One of the few places I’m loyal to is the local produce market in Kaysville. It’s late opening this year which means it doesn’t feel like summer. With all the cold weather we gave up on gardening this year.

Recently there have been a lot of food co-ops crop up in Utah. You sign up and pay online and then go pick up your order at a designated time and place. Usually you get whatever they have. I’ve done Bountiful Baskets and the quality of fruits and vegetables is very high. The price is reasonable. The downside is you don’t have control over what or how much of something you get.

My husband Stephen still laughs about the summer I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture – you prepay for a summer’s worth of fruits & veggies then pick up deliveries of whatever is in season that week). I couldn’t bear to throw it out but I couldn’t keep up with it. So my fridge was overflowing. I couldn’t keep up but I kept trying to fit it in. He laughed. Since then I’ve been better at managing inventory.

With co-ops you pull together and order everything in bulk so it keeps the prices down. If you want to check out a food co-op, here are some in Utah:

Bountiful Baskets - one of my pickups is pictures (that’s not the full order – I also got strawberries, pineapple, the best lemons and limes, etc.) $15 for an order – weekly pick ups (one is at the DATC in Kaysville). www.bountifulbaskets.org

Click 2 Pick Produce – www.click-2-pick.com

Community Food Co-op of Utah – get food at wholesale prices http://foodco-op.net

Another summer favorite – Hawaiian Shaved Ice

What I’m still looking for – places to pick cherries and other fruit this summer. I found out about a place to get honey, amazing blackberries and fresh farm eggs – but I don’t have the exact addresses. I like fresh local food, so any chance I get…please share in the comments if you know any good sources.

They documented my smile by taking pictures from all sides of my mouth. Then they pulled up the pictures on a computer and Dr. John Pobanz, the orthodontist (the office is in South Ogden) came in to explain my options.

I preferred Invisalign but once I understood the options I chose  Damon. He showed me how having Damon clear braces would change my profile, my smile and my teeth. Treatment time is less with Damon + the brace brackets are less conspicuous. They don’t have rubber bands around each bracket which is good because I’d like them to be as invisible as possible. The top row is done with clear braces and the bottom has regular metal brackets.

So we’re not only straightening my teeth but we are also broadening my smile – you know for that movie star teeth. I’m already seeing results – my most crooked teeth are already straighter. I love, love, love that.

I really like that Dr. Pobanz is all about new technology – the latest – with everything he does. Case in point: he has an iPad in the office. While you’re waiting you can update their Facebook Wall (see www.facebook.com/PobanzOrthodontics) and enter to win a free iPad. He does SEO and social media marketing very well too. I’m doing some blogger outreach with his practice because a lot of his clients are moms and many are bloggers too.

Probably the fact that I hold on to most is that Dr. Pobanz said the majority of people are  happy with the results after 8 months. I’m holding out for that magic number – that would mean I only have about 6 months left. I hate having braces – but I’ve talked to so many women who’ve had them for 2 years or more. I’m relieved that the longest I’ll have them is 18 months.

The best part of having braces  is that it’s a great way to bond with people. I’ve had a lot of conversations with people I didn’t know about wearing braces. We have something in common. Every time I see someone with straight teeth I remember that it’s worth it.

My best braces tip so far is: wear the wax! The office sends me all the dental wax I want and I use it almost every day. When I’m sick of wearing my braces or they are irritating my mouth I put some on. It’s easier to talk and much more comfortable.

I’ll probably post one more time when I am celebrating getting my braces off. They make it a real party!

Harmon’s should go high tech. They should build a cafe with free wifi. I can see the headline: Harmon’s to be the First Grocery Store in Utah to Offer Free Wifi (is that true? it’d be curious if they would be the first). Regardless, it’s a good story to jazz up the grand opening press. People already hang out at Harmon’s. I’ve seen people on dates there. I’ve been on a date there! The deli is great, there are drinks nearby. It’s almost as if I were at Borders!

What Harmon’s needs to do to make this happen is plan to put electrical outlets in the cafe so people can plug in their computers. Advertise it. Then people will come and work there for a few hours. Friends will meet there. The longer they are there the more loyal customers they become. They will go to your store over Smith’s or Target (well, that’s stretching it a little – my husband Stephen loves Target). While there they’ll eat and drink. Plus they will love Harmon’s for providing this great community service.

The next step: a Harmon’s Facebook Fan Page. See this article on how building relationships with customers on Facebook translates into more loyal customers. They are more likely to recommend your business to their friends. The longer they spend engaged with your brand the more likely they are to buy from you also.

Go to my video and story about Barnes Bank closing on CNN iReport. It was history in the making. What do you think about the bank closing? Were you a customer (I was – 30 days to get new checks and withdraw everything – thinking of going to America First in Bowman’s). Now let’s hope Bowman’s survives the recession!

