i heart cheerwine slushies

we chose to live in our little cottage for a myriad of practical reasons: the rent is affordable, it's close to our parents, we have excellent neighbors, and the decor and style of the house is everything i never knew i always wanted. however, if we're being  honest, the selling point for me was the nearness of our little abode to the local community gas station. that's a sentence i never thought i'd say, but boy is it so true.

the station, known affectionately by locals as "kelly's" after the man who owns it, is nothing much to look at from the outside. it's your run-of-the-mill station, with pumps and a convienence store filled with beef jerky, two-liter soft drinks and styrofoam plates. however, once you step inside that store, you are one step closer to a life-altering experience. on the back wall, tucked beside coffee and drink machines, are two slushie machines. on the left, you have your typical fruit punch slushie. the owners rotate this flavor. sometimes it's orange, sometimes they go crazy and mix in mountain dew, you just never know. however on the right, in all its beauty, is the cheerwine slushie machine. has anyone heard of/tasted cheerwine? i'm not sure how prevalent it is anywhere besides the south, but here, in the land of moon pies and RC cola, it is king. 

flavored with the perfect tinge of cherry, it is an ultra-carbonated, fizzy soft drink that makes me smile simply saying its name. when i think of cheerwine, i think of the five summers i spent lifeguarding, sneaking free dixie cups of this liquid gold between breaks. i think of balmy summer nights when robert and i were dating in high school, making the trip to kelly's together. one recent morning, i was getting gas, and i had a cheerwine slushie for breakfast. that looks awful when i write it down, but it's true. they are delicious any time of the day. this sunday, robert and i stopped by this little watering hole for some refreshment.

even when it is cold outside, it is comforting to know these frozen beauties are never far away. i've walked there, ridden my bike there, and walked my dog there. i'm not above riding a sled there.