FINALLY – a dinner with my friends! After days of feeling like go-go-go, it was so nice to sit down with two of my favorite blog girls plus their male counterparts.
Before we met up, the Husband and I put together our bed and then cracked open a bottle of wine as a congrats. Check out my merlot’s dress – my BFF Lauren bought me this YEARS ago while traveling through Asia.
I also snacked on a slice of Dakota bread.
Once everyone arrived, we left to the restaurant, a French/Italian hybrid called Terra. Well, the KERF family follow us on bike (the rest of us walked). Can I just say that living in a walkable community is SO NICE?!
Terra was great – I highly recommend (although the food was a bit $$$).
After carefully studying the meat-heavy menu, I decided to split an appetizer salad with the Husband and get the single vegetarian entree.
Our meal started off with 1/2 a red seedless grape, wrapped in goat cheese and pistachio crumble. Amazing as it looks!
As well as BREAD… Lots of crusty bread with olive oil dipping sauce. I think I had 2 or 3 slices?
The table also split a bottle of fruity white wine.
Our salad (which we split):
And my vegetable plate, which featured mushrooms, collard greens, and risotto. It looked like a small portion when the waiter set it down, but after the wine + bread + salad, it was perfect.
After dinner…
WE WALKED HOME.
And it was good. 
Do you live in a walkable neighborhood? Is that important to you or does your dream home include on other amenities?
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{ 96 comments… read them below or add one }
was that grape just really big or was that plate just super tiny?
both!
Your journey is so exciting, I really love your apartment and am so glad you have a porch–they are the best! I do live in a walkable community, I can go 10 blocks, hit coffee shops, grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores, thrift stores and SO much. I live less than 1 mile from MInneapolis downtown and it’s a delight! I have worked in a 2 mile radius of my house too for over 10 years. Yay!!
one of the reasons my bf and i want to relocate to a bigger city is cause we want to WALK to places…I hate driving all the time! BTW this post was totally “when blogs collide”. loves.
No, but I have in the past and loved it. I could walk to the grocery store, park with my daughter, up to get lunch or dinner……..miss it. Your new neighborhood looks really nice. Glad you like it and are settling in nicely. =)
I wish I lived in a walkable neighborhood. That looks wonderful! How fun.
Your wine dress is neat!
I am so jealous that you live in such a walkable neighborhood now! I don’t at all.
Living in a walkable neighborhood was a HUGE factor when we were looking for a house. I typically drive to the grocery store, which is 3 miles away, but I live 1/2 mile from my favorite coffee shop, a mile from Pilates, yoga, bank, library, food co-op, etc. It’s so fabulous to be able to walk–it’s such a nice change of pace from driving everywhere.
When the bf & I were looking at houses, we either had to be close to downtown or near the park. There was nothing downtown that we liked in our price range so we focused on the park and got lucky and found our dream house. We’re close to the park for running, biking and swimming and we’re within biking distance to a movie theater and restaurants and the downtown area. So, I guess we ended up with the best of both worlds.
i would pick park, too!
Gainesville is somewhat of a walking neighborhood, but I can’t really run errands without a car (I do big shops less often!)
I would so love to live in a walkable community but unfortunately our city is just way too big. We’re trying to get better about biking though!
Oh looks like you guys had fun. Living in a walkable community is amazing! Totally miss that about the city
What a fun night!! Our neighborhood is not so walkable… kinda annoying actually.
Walkability is one of the main reasons I moved to SF, and why I continue to stay here. We can’t walk everywhere, but we can walk to a lot of places – and also take public transit.
oh living in a walk-able neighbourhood is just awesome! You guys are going to have so much fun there!!
Being able to walk places (restaurants, bars, market) is literally the #1 thing I would look for in a home. I’ve never lived anywhere where I couldn’t do it, and I can’t imagine life without it! Even if it means a smaller home, I think we will always live in a walkable community.
What a fun blogger dinner. That grape is so cute!
I always wanted to live in a city where I didn’t necessarily need a car. I lived in Chicago for 2 semesters (and loved it!). Now we live a 5 minute walk from the square of our town. I think that’s why we love a certain restaurant more. We always say “hey let’s just walk down to Joe’s”. Plus we can walk to the bank (for moolah) and CVS for treats and toiletries.
Being able to walk/bike is an important component of the next place we move. It’s so important to me!
Also, love Matt in the background of the first photo and how awkward the boys look. Haha.
I used to live in an extremely walk/bike-friendly area in Nashville… But then I graduated from
college and can’t afford to pay rent in the area. Boo. I miss it so much! Drinking is always more fun when you know you can walk home and don’t have to worry about a DD.. Haha!
