Here's the thing- I. Love. Fall. Case in point:
Love may be an understatement, actually.
Well, if you know me at all, you also know another great love of mine- Trader Joe's.
Ahhh, HAPPINESS!!! Just typing the grocery store's NAME sends happy little shivers down my spine.
So can you only IMAGINE my reaction when I walked into my neighborhood Trader Joe's a few weeks ago and realized that... well, the flavors of pumpkin had kind of thrown up on Trader Joe's. Shelf after shelf, aisle after aisle... of allllll things PUMPKIN-Y GOODNESS!!!!!!
Now, typically I go into Trader Joe's with complete direction, guidance and purpose. I mean, sure, I take the occasional peek at the latest and greatest goods that TJ's is offering (how can you NOT? EVERYTHING Trader Joe's sells is nothing short of PERFECTION... I'm not kidding), but for the most part, I have my staples that typically guide my way around the store.
I can safely say that the day I discovered all the pumpkin-y goodness that Trader Joe's decided to grace its shelves with was one of the happiest grocery shopping days of my life. You may think I'm exaggerating but I'm not- I'm oddly obsessed with grocery shopping and grocery shopping at Trader Joe's... well, it seriously is one of my happy places. Not gonna lie- sometimes I go to my neighborhood Trader Joe's after a bad day and it simply just cheers me up. So weird.. but then again, that's me.
Anyway, back to that day of pumpkin-y goodness. You better believe I took my own sweet time that day... strolling aisle after aisle, perusing shelf after shelf.. .ensuring that I didn't miss a single pumpkin-y product that I would want to try! Hell, I was even tempted to buy the pumpkin-y dog treats... and I don't even have a dog! (What? I KNOW people who have dogs! I could've just given it to one of them!)
Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard...
And you know what? This wasn't even my first trip to stock up on TJ's pumpkin-y goodness. It was my third... okay, fifth... time to TJ's in the course of like two weeks.
Oh whatever- judge all you want. But may I recommend TRYING each of these TJ's products before judging? Honestly, it is all just so delicious, I don't even know where to begin.
Sure, I'm not really the biggest fan of pancakes or waffles... but yes, there IS a nice little box of pumpkin pancake/waffle mix in the pile there... but WHAT?! Don't pumpkin pancakes just SOUND incredible? And, let's be honest, during one of my TJ's trips last week- they were handing out free samples of pumpkin pancakes... and I have to say. It's singlehandedly changed my feelings/aversion to pancakes. So I simply HAD to buy a whole box of the mix... naturally.
And God, those pumpkin-cranberry scones are just so SOFT and DELICIOUS. The pumpkin is even subtle enough so as not to overwhelm the cranberry part of the scone.
Hmm- OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE PUMPKIN GREEK YOGURT!!!! So I went to TJ's on Saturday (you know, trip #4) and spotted this little treasure of pumpkin-y goodness that I had somehow missed in past trips... but MAN, I was CERTAINLY missing out!! I only bought two pumpkin Greek yogurts on Saturday, just to taste test. Well, clearly the taste test passed... this was seriously like dessert. Which explains... well, my little stockpiled collection after today's trip.
Aaand, holy mother!! Today, I just happened to visit another Trader Joe's to see if they had in stock some of the things my neighborhood Trader Joe's did not... gotta make the Chicago circuit!! I was more than a little bummed to learn that this TJ's was also out of pumpkin spice chai and pumpkin cereal bars... BUT!!! Talk about a sign... I totally stumbled upon some pumpkin-y type of OATMEAL which I have DEFINITELY not seen at my neighborhood TJ's!! It took literally one second of my eyes popping outta my socket to dump that box of oatmeal into my (quickly filling) grocery basket... OMG!!! I LOVE OATMEAL!!! I LOVE PUMPKIN!!! I LOVE TRADER JOE'S!!!! ALL THREE TOGETHER?!?!?!?! HELLO!!!!
Whew. Okay. And let's see, so just a little clarification about the TJ's pumpkin spice chai latte mix that you see in my collection. So I already mentioned that both TJ's I went to were out of pumpkin spice chai... well, it turns out that TJ's is actually out of pumpkin spice chai for the SEASON!! However, I just had to point out that I got to TJ's early enough in the season to have snagged at least ONE package of the pumpkin spice chai latte mix (seriously, I bought this pumpkin spice chai during trip #1 of the pumpkin TJ's shopping spree)... you would think knowing that TJ's is out for the SEASON would encourage me to portion control my pumpkin spice chai intake... but, well, it certainly does not. This sh*t is nothing short of amazing.
Onto the cream cheese... I'd bought that Trader Joe's pumpkin cream cheese a week or so ago (trip #3, if you will) and... again, as with all these other products, it was divine. So I was just chit-chatting with my TJ's grocer (they are all so FRIENDLY!!) during today's trip and he was giving his own little rundown on each pumpkin product he was ringing up (this is why I adore TJ's grocers... they truly believe in the food they are selling!), and at one point he was like "So... I see you don't have the pumpkin cream cheese in your basket... I must say, it's incredible"... to which I immediately scoffed and was like "Oh, don't you worry. I already HAVE that purchased" (I wanted to tack on the term of endearment "silly" to the end of that statement but feared that would be getting a little too comfortable with my TJ's grocer).
Wow. I was about to go on and on, but I just realized that I'm pretty much writing a dissertation on all things pumpkin and Trader Joe's.
Whew!!! Talk about a flurry of activity.. writing this post just made me SO HAPPY. I really think I could survive on Trader Joe's alone for quite a few months.. I mean, hell, my bathroom products are all starting to be very "Trader Joe's"-y as well! My shampoo, conditioner, lotion (OMG- TJ's Coconut Butter is this lotion-y type thing that SMELLS INCREDIBLE!!!! I legitimately get so excited to finish my showers so I can just gorge my skin with this lotion), well- you get the idea.
But I digress. Okay! Off to make some dinner... hmm, whatEVER will I prepare? ;)
But I digress. Okay! Off to make some dinner... hmm, whatEVER will I prepare? ;)
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