5 Things I’m Loving This Week

Our fall communications and marketing intern, Kylie Stine, shares a few of her current Indianapolis faves.
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It’s So Sweet (Potato)

If you know anything about me, it’s that I’m a coffee fanatic. We recently posted a Mind of a Maven question about what we could give a 40-minute presentation on with no prep, and I said a run-down of all of the Indy coffee shops. Java is my JAM.

As the weather started to get cooler, I knew I had to trade in my summer staplean iced almond milk café mielfor a fall fave. That’s how I stumbled upon the sweet potato pie latte from Foundation Coffee Company in SoBro. This perfect blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, and sweet potatoes topped with toasted marshmallows tastes like Thanksgiving in a cup (sans stuffing) and gives me yet another reason to rave about the women behind The Patachou Foundation

Growing Pains

I’m a sucker for succulents, and Grounded Plant and Floral Co. caters to all my needs. Unfortunately, while my heart loves all things green, my thumb isn’t one of them.

Thankfully, Grounded has options for people on all levels of the gardening spectrumfrom plants that need direct sunlight to those that will survive by the light of your desk lamp, from those that need watered daily to those you can tend to every 2-3 weeks. There’s even a caretaking guide for aspiring, yet inexperienced plant moms like me! My roommates and I frequent this shop when we need a study break, serotonin boost, or are wanting to add to our dwelling’s decor. In addition to the abundance of greenery, the store has $5 posters that cater to all types of aestheticsfrom coffee chic to astrology geekand Penn & Beech candles. What more could you need?!

 

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Happy Saturday everyone! We love seeing all your beautiful, masked faces! Stop in until 6 today

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Vegan Breakfast (with a View)

It’s no secret that PROVIDER has some of the best craft lattes in the 317. I mean, a pistachio latte with hints of lemon and rosewater … come ON!! Pre-COVID, my friends and I loved to spend time here, studying and socializing. I was having some serious withdrawals when a friend told me that PROVIDER partnered with Tinker House Events to open up the space above the café for socially distanced seating. As soon as I heard this, I did the most logical thing one could do … hopped in my car and drove downtown. 

While ordering my latte, I saw the menu boasts a vegan breakfast burrito. While not a vegan myself, I decided to try it. All I can say is YUM. Corn, beans, squash, and cashew queso all wrapped up in a crisp tortilla make for a delicious desayuno. 

To add to this breathtaking breakfast experience, the windows lining the red brick walls of Tinker House’s event space showcase a phenomenal view of the Circle City skyline. This picturesque backdrop paired with my latte and laptop make me feel like I could conquer the world … one keystroke at a time.

Plush Crush

As a 21-year-old, preparing-for-the-real-world, almost-college-graduate, I am reluctant to admit I’m crazy about Squishmallows. Still, here I am to tell you that during these tumultuous times, I’ve found an unexplainable amount of comfort in my lilac lady, Violet the Octopus. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?!?! 

Don’t just take my word for it. My college friends and acquaintances alike have been hopping on this plush toy train. On a slightly less-surprising note, I found out my 5- and 3-year-old cousins have Squishmallows of their own, which led to the creation of Squishmallows FaceTime parties (and ideas for Christmas gifts that will give me some serious cool points). If nothing else, this strange obsession gives me a way to connect with the Mavens of the future. Right?? Wrong?? I don’t know.

 

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Ahoy! Squishes in an umbrella boat. ☂ : @cuddly.squishes #squishmallows #squishmallowsquad #sharemysquad

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Dinner and a Show

Kan-Kan Cinema & Brasserie is a downtown theater dedicated to showing all types of films: small-budget, independent, foreign, classics, and everything in between. This cinema has such a special place in my heart, both because of what it does for my soul and what it will do for the city of Indianapolis.

Kan-Kan was set to open to the public in March, but alas, the show must be postponed. Still, in true Indy-hospitality fashion, Kan-Kan was kind enough to work with my Spanish professor, who is teaching a course about Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, to find a safe, socially-distant way for my peers and I to screen some of his films at the theater. 

I learned a little bit about Almodóvar while studying abroad in Barcelona this past spring (before being sent home early, of course), and I’m so grateful to expand my knowledge of Spanish culture right here in Indy. For about two hours each week, Kan-Kan transports me back both to Spain and the days of normalcy, even if the theater sits one person per row and we’re all in masks. As soon as the Kan-Kan team members Daniel and Louise push “play” on those two-hour films, it’s like they pause the rest of the world. Even after our class wraps up, I plan to spend a lot of time at Kan-Kan when it opens to the public. In the meantime, I might even attend a virtual event or two.