Everything sounds so good – especially the goat cheese and pistachio grape!
I live in the suburbs and seriously am dying to live in a walkable neighborhood. I can’t wait to see you explore Charlotte!
I live in a walkable neighborhood right outside of DC. I refuse to move anywhere that isn’t walkable, because I don’t even own a car!
When I’m in school I live in the middle of Chicago and walk everywhere. I absolutely love it! When I’m home though, in the suburbs, I definitely miss being able to walk a lot. You don’t realize how convenient it is until a ten minute drive is between you and your groceries instead of just a five minute walk.
All that food looked delicious, by the way! That bacon wrapped grape looks amazing! I had something similar with a bacon wrapped date with red pepper sauce. And I ate a whole lot of them, haha.
We live in a walkable community. I told my husband that I wanted a bike with a basket so that I could go to the grocery store.
Half a grape!?!?!
It was just a little freebie from the kitchen
a whole grape would’ve been better! LOL
My college town is very walkable (as typical for a college town) and I LOVE it. It’s a lot of fun especially when the weather is nice. My hometown is not at all walkable. I live in a mountain range, so its a tad bit difficult to get around.
Excuse me for being vain, but I freaking love your dress.
I’m a sucker for anything blue and v-neck, though.
Thank you! Got it at Marshalls!
I live in a semi-walkable area. I’m about a 10-minute walk from all major amenities. I’m usually lazy and drive – but I’m trying to get better about riding my bike!!
Bread with olive oil/balsamic is probably my favourite thing EVER!
I live in NYC so I walk everywhere. And I love it! I always feel good about getting that extra bit of exercise in, in addition to what I do at the gym. The grocery store, dry cleaners, STARBUCKS, and Tasti D-Lite is all a two-minute walk
Such a cute post! I feel like all your Charlotte bloggers have moved right now haha.
I don’t really live in a walkable area. I used to, and miss it entirely. Looks like a fabulous time
Walkable neighborhood is THE most important thing to me!
Ya’ll look gorgeous as always. I love walkable living areas – that’s so neat that you guys can get together, get your exercise in and have an amazing dinner!
I miss living in a walkable area so much! I moved from Boston to LA and LA is much less walkable. Luckily there is enough near my apartment that I can walk a lot but I wish I could walk more.
Our town is walkable for the basic stuff but not as walkable as I’d like. But its a great community for fun stuff.
I don’t really live in a walkable area, but would love to! If i wanted to walk anywhere, I could, it would jsut take time.
It’s so strange again seeing the same things on KERF and HTP – I think I even saw that Kath used your camera, so some of the pictures are exactly the same ones! o.O But either way, two doses of delicious never bothered me. Your dinner looks great!
I think I live in a walkable area… sort of? We walk everywhere even if we can just get a cab or take a bus. It’s fun!
I love walking.
Wei-Wei
Unfortunately time does not allow for a lot of walking but I am a walker. Things are far too spread out where I am currently living.
I was in NYC over the weekend and that city is sooo walkable and where you don’t walk, you can take the train. I especially love Brooklyn for that purpose and hope to live there one day.
We actually bike a lot when the weather is nicer, a bit too hot in AZ now, but come Fall, Winter and Spring biking is the preferred method of travel to social functions!
I wish I could bike or walk to work, but things are a bit too spread out here for that.
i live in a neighborhood that is about 2 miles from the stores and stuff, so i would say it’s more bike-able than walkable…but still, better than driving!
I wish mine was walkable. I have to drive everywhere, no choice. But do my best to combine trips.
Awww, this looks so fun!! I live in a walkable neighborhood and absolutely love it, wouldn’t have it any other way.
Cute portrait of Kath and another adorable dress on YOU!
Half a grape to start? I love that
same for the cinema, theatre, shopping…
I WISH so bad I lived in a walkable neighbourhood; as it is, if I want a decent restaurant I have to drive 1/2 hour
Agree with Hillary- you look great in that dress.
Looks like you girls (and guys) had a fun time!
I am happy today as I am finally back to running – wahoo!
Julia
http://www.britbride.com
I sort of live in a walkable neighborhood now. Some sidewalks are crumbling and there is definitely an area of town that is chock full of bums, but other than that it’s pretty pleasant in Gainesville.
I would definitely say that a walkable neighborhood is a must when it comes to finding a place to settle down.
~Amanda
Walkable/cycleable is a must for me. I have no car and Himself doesn’t even have a licence.
However I think it is much much easier to find that in the UK than in the States.
