It’s my first official post.

I was going to write about my new state of unemployment. I was going to tell you about the sudden abyss of free time, the scary fear and anticipation of the future and how I’m going to hike every day in the next two weeks with my dogs.

But then I thought maybe I’ll write about the wonderful people in my life, near and far, who have been so incredibly supportive in the past couple of months and how much I’ve valued their advice and how much they’ve made me laugh. (Okay, I maybe made them laugh more with the drama of my life of late).

Then there’s the bit about how my life is a country song lately. But I think that’s another post.

So, instead, I’m going to tell you about maple bacon popcorn. And about itty bitty chocolate cupcakes with sparkly frosting.

I went out for beers last night with two wonderful friends. Because it took just over 90 minutes to arrive at the agreed destination due to the suckage that is Seattle area traffic (yes, I know that’s not a real word, but it needs to be) when it normally should take 30 minutes or less, I chose to park in the lot for a nearby supermarket. I saw the signs that said parking was reserved for grocery store patrons and was limited to 60 minutes, but hell, I need a beer and I needed my friends. A major catch-up, shared dismay and a few beers later, I was happy to see my Jeep still sitting in the parking lot, despite being at least two hours past the time limit.  So, being the guilt-ridden, karma-giving, trying-to-be-a-decent-human that I am, I decided to actually go into the store for a purchase.

Okay, it’s a locally-based grocery chain, so for all you big-corporations-are-evil types, get over it. There were only two problems with this plan. One, I realized I couldn’t see a damn thing due to the low ambient lighting within the store and because I’m virtually blind and need corrective lenses on top of corrective lenses – which is to say, I pretty much need reading glasses constantly. Two, I was suddenly starving. This latter was a problem because I make very poor food choices under those circumstances. And I’d had a few beers. Not the ideal combination for picking carrots and tofu.

I wandered a bit, but was saved for the most part because it was hard to see. Yet, instinctively and with the mad homing skillz that would do a pigeon proud, I found myself standing in front of the aisle filled with salty snack products. Scanning the array of offerings – because suddenly my vision was super sharp, I focused on something I’d never seen –  maple bacon popcorn. As bacon makes everything I’ve ever eaten that much better, and is a stand-out product on its own, I was buying. I did tell myself it was a bit of a tribute to my friend Rob, who I used to embark on brunch adventures with, always in search of bacon products. As I headed to the cashier, I was stopped mid-stride by bakery diversions. I almost surrendered the maple bacon popcorn for a bakery item, but then thought to myself, because this is the kinda large-living person I am, “why not both?!”

So I found myself paying for both maple bacon popcorn and itty bitty (so much easier to justify when they are miniature in size) chocolate cupcakes with the aforementioned sparkly frosting. The irony of free parking versus paid parking was not lost on me as I headed out of the store.

The verdict? Everything I dreamed of. Popped that bag open once I hit the road headed home and savored every morsel of delicately flavored maple and bacon snack product. Kudos to the snack product manufacturer for striking the balance between light and overwhelming to make the flavors just right. Got home, fed my dogs – who are very used to erratic feeding schedules – and didn’t share a single bite of my sparkly mini-cupcakes despite the looks that clearly said they too like mini-cupcakes with sparkly frosting. Plural? Yes, because three didn’t even equal one regular size. So I told myself.