Get Crafty:

This time of year, I barely have time to eat a proper meal, nevermind make a craft. From scratch. I actually have a fun craft planned for the kids to do--I thought of it like, a month ago--and we haven't even thought about starting it.

However, Trader Joe's--purveyor of the quick and easy appetizer (once we did a whole party with TJ's appetizers, and people just kept raving about it. So delish, and so easy. God, I love Trader Joe's)--makes it, well, quick and easy, with their holiday bags. Want to get all DIY this holiday? Grab your scissors, and maybe some tape, and cut out their holiday gift tags...

or their festive holiday garland, printed on the sides of the bag.

Now this is a craft I can get behind... and since I'm getting so many TJ's bags, I may as well fill them with their awesome selection of heat and serve meals, because clearly I am lacking in that department, too.

Friday LOL (food edition):

What's Good at Trader Joe's?

It's no secret that I love me some Trader Joe's. I started shopping there years ago, when their prices were super duper cheap. Nowadays they're still a bargain, but with food costs rising everywhere, it's not quite like the old days. But I continue to go back: the employees are awesome, I can do a week's worth of shopping in 20 minutes, and--best of all--the food? Well, it rocks. And apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so:

Hello. My name's Nathan, and I love Trader Joe's. My wife Sonia does, too. She's a great shopper, has excellent taste, and knows good value when she comes across it. As many of you know, Trader Joe's is unsurpassed in the world of good-value grocery stores, so we spend a lot of our time and money there. Although the store fairly consistently delivers great taste with its own unique line of food products, there are definitely some big-hits, and unfortunately, there are some misses...

After doing a couple of internet searches for reviews of TJ's food items, Sonia discerned an apparent dearth of good, quality reviews for the store's offerings. So, at her suggestion, we decided to embark on a journey of systematically reviewing every Trader Joe's product, resulting in the blog you are about to read...

It's a great site--obviously much thought and care goes into each review, which is awesome. But I think my most favorite part is that I stumbled upon the site just as they reviewed the Wild Blueberry Vanilla Chèvre, which played a pretty big role in last night's all violet book club! And they gave it 9 out of 10 golden spoons (which I would completely agree with)!

So maybe this site didn't make me laugh out loud... but I think I love it just the same.

Oh, how I heart you, Trader Joe's

I love me some Trader Joe's. It's a little strange--I know--to feel this way about a grocery store, but I just can't help it. I started shopping there when it was dirt cheap (like, 69¢ for a pound of pasta cheap). It still is less expensive than the big chain groceries, but the prices have noticeably gone up. But I keep going back, because, well--they rock. Their customer service is awesome (They laughed and joked about me breaking the door a few weeks back--when they could have been really pissed), the food is delish, and best of all, I'm in and out with 2 weeks worth of groceries in under a half hour (take that, Stop and Shop!).

I must have tweeted about TJ's a few weeks back, because now they're following me on Twitter. So, because I like Trader Joes, I started following them. I can't decide if this is a mistake or not, because they're always tweeting about food. Like I need to hear how great the Wasabi Wow snack mix is at 11:30, while my stomach is rumbling.

But today? Today came the gem of all gems: somebody out there made a TJ's commercial. On their Treo. So yes, the production quality is... well, it sucks. But the commercial is brilliant.

I highly recommend viewing the longer commercial. But be warned: I've been whistling that song all afternoon now.