My therapist told me something recently.

She said I light up every time I talk about something new happening in Auburn. A coffee shop opening. A bagel place. A female founded dispensary. A new mural downtown. Obviously that wasn’t a clinical diagnosis. She was just... noticing. And once she said it, I couldn't un-notice it either.

Because she's right. I do light up. So much so I can’t shut up about whatever I’ve discovered.

About a year ago, a local coffee shop and a bagel spot opened in the same week — and I talked about it like other people talk about concert announcements. I told my husband. I told my friends. I told my family. I told people who do not live here and could not possibly care. I was beaming. And not because Auburn didn't have coffee before (they did). But because every time something new takes root here, it feels personal. It feels like the town is saying: I'm not done yet.

And honestly? Neither am I.

So here we are. Middle of Somewhere. A newsletter about life in Auburn, New York — and the Central New York region I call home. Written by someone who chose this place and keeps choosing it.

I'm Victoria. Business owner by day, new blogger by night. I'm a Central New York person by nature, even when I wasn't one by address.

I grew up in Rochester — close enough to the Finger Lakes to understand the rhythm of upstate life, the way the seasons dictate everything, the way people just know each other. I went to college in Alfred, a town so small it barely registers on a map (and only has one traffic light) but looms enormous in my memory. I lived in Indianapolis for a while, which taught me what it feels like to live somewhere that's perfectly fine but doesn't quite fit.

Then, in 2018, my husband got a job opportunity back in Auburn. Which is the city where he grew up and we made the move back home. It was practical: closer to family, a great opportunity for him. A win-win on paper.

What I didn't expect was to fall in love with this place almost immediately. I fell in love with it before we got the cutie little bars and yoga studio. It wasn’t a "it grew on me" situation. I drove through downtown, walked around my neighborhood, sat by the lake — and something just clicked. This was it. This was the place.

I've been here since, and the feeling has only grown.

I know what people think when you say you live in Upstate New York. I've seen the look. It's a polite version of: But what do you... do there?

Here's what I do: I live really, really well.

Auburn sits in the geographic center of some of the best stuff in New York State, and almost none of it is more than a short drive away. The Finger Lakes wine region is right here… not a day trip, just a Tuesday if you want it to be. Skaneateles is less than twenty minutes down the road, looking like a postcard someone forgot to put a filter on. Syracuse gives you city energy whenever you need it: restaurants, concerts, sports, the whole deal. Rochester (my homecity) brings the art, the culture, and more summer festivals than any one person could reasonably attend. Ithaca and the gorges are a GORGEous drive south. And when fall hits, every orchard and state park within fifty miles turns into something out of a movie you'd accuse of being unrealistic.

But here's the thing — it's not just what surrounds Auburn. It's what's in Auburn.

This is a city with texture. It has a history that punches well above its weight class. It has restaurants that would do well in cities ten times its size. It has people who show up — for each other, for local businesses, for community events on cold Tuesday nights.

The secret is that most people never learn how to approach the place they live like a tourist. They stop looking. They stop being curious.

I never stopped.

Middle of Somewhere is my love letter to life in a small city that most people overlook and some people never leave.

I don’t intend for this to turn into a tourism guide or a review column. And I’m not affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce or anything like that (but wanna partner?). It's what happens when someone who genuinely, embarrassingly loves where she lives decides to write about it.

Here's what you'll find here:

Local spots. The restaurants, shops, cafés, and parks that make Auburn feel like Auburn. Not reviews — more like portraits. The kind of recommendations you'd give a friend who's visiting for the weekend.

Personal essays. Stories about small-city life that are specific to here but probably feel familiar wherever you are. The beauty of a place like this is that the details are local but the feelings are universal.

Photo essays. I carry a camera with me almost everywhere. Sometimes a place is better shown than described. These will be heavy on images and light on words — a walk, a season, a mood.

Seasonal guides. What's happening, what's worth your time, what I'm looking forward to. The practical stuff, but filtered through the lens of someone who's paying attention.

New issues land every other week. Enough to stay connected, not enough to become clutter.

You live here and you want to love it better. Or louder.

You used to live here and you miss it in a way that surprises you.

You've never been here but you're curious about what it means to live in a place that isn't trying to be somewhere else.

Or maybe you live in your own middle of somewhere — your own small city that people underestimate — and you want to feel less alone in loving it.

All of you: welcome.

I keep coming back to that week when the coffee shop and the bagel place both opened. Not because it was remarkable in the way that big cities define remarkable — no celebrity chef, no venture capital, no lines around the block.

It was remarkable because it was ours. Two teams of people bet on this little city. They opened their doors and said: this place is worth building something in.

That's the whole spirit of this newsletter, really.

Auburn isn't the middle of nowhere. It never was. It's the middle of somewhere — and I think it's time someone wrote about it like they mean it.

I mean it.

Welcome. I'm so glad you're here. 🤍

— Victoria

Middle of Somewhere publishes every other week. If this landed with you, share it with someone who gets it.