Take a walk (or just a journey?)

I love where I live, but it isn't really in a neighborhood. It's a farm-style property next to a similar property with another house on it, set on a busy road, right across the road from a large state park. So I can't really walk around the neighborhood per se, but I love walking around my property and the surrounding area (the park and nearby nature trails are awesome). However, today I wasn't able to do much of that kind of walking around.

I had a really late show last night and a rather exhausting week before that, so I slept in pretty late today. Instead of taking a walk and noticing things, my wife and I decided to take a "journey" around Indianapolis for some last-minute holiday food shopping. 

We were happy to discover that there wasn't a lot of traffic between our house and Goose the Market, where we bought an insane assortment of sausages, cheeses, prosciutto, and lamb bacon for some upcoming family holiday meals, as well as a little late lunch. The sandwich called The Goose is in-freaking-credible: just prosciutto, mozzarella, basil, and olive oil on a warm baguette, but amazing in its simplicity and abundance of flavor.

This place is THE JAM.

So yeah, can't wait to eat all that awesome food. As for what I noticed while I was there, I noticed a ton of happy people buying delicious locally-made food, coffee, gelato, deli meats, specialty pate, etc. I noticed a lot of pride in the staff and the customers - it's the kind of place everyone is glad to be a involved with. It makes our city special, and it makes me wish there were more places like it. The shop was fully staffed for the holidays, and the employees were friendly, helpful, and courteous. I've been a bit grouchy and stressed out this holiday season, but I definitely felt a friendly, festive mood in the air.

I noticed the same thing when we stopped at Kroger on the way home to grab a few more ingredients for our impending feasts. Even though the entire store was jam-packed with people, everyone seemed to be a little nicer, happier, less guarded and angry than usual. Maybe I'm just projecting my own feelings after finally getting a break from a very full schedule. And even if I don't always love to shop, I've recently been enjoying it a little more than I used to. And I'm definitely ready to enjoy the next few days of food, rest, and relaxation.

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This post is part of Think Kit by SmallBox 

Today’s prompt: Take a break this afternoon and walk around the neighborhood, what do you notice?