Living in the Raleigh-Durham area is different from other areas of North Carolina. It’s not super southern, but it has nuances I quite enjoy. Cary is very international and multicultural which is a big draw for us, not to mention that namesake thing…Cary is my middle name, ICYMI. Tons of people here are from New York, and New Jersey..which is referred to as “northerners” by some, but I’m not sure that’s a positive. Needless to say, it’s a welcoming community and we find it very easy to slide right into where we feel best. Anyway, I’m lumping the surrounding communities into Cary for alliteration purposes.

Hankering for a growler? Just head on down to your local Whole Foods and pick one up. Many local beers are available. Pay at the growler bar or go to self-checkout…you can do that here! There is someone standing around waiting for something to do, like checking IDs or deleting the extra milk or kumquats instead of apricots you accidently rang up.

We learned the grocers down the road, Lowes (ironic), has craft beers on tap. Half-price glasses on Thursday, $3, and half-price growlers on Saturdays. Amazing sausages too! WF makes their own as well, which we can say makes ALL the difference! Seriously.

Our neighbor told us Lowes has a very nice flower selection so if your husband comes home with a bouquet, that’s a sign he spent too much time at the craft beer section.

Craft Beer bar at Whole Foods.

Yum! Goes flat after 3 days. Drink fast.

Want a job in a swanky restaurant but you’re not 21? No worries. A youngster can’t make a drink but they can deliver one to a table on a tray. The tips are so much better than Taco Bell.

“Pray about it.” That’s what my contractor told me to do when I was picking out a floating shelf.  If it were me, I’d say, “think about it.”

“Yes ma’am.” That is the confirmation reply to asking a question as I would say, “Correct.”

“Now you have a good day, ok.” That’s how a convo will end as if I spilled my guts about my terrible day when all I did was book an eye appointment. That’s my read.  If it were me, I’d just say, “Thanks. Have a great day.” It’s sweet though!

“You have a wonderful day.” It’s close to the one above, but this time I feel like it’s “you didn’t win, but you have a wonderful day just the same.” That’s just how anyone closes an interaction, like saying thank you.

“Come on over for a cookout.” This is my favorite invite ever. I only know BBQ. I don’t have many truly local friends yet, but this message made me feel like I had arrived. My friend is an excellent pickleball player and a self-proclaimed good cook, all the more special. I’m hoping some biscuit lessons are forthcoming. We didn’t get to go to the cookout as it was too hot for the screened porch that day. I know.

Screened porch. That’s another thing here, screened porches. We want one. Bugs aren’t too big of a deal, but mosquitoes are out, maybe not in full force, but they’re still looking for a meal and they don’t care where you’re from.

Return to high school in a song a zillion times a day. That happens a lot, A LOT. I got a recommendation for THE hippest radio station, only to hear Boston after Taylor Swift. It’s funny how the oldies creep up when it’s least expected. I will say, if oldies are playing in a hair salon, BEWARE. When I was getting fixed at a bad salon after bad color, sitting under a heat lamp with highlight foils (So 90s), and listening to REO Speedwagon, Taking it on the Run…I knew I was in the WRONG place.

I did ask the pickleball crew what is up with the oldies stuff. They told me to just listen to Spotify for the latest hits. They didn’t know it was a thing here on the radio.

A cover band at the annual art festival, however, is very cool. We stood around for at least a half hour trying to name that tune. Cary is big on festivals.

Eek. Bad music and bad hair.

Styrofoam Cups. And to-go containers. And serving plates. WHAT?!? Styrofoam has been known to be bad for the environment for at least 30 years. Not even McDonald’s uses those squeaky, non-compostable, poisonous containers.

Poison on the outside

What does the pickleball crowd say? It’s the south. The end.

Our solution: Bring your own drink or just don’t go to that establishment.

Dropping by the like it’s last century. It doesn’t happen every day, but a neighbor will pop in unannounced, like before cell phones and front-door creepers. It’s straight out of an episode of Melrose Place. If you watched that show in the mid-90s, you know what I mean. We know we picked the right neighborhood when our new friends brought a bottle of wine to a “soft opening” of our new home. (We’re still in boxes, but somewhat functional.)  I howled at the “message on the bottle”. Explainer…we live at Belrose Drive…we LOVE our neighbors!

LOVE! Anyone who watched Melrose Place is an instant friend.

Drop-in ready, 2023 style. LOL.

This is not the end of our Cary Culture discoveries…TBC.