Ode to a Grocery Cart

Ok well this isn't really going to be an ode, but I do have to discuss how we grocery shop here in the commonwealth. Lucky for us we live about 1/2 a mile from a grocery store, Harris Teeter.  And while it really is a pleasant walk over there, once you stock up on groceries, the question becomes how do you get them home?

When we first moved here, we noticed quite a few people walking down the street dragging what appeared to be a folded up homeless person cart. Every now and again the carts would actually have random stuff in them. It took a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond and the mystery was revealed! For $40, you to can have your own, shiny, new, fold up grocery cart!!!!!

Isn't it a beauty? And let me tell ya, you feel SO cool wheeling this baby down the street. And, as you can see, it's not exactly the biggest cart in the world so grocery shopping has become strategic. Here are Stephanie's Top 5 Grocery Shopping Rules:
1.) Make sure your shopping list does not exceed the space/weight limit of your cart
2.) Heavy items (i.e. drinks) must be put in the cart first as to not crush the other groceries
3.) Cold items must be purchased last because they will melt on the 1/2 mile walk home (it's very sad, believe me)
4.) Do NOT go shopping between 5 & 7pm when everyone else does. Southern hospitality does NOT exist here- people will hit you with their cart, push your cart out of the way, or look at you ugly if you even stop to consider whether to get red or russett potatoes!
5.) At no time, think about how ridiculous you look wheeling this cart of food around, especially if you choose to cut through the mall on the way home where your only choices are either to wheel your cart right past the Ritz Carlton or through Nordstroms.

I made many of these mistakes on my shopping trip last night as I battled the labor day crowd. By the time I got home and put everything away, we were too tired to cook and picked up Vietnamese take out. There is this little Vietnamese place called Saigon Saigon down the street that makes the most delicious Pho. YUM, but that is a different story for a different day. To give everyone their final laugh of the night, here is what I looked like when I got home from the store last night. Tell me, if you had seen me wheeling down the street, what would you have thought?