone cute! :)

My Favorite Things about Lexus RiverCenter

So, a couple weeks ago, I wrote about my favorite things about Performance Lexus. Well, the Lexus dealership on the KY side of the river is Lexus RiverCenter. I actually bought my car there!

I get it serviced and washed there a little more often because it's just a few miles away from our house, but also because (I know I'm a dork for geeking out about this) they JUST started offering complimentary hand-washes for their clients.

This is huge because it's exactly the care I wish I could provide myself… Ah, the days when I had spare time and would wash my car by hand every weekend… but they do it for you while you get other things done in one of their lounges.

They actually have three different customer lounges: a TV lounge, a quiet lounge, and a JAVA lounge. They all have complimentary coffees, cappuccinos, hot cocoa, and snacks. They have free Wi-Fi throughout the dealership and a business center for those work-o-holics like me who like to get ahead on some work while they're there.

I just learned about this too… they offer complimentary gourmet lunches throughout the year (prepared by a culinary chef), Customer Appreciation cocktail receptions to mix and mingle with other Lexus owners (I went to their last one and it's amazing networking!), Free Nitrogen fill-ups, New owners clinics to learn more about and enhance your Lexus experience, and they even lend-out their dealership facilities for events sponsored by non-profit organizations as well as local business partners. 

More often than not, when I'm there to get the car washed/serviced, Lisa the GM has some sort of fun event planned there. She'll invite me over for a drink, bite to eat or a sweet treat to take on the road with me! It's so fun - not your typical dealership!

It's actually almost my favorite time of the year to be at LRC! Every year, Lisa has the dealership professionally decorated for the holidays. I'm usually the one who gets their tree up the week before and am wrapping gifts in a rush the night before. So, I go in there to enjoy the decor and holiday spirit I wish I was Martha Stewart-ish enough to actually do at my house! :)

I can honestly say though, LRC is the one dealership in the Tri-State area that has earned a reputation for being completely different and innovative in their approach to wowing their clients. Lisa has truly set the bar extremely high so you can refreshingly expect the unexpected at LRC!

Dealership Amenities at Performance Lexus

I just got done reading a GREAT book called "Why She Buys." It really got me thinking about the reasoning behind the purchases I make and have made in the past.

Some of the big "takeaways" I got from the book are that women buy based on practicality; we don't get caught up in all the bells and whistles. But we do require sophisticated marketing. "Pink is not a strategy," the author tartly reminds marketers.

I got to thinking about some of the big purchases I've made lately, and the first one that came to mind was my car. Why buy did I buy a Lexus? Yes their cars are amazing, but honestly, I bought because I feel at home in their dealerships. They're sophisticated yet practical.

First of all, they do free handwashed car washes, so I know my car won't get dinged up when I need it cleaned. Plus, while I'm there, they have a cozy lounge where I can get work done on wifi, grab a cup of coffee, or even work out while I wait for my car to be cleaned/worked on. It's SO nice to have a home away from home, especially when you're on the road as much as I am!

I decided to make a top 10 list of my favorite things at each dealership. This week, I'm featuring Performance Lexus and next week I'll feature my top 10 favs at Lexus RiverCenter! Drum Roll... here are my top 10 favorite things at Performance Lexus:
1. Movie theater (enjoy a movie on a hi-def big screen in a big cozy reclining chair)
2. Four customer lounges including a "quiet room" (no TV or kids!)
3. Future Lexus Owners' Lounge (aka children's play area with toys, puzzles, coloring books & DVD player)
4. Full snack bar with custom coffee/tea/hot beverages
5. Lexus Gym with elliptical machines/treadmills/hand weights, etc. and full locker room with showers
6. Business center with four separate workspaces including desktop computers and printer
7. Complimentary pickup and dropoff for service customers (they come to you!)
8. Complimentary service loaners
9. Complimentary lifetime car washes and interior vacuum
10. The Service Manager (Whitney Binski) is female! (for some reason I just trust getting my auto info from a woman!!)

