i love

installment seven || durham whole foods

durham whole foods, i love you

because every time i visit, i run into friends, and that kind of makes grocery shopping feel like a social outing instead of a chore.

because your fish counter never smells fishy.

because you have so many gluten-free products that my non-gluten-free husband actually likes to eat, too.

because your baggers offer to take my bags to my car when i have a lot of groceries and a fusspot baby to balance.

because you hire local musicians to play your porch in the summer.

because of quinoa pasta, cranberry-peach juice, chlorine-free baby wipes, charley's soap, almond milk, and nitrate-free cold cuts.

because you have machines that let me grind my own coffee and peanut butter, and that feels fun.

because if i look vaguely confused in your aisles, someone asks me if i need help within 90 seconds every dang time.

because the guys at your butcher counter are awesome (and they hold the keys to the applewood smoked bacon kingdom).

i love

installment six || bull city burger and brewery


bull city burger and brewery, i love you

because you do a few things very, very, very well instead of doing a whole lot of things in a basically passable way.

because the people who work for you are friendly in a non-annoying way, and they wear a staff shirt, but it's not stupid or embarrassing.

because you are run by seth, who is brilliant at marketing you in an astonishingly smart and fun fashion with stuff like golden bull scavenger hunts, a rope and pulley system for collateral on a beer tower, and a glowing red light when the house-made pretzels are ready.

because you have gluten-free hamburger and hotdog buns, and after years of eating burger-no-bun-please, this makes me all teary and emotional.

because--holy moly--not only is there a changing table in your women's restroom, but there's one in your men's room, too.  whoa.

because your green monster burger is incredible, and it isn't full of hormones or antibiotics, so i kind of feel like it's healthy.

because even though i can't drink your beer (my husband tells me it's pretty stellar), i do get great satisfaction out of a soda machine that doesn't spew high fructose corn syrup and ice water in mason jars.

because y'all are obsessed with house-made, and house-made is where it's at.

i love

installment five || the duke gardens


duke gardens, i love you

because you are host to all sorts of lawn games, guitar strums, and general relaxation and revelry.

because you are a place where we can hang out as a family but still feel like we're spending time out in the world with other people, too.

because you have lots of flowering plants that make me stop and stare, trying to figure out how nature could be so astonishingly creative and so outright bizarre and so heart-crackingly beautiful all at one time.

because of your magnolia tree, the one the kiddos love to climb.

because you are the home of two of my beautiful, crystallized college memories, one of a sunny picnic with competitive piggyback rides and one of a late-night fete with loud declarations of truth.

because you smell good.

because you are where my aunt took me for photos when i was three years old, and one of those photos hangs in my mother's living room, the "shrine" to be joyfully bickered about among me and my siblings forever and always amen.

because it is free to spend time with you, and that means anyone can come see you, and that is an extraordinary gift to all us durham folks, to be sure.

i love

installment four || nanataco


nanataco, i love you

because mauro and the rest of the crew always put our baby's name on the ticket to be called out when our food is ready.

because even the inside seating feels like it's partly outside and for some reason that makes us feel like we're on vacation--even if it's just for an hour.

because you make the only chicken mole i've ever enjoyed eating.

because, thanks to your salsa bar, i can put as much cilantro on my meal as i want--which is basically enough to cover a football field 1.732 times.

because--speaking of that salsa bar--you offer me radishes, which i put on my tacos in fond remembrance of one of our past favorite places, taqueria lopez (now closed).

because stopping to pick up one of your vanilla milkshakes and then sharing it as we walk with our daughter around our neighborhood on an early summer evening...it doesn't get much better than that.

i love

installment three || wednesdays at the durham farmers' market


wednesdays at the durham farmers' market, i love you

because you sold me the best blueberries i have ever tasted in my whole life.

because you help small, local farmers earn a living, and--having grown up with a family farm--i am a very big fan of small, local farmers.

because you don't sell anything with ingredients that i don't recognize as food.

because while i peruse the produce, i run into so many awesome people i know and don't see often enough.

because i don't feel judged when i visit, even though i only buy a little of our food each week from you and i usually forget to bring my own bag.

because i pay cash for my fruit and veggies and eggs, which is not something i do very often and feels strangely real and good to me now.

because i can only buy what's in season, so i'm not even tempted to reach for the tomatoes in may--and i know my tomato and mayonnaise sandwich will be unbelievable in august.

because you are the place where i spread my quilt out on the grass with a beloved little gang of new mamas (and a few papas) like me, munch on strawberries and pea pods, feed my baby, and swap stories about the way life is now.

i love

installment two  ||  geer street garden

geer street garden, i love you

because you are a place where i don't feel like an asshole bringing my 4-month-old but where i can also see my friends who are still rocking the kid-free life.

because you have that awesome panel of old doors that makes the entrance to the bathrooms feel just a little more private.

because you have gluten-free bread back there in case i want a pimiento cheese sandwich.

because sitting outside feels like i'm at a fun party where i can just hang out with the people i came with or i can meet some cool new people for a few minutes, too.

because your hot wings are delicious, and i am a sucker for hot wings.

because the people who work at your place are just nice.  and helpful.  and they fill up the water glasses really often.

because of srirachanaise.

i love

installment one  ||  the downtown durham Y

downtown durham Y, i love you

because you do not judge me when i come back to you after an unexplained absence of three months and seven days.

because the woman who gives me my locker and towel tells me to have a blessed day.

because your pull-up machine makes me feel strong.

because there are so many different sizes, shapes, colors, attitudes, beliefs, goals, and abilities present in your members.

because you provide childcare that i hope to make use of when my kiddo is a bit older.

because your lifeguards say hello to me and pretend not to notice when i bonk into the lane dividers and splutter when i'm sharing a lane and trying to backstroke in a reasonably straight line.

because you are a place where my husband and i can do a streamlined version of the both hands theatre warm-up side by side and synchronized before our workout knowing that no one will care that we're dorky as hell.

because your track is where this self-described non-runner finally--after inching forward in very small increments--ran her very first mile without stopping and felt like i had just conquered my own personal mount impossible.