Pizza comes in lots of shapes and sizes, with tons of options for sauces and toppings. It can be traditional Italian with minimal cheese and fresh toppings, loaded with cheese, or anywhere in between. It can come from a national chain like Pizza Hut, a regional chain like Cincinnati's well-loved  LaRosa's  or one of many wonderful locally owned and operated pizerias. Batesville is known for fried chicken and pizza, but on National Pizza Day, I just knew I had to celebrate our local deliverers of deliciousness. Pizza Haus  used to be part of Schmidt Bakery. The same pizza oven that was used at Schmidt is still in use today. You know the crust is amazing! Even with this, Pizza Haus is even better known for its toppings. Have you ever tried sauerkraut on pizza? Because you really should! Classic Pizza  has locations in both Batesville and Sunman, Indiana. If you check out their website you won't find much. But honestly, it's because they don't need to say much. Their f...

I mentioned Langen in a  previous post  but didn't have a lot of experience there yet. Now that we've lived in Batesville for a while (a year yesterday!) we've had more opportunities to check them out and I'm SO glad we have! Langen Meats first opened their doors in Cincinnati 1924 in and has grown to 3 locations on Cheviot Road in Cincinnati, Harrison Avenue in Harrison and Pearl Street in Batesville. I love how they've grown while still maintaining their local feel.  When you walk in, you're greeted by a friendly face, delicious meats and loads of local products. Hubs loves the pickles and the jerky and I can't wait to try the Bourbon Barrel Raw Honey. Can you think of anything better?! In addition to great cuts of meat, housemade deli sides and local products, the biggest thing I love about Langen is how much they make in house. The twice baked potatoes and homemade soups make having a homemade weeknight meal so easy!  The smoked potatoes are AMAZING and ...

You may have noticed some changes around here and on my  Facebook and  Instagram  pages.  It's because I've moved! Having grown up in Deaborn County and lived in Southeast Indiana all my live, I have strong connections to the community and love helping others develop the same. My husband and I recently moved to Batesville and I'm finding it even more important to make strong ties in my community. As such, we made the difficult decision for me to leave Sibcy Cline to find a brokerage better suited to myselve and my Indiana clients. It is with great pleasure that I announce I have found my new Real Estate home and have transferred my license to Lohmiller Real Estate. Not only is LRE an Indiana based, family owned company, they will allow me to cultivate my business in my new town, as well as even futher west and north. I am excited to see how my business, my experience and my expertise will grow with this new opportunity. My primary goal is to ensure that each client h...

My parents may not be as adventurous of eaters as Hubs and I are, but when they tell you a place is good, you can bet it's going to be yummy.  And when they tell you it's good food AND good wine, you can bet Hubs and I are going to check it out! Last week my mom texted my sister and I that Holtkamp Winery in Sunman, Indiana was serving brick oven pizza and hosting live entertainment on Sunday and wanting to know if we all wanted to meet there for the afternoon.  The response was a resounding yes and I'm so glad we went!  The pizza and wine were delicious, the weather was beautiful and the music was fun and upbeat without being too loud.  It made for a perfect Sunday afternoon and I can't wait to go back. Holtkamp Winery opened in 2013, a full 11 years after Doug Holtkamp started making wine independently.  He teamed up with Jeff McCann, who had over 35 years of experience in wine making and grape growing, and the two have become a great team making even greater ...

I have wonderful childhood memories of camping every summer with my extended family.  We all met in the middle of nowhere at my mom's cousin's farm.  They had a lake with zip lines, paddle boats, a floating dock, a water slide and the biggest firepit I'd ever seen.  It was truly a magical place.  After a long weekend of late nights under the stars and bathing in the lake, we'd all pack up our tents and campers and head back home.  The drive was so long, the whole family - aunts, uncles, cousins and friends alike - would stop at this wonderful fried chicken place for one last dinner together before we parted ways. Of course, when I grew up and realized this otherworldly gathering place was just on the other side of Oldenburg, Indiana, the drive didn't seem so long.  It lost a little bit of its magic, but that fried chicken place no longer has to be just a summer stop! Wagner's Village Inn opened their doors in 1968  and as of January, they are now...

