So I Almost Got into a Fight Over 12 Cents

My injury

Last weekend I was doing my weekly grocery shopping and had an incident that had my adrenaline going hardcore. I pulled into the checkout right behind a woman who left her cart with a few items still in it blocking me. She saw me looking at her and said "I might not get those items. I'm on a budget."

I told her that I understood, but could she please move her cart forward so that I could unload my items. She gave me a look but then obliged my request. She told the cashier that she only had $13. The bill, even with the items she put aside, was $15.15. She pulled an item out and it came out to $13.88. I knew that this was going to be one of those awkward situations so I stayed back as to not get up in the woman's mix. She proceeded to put the bill on one credit card and two gift cards. She was still 88 cents short, so she fished a dollar out and paid for the rest of her bill. She packed up and moved on.

She had left and my items were being rung up. I was almost complete when she charged back in.

"Where's my change?" she demanded to the cashier. The cashier explained that she believed the woman took her change from the automatic change dispenser. The lady was adamant that she hadn't. That's when things shifted to me.

"Did you take my change?" she said to me.

I said no, I hadn't. However, she did not seem to believe. At this point, she kept saying that I took her change and then insisted that if I took her money, she would take mine. Then she reached for my hand that was clutching my debit card as I was getting ready to pay. It happened quickly and I was able to push her back. That's when security intervened.

The long of the short of it is was that the woman HAD taken her change and it was in her purse. But I had to put up with her all because of 12 cents.

Plus I suffered a broken nail. Even grocery shopping can be entertaining!

Because I don't want things to escalate. . .

Took my usual shopping trips today and aside from spotting Gingerbread Marshmallows (which made my day and clearly came home with me), there were two incidents that pissed me off.

First, I was at Walgreens to pick my prescription refill up and was told that I couldn't take it I needed to wait. I had to wait for the pharmacist to talk to me AGAIN about the ExpressScripts scenario. REALLY!?!?! I have already heard about this and now I've got to wait 10 more minutes every time my prescriptions refilled? No thanks. I'm officially transferring my prescriptions now. Bye-Bye Walgreens.

I hit Ralph's next and had no problem, but then I went to Trader Joe's. I got my two items and headed to the two express lanes. Both had two ladies in each line, so I got behind a lady with a small rolling cart full of more than 15 items. The other line moved faster and just as the lady was going to be able to go to either line, so put her cart in the empty line and left. She went back into the store to find another item. One of the lines got empty and the cashier looked up.

Cashier: Is that your cart?

Me: No, it's some lady that went back to shop.

Cashier: Oh, well, I'm sorry. I gotta wait for her. I don't want things to escalate further.

Me: Giving pissed off look to cashier.


What the hell? I don't recall doing anything to "start" things to a point that would escalate it. Plus, what's this bullshit about being able to leave your cart in line whenever you want to dash for more shopping and I'm supposed to wait? The lady was gone a full 4 minutes before getting back to her cart. I think next time I'm at Trader Joe's, I'm just going to put an empty cart in line and then run around the store and put items in the cart until I'm at the front and it's my turn. I hope the cashier keeps my spot as to not risk escalating the situation among others.

I Feel Pretty

Yesterday, we were in Trader Joe's for our usual Saturday shopping excursion and a dude stopped me to say that my outfit was "adorable." I'm fairly certain the dude was straight and it was a pick up (as Chef was in line at the time). Either way I was floating for a while on the compliment of a stranger. And I have to say that I was wearing an adorable outfit. It's a Saturday favorite. GAP navy and pink plaid shirt dress with a ribbon tied around my rib cage to accentuate the skinniest part of my torso and some rose gold flats.

But it was less the outfit and more my feeling lately of being cute. Maybe it's the confidence of having a husband (although frankly he's been my husband in everything but the legal sense for the last 7 years) or the fact that my psoriasis is clearing up nicely (more on that at a later blog post) or that I'm consistently eating better and working out. Whatever it is, I can say that lately when I get ready to go to work in the morning, I feel cute.

