Black Friday Madness

I was up at 3:30 yesterday (couldn't sleep) and out the door at 5:30 to begin the shopping madness. I met 5 other women, and we had a great time shopping ALL DAY LONG! I had thought we'd just be out a few hours, but I didn't get home until 4:15. Though non of us had "must haves" on our lists, we managed to fill up a van with all our good stuff.

Because I know you care, our day looked like this:

6:00 AM--we all met at Applesbees (west end) and piled into one van.

First stop Walmart--Karen got a great parking spot. The 5am madness crowd was long gone, so it wasn't too bad. Lines were short when we left. I found something for each of the kids there.

Next stop was Bed, Bath, and Beyond--we all had coupons and they were giving more out here. I think most of us bought stuff FOR OURSELVES! I got a new paper towel holder, sink drain rack thingy, potato peeler, and a baster for my sister-in-law, who was in the market for one but wasn't going out. The prince also scored a little something here. The only negative here was when some of us were checked out and others were still in line, we were waiting patiently when a nice man with a tub of cookies walked up to us, offered a cookie to a lady near me, and then walked by the rest of us. HUH??? Did I look like I didn't need a cookie???

On to Target--the princess scored big in the Christmas bonanza here.

Next we headed to the mall--By now some of us were ready for breakfast/lunch/a break but on we charge! We stopped at Herbergers (got something for the king here), The Calendar Store (scored here too), Bath and Body Works, Zummies, and JCPenney (where I got GREAT deals on outfits for the 3 kids in the family we've adopted this Christmas.

Okay--time for LUNCH! Though Karen--our driver--hates Dos Machos, she graciously consented to lunch there since the rest of us wanted to go there. I don't know if 11:30 is too early for a margarita, but it felt right! So most of us had one! Our waitress brought us chips by the pound--yum, and we ate lunch. Now, in hindsight, the big lunch and margarita were a bad idea, since I'd been up since 3:30, but who knew before hand? I really needed a nap after that lunch!!! But we weren't done shopping!

Off to the Copper Colander we headed--I didn't need anything here.

Then we hit Kohls--the princess scored again. Lines were worse here than anywhere else we went yesterday. What's up with that? Maybe some portable cash registers next year...just a thought.

I really crashed for most of the "waiting in line" time at Kohls, but I did get a second wind about the time we finally reached the cashier. Good thing too because we were NOT DONE SHOPPING YET!!!

Next stop was Shopko: I bought a cute little sign to hang out front here, but no gifts for anyone.

Last stop was Costco: I bought some dish towels for my sister-in-lay that she had requested I pick up for her. Other than that, I didn't buy anything, but Costco was giving out free cookbooks so I snagged one of those!

I'm pretty sure Karen would have kept shopping though there weren't many places we hadn't been by now. The rest of us were DONE, so she let us go!!! I do thank her for driving us all over the west end and for being such a good sport about Dos Machos.

Note to self: Go again next year but skip the margarita at lunch!