Exploring my favorite Georgetown finds and friends

I'm driving into Georgetown on a Friday evening, but am I entering the county seat or window-shopping on the grand avenue of the Champs Élysées in Paris? Every time I pass by this particular store for my Friday date night, I see a beautifully lit window featuring elegant, red carpet-worthy gowns. The shop changes its displays often, sometimes seasonal or holiday-oriented, and there are always bridal offerings. I'm not in the market for a prom dress, the Academy Awards ceremony or a wedding gown, but I always look as I pass by, intrigued.

For my wedding dress, my mother presented me with a white polyester suit and said, "Wear this!" I instructed her that there's a little mother-and-daughter rite of passage where they go shopping together for the wedding dress, and that I was not a "suit person." She would never return anything, but we headed to Benjamin's in the old downtown Salisbury Mall, and we finally settled on a fancier dress. I wanted a vernal green one, but she said that would be scandalous and it should be virginal white. We agreed on a white one with a lavender sash, and a hat with a veil that my daughter later said looked like something a Southern belle would wear.

Anyway, I decided to satisfy my curiosity about this store with the impressive window on East Market Street, a main thoroughfare in Georgetown. I made an appointment to meet the owner of Susan's Boutique, and found that Susan Martinez is a charming woman, gracious, welcoming and warm. I walked down the center aisle of her store awash in an impressive sea of beautiful sequined gowns, and you know how I love glitter!

My husband Jeff was there to take photos, and she joined our hands together as if we were at the altar. Susan came here 34 years ago from Guerrero, Mexico, and she has owned the store for 19 years. Her love for formal wear began as a fascination with Barbie dolls. Her daughter Michelle works with her. They sell and alter the dresses, and also rent men's formal wear. I'm glad I finally met these talented women.

I now travel farther down the street, turn right at The Circle and enter Chardon Ltd. Fine Jewelry & Gifts, owned by my longtime friends Charlie and Donna Koskey. They joined their two first names to create the name Chardon and have owned their store for 23 years. They are the friendliest jewelers and shopkeepers ever, selling and repairing all kinds of jewelry. Everyone is greeted with interest and helpfulness. They cheerfully and patiently tolerate my visits every time the calendar has 30-day months to reset my collection of Invicta watches, since, being a Luddite, I don't understand how to do it myself.

My final stop for the evening in Georgetown will be at a favorite restaurant of mine named Bella Capri, in the College Park Shopping Center. It’s owned by chefs Sal Gargano and Vincenzo Tiano, and we’re served by the gracious Rosa Gargano, who all came here many years ago from Naples, Italy. The restaurant is a gem!

There are 5-star Italian dishes on the menu here, plus daily homemade specials with reasonable prices featured on their large, wall-mounted blackboard. Thursday is half-price bottled wine night. Last year, I happened upon a delicious autumn special, pumpkin manicotti, which was beautifully topped with luscious pumpkin sauce, and highlighted with glistening black mussels and succulent pink shrimp. I hinted for it this year and they re-created it for my birthday!

It was a festive evening, made even better when these friends brought out a plate of tiramisu, garnished with glittery sugar, and a cove-shaped pastry sheltering blue icing water to represent the Island of Capri, near their native home. It was a piece of culinary art! Blue murals on the wall made me feel as if I was celebrating in lovely Bella Capri myself.

So here ends my tour of treasures and wonderful people to behold in Georgetown when you travel west from the coast. It's still Cape Gazette country, after all, and definitely worth exploring, not only on Return Day, but all year long. On this particular trip, people were decorating the large Christmas tree on The Circle as I left, and I plan to see it again soon, all lit up, on my next trip through Georgetown.