day dates in rva

Having the same day off together has resulted in some pretty awesome date days around town - here are a few!

Cups of black coffee at Blackhand Coffee before walking over to the VMFA and checking out the collections. I hadn't been since the Ansel Adams exhibit in October, so it was nice to wander around.

Strolling around the city a bit before grabbing a local craft beer and just sitting on a nice bench at Scuffletown Park for a while. 

Visiting 821 Cafe for the best tofu sandwich of my life, checking out secondhand book stores, trying wild sodas. (The enchilada was disgusting.)

A long walk on some nature trails and found tons of cute little mushrooms, found a nice bench to sit a while, then caught a little bit of the Babe Ruth World Series and rooted for a team from Hawaii (who ended up taking it home!)

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my best recycling purchase to date

I don't have curbside recycling or complex recycling (which is a shame), so I take my recycling to an offsite facility at a local dump. This one purchase has changed that whole process for the better!

This little flexible laundry basket from Walmart has been great. I paid less than $8 for it when I finally set foot in a Walmart after a couple years. It's about three feet tall and works perfectly for recycling. I rinse or wash out most of what I recycle so residual food items don't smell as I don't get to the recycling center often, so I wanted something with ventilation so they could dry (plus that helps with how heavy it can get!).

I was previously using just paper bags from Kroger. Since, I've buckled down and use all reusable bags so paper bags became kind of wasteful, plus they were prone to ripping. I also knew I'd need to go vertical to save space, so I didn't look at the traditional green bins that take up a lot of floor.

While it might seem like such a random thing, this has been a game changer over here. 😂

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

wine tour saturday

Saturday I was invited to go on a wine tour with Jess and a fabulous group of ladies. We all met at the cabin and loaded up the bus and set off! We had an absolutely amazing lunch at Early Mountain Vineyards. I had the pimento grilled cheese and it was to die for.

We tried several amazing local wines spread out over four wineries. The venues were gorgeous as well as the area.We all came back to the cabin and had a fantastic potluck! I brought a greek tortellini salad that turned out quite nice.

♥

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

county fair 2019

My mom and stepdad were in town one weekend and we went to the county fair in my hometown to see my brother work his antique sawmill. It was a lot of fun! It's a small little fair but I had a nice crabcake and got to see some cute animals.

I picked up a free basil plant from the 4H booth and checked out the homegoods and had an overall great day visiting with family.


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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

my little balcony garden

When we first moved in last year I'd been contemplating a garden. We have a tiny 5 x 8' balcony that I thought would work nicely for some outdoor plants. The balcony is south facing so it gets a fair amount of sun, though it was too much for my lettuce, but these guys have taken off!

My little pole beans all germinated and have taken off! I created this little bamboo trellis for them and they've started climbing! I can't wait for them to get big enough to produce beans.

My beloved tomato plants. ♥ I picked them up really cheaply at Walmart off the clearance rack and they're producing! Fresh tomatoes are my favorite.

My little purple pepper plant! So proud of this guy. I picked him up at the Lewis Ginter PlantFest and he's done well!

Hopefully I'll have some yummy vegetables here soon!


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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

plant travels

I have a pretty extensive plant collection almost entirely comprised of houseplants. I'm addicted. Throughout RVA there are tons of nurserys, plant shops, and garden centers. Here are a few of the gorgeous plants I've encountered!

This one isn't actually in RVA, but I noticed this Hot Cocoa Rose bush in a nursery in Maryland and I love it. The color is amazing. If these did well in containers I'd already have one!

These pitcher plants were right here in my backyard! A local nursery had them and I was so impressed with how nice they looked. I could keep these inside but don't quite have the room for them.

 

These are all from my favorite greenhouse. They have such a massive selection and I love just wandering through staring at all of the amazing plants.

I hope to start an inventory of sorts here soon with all of the lovelies I have at home. ♥


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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

tennessee // plants & homecooked meals

This past weekend, N and I took a little trip out to Tennessee to visit my mother. We were caught up in traffic all day Wednesday and ended up on a dirt road with no cell phone service. That was...uh...fun? But we finally made it out, only about four hours after our original arrival time.

It was a really laid back girls' weekend. All of us slept in Thursday, hung around the house talking for a bit and drinking coffee (I actually ate every leftover in my mother's fridge, but that's besides the point), then we went out and picked up some plants at Lowe's. You can't beat $1 succulents! We stopped by the store for things for dinner, then headed home.

