To Market, To Market!

So I have spent the last week and a half in our Tanasbourne branch which will be consolidating with some other branches in early June. It's a great branch because everyone is very close and helpful to one another and just very nice. Lincoln Tower on the other hand is a bit more cynical, though I bet each and every one of them would take a bullet for another person in that branch if put in the right circumstances.

So anyway, today the new Whole Foods Market opened in the Tanasbourne area. Me loving a good supermarket, I agreed to accompany Maryann at lunch to check out the digs. Portland has two (at least, I don't know) other WFM, but I have never been to any of them, so I was kind of excited. You know, fresh new stuff, fun lunch options, neato brands and exciting new meatless options. That Vicki S., who is on loan to the Tanasbourne branch (thank God by the way because with three people out in a 7 person office it is next to impossible to have to drop everything and cover reception for an hour or two), had gone for lunch there herself an hour earlier, and as Maryann and I were leaving she was just returning. She brought us a fabulous fruit tart so of course we were all excited for dessert.

The fun really began in the parking lot. I'll say this about Maryann - Beaver or no Beaver, that gal has some parking karma. There were lines around the lot, people waiting for departing shoppers, men with those orange baton thingies waving the crowd around, and our Maryann just scooted on into a spot roughly 10 spaces from the door. Had it been just me checking it out alone, I'd still be walking back to my car right now (my parking karma is not what it should be, not sure how to fix that). It was awesome because people were laying on their horns and cutting each other off, and some woman on foot confronted a driver and words were exchanged and it was great fun because come on, we were in a SUPERMARKET PARKING LOT. I love Beaverton!

So yeah, the WFM has some fun stuff - samples of fruits and cookies and teas and juices.. the food court area was vast and colorful and full of wonderful smells and big fun. Maryann got a great looking salad bar conglomeration and I opted for the chicken katsu, while we oohed and aahed over the bakery items. They sell Dave's Killer Bread there, too, so that was a bonus for me. Love that Rockin' Rye!

Check out was a little slow but there were roughly 9000 people there so it was doable, and when we got back to the office we raved about it to all of our coworkers and they were suitably jealous. Well, maybe not THAT jealous, because it was, after all, a supermarket, but it was still great fun.

At three we all had tart and even though I had a pissy little payout with issues and 5 sets of docs to work up, along with a ton of problems on files older than crap that suddenly had to be resolved RIGHT NOW, it was a fun and festive day in Tanasbourne. I'd owe it all to the WFM and that tart. I barely noticed the sideways rain and driving wind in late April.