I use this blog as something of a journal and haven’t felt an overwhelming need to document a lot that happened this summer.  Just a bit of the blues I guess, or maybe I was just too hot.  We did some work in our house this summer and I have had a couple of busy months at work which I am really looking forward to wrapping up at the end of September – culminating in the dreaded inventory.  I am looking forward to cooler days and some new projects at both work and home.  We began the summer at the beach with my sister and her family and I feel like it really ended last weekend with a short road trip to the newest destination shopping location in Florida, Trader Joe’s.  It opened in Sarasota and is roughly ten minutes from my parents front door.  It opened on Friday morning with shoppers who left home as early as 3 am to be first in the door.  Well, by Saturday after lunch I’d guess we were like the 5000th shoppers.  I am not even sure that is an exaggeration.  It was insane.  My dad kindly dropped us off (my mom, Z and I) in the street next to the parking lot and went and parked on the other side of a four lane road and walked over.  Us and our 300 new best friends. 

We made our way in, picking up the basket of the last person to check out and entered the fray.  We couldn’t get near the coolers to even get a look at the famous prepared foods and I had to content myself with only dry goods and wine aisles.  We found all kinds of necessities – $4 wine, sea salt dark chocolate almonds and gluten free snickerdoodles for co-workers along with cookies, buffalo jerky, dehydrated mango and cashews for ourselves.  Can’t live without that stuff.  I hope that TJ’s takes a cue from this Sarasota store and makes it’s way into central Florida.   The market certainly seems to be there.  Even if it doesn’t though, I suppose it’s going to become a new habit.

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