Girls Weekend

**Don't miss out on my GIVEAWAY, the winner will be announced Monday**

Last Friday I got in my car, by myself, all alone, drove for about 5 hours, listening to whatever I wanted, singing as LOUD as I wanted (and it was LOUD and not real pretty), and no one was there to complain. Singing (and snacking) keeps me wide awake while I drive. I did wish my aunt Tami was with me though since I was singing along with Barry Manilow and that has been our thing since we were very small.

I was making good time across Canada- until I got to the US border into Michigan. Lucky me, I was "randomly selected" to have my car searched. Seriously? At 10pm I was told to pull my car over to the border office, bring in only my purse, but NOT my cell phone, and wait in the office for an undetermined amount of time. Thank goodness I didn't have the kids with me. I saw families with small sleeping children who had been on the road for who knows how long already made to come wait in this office. A few young women who were traveling together had already been there over an hour while their car was searched and they were interrogated about why they were traveling with sheets, a pillow and massage therapy brochures. Another woman had to explain all of the details of her complicated marital status. I guess I was lucky to get out of there sans interrogation in a half hour.

I met my mom and sister, Holly at a hotel for the night. So missed having Tami there this year though- she was home with the flu. We were up before the crack of dawn so that we wouldn't be late for the 8am store openings at Birch Run's Deer Widows Weekend.

We arrived in time to get our Win Big Bucks scratch cards. This year I won $10 to Banana Republic! WooHoo! :) We didn't bother to get our pictures taken with the "Bucks" who were there to get the ladies excited I suppose.

The crowds were crazy as usual. It's a big deal. The local media are out in full force to cover the craziness.

half way through the check out line at Gap

We had to implement the one person holds a pace in line while the others shop procedure in most stores. Happily Angie and little Miss Ellika joined us for a good chunk of the day.

Extra bonus, Angie brought a coupon to Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic for an extra 30% off that could be reused as often as we needed. That was excellent since most things were already marked down about 20-30%. Score. It was a great day with great deals, even better company, and some progress made on the Christmas list. It was exhausting too. Little tip: those chairs at Justice are really comfortable when you've been on your feet for 12 hours!

We wound up our shopping in time to beat the crowds to Applebee's for dinner. There we pulled out receipts and figured out who owed who what. Actually it was just me who owed them. This process was going on at many of the tables. After making sure the right purchases were in the right cars, I said goodbye to Mom and Holly. They headed 2-3 hours home and I drove down to Angie's. She graciously put me up for the night at her house. It was nice to get in a little extra time with her Sunday morning. Then I headed home, this time through Ohio, to a clean house and an awesome family!