The Way I Do the Things I Do

I took a walk on the warm side, looking for some adventure.

Eager to check out the new Lamplighter on Morris Street, I made a bee line (actually more like a "J" line) to find the green space out in back of it crawling with people, sitting, standing, stretched out on the grass.

Inside were almost as many people but what was notable about both contingents was the diversity. It wasn't just the hipster crowd  from Addison Street, it was young and old, hip and not so hip.

I said hello to a few familiar faces before spotting an icon from my childhood: chocolate meltaways, under the glass of the counter.

Meltaways were something I'd found in my Betty Crocker Cooky Book (back when we apparently spelled cookie that way), a cake style brownie, iced with butter cream frosting and covered in a thin layer of dark, unsweetened chocolate.

back during my teen years when I'd discovered the recipe, they seemed like the height of fancy cookies.

Lamplighter sold two versions, one with mint butter cream with which I was familiar having made that variation and raspberry, completely new to me.

Memories were lighting the corners of my mind.

I bought the mint version, took my little bag and headed back outside leaving the caffeine-starved masses to their fixes.

When I got back over to Harrison Street, I ran into musician Prabir, also a J-Ward resident, pushing his bike to Harrison Street Cafe for some vegetarian breakfast.

When I told him where I'd just been, his first question was whether or not the full hipster crowd had followed. Hearing that I'd found a much more diverse one, he considered changing his plans.

"I'd like to be a guest blogger on your blog sometime," he mused."Write about the stuff you don't," which probably means from the vegetarian point of view.

Taking to the idea, I suggested a "he said, she said" post after he goes to Lamplighter and he began to nod.

"I think you just changed my plans," he said, smiling and taking leave of me. We'll see what comes of that.

Walking by Rumors boutique, I spotted the cutest dress on the mannequin and stopped to look at it so I could listen to the Temptations singing "The Way You Do the Things You Do" coming from the store.

Posted in an empty shop window nearby was a VCU crew poster so clever I laughed out loud.

Row like you stole it.

I'm sure on some level, that's not the right image for a school's team, but I found it brilliant.

Walk like you want to get a good story out of it, that's my motto. It's so easy.