Picking Up Groceries

Tonight I used the Walmart Grocery Pickup for the second time. I'm officially a fan.

If you haven't heard of it, some Walmart stores are now offering Grocery Pickup, which consists of ordering your items online and, you guessed it, picking them up at the store. No walking through the store involved.

You can order deli meat and cheese, fresh meats or veggies, household items, pharmacy items, toiletries, cosmetics; there is an impressive amount of stuff available. Building a cart online is super easy, you reserve your time slot for when to pick them up, pull into the designated spaces next to the store, call to tell them you're there, and then they bring out your stuff. It's awesome.

Moms are loving it because they don't have to drag their children through the grocery store. I am loving it because of my health issues. There are some times where I just don't have the energy to walk through the store. And I cannot tell you how happy I am that this is now an option for the upcoming cold and flu season. I won't have to walk through the store and potentially immerse myself in everyone's germs.

The first time I tried it all told my trip took about 20 minutes, from the time I pulled up and called to let them know I was there, to when they were done loading my groceries in my car—which is still at least half the time I'd spend in the store. This second time only took 8 minutes. And they've given me a complimentary bottle of water both times since it's kinda hot. Nice touch!

I promise I'm not getting paid for this post haha, but I wanted to spread the word because I'm hoping this program is here to stay. If you are interested in trying it out at your own Walmart, email me and I can give you my code to get $10 off your first order (I get $10 off too.) It's not available everywhere, only select stores, so you'll have to check if your store offers it. Honestly, I think this will stick around because I see this as the way of the future. I can totally see a future where Walmart has a set of retail stores like they have now, and another building that is just a straight up warehouse where workers pick your items for Grocery Pickup. There isn't really a storefront, there wouldn't be any cost to make the store look nice, just people getting your groceries together and you driving up.

Classical

A few years ago, I had to say goodbye to the one classical music station we had around here. I realize classical stations are going the way of the dinosaur, but it was still sad to listen as the last song played.

Thanks to a passionate group effort, another station has begun in it's place. Announced earlier in April this year, it has a small frequency range and unfortunately I live outside of it. But I had the idea today to check online to see A, if it was up and running yet, and B, if they had a way to listen online.

Yes and yes! I bookmarked the link and listened all day long at work.

Pandora does not have enough variety and most other online stations I tried out are too Baroque (Cue joke from Cogsworth...) So far this has been an awesome blend and I'm looking forward to more. I am so ecstatic to find back a good variety of classical music. And I am so happy to hear some of the same DJs that were on the previous station. Tom Sudholt would ease me into my workday as I drove, and it's good to hear his voice and wonderful choice of songs again. Plus, I mean talk about beautiful and calming music (mostly, unless it's like, Night on Bald Mountain [but that might be perfect for today since it's Halloween!])

Advanced Reading Copies

This morning upon walking into work I saw a wonderful site: the lunch table was filled with 15 books. I know what this means... our resident book reviewer dropped off her latest bunch of advanced copies.

This happens randomly but every once in a while after a book has been officially published, our book reviewer will put all of her old books on the lunch table for people to take and read. Most times, they're by a bunch of up-and-coming authors, some no-names, or authors that have had one successful book but nothing much of note. However, occasionally there will be an author I've heard of. But this morning was, like, jackpot...

I saw it sitting there on the table, I've known the book cover ever since it was announced, and I made a beeline for it. There, sitting on the table was And Then The Mountains Echoed, the long-awaited new book from Khaled Hosseini, writer of The Kite Runner. For an author with only three novels under his belt, he's been wildly successful. I've really enjoyed his two other books, and was looking forward to reading his newest one.

I was almost giddy. Now I don't have to wait two years until the paperback version comes out; I have paperbacks of the other two... and I'm anal about having consistent paperback/hard-cover versions for an author. And I don't have to wait until I finally get the book after 34 other people at the library. Now that I have it, I'm having a hard time deciding if I should dive into this book next or go with my original plan of reading Gone Girl once I finish Jurassic Park. I've got less than twenty pages left in Jurassic Park so... I need to decide!

Not your old cookies

Thanks to Print Magazine on Twitter, I was introduced to: Helvetica cookie cutters.

Being a design/type nerd, I think these are pretty cute. If I ever brought them to a party, I doubt anyone would really get the significance, but if it was a party with designers I assume the effect would be a little different. Move over old letter cookies, we have TYPEFACES for our letters! Haha!

You can see what I'm talking about here.