Shopping Guilt

Here they are. The two places that I love, and hate the most. Why do grocery stores make me feel this way? It's like a relationship, but with none of the benefits. Okay, I guess food is a benefit, and they never ask me to move over in bed.....but I digress.

I started thinking about shopping because, low and behold!, I went shopping yesterday. But if you are like me, you have 2 stores you have to shop at. For me, it is Ralph's and Trader Joes. This is one of the "hates". Why can't everything be at one store? Oh well.

Yesterday, it was my shopping at Trader Joe's day. I realized that besides picking only 2 stores to shop from, I am also a creature of habit with the things I buy. Here are items that typically get put in my cart:

Strawberries & blueberries (hate frozen!, love them on everything!)
Red onions (I make a yummy salad with them)
Hard boiled eggs  (although today I had to buy uncooked egss since they were out of the pre-made ones. The nerve!)
Cucumbers
Baby broccoli  ( I guess I am partial to babies!)
Spring Salad mix
Cherry tomatoes
Waffles

I hate that I can't be more adventurous. Well, today I was. Don't tell anyone, but I also bought "Romaine hearts" to use for salad greens. Crazy, I know! But I guess the real reason I am not that adventurous is because, who am I kidding, most of the time, I am not in the mood to try something new, and then it's "Crap, this stuff has mold on it already? Should have had it for breakfast/lunch/dinner".

May I add that when I can, I try to buy all these items organic. Why? Because one of my "hates" is shopping guilt. For one of my "wonderful" CSUN classes, I had to watch a documentary about the grocery industry. And boy, let me tell you, serious guilt trip! Inhumane treatment of chickens, genetically modified produce, overcharging for conveience, yada, yada, yada.

So, now my life is relegated to 2 stores. Ralphs for all the non-food items (garbarge bags, Ziplock bags, Crystal Light) and Trader Joe's for all my food. And while I do get excited sometimes about trying new things that I see ("Oooh, grilled chicken strips! That might be a quick and easy lunch!"), I still feel some guilt.

Because even though I can get pretty much most of the food organic at Trader Joe's, I know I really should be shopping at a Farmer's Market. Then I am really cutting out the middle man, getting food directly from the source, and not getting bananas from Chile. But I really like bananas in my smoothie, and they don't have them at a farmers market! Aaaaah! See my guilt?

To top it off, why do other people make me feel even more guilty when I see that they remembered to bring their paper Trader Joe's bag to get a raffle ticket for a $25 TJ gift card? Or even worse, they bring in their OWN reusable bags! Yuppies! (Wait, does that describe me?)

Anyways, let me know how your shopping experience goes and what you put in your cart. Then maybe I won't feel so much guilt, and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to try something before it gets moldy. Well, off to try my "Marinated Lentil Salad" with pre-cooked lentils I bought from Trader Joe's (wait, are they organic?...........)

Inspiration

This is it. This is the reason why I wanted to start a blog. A beautiful painting that I have seen for many months. But let me give you some background first........

As many of you may know, I attend Cal State Northridge and am in the process of completing my last and final semester of school for my Bachelor's degree (yes!). Since I have been going to CSUN since 2008, I have passed this painting at the library. But the painting was not just in the main lobby, it happened to be located in the........BASEMENT!

Every time I walked downstairs to visit the "Teachers Curriculum Center" (a place I have become VERY familiar with), I would see this HUGE painting right outside the entrance. It has always intrigued and haunted me. Who did this painting? Why is it in the basement of the library? Is it worth anything? The painters name is listed at the bottom, and of course, I forgot to include this in my blog. But since this is my first post, I'm sure I'll learn from my mistakes next time.

Overall, this painting reminds me that art can be very powerful. It can make a person stop in their tracks, stare and think. With our world so busy today, I like the fact that there are some things in life that I am allowed to take my time with.

Let me know some of your favorite paintings and where you saw them. It just may inspire you to go out and buy an expensive phone just so you can blog about it, like I did! :)