Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Strawberries and Cream


One of the many things that mark summer for me are fresh strawberries. Add a little whipped cream with cinnamon sugar on top and I'm in heaven! Unfortunately, I have found in recent years that local strawberries no longer taste as sweet as they used to. In fact, the California berries in big plastic containers taste way better. I wonder why? Maybe it's the rainy, cold springs here? The strawberries do kind of taste like mud...I like to eat local produce, but in this case, it's gonna be Californian or nothing!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Discontinued


I have this interesting curse. Products that I LOVE tend to get discontinued: makeup, food, tv shows, hairspray, clothing brands, restaurant menu items.... The hairspray that I used for years on my thin lifeless hair suddenly got "tweaked" and no longer works for me. My favourite tv show was canceled last month. I could go on...Recently, however, I have been forced to question whether this is actually a curse. Maybe it is in fact a blessing for someone so reticent to change, such as myself.
Case in point; I used to buy Costco's Tribe hummus. For years. I loved the stuff and never thought of buying hummus anywhere else. (I must be a marketers dream come true). That was until a few months ago when Costco discontinued my favourite hummus (as Costco has a bad habit of doing). I was left to complain bitterly to anyone who would listen and either a)try their new brand b)buy the Tribe hummus elsewhere or c)stop eating hummus. With much complaining and reluctance, I tried the new hummus at Costco. Okay, so it was pretty good. But in principle at least, I was annoyed that they had switched brands on me. This was a personal assault on faithful hummus-buying ways. But, I kept buying it because it was convenient, came in a two-pack and I was really starting to like the taste of it. A lot. Fast forward to this past week. I happened to be in Safeway and spotted some Tribe hummus. Yum! I thought I'd treat myself and bought some. If you haven't guessed already...I didn't like it! Compared to the "new" hummus I eat, this Tribe stuff is barely edible. So...maybe being forced into making changes isn't so bad. Imagine what I'd be missing out on if I was still eating bad hummus?

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Wedding Shoes


I found shoes for my brother's wedding. I wasn't really planning to buy shoes, but then I saw these. My dress is several shades of gray...could these shoes be any more perfect?


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Blah!

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is a classic in children's picture books. Today, I was Alexander. I tried to count my blessings and be grateful etc etc, but it was just a rotten day. I yelled at my kids. I stressed about job postings. We were late for kindergarten and preschool drop offs. It rained. Again!! Some days are like that.