Girls Weekend Out...Recap...

Picture style!

Ok, well...not so much picture style, but I did actually remember to take a few more (and better) pictures than last time.

With Pictures!

(better? Yes, I think so...)

We rolled out of the mountains up here at about 7:30...dropped Niko off with grandparents, and made a beeline for a little breakfast place called Blondies, so we could fortify for the shopping. After having a lovely breakfast, we really got on the road and didn't stop until we hit the Nordstrom parking garage...

Urban Outfitters was our first stop...not much to see there. Tried on a couple of things (cute fabric) looked bad...noticed someone staring at the horrible bumps on my legs...she would look away every time I looked towards her...but, I figured it out.

LeSigh...

It was kind of like that all weekend though...stupid mosquitoes!

Left with a cute pair of panties that have a lovely vintage kitten design on them, I'm thinking it's the 3 Little Kittens? Who knows...they are too cute though...I must figure out a way to display these things so I don't ruin the cute by wearing them...


Decided to pop into Nordstrom for a quick potty break and realized the exact reason I was feeling a little more heavy (and bloated thankyouverymuch...it's not like the mosquito bites were enough of a bummer...) We quickly found some Chai tea with soy for a bit of a kick and headed over towards Tiffany's to look at their charms. Ms. Dina and I were thinking perhaps that we would commemorate our trips with yearly charms for our bracelets...

Tiffany charms are very expensive.


Went to Sephora instead and sniffed every perfume until Dina and I both decided that the heavier Prada scent was the one for me. Yay...a new scent! Much better (was actually worried that we may not find anything to buy this trip...yeah. right.) Continued to run around like maniacs stuffing everything we could into those black Sephora buckets...and then weeded out and re stuffed again, walking around with our fair share of new girlie accoutrement's for our faces. Dina scored all the samples this time though...apparently they have some sort of system for remembering us? (hahahaha!)

Skipped into Anthropologie...found some cuties to try on. But only for me...Dina sat on the overstuffed chairs in the dressing area and commented on what I was trying on. Heaven love the girl too...because she kept finding things to hand me...now, they were all size 8's mind you, but she kept prefacing each one with, "they don't look that small..." They of course, were...but I love shopping with someone who thinks I'm that small. Coveted briefly the size 8 Marimeko dress...it was about $39, and the only one in the store...and would have cost double that to buy the fabric and make it myself. Drat. Left with an oversized gold sweater for the fall instead...

It's about this time we discover it's time for our afternoon snack at Sprinkles. Run over there hoping to meet up with Flutter (she had a hard week though and wasn't able to make it, so definitely soon) and find that they have the chocolate peanut butter cupcakes I was after...Choose 4 cupcake flavors for a snack and hightail it over to the Hotel Indigo to check in. The Hotel Indigo down there is quite lovely...Very modern looking with the most amazing art all around...pictures, plants and rocks...but any place that has Aveda in the rooms for guests to use is spectacular in my book.

After getting up to the room, we have a knock at the door...the concierge heard us talking about our girlie weekend, and came up to give us a thick coupon book with all sorts of goodies inside! We were so excited we decided to celebrate by eating our cupcakes...

Red Velvet
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
Limited Edition Cherry
Coconut

I was most excited about the peanut butter chocolate chip, and Dina was most excited about the cherry...She liked the peanut butter chocolate chip the best and I liked the cherry...which surprised me because I didn't even want that one...go figure...it was the tart/sweet. The cupcakes were good, but not the best either of us have ever had, I found them a tad heavy myself and had a hard time eating my halves...it was lovely to go to the little shoppe though.

We ran back to the mall to sandwich some other shopping before dinner, and were sucked in to the Benefit Cosmetics Counter by 2 enthusiastic Benefit employees who offered to give us a 5 minute fresher upper for our faces. Well, they did their magic which resulted in us purchasing a couple of more things from them that we didn't know about before. I'm telling you...I should have bought everything he used on my face, I looked that good...and I am sitting on my hands today so I don't go to the website...but it's like fighting a loosing battle.

