Bring It Downtown

They say that after 10 years of living in Manhattan, you are considered a New Yorker. Embarking on my tenth anniversary of Fredericton life, I am hoping that the same grace is given here. I moved to the city where I currently reside, Fredericton, NB, almost 10 years ago when I decided to come to a post-secondary school for my degree. I fell hopelessly in love, so to speak, with this this composite & charming little place, feeling in my bones that this is where I just need to be. I even scooted off to Ireland for a stint, but found myself sucked back into the vortex of this city and the swell people that make it up.

Downtown Fredericton launched a campaign this year, asking 15 social media addicts to spend $100 dollars here, downtown, spreading the love of what we have to offer locally. If you follow me on Twitter you may have become accustomed to my #bringitdowntown hashtag, which we used to communicate the adventures of our spending as they went down. Because I like to document everything (guys, I'm not joking - it's sort of embarrassing), I decided to put together a photo diary of my finds. I wanted to "keep it real", so I spent a Saturday doing the things I just.. do. And here's what I did.

 Starting my Saturday the way I always do, at the Fredericton Farmer's Market. A double latte with a hysterical caffeine buzz to follow.

Following my market excursions I went out for my favorite meal of life the week: brunch. I went to my very favorite brunching location: The Palate.

 

 Eating makes me hungry... for shopping. So I took myself to my favorite consignment shop, reNeu Boutique where I found a vintage Oscar de la Renta dress in. my. size. (!!!) To be styled on the blog next week!

I knew I would be gearing up to go home soon, so I stopped in and picked myself up a turntable treat at Backstreet Records.

 After selecting what I thought was the most obvious choice of the day (re-mastered iconic 60's pop, say what?), I headed on home with another dose of coffee to hang out and reflect on my finds. The remainder of my afternoon was spent listening to my new record, admiring my beautiful vintage dress, and hanging out with Pip (shameless pet placement).

I saved a few of my downtown dollars for that evening, as I had thought of something special I could do throughout my day. My best pal Kate was coming to visit me that night from Saint John (where she had moved to from Fredericton earlier this year). After having just received news earlier that week that she & her manfriend are returning to Fredericotn to live (see, vortex), I decided to take her out for a champagne toast at Corked, a stunning little wine bar that I've come to fancy.

We had a great time gallivanting around our city, heading out for some live music at The Capital Complex to finish off my day. Thank you so much to Downtown Fredericton for this unique & fun opportunity, and no matter if you are here locally, or if you are in your own urban or rural area across the globe, give a try to keep things local this year and bring it downtown.