Laurie W.'s Profile

Everyone should have her Target in life, and this is mine.

I wouldn't normally take the time to review a Target store, but for this place I make an exception.

First of all, EVERYONE in the cashier lines is nice, everyone, as though they are impervious to holiday stress and constantly having to respond to "ATTENTION TARGET TEAM MEMBERS!" over a loudspeaker. Lines move efficiently and they are a rare store these days that seems to respond to customer volume by opening more registers. The dressing room people are hit or miss, but I've found that true at almost every store I've ever gone to. I wouldn't want that job.

Anyway, my newsboy hat is off to the team members, because I could not rock this gig.

This store is also enormous. I shocked my friends on Twitter one night by mentioning the escalator that carries your cart up with you on a parallel track. Really -- they were shocked and awed. It's still kind of fun to watch, I admit it. The new grocery section is huge, and that's not a huge deal for me, unless I see something on sale that I would normally buy when I'm walking through. The women's clothing section is good, the clearance section is sizeable, and I can generally find way more than what I need in housewares. I even just started using the pharmacy for a medication I can get for $4 for the generic variety, which is a much better alternative to the loathsome CVS.

The only thing I truly hate is the parking garage, but that's the fault of Montgomery County's car vigilantes with no ability to navigate their large vehicles, manners or regard for their or anyone else's vehicles or lives.

Of course my major problem with Target is an inability to get out of the store without spending a minimum of $50 per half hour, but that holds for every location. I'm trying to cut down on that total in 2012, so we'll see how that goes.

I love good beer and I love to support independent businesses, so I'm very happy to have Gilly's just up the Pike from my apartment. It's a cozy spot, with friendly owners/managers, and a wide and ever-changing variety of craft beers to try in house or to go (or both.)

I have only had one sandwich here -- the meatball sub -- but the chalkboard menu is extensive and I have a feeling it's a decent place to grab a bite to accompany the beer you're really there to try, am I right?

I can always find my standby Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head varieties here, along with seasonal releases from Brooklyn Brewery and Breckinridge, which I love. (Please bring the Vanilla Stout back soon. :)) Oh, and they tend to have Abita varietals, which makes me happy too. One of the fun things about Gilly's is the mix-and-match shelves, where you can build your own six pack of beers from all over the world that you'd like to try. You may pay a few dollars more here for a six-pack, but it's worth it to me to keep it around.

The store also has a sizeable wine selection that I haven't delved into, but given their focus on quality, I'm sure it doesn't disappoint. There are wine and beer tastings weekly, and even on random nights when I've been there lately, the tables in front and back have been full. It's a fun spot.

I went to Spectrum for about a year. I saw Betsy Swann, the nurse practitioner on staff, and Dr. O'Conor once. I got what I felt was good care from Betsy, but I got a little frustrated with feeling rushed on appointments. The last time I went, they were switching to a new record-keeping system, and the doctor had her face in her laptop the entire time I was talking to her. That was off-putting.

I have found a new practice where I am very happy so far, equally busy, but the doctors there have more of the approach that I need. I felt I got good advice at Spectrum, though, and it was generally pretty easy to get an appointment (a huge plus in an area where that is not always the case.)

We had a fantastic lunch at this place.

It is literally at a dead end, but it's a very pretty spot on the water, and if you sit in the enclosed patio area you have a nice view, even if it's blocked by somewhat blurry windows. (What's up with that plexi or glass? Hmm.) If there is a vibe I love it's the laidback mood of a dive in a clean spot with great food. This place fits that bill.

Good beers on tap, a standard assortment of seafood, salads, sandwiches and entrees. The grouper was delicious, and I should be ashamed to admit but I'm not that I was sorry to see my French fries go when they were gone. The service was very friendly and accommodating.

One of the treats of the Brunswick County beaches is the number of hidden away gems like this, and I'm glad I followed the lead of Yelpers and Trip Advisor folks to end up here. If I lived here this would be one of my go-to spots to watch games and get a satisfying lunch.

Okay for drinks and dinner with the ladies. The appetizers were the best part. I wasn't feeling well so wasn't on point with ordering, and if I had it to do over, I'd go with an entree instead of sushi, based on what I saw on my friends' plates. The sushi was good, but it wasn't phenomenal. I'm a regular at Niwano Hana in Rockville, where the sushi is no-nonsense but delicious and normally priced. I know it's not the same situation by any means, and I don't know when I'll learn that fussy, overly priced rolls are not my bag.

Ah, growing up is hard.

It is indeed quite loud, pounding house music and people having fun in the bar/lounge part, so if that bothers you you may not like it. The big Buddha made me smile, and overall I wasn't sorry to check it out. I just don't think I'd race to go back.

It's a Turtle. I went to the Laurel location all through college, and if you're from around here and have frequented any of the others, you know what that means. (The "It's a Turtle" part, I mean. I really need to learn to be more clear for an editor.)

