Friday.
Local Edition.
Honestly, I think this is true most days.
Minus the hot part!
But today is Friday!!
So I’m letting the other side of my new coffee mug represent today.
Fabulous, darling, Fab-u-lous.
The crazy weather pattern in Virginia continues.
We’ve had numerous days of close to and even hitting 70 degrees (F). And now we have snow coming in a few days.
Guess that means more time to read.
Reading.
I picked up this book at the library- This Is Where You Belong, The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Live by Melody Warnick. It was at the front on the new release shelves and caught my eye. I don’t think it’s a shocker that I’ve had a hard time adjusting to living in Virginia (yes, even 3+ years later).
Imagine how surprised I was that the author, Melody Warnick lives in Blacksburg, a town not too far from Roanoke. She wrote this book after move #6 and was determined to figure out how to fall in the love with the town she had moved to. I’m only 1/4 of the way through it but am thoroughly enjoying it. She was already said so many of the things that I have thought.
I live in the suburbs, with no sidewalks, so there isn’t really walking the town for me.
But she does offer some other tactics that I’m planning to employ.
Shop Local.
One of which relates to shopping local.
She refers to The 3/50 Project which is about saving the independent brick and mortar stores in the U.S. (I think this concept is applicable anywhere-the numbers are just based on the U.S.).
It states that if half of the employed population would commit to spending $50 each month in locally owned businesses, it would generate more that 42.6 billion in revenue.
Those locally owned shops are what give a town its character, but I often find myself in the same situation she found, which was looking for the cheaper option.
Those businesses can’t thrive without locals purchasing their goods.
It’s also been reported that more of the money gets filtered back into the community when you buy local.
Win-Win.
The 3/50 project is about picking three independently owned businesses and spending a total (or more) of $50 between the three places during a month.
If you checked out my Friday Faves last week, then you can see I already had a head start on March since I visited a local, independent shop and found lots of goodies to bring home with me.
Local Roots Restaurant.
The hubby and I are major foodies!
And the preference is for non-chain food.
We decided that we would eat over in this great little urban section of town, Grandin Village.
You might remember I mentioned Grandin Village in this post, highlighting the architecture of a church over there.
Now Grandin is a walkable section of town.
And there are always people out walking the sidewalks from their homes to the little shops along it.
We ate lunch at Local Roots.
It’s a Farm to Table Restaurant.
The menu changes according to what is in season.
I decided on the soup of the day and lunch salad. I can’t tell you what all the soup had in it, the waitress had me at “vegetables” and “it’s delicious”.
I did ask if they could add the pickled onions to my salad because they are delish.
My hubby ate their ham sandwich because it had him at “horseradish.”
I stole a few bites of it…and it was so much yum.
I also ordered the artisan bread because I was starving and was worried about having enough food.
If you’ve ever read any of my very early foodposts which can be found here, here, here, and here , then you know that I am mostly gluten free.
I used to be fully gluten free (no, I don’t have celiac disease… I have stomach problems that feel better when I don’t eat wheat…and yes…I discuss my eating habits with my doctor), but occasionally I opt for some bread.
This was the perfect, light addition to add to my lunch.
I didn’t even need dessert.
Oh, and they had an amazing unsweetened blueberry iced tea that I wish I was sipping on right now!
Co-Op
Part of the reason for our excursion to Grandin was because that is where the Co-Op is located.
I am a member of the Co-Op, but don’t get there as often as I would like.
We picked up the lotion that my hubby likes and a few other things.
I was very tempted by this mug, but it was a little smaller than I like (I drink huge cups of coffee!) and plus, I’d already picked up the new mug at the top of this post.
Soccer.
The girlie had her first middle school match last night.
I got to see a friend who is the epitome of southern sweetness, who is going through some heavy stuff, and yet she is there with a smile on her face and offering me a hug of hello.
I sat with women (and men) whose daughters have been playing soccer with mine for some time. I met some new mother’s who had girls on the field. All of us laughing and cheering for those girls. A little whoop, whoop when one scored a goal.
They won 5-0!
Later that night, I heard from another girlfriend asking me if I wanted to check out an expo this weekend.
And I reflected on the fact that even though I miss Florida and the friends and family there, I have met some pretty amazing people here.
And it’s relationships that make me begin to love this place a little more.
Music.
So with that in mind, a song I’m loving this week:
Let your light shine!
Amy
