Farmers Market & Local Festivals

Well, this weekend I made my first trip to the farmers market on my own--I'm pretty sure the last time I went was an elementary school field trip! I went to the Midtown Farmers Market, as its just a few miles from the apartment I'm getting ready to move into. I think it's a safe guess to say it's much smaller than the one downtown, as that's the State Farmers Market, but I enjoyed my first experience! I only had a few minutes, so I didn't purchase much, but I did get some grits--I love grits, but have been eating the instant kind for years, and I'm trying to move away from things that are instant and learn to really cook, so I'm very excited about trying these out! The guy that sold them to me also threw in a free sample bag of cornmeal, so I'm excited to give that a try as well. My only other purchase was some local honey--I've never been a big honey person until recently, but a few months ago I discovered how easy it was to make your own granola bars, so I've had honey in my pantry from that, and I've become a big fan!

After my trip to the farmers market, I headed downtown with a good friend of mine to check out an earth day festival and then a barbecue & bluegrass festival that benefitted local farms. The earth day festival was great--I got a ton of information about bike riding, which was great, since I want to start riding my bike to work! I signed up for the Smart Commute challenge, to try and bike to work at least once before May 15th. Then we walked a few blocks down to the barbecue festival, and enjoyed sitting in the sun, listening to bluegrass and enjoying some delicious barbecue! It was a great way to spend a Saturday!

Preppy + Granola = ???

I've been thinking a lot recently about how I everything preppy has been a long time love of mine: sundresses, croakies, Lilly, pearls, ribbons, headbands, Sperry's, polos, khakis, and on and on and on.

But more recently, I've also become pretty intrigued by some things that I would call a little more of a "granola" way of life. Shopping local, alternate forms of transportation, farmers markets and CSAs... all of these are things I am intrigued by, and want to explore a little more.

So this blog is going to be the story of my dabbling with some "granola", while maintaining my preppy lifestyle. I'm moving and switching jobs in a few weeks, and I'll live 3 or 4 miles from work--I think I'm going to try riding my bike to work some! Which will be even better in August when I have this amazing Lilly Pulitzer cruiser:

I want to start doing a lot of my grocery shopping at the farmers market or join a CSA, and I want to support local businesses and events. So here goes!