Dinner that night was great. Mumma made my favorite dish - potzuquash! A mixture of squash, zucchini, and potatoes sliced and cooked with a little oil and spices. N and I prepared a fresh salad and even had some Tofurky chick'n to top it.

We settled in to watch some tv and catch up before we headed back the next morning. Mountain views and time with your mom always make things better. ♥


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summer 2017

Summer is winding down and coming to an end, finally. I worked a lot, but did manage to get out a do some really fun stuff!

In June, I spent a week out in Tennessee and it was great. Saw some baseball, got sunburnt, laid around the house. Back home, N and I sat on a lot of patios and complained about the heat, saw some great local sights, stopped by the farmer's market and the soap box derby, and caused general mayhem. In late July, N and I took a trip out to Tennessee, Mumma made us some amazing vegan spaghetti sauce, we did a lot of outdoor sitting and talking, and I found my favorite seasonal beer, RJ Rockers' Son of a Peach, and tried Shiner's Strawberry Blonde. I'm now in love with both. Jess and I saw Jurassic Park, one of my favorites, at Byrd Theatre, which was my first time going and it was awesome. A few weeks later, N and I shot down to the beach one weekend spontaneously and that was a lot of fun, then stopped at a friend's on the way back for some night swimming, squealing over hound puppies, and hanging out.

I'm normally a homebody, especially during summer, so I'm really glad I could get out more than usual.

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vacation time

Hello from the mountains! I'm out in Tennessee happily enjoying a long vacation. My bosses were generous enough to give me a week and a half off to come out. I've been living it up - visited with my mom, sourced new inventory, bought some new books and clothing, and drank too much beer (oops). I've got a nice week coming up of nothing but baseball, relaxation, and reading.

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things that have made me happy lately

As I've mentioned before, I'm generally a pessimist. However, I've been trying to have a better outlook on life and it's been working for me! Here's a neat little list of things that have made me happy lately.

• Meeting up with friends. A little bit ago in January I met up with Jess and we did some thrifting and had an amazing dinner at Not Your Average Joe's. That's the delicious veggie spaghetti squash bolognese I had above!
• Vegan breakfast. My coworker and I stopped at Kickshaw's for breakfast a bit ago and I had potato hash, sour cream, cheddar Daiya, egg, and portobello bacon. All vegan and all delicious!
• Preparing listings for eBay. Most folks loathe the whole photo/listing process, but for some reason I find it therapeutic. Who knows why. I love laying out pieces for photos so they can find new homes!
• New beginnings. I won't go into detail, but things have really been looking up for me around here. Smitten kitten.

Hope all is well! ♥

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2017 goals

I'm not generally a New Year resolution type of gal and this post is pretty late, but Jess and I were talking and I thought I'd put together some goals for the year. It never hurts to work toward something, right?

• Try new things. I can get pretty deep into my routines, so I'm hoping to branch out and try doing things I've never done before.
• Build on my reselling business. I had a fairly successful year on eBay and Etsy as a hobby, but I hope to build on that and turn it into a full-time second income. I've started sourcing and have been pretty fruitful thus far! Cataloging and organizing inventory is next.
• Develop a yoga routine. One of the biggest things I miss doing is going to yoga. I didn't have a lot of time to go in 2016, but I definitely want to get back into the habit of going. While this may contradict my "get out of my routine" goal, I think this is a healthy thing to work toward.
• Use my planner. I finally found a weekly planner that I love and I really want to start using it on a regular basis. I need everything all in one place, and it's a pain to input everything into Google Calendar, as the only device I use is my phone, so I don't need the syncing. I'm highly visual, so hopefully keeping it all in one place will help me be more organized.
• Work on my anxiety. I've developed some pretty severe anxiety over the last few years and I've not been making the best choices that have helped me deal with it. I hope to establish some new habits and help manage my anxious thoughts.

What are you planning for the fresh year?

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the mountains called and i answered

I just got back from a fabulous weekend in Tennessee visiting my mom. We had a little pre-holiday visit and did so much Christmas shopping! It was nice to get away for a couple days and seeing your mom always helps. :)

Since she lives six hours away, it can really take it's toll on both her and I when we don't see each other often. Between work, dogs, and general responsibilities, I don't see her nearly as often as I'd like. We're really close, so this weekend was just about us hanging out and catching up.