Here are some pics of Performance Lexus! It's soooo nice! You have to see it for yourself!

Library makes Holiday Travel a Breeze

Hope you're heading somewhere fun for the long weekend! My husband and I are going camping at our family farm! And then next week, I'm headed to Myrtle Beach for a week-long vaca. I can't wait to unplug for a while!

Before you load up the car for your holiday road trip, stop by your Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County branch, where you can:
•       Grab books on CD for everyone to listen to during your travels.
•       Check out portable Playaways: About the size of a deck of cards, Playaways come loaded with an audio book. Just press and listen. Everyone can listen to their own book.
•       Download free music from thousands of songs in over 100 genres. Best of all, they’re yours to keep forever. Check it out!
•        Lighten the load by downloading books to your eReader or your mobile device. Available to download 24/7! No late fees! Click here to learn more.

Don’t forget that all the books you read and/or listen to moves you closer to winning a free NOOK Color and Reds tickets as part of the library’s Summer Reading program, which continues through July 31.  Log onto www.CincinnatiLibrary.org/SummerRead and register the whole family.

Not sure what to read? Once you’ve registered for registered, you can browse more than 100,000 book reviews left by other readers who are in the summer reading program.


FREE EBOOKS in JULY:
Get FREE eBooks, as an added bonus. You’re halfway through the Library’s Summer Reading Program and there’s so much reading left to do! Not sure what to read next? From July 1-9, let the Main Library’s TechCenter staff help! Bring your Nook, Sony Reader, Kindle, flash drive, or blank CD and we will give you 45 free eBooks to help you get through the next month! Classics, computers, philosophy, history, and more are all included. No library card or registration required.
There's still time to register for SummerReading and log books to win prizes -- including a NOOK Color.  www.CincinnatiLibrary.org/SummerRead

Have a great weekend! Safe travels!

Fab Fuel-Saving Tips

I love taking summer road trips! But there’s one thing I’m dreading this year (even more than I’m dreading bathing suit shopping): the price of fuel. It’s more than $4 a gallon now! Yikes! So I did a little digging to see how I can ease the pain at the pump – and on Mother Earth!

I found some good tips from the EPA. The first tip has to do with saving gas itself. The number one tip would be to only use your car when necessary. If you are in walking distance, go ahead and walk, even if you have to bring your work shoes with you to change once you get there. Do me a favor, though and wear some cute flats, instead of gym shoes and socks with your work outfit. Not chic! But getting in a little exercise instead of into your car is healthy for you and your budget - and that IS chic!

If "not driving" isn't an option, you might want to consider a hybrid. I recently reviewed the 250h and I was really impressed.

The next tip is to combine errands into one trip. I don’t know about you, but my daily to do list is full of places to go and people to see. So I try to communicate as much as possible via email, Skype or phone. When I do schedule meetings, I’m strategic about scheduling them when I will be in that area. If you need to move things around to make it convenient, people are actually more understanding about it than you'd think (because YOU are visiting THEM). Plus, scheduling your meetings like this saves so much money, time and stress.

When I need to run errands, I now list them out and plan the best route before I get in the car. A little pre-planning will save you time and money. Also, try to choose businesses that are conveniently located nearby one another. Starting up your car and only driving short distances, especially in city traffic just wastes fuel. 

I learned that one of the biggest things you can do to save on fuel is keeping up on the maintenance of your vehicle. Especially for us women, it can be easy to forget about changing our oil or getting new tires, but keeping up with your vehicle and taking care of problems as they happen, can not only save fuel, but also extend the life of your vehicle.

I also learned tips for saving fuel as you drive. Like when you’re in a traffic jam, and you want to speed around someone, only to soon thereafter come to a complete stop…over and over again. This can waste your fuel big time. The EPA recommends going easy on your car's breaks and gas pedal. Ease your car into a stop and make sure to go easy on the gas pedal, too. Running late makes your heart race and your tank tremble. So, next time, leave the house earlier to avoid damaging your car and guzzling gas. Easy for me to say, though…. I’m always running “fashionably late.”

