In the last year or so, the city of Birmingham and surrounding areas has seen a spike in the addition of grocery stores.

Over the years, I have followed several people on Instagram and other social media outlets that are located in cities that have Trader Joe’s grocery stores.

I’ve often found myself quite jealous and longing for the day that my hometown would be “awarded” with a Trader Joe’s.

Then aha! One day as I’m scrolling through twitter, I see an announcement from the Birmingham Business Journal that we were indeed going to house the newest home of Trader Joe’s.

I initially decided that I would visit after the “newness” wore off and the crowds dwlindled, but who am I kidding?! I have no patience for that…

Check out my Trader Joe’s purchases and interesting “finds”:

Unless you’re somewhere under a rock, you should know or have heard about Trader’s Joe Cookie Butter. I’ll be honest, I initially didn’t believe the hype. Post purchase, I’ve found myself eating this by the spoon. #judgeme

I also managed to find a pretty cool smoothie recipe on Pinterest to incorporate this crack cookie butter into.

Who doesn’t love fresh flowers? One of my personal “goals” is to occasionally purchase fresh flowers for my home. I didn’t purchase these, but they were too beautiful not to capture.

Eventually, I found my way to my favorite section of ANY grocery store. The wine section.

I couldn’t wait to get my hands on some Charles Shaw wine, affectionately known as “Two Buck Chuck”.

I opted for a bottle of Chardonnay & Cabernet Sauvignon. The jury is still out on the taste, but I’ll keep you posted.

Is it me or has the use and marketing of anything pumpkin spiced been on steroids this year?! As I was waiting to check out, I stumbled upon PUMPKIN BODY BUTTER!!!!! I, personally, do not want to smell like a pumpkin, but to each it’s own!

Have you had a chance to visit the Birmingham Trader Joe’s store in the Summit? Tell me about it in the comments!