The Grand America Hotel

The Grand America Hotel & Spa
555 South Main Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Reservations: 800 621 4505

If you want to give your wife or mom a present that she’ll love, might I suggest:

• A room at the Grand America Hotel – the only 5-star hotel in Utah – with a few of her friends. Book 21 days in advance and get a room starting at $159 (or see our special deal and the end of this post.Don’t forget to get a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie upon check-in. Also, enjoy gourmet chocolates with turn down service. See their web specials for details.
• A spa treatment like a facial or massage (the duet massage is to die for and includes two people working on you at the same time.) We all came out floating. The therapists are amazing. Mine was also a fortune teller. He said, “you either play piano or you type” and later he exclaimed, “world’s biggest mouse clicking muscle!” The second the massage started I knew it was going to be the best one I’d ever experienced and it was.
• Room service delivered to the spa of bottled lemonade, sparkling water and limes. They bring in a table with linens and a silver bowl with ice. There are champagne glasses, fresh lime and a rose. It just adds so much class.
  
• A yoga class – the instructor was incredible and she gave us all a bit of essential oil at the end on our temples – it really added to the experience.
• The entire day to read magazines (ok if I had anything to say that it’s glowing it’s to get more magazines but we didn’t spend a lot of time reading and Allison brought her People Magazine to share), enjoy the steam room, sauna and hot tub.

The Garden Cafe Restaurant in the Grand America Hotel

I went with a group of Utah bloggers to help promote the spa (pictured with links to their posts about the event, are: Jyl’s review of Grand America Spa, Carina, Marie, me Janet and Allison). Jyl also posted pictures of us at Grand America on Whrrl. We had a great time and got to be better friends. We felt pampered the entire time.

We ate when we felt like eating. Slept when we felt like sleeping and talk when we wanted to talk (all the time we weren’t asleep). We got up late and ate well. We literally glowed by the end. Allison took pictures – check them out.

The Grand Spa at Utah's Grand America Hotel

Guys, if you want to impress your wife, consider this. She will love you for it.

The Grand America has earned the prestigious AAA Five Diamond Award for 2010

Mention ” Social Media” at the Grand Spa and get 20% off your treatments.

And use our exclusive Hotel Reservations Link for $100 off a room!

(Images courtesy of Petit Elefant)

I recently joined a group of Utah bloggers for lunch at a new restaurant by the owners of Pizzeria 712. They gave us a sampler menu of dishes (see this post on the Communal blog for examples of the scrumptious food.) And to appease the FTC, we didn’t pay for it.

Here are other posts about the event:
Black Eiffel
Rookie Cookie
Cafe Johnsonia

My very favorite dish (surprise) was the butterscotch pot de creme (a pudding). I also loved the scallops. But I liked it all.

Why is it called Communal? Because the tables seat groups. You can sit next to anyone. Make new friends. This is eating that builds community.

The chefs Colton Soelberg and Joseph Mcrae have worked in LA, NY and Tree Room at Sundance. Their passion is to bring good food with fresh local ingredients to Utah County. They’re also ambitious — with plans to open over 20 restaurants — each with another focus.

If you are a foodie, here are the chefs favorite cookbooks.

1. Any Chez Panisse books
2. Zuni Cafe – Judy Rogers
3. Sunday Suppers at Luques – Suzanne Goin
4. The French Laundry, Bouchon & Under Pressure – Thomas Keller
5. Au Pied de Cochon – Martin Picard
6. Il Viaggio di Vetri – Mark Vetri
7. Think Like a Chef & The Craft of Cooking – Tom Colicchio

Here’s the BEST PART (for you). They’ve agreed to give a $40 gift certificate to readers of this blog.

How can you win?

- Leave a comment on this post with who you’d want to eat at Communal with.
- Picked randomly by comment # using random.org
- Ends Monday Oct 12th at Midnight.

I’ll contact you via email if you’re the winner and add it to your name to the bottom of this post.

UPDATE: Vicki Winteron won the $40 gift certificate. I came to this result by putting 18 (the number of comments) into the web site Random.org. It came up with the #7 – which was the 7th comment, made by Vicki. Congratulations!!

Watch the blog for another contest.

The coupon is good for one free strand of pearls worth $100 if you come to their store by Saturday, May 9th, 2009.

All you need to do is click on coupon below and you’ll get a bigger one you can print out: (right click your mouse and then select “print”)

This is incredibly generous.

They invited me and a group of Utah bloggers into their store to learn about their new Pandora jewelry line. We each got a silver bracelet and chose a charm to go on it. I got a very zen-like charm that has the symbol for “love” in Japanese.

I bought a “happy little bird” charm (symbolizing my love of Twitter).

I’d like to get all of the letters to spell out “NEWSPAPERGRL” with a bird on each side. We thought the next step would be a custom line of Twitter jewelry.

Watch the video:

The idea for the Pandora bracelet is simple: you give the bracelet first. Then for special occasions you can get a charm and start to fill up the bracelet until its filled.

Besides how gracious Goldsmith was to host this event, it was a great chance to meet some of the top bloggers in the state. Most of us went to the Beehive Bazaar immediately after. I’ll post pictures so you can see as soon as I get them.

Goldsmith Co. Jewelers
120 N. University Ave.
Provo, UT 84601
Tel: (801) 375-5220

Store Hours
Mon to Fri: 10-6
Saturday: 10-6
Sunday: Closed

Other Utah Bloggers posted about the Goldsmith event too:

Fun Free Fridays Giveaway Mother’s Day
A Giveaway…Just in Time
Pandora Giveaway