Reunited and it feels so good...

So I've been going through extreme Gardenburger withdrawal over the past few months. I LOVE Gardenburger products- especially their BBQ Riblets and California Veggie Burgers- but they haven't been on the shelves for months now, due to a "voluntary recall" when they were bought out by Kellogg's earlier this year. They were supposed to come back earlier in the summer- believe me, I've been on this. I e-mailed Customer Service at Wegmans.com and everything. They told me that the products were taking longer than anticipated to return to shelves (they were originally scheduled to come back in July) and to look for them to return later in the summer. It's been very rough on me. I've been buying Boca burgers for a while, and they're tasty and I like them, but they're not the same. Plus, a lot of Boca products were pulled for the same reason. I find the Morningstar products a bit too greasy for my taste, plus they're kinda expensive, and Amy's is good, but definitely on the pricey side! So it's been a difficult few months for me.

I was at Trader Joe's last week, and I was perusing the frozen burgers, and lo and behold, I saw Gardenburger BBQ Riblets! I seriously did a double take. I thought they were a mirage, that I'd been so deprived for so long that I was imagining they were right there next to the vegetarian bacon. I tentatively reached for a box- they were real! I was scared there was some sort of fluke, so I bought two boxes, and as soon as I got to my car, I called my friend Kristy to tell her about my exciting find, because she's a vegetarian (I'm not- I could never, ever give up sushi/fish or chicken; I just love lots of vegetarian products) to tell her about this, because she loves the Riblets as much as I do. This gave us both hope and confidence that Gardenburger was coming back!

And sure enough, what did I find at Wegmans this weekend? Gardenburger products!!! Not many- either they're coming back slowly or people found out about it and stored up like the apocalypse was coming. I don't blame them. I saw two boxes of the original veggie burgers in the waaaay back. At first I grabbed both, but then I thought about it, and I put one box back for someone else to enjoy (good karma), and bought a box of Boca Tomato Bruschetta burgers as well.

I should probably hold on to them, just in case, but there's four to a box, so whatever- screw it! I had one for dinner tonight. I've been deprived for way too long!

See how happy I was about it?

A very yummy dinner- a Gardenbruger veggie burger on a whole wheat English muffin with organic ketchup and chopped onion pieces, carrots, broccoli, sundried tomato and basil hummus (not pictured), and a little bowl of cherries. Because now that Gardenburger's back in my life, my life is suddenly like a big bowl of cherries. :-)

This. Was. Amazing. Oh, Gardenburger, how I missed you. Don't ever leave me like that again. I might have to bust open a box of the riblets sometime this week.

So, I have book-related news. Drumroll please... I have finally decided to quit Protect and Defend. As Greg Behrendt would say, I just wasn't that into it (sidebar: that's an awesome book and every woman in the world needs to read it, if not own it). My roommate watched me try and read it all afternoon, and I maybe got three pages the entire day. It just couldn't keep my interest. Not even enough to find out the ending. A coworker said the same thing today. And while I tried to give the benefit the book of the doubt- Richard North Patterson is supposed to be a great author, and it got pretty good reviews on amazon and goodreads- I just couldn't get into it. Life is too short, and there are too many other great books on my shelves, waiting patiently to be read. So I gave it to my boss. Plus, a part of the book was literally falling out of the book- it was about to fall out altogether. My coworker said that was an omen. Maybe he's right.

So the debut book of No Book Left Behind was a washout. Oh well. It isn't the first book that I didn't like, and it certainly won't be the last. I just hope that Richard North Patterson's books get better, because I have a few more of his book on my shelves that are unread. I'll certainly give him another shot. There are plenty of authors who I've read and enjoyed, but they have a book or two that I just didn't care for. It happens.

But here's the exciting part... I got to pick another book! This time, my roommate was home, and she watched me pick another title. And I struck GOLD with this:

You have absolutely no idea how excited I was to pick this book from the box. I never ever read David Sedaris, but everyone I know raves about him. And I'm really into the whole memoir and short story genre lately. I've read a few great ones this year- Moose, I Was Told There'd Be Cake, In My Skin, Smashed- so this is perfect! See? THIS is how No Book Left Behind should have kicked off!!!

So now I know that the secret to picking a good book is to having my roommate witness the random drawing. Obviously the task is too daunting to complete on my own. I'm sure she's thrilled to hear this! Hahaha.

I started the book while I was eating dinner. By page 7, I was laughing so hard that I cried, and almost choked on a cherry pit. I have a feeling that I am going to LOVE this book!!!! I'm psyched.

Along with reading, I have a very exciting evening of TV watching lined up (the Monday night CBS lineup, Intervention, and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives), some blog-reading to do, getting my breakfast and lunch ready for work tomorrow, and enjoying a big bowl of strawberries and chocolate bunny grahams for dessert. And going to bed with my head on my brand-new fluffy pillows. I slept very well last night... once I actually got to sleep. I stayed up later than usual, but once I was asleep, it felt amazing! It was like having my head rest on a big comfy marshmallow. Maybe all I needed to get a good night's rest was better pillows! Now I just need to learn to master the fine art of going to bed at a decent hour. Not having my annoying cat scratch at my door sporadically in the middle of the night would be wonderful too, but I know that's just wishful thinking (I seriously, no kidding, use earplugs and an oscillating fan to try and tune him out! It kind of works, but I still hear him. He is a relentless little bastard when it comes to wanting attention, and he always wants attention at 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. for some reason).

Hope everyone had a decent Monday! One day down, four to go!!!