Yesterday's Surprise and Today's Adventure

Yesterday's Surprise:


So, as you know, yesterday was my Business Man's birthday. He turned a whopping 24 years old! I mentioned that I had a few surprises up my sleeve, and one of them was that I co-conspired with his team members at the office to throw him a potluck lunch.


I brought our favorite chicken salad (with Hawaiian buns, of course!) and s'mores cookies. The lovely ladies also brought in goodies to make a complete feast. I was able to sneak in the back door without him even noticing, and set everything up in one of the back rooms. He was actually very surprised! (Especially considering he stopped at home to grab his phone charger when I was making the chicken salad that morning. I just told him I was making ice cream cake. And he believed it, even though I was chopping celery at the time. Celery ice cream cake? Yum?)


For dessert, I made S'mores Cookies. (Recipe from Picky Palate.) These were good!! A little tricky to make, but very cute. 


It's basically a mini s'more...

Tucked inside chocolate chip cookie dough.

And then baked to perfection! 

If you haven't checked Picky Palate out before, you definitely should. She stuffs chocolate chip cookies with all sorts of goodies! (Oreos, brownies, Reese's cups...)


Today's Adventure:


So, today, we had our house washed and the windows professionally cleaned. I decided that I would get the heck outta dodge while the workers were here doing their thing. Where did I go? Only my most favorite shopping center ever: Easton Town Center in Columbus. 


I had some Barnes & Noble gift cards to use and some Limited coupons burning a hole in my pocket. Plus, it has been a good 3 months since I've been to my favorite grocery store Trader Joe's.


Of course, whenever I leave the Bean Town by myself, nothing ever seems to go as planned. First of all, I got a little lost trying to get there and drove an extra 20 miles out of my way. Whoops. (Guess you shouldn't be talking on the phone and trying to follow MapQuest directions at the same time? I will just blame it on my mom... she was who I was talking to.)


Second, I might have just accidentally locked my keys in the car while dropping off my shopping purchases before going into Trader Joe's. (Remember this post? Same exact thing happened on a previous solo trip to Columbus!) Looks like I can't trust myself to go to Columbus by myself without tragically locking my keys in the car.

Keys just sitting there. And me having no access to them. Sad.

Did I mention that I forgot to charge my cell phone before leaving on this trip? So it was screaming LOW BATTERY the whole time I was trying to figure out the situation. Thanks to my Business Man, a locksmith was there within the hour. And due to our awesome car insurance, I think we don't have to pay all of the $84 fee. At least I hope we don't... or I might need to find a summer job. I kid, I kid.

You bet I went and snatched one of these yummy beverages while waiting for the locksmith to call and praying that my phone didn't die. It lasted through one phone call with the locksmith but not the second. But he still found me!

Anyways, I finally made it to Trader Joe's.


I got some oldies, but goodies.

Naan bread, pizza dough, PB pretzels, dried mango, oatmeal.

And some new things to try.

Sun-dried tomato & basil chicken sausage, chicken gyoza potstickers, and shells & cheddar.

It seems they have discontinued my favorite Cranberry Mango salsa and Poppyseed salad dressing. Sad day. And I was able to resist the Dark Chocolate PB Cups.


We tried the chicken sausage tonight on the pizza dough, and man was it good. Now, I'm off to watch a movie with my Business Man... a low-stress night is definitely needed!