National Blog Posting Month, Shopping

Nichole goes Small Business Saturday shopping

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If a trio of ladies goes Christmas shopping and doesn’t take a selfie, did they really go shopping? Are they really ladies? Is it really Christmastime at all?

I sure hope so on all counts, because today my dear friends Kelley and Rachel went Christmas shopping with me and we neglected to take a selfie to prove it, but I know I bought some things and I know it is Christmastime at all because my husband was perched on the roof hanging icicle lights this afternoon.

Anywho. Today is Small Business Saturday, which is an American Express marketing ploy but also a rather nice idea. There are some wonderful small businesses in West Asheville,[1]it’s the best Asheville, but don’t tell the tourists and today we went to a couple of them and I wanted to tell you about them.

Harvest Records
One nice thing about West Asheville is that it’s a little bit like stepping back in time, because there’s a record store and a video store. Harvest Records sells new and used vinyl and also CDs, hosts the occasional in-store concert — I was pretty sad to miss Sylvan Esso there in September — and even has its own label. It’s a weird, quirky little corner shop, and with Pete’s burgeoning interest in records I feel like we may be spending a lot more time there in the future.

Once upon a time, in a land before streaming video, Orbit was just a video rental store. And it’s still an excellent video rental place — you can find just about anything there, and they have categories like “Movies That Will Make You Sad” — but it’s evolved into a video-rental-and-place-to-buy-geeky-stuff store. The people there are nice and know everything about movies, too. The only thing I don’t like about it is that they took the picture of Jeff Goldblum out of the bathroom.

Where else can you find feline finery, comic books and Steven Universe pins all under one roof?

And then there’s Whist, which is practically across the street from Harvest Records and packs in the most whimsy per square foot of perhaps any store in all of Asheville, which is saying a lot because this town is pretty dad-gum whimsical. I have to pace myself when I’m in Whist because I love just about everything in there. Just look at this stuff:

They have puzzles and games for the fun-loving folk on your Christmas list…

Beautiful wallets for the fiscally but fashionable set…

Tiny frogs for everyone …

Vintage Blogs and other notebooks, sketchpads and activity books for the writers and artists in your life…

A ton of beautiful and/or fun planners for your organized auntie…

A decorative and useful cat tray for the crazy cat lady in your life…

An array of gorgeous calendars suitable for anyone who needs to know what day it is…

Beautiful gift wrap to make your Christmas tree pop…

And thank you notes and other lovely stationary for after the holidays!

Looking back at the pictures I took there, I’m thinking I might be able to do all of my Christmas shopping at Whist. Maybe I should take that on as a challenge next year. For this year, I’m going to stick with trying to get everything I need at locally owned shops. It’s good for the people in my neighborhood, and when your neighborhood is chock-full of places like this I’m not sure why you’d shop anywhere else anyway.

Footnotes

Footnotes
↑1 it’s the best Asheville, but don’t tell the tourists
National Blog Posting Month

The Day After: In which we posit that the fourth Friday in November may be the greatest day of the year

I think I may like the day after Thanksgiving even more than Thanksgiving Day. It’s opening day of eggnog season, for one thing, and you still have all of the family time and great food but you don’t have the pressure of making sure the turkey and the macaroni & cheese and the mashed potatoes are ready at the same time.

After a leisurely morning today, we said goodbye to my brother’s family and drove back home. On the way I told Rockford I was planning to put some leftover stuffing in the waffle maker.

“I love you,” he said. “But please don’t make any more puffles. That was really hard to clean.”

Why yes, he did clean up my hideous puffle mess the other day. He cleans up most of my messes. He is my Arthur.

“I’m not going to put the gravy in the waffle maker,” I told him. “Just the stuffing. It will be fine.”

I don’t think he was convinced.

But it was fine. It was even better than fine. My favorite part of stuffing is the crispy bit at the top, and the waffle maker made it about 90 percent crispy bit. I made turkey a la king to pour all over the stuffing waffle. I was too excited about it to take a picture. Which is probably fine, because it wasn’t pretty. But it was the best leftover stuffing I’ve had in recent memory.

But let’s talk some more about what I love about the Day After Thanksgiving. It’s also the day we start decorating for Christmas, and I love a holiday home.

As soon as we got home from my brother’s house, we unloaded the car and then went straight back out to get our Christmas tree. So far this evening we’ve only gotten as far as putting the lights on it and hauling the ornaments up from the basement, but by tomorrow morning it’ll be fully decorated.