Disclaimer: if you're a first time home buyer, do not read this!  Even those of us who LOVE homeownership, homebuying, homeselling, homes, homes, homes (!!) need to vent every now and then.  If you do chose to read, don't let it scare you.  Stuff happens. Friday morning I woke up intending to throw in a load of laundry before getting started for the day.  I gathered up my hamper and baskets and headed downstairs, only to stop dead in my tracks.  I saw water.  And not just a little moisture like you'd expect in a 50 year old home when you've had this much rain.  Standing water.  I headed back upstairs, dropped my laundry and pulled on my boots and went to the basement to assess the damage. Yes, that is the reflection of my overhead light on the rug.  How, you ask, does a rug reflect light so perfectly?  When it's covered in an inch of water, that's how. I spent most of the rest of the day getting everything off the floor and tryin...

Having lived in small town Indiana my whole life, I'm used to the only delivery options being pizza places.  Imagine my delight when Batesville ToGo opened and we can now get Skyline, Izzy's at Hillcrest, The Sherman and...wait for it... Big Four Cafe delivered! Admittedly, in this time of social distancing, I have not yet talked to the owner but I can't imagine they would mind a little free promotion.  Unfortunately this means that my information and my pictures are a both lacking, but I did get a little background when I talked to the owners of Big Four Cafe. Batesville ToGo is owned by the same family that owns The Cell Guy.  Arriving home from work particularly late one night, The Cell Guy had no desire to cook, but also no interest in the delivery options available at that time (hello, pizza).  He realized that Batesville had a lot of wonderful restaurant options, but no way to get those options delivered to his home, and the idea for Batesville ToGo...

In these times of uncertainty and social distancing, my usual lighthearted tone feels a little flip and disrespectful.  That said, we're hearing about Coronavirus everywhere  and I don't need to be one more person reminding you to wash your hands.  What I will do, though, is take this opportunity to talk about community. Real Estate is a social industry.  We bring in business by getting our name out there, building relationships and earning trust.  Our clients become friends, our friends become family and everyone becomes a potential client.  We go to local businesses.  We forge partnerships.  We blog about those businesses and they share our blog for a type of cross promotion.  We have a deep respect for small businesses, because we are one. I have been working with Susan Knabe of Haus & Home , an online magazine, for several weeks now to get my Feature Friday posts published with their magazine.  It has been a long, educational...

I am so thankful to live in a region that experiences all four seasons.  Fall has always been my favorite, and I love snow and cold weather but Spring brings its own beauty and a reawakening you just can't get in other parts of the country or world.  That said, these gloomy transition days, especially when we get multiple icky days in a row, have me dreaming of warmer climates and thinking back to our recent vacation. Hubs and I spent 8 days in Riviera Maya, Mexico a few weeks back.  It was a much needed get away that allowed us both to relax, reconnect and still get some work done.  That's right, I worked from the beach! My view from the office our first day While there are 14 restaurants at the resort we stayed in, we ate at the brunch buffet nearly every day.  Hubs and I always take turns going up to a buffet so someone is watching bags, drinks, etc., so this gave us both a chance to check emails and see if anything needed addressed that day while the ...

Eating local doesn't only apply to restaurants.  Today I got to meet a fellow Girl Scout at Amack's Well in the Batesville Shopping Village and they proved that having a great place to drink (coffee!) local is also a valuable part of our community. In the 1830s Teunis and Nancy Amack, two of the first settlers of Batesville, dug a well that served the early settlers of the town, as well as providing water to the railroad, putting the community on the map.  Like the name suggest, Amack's Well is still a place for friends and neighbors to gather for a drink.  And the water is still free. The coffee shop brews Deeper Roots coffee beans, which I like for two reasons.  First, Deeper Roots is not only ethically sourced, they call themselves relationally sourced.  Check out their website for more information, but the bottom line is they focus on people and communities and not just the bottom line.  Second, Deeper Roots is actually roasted very cl...

