“I don’t think I want Chipotle for lunch,” no one ever.

My intern last year gave me a mug with that inscription as a going away gift.  In my world, no truer words were ever spoken.  Unlike the majority of people, from what I have gathered, most of the things people love to eat are limited by how often.  Not the case when it comes to me.  If I love something, I love it.  Never get tired of it.  Never change how I feel about it.  It goes for brands, hair products, people, food, movies – okay, my judgment was clouded once by teen idolization back in 1983 after I saw “The Outsiders” and claimed that it was a better movie than “Heaven Can Wait.”  After the dizzy trance brought on by C. Thomas Howell’s charm wore off, things went back to how they were supposed to be.  Only teenage crushes can truly change my history.  Who am I kidding – crushes of any kind are my true demise, teenage or not!

Reminds me of buying racket balls and begging someone to teach me how to play, just to impress my tour guide crush, Greg.  I was not a teen.  I have learned a lot of things and tried a lot of things by crush-necessity alone.  The good news is that it’s why I love sushi, so it can’t be all bad.

But, back to the point at hand.  Unless you change the product (New Coke, I’m talking to you), if you snag me as a devotee, you will have me for life – and there won’t ever be an expiration date or disclaimer on how often.  I like what I like and it’s usually pretty simple.  Plain cheese pizza is always best, peanut butter & jelly will always be a good quick lunch, and popcorn & Twizzlers are the best thing to eat at the movies (not full meals or designer snacks).  What works, works.  Doesn’t matter if it my love of it started at 7, 15 or 40 – I am content with the things that I love and that is that.

Sew a Ralph Lauren Polo pony on anything (and I mean anything) and I will halt in my tracks to check it out.  Slap the smiling face of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on something and it will immediately catch my eye; everything is better with Rudolph as its mascot.  Add cinnamon or pumpkin to an ordinary item and I’ll at least buy it once, to try it.  Had an entire basket of pumpkin items at Trader Joe’s several September’s ago.  It was maniacal:  Tea, bagels, cookies, marshmallows, popcorn, candles, waffles, ice cream, face cream and mini cream pies!

Clearly, it’s not that I don’t like to try new things – I’ll happily try anything (not considered dangerous), at least once.  It’s just that I am also perfectly content to rely on my favorite old-faithfuls anytime, and I won’t complain.  I have, indeed, eaten Chipotle for lunch every day in a given week (and maybe for dinner a couple times too).  The words, “I just had that yesterday,” don’t really mean anything to me.  I could eat oatmeal with strawberries, a bagel (preferably Marx sesame) & fresh orange juice for breakfast; Chipotle (rice, black beans & cheese bowl with a little bit of hot & a little bit of green salsa in the same cup, on the side) for lunch; and, crab, broccoli and a sweet potato for dinner every day and I would be as happy as a clam!  Especially a clam that would treat themselves to an In-N-Out double double every Friday.

I could also be extremely content wearing the same outfit every single day, but I guess I’d have to mix it up depending on the weather.  Grey track t-shirt (Mustangs Football promo shirt from “Gridiron Gang”) in the summer, adding an American Apparel white mini waffle thermal underneath in the cooler spring/fall (“The Jacket” promo shirt) and adding in a Polo sweatshirt in the winter.  Black shorts or skort for the summer and leggings for when it’s cold outside.  Black flip flops (summer); all white Nikes (spring/fall); Ugg boots (winter).  Done.  Fill my closet with just those items and I would seriously be fine with that.  Of course, that wouldn’t necessarily work as wardrobe pieces for many of the places I like to go; but, wouldn’t it be nice?

The silly simple choices on what to eat and what to wear every day.  It would be so nice to just lather, rinse, repeat and repeat and repeat.

“Simplicity at its finest!”

Of course, one of my favorite things to do is to store browse; and, we’d never add new favorites to the list without it.  Browsing with the intention of buying just a few new things here and there to make your world just a bit better.  I don’t mean fancy gems or designer purses, I mean “stuff” – stuff you don’t need because you already have your oatmeal and Mustangs Football shirt back at home.  Shelter, food, clothing.  You are set.  But, what fun to go looking for other “stuff.”

Any stuff worthy venue is a welcome addition to my day – the mall, a craft festival, open air shopping center, local boutique, dollar store or flea market; I love them all.  And, it actually doesn’t really matter what they sell – grocery, clothing, electronics, cards…anything goes!  No, I would never in my life need most of it; but, it is just so fun to look at everything.  I’ll even browse that inane “As Seen on TV” aisle and soak up all the possibilities.  It’s like when you gaze down at the clock on the cable box and realize, disgusted at yourself, that you have been caught up watching an unimportant infomercial for twenty minutes.  Why did you waste those twenty minutes?  You will never paint a screen door with black rubber adhesive and try to float it in a swamp somewhere to make sure it’s waterproof, will you?  But, what if you found yourself in that situation one day?  What if???  And, so you forgive yourself for watching and file the knowledge in your back pocket for the day when you might need this miraculous product.  Anything is possible.  It’s no wonder why I can spend hours upon hours at hand perusing the magical store that solves almost all quandaries with “stuff” – Target!

Walking out of the sliding doors with my bulls-eye bags of unnecessary items, I shake my head and know that I was completely content before I walked inside.  I probably didn’t need to buy anything but the laundry detergent.  I didn’t need to walk through all the aisles, check every title of the $5 DVDs, or wonder if I needed to start a new themed Christmas tree with only Marvel character ornaments.  I was already set with my favorite things; and, could probably live the rest of my life with those things and only those things.  Sigh.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day.  Now, let’s go get some Chipotle for lunch.   #50WeeksTo50