Love for TJ's & Number 100

Trader Joe's is awesome. It is my 2nd favorite grocery store (if you factor in price, it would be #1, but I am just thinking about how pretty and tasty Whole Foods is right now so that will be first in my mind for today). Everytime I go to Safeway, I always wish I were at TJ's instead. Thankfully, it's a 10 min. walk so I can be there instead! Although there are some things that TJ's just doesn't have (ice cream cones, baking powder). Here is a list of some things I like there. This may get continued the more things I try, we'll see...

1. Vanilla Wafer Cookies- These must be relatively new; they come in a clear tub and are so delicious. They have Madagascar vanilla specks in them which makes the vanilla seem that much more present. Whole Foods' 365 wafers are also very good, but no specks there.

2. Salmon Patties- Come frozen in a package of 5 or so. They are super easy to make, only 80 cal each and are loaded with protein and omega-3s. Sorry, I don't know if it is farm-raised or wild (I'm guessing farm-raised since it's cheaper, although let's hope for wild:)

3. Pizza dough- At around $1, you get a bag of ready-to-roll dough, either wheat, herb or original. Very tasty and relatively fresh!

4. Joe Joe's- TJ's verison of an Oreo sans hydrogenated oils. Haven't tried the ginger ones, but we love the peppermint ones and the chocolate and vanilla are good, too.

5. Gyoza- In the frozen section, either pork, chicken or veggie. It goes great with the gyoza dipping sauce they sell (a checker there upsold us that and we loved it).

6. Hansen's soda- Other places sell this, but it is by far the cheapest here at $2 for a 6-pack (if you live in CA, add on the $.05/can for CRV....blah). Personally, it's not as sweet as I would hope, but I guess that's what you get for not having HFCS, so it's worth it.

7. Big Bars of Chocolate- At over a pound for $3.49, you can't beat it. They have milk, bittersweet and with almonds for sure. Apparently, TJ's is the only place you can get this specific brand of imported chocolate- perfect for baking. My friend's MIL had her go buy about 15 bars once and mail them out to Utah for her, they are that good.

One area I would pass over is the fruit section. Maybe buy bananas ($.19 each), but the other fruits don't look that fresh to me. Do you have any favorites?

Also, this is my 100th post, yippee! I was going to wait until Sat. to post again, since that will be my one year bloggerversary, but I am more bored at work more than usual....

Dry feet....Help!

I've decided to bring this up because I'm open to any solutions. My feet are so dry (this is not a new thing), especially on my heels and the outside of my big toes. I put lotion on them twice a day and occasionally sand them down with a file. It drives Alex crazy, and it bugs me quite a bit as well. My mom has dry feet, along with my brother, so I think it's genetic (I do have dry skin in general). I want to be able to wear flip-flops without having to wonder if the skin is cracking or peeling. Gross, I know, but what can I do? Pedicures only last so long... any ideas?

Update

I've been slacking somewhat on the blog lately, so here is a little update of our current lives....

A week and a half ago, we went with the Rogers' to our first Giants game. That stadium is so nice. They played the Astros, and lost of course, but it was so fun. Next, we want to check out the Athletics' stadium, hopefully when they play the Mariners....?

Last year, we picked up this cookbook on the cruise and have admired all the pretty pictures of the recipes. So, we finally have started to make them. So far, we've tried the Ohana Bread Pudding and Pecan Crusted Trout. Tonight, we're planning on the Molten Lava Cakes. My plan is to make all of them.

For the past month, I've been working at yet another investment company. It has been nice, my coworker is great and we have a lot in common. It is a very low stress job. The most exciting thing to happen there is I got to meet this man. He was very nice.

Alex is doing fine. 2 weeks of school to go before finals. He was inducted into TKO last week and had a fun and delicious dinner to go with it.
That's all I can think of right now. I need to post more often.

Kind of Sad News

This Disney Store is closing.

The other day on my lunch break, I decided to head over to Borders and the Disney Store. As I approached Disney, I noticed all these bright yellow and red signs saying the whole store is on sale, let's get rid of everything, blah blah. Hmm, not a good sign. It's closing! I was quite surprised, it's in a great location and seems to get pretty good business. I went on wikipedia and apparently, The Children's Place just sold the Disney Store back to the Disney Co (they bought it from them a few yrs. ago, which explains why I hardly find anything I like there anymore). Well, because of this change, they're closing 100 stores this year. Maybe this one is just too expensive to keep open, since I'm sure that spot in Union Square is highly desired real estate. Oh well, I'll miss the fun music as I walk by and browsing for a cute bag, holiday decor or stuffed animal. I won't miss the over-abundance of princess garb and the main focus on kiddie clothes. Hopefully, the re-ownership will bring the Disney Store back to what it used to be, and if that means having to close some of the stores, it's worth it.

Point Reyes

Last weekend, we took a little jaunt to the Point Reyes Lighthouse and surroundings. If we knew how much there was to see, we would've allowed more time! The drive was very nice and the views , of course, amazing.

This was taken as we walked from the car to the lighthouse. It looks nice, and it was, but it was super windy, and cold cold!

If the winds are steady at over 45mph, they close the stairs down to the lighthouse. Thankfully, they were still open (although I don't know how that was possible), so we got to go check it out.

308 steps later, we were inside the lighthouse. The lady there told us how all the prisms work and other stuff I already forgot.

On the way back, we stopped by Chimney Rock to see the elephant seals. They are huge and move like massive caterpillars.

This happened occasionally. I was surprised we saw so many cows, and I was also astounded at how big some of their udders were. It was nice to see them being treated well and they are without a doubt being raised "free range" style. Maybe the ads are true, they looked happy.

Here is a clearer photo of the lighthouse. It really felt like we were on the edge of the world.

It was a fun day. Thanks Sarah for your Jetta:)