AN INTERVIEW: LITTLE ONE LOVE/ THE CITY FLEA

it wasn't until a few months ago that i found little one love blog and fell in love with it. the cutest mama, her inspiring marriage and her earth shatteringly cute baby girl, Ruthie. i love a blog that is chalk full of family photos of just normal couples enjoying the simple pleasures. it inspires me especially because that is how i think of jon and myself. we aren't married yet, but we already live a very humble life and take a lot of joy out of the small things. i scrolled thru numerous posts of hers before realizing exactly who she was. Lindsay and her husband are the actual couple that started  the city flea here in cincinnati! small world, right?? so i started following her over on IG and eventually ran into her at the last city flea and was able to meet her in person. (i actually spotted Ruthie first. you can't miss that baby girl's curls) i asked her if she would be willing to do an interview with me and was so flattered when she agreed. so, in honor of the city flea yesterday, here's what all she had to say!

1. so where did you guys come up with the idea of doing a flea market in Cincinnati? was it a dream for years? or did it just sort of happen out of nowhere? 

We lived in Brooklyn for a few years where we fell in love with urban flea market culture. When we decided to move home to Cincinnati we knew we wanted to create something and get our hands in the mix as far as the creative community goes. The energy in Cincinnati was super exciting and we wanted to get in on it. We also didn't want to give up our weekly trips to flea markets in New York so we decided to bring that culture here. 

2. how did you and your husband meet? and how long have you been married?  

Nick and I actually met in high school (even went to prom together) but didn't actually get together as a couple until our senior years of college. We just celebrated 4 years of marriage this past week!

3. now that the city flea is here, do you think your family will stay here in Cincinnati for a while? 

I think so. We are really happy and content in Cincinnati. We knew that if we weren't doing something creative and connecting with other business owners who are doing cool things we wouldn't last long here but we have been blown away by the amount of rad people we work with and have become friends with through our business. Our families are here and we have some really great friends that we've known for years here as well. This is a good place.

4. is it crazy/awesome/awkward/cool to be recognized now? 

Ha! It doesn't happen very often but when it does it sort of just blows my mind. The fact that people ( I don't know ) read my blog and follow my instagram and twitter and support the Flea is just so amazing. I'm so thankful and always so appreciative when someone approaches me to say hi. I love connecting with people and love that people are comfortable enough to come say hey. It's crazy cool.

5. how do you guys go about choosing your vendors? do most of them come to you or do you look for them? 

We have the application process down to a pretty precise science at this point. In our first year we did initially send out an "invitation application" but after our first market inquires to participate started rolling in. We are fortunate enough now that the applications flood in and unfortunately (or fortunately) we have to turn a lot of folks down. We are looking for creative, unique, aesthetically pleasing, design conscious vendors. We want to see a killer website, great images and get an idea of what your brand is. We also try to maintain a certain level of balance when it comes to certain vendor categories. We are a flea market - we want found objects, mid century furniture, vintage clothing, etc. Too much in handmade, jewelry or art deters from what we are. While we want some of that for sure, we just have to be aware of not over saturating with one particular type of vendor. 

6. don't you just love my girl Blair, from Brown Bear Bakes?? ;)

She's wonderful and that girl sells out every single Flea. And talk about someone who gets branding. Her stuff is killer - not only how tasty it is but it's all so dang pretty.

7. when it's not city flea day, what is your family's favorite thing to do together?

We love hanging out at the park, hiking, grabbing coffee and brunch and just hanging around the house. At the end of the day we're pretty huge homebody's and nothing makes me happier than some good take out and a night in with my little family. 

8. what is your favorite food? 

It's a toss up between thai, mexican and sushi. If I ate only these three things the rest of my life, I'd be happy.

9. are there any particular vendors/products that have been particularly amazing to find? like, have you discovered a new found love for beer soap or cold brew coffee? 

That's a great question! I honestly feel like there are too many to even describe. Everyone is doing something super cool and I'm just thankful that I get to have a little hand in bringing so many of these awesome small businesses into the lives of Cincinnatians and my own as well. This is the best gig around.

10. how is Ruthie handling being one of the cutest Cincinnati babies? is she pretty humble about it? 

We are working hard to keep her grounded. I think so far, we're okay :)

 thanks again, Lindsay! and be sure to head over to her blog. trust me, you'll wanna read for a while!