Costco Love

When I was in high school my dad discovered Costco. At least once a week he would bring home a case of wine and a "present" for my mom. This is how we ended up with an extra set of everything you would (or wouldn't) want including two steamcleaners, an oversized dog bed, and a hideously large jewelery box. Have you seen the Modern Family episode where Cam introduces Mitchell to Costco? That pretty much summed up our life.

I have recently come to the realization that Jamie and I have a bit of a Costco problem as well. Except ours revolves more around food. Jamie and I take weekly "dates" to Costco where we go around eating all of the samples and then split soft-serve frozen yogurt or pizza. We don't have much of a social life in Pittsburgh.

But besides just being a cheap (and super romantic) place to have lunch, we also find it a great place to pick up some really healthy food for a pretty low price. Many people cite high costs as one of the reasons they avoid purchasing fresh fruits/vegetables or healthier foods in general. As long as you are able to get through all of the produce you buy, I think Costco is a great way to save money on these items.

Our weekly/biweekly purchases usually include:
-Red peppers
-Fruit (some combination of the following): Pink lady apples, bananas, mangos, grapes, blueberries
-Sweet potatoes!!
-Onions
-Whole wheat tortillas (I highly recommend these, they are delicious and only 100 calories).
-Greek yogurt
-Skim milk
-Almond butter (it is SO inexpensive here)
-Healthy Choice Fudge Bars (ok, so not really "healthy" but they are really good).

Every 2-3 months we purchase:
-Frozen Chicken (probably purchase this about every 3 months)
-Quinoa
-Canned tomatoes
-Agave
-Oatmeal
-Frozen strawberries/Blueberries (for smoothies)

Our newest Costco love is the seafood department. We've purchased some amazing salmon and tuna steaks for much less than what they are selling them for at the grocery store.

So what's the take away from this long, rambling post? If you are at all interested in incorporating more healthy foods into your diet, I think Costco is a great place to start.

A Night at the Museum

Most of this blog will be devoted to food, but as young professionals living in a new city, I also wanted to share some of our discoveries of cheap, fun things to do.

Pittsburgh has been looking a lot like this lately:


We needed a bit of indoor entertainment to make us forget the dreary weather. So when I learned that the Carnegie Museum of Natural History is free to the public from 3:30-8pm on Thursdays in March, I jumped at the opportunity to go (it's usually $15 for adults).


The Smithsonian Natural History Museum in DC is probably my all time favorite museum (plus it's free all the time), so Carnegie's version had a lot to live up to. I was pleasantly surprised with how extensive the exhibits were. We spent about an hour looking through all the crystals, and another hour with the dinosaurs. It must have been pretty nice to have been the richest man in America. When Andrew Carnegie caught wind of a dinosaur excavation in Wyoming, he not only paid to bring the remains to his museum, but he had the dinosaur (Diplodocus carnegii) named after him as well. Does anyone want to buy me a dinosaur?

Before we left, we walked through the Hall of Architecture, which is an absolutely gorgeous room with casts of ancient buildings from all over Europe. We both highly recommend it!

If you live in Pittsburgh or are visiting Pittsburgh, the museum is definitely worth checking out (especially if you have kids or still feel like a kid). We really want to go back another day this month to visit the art museum which is next door and also free Thursday evenings in March.

Some pictures from the exhibits:


Jamie with Andrew Carnegie's Dinosaur


Angry Dinosaur Fish (he was from Kansas, too!)



Birds terrify me, so I didn't love the idea of figuring out what type of bird I would be. Turns out, I would be a Hawk, Jamie would be an owl. Thank you Carnegie Natural History Museum for clearing that up. Now can I please stop thinking about birds?