Anyone else a huge Whole Foods fan like me? Well, for those of you who enjoy the store, you would LOVE their larger location here in Chicago. I go there almost every week with my sister in law, but I discovered my friends (Lindsay and Kelsey) hadn’t ever been, so clearly it was a must-do Saturday night activity.
You know you’ve met the right friends when they want to go to Whole Foods on a Saturday night…
We started off by getting dinner from the hot bar:
And then it was time to explore! Well, they explored and I just enjoyed watching them realize how amazing my Whole Foods location is.
One of my favorite experiences was the bulk foods section. Not only is the section HUGE but they have these scales and printers where you can place your item, type in the number, and then it prints out a label to put on it. The label includes the name of the item, the price and a barcode so the check-out person can just scan the item rather than typing in the number.
Photo courtesy of Kelsey
After I showed off my skills, Kelsey decided to give it a try!
And it worked! Print out your label with the barcode and slap it on!
I think she’s in love.
We made it out with a few good items, and a great laugh when some guy came up to us with a weird one-liner about Lindsay’s blue pants… and then proceeded to show us a picture of his friend in teal pants. We couldn’t get away quickly enough, or stop laughing.
On Sunday, it was time for book club! This month it was hosted by the lovely Erin. As usual, we had a lovely spread of food!
I brought these Miso Sweet Potatoes that I found on Daily Garnish. After announcing a couple weeks ago that I’d be bringing this, I was made fun of endlessly for not realizing Lindsay had brought the same thing a few times… #fail. It was still delicious.
Kelsey decided to give the letters on our wine glasses meanings. Can you guess which one is mine and which is hers?
Thanks, Kelsey…
Kelsey and I then proceeded to spend waaaay too much of our time taking “booping” photos and laughing hysterically. As you can see, most everyone was ignoring us. I probably would have too, we were obnoxious.
For about a thousand more of these, check out Kelsey’s post.
Alyssa, however, knows how funny we are:
As for the book, this month it was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Aaaaand I didn’t read it. You probably guessed that since I’ve mentioned a few times over the last week that I hadn’t read it and probably wouldn’t. It sounds like a really good book, but honestly, I just couldn’t handle a heavy book right now. I actually didn’t read any books for fun during February. Gotta love law school.
However, many people DID read the book! If you’re interested in reading some reviews of Unbroken, you can find them here:
Bethany from Accidental Intentions
Do you love going to grocery stores?
Are you a potluck fan? What would you bring?
haha i LOVE going to grocery shopping – especially whole foods!! my whole foods doesn’t have that electronic scale though! itz always a gamble with the bulk food section… i get up to the register and am like hmm what’s the damage??
So far it’s the only location that I’ve seen them, but I hope more WFs start having them, it’s so much easier!
I love Whole Foods & going to new grocery stores! I get so excited to see what new things I can find. Sadly, my closest Whole Foods is an hour & a half away, in Milwaukee. 🙁
Your pics are pretty funny, I’d have been amused. 😉
Ahh that’s too far!! And thanks!
My hair in that last picture looks beautiful and like I just brushed it.
I’m STILL EXCITED ABOUT MY $1.97 OATBRAN AND THE MAGIC LABELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, can you have your jaundice cleared by by the next book club?
Your hair always looks so beautiful. And I’ll work on the jaundice thing…
I love the bulk bins too but always get intimated at the hot bar! I need a hot bar mentor 😉
Intimidated!?!? It’s the best thing ever! Haha I like to scope it out first, and then get my container and try a little bit of all the things that looked good to me!
ps. My eyebrows are so fab.
you crack me up.
It’s pretty embarassing that I look forward to Sunday mornings to browse the grocery store flyer for sales. Such a foodie geek! Oh and I tend to get a little buck wild at the whole foods hot bar. It always ends up weighing a ton! So worth it though.
Oh gosh I SHOULD browse the flyers for sales! I’m so bad about that. And yes, I spend about $8-$11 every time…
love going to the store to do some grocery shopping 😉 could spend hours in Whole Foods, love that place!
Haha we did! I think we were there for 2 hours!
I am totally with you- I LOVE Whole Foods! I kind of hate shopping in other grocery stores now. My wallet doesn’t appreciate that though 😉
I know, I spend waaaay too much at Whole Foods. When I get rung up I just think, wait, what did I buy?!?
I love the Whole Foods in Lincoln Park! Everytime I’m in Chicago, I make it a point to go 🙂 If I was doing some serious grocery shopping, the stop for wine at the wine bar would be a necessity!
Haha I love seeing couples walking around with wine and beer! Perfect activity.
A Whole Foods shopping trip is like a day at Disney for me, haha! So many wonderful things to look at and buy and make you wish you made more money 🙂
I love Whole Foods, but I think I’d prefer Disney! Haha
that is an awesome system at WF, makes it way quicker for everyone. those sweet potatoes sound amazing!
