Born to Shop

The term "Shop til you Drop" was developed for my sisters,myself and our daughters. I think there is a gene we were born with that is activated when we get within a 50 feet of a store that makes us automatically turn into the parking lot and 10 hours later we pull out again. I just returned from the 3rd annual "Summer" Mother/Daughter shopping trip.
This all started when my sisters and I and our daughters started a shopping trip to the Mall of America the first weekend in November 9 years ago to do our Christmas shopping. This is a true Girls Weekend away. We leave on Thursday afternoon and everyone usually gets to my niece's house in Hudson by 5:30 ish and we go to IKEA then hit somewhere for supper. The next 2 days we do the outlet mall at Albertville and MOA(Mall of America). We always find time for a nice dinner out and a few drinks and one year we even did the musical Lion King. Three years ago we decided that we had so much fun doing this in November that it would be even more fun to shop in the summer when it was warmer so we planned a shopping trip for Minnesota and expanded our group to include some friends and their daughters and saw the Broadway musical Wicked which was absolutely wonderful! the second year we went to Chicago and had a wonderful time in all the great shops and restaurants. This year we planned to go to Iowa City where they have a great mall and the Amanna Colonies close by. Unfortunately, Iowa City got flooded out and we had to change our plans at the last minute so we ended up back at the MOA.
Also unfortunately, neither of my daughters were able to come this year so I was daughterless. Kind of lonely wandering around that great big shopping mall all by myself with no one to ask their opinion when I tried something on. So if I bought something totally hideous this year I will blame my daughters for not being there to talk me out of it. Don't get me wrong, I had no trouble spending money without my daughters there. God forbid that should ever happen!!! Put me in a body bag then because I surely must be dead if I ever can not spend money! I love shoes and we found the greatest deal on a pair of Chinese Laundry shoes. It was in this little boutique in downtown Hudson and there was a bin full of size 5.5-6.5 shoes with a buy one for $30 get one free. It just so happened that one of the other women with our group, Janice also wore a small size so her and I were each able to get a pair of shoes and split the cost. Not too often I only have to pay $15 for a pair of shoes!!!! I am wearing them as we speak to break them in so I can wear them to work tomorrow and show them off. I admit it- I am a shoe addict with purses a close second. Someday George may have to put me into rehab if my addiction gets out of control. We had a great time at supper at PF Changs. I had never eaten there so wasn't sure what to expect but the food was good and the mojitos were great so all was right with the world.
I have quenched the spending thirst for a short time so the credit card is safe again and will have time to cool off and heal from the burn marks of sliding it thru the machine so many times.
We will repeat this all over again in Novemeber when we do our annual Christmas shopping(at least that's what we call it) trip. Until then I am exhausted and happy to be home with my hubby.

Proud Grandma

Meet Morgan, my granddaughter from Nebraska. She is 7 years old and the bane of my daughter's existence. You all know that curse mothers put on their children? The one where they go "Someday I hope you have a child just as naughty as you are!" Well this is hers and she is just as naughty as my daughter was, if not worse and I love it! Morgan is in dance class and recently had her recital,hence the picture . You didn't think my daughter dressed her like this everyday did you?? Although Morgan probably would love it. When my daughter's family moved into their new house, Morgan was the first to meet all the neighbors and make friends. She maybe couldn't tell what their name was but they were all her friends and she knew where they lived. She is more concerned about making friends in school then she is about making good grades- let's hope that changes as she gets older or her hopes for college are null and void.

Meet Megan, this is my 11 year old Nebraska granddaughter. she is also a dancer and just participated in her dance recital. She loves Tap, Jazz and Hip Hop and last year got to do a duet with a young man. She is a beautiful young girl who is growing up very fast. She inherited her grandmothers love of shopping and I often look for unusual shoes or purses for her when I go somewhere special to shop. She can usually talk me into buying her something if she is with me when I am shopping. What can I say, I'm a push over when it comes to the grandchildren! Megan is doing very well in school this year and played volleyball for the first time this year. She was a cheerleader last year also. Next thing you know, she'll be driving and dating!! Won't that be fun? Then her mom will know what I went thru with her. Of course she'll tell you she was the perfect daughter and never gave me a moments trouble. Don't believe a word of it!!!



I also have a grandson named Noah who is 9 years old but I don't have a picture of him to put in here because he wasn't in a dance recital recently and all the ones I have are old ones. My dad calls him the Professor because he is so smart. This kid knows things someone that age should not know. He loves reading and watching shows about history and knowledge. He also likes to golf and goes along with Grandpa George and and Uncle Whitney when they golf. I think he could easily graduate at the age of 12 and go on to college if my daughter would let him. All his teachers love him and the ones that don't have him in their classes, want him. He is laid back and so relaxed and things very seldom bother him. He does have the most gorgeous eye lashes tho and is very handsome if I do say so myself. Am I biased? Absolutely!