And that's exactly what we did! We ate tons of food, did bunches of shopping, and talked about all kinds of stuff. It was so nice. I had such a great weekend that I hard took any pictures, but I did capture this Smoky Mountain sunrise once morning. ♥

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happy mail

My mom and I swap packages a couple times a year and it's always fun to get something in the mail, especially when you aren't expecting it. This is the happy mail I came home to Friday!



A few of my favorite things! Books, accessories, beauty products, and candy corn!

I haven't gotten on the Kay Scarpetta boat yet, but I've read a few excerpts and it seems pretty interesting, so I'm excited to start Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell (use my link and get 15% off!).

There's this great little boutique in Tennessee that we love visiting, and my mom picked me up an adorable knit beanie there! It'll get a lot of use this winter. How cute is the little Vols decal? I've wanted one ever since the boutique posted them on their Instagram. I'm so excited to put this baby on my car!

The candy corn? I'm a nut for those things.



Along with the hotel sticky notes (love free stationary!), my mom and stepdad just got back from a trip to Lake Tahoe, and she picked me up some beauty products! A total surprise, but boy am I looking forward to trying them! Both products are Lather & Fizz's Tahoe Blue line, after the blue of the lake.

I'll be seeing her soon, but I'm preparing my package to take to her. ♥


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life lately

Happy Election Day, America! I voted, did you?



In other news, my boss got some new geckos and they're really sweet. Look at this little guy! They're so soft. This one hung out on my shoulder for a bit while I stocked at work.



I've gotten more into baths lately, so I've been using up some bath bombs. Here's one from Ladyburg. So if you have any recs, send them my way!



I've been getting lots of wear out of my new leggings! Here's the print Royal Ruby. They just released faux fur lined and fleece lined prints, so I can't wait to get some shopping done!



The past week has been pretty weird, as I've had a bout with a nasty sinus/allergy headache, then what appeared to be a virus that kept me out of work yesterday. Sigh. I didn't even get any blogging done yesterday while I was home in bed.

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a lazy day downtown

Yesterday, after I ran some errands on my day off, I decided to head downtown. I work down there, but very rarely get to actually stroll around. I stopped and had lunch at the Virginia Deli, which is one of my favorite spots. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the streets weren't really busy, so I sat outside and enjoyed the day.





Earlier that morning, my grandpa changed the oil in my car for me, so I stopped by Sugar Shack and picked up a couple sprinkle donuts for him and my grandma. My grandma grew up downtown, so as I was telling her where Sugar Shack was, she told me their building is right across from what used to be the service station my great grandpa ran! I love learning family history.





I've been watching my spending lately, so I didn't pick up a lot of things in my shopping, but I did stop by Ladyburg for a bath bomb, The Grove of Brite Blessings for a few stones, and then I stopped by Ulta (but that was an awesome point redemption deal and I ended up only paying $1.26 for the polish!).



Overall? A very unproductive, relaxing day. ♥


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a rainy saturday & leggings

Today was a pretty rainy Saturday. If you don't know by now, this does not upset me. I love rain. It made for a pretty slow work day, though.

Life has been busy lately. I've been working and helping prepare for the holidays at the store and we redid the Halloween windows.

I did become an affiliate for an interesting company, Legging Army. I started off with two pairs, Cheetalicious and Paisley Days. I have to say, I love these things. They're so soft! I pretty much never have to wear real pants again.




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new friends - frogs & toads

My workplace is truly amazing. Sure, it's retail, but we have some great products and regulars that come in. But this post isn't about that - it's about critters! My bosses have a fascinating menagerie. There are toads and a giant bullfrog and recently some babies came in. Frog and toad babies! Even if you're not a fan of the scaly and slimy, you'll have to admit these guys are adorable.



Growing up I preferred the furry pets - dogs, cats, hamsters. I didn't like bugs and I didn't like anything that hopped or slithered. I had respect for them, but I didn't want them to touch me. (And sometimes I still won't touch some of the creatures that I encounter...I'm looking at you, millipedes.)



These guys are so tiny - a couple are smaller than a dime. Check out those little speckles. They hop around and when they eat their tiny pink tongues are so fast you have to really focus to see them.



Look at this little guy! He's the prettiest green and when the light is right, his skin is translucent and you can see all his insides. It's really fascinating. He was active that day, so he was a bit tuckered out in this photo.

I'm excited to watch these guys grow up!

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