Definitely try the sweet potato recipe, everyone loves them!
How fun! I love Whole Foods too, but I try not to make it a regular stop since it doesn’t exactly fit into our budget. 😉 Good thing we don’t have one too close to home!
It is so bad for my bank account…
I LOVED WF (except for that guy… what a weirdo)!! My first time at hot bar was fabulous and I seriously want to go back and live in the bulk section. Amazing!
I spend so much time just looking around the bulk section every time I go!
I’ve only been to the Whole Foods in Lincoln Park once, and I was so overwhelmed I didn’t know what to do with myself haha. I was just there to get lunch with a friend and the hot bar alone was so stressful. I didn’t even bother actually looking around the store. Sometimes I think about going back there, but considering how much of my grocery budget I manage to blow at my much smaller Whole Foods, I don’t even want to think about what kind of damage that Whole Foods would do to my wallet haha.
You should definitely go back! I’d recommend going alone and not at a peak time, that way you can really take your time and explore. haha like Saturday nights…
I love Whole Foods–if only it weren’t so darned expensive!! The one they opened in Schaumburg has been my favorite for awhile. But a new one is opening in Kildeer (near where I work), tomorrow, actually!! I can’t wait to go and check it out. The store looks enormous and it’s supposed to be gorgeous inside!
oh exciting!!! I love seeing new Whole Food locations!
I love Whole Foods. Love, love and love.
I concur.
I LOVED Unbroken. When you get a chance, read it! 🙂
You guys are hilarious. And your food from the hot bar looks fab!
haha we think we’re pretty funny too 🙂
Yum! I love WF. Looks like a great get-together, too!
<3 Melissa
wildflwrchild.blogspot.com
thanks, Melissa!
That book is amazing. Make time for it when you can.
I will, thanks Lauren!
I LOVE whole foods! Unfortunately we don’t have one close by so I don’t get to go too often. Those pictures are hilarious! Looks like you had a great weekend 🙂
We did, thanks Maureen!
I love going to grocery stores. My birthday always includes a trip to Whole Foods. I’m so jealous that yours has a scale with the bulk stuff!
whole foods sounds like the best birthday activity!
I’m so glad I appeared in one of those photos. I thought about trying to make really funny faces but then I got caught up in the actual discussion.
I love the grocery store but try to stay away from Whole Foods because I am afraid of completing blowing my budget. One is opening TOMORROW on my way home from work. So I am definitely stopping.
I love our book club potlucks. It usually takes me a week to think of/find something that is everyone friendly though.
HA, who cares about the actual discussion when there are crazy photos being taken?! Hahaha
Bahaha. Your friends seem so fun. I couldn’t agree more- the best friends are the ones that love to spend a Saturday night at Whole Foods! I love my Whole Foods but my bank account doesn’t. Oh and mine is also a littleee too small and crowded. The bulk section looks nothing like that one!
We are fun! Come hang out with us!
Ditto with what Kelsey said!
Omg, grocery stores are my favorite. I like them better than any other store and need to find friends like yours who enjoy going to them on weekend nights, too. How did you find your book club, btw? I’m trying to figure out where to look, since I love to read and it would be a good way to meet people here in the burgh!
I set up a Facebook group and created our first event! It’s such a great way to meet people-if you know of other bloggers in your area you should totes do it too! The first time I met Katie was at book club and now we basically spend every waking minute together 🙂
Um, I’m pretty sure that I was the one who set up the facebook group and created the first event? You did create the book club out of it…
hahaha ok ladies…thanks for the idea! I just discovered some local bloggers so this may be able to happen after all!
HAHAHAHA you did set up the group. I set up the first book club.
BUT I’ll continue to take credit for it because that’s what I do.
Seriously dying.
Whole Foods is seriously one of my favorite places to visit on the weekends…is that sad?? 😉 I, surprisingly, have yet to eat from the hot bar or salad bar yet. I need to get with it!
Um not sad because that’s what we did on a Saturday night and we loved it.
Omg, I could explore WF for HOURS! no joke, that place is amazing. Your book club eats look good too, especially the sweet taters. They remind me of the sweet potato fries and miso gravy that my mum used to make.
ooo that sounds like a great dish!
I can walk to 3 Whole Foods from my apartment in Santa Monica!! I LOVE grocery stores & I spend too much money when I go! Even better, I can walk to multiple farmers markets throughout the week, year-round 🙂
Um that is AWESOME!
Oh my goodness Katie you look so so happy in all of these and that you are having a great time 🙂 You two are hilarious, I love the pictures from the book club meeting hahaaha
I adore going to grocery stores, I see a new Whole Foods somewhere, that I am visiting for example, and I am THERE asap 🙂
Haha I’m glad you appreciate our humor! And I LOVE visiting new Whole Foods when I’m traveling!
I cannot WAIT to go to the new Whole Foods!
Wait, what new Whole Foods?!