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Small Town Life is Good

I just have to tell you how great small town Missouri life has been to me in 2010, and by telling you about all of this, I think you’ll understand why I’ve been posting less often on A Small Town Girl’s Guide – I’ve been out doing so many things this year that it’s hard [...]

The Eternal Question

Bradford Pear, photo by smalltowngirl

“Why on earth did you move from New York City to rural Missouri?”

I’ve been reading some C.S. Lewis lately, and he summarized very eloquently a part of my reason for moving “home” that I’d not yet been able to put into words:

…This is, I think, one little [...]

Small Town Girl's 1 Year Anniversary

Today was my remarkably unremarkable one-year anniversary in my small town Missouri job. Coincidentally, I’m wearing the same Columbia fleece tonight that I’m wearing in this post, written the day I moved from Brooklyn, New York back to rural Missouri last February.

In my first year back in my home state, I’ve learned… Continue reading Small Town Girl’s 1 Year Anniversary

Believe (The McKinnis House)

McKinnis Home, photo by smalltowngirl

On Sunday I took my mom on a small town blogging adventure to the Washington, Missouri Holiday House Tour. One of my favorite features of the homes we saw was the fireplace in The McKinnis House, which was decorated in letters that spelled “Believe”, along with lots of whimsical, wintery accents [...]

Aching Throbbing Loneliness (I Miss NY)

Central Park Leaves, photo by smalltowngirl

It’s not just New York that I miss, but then again, it’s probably never place, separate from the rest of life, that anyone misses. For the last two days, I’ve missed New York City with an aching, depressing, loneliness that only hits at the end of the day, when my [...]

Bellevue Presbyterian Church

Not long ago, I wrote about the oldest Presbyterian church west of the Mississippi River, Bellevue Presbyterian Church. Bellevue’s home is a tiny Missouri town called Caledonia, population 158.

Down the Aisle, photo by smalltowngirl

Bellevue remains locked to the public the majority of the time, but I had a special opportunity to see the inside of [...]

More Gentle and More Beautiful

As a kid, I wasn’t afraid of much, but I was scared of what was beneath the surface of lakes, oceans, seas, gulfs or streams. Any natural water source that was too deep for me to see the bottom of terrified me.

Our hearts are like those lakes, oceans, seas, gulfs and streams sometimes in that there [...]

Foundation Grounds Coffee

Sitting at Foundation Grounds in Maplewood, intending to work remotely after a morning meeting at Westport, my work servers have crashed, and I’m unable to access emails or files for work.

The coffee shop is lovely, with refreshingly happy and down to earth staff (no snobbish yuppy baristas here). There is a quirky turquoise mural of a [...]

Things are growing in my garden!

I sat on the porch at dusk, drinking a Sam Adams. Not one to stay still for long, I wandered into the garden to put the trellis I bought yesterday in with my berry bushes.

Much to my delight, there are already green peppers the size of my thumbs and tomatoes the size of golf balls. The [...]

Bauhaus Kaffee

All photos by smalltowngirl

I love this coffee shop.

Still new (open for less than a month, I believe), Bauhaus Kaffee is the newest addition to quaint, downtown Farmington’s collection of stores and restaurants.

The owners, who are from Fredericktown, Missouri, have spent the last two years renovating the space.

I’m not sure how old downtown’s buildings are, but my [...]