If you get into a traffic jam, (which NEVER happens in Cincy, right? Ha!), then be sure not to keep your car in idle for too long. By turning off your car in a long wait, it can avoid an overheated engine. Also, if you are grabbing fast food on the way home from work or for lunch, go inside to eat instead of in your car in the parking lot.

For us women, this one is a big one: Avoid carrying unnecessary weight in car and trunk. Women are notorious for using their trunks as another large handbag (helloooo, did you read my first blog?). For you guys out there who carry your tools and sports equipment in the car, this one goes for you, too. As convenient as this “storage” can be, it can drain your tank (and wallet).  

If you are going to treat yourself or family to a long trip and have to carry luggage, avoid using the roof tracks. Place the luggage inside the car or trunk to avoid your vehicle from “dragging,” which can use more fuel than needed. In this case, “aerodynamic” is synonymous with “fuel economy.”

Now, for the last tip. Buying a nice sports car (I’m currently pining over the Lexus LFA) is an amazing luxury, but speeding isn’t a luxury when it comes to the amount of fuel you use. In fact, by going 55 mph instead of 65 mph, you can save up to 15% more fuel. Who knew that not speeding could save us more than a speeding ticket? 

With these tips in mind, we can pinch a few more pennies at the pump. And maybe that itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini won’t be so scary if I take my own advice and walk more, drive less! That sounds good to me!

Thanks to BreeAnna Smith, my intern, for helping put this blog post together. 

Review: Lexus HS 250

I recently took a roadtrip to Philadelphia, and my friends at Lexus RiverCenter let me try out a HS 250 for the ride. I was excited because "h" is for "hybrid" is for "more money to spend on FUN things on the trip versus gas!"

And man did it save on gas! I put it in eco mode and it really helped on the gas mileage. The gas gauge didn't even flinch until I hit Columbus (more than 100 miles!). Granted, in eco mode, I didn't have the power I'm used to with my IS 350. It did have a "power mode" button you could push if you needed a little extra umph, but I actually didn't end up using that! Probably a good thing, too, because 71N was a speed trap and you have to be really careful around that curvy Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I only ended up needing to refuel one time on my entire 9 hour trip, which I was really happy about. And, when we were driving it around in the city, the electric kicked in when we were just coasting from one red light to another. That saved on gas too.

It surprised me how much it looked and handled like my IS 350, but the fuel economy was SO much better. So, if power isn't a high priority, but saving at the pump is, I highly recommend this HS 250!

Check out the webcast below where I give you a tour of the car and my favorite features it had to offer!

Recap: Cincy Chic's Eco-Fab Fashion Show

Brenna models a romper made out of seatbelts.
(David Sorcher | Special to Metromix)

Hope everyone had fun at last week’s Eco-Fabulous Fashion show at Lexus Rivercenter. I know I had a blast! Click here to check out pics Metromix took! If you were there and got pics in our photobooth, click here to go to our Facebook page and tag yourself in the photo album!

The clothes were amazing, the crowd was big and the event was a huge success. Basically the concept of the event was to have a fashion show featuring clothes made by DAAP students out of re-purposed materials. We also had other eco-friendly vendors there to shop with. Swag bag were for sale and we raffled off a weekend lease of a loaded RX. 100% of those proceeds went to the Civic Garden Center. We raised almost $800 for them with this event! So excited!

And because of the "Eco-Fabulous" theme, we were able to feature the new Lexus 2011 CT 200h. It's sleek, sexy and oh-so-much-more sustainable. Just an FYI, the new CT is the most efficient luxury hybrid Lexus offers. It pairs a combined MPG rating of 42 with lower CO2 emissions... without skimping on all the things Lexus is known for: speed, technology and luxury. It's really a great car.

I love that people came for the fashion, and left with lots of ideas for how they can go green! Can't wait for our next event at Lexus RiverCenter, which will be May 6 for the Cincinnati Profile Bourbon/Cigar Tasting! Mark your calendar and make sure you're subscribed to Cincinnati Profile to be the first to learn more about the event!