Trip to The ATL

I spent last weekend with my dear friend Amanda who just moved to Atlanta recently.  We had not seen each other in about 6 months when I went to visit her in Colorado.

(We did not take any pictures over the weekend so this is one of our favorites which happens to be from my bridesmaids dinner)

After work on Friday, JP and I loaded up into my car and drove to Atlanta.  JP's grandparents live right outside of Atlanta so I dropped him off so he could spend the weekend with them.  I got to Amanda's pretty late on Friday but we still enjoyed chatting until we could keep our eyes open no longer.

We started Saturday off by making a trip to Trader Joe's.  

I LOVE TJ's and wish that there was one in Birmingham.  I stocked up on all kinds of sauces and other yummy things like dark chocolate covered cranberries.

Once we got back from Trader Joe's, it was time for lunch.  We chose to go to Maggiano's which was one of our favorite places to eat in Dallas.

Fortunately Maggiano's was only about a two mile walk from her apartment so we decided on such a beautiful day, walking would be the most appropriate transportation.  We enjoyed lots of water once we got there (it was a hot walk!) as well as yummy bread and pasta dishes and free lemon cookies (more on that later).  After enjoying our meal we walked back and rested for the afternoon.

We headed out to a couple of malls to do some shopping.  Neither of us really bought anything but it was still fun!  Dinner was Chickfila.  We watched "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" and then went to bed.

I left Sunday morning after eating yummy Trader Joe's chocolate filled croissants and met JP and his grandparents for lunch.  We ate at a yummy local Italian place.

Overall it was a great weekend!

Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping... it is something everyone experiences at some point in time. Many dread it and choose to eat out instead. Others get stressed out. Others look at it simply as a chore. While others truly find joy out of it.

Here are my thoughts on what might seem like a boring topic: Grocery shopping

Shopping for One:
Grocery shopping was never something I enjoyed when I was shopping by myself. It was simply a task I had to get done. While I was shopping just for myself, I never bought much, and I usually bought about the same things every time which really doesn't equal excitement. For example, when I lived in Dallas I pretty much lived off of frozen cheese tortellini paired with pasta sauce.

Shopping for Two:
Since I've been married, my view of grocery shopping has changed. It is not just a task to me anymore, but it is something I truly like to do. If you know JP at all, you know how much he loves food. This makes grocery shopping so much fun.
When we do the shopping together (which we try to do as much as possible), we always have so much fun deciding what we are going to make. There are always so many possibilities and making decision together is so fun!
When I do the shopping by myself (which happens frequently now with all of his studying), I love coming home and telling him what I have gotten. He gets so excited and always shows his appreciation.

Favorite Grocery Store:
My favorite place to shop is definitely Tom Thumb. I discovered Tom Thumb when I lived in Dallas. Unfortunately, there is no Tom Thumb in Birmingham. Another place JP and I love to shop is Trader Joe's. Again, there is no Trader Joe's in Birmingham. The closet one is in Atlanta. The last time we were in Atlanta we definitely spent $50 on sauces alone from Trader Joe's.

So, Where Do I Shop?
JP and I do most of our grocery shopping at Walmart. I'll be honest, I don't really like shopping at Walmart. However, it is the closest store to our apartment, and I have found that they really do have the lowest prices. So, we normally do our big weekend shopping day at Walmart. Then, I go to other places if I have to pick anything up during the week.
Publix and Aldi are both on my way home from work, and I love stopping by during the week. I love Publix for all of their great sales, and Aldi for their great prices on milk and produce.

How do I prepare?
I wish I could say I am a hardcore couponer, but I'm not. I do use some coupons, and I usually check the Publix ad. If there are any items that we usually use that are on sale at Publix, I stop by on my way home from work. I'm trying to get better about having meals planned out for an entire week. I definitely have gone to the store before and just started grabbing random things. To help with organization and meal planning I want to start use something like this:

I figure I better get really good at planning meals, because I'm sure when we have kids it will be much more difficult to plan for more than two. Good thing I should have time to get it down pat.

How do I shop?
I try to always have a list. I don't just throw things in to the cart, but try to organize things in the cart in categories like boxed items, fruit, meat, etc. This organization continues at the checkout. The first time JP and I went grocery shopping together, he quickly learned that I have a method to putting things on the conveyor belt. I always put all of the meats first, followed by the cold items, then the boxed items, then fruits and vegetable, then bread, and finishing with all nonfood items. It really makes unloading the groceries at home much easier.

So, that concludes my take on grocery shopping.