My skin has not had a massive break out since I've been in LA. The bangs and red hair are a good combo that's relatively easy to keep up. I'm drinking more water than I have in ages and the addition today of a new Brita will definitely help that. My old Brita pitcher had been a gift from my mother (thereby aging it at LEAST 11 years) when I was in college (which could add a few months or another two years depending).

Here's the thing I find odd. I was expecting to find the plethora of hip, beautiful women in LA to be intimidating and make me cower a little in intimidation. Instead, I've found that while there are quite a few lovely ladies, I can still hold my own to certain extent. And even if I can't, I think I can which really makes all the difference.

Trader Nos (and Some Yes Stuff too)

Chef and I have become fans of Trader Joe's since we moved to LA. They had opened a few Trader Joe's in Nashville but honestly, laziness got the better of me when we lived there. Mostly because although the Trader Joe's was only about 5 miles away, those 5 miles were going into Green Hills. And anyone whose tried to get anywhere in Green Hills knows those are the WORST 5 miles in the town.

The Trader Joe's in LA is across the street from our Ralph's (aka Kroger West) so it makes it much easier. We've been trying out some new items as I've been lowering my calorie count and Chef has been lowering his eating. Here are some winners and losers.

Losers:

• Chile Lime Chicken Burgers: I was looking for a lower cal alternative to a beef burger. This one had some weird spice and peppers and-GASP-cilantro. I had to use a lot of ketchup to drown out the taste.
• BBQ Teriyaki Chicken: It just seemed weird that you make this in the microwave and it's supposed to taste good. And that was the big difference. It didn't taste good.
• Falafel patties: Crumbled too easily when you stick a fork in them and the spice is off. Not horrible, but I got them a few months ago and haven't got them again.

Winners:

• Mandarin Orange Chicken: Gets crispy in the oven. Need I say more? Okay, the sauce is pretty damn good too.
• Soft & Juicy Mango Slices: This is one of Chef's favorites. They only carry it every so often so when he sees it, we stock up. Nice, sweet dried fruit.
• Peanut butter-filled pretzels: Haven't gotten these lately not because I don't like them, but because I can't control myself when I eat them. They're crazy good. Shout out to Michelle for introducing me to these bad boys. And curses too because there's a dimple of fat that I blame you for.
• Chicken Tikka Masala: Haven't gotten it in a while because I always get the Naan too and that makes the meal a little calorie crazy and carb heavy, but this is DELICIOUS for a quickie.

That's it for now. What are your favorite Trader Joe's finds? Always looking for a new culinary adventure. Or ready made meal. Depends on the night.

What Should I Do This Weekend?

It's Friday which means that two glorious days and three nights of time away from work are just a few hours away. The question now becomes "What should I do this weekend?".

There's a word in there that complicates things a little. The word is "should". Here's what I should do this weekend (productive version):

• Organize drawers and weed out too big clothing items once and for all.
• Work out for an hour each morning.
• Stretch after said workouts.
• Shop for nutritiously sound food with Chef.
• Play with the cats.
• Write for at least an hour each day on my current projects.
• See Harry Potter.

Here's what I should do this weekend (take advantage of California version):

• Go to beach.
• Go to the farmer's market.
• Try a new ethnic restaurant.
• Find a flea market.
• Explore a new neighborhood.
• Work out each day at least 45 minutes.
• Shop for local foods with Chef.
• Cook healthy meals.
• Browse a local book store. (Get the Confessions of a Prairie Bitch book that Anne recommended).
• See Harry Potter.

Here's probably what I'll end up doing:

• Sleep in late.
• Work out for 45-60 minutes.
• Go grocery shopping at Ralph's and Trader Joe's with Chef.
• Eat somewhat healthy but highly processed meals.
• Watch crappy TV and good movies while lounging on the couch.
• Put off doing any kind writing until I feel guilty about it.
• Think about going to the pool but then decide it's too much trouble (it's about 40 yards away).
• See Harry Potter.

What are your weekend plans?