Congrats on your new home!
We don’t live in a walkable neighborhood but I really wish we did! I mean, we live in a great plan that we can literally walk through, but we can’t walk TO anything – except a Dairy Queen.
That is a good place to walk!!!
Aw such a cute post!
I live in a walkable neighbourhood (then again, I live in Europe, things are slightly smaller than in the States here) and it is very important to us as we don’t own a car (I can’t even drive). I am used to going places walking, I go to work and back walking, that’s 40 minutes in the morning, 40 minutes in the evening
, and everything else is nearby: supermarket, health food store, etc. Going to the theatre would take more time but nothing some public transportation can’t fix, it’s not that far 
This blue dress looks gorgeous on you!
My appartment is perfectly located for my needs so it will be hard when I’ll try to buy a place elsewhere in the future… It’s at walking distance from a market, 4 grocery stores, 3 drug stores, 2 video stores, a park, cute coffee shops and restaurants and, the best of all, it’s 5 minutes away from 2 cycling paths on the river’s border where I can train for my half marathon! Can it get any better? I don’t think so…
Those photos are so good!!!! You got all the good ones
It’s my dream to live in a neighborhood like that! Looks like you had a great time with some great people!
yes I do live in a wakable neighborhood – an entire wakable city for that matter. You can attest – you were here for the Health Living Summit in 2009
It is SO important to me to be able to walk (and take public transportation) everywhere.
Aww fun! I love evenings out with friends. You look GORGEOUS too!
Boston is definitely a walkable city and having recently moved, I’m loving my new neighborhood because of it’s proximity to lots of fun places to go out. If I could live my life without ever getting in a car again, I would do so happily.
Unfortunately I don’t live in a walkable neighborhood. In fact I can only think of 2 walkable “neighborhoods,” really one, in all the surrounding cities.
I grew up in the country so I’ve never lived in a walkable community as far as going to a store or restaurant is concerned. I definitely live in a beautiful area to take a walk though
My dream house entails hundreds of acres of land (I already live on 130 acres and would love to live on even more someday!) so living within walking distance of town is not on my list of wants. I do want to be self sufficient enough that I would only have to go into town sporadically…someday I’ll make that dream come true.
We live in a walkable neighborhood! I love it so much
I can walk to work and to all of the great restaurants, bars and shops in our little town. A location close to downtown was #1 on our wishlist when buying a house 
I hope they didn’t charge you for that grape. I mean, it sounds pretty awesome, but I could see a fancy restaurant giving you one goat grape for $5. Ha ha. I would love to walk in such a walking and bike-friendly place!
I have never lived in a walkable community, so obviously it isn’t that important to me. I think it would be nice, though. The only walkable place in this area I can think of is super, super expensive. I would also be concerned in the summer with the heat. Where I live, the heat index is regularly ~ 105 during the day from June-mid September. Maybe I would get used to it, but I can’t imagine walking/riding my bike for any distance in that sort of heat and even if I did I would be drenched in sweat everywhere I went. I also can’t imagine not having a car. I guess walkability just doesn’t seem feasible to me based on the places I’ve lived. I’m glad you found it, though, since it is so important to you.
Great meal with friends.
Yes, we live in a very walking/running friendly neighborhood and I would never have it any different. You get spoiled.
Fun, fun!! I wish we lived in a walkable community. It’s on my list for our next move.
When we moved two years ago, it being walkable and friendly was a priority. We live a little bit further away from things than I would like because the price was better, but we are still in a walkable area – that is continuing to grow and get better with even more places popping in. It’s GREAT – SO MUCH BETTER than the suburbs which we didn’t even look in because we knew we ultimately wouldn’t like it! We have our family in our new home, we are finally acclimated (after 2 years!) and I don’t ever want to move – unless it’s even closer to the walkable places!
I would LOVE to live somewhere were you can walk everywhere. For claiming to be s0 enviroment friendly, my town doesn’t help people who want to walk! Definitly a desiding factor for the next place I am!
I love walking home after dinner or dessert! It’s especially enjoyable when living in a warm climate. I’m in Toronto so really this only works out well for about 7 months of the year
I lived in a walkable neighborhood in college, and live in one again now. I love it! It is definitely something that I would miss if didn’t have it.
One of the things I miss about living on campus is being walking distance from everything
i think its great that you already have some great friends around you! i am jealous you can walk around in your neighborhood!! makes going out really easy.
I live in a walkable community – I’m actually selling my car since I don’t need it anymore! I love the ability to walk home after dinner..definitely helps with digestion, and is a good extension of the meal, imo.
