At Home in Homewood

Homewood, AL makes my heart smile. I love this bustling little area and all it's trendy and unique little boutiques sandwiched between classic Main Street USA-type old time bakeries and businesses. From Homewood Toy & Hobby, the oldest toy shop in the Birmingham area which has been family owned and operated for the past 50 years, to the Pink Tulip where my love-err...obsession- with lacy, flowing boutique tops is fueled by their decently priced and available-on-Facebook fashions, my oldest daughter and I have to hit this area on our bi-monthly trips to the 'Ham.

   Our latest trip started off as usual with the main purpose for our journey south, a visit to Pitts & Associates where my daughter sees our beloved Dr. Le and now also their new Nurse Practitioner who handles the medication we've tried at all costs to avoid, but finally realized the necessity of. (That's a while 'nother blog.)

  After our visit, we typically would head straight to 18th St. in Homewood, just a couple of blocks over from the doctors'office, for lunch at our favorite restaurant, Urban Cookhouse. They serve up fantastic fresh, locally sourced produce as well as a fabulous "Half-baked Cookie" that comes to your table in a small cast iron skillet and is pure, gooey heaven to your tastebuds. However, it's a pretty popular little place and not very big. Being so, the smell and crowd noise can be a little too much for my girl, so during warmer weather we dine in the outside area, right on the sidewalk where we feel so fancy, just like we are in New York or Paris instead of just an hour and a half from our home in Caddo.  Now that the weather is turning colder, we are in search of a new diner. This time the girl chose Subway, but even Homewood's Subway is a uniquely arranged, two-story little stop-in where we have managed to have the upstairs area all to ourselves both times we've visited, and we're able to look down from the balcony to the rest of the store and it's passersby. It's a pretty cool, quaint little place for fast food, especially. 

  Our plan for dessert was to skip a few blocks over to Steel City Pops where they, like Urban Cookhouse, use fresh, all-natural or certified organic and locally grown (whenever possible) ingredients in their popsicles; But, our deal is that I get a treat and she gets a treat, and since my treat was on our way to the Pops, we made a "quick" stop first.

On this trip, I wanted my treat to be from Seibel's Camp & Cottage Outfiters, another fabulous little nook we'd previously discovered while wandering up and down 18th St as we attempted to walk off part of the previously-mentioned cookie.

***Pres swinging inside Seibel's***

They have everything you need to give your lake house, cabin, or Caddo home a well-decorated cottage feel with lots of cozy fabrics, furniture, and rugs, but that's just the big stuff. I scored a fantastic new burlap tree skirt from Seibel's then we headed a few doors down where we "oooh"-ed and "ahhh"-ed for a good hour inside our newest "must see" while in Homewood: Alabama Goods.

This store sells exactly what the name says: Alabama goods made in Alabama by Alabama artisans. But these goods are amazing. There's jewelry...

and hand-carved wooden toys...

and my favorite, the "Prodigal Pottery" items handmade by the women of King's Home, a shelter for women fleeing domestic violence (Hello, perfect Christmas gift!?)...

Not to mention the gourmet goodies...

Seriously, need I say more? This place is perfect. The precious ladies at the counter beautifully wrapped our purchases and even pointed us across the street to another Homewood treasure, Savage's.

 This bakery and deli has been serving up tasty treats since 1939, and to be quite honest, it doesn't feel like this place has changed much since it opened. It's like walking right into the past and walking right out with delicious gingerbread men and sugar cookies ALMOST as good as my mama could make them. ;) 

  By this point, I'm knee deep in nostalgia and quite positive that life would be perfect if we lived here. Not only would we have access to resources we don't have at home for Presley's educational needs but all these fabulous stores for my pocketbook's demise. Then, we see this: 

A weekly Pokemon tournament for my girl who LOVES the weird, anime, nonsense. I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto. We sure don't have stuff like this in Caddo. Have I mentioned I love this place?!?