‘Looking for a little change’
City girl adjusting to pace of life in Monongahela
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a monthlong series of profiles of the people who live and work in Washington, Greene and Fayette counties, in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Lauren Kelly can probably count on one hand the number of times she’s been truly astounded.
“I always know what every surprise is,” shrugged Kelly, an effervescent millennial who grew up in Ross Township.
But within the last year, life has gifted Kelly three grand surprises: a new home, a timeless treasure, and a dream realized.
The most apparent is that timeless treasure, the ring on her left hand.
Last July, the day before her birthday, Kelly and her then-boyfriend were en route to his grandfather’s 99th birthday party.
“I fell asleep in the car,” Kelly recalled. “I woke up, and he was just holding the ring while he was driving. He said, ‘Are we doing this or what?’ It was the only way he knew he could surprise me, I think, because I always, I just know.”
Before they began dating eight years ago, the pair had been good friends, so it was an easy “yes.” That surprise engagement followed the couple’s unexpected move south, to Monongahela.
“I had never even heard of it,” laughed Kelly, who’d been living in Pittsburgh’s South Side. “We were kind of looking for a little change and some quiet.”
Her fiance’s friend owned a house in the little city. Kelly’s beau showed her a map of the area (“He was like, look, it’s cute. They like Christmas! And I was like, OK, yeah, you sold me,” she smiled) and that was that. In June, Kelly and her fiance celebrated one year as Mon Valley-ians. They’re currently settling into the slower lifestyle.
“It’s quiet. It’s certainly out of the city,” Kelly said. “We’re calling it our retirement year.”
Retirement is quite the understatement.
When Kelly arrived in Monongahela, she was a seasoned corporate-world employee working remotely.
“I was like, I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to experience what’s going on here. I applied at City Mission. I thought it was just going to be for the summer, and then I worked there until they closed,” said Kelly.
Late last year, with the Mission’s final day set for March 14, 2026, Kelly began brainstorming her next career move.
“I’ve always been a thrifter. That’s me and my mom’s favorite activity: We go thrifting and antiquing,” said Kelly. “I had always talked about opening a store. It never seemed like the right time, or I didn’t know how to go about it.”
As the Mission’s closing loomed on the horizon, Kelly revisited her thrift store dreams.
“My fiance was like, OK, I got you something for Christmas. I’m gonna give it to you early. And we also have to go to it,” Kelly said, remembering how she drove herself crazy trying to guess what the gift might be. “We got in the car. I was like, it’s a store, I know it’s a store. We got here and he pulled up and he was like, ‘Here’s your store. Get to work.'”
Kelly and her fiance transformed the space into what is now Solo Thrift & Vintage, which opened April 20 along Monongahela’s West Main Street.
“There’s definitely stuff to work out and a lot of adjusting. But overall,” Kelly said, “it’s amazing. It is better than I thought it would be and harder than I thought it would be. It feels worth it.”
A lesser surprise is how Kelly’s background in English and acting has come into play as a small business owner. She writes and produces quirky sketches for the shop’s social media account (find her on Instagram at @watch.solo.tv). Fittingly, she’s the star of those reels, the leading lady she wasn’t during her childhood acting days, when she was a character actor at Pittsburgh’s ACT ONE Theater School. During her last year with the program, the troupe performed a play based on C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia.”
“They like to give all the senior kids an actual role. So I got a role. They made it up. It’s not even in the play, I don’t think. It’s called the Old Hag. I just did a little monologue to introduce a scene. I was like, all this time and I finally made it, I’m the Old Hag,” she laughed.
Now, she plays an enthusiastic small business owner growing roots in the Mon Valley, along the Monongahela River, a waterway her English student sensibilities might romanticize for the way it ties Kelly’s old home in Pittsburgh to this little river town.
“It was a little bit of a culture shock,” said Kelly, about her move to Monongahela. “People say hi to you. You don’t even look up when you’re walking around in the city. It’s nice to have community, like actual community.”