The Long Awaited, Much Anticipated Indy Local Tour Recap

Remember earlier this month when I went to Indy, and had the indie Indy experience?

No?

You're right, it was weeks ago.  All of my focus on local and indie buying has consumed my time, and I didn't get the opportunity to recap the adventures I had on Thursday, August 9th with my dear friend Michelle.  That's actually her real name, too, but mostly because I can't think of any clever nickname at the moment.

After training on 8/9 (where I learned a ton and was completely re energized, and I don't say that for the upper ups who may or may not be reading), Michelle picked me up at the fabulous Canterbury hotel and we took off for the Indy Reads Bookstore.  It's a unique concept- a community bookstore that takes donated books and sells them at fantastic prices- where all proceeds benefit a literacy program who's goal is to have 100% of Indianapolis able to read.  I walked out with 5 books for about $12 and felt like I'd stolen from them somehow.

So what comes directly after great books?  Great Cajun, of course!  Off we went to Yat's, a must visit also on the Mass Avenue corridor.  I'm no culinary writer, so I'm not even going to try to give description to the mouthwatering cheese crawfish etoufee that could ever possibly exist- but I ate every bit of it, and wanted more.  Yat's is the kind of joint where I feel right at home, because there's simply no formality.  We sat outside and discussed the state of the world in general, and probably would have solved all current crises had the draw of a good beer not interrupted.  

Setting off from Yat's, we hit a lovely hole called Chatham Tap.  GREAT beer selection, and my most dedicated tour guide had even checked to see if some local beer was on tap so that I could further my mission.

We sat right at the corner of the bar and shared a nice, hoppy Sunk King brew (can't remember which one!) and attempted to pick back up on the state of the world.  We veered off into something totally not related...actually, I'm pretty sure we ricocheted from family to work to politics to back to the world and were even closer to solving it all when Michelle brought up frozen yogurt.  

You're tracking this, right?  Books, Cajun, beer, and now yogurt.

We made our way to a place called YoguLatte which is a cute play on words with yogurt and latte...where you create a monstrosity from all kinds of different flavors or only one with a whole bunch of toppings thrown in for good measure, and then they weigh it and charge you accordingly.  What they didn't count on was Tour Guide Michelle, who assured me that the best course of action was to sample each one to figure out which one my palate liked best.  My palate should actually never touch yogurt, frozen or not, because I'm allergic to milk.  But, I'm one of THOSE type of allergics- I'll eat it anyway and then complain later from the effects.  

That's me and yogurt sample number seven.

If you're any good at math, you can see that there are four separate units that dispense frozen yogurt, each with three flavors.  Four times three is twelve- and subtract a few flavors that didn't sound good, and I sampled 8 different yogurts before deciding on cake batter.  It was a beautiful dessert worthy of world problem solvers...who decided to end the night with another beer.

After leaving the yogurt place, we closed the night at Metro Night Club upstairs, where we declared that unless we achieved world domination, it was doomed and we may as well have another beer.  We overheard some conversations that were far more interesting than ours in nature and abandoned world domination for more laughs and deep insights, which are often the same thing anyway.

While this post has been a long time coming, I promised The Best Tour Guide Ever Michelle that she'd feature on the blog as soon as I planted myself on the couch long enough to compose it...so here you go, Ms. M.  I had a WONDERFUL time, and can't wait to do it again one day soon.  I'm lucky to have friends that embrace my quirks...especially the quirks that last 365 days and include all local, all the time. 

Next up for the blog:  the current struggles and things I can't find, and the kids' eyerolls.

School Days...And The Local Suppliers

Two weeks ago, I got the list.  Lists plural, because they were two:  one for each kid.

It seemed awfully early for school supply shopping- and there's a reason for that.  Our school district is slowly transitioning to a balanced calendar year that will eventually have only a six week summer break and several two week breaks throughout the school year.  Apparently, the amount of days attended are the same as before, when I was growing up, but the spacing is different. Where we used to go back to school at the end of August or beginning of September, the start date this year was August 6th.

Off I went, armed with my lists, determined to find everything I'd need for both kids in both grades, and to find it at either an independent or local venue.  Anyone who's done this before knows that you have eleventy seven of each item to buy:  multiple pencils, notebooks, folders, composition notebooks, eraser caps, and all sorts of other various needs and wants (in multiples of ten), presumably to balance out the children who aren't able to or won't get school supplies.  I take no issue with this at all from a financial standpoint.  I want every kid to have what he or she is going to need to succeed.

However, let's look at the reality of our independent businesses.  Quite simply, they just can't keep the kind of stock in hand to support that kind of demand.

My first stop was our local, indie parent teacher supply store...which was more geared towards the teachers and not the parents.  Mind you, I don't expect the vast quantity of supplies that say, WalMart or Target would carry;  but, I was slightly disappointed to find at most three or four of each kind of notebook, and absolutely no loose leaf paper.  None.  But, hey, ok, maybe their supplies were running a bit late- I'll give them that, and I'd go back there because they have so much darn FUN stuff.

I got somewhere around 50%-60% of my lists covered there.

You know the parts in cartoons where people get the light bulb over their head?  I had that happen as I was walking out of the parent teacher store.  I was determined that Ben Franklin would have further supplies.

Ben Franklin is an interesting locally owned business.  At one time, they were a franchise; but a bit of an odd one in that some of their locations were and are craft stores, while others were five and dimes, and even pharmacies.  The parent company that owned the franchise went bankrupt in 1997, which left another company to pick up the pieces, but stores retained local ownership.  After talking with the owner here, I found out that they're wholly independent.

At Ben Franklin, I got the random idea of getting blank pencil boxes and letting the kids choose their own scrapbook supplies to decorate them as they wanted.  I rarely have a flash of brilliance, so I'm going to have to call this one out as genius.  They loved the idea, and it channeled their inner creative spirit...or something.

Anyway, I visited two or three independent drug stores and an independent grocer about fifteen minutes away, and secured all but two composition books and 30 pencils.  All in all, it was a win.

Believe it or not, I spent less than in past years- and I think it all comes down to the fact that there is not the same opportunity to impulse buy.  I said early and often that I'm a huge impulse buyer (as most of us are)- so this was a nice surprise, despite the epic quest of securing all items.

The stuff I couldn't find I talked with the teachers and explained my mission, and that as all of the places restocked I'd hit them again throughout the year to bring in the missing items.  Both were supportive and enthusiastic, and had no problem with that.

I'm extremely proud of the fact that I still haven't had to break the rules yet, though I know the day is coming.    I do find myself wondering what that item will be.

Hotel Update: Still Keepin' It Indie in Indy!

Check it out!  Turns out, there IS an indie option next week, within walking distance of the training I'm attending.  I have to say, the Canterbury Hotel looks way cooler than the Embassy Suites!