Books, Burgers, and Trader Joe's

I went to the Scholastic Book Warehouse sale yesterday. If you've never been to the book warehouse and are a book lover, you should go. It's literally a warehouse full of books. Shelves from the floor to tall enough that I have to stand on my tiptoes to reach the highest one. (And yes, I know that's not that high. But still.) You can find everything from board books for the youngest reader to kid's picture books to young adult lit to adult best sellers. With some pencils and posters and bookmarks thrown in for good measure. And right now almost everything is 50-80% off. To give you a little perspective, Kathy and I were in the warehouse for 3 hours. 3 hours. Granted we go up and down every aisle (sometimes twice) and pick up anything that looks remotely interesting and read the back. And I couldn't help but think, "So many books, so little time." It would take me year to read all the books I picked up and thought, "Oh, this looks good." (I chose 4 including The Reading Promise.)

During this trip we were looking for books for our classrooms, Christmas gifts, and Books for Tots*. The best deal is the "Build-a-Box." For $24.95 you get all the books you can pack into the provided box. The books for this are usually older or something they have an overabundance of, but there are still lots of good finds. The average person can probably pack around $100 worth of books in the box. Kathy can pack $300 worth of books into the box. That's why I go with her. So for 25 bucks I got at least 20 books for Books for Tots with a few extras for stocking stuffers for my students and kids thrown in for good measure.

After our book shopping, we were hungry. We had decided to go to Wolffy's, a 50s themed hamburger joint. The lady in Kathy's phone told us how to get there, but when we got there, it was gone. Hmmm, we were just there...12 years ago. So we decided to eat later and go on to our next destination, Trader Joe's. The phone lady led us right to Trader Joe's and guess what was right next to it! Hogan's, a 50s themed hamburger joint! We happily went in and ordered. Kathy got the bacon cheeseburger and a chocolate shake and I got the bleu cheese burger with bacon and a hot chocolate with whipped cream, chocolate syrup and sprinkles. (I was freezing!) The food was yummy and the service was good and the music was wonderfully retro.


Then to Trader Joe's we went. Neither of us had ever been there, so it was a fun little adventure to explore all the quirky, unique items. And the employees seemed thrilled to be there and were so friendly and helpful. I bought a few snacks and treats for my family and a few stocking stuffers. Then we headed for home. We were happy with our book finds, full of yummy food, and thrilled that we got the last four boxes of Trader Joe's Candy Cane Coal to be found in the Pacific Northwest. It was really fun. And a much needed break from real life for me. I think this little excursion could easily become a new tradition.

*Our school is collecting books for Books for Tots until Thursday, December 15th. Our goal is 150 books, so if you'd like to donate, just drop them off and we'll add them to our collection. Thanks.