Black Fri-Yay!!

I was cleaning out my email, which I do periodically, and happened to come across this blog post that I never finished nor posted. I think this is from 2 or 3 years ago.  So instead of waiting until November: enjoy this in April while we're having November weather 😖 

I had absolutely no intention of doing any Black Friday shopping. After my sister died, shopping on that day was bittersweet, so no shopping that day. Um...famous last words…

Brie had booked a birthday pedicure for me Black Friday morning, so we had to be at the mall by 10. I was very pleased because I got the BEST pedicurist. Poor Brie was not so lucky…but I digress.

She was also going to get her nails done so I was just hanging around with my toes under the dryer. My feet looked and felt fantastic and I was admiring the shiny red polish. I was under there for a good while, chatting with Brie and doing a puzzle in my little word search booklet. I received a text but didn’t look at my phone because it had been going off all morning with Black Friday deals. I was NOT going to shop. But then curiosity got the best of me and I looked at the text message. It was from Payless and said “Everything in the store is half off!” What??? “Brie, Payless has EVERYTHING in the store half off!” “Why are you sitting there? Go get us some shoes!”

She didn’t have to tell me twice! I had been drying my toenails for at least half an hour. I thought briefly about wearing the yellow Styrofoam (or whatever they are made of) flip flops through the mall, but then decided my nails were dry enough. So I hastily stuck my feet in my boots (without my socks, of course) and shuffled to the other end of the mall where Payless was located. I had to get there before all of the shoes were gone!

When I got there, of course I was the only one in the store besides the employees. So I first went to Brie’s size to get her a specific pair of flats that she wanted. Eureka: I found them! Then I went to look for the specific pair of shoes that I wanted. Well of course they didn’t have them. I asked an employee and she said I could go online to order them since the sale was online too. There was no time! So I ended up buying myself a pair of sneakers, 3 pairs of shoes, Brie’s specific shoes, and boot socks for Brie and slippers for me. It all came to just $60! 

And with that: the shopping bug bit me. I shuffled back down to the nail place where Brie was calmly reading a magazine. She saw the bags and said, ”I hope my shoes are in there somewhere.”  “They are but I have terrible news!” “What happened?” “Well, they didn’t have the postman shoes I wanted but that’s okay. However, when I took my foot out of my boot to try on shoes my nail polish got messed up on my big toe!” “Mom! Do you need Kim to fix it?” “There’s no time! Let’s head up to the Outlets!”

I didn’t have to tell her twice because I knew she had gotten the same email I did: everything at Coach was 70% off and some items were an additional 20% off! We threw the shoe bags in her SUV and headed up to exit 20. We found a great parking space right across from Coach, but as we were getting out of the car I noticed the big sign in Yankee Candle: 5 large jar candles for $50! “We must go and buy 5 large jar candles!” So we went into the candle store and I found 5 scents that I had to have. Now mind you: I have probably 12 or 13 big jar candles at home that I haven’t even lit yet: but I needed more! So after standing in line for about ½ an hour to checkout, I had my 2 bags of candles and we stashed them in the car. Then off to Coach, where there was a line out the door to get in! “What is this: Studio 54?” I muttered under my breath. “The line is moving pretty fast so no worries mom.” In the meantime Brie was looking in the Coach window and noticed the exact bag that she wanted. By the time enough people had come out, we were able to go in. Brie made a beeline for the purse she wanted while I looked around for the items with the extra 20% on top of 70% off. I didn’t find anything that I wanted in that special group, but I did find a navy blue bag that I HAD to have. With the 70% off, that bag was $88! Now yes I have 2 Coach Bags at home that I have never used, plus a beautiful red Ralph Lauren bag that I got for my 20th anniversary present at my job. But it was a Black Friday tradition!

However, after walking around and looking around, Brie and I LEFT THE PURSES THERE and didn’t get anything! Why? Because we liked, but didn’t LOVE the bags. So that saved us some money. Ding! Another text. Everything at Lane Bryant was 50% off! So we hustled over to that store, which was conveniently right across from Coach. As the leggings queen, you know I had to stock up on leggings! And trouser socks! And hello b-r-a-s! What a haul! I wasn't even paying attention to what Brie was buying but trust me: she didn't leave the store empty-handed!

Thankfully we were able to hide all of our stuff in the back of the SUV. And after all of this shopping we were famished! So off to the Peppermill we went and it was delicious as always. What a great day that was! Hopefully we can do something like that again this year for Black Friday. What do you say, Brie? 😉