Newsflash: Whole Foods is confusing

Sometime in 2008:
Whole Foods Grocery Store opens. I visit on opening weekend. Its crowded and Asparagus is $8 a pound. I leave immediately.

Sometime later in 2008:
I venture back into whole foods. This time I walk around the whole store. I'm overwhelmed and leave.

Sometime in 2009:
My girlfriend C. tells me her husband has now forbidden her to step foot in Whole Foods as the grocery bill is $300 a week, for the two of them. My husband makes a mental note.

Sometime later in 2009:
I have a half hour to kill between meetings. Whole Foods is right there. I venture in. I have never seen so many varieties of lettuce. There are two tables of bananas, one is organic and one is fair trade. I am so confused. I leave.

Last month:
In Whole Foods again. Walking around in a semi-daze again. I stumble into the deli. I find the samples of cheese. I hang out a while.

Last week:
I go for more samples. I've discover that I do not like drunkard goat cheese, but discover I love Green Heart Gouda. As I'm leaving, I pass the chocolate aisle. I spend an incredibly long amount of time looking at the chocolate. The coffee shop catches my eye. I wander over. Then pre-made salads block my exit. They are the most beautiful salads I've ever seen. Basil, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. They are $7. I can see how one can get sucked in. I leave.

Yesterday:
I cant stop thinking about the beautiful salad. I go into Whole Foods with a grocery cart. Somehow the salad ends up in my grocery cart. I sample more cheese, making a mental note that Whole Foods Deli is a great place to hang out and get an afternoon snack. If you turn ever so slightly and leave the cheese counter, there is a meat counter with samples of ham. I still like the Green Heart Gouda. A wedge of it finds its way into the cart. Next, its the meat section. I find non-hormone, free farm range chicken right next to the ground buffalo meat. I get two very large bone in chicken breast for $4.50. A Swiss milk chocolate bar gets in before I make it out of the door.

Last Night:
Hubs sees the Whole Food bag and is not happy. He feels better when I tell him I only spent $18. I smooth him over with the salad, which he liked. Then the chocolate, which he loved. He hates the cheese. I tried to talk him into meeting me at the my newest afternoon hot spot, the cheese counter at Whole Foods. He ain't hearing it.

Next week:
Im planning a Whole Foods outing/cheese sampling trip for some grass fed, free range beef... and a beautiful salad..... and maybe the coffee shop has samples too?