BUFFALO, N.Y. — Before I moved to Buffalo, one of the things I did was get on Instagram and just search: #Buffalo.
That was when I first discovered Nickel City Pretty.
Her feed is filled with cool people, places and snacks, and she was someone I was very excited to get to know in real life.
Lindsay Robson is definitely Most Buffalo, and we recently sat down with her to talk about how she's building a life she loves around the city she loves.
We met at Hartman's Distilling Co. on Chicago Street. (You know it's going to be a good day at work when you start it off by meeting for drinks.) Before you get too scandalized, there is something you should know. We met for mocktails.
Specially mixed and crafted, these very distant cousins of the Shirley Temple continue to grow in popularity. They allow mixologists to fill your glass with everything they've got ... except the booze.
"I've had interactive ones where, like, they float a little grenadine in a lemon and they have to pour it in," Lindsay explains.
And that's when it hits. The real kick here comes from the company.
A Buffalo native, Lindsay's become a champion of the mocktail in the Queen City and is a perfect Sherpa for anyone who might have attempted Dry January or who just prefers not to drink alcohol.
"So many people have asked where can I find mocktails," she said, "and I've had a lot of people message me on Instagram, 'Hey, I'm doing Dry January, and I used your blog as a reference,' and that's just incredible to me because that's what I wanted this to be."
Creating a carefully curated list of the hottest mocktail spots in town is just one of Lindsay's many specialties as the effervescent force behind Nickel City Pretty.
"I do a lot of things," she said, grinning.
Besides running her own life and style blog for fun, Lindsay's day job is social media and marketing for Perry's Ice Cream.
"I'm also the founder of the Buffalo Blogging Network and I have a podcast with three of my good friends. It's hard to find things I don't do."
She even appeared in Kelly Dudzik's City Shapers series last year highlighting women leading the way in Western New York's resurgence.
"All the things that I'm involved in I love and I'm really passionate about so none of what I do -- even my actual job -- feels like work, she said."
"When I started blogging seven years ago, I was kind of in a rough place in my life. I was in a bit of a depression, I didn't really have any hobbies, I didn't know what I wanted to do in my life. I was in a different job, and I just really wasn't happy, and I thought, 'What can I do to bring me out of this?' And the natural thing for me is to start writing because I've always loved it, and I'm like, 'I'm going to start writing about what I actually like, and what I actually like is living in this city, the city of these people that I love, and the neighborhoods that I love,' and that really brought me to life, I guess."
And more and more followers want what she's having -- the time of her life, toasting her town.
But if all of this ambition is making you just a little woozy, there's one more thing you should know ...
"I feel like people think I'm really outgoing and I try to be really outgoing but what's the thing they say? An extrovert introvert? So, I love being out there and I love being in the public but I really need a nap sometimes," she said laughing, "I get tired."
We can probably all drink to that!
Pro Tip: Lindsay's enthusiasm is infectious and she's happy to share it with the many people to ask her how she does what she does and how they might be able to get started on their own blogging adventures.
Her best is advice is to just start. Lindsay says if you want do it, do it. Forget the haters, find something you love and see where it leads.
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