It's a sports bar with food (although the menu is trying really hard to be a restaurant these days.) You go here for beer and to watch games on tv, and that's pretty much it. It's one of the best places -- maybe the best place in the county to watch a Ravens game, and that alone saves it. I had a lot of fun watching the playoffs here last year, although I wish they'd cut out another quarter of the dining room so the bar wouldn't get so cramped. The layout in Germantown is much better, and at least allows you to move around a little more when it's crowded as opposed to feeling penned in with those walls and railings.

I've had a sandwich or two that wasn't terrible, but if you want fine dining, this is not your joint.  But if you want a Greene Turtle? It does that job just fine.

Loud. Chaotic. Too bright. Messy. Terrible service.

I live in the neighborhood, though, so it's convenient for lots of different beers on tap, okay wings, and pretty much any football game you could want on the myriad screens. I have Center Ice so I probably won't go for hockey games.

Last week, during the Redskins-Dallas game, I sat outside to watch the craziness on the square, and it took me an absurdly long time to be waited on. Crazy. Way longer than your usual for a person who is alone (I live alone and sometimes stop in the town square to grab dinner on my way home. I don't have any issue dining alone and always overtip to compensate, but it's still an issue for restaurants.) I know it was game night, but the general lack of effort to accommodate people or to apologize in any way for disappearing for 20 minutes was not good. The place is not that large, there are scads of servers all over the place, and we're only talking beer and wings here.

I ended up waiting almost an hour for 12 mild wings, and rather than go home without my food I had to ask for a manager. To his credit, he was very nice and apologetic, and they were ready in three minutes, after the sullen waitress just told me she had to take them off my check because she didn't know when she could get them out to me.

Uncool, BWB. Before her I'd have given three stars, although I can't say I've ever had anyone wait on me there who seemed to be able to more than barely tolerate other human beings needing things. The best service I've had was at the bar, if you can get a spot. It's not like they can escape you there.

Even the nicest Giants aren't that great, and this is your basic mid-level variety.

I live across the street so this is where I end up when I run out of stuff. Never thrilled to buy meat here but I can get the basics, which is really all I ever need in a pinch. They also run decent specials on basic produce. Lettuce is lettuce when I'm out of it, but I'm not buying heirloom tomatoes here, put it that way.

I've never noticed it being dirty, and I have to say that the cashiers are nicer than in most other Giants I've been to in the area.

And after decades in Montgomery County? I think I've been to them all.

I was in Carolina Beach on vacation, with no interest in interrupting my yoga practice. I do vinyasa flow at home three or four times a week, so a peek at the website told me I could do this in Wilmington, as well. I also practice primarily hot vinyasa, so I was glad to see the offerings here.

Succinctly put, if I could move this studio to Maryland, or myself more easily to Wilmington, I would, just to practice here. These were the most challenging, and at the same time fun and and fulfilling hot vinyasa practices I've had since I started in November. I sweated like crazy, beyond what I have ever done at home, and I loved it. :) Katie was a fantastic teacher, and I had another class with Tara, to whom I immediately gravitated. It was also nice to practice in a fully-windowed room with so many trees outside. It was a bit like being in a treehouse. :) Outside the studio, every staff member was so nice and accommodating to a drop-in student, and I felt none of the territorial issues that are sometimes obvious in other studios. I felt immediately at home.

I checked out all of the other programming on the website and on the brochures on the walls, and it's clear that WYC is deeply engaged in all kinds of activities on and off the mat. I liked that a lot. I was also not familiar with the kunga philosophy, and it was nice to think of some percentage of my class fee going towards a charity.

When I am back in town, I will drop in, for sure. Wilmington residents are lucky to have this studio in their community.

I've lived here for four months. It's all privately-owned units, so you don't rent from the main office or a central company. I found my condo through Craigslist and dealt with a realtor, and the one I looked at prior to this was being leased directly by the owner. It's huge, in great shape, and the cheapest you could find for this location. I can walk to the Metro, to everything going on in and around Rockville Town Center, and in my case, I can even walk to work in a pinch. It takes me less than five minutes to be on the Beltway and everything I need to do and buy on Rockville Pike.

The building is aging and the current construction drives me crazy because my apartment is located right on the courtyard where all of the work is being done, so it's super loud from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and occasional Saturdays. I work full-time though, so it's not like that is a huge problem other than it being a terrible way to wake up every day. The front office isn't awesome but they've been nice to me, and all of the people who work the 24-hour front desk have been terribly nice and helpful with the construction-related parking confusion. I think when this is all over I won't have any complaints.

There is a car wash on the premises and a fitness center, neither of which I've tried. They take in packages with no problem at the front desk. The building is cleaned every day and always looks and smells nice inside. The laundry rooms are free. I just don't think you will find better than this for this price in downtown Rockville.