Grocery Shopping

Ok - so it's something everybody does. And for Chris and I, it used to be something we did usually on Sundays after church at the local Kroger.

Now, though - it's an entirely different can of worms. And cans are part of the issue. We don't exactly have a pantry, and while we have a good amount of cupboard space, only one of them is devoted to food. So, we're trying to adjust to buying what we think we're going to eat in the next week or two as opposed to stocking up for the next big blizzard (which, as you can guess, is not going to happen anytime soon. The weather is actually very comparable to Illinois so far - upper 80's, some days lower 90's).

Anyway, regardless of cupboard space, the bigger issue is transportation of goods from car to home. We have a parking card for the public parking deck that is across the street and about a half a block north. There is also hourly street parking, and a three-spot 30-minute unloading only zone right in front of the building. However, as I learned, none of those spots are ever open - especially at lunch break during the work day, which is exactly when I was coming home from grocery shopping for the first time last week.

Since this was the first time I had really shopped for food since we arrived, there was a lot of restocking of essentials that needed to happpen (read: too many bags for this one girl to carry). Posed with a dilemma, I figured my best bet was to just park in the deck and go get a cart. The Nissen Building graciously supplies us with a little closet that contains three (apparently stolen, although I assume not...) shopping carts from the local grocery store, Harris Teeter. Can I say I felt more than slightly embarrassed as I was wheeling an empty cart (very noisily, I might add) around downtown during a very busy lunchhour? Believe me, if there was video footage of me getting to the car, you would die laughing! (Hey, I needed a running start to get around a couple loops of parking deck - those ramps are steep!)

Anyway, I did finally make it back safely, but I did resolve to buy only what I can carry in one trip. (Or, I could make two trips I suppose, but you know how crazy Chris is about things spoiling and that means some things would have to sit in the car for extra long...)

Needless to say, on my very next grocery adventure, I obviously didn't know my limits of exactly how much I could carry. (Or it could be that I bought a few extra things simply because I was enthralled by my first grocery expedition in a Whole Foods store! - which by the way, was all the rage right before we left Peoria - Has the rumor been broken? Is a Whole Foods moving into the old Cohen's at Sheridan Village or not?) I did succeed in making it in one trip - although it involved a purse over one shoulder, a flexible cooler over the other shoulder, one Chico (reusable) bag in the crook of each elbow, and a teeming paper bag in front carried with both hands. (Another hilarious sight for you to imagine - sorry there's no picture for that!)

And so - that's grocery shopping in downtown Winston-Salem for me. Who knew something as simple and habitual as grocery shopping could be so darn entertaining!