He used an eyebrow kit on me, that made my eyebrows pop and look amazing (which is wonderful because I've been wanting to do something different with my eyebrows, weirdly enough...and he didn't even know that!) along with Moon Beam, for that dewy look...an eye brightener pencil, a bronzer for my cheeks and a powder that evens the skin tone. Well, I only bought the first two and I know I am going to have to get the rest...

We both looked just wonderful after that, and agreed that it was just what we needed as we felt totally refreshed and renewed! (it still didn't make us like the clothes we tried on, but hey...) I never find myself getting talked into sitting in a little chair and letting someone do anything to my face...but I highly recommend you doing it...and soon. Next time you see someone offering something at a Benefits counter jump right in. They are talented and they love to show you how to use their products. I'm sure it results in higher sales, but really...I love knowing how to use something well, especially if it makes me look better! Dina has been a Benefits cosmetic user for years (and I am quickly becoming a huge fan myself) and she's one of the prettiest people I know with an incredible knack for putting on her best face...I'm sure she could give a list of her favorites. I will try to do that this week as well...


We got a few more stops in before it was decided we needed to go to Malee's Thai Bistro on Main...for our dinner (mostly because I was staring to feel dizzy and kind of strange) We were totally smart this time because last time we ordered an appetizer, soup and 2 entrees...this time we ordered an appetizer, soup and 1 entree...Which was still too much food.

Sigh.

Waddle.

Next time? Appetizer and soup OR 1 entree and soup.

We were so stuffed, we walked around peering into the art galleries that are all over Main (I admit I was looking for any that carried photos...thinking of Rich's art) trying to walk it off and feel better, but when it only gets down to 100 at night, it's hard to do without feeling both sweaty and stuffed.

We decided to skip Kazmirz this time and go back to the hotel to dip our feet into the pool.

The pool has lights in it that change the color of the water...it is very cool.

After that we about staggered up to the room and promptly fell asleep. It's funny, but this trip was a little different from last years trip. We're in such different places in our lives this time...and we only had one night down in The Valley...but, it just felt different. Not in a bad way, just calmer and more relaxed.

We hardly slept in the next morning, which was unfortunate it being Sunday (and I was tired due to the cute girls next door with found an opportunity to slam their door every 5 minutes from 10 - 3 am) which meant that most of the stores we wanted to visit open quite a bit later...We went down to Last Chance, the Nordstrom outlet, and braved that mob scene (I can only stand to be there for 1 hour before I get a headache and start weeping) I was super happy we did brave it though, because that's one of the only places I bought clothes...well, and 2 pairs of Camper shoes for very cheap...which made me quite happy indeed (I'll give a full shoe report later, don't you worry) and then ran over to the Cheesecake Factory to meet Velvet Brick...one of our bloggy friends for lunch and a chat...

May I take a moment to point out here that not only are my eyes closed in this picture, but that top makes me look pregnant (which I'm not, and the top is only a Medium...could you imagine the large?!?!) and you can see a lot of my spots as well...

ugh!

We ran over to Macy's at the Biltmore (you know, since we were there?) and I picked up a little Lucky Brand hoodie with a Lucky Cat on it that I was coveting, because it made me swoon, and it reminded me of Rich as well...the price was hefty, but they marked it down for me because it was going on sale the next day and they gave me more money off while I was standing at the register...I actually saved 50%...Whoopie!!

We headed back to the big mall to check out a few more things before I crumpled into a shopped out heap onto the floor and whined to go home...

Ok, it wasn't that bad, but I'm finding that I just don't have the stamina for this intense shopping anymore...we both agreed it may be better in the future if we plan to stay 2 nights instead of just one like we did our first trip. It's too hard to try to stuff everything into that short of time without ending up a little loopy at the end. All in all, it was a lovely trip...not too many clothes for me (something seemed to be lacking in the clothes department for me...either everything was black and white or very over sized and kind of apron/smock/maternity looking...it was odd) I did invest in more make-up this time...along with finding a few pairs of shoes...but, I managed to stick to the money I'd budgeted which makes me feel wonderful!

It was a welcome change of scenery and get away...full of great company, lots of giggles and even a bit of relaxation...Hotter than last year (for sure) yet, fun nonetheless...

Thank you Dina!