Downtown Fayetteville - grace grits and gardening

Yesterday, Lucy and Annabelle bounded right on in to Collier Drug and were greeted like the stars they think they are. If you live in Fayetteville, Arkansas, you probably already know how wonderful Collier Drug is. And if you don’t, you absolutely should. Collier is a once-upon-a-time drugstore, a dying breed in this world of soul sucking chain stores. Family-owned and independent—that’s the secret.

Not that’s it’s a secret.

So by now you’ve probably heard that Fayetteville was recently ranked by U.S. News as the 5th best place to live in America. If you extrapolate this, no doubt Collier is one of the top five drugstores in all the land.

This year, Collier celebrates 100 years in Fayetteville.Continue Reading

Lucy and Annabelle love their walks and, lucky for me, Fayetteville is a very walkable city with a fun downtown area. We’ve been living here about ten months now, and so yes, people are beginning to recognize the “girls” when we are out and about. They’re popular that way.

Recently, we explored downtown starting with Fayetteville’s Farmer’s Market. And by the way, Fayetteville’s Farmer’s Market is THE place to be on Saturday. Like the Wal-Mart in my hometown only not. People bring their dogs and babies and the local farmers sell wondrous produce and flowers. There’s live music and crafts, too.

Lucy loves the crowd and activity. Annabelle gets a little nervous and prefers to hang out in the peripheral area. All in all, it’s a good dog watching / people watching place with the bonus of fresh veggies and fruit.

After the excitement of Farmer’s Market, they pulled me toward Chunky Dunk Milk + Cookies. I think it was the signage that lured them over.

Seriously. Look at that cookie sandwich. It’s called Regina George Got Hit By a Bus. Ha. If you are a fan of Mean Girls, you know she so deserved it. Ingredients = 2 chocolate chip cookies, fudge sauce, vanilla icing, and crumbled sugar cookies. Wowza.

Lucy and Annabelle liked the picnic tables and water bowl.

I gotta admit I kinda loved the garden on the back of the Chunky Dunk food truck. Food truck gardens should be a thing.

Next stop, The Curious Book Shoppe on Block. First of all, I’m partial to any shoppe with an “e” on the end. That one extra vowel makes the place seem more quaint in an enchanted sort of way—like maybe tucked within a secret shelf they sell magic wands or crystals than cure allergies or something equally exotic. And the fact that this shoppe is smaller than Harry Potter’s room underneath the stairs makes it even more intriguing.

Lucy and Annabelle enjoyed their visit, but it was their first book shoppe so they really had no frame of reference.

On the way home, Annabelle stopped for a quick drink in this natural tree root dog bowl. Water slurped out in the wild is always best. Or so I’m told.