Trader Joe's took my virginity!

Hey friends!

So this past weekend was quite busy for our little household. On Saturday we went to IKEA aka the motherland since Leon had a throwaway gift card from his job for me to spend. ummm HELL YES. So I bought some baking dishes since the one we had was destroyed by a nasty meal I made that burnt it. Woops. We were going to buy a coffee table too, but me being a considerate girlfriend, remembered that Leon likes to sit on the floor when he plays video games, so it would be in the way.

After IKEA we lounged around and napped for a while. That evening my old part time job at the dog daycare had their fall staff barbecue and my boss was sweet enough to invite me! So I went and chatted it up with my old coworkers for a bit and ate some delicious food, all within my macros of course, and had a great time. I even woke up to a weight loss! This is after eating crackers, hummus, cheese, a bratwurst, cheeseburger on potato bread, and cookies. Now you tell me which is better, "eating clean" or tracking your macronutrients. Macronutrients for the win my friends.

(IIFYM stands for If It Fits Your Macros)

Anywhoooo, Leon had to work on Sunday so I ventured off to Body Pump at my old gym, which just had a major renovation to the weight room that made me drool all over myself. TWO new squat racks, brand new flooring, its just..heavenly. I got to see some of the regulars I used to chat with and they said they missed me, which felt nice. Class felt pretty hard, probably because I haven't gone consistently since I switched gyms, so that was a big bowl of no fun.

Afterwards I went to the Farmer's Market about 20 minutes from our apartment. I freakin love that place. It's called the Mosaic District and it's got kind of yuppie/hipster feel that meshes really well. Plus there's a SweetGreen, and y'all know I love me some SweetGreen Kale Caesar Salad.

I only got a few things this time since I'm trying to save for my trip next month. In the sketchy white bags are homemade dry pasta! This is my second time getting it from this vendor, and I'm still satisfied with the taste and quality. This time I got garlic basil shells and lemon parsley trumpet shaped. I had the garlic basil yesterday...good lord it was amazing. And yes, those are yellow string beans. I'm slightly nervous to eat them, but the guy assured me that they taste like green ones, just a little sweeter. We shall see. Aaaand more organic tomato sauce and vodka sauce right off the farm. I know you can make it yourself, buuuut no thanks I'm lazy. All the ingredients are things I've actually heard of and the flavor is just incredible. Plus honeycrisp apples, because I LIVE for honeycrisp season.

After that little trip, I went to Trader Joe's for the very first time. I was raised in the suburbs of Washington DC, in a city called Manassas, Manass-hole to locals. Sooo no Trader Joe's. I'm the kind of person who needs time to really explore all of the shelves and aisles, so it took me some time to find a solid block of time to explore TJs, hence why we've lived here since July and I'm just now going. It was like stepping into another world of wonderfulness. And, to my surprise, you don't even need much time because the store is TINY compared to the grocery store I usually go to. I asked the check out clerk about the chain and she told that they believe in value and quality over quantity, which is why there aren't a lot of brands and it's a small store. They don't have every single thing you need, but they do have a LOT of specialty things that you can't find anywhere else. Can we say Fontina, Spinach, Garlic Chicken Sausage? Holy delicious. Plus it's suuuuper cheap compared to most grocery stores. I'm talkin $3 cheaper than average. On a regular restock trip I'll spend around $80. I only spent $42. And I got everything I needed.

Ignore my dirty fork. I was cooking, ok?

Organic pumpkin, sesame bagels that were lower in carbs than my usual bagels, Speculous cookie mocha swirl nut butter that I've heard so much about, and this garlic sauce that has been freakin delicious on just about everything. Pasta, vegetables, everything. I know I bought more obviously, but these were the most important. Only frustrating thing was that because Trader Joe's specializes in seasonal flavors, all of their delicious pumpkin things were basically gone and ya girl was not happy about it. I was about to tackle someone if I saw the last pack of pumpkin waffles in their cart. So serious. Same goes for pumpkin bagels. I will hurt a bitch. 

You have been warned, Trader Joe's customers of Northern Virginia.

Happy Mondayyyy! (Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who actually had to work today. LAME.)

-Crystal