Back to Reality

The free flow of food is over. The lack of working out has come to an end. The commute resumes. The avoidance of email is no longer an option. It is back to reality.

But reality isn't all that bad. I feel fairly productive today and not at all hyperventilating with the amount of work to do. In fact, I even took the opportunity to delegate some. Now if I only had more people to delegate too. Hmm.

The other "back to reality" moment will be tonight when I need to go to the grocery store. I avoided it on Saturday, our usual grocery day, because frankly by the time we checked out of the hotel, I had already decided to take the rest of the weekend to do as little as possible.

And know I must face the consequences. I noticed some flabby arms in my wedding photos and will be concentrating on eliminating those (and my belly) in the next couple of months. Anyone got some healthy recipes to share?

But the good news is that I have time and, at least for now, patience. Two things that you can never have too much of. Oh and money. You can never have too much money, but that's not one I'll claim.

Strategic Shopping

There are many things that Chef is amazing at. Cooking, making me laugh, trivial pursuit. The list goes on and on. However, there are some things that having a girlfriend really helps on. Shopping is one of those things.

My experience with shopping LA has been mixed. The first couple of weeks here really sucked because it was the holidays. Any store would be slammed in a highly populated city. So I couldn't really blame the stores for being crowded.

Now that I've been here a few months and have at least navigated through my part of town, I feel a little more able to avoid some traffic and do what I call "strategic shopping." I take what the city has to offer and use it to my advantage.

Let me give you an example:

• When I want a good cut of pork, some fresh made salsa or handmade tortillas, I go to the Ralph's grocery store on Pico. It's in a Hispanic/ Latino neighborhood and is very well stocked in all things related to Mexican food.
• When it was the holidays and I wanted some good beef and little crowds, I hit the grocery store in the Jewish neighborhood. It was less full of Christmas crowds and had a great selection of various beef cuts--plus fantastic corned beef. I'm in; I'm out; I'm happy.
• For a quarter, I can park on the street in front of Trader Joe's without having to circle the crowded parking lot for 20 minutes. I can also park within 20 feet of the front door and be able to get in without raising my blood pressure. It's worth the 25 cents for my peace of mind.
• If I'm lucky enough to convince Chef to hit an outlet mall with me, I should look at the list of stores and narrow my focus to the ones where I would have the highest likelihood of getting the best deal. For example, an H&M or Old Navy outlet store, while intriguing, would not necessarily provide me with a much deeper discount than their regular stores. However, a Coach or Nine West outlet could provide me with some real savings. Such was the case today when I celebrated my new job (details to come in another post) with a deeply discounted Coach purse. It's purple and gorgeous (picture below).

Those are some of my first LA lessons in strategic shopping. I'm sure I'll come up with many more as I spend more time here. And until then, I'll patiently wait for some female friends --either new or old-- to do some shopping with.

Strategic Grocery Shopping

So one of the banes of my existence is the question "What's for dinner tonight?". Seems like a simple question and it's not that difficult really. But the question seems loaded. By the end of the day the last thing I want to do is make another decision. I'm typically drained as soon as I walk in the door and pillaging through the cabinets to find something.

So after being inspired by my friend who plan the week's meals and derive their lists off of it, I decided to put the effort back in. I used to sit with Chef and plan for the week. It made life easier. But much like you forget how good it feels to work out after you've neglected yourself for a while, I forgot how nice it is to have the "What's for dinner?" question answered before I walk through the door.

Tonight was grocery night and my cart runneth over. The recipes were less a contributing factor to that than the fact that I was hungry when shopping and it had been about two weeks since I'd done a thorough shopping trip. Tomorrow is the first day and not that outside of the box. It's taquito night. The timing is judged by the ripeness of the avocados--the right avocados are key to the guacamole. Other dishes I'm making this week (for the first time):

• artichoke white pizza
• crab spring rolls
• jumbo stuffed shells
• artichoke rotini with chicken
• Herbed Chicken Parmesan
• chicken with mustard and herbs
• Penne with garlicky broccoli

Wish me luck!