Five Spot

Here are my 5 favorite things that I bought at the grocery store last night:

1. Concord Grapes - These are grapes to put all other grapes to shame. If you haven't ever tried a concord grape before, go to the store immediately and get some. Time is running out. They're only available in the fall. I admit that the fact that they have seeds is a little annoying and if you're not use to it, the texture is a little strange, but these things are a small price to pay for their awesomeness.

2. Gingersnap Cookies - Did I mention that Ginger Snapp (with 2 p's) is my bowling name?

3. Swiss Miss Vanilla Pudding - This stuff is goood. It's only available at certain grocery stores (Publix here in Nashvegas). It's so good that they seperate it from the other pudding and keep it in the cooler by the yogurt...

4. Horizon Organic DHA Milk - Before I got pregnant, I was a diehard skim milk drinker. When I got pregnant, I became much more aware of the nutritional value of the food I was consuming (obviously I still snack - see said gingersnaps and pudding). This milk tastes good and is good for you. 

5. Diet Lipton Green Tea - I know that Green Tea is good for me. I also know that this particular green tea probably has the least good stuff in it of any of the green teas on the market. But, I like it and it's a start. 

On a side note... My least favorite purchase last night was wheat bread. I love white bread. Rob likes wheat bread. For the better part of the three years we have been married, we have eaten white bread (mostly because I am usually the one who goes to the store and therefore has the bread veto power). Recently, we have switched back to wheat bread - honey wheat as a matter of fact (as if the honey actually makes it taste any better). We switched because Rob brought up the point that wheat bread has more nutritional value and we should try to encourage Harper to eat wheat instead of white, and what better way to encourage her, than to set a good example ourselves. Ughhh... he used the "good example" card. Low blow. It worked. 

Who You Gonna Call...

I think I was blessed with one of the sweetest babies in the whole world. Happiness and joy flow out of her and always have since the day she was born. Seriously... we have a picture of her smiling on the day she was born, and I really don't think it was gas.

On the rare occasion that she does get a little fussy, I have discovered a secrete remedy that literally works every time. When she gets upset and nothing else works, I sing the Ghostbusters theme song to her (of which I only know two lines). As you can tell in the video, the effects are instantaneous. Don't ask me why it works or how it works. I have no idea. I've tried other songs. They don't work - only Ghostbusters. See for yourself.

                                               

My Favorite Time of Year

Although fall officially began last week, today feels like the first day of fall to me. The weather is considerably cooler than it has been, the sky is blue and clear, the mums are blooming, the leaves are beginning to change... While I am looking forward to my first fall in Nashville, I can't help but think of my favorite things about fall when I was a kid. I grew up in Northeastern Ohio and we had a family tradition of visiting White House Fruit Farm around this time of year. White House is open all year round, and we went several times throughout the year, but I always looked forward to going in the fall. My mom and I would go in search of the perfect pumpkin, a job we took (and still take) very seriously. We would also get gallons of apple and cherry cider (yeah, I said cherry and it is awesome). But the best part about White House is their amazing blueberry donuts. I consider myself a bit of a donut connoisseur, so when I say that these blueberry donuts are amazing, they really are amazing. They are so packed full of blueberries that they are actually purple and to top it off, they are covered in blueberry icing. It just doesn't get any better than that. So, if any of you readers (cough*dad*cough) are passing through Ohio and want to send me some donuts...I'd be happy to receive them!

Going Green (Or At Least Greener)

So I have finally gotten off my proverbial butt and decided to do something that has been in the back of my mind for a while. Our family has decided to stop using plastic bags from the grocery store. We ordered some reusable bags from this site. They have some interesting information about how much petroleum is consumed by making plastic bags and about how manufacturing paper bags has an even bigger impact on the environment than plastic bags. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get with the program. I guess I thought that bringing my own bags to the store would be too much of a hassle. In my mind I also justified my use of plastic bags (I used them for a variety of other things around the house like lining small garbage cans and disposing of kitty litter). In any case, I am turning over a new leaf. My excuses and justifications were small-minded. This is an easy way that I can lessen my personal impact on the environment. It's kind of cool to think that Harper may never remember a time when we used plastic bags. Being a good role model for her is good motivation for positive change. Thank you to my greener friends for planting this seed in my head and who are leading by example. I'll let you know how it goes. 

NKOTB

So last night I had an interesting experience. As Harper and I sat on the couch flipping through the channels, I noticed that VH1 was broadcasting live from the New Kids On The Block concert in Boston (yep, they're back). Not wanting to miss the chance to share this cultural event with my daughter, we watched on. It was a rather surreal experience. I was sitting on the couch with my 7 month old daughter watching the New Kids. Totally weird...

Junk DNA

Currently, scientists have only been able to determine the function of approximately 5% of the DNA sequences in the human genome (or any other specie's genome for that matter). They call this part of the sequence coding DNA and they have discovered many amazing uses for it. The function of the other 95% of the sequence, affectionately called junk DNA,  has yet to be identified. Some people believe that this sequence ultimately has no function. However, there is mounting evidence to suggest that  junk DNA is indeed functional. We just haven't figured out how to break the code yet. Either way, it's interesting to think about why we would carry around so much non-coding DNA and what secretes of the universe could potentially be hiding there.