Groceries and such...

I know this may sound pathetic but a new Hy-Vee just opened up about half a mile from my home and I am so excited! Yesterday was the grand opening and I had to make the journey to check it out. They have been sending fliers and ads for weeks and even ran an article in our neighborhood news about all the features this new store would have. They are calling it a flagship store. I mean who doesn't want to check out a flagship store on its first day?

I had high hopes for what this trip out would be like. I imagined walking in the store and receiving free gifts and coupons and a personal fan. So I convinced my friend, Amanda who was visiting me from South Africa to come to the grand opening. As we drive up to the store we were all (her sister joined her for her visit with me) amazed at the size of the store. Then we go to find parking and score they have a Expectant Mom spot right up front! This is a sign that my dream may in fact come true. We walk into the store and unfortunately there are no people handing out free gifts or coupons or a personal fan but there are plenty of free samples. At this point I had wished we hadn't gone to Olive Garden and got the all you can eat soup and salad. But at least there were free food samples all around. So we walk around the store and slowly I realize it is just another grocery store, nothing too special except the closeness to my house. As we are leaving we notice that they have a Caribo Coffee and since I have never tried it before I decided I needed to give the oreo smoothie a try. It was delicious! Basically an oreo milkshake with dark chocolate ice cream... I could have drank 4 or 5. Too bad they weren't handing them out for free. As we are getting into the car I noticed that my pail yellow shirt had attracted every ladybug that was left inside the store and spent the next few minutes flicking ladybugs off my body before they made their way up my skirt. I'm pretty sure I looked like a crazy lady driving away shooing ladybugs away.

I am still excited to have a Hy-Vee so close to my home but next time I go am will check for ladybugs before I walk out of the store. I am a little disappointed though that they call it a flagship store and nothing looks different at all. Maybe that is how they convinced everyone to come out to the grand opening.