Tonight I am back at home after being gone on a girls' shopping weekend. Two of my friends from church, C -- who is also my neighbor -- and L and L's sister-in-law headed out to Birch Run early yesterday morning to hit the outlet mall there. It was Deer Widow's Weekend, so there were a lot of good deals to be had. One store was giving out coupon packets to the first 1000 people there, a couple of which had $500 vouchers in them. None of us won, but we were glad to have the coupons. We spent the day shopping and just generally having a good time. L's sis-in-law was unable too, but C, L and I were planning to stay overnight and hit the rest of the stores that we didn't have time for yesterday and then go shopping in Frankenmuth today.

We could have shopped well into the evening, and hit all the stores we wanted to last night, but instead we decided to go to a movie. So at around suppertime, we split up with L and her sis-in-law going to hit one more store and then try and get us a table at Applebees and C and I going to the movie theater to buy the tickets so we didn't have to stand in line later. We hit a bit of a snafu when C and I made it to Applebee's before L and her sis-in-law. With a 35-40 minute wait we wouldn't have been able to eat and still make the movie, so L's sis-in-law decided to go ahead and head home and the three of us went to check into our hotel and just hang out and eat some snacks. It was nice to just hang out for a little bit, and then we were off to see "Santa Clause 3." I thought it was a really cute movie....not a waste of money as some can be. There was more funny stuff than what was shown in the trailers, and that's always good. I may have to take Kevin to see it, so he doesn't have to wait until it comes out on video next year. :) After the movie, we finally made it to Applebees. Since we had all just eaten a bunch of popcorn (me less than the other since I managed to spill almost half of mine on L), we decided on appetizers and desserts, rather than a whole meal. Good choice. :)

After staying up late Saturday night, we were up early this morning so we could be one of the first x number of people at Tommy Hilfiger and get whatever coupons and stuff they were giving away. The $5 gift card voucher, which we were really interested in, ended up not being valid until next year, so we couldn't cash them in this morning. How stupid is that!! We still had a good time shopping and by lunchtime were had pretty much hit all the stores we wanted to shop in and we headed off to Frankenmuth to get a chicken dinner.

Now, we only live about 40 minutes away from Frankenmuth, so we could go any time we want to, really, but we never seem to get down there. I think it's fun to look through all the specialty shops down Main Street, and it's always fun to stroll through Bronner's. Frankenmuth is also famous for two restaurants and their chicken dinners (not exactly sure why, but they are) and even though I have lived here for 12 years now, the only time I have ever had a chicken dinner was when my mom and I vacationed in Michigan the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in college. So I had one today. And I have to say, it was pretty good.

After lunch we hit the shops on Main Street. None of us really bought too much. In fact, I think we mostly bought little personalized trinkets to give our kids as stocking stuffers. Then we headed off to Bronners. We wandered around in there for about 2 hours. We all picked up things here and there. I got Alison a new Christmas stocking, with her name embroidered on it, since the stocking that she has is very small and with stocking stuffers come from two "Santas," it didn't really hold very much. I had already knocked off most of my shopping list at Birch Run, but I found a couple of more things here, too, leaving me with only 4 of my "have to mail the presents" family members left to buy for. And it's not even Thanksgiving yet. How great is that!!!

After checking out pretty much everything in the store, we decided that it was time to head for home. After taking L home and dropping C off at her house, I was home at about 6:30. Kevin and Alison were at church for UMYF, so I had the house to myself for a while, and that was nice. Alison came running in saying "Mommy, you're home! I missed you!" And that was nice, too.

Now, since "vacation" is over and it's back to the daily grind bright and early tomorrow morning, I'm off to bed.