1. Trader Joe's. It's the best place on Earth. Well, mostly... I exaggerate, but still! For a grocery store it's pretty great. And for impulse buyers of the culinary kind, it's mecca. I mean, dude! I totally found "Garlic Buttermilk Mashed Potato Chips". HOW can you go wrong with that, I ask you? And any place that even thinks to produce and sell such a beautiful thing is more than worthy of my patronage. Even their periodic mailing - the "Fearless Flyer" - is entertaining reading. There's a lot of sampling going on; they prepare and offer samples of their new products in the store. My weekly grocery list includes their single serving salads (Greek, Italian Chop, Tomato Mozzerella...), fresh greens/veggies/fruits, hummus, pita bread, sprouted bread, frozen tilapia fillets, frozen garlic buttered shrimp, frozen single-serving microwave oatmeal, Fiji bottled water, Two-Buck-Chuck (wine), Vanilla Cluster cereal, and whatever goodies they happen to have at the time.



2. Apple iPod. I know, it's been over advertised, over hyped, and over exposed. Millions of people have one. But it's seriously such a cool little tool, and I use it every single day. How many other things like that do we use every day, that we've lost appreciation of? The neat inventions that become part of everyday life such that we lose sight of how neat they are? When was the last time you were thankful for indoor plumbing, or the garage door opener, or the microwave? Today I discovered how to sort my music by beats per minute, which makes the time go by much quicker when I can groove along on my elliptical in time to 64-68 beats per minute consistantly. Wicked.



3. Self control, or willpower (Wikipedia has an article on everything). I don't have a lot of it, but I'm trying to cultivate it. It's what makes me work out, instead of sit around and read. It's what makes me complete the less-than-enjoyable tasks I regularly wrestle with at AcronymCo. It's what makes me put away the Doritos after only a handful (further cultivation of willpower will enable me to forgo the Doritos altogether).
   

Labels: best things

Posted by Laura on Monday, January 15, 2007 at 7:51 PM | Permalink