Growing up in Dearborn County, I heard tales of these amazing, almost implausible pastry treat a few towns over.  But in my 30-ahem years living less than half an hour from Batesville, I never actually tasted a Cherry Thing-a-Ling. What, you ask, is a Cherry Thing-a-Ling?  According to the  Schmidt Bakery website , " A Cherry Thing-a-ling is a fritter type donut that has cherries in it, instead of the typical, Apple or Blueberry (which we also make). It is fried to perfection and then topped off with a cherry glaze!"  which is served warm for 5 days only, during President's Day weekend.  The tradition started as a one day treat in the 1970s and has grown to a 5 day Batesville holiday! Thankfully my allergies are mild enough that I can sometimes splurge, and fritters are definitely worth it to me.  We missed Cherry Thing-a-Ling days because of a poorly timed vacation, so you can imagine my delight when I stopped in the other day for blueberry fritters ...

I know what you're thinking.  Really, Karen?  Girl Scouts?  What does this have to do with Real Estate? But something you are probably considering in your home search is what the area has to offer to you, your family and your guests.  You may be looking for a school with high ratings (Batesville has great schools, by the way), restaurants (we've got those too!) or a good gym (I've never been but I hear good things), but are you thinking about community involvement?  About ways for your kids to meet new friends outside of school?  About ways for YOU to meet new friends outside of work? Wow, I just threw a lot of questions at you!  So here's the thing - in my humble opinion, there are two important things to make an out of town move, even just to the next town over, go smoothly.  One is a good Realtor and the other is having an activity or organization that provides some consistency in the transition. In some moves, you stay at the same job ...

When my husband and I first started dating he was living on the north side of Indianapolis and I was living in Moores Hill but working in Colerain, Ohio.  To say dates meant a lot of compromise and driving is an understatement, so we found a lot of places between our two homes to meet up to save one of us from doing all the driving.  We tried LiL' Charlie's as one of our first meet up dates but for some reason, in all the years since we've been married, we never returned.  When we moved to Batesville several people recommended it and we looked forward to exploring an old date spot. Approaching their 21st anniversary, LiL' Charlies has grown from an 86 seat restaurant to a 210 seat restaurant and brewery with an impressive outdoor seating area.  With a privacy fence, bare bulb overhead lights and a surprisingly good view it doesn't even feel like you're in the middle of town. We've been so many times I've tried nearly everything on the menu, but I do ...

Having grown up in Southeastern Indiana and lived here nearly all my life, I've always loved the city of  City of Batesville.   I was lucky enough to move here last year from two towns over and my husband and I have loved exploring.   What You Need to Know  About Food  Before Moving to Batesville There are tons of locally owned restaurants, pizza places, bars... I could go on, but you get the point.  Watch for my Feature Friday series for my take on all the local joints.  Fried chicken.  And I'm not talking KFC (although we have that too).  Make sure you check out all the local places before deciding which you think is best, and don't be afraid to go just across the county line for (the best) fried chicken.  Think of Oldenburg as Batesville, lite.  Just don't ever tell a Wagner's fan that a country club makes the best fried chicken! Schmidt .  Cherry Thingalings.  Seriously, click the link, you won't be so...

I had a little time to kill between showings so I decided to wander through some of the local shops.  Tristate Artisans is tucked back in a corner of the Batesville Shipping Village  and might have been easy to miss but I'm so glad I didn't!   I meandered into the shop thinking I'd was just coming in from the cold, but Look.  How.  Cute! Of course I had to check out the rest of their stock and ask LOTS of questions!  Small business owners like to support each other, so I wanted to see where their stuff came from.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn most of their items are made by the owner and local artisans.  Hence, the name! I found a collection of candles with yummy scents and snarky labels and just had to have one.  I couldn't find a scent/snark combo that really spoke to me, so I asked if the crafter ever took special orders.  Lucky for me, that was one of the items made by the shop owner, and she was plannin...