5th Annual Day Off

Date: 2009.11.16 | Category: Daily Life | Tags:

Saturday was my 5th Annual Day Off, also known as the “day I get up really early and then go shopping in Chicago with my best friend Kelly”.

This is our 5th year that we’ve gone together and we’ve got it down to a science. Reservations for lunch and dinner are made months in advance, the first stop is the American Girl Store, and then we wonder through Water Tower. After lunch  we walk up Michigan Avenue towards Nordstrom, which is about four blocks away, so we stop at various stores along the way.

We check all of our bags at the American Girl Store, which always comes in handy. It’s totally free, and it’s very accessible from the street. This year they changed their rules though, and they’ll only take American Girl bags —  UNLESS all of your other bags will fit inside your American Girl bag. Which ours did. Woo!

This year I wanted to go into La Perla because I wanted to see what the big deal is with their underwear. I could remember passing it along the way to Nordstrom before, but I couldn’t remember where it was exactly. Kelly said, “maybe we’ll see it when we get to Nordstrom”.

And she was right. It is directly across the street from Nordstrom. Too bad we ran out of time and had to cross La Perla off our list.

What did I buy? Lots of Christmas stuff for the kid, a bottle of extra virgin olive oil for the husband, and yoga clothes for me from my favorite yoga store, Lucy.  

I desperately looked for a new purse. I found one contender, but couldn’t decide on a color, so I didn’t buy it. I look for a new purse every year and I’ve never bought one. It’s the buyer’s remorse that usually stops me. Thank God for the Coach Outlet in Pleasant Prairie, come back tomorrow for a great story about the outlet mall.

The last stop before we get on the bus each year is Ghiradelli; we buy cookies and/or brownies for our kids and husbands. We each eat our cookie on the bus though, while we watch the movie, which was Aliens in the Attic this year. We talk the whole way down to Chicago and throughout the entire day, but the bus ride home is for eating our cookies, watching the movie, and/or napping.  Usually a combination of the three.

When I got home this year Zoe had made me a huge Welcome Home Mom sign, it was so cute. She really wants to come to Chicago with me one year. I promised that her and I would take the train down and do everything my friend and I do, but the trip to Chicago each year is just for me and my friend. I hate to be selfish, but it is what it is: My Day Off.

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