Congrats on the move, hope you enjoy!
Was the grape cold?
yes! it was a really lovely appetizer.
Aren’t you so excited that you can walk everywhere?! It makes getting to know your neighborhood so much more fun.
I love the Merlot dress. Very stylish!
The reason I still rent is because of my walkable neighborhood! There is nothing like it, truly!
I live in Suburbia Hell and NO ONE WALKS ANYWHERE. This notion makes it very unsafe for the few pedestrians that DO walk around.
I wish I lived in a walkable neighborhood! Unfortunately, we have very poor sidewalks and too much litter. The only things within walking distance of me is a gas station and a bare-bones grocery store.
I don’t live in a walkable community but I would LOVE it if I did.
I wish I lived in a walkable community!!! That seems like such a foreign concept to me!
My boyfriend lived next to a circle of restaurants/bars last summer and when he suggested we walk to dinner (in Texas heat) i thought he was crazy. We did it anyway and I love it- it made the date/dinner experience more enjoyable
now I live in downtown Austin and we walk everywhere. It’s a GREAT way to get to know a city.
How fun!! I love walking. I have to walk everywhere in Africa and that has become a real priority for me when I move back to the States: living somewhere where I can walk to the grocery store, to a park, to the gym, and to a coffee shop. Maybe not in that order.
I don’t own a car so walkable is a definite plus for me. I can get to several grocery and specialty food stores, a pharmacy, restaurants, a movie rental place and Starbucks all within a reasonable distance. Very helpful and it inspires me to get out and move more!!
My town is very walkable. I walk everywhere! It’s so small that you can walk to the other side of town in a half an hour.
I WISH I lived in a walkable town- it’s the one thing I really wish we had. That grape appetizer is fascinating…
That grape looks deeeelish!
We are currently house hunting and location is huge for us. We don’t even care if we can walk places, we’ll take a less than 15 minute drive! We kind of live in the middle of nowhere now, which definitely has its perks, but we’re ready for a change
I lived in a walkable community last year and I loved it so much, I had to move because it was too pricey.
Looks like a great night! I love your Merlot’s dress, haha.
Caitlin, I love your frock! So pretty
A walkable community is very important to me. I live three miles outside Dublin, and I don’t own a car! No need – I get buses/ cabs to town a lot and I regularly walk home. My walk home is really pretty, through some of Dublin’s oldest suburbs, and it only takes 40 minutes or so. I also live within a twenty minute walk of three villages, and best of all – ten minutes from Dublin Bay! I have a beach on my doorstep
Fun night! That’s so cool that you and the boys were able to mingle over food and wine. I SO wished I lived in a walkable area. Detroit doesn’t have too many, but a few. I drive everywhere…
Since I left home for college, I’ve always lived in a city – first DC and now NYC. I can’t imagine driving everywhere! (Even though I did until college.) If I ever leave NYC, I definitely would want to live somewhere where I could walk to a downtown area.
Not at all, but I would love to live in one!
Too bad the walkable areas around here come with houses that are practically on top of one another. My husband and I want a yard and some space! So that means we’ll never live somewhere walkable.
i live in nyc so it’s definitely a walkable community
!
I am lucky because the town I live in was completely designed and built from scratch, rather than evolving over time as so many UK town and cities do. This means that there are purpose built foot and cycle paths which connect every area, so you could literally walk from one end of the town to the other if you wanted to. There are also lots of trees, lakes and recreational areas so it doesn’t feel too ‘built up’.
I love seeing bloggers meet up by the way, it proves that this is a little community all on it’s own!
I do! Just commented about that on your other post. It’s wonderful!!
LOVE that blue dress one you!! So cute
I live in a walkable neighborhood, and that is very important to me.
That grape sounds so interesting!! I want one!!
A walkable neighbourhood is the #1 most important thing for me when I’m looking for places to live – walkable, and with *stuff* (grocery store, library, liquor store, restaurants, etc) right around me. I don’t have a car, and I don’t want a car, and I love being able to walk to dinner, or to run errands. So important!
I would say that I live in a walkable community. We can walk 10 minutes to get downtown, we could walk to our grocery store if we didn’t buy umpteen bags of food. I had honestly never considered the walkable factor when choosing a place to live. Though I live 2KMs away from the house I grew up in, my factors were being in a safe town, quiet street, mature trees, lots of green space, and then minimal home prerequisits such as 3 bedrooms at least 2 bathrooms and an unfinished basement. We got luck and got that house.
Portland is a really walking/biking friendly city. Our neighborhood is in the suburbs and we try to walk to the store or bike to restaurants when we can.
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