#SILintheSouth: Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Veggie Patches, Arrows and Retail Therapy

Long time no speak, sugars! Things have been kind of crazy here - last night we didn't get back until 9pm as we went to Baton Rouge to spend some time with my sister in law Gina!

And if we weren't getting in late, we were trying to control Hurricane Nieces Pieces - entertaining our four nieces and keeping them out of trouble trying to stop them from destroying everything. Or hiding from said hurricane in our room. 

Case in point? I'm currently typing next to a pink teddy bear with a handful of "tickets" for Aubree's roller coaster ride (which means she rocks the chair back and forth and back and forth whilst I type).

It's a wholeeeeeeeeeeeeee lot of crazy and by the time I flop into bed at the end of the night the lights are out and no one's home in 0.00000001 second so blogging is definitely not an option.

But let me tell you what we've been up to since we last spoke! 

On Tuesday we escaped the madness and headed out to do some shopping. Reader, Emily asked me if I'd share some of our buys as we've been out shopping so much - but the truth is, we haven't bought too much, shopping is just an excuse to get out of the house and do something ;P 

We headed to Marshalls (where we bought a 365 Bible Devotionals Book for our future child which does not yet exist - we're hopeless when it comes to books but this one was perfect with the cutest illustrations and prayers and at $5 we had to buy it), Game Stop, Best Buy, a random Christian Store and Pet Smart (where we got Chanel a toothbrush and some peanut butter toothpaste as well as some toys because we can't resist). 

We're determined to try and brush Chanel's teeth but I don't know how much success we're going to have. Has anyone reading brushed their dogs teeth before? Am I completely stupid to think it's even doable? Haha

                               
We finished our short shopping trip with a visit to Super 1 Foods to try and get some groceries that we couldn't find elsewhere and we had no luck (Central Louisiana is not the place to go if you want to go shopping and actually find what you want).

When we were driving home, the real drama hit.... well actually... it was drama that hit... 

It was this big ol' crane looking thing hitting our windshield. 

We screamed and were in total shock for an hour or so afterwards. We were driving along the highway when a flock of six or so of these birds decided to fly out in front of us whilst we were driving at 80 something miles per hour. 

There was nothing we could do. Jesse slowed down as much as he could but the last bird in the flock smacked our windshield and scared the living daylight out of us. It smacked hard and at first we thought it had cracked the windscreen - luckily it didn't and we're even luckier that we only hit one bird - not the entire flock.

The rest of the day was spent doing a whole lot of nothing!

Wednesday we spent the day with Jesse's Dad and Pawpaw. We got up early, showered and dressed and headed over there.

Jesse's Pawpaw has a big block of and with hugeeeeeeeeeeeeeee trees and lots of space to explore and take pictures of. 

But my favourite part? Buddy's garden - he grows all of his own veggies. He has dozens of varieties of beans and peas, tomatoes and all sorts of different things. To say he has a green thumb is a massive understatement. One day I may master gardening ;P 

Oh and I like this guy too - he's my favourite <3 

The boys busied themselves shooting arrows into a random dirt pile, practicing their archery skills... and this girl? 

 I took my $5 Pink Target sneakers for a walk around the property to take pictures of different things. 

I love textures so I had fun taking photos of different bits and bobs. The boys gave up on shooting arrows after missing their targets for way too long and we headed inside for lunch. 

As always, this miss brought her own lunch whilst Jesse's Dad made Crawfish Etouffe and Rice and Potato Salad for everyone else. The Etouffe used the crawfish tails and they looked just like teeny tiny prawns.

But Thursday? Thursday was my favourite!

We got up bright and early to head to Baton Rouge to meet Jesse's half sister Gina. We had planned to spend the day exploring and heading to different stores.

 We left a house full of sleepers at 7am and made the 2 hour drive to Baton Rouge. Once we got there we headed over to Gina's house to meet her three gorgeous kiddos! We hung out with them for a little while whilst waiting for their Mawmaw to come and watch them and then Jesse, Josh, Gina and I headed to lunch at a local Mexican Restaurant. 

Jesse had fajitas and I drooooooooled over the chips, salsa and guacamole - wishing my stomach wasn't so mean! But the company was great and that's all that matters!

After lunch our first stop was Whole Foods..... sorry.... I meant to say Whole Paycheck. Holy expeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnsive. We walked around for a little while and walked out empty handed as there was no way I was paying 10x more for things I could buy anywhere else! 

Then we checked out some of the stores around Whole Foods and Jesse bought a jacket on sale at GAP ($8 casual jacket? now we're talking) - but there was another foodie store on my radar... 

Trader Joes! And holyyyyyyyyyyyy Kristy heaven. Affordable prices, great products and friendly staff. I wanted to buy ALL THE THINGS but my suitcase is kinda full so I just bought a few things. I'll have to share all of the things we're bringing home in another post as I forgot to take photos of everything! 

After Trader Joes we looked at the other stores around - buying some presents for my family at Pier 1 and browsing the different homewares stores before stopping for some refreshments!

We stopped at a little Italian cafe where Jesse had the most incredible looking Nutella Gelato (which they weren't certain was gluten free or not - bummer!) and Gina had some cookies and cream gelato whilst Josh had an iced tea layered with lemonade.

After our little stop we did the last of our shopping - stopping at TJ Maxx, Old Navy and a couple of other stores before hitting the road. 

We said goodbye to Gina and got on our way at around 630pm and we didn't get back to Jesse's Mom's house until 9 something and I promptly flopped into bed and fell asleep. It was a biggggggg day, but a super fun day. 

And today? Today was quite relaxed. 

We headed to the mall early to get the final things we needed to bring home (Victoria's Secret Body Spray for my sister and some extra long jeans for this girl with the extra long legs) and we got there a little bit too early so we hung out in the food court. 

Today was "Cow Appreciation Day" at Chick Fil A and they were giving away a free meal to anyone who came dressed as a cow (and we saw so many people dressed up - Jesse said this was the most interesting thing that happens in Alexandria haha) and a free entree to anyone who wore their little cow hat and said Moo to the server. 

I got my jeans from Forever 21 (at $7.80 a pair, bingo!) and we had a look at the other stores for some things for ourselves and our friends but didn't have any luck except for the VS spray!

Then we headed back to the house where I've been playing Aunt Kristy all day. I've coloured, stickered, origamied, eaten pretend "pan-ta-cakes" and sewn up teddy bears with big gaping holes. Now I'm well and truly ready for bed and Jesse is out bowling with some friends (I was way too tired and feeling way too sick!). 

We're both very ready to go home but we're going to make the most of our last weekend here with plans to head to the Farmer's Market early tomorrow morning (even though we can't really buy anything as we leave on Sunday!)

But tell me, how has your week been? 

What are you favourite type of stores to shop at?

I love grocery stores and home stores more than I like clothing stores ;P

What's the best thing you've eaten this week? 

I have been eating the same thing over and over and can't wait to go home for some variety haha!