Author Spotlight
Peyton Moore
As my sanity came to a tipping point during what felt like my one-millionth day in quarantine, I thought it was about time I revive my ghostly skin with some vitamin D and suit up in my anti-rona attire — dishwashing gloves, face mask and of course my sparkly-foam hand sanitizer — to take on curbside pickup.
With chains and local businesses taking on this “curbside mentality” to limit face-to-face interaction, I thought I should try it out myself with a few lesser-known options.
There’s only so many times you can rewatch “Gossip Girl,” so I decided to turn to my creative side and pick up a couple easter dishes from Ceramic Cafe. I’m not Picasso, but I did win countless finger painting contests in first grade — making this the perfect place for me.
Before you do this make sure you’re in a stable mindset, because navigating through the Ceramic Cafe website was a challenge.
Peyton Moore | The Harbinger Online After many phone calls and a few wrong right turns, I picked up my four-mug set off the curb while waving my rubber-gloved hand to the store owner through the glass window. Taking all the precautions, the owner asked me to step away from the door and set down my bag.
The Easter mug set came with four mugs, a pastel color paint palette, every size of paintbrush and thorough instructions of the after-painting process for just over $50. After attempting to paint a cute cartoon bunny that ended up looking like roadkill, I took the mugs back to Ceramic Cafe in hopes to get my masterpieces back in 10 days — kilned and glossed. But in quarantine, waiting 10 days feels more like 10 years — I’m on day four.
Nowadays I need two naps a day to have any energy at all, so methodically painting these mugs took an eternity. If tye-dye is taking up your whole closet like mine, trying the Ceramic Cafe mug kit is necessary. Ceramic Cafe’s curbside mug kit kept me busy for one whole quarantined day and was completely virus-free.
You know what would be worse than running out of Cocoa Puffs during quarantine? Celebrating a birthday. Even if I cooked a five-course meal for my mom’s birthday, it’s not like my whole family would wear anything but sweats, and how special and out of the ordinary is that? It’s not.
In hopes of finding a way to make my mom’s “big 50” more memorable than three balloons tied between us and our 75-year-old neighbor’s lawn, I called InClover Boutique — my mom’s go-to jewelry shop in Corinth square — and took on their personal shopper-curbside pickup process.
Usually my mom would spend hours at InClover getting any and everyone’s opinion on which style ring fits her, but I have no experience. The personal shopper feature made it easy to find a gift while prohibiting any risks.
Just by first impression, I could tell that my personal shopper would do anything to help me find my mom the best birthday present. And boy, was she dedicated. My phone lit up every 30-seconds with texts from my pen pal shopper showing me picture after picture of every necklace in the store.
After scrolling through countless pictures, I settled on some simple earrings to tie together any Easter-quarantined fit.
When I went to pick up my earrings I was met with a huge smile from the employee at InClover, who made sure to stay a safe distance away. Not only was the bag adorable and decorated but sanitized before it left the curb.
After returning from the jewelry excursion, I gifted the earrings to the birthday girl. Sadly, there would be nowhere to show off her new glam except the 4:30 p.m. Zoom happy hour.
Dolce has the best cupcakes in town. Period. So when I heard curbside pickup was available, all I could picture was their red velvet cupcake — I decided it was time for another curbside adventure.
Unlike Ceramic Cafe, I didn’t need multiple headache pills to help me navigate through their website. With a couple clicks I ventured through their lightly modified curbside pickup menu with ease.
When picking up my cupcake kit, which I patiently waited for three hours to receive, I was unpleasantly surprised. Walking up to the door, I expected them to take all precautions like the rest of the world, but they smiled and waved me right by the doors. Multiple employees and customers made it difficult to keep a six foot distance apart. And let me tell you, my mother was not too happy and had a hand sanitizer bath ready for me once I stepped foot into the house.
The glove-lacking employees had corona written all over them, so for my mom’s sanity, I kept to myself in my six foot little bubble. What happened to the curbside feature? I was not prepared nor dressed accordingly to leave my car.
After risking my life by creeping into Dolce, I sped home and got to decorating.
The cupcake kit included blue and yellow icing, six cupcakes and sprinkles galore. The whole process took less than an episode of “Criminal Minds,” but was a fun and yummy activity to spice up my day.
Would I do this again? No sir. Let’s hope next time, they watch the news and take a hint. So stay home and stay away from Dolce until they figure out the right way to stay open and protected.
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