As you know, I am a big fan of Whole Foods and shop there every week without fail. Every single week.  Yup, every week.  Weekly.  Every 7 days.  They play good music and it’s a pleasant atmosphere, but the routine can be a bit BORING and PREDICTABLE.  So to entertain myself and you, I made a photo commentary of my last trip.  Let’s go shopping!

 

I got a good parking space, which is no small feat as this store is always jumping.

 

I love that they have these wipes available because I can be a germ-a-phobe.

 

I always bring my own bags.  I got the cooler from Sam’s Club, which comes in handy since I usually grocery shop before picking up my kids and it gets hot here in Georgia.  Yes, I know these are Trader Joe’s bags, but it’s the eco-factor that counts here.

 

I cue up the GroceryiQ app on my iPhone and I’m ready to shop.

 

I start shopping in the middle of the store.  This is the pineapple juice that I use for my morning smoothie.

 

It’s my son’s birthday this week, so I am treating him to his favorite root beer.  At almost $5 a bottle, this is a treat indeed!

 

I need jelly for my emergency pb&j lunch.  The selection is overwhelming!

 

I settle on this jelly.  I hope it’s good.

 

I make my family use real maple syrup although they would prefer Mrs. Butterworth.

 

My husband discovered this cereal at a sample station and now it’s his favorite.  It’s expensive and I give him grief, but the man works hard, so at least he can enjoy good cereal.  I was happy to see it on sale and also a coupon that I can use immediately.

 

The produce section is next.  Strawberries on sale; great!  I use them in my smoothie.

 

For snacking I buy whatever fruit is on sale, like these Gala apples.

 

We always have bananas in the house.  I use one in my smoothie and my husband cuts up one for his cereal.   Usually I buy the organic bananas if the price difference (against the non-organic bananas) is less than 20¢ a pound.

 

I am making my special lamb marinade for my son’s birthday dinner and need some dill, rosemary and oregano.  They were out of oregano; that sucks.  I am not going to another store and will have to substitute something else.

 

Continuing along the perimeter of the store, I’m now in the dairy aisle.  The 365 milk is cheaper than the Organic Valley brand milk, so that’s what I buy.  Sometimes I am forced to buy the latter though when there is milk on the bottom of the 365 carton; I have a problem with that (read about my craziness here).  My family doesn’t drink much milk at all so this 1/2 gallon will last us a full week.

 

My family loves this orange juice and we drink a lot of it.  However, it’s much cheaper at Target ($2.99 or less), so I buy it there instead.

 

I think this organic vegetable oil spread is pretty good.

 

I will only buy cage-free eggs; they taste cleaner.

 

I use this yogurt in my smoothies; that’s the only way that I’ll eat yogurt.  I wish that I liked yogurt by itself because it’s a great source of protein and calcium.

 

This is my son’s favorite yogurt and he has it for breakfast every morning, along with a piece of toast.  Do you see how expensive this yogurt is?   I buy 5-6 containers each week….geesh.

 

Moving on to the frozen foods now. My daughter eats these waffles, cereal or grits for breakfast; buttermilk is the new favorite flavor.

 

I recently discovered these frozen meals by Kashi and I love them.  I rarely go out for lunch and found myself eating too many pb&j sandwiches.  These are yummy, healthy and 4 minutes in the microwave.  My son has started taking them to school as well.  They are on sale–even better!

 

Store samples are great–that’s how I found out about these shrimp and crab cakes.  Along with a salad, I eat them for lunch sometimes.  I also bought the mahi mahi burgers to try this week.

 

The cheese aisle is next.  I love the cheese samples and always stop for a bite!

 

I need some feta; I’m making a cucumber and feta relish to accompany the birthday dinner lamb chops.

 

Mmm…the hot bar looks good!  Sometimes I get dinner from here if it’s just the kids and I eating.  The kids love the macaroni and cheese and I like the greens.  Not tonight though; I was just looking (and smelling).

 

Or I may pick up one of the Whole Value Meals if we have a busy evening, which at $14.99 is a great deal (I wrote about these meals here).  I’m glad they finally added a sign pointing folks in the right direction because no one could ever find the meals.  But tonight we already have dinner plans.

 

My last stop is always the bakery.  I prefer loaves from the bakery over the pre-sliced loaves on the shelf.  The nice man in the bakery always gives my daughter a cookie.

 

Yeah!  My favorite, Organic Wheat Farm Bread, is on sale!  I got the last loaf.

 

That’s it!  I’m putting the groceries in the trunk and going to get my kids from school.  And I’ll do it again next week…and the next….and the next.   Thanks for making this trip fun and different!

 

© 2009, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Wow….my son is 14 years old today and I just can’t believe it!  How did The Boy go from 

THIS

to THIS

 

in what seemed like a complete blur?   Time flies when you’re having fun!

 

*Check out this 12 Second video that we made this morning right here.

© 2009, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*I don’t get paid for my opinions in any way; this is just me sharing stuff that I like and I think you will too.  I feel compelled to write this disclaimer after the controversy over at The Queen of Spain.  

 

I find infomercials soothing; I think the endless repetition just about lulls me into a state of compliance.   I’ve actually never seen an episode of QVC and I know it’s not technically an infomercial, but it has the same qualities: great sales people and products that promise to change my life.  

One day I was channel surfing and saw a glimpse of QVC demonstrating the Stainless Steel Professional Pineapple Slicer.  My interest was piqued, but just as I turned back, they moved on to another product.   But now I had to see what this pineapple slicer was all about!   I went to QVC.com and for $15 I figured it was worth a try.

I love pineapple!  When I was a baby, I lived in Hawaii and my Marine dad would parachute into pineapple fields; sometimes he landed on the pineapples, kept the bruised ones that no one would want and brought them home to me.   As my parents tell it, I would eat pineapple until my mouth hurt and start to cry.  Then I would cry when they stopped feeding me.  I couldn’t get enough!   

I still can’t get enough; I eat pineapple practically every week.   However cutting up a pineapple is a drag;  I was interested to see if this gadget made my pineapple-eating life easier.

I’m here to tell you that the QVC Stainless Steel Pineapple Slicer not only works; it has changed my life!   The first few times I used it I made my family gather around and prompted them to ooh and aah.  Look, see for yourself and prepare to be amazed:

 

 

I can hear you, “Ooooh.”  ”Aaaah.”

© 2009, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Now that spring is here, I am packing away my favorite boots for the season.  Why are they my favorite?  I’m glad you asked….

When I was in kindergarten, there were two groups of kids: the morning class and the afternoon class. I was in the morning class. Both classes had the same teacher, we both said the pledge of allegiance every day and learned our ABC’s. But for me the afternoon class held a certain cache because of a little girl in that class who wore white patent leather go-go-like boots. I loved those boots and wanted them for my own! But that was not how my mother dressed me; I wore beautiful dresses, matching bows in my hair, tights and patent leather shoes. By the time I grew old enough to dress myself those boots were no longer in style and it remained a hidden (but not forgotten) desire.

Shopping in Nordstrom with some friends last fall I saw these boots on display and I swear it was like the light from heaven shining down illuminating them just for me. Like two long-lost lovers in a Lifetime movie, my friends, other shoppers and salespeople all faded away; all I could see were those boots.

Yes, I bought the boots; I wear them all the time. And I look good!

© 2009 – 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Wow….I go on vacation for a week and when I return my front yard looks like this:

 

 

 

Spring has sprung!  Yeah!

© 2009, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.