New Town = New Products

One fun thing about moving is that it presents a fabulous opportunity to change up your normal routine.  I am a total creature of habit/very brand-loyal shopper, and after a while in a given town at any given store, I'll just get stuck in a rut of purchasing the same products week after week and time after time.  Since our arrival in Maine, I've been branching out a bit encountering all sorts of fabulous new products to share:

I'm LOVING Udi's Granola.  They didn't carry this brand at our store in Vermont, but I've read about it on many health blogs, and first encountered the Hawaiian variety in my friends' pantry in Boston while we were house-sitting.  Oh my.  So very delish. "With ginger-toasted macadamias, pineapple, and coconut, you can feel the warm sunshine in each bite," says Udi's.  Indeed, I say.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find the Hawaiian variety at our store in Maine, so I picked up a bag of the Original, which has Thick-Cut Rolled Oats, Wildflower Honey, Raisins, Banana Chips, Walnuts, Cashews, Almonds, and Pistachios.  It is ridiculously delicious as well, and both of these varieties are not nearly has fat-laden as your usual granola.  I am loving this stuff sprinkled on my Oikos, or topping a bowl of oatmeal. I am totally an Udi's convert. 

Speaking of Oikos, I've also picked up a new variety of the good Greek stuff: Oikos Caramel Pure Pleasure. I got in a bad dessert habit while preggo that I have had a hard time breaking.  I am looking to redirect my sweet tooth to more constructive outlets, and this is one.  Hello, portion control:  each lil' cup 110 calories, no fat and 10 grams of protein, meaning it is a pretty satiating and harmless treat.  I toss in a few raspberries, and it is just a little bite of heaven.  If you are trying to reign in your sweet tooth (or not), give this stuff a try for sure.

In the non-food realm (get ready to utter a collective "Duh!" here), I must say, the best product ever is Your Local Library.  I have not been a library patron as an adult, and I have no idea why.  Well, that I am a sucker for a bookstore probably explains my lack of library love to some extent, but in this economy, you can't really just go out and buy every bestseller that tickles your fancy.  My sister was reading the new Elizabeth Gilbert book, "Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage", while she was here, and I was just itching to get my paws on it, but knew a Barnes and Noble bender was not in the cards.  Well, I just trotted myself down to the local library, got a FREE card, and had the book in my hands within 24 hours.  LOVE. IT.  I am going to become a total library rat.  FREE BOOKS, people!!!  What took me so long?  And I am only a chapter into "Committed", but if you loved "Eat, Pray, Love", get your buns to the library and grab this, because so far, it is fantastic.

Finally, this product isn't new to me, but using it is; when we first got our BOB Revolution Stroller, the weather was lovely, but Baby J was too little to ride in it.  When he grew big enough to BOB, winter had arrived in Vermont, and the iced-over roads and sub-zero wind chill made running outside rather un-baby-friendly.  Here in Maine, the weather is a balmy 38 degrees most days, and the roads are blissfully clean and dry, so I'm finally able to BOB it up, and let me tell you, it is fabulous.  Runners with babes, I highly recommend this stroller.  I was worried that running with a stroller would feel really cumbersome, but the design of the BOB makes it so easy to push, on the flats it actually feels like it is helping you more than slowing you down.  And, yes, pushing the extra 30 odd pounds up the hills is a little more challenging but it is so worth it, because: a) Free cross-training!  What's not to love about combo-ing an upper body workout with your run?, b) Could I feel more hardcore?  I think not, and c) Exercising with the baby is worth every bit of extra effort...whittling my bum back down to size while getting QT with and Vitamin D for Baby J?  Awesome. 

Here we have Kate Hudson (who the husband refers to as "the Yoko Ono of our generation", and who you'll probably never see on the blog again out of respect to him, but I can't help it, I love her!) rocking her BOB.  If it is good enough for Ryder, it is good enough for Baby J.

What's your favorite new find these days?