Ready for fall

Fall of last year was a magically time in my life.

It was full of the "first time doing (x) as an engaged couple" moments.

First Auburn game, first Halloween, first time carving pumpkins.

And now we get to experience it all again, doing things for the first time as a married couple.

Only this time we have a front porch where we can display the pumpkins.

And fall has always been my favorite season really. Walking out of my front door in the morning to the slightly cool mornings is like a promise now – better times are on the way.

I have a huge box full of scarves calling to be set free and a closet full of jackets begging to see the outside world once more.

I can hardly wait to buy new costumes, set out my scarecrows and fill our candy jar with Halloween chocolates. I want to have a bonfire and roast marshmallows in the crisp night air and go crunching through fallen leaves, seas of red and orange.

I want to make big pots of soup and mug after mug of apple cider and hot chocolate to enjoy snuggled under a blanket wearing fuzzy socks.

It will probably be a while before Auburn, Alabama is completely done with 80+ degree weather. It's fine – I can be patient. But I sure will welcome it with open arms.

Where shopping is a pleasure

Thursday evening I was on my way home from work, eagerly anticipating an evening with my husband and a couple friends of ours watching the SEC football season opener. For those of you who don't know, I have about a 50-minute commute. But I was on the last 15 minutes or so when I got on the phone with Christopher.

"Hey, can you pick up some lighter fluid on your way home?"

A simple enough request. "Okay, where do I get lighter fluid?"

"Walmart."

Cue my morale sinking into the soles of my feet. The last thing I want to do right now is go to Walmart. "Okay, sure thing. Be home soon."

So I'm driving along, thinking about how much I don't want to go to Walmart. By my calculations, I am about 15 minutes from home. Also by my calculations, this 'simple enough' trip to Walmart is going to turn that into 40. I'm contemplating how I won't be able to find a parking spot, how annoying people will have their carts parked in the middle of the aisle, how I won't be able to find what I'm looking for and there won't be anyone to ask. How there will only be one lane open and 20 people in it. I'm getting more grumbly and sullen by the minute.

That was when I passed Publix.

I hung a right and pulled into the parking lot. Punt this - I ain't going to Walmart.

I got a relatively close parking spot and walked inside. It was brightly lit, clean and sparsely populated. Unfortunately, unlike at Walmart, I had no idea where to even begin to look for lighter fluid. However, in the space of time it took for me to look left, right, and then left again, a friendly Publix employee walked up.

"How are you tonight ma'm? Can I help you find something?"

I'm already inwardly grinning smugly at my ingenious decision to skip the Walmart mayhem. "Lighter fluid?"

She scanned the aisles quickly. "It's on aisle 7, at the very end next to charcoal."

The last time I asked a Walmart employee where something was (after I had already looked for it myself, and explained to her where I had looked), she spent five minutes looking on the same aisle I had already searched through before deciding Walmart didn't carry that product or they were out.

Thanks.

I pick up my lighter fluid, no problems, and breeze through the store quickly adding Kleenex, cookies and a bag of chips to my total purchase. By the time I reach the front, my arms are pretty full, but I don't care, because I'm done in about five minutes and haven't had the urge to roll my eyes once.

As I approach the cash registers, two employees are standing at the end of their respective check out lines. You know why? Because they aren't cram-packed crowded with people trying to buy 50 items in the 20 item or less line. Because they actually have more than one lane open.

I'm trying to quickly decide which check-out to use when one of the cashiers speaks up. "Ma'm, can I get you a cart?"

When was the last time a store employee offered to get you a cart?

I tell her I'm through shopping, and we make polite conversation as she checks me out. A bagger, with a smile, places my four items in a bag. As I'm about to leave, the first employee, who told me where to find lighter fluid, walks by. "Ma'm, did you find the lighter fluid alright?"

I'm mentally racking up point after point for Publix over Walmart. "Thank you, I did."

In short ... I love Publix. It really was a pleasure. Walmart may have cornered the market on "always low prices" but I'm not sold on believing that saving money=living better. I just might be willing to pay what Publix charges for the feeling I had when I left.

And that's the way it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgymlJ4mbgg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEHM4V3HG_w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHkqGgPpQOE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtAwOpQBYPI