Girls Trip 2.0

It took me all week to recover and finally post a blog, but I can officially say that I have been on a "girls trip"! It was a great weekend full of friends, food and shopping and I am so happy that I got to go this year! I'm calling in 2.0 because the three lovely ladies that I went with actually have taken a trip together before. It was two summers ago, and though I was invited, it was the weekend of my sister's wedding, so I couldn't make it.

When we were deciding what kind of trip we wanted, we chose shopping over beaching or... something else. I don't remember what our third option was. But we decided to hit the outlet malls in San Marcos! We found a great deal on a hotel in Austin, 40 minutes from the outlet malls, so we stayed there. It was PERFECT! The hotel was on the very northern point of Austin, so Round Rock, and the shopping it holds, was only minutes away.

We were all at the hotel around 5:00 and didn't waste any time hitting some stores. We went to Sam Moon, where I picked up a rockin' orange purse, an owl necklace that caught my eyes months ago on a mom at our school, a chain for a pendant I was given, a woven headband and some cute white sandals with three flowers on each shoe. When I was unloading my treasures at home this week, I realized that the shoes are completely different sizes. They were both wrapped in tissue paper at the store, and it was such an ordeal to unwrap the abundance of paper that was surrounding one shoe, I didn't unwrap the other, and thus came home with one shoe in my size, and one shoe for a MUCH smaller foot. Hilarious. Thank goodness they were only $14. They are cute enough that I am definitely going to keep them and make a collage with them one day.

After Sam Moon, we went to Ikea. Marie had never been before, so we wanted to introduce her to the greatness that is Ikea, and like all first timers, she found it a bit overwhelming. But I bought some finger puppets for my nephew (due in November) and some "B" bookends, because we randomly happened across a huge bin full of the letter B. How could I not buy them?

After that, we were hungry and wanting to keep it simple after a day of driving, we ate at Chili's. My enchilada soup was perfection, as usual, and Marie had a coupon for a free brownie sundae. I had NO idea those sundaes were so good. Oh my goodness. I wish I had one right now.

After dinner, we made a quick trip to Target to get a few essentials that ended up not making it into a suitcase. Brett and I made a trip to Target on Thursday night so I could get a couple of things for the trip, and while there I spied some ADORABLE covered clipboards on the clearance isle. As you may or may not know, I am a big time list maker, and this clipboard called to me something awful! But I wanted to save my money for the trip. Well, when we all got to the hotel, guess what Tara had with her?!? The clipboard! So when she announced she needed to hit a Target, I went in search of the clipboards and snagged one that I am happy to say has held, not one, not two, but THREE lists for me this week! Score!

Saturday morning, we took our time getting up. After sleeping a bit, enjoying a free hotel breakfast (I forgot how much I LOVE Nutri-grain bars!) and throwing on clothes, we piled into Tara's "Rocket" and headed out to San Marcos.

What can I say =-) We shopped all day. I love shopping. We all found lots of things we were hoping to find and plenty of things we probably didn't need. I found a Bible that Brett was wanting to get for his boss who is moving to California. It is an awesome Bible, and they only had one copy, so though it was the most expensive thing I bought all weekend, by far, I am glad I found it for a discounted price.

At the outlet malls, I also bought an apron that says "Domestic Diva", a shirt for Brett, 2 more pairs of shoes, 2 bracelets, a plastic pitcher to replace the glass one that I broke after Nikki's wedding, and an adorable serving platter. Nice!

The girls stopped for a pedicure in between outlet malls. My feet embarrass me, so I never get pedicures, but I enjoyed a refreshment at the Starbucks that was conveniently next door to the little spa, where I also rekindled my love of Freecell. Haha!

We had an AWESOME dinner Saturday night. Tara remembered a restaurant that she had eaten at before that usually had live music, so we hunted it down. It was called Nutty Browns, and the show that night was Rotel and the Hot Tomatoes. They were SO MUCH FUN! There was a long wait to be seated outside, but they sat us at a table where we could see and hear everything inside. It was so great.

After dinner, we unloaded all of our goodies at the hotel and then headed to an independent movie theater, conveniently located 5 minutes from the hotel, where we saw Larry Crowne. I am SO happy to say that I enjoyed the movie. It isn't getting great reviews, but I have always been a believer that good actors can make an average script shine. There was some predictable dialogue, but most of it was in the first scene of the movie. After that, I enjoyed every quirky character. And Fez is lookin' GOOD!!!

Sunday was more sleeping in, a seriously good lunch at Chuy's, and a trip to Best Buy, where I bought the soundtrack to 500 Days of Summer(so good!), Ulta 3 where the girls bought nail polish, and Bed, Bath and Beyond, where I bought an apron for Brett that says "Grill Master. The Man, The Myth, The Legend".

I headed home after that.

It was a great weekend. And it came at the right time. Work has been difficult lately. Not bad, just incredibly busy. I needed a mental break. And though leaving Brett behind is always hard, coming home to him is the best!

I took a few pictures! Feast your eyes =-)