I used to live in the Washington DC metro area in my previous life. One thing I would do on a regular basis was go to Eastern Market. Listening to NPR this morning was a feature on the re-opening of Eastern Market. I've been sadly out of touch with local DC happenings. Most of my friends who lived and worked in Washington have either moved away or we have lost touch.
While it was sad to hear the Market had a devastating fire a few years ago, I'm not surprised. The building was old, very old and while the merchants,vendors and folks worked hard to keep it up, it did have it's issues.
One thing my friends and I used to love to do was to meet in the Market area. We would take the Metro, ride our bikes, some would drive to the area. We'd meet for coffee, go for a beer at Tunnicliffs Tavern (is it still in exsistence?), wander around the vendors, look at the art work, grab a bite to eat (I remember this great stand that sold homemade empanada-yum). One thing I did each time I was at the Market was to get a large bouquet of flowers. There was a flower vendor that was always out on the sidewalk on the 7th St side and sold these great bouquets of flowers. You could get the small bunch for $6 or $7 or the large bunch for $10 or $12. I honestly don't remember the exact price, but what I do remember is that each boquet had a nice variety of flowers, always had a star gazer lilly, some lovely greens and lasted at least a week and the cost was not much more than a cup of coffee and a pastry at one of the local coffee shops. I would bring the flowers home and put them in a vase on a table in my apartment. I would get a great sense of satisfaction looking at the flowers.
Saving Veronica has a post here where she says that when she gets out of debt she is going to buy herself flowers. My advice to her, buy them now! Even when I was at my lowest point in my finances, I would scrape up a buck or two at maybe get even one stem of a flower. Just having something lovely to look at would lift my spirits. I'm not advocating large bunches of rare orchids, but if you feel the need for a flower or two, treat yourself!
5 comments:
I worked with a woman who bought herself one rose every week. She kept it on her desk and we all enjoyed it.
I've been doing this on and off for a while now. REcently I just stopped, I don't know why but I do know I need to get back in the habit. Maybe I will this weekend :)
I used to have a great flower market by my office. They sold all their flowers separate so you could mix and match - like a wholesaler. I would buy the pretty, but less expensive bouquets, the $4 - $5 "filler" flowers that they have to go with the shier flowers, and put them in an assortment of vases. I loved it! Sadly they have gone out of business and the places around me now are all too expensive. I have a garden though, so I have flowers most of the year!
What a pleasant surprise to see you mention my blog post here! And you're right -- I do need to buy myself those flowers now. (There's a post in the future acknowledging your and others' advice.)
And just so you know, Eastern Market has been rebuilt. It looks wonderful and was totally buzzing with activity last weekend. I didn't buy a thing, but I sure enjoyed wandering around the booths and feeling the sun on my shoulders.
Thanks for the continued encouragement. :-)
veronica
Oh glad to hear it's been rebuilt! maybe one day I'll make it back down to DC. I have great memories of time spent in the area and of the market itself.
One thing I don't do often enough is give back a little link love. So I'm trying to acknowledge some good posts on the blogs I read.
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