small talk six - i hate grocery shopping.

really, i do.

i especially hate it because it seems like we're always at super walmart {sundays are the worst!}. i suppose i could shop somewhere else, but i honestly get the most bang for my buck at super walmart. but {and there's always a but} they reel you in & you almost always end up leaving with much more than the, oh...say, SIX items that were on your list.

so, for today's small talk six session over at momdot, name six items that are on your grocery/shopping list every week. are you ready for my list? don't get too excited. it's pretty damn boring if you ask me. {make sure you've had some coffee before reading this because it's guaranteed that you'll yawn...}

1. bread - i try to buy 'healthy' bread {like a honey wheat or 12-grain} but we recently fell in love with italian sammich bread. i honestly don't remember the brand of italian bread that we usually get, but imagine my surprise when i discovered that pepperidge farm makes an italian wheat loaf. it's very yummy. very, very yummy.
2. milk - milk consumption has decreased in our home, but we still go through about a gallon a week {it used to be nearly three a week when the kids were much younger}. once upon a time we had our milk delivered, but it just became more cost effective to buy it ourselves from the store. we almost always buy organic milk, too. too bad walmart doesn't sell organic milk by the gallon...yet.
3. eggs - i swear we just need to get a couple of chickens and keep them in our backyard. i buy eggs by the 18-pack. the 18-pack, people!
   
4. coca-cola - we love caffeine. 'nuff said. side story: my husband is notorious for leaving the empty case of cokes next to the fridge...and i always chuckle whenever he reaches into that {empty} box for a coke and is suddenly let down. ha ha ha.
5. coffee creamer - speaking of caffeine, we need something to pour into our cuppa every morning. we own a keurig & l♥ve it. adam goes through a ridiculous amount of creamer. he prefers international delights french vanilla or caramel brownie whatever or the dulce de leche or whatever other sweet concoction they have. i'm still not over the fact that i can no longer get coffeemate's peppermint mocha creamer anymore. i'm so sad.
6. lunch meat & cheese - so this is like a 'two for one' kind of thing. and, yes, i'm cramming one extra thing into a list of six. however, this goes with the bread...and lunch meat & cheese go hand in hand. all four of us pack a lunch. needless to say, we eat a lot of sammiches. sometimes, we buy our meat from the deli. other times, we just buy it off the shelf. we love roast beef & turkey. and, imagine my delight when my children declared that muenster cheese was their favorite {because i cannot stand american cheese}.

so, what's on your shopping list?

the date.

We slept in on Sunday morning. I normally don't like to spend my day asleep, but waking up at nearly 11am on a cold, drizzly Sunday was nice. Very nice. It was extra special nice because the kidlets were at Adam's mom's house & the puplet was still snoozing, too.

We decided not to spend the rest of the day in bed. We were childless. We needed to take advantage of it. We woke up. Got dressed. Grabbed a bite to eat. Then, we headed out. Just the two of us. Alone.

The hubs was sweet enough to take me by Bath & Body Works to pick up some Wallflower refills. After that, the rest of our day went like this...

We strolled aimlessly. Sometimes we held hands. Sometimes the hubs had his arm around me. But mostly we walked side by side. Slowly. We chatted. We pondered. We spoke to one another about our ideas. Our dreams. We discussed current events. We talked about our week - the one that had passed and the one that was coming. We called his mom to check on the kids. I even got a kiss.


Three and a half hours later, we walked out of Wal-Mart armed with a cart full of groceries.

So much for wining & dining {although that happened the night before when we went out to celebrate a friend's birthday}...when you're married & with children sometimes it's the littlest things - like grocery shopping - that mean a lot. Especially when you get to go with your spouse...sans children.

Trader Joe's

Watch out, Wal-Mart…as much as I love it when you roll back your prices, there’s a new guy in town who makes my grocery shopping experience all the more pleasant. True, I can’t use coupons, but the selection and variety of good-for-you foods is worth more to me than my savings at Harris Teeter during triple coupon days. It might not be convenient for me to just swing by the store on my way home, but I would much rather get my produce there than at the Farm Fresh just minutes from my house. And, while I love the gourmet feel of The Fresh Market, I can still get my gourmet on and NOT have to take out a small loan to replenish my bank account.

Trader Joe’s is open now in Virginia Beach. If any of you out there are familiar with this grocery store, you will know why I am head over heels in love. If you don’t know about Trader Joe’s, now is the time to start emailing the company to get one in your neighborhood. Seriously.