Today I want to discuss something that I love, that recently made me get a little sweaty and flushed.
I want to talk about Oprah. Oprah. I'm not sure where you thought I was going with this, but my intentions are as pure as the driven snow.
Anyway, Oprah has been one of my favorite human beings for years. I think she's just great, no matter what my jaded husband says about her. Plenty of people are rich and famous, but few celebrities are as generous with their money or their influence as Oprah. I heart Oprah, and I'm just a tad bit jealous of Gayle King...I really think I could be a pretty top-notch BFF to Oprah. I used to come home from high school and watch Oprah while I binged on E.L. Fudge cookies or something equally disgusting. I didn't want to watch MTV or talk on the phone - I just wanted to watch Oprah.
Now, 10+ years after I first fell in love with Ms. Winfrey, I am no longer shoveling cookies down my gullet.* These days, I am usually on a treadmill or elliptical when I catch Oprah. This past Wednesday was such a day. I ran my little treadmill 5k and I was getting ready to cool down and head home when the preview for the upcoming Oprah segment piqued my interest. A couple from Seattle was getting a makeover. The husband had worn kilts exclusively for the last 9 years.
I just couldn't get off the treadmill until I saw this story. So I walked. And walked. And finally it came on. This guy had 17 kilts. One of them was held before the camera as a particularly egregious example - a camouflage Utilikilt.
Seeing that Utilikilt brought back such fond memories of our trip to Seattle last spring. It was an uncharacteristically warm and sunny weekend in late March, and did we ever paint the town red - well, not so much red, maybe a salmon color, possibly even a coral. We are pretty tame. I mean, we made it a point to visit the public library. But we did spend a lot of time checking out various funky neighborhoods, salivating over the whole city, and discussing ways that we could possibly make Seattle our home.
Early on the first day, we discovered a little gem in the form of the Utilikilt store. We clearly HAD to go inside because the display in the front window was a mannequin dressed in a kilt and combat boots delivering a roundhouse kick to the face of another kilt-clad mannequin. Once inside, we were greeted by a very large man with an acid green mohawk wearing a heavy metal t-shirt, combat boots, and of course, a plaid kilt. We struck up a conversation with him and it turned out he was from the Philadelphia area, just like us. He gave us a bunch of insider tips about things we should do in Seattle, and tried to sell Andy a kilt. We took the tips but regretfully declined to purchase a kilt. That guy and that store were a huge factor in my burgeoning love of Seattle.
Just when you thought Oprah couldn't possibly bring any more goodness to the world without exploding into thousand baby unicorns, she got better. She squeezed little bit more exercise out of my tired bones and pumped a little bit of joy into my frozen, glaciated heart. Thank you, Oprah. You're a doll.
Oh, also - wrote this post while watching Oprah. She's just knocking 'em out of the park all over the place these days.
*Disclaimer: If you don't know me in real life, I probably sound like I was once a 600 pound behemoth. I was merely a 14 year old with a ridiculous metabolism.
This isn't related to your post, but I just wanted to write and say I think I figured out what the "poor people grocery store" is that you used to write about. At my new job, where people who grew up in the Northwest work, I was informed that Fred Meyer and Safeway are expensive, and I looked at them like they were angels/crazy...I didn't know I had other options. They said, of course you don't, because you're new out here and so is your boyfriend and you just don't know any better! You go to WinCo! I envisioned a Northwest version of ShopRite, but when I learned that WinCo has bulk bins, it all clicked into place. I have a feeling it's going to resemble your stories about Idaho instead of a North Jersey Shop Rite, and I will be thankful that I was able to read them to prepare. Maybe I should reread them.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love Oprah too and wish she was on Hulu, and that kilt shop story made me want to visit Seattle. It's only three hours away but I just haven't made it up there; when I have time to leave Portland I can't bring myself to go someplace that is *more* rainy.
And I'm glad you were spared from mercury poisoning. Those damn lightbulbs are always breaking.
ReplyDeleteYes! Winco all the way. If you time it right and go early in the morning (before 9) or late at night (after 8) it's not so bad. But when it's crowded, it's usually full of the kind of people that either just make you sad or make you feel really grateful that you are a fully functional human being. But maybe near Portland you'll have a better experience. For your sake, I hope you do! Because, seriously, once you go bulk bin, you won't ever want to go back. It's the best. So cheap, cuts down on packaging, and you can take exactly as much or as little as you want. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteAlso, you must visit Seattle, it's a super fun city. I highly recommend the Underworld Tour - http://www.undergroundtour.com/underworld/index.html