Black Tie Optional

Three of my least favorite words in the English language. We have a wedding to go to this weekend for two coworkers of mine from a previous job. I'm absolutely thrilled for them, and am looking forward to seeing some people that I haven't seen in a long time. I just hate dressing up.

Actually, the dressing up itself isn't the worst part. It's the shopping. I'm just not a good shopper for formal stuff. And I hate spending gobs of money on a dress for one night. I actually love the idea of combing consignment stores for that one awesome gown that will transform me into a raven-haired Cinderella for the evening, but the odds of finding the right dress in the right size are astronomical.

I don't have anything in my closet that will work. So, I guess it's off to the mall for me. Yeck. If any of my girls out there have any fashion advice for me before I go, please share!

Looking back, I suppose this is why my wedding was resort casual.

Does wine count as a serving of fruit?

My mother-in-law gave me a tee shirt with this saying on it for Christmas. It seriously cracked me up. Last year J got one from her that said, "My Indian Name is Runs with Beer." Funny lady, she is! He doesn't run anywhere? (Just kidding, love. I know you're reading this.)

And I have to admit, we don't get a lot of fruit around our household. I'll drink the occasional glass of orange juice to make sure I don't end up with scurvy, but that's about it. I also buy lemons when they're cheap 'cause they're fun to cook with and look so nice in a bowl on the table. You know, that "Pottery Barn staged dining room" look that lasts approximately twelve minutes at our house before one of us dumps something on the table, and it rapidly deteriorates into a "staged landslide" with a beautiful bowl of lemons at its epicenter.

Veggies, however, are a whole 'nother ball game. I have a new addiction, and it's called Rorabecks Produce and Nursery. This place is open seven days a week, and sells amazing produce at dirt cheap prices. Seriously. I got tomatoes for 25 cents a pound this weekend. And how can you not buy asparagus when it's two bunches for 99 cents??? Green peppers...eight for two bucks? They're two bucks each in the grocery store!

The quality of the produce is great as well. The only real problem I have is that I keep buying so much that some of it is spoiling before we can use it. So when I went this Saturday, I attempted to buy only what we could reasonable cook in the next week:

• Ten ears of corn for $1
• $1.11 worth of tomatoes (hmm...at $.25/lb, I guess that's quite a few tomatoes)
• Fresh green beans
• Onions (we cook w/these all the time, and they last quite a while)
• Potatoes
• Two cucumbers

We've already eaten the corn, the green beans and some of the potatoes! We vegged out this weekend, and not in a sitting-on-the-couch kind of way. Of course, my meat-a-tarian husband had to throw a little chorizo on the grill alongside the corn (still in the husk...yum!), but that's okay. He had seconds on veggies right along with me! (And I had to at least try the chorizo, right?)

And even though we've got chopped peppers, carrots and celery in the freezer from my last buying binge, I think I underestimated our potential veggie consumption this week. Rorabecks is on J's way home from work – I may have to sweet talk him into supporting my new addiction.

Honey? Are you reading this? Wouldn't grilled portabellos be super yummy in some risotto? Hmmmm?

Wink.