T-minus 11 days and counting …
This weekend was all about cruise planning. Friday, I took inventory of my closet and made a clothing schedule - exactly what I’m going to wear on the cruise for every day and evening including the flights over there and back. The result was a well thought out and prepared LIST of things that needed to be procured - all in the name of cruise comfort and good times.
Saturday marked the designated Cruise Shopping Day that Angie and I put on the calendar almost 2 months ago in anticipation of the necessity to spend a day picking up all of the necessities that I figured I would be lacking to take with us on the cruise. The previously mentioned well thought out list served as my shopping guide for the day. Angie declared herself my “shopping bitch” (can't you just feel the love?). Laugh, groan, or shake your head all you want about the term, but if you have shopping like this to do, having someone along whose purpose is to help you get the list knocked out is priceless. We take turns doing this for each other - that’s what friends are for!
I have to mention that I got to hit one of my favorite breakfast hangouts to start the day - Einstein Brothers Bagels. I don’t get to visit it often anymore since it’s a good 15-20 minutes down Central in Plano, but, on days like this, a breakfast of carby-goodness was just what was needed to get us started.
First Stop - The Container Store
This is one of my very favorite places in the whole wide world. To borrow a phrase from Jim … It makes my organization weeny vibrate. (That’s probably a little crude and more than you wanted to know, but heh, it’s me!) My mission at The Container Store was 2 fold: (1) procure an appropriate carry-on, multi-purpose, travel bag to replace my purse while basically overnight-ing it on a plane, and (2) to pick up all of the necessary and appropriately sized for carry-on travel leak-proof bottles. The latter was relatively easy and uneventful. The former was a sight to behold. Angie and I plopped our hinneys down in the travel accessory isle and proceeded to turn each candidate travel bag inside out to examine and evaluate its potential usefulness. We had a blast! I ended up purchasing what is described as the
ONLY BAGG I’ll ever need. I’m inclined to believe them. In my very best drama queen voice ... This bag is fabulous! Of course, the very amusing thing is that Angie had no intention of doing any shopping for herself, but I managed to convince her that the
CITY BAGG that she fell in love with was too great to pass up. I’m such an enabler! <evil grin>
Second Stop - Collin Creek Mall (target - Macy’s & Vicki’s)
I’m not a mall girl. I generally avoid the mall, but I needed to get some make up at the Clinque counter and pick up some shower gel at Vicki’s. So, off to Collin Creek we went. And, holy crap, I did GOOD at Macy’s. I found several shirts for work or evening on the cruise along with the 3rd pair of day time pants (score!). All of it on seriously super sale!
Third Stop - Academy
This stop was simple. I needed a new pair of stylish sneaks. I was specifically looking for a pair of low profile brown toned walking shoes. Several brands have started making these, but unfortunately, it was a strike out at Academy for this particular list item. But, I did find some comfy casual pants to use as backups on the cruise in case I manage to get something on my primary pairs.
Fourth Stop - Kohl’s
This is one of my favorite places to shop. They usually have really good prices and decent clothes. And, Angie and I in a Kohl’s dressing room is a sight to behold (keep your minds out of the gutter). We can walk in with arm loads of clothes and in a matter of minutes whittle it down to just the things that look good and make sense. The mark of a true friend is one who will take one look at you in an outfit and simply say “NO”. God bless Angie! Every time I’ve had some bizarre urge to go shopping without her, I’ve regretted it. I bring home things only to have to return them because I am a terrible judge of myself in clothes. Every women needs a shopping buddy like that.
I got insanely lucky here. I found all of the remaining tops I needed along with the sneaks I didn’t find at Academy. To top it all off, they were having a scratch for savings promo - use your Kohl’s card and get a scratch off worth 15%, 20%, or 30% off your entire purchase. 99% of the scratch offs are 15%, but I got a 30%. SWEET!
The totally awesome footnote to our Kohl’s stop is that I had purchased several things at there the prior weekend. But, everything I bought was on even better sale this past weekend AND I hadn’t had my 15% off pick-a-day coupon with me the prior weekend. The cooperative, if not overly amused, customer service clerk ended up giving me back over $30 on my previous purchase. FREAKIN’ SWEET! (This is why Chris doesn’t complain too much when I go shopping. I try to be very frugal.)
There are still a couple of random things I need to pick up here and there, but the vast majority of my shopping is finished … big, huge sigh of relief.
Sunday evening, we spent some time with our fellow KW traveling companions (who qualified for the cruise as well) planning out our shore excursions over a little
vino and
formaggio. One of my fellow agents in my office took this exact cruise in July and found a great tour company (Crystal Tours) that did fantastic shore excursions for them. The ship has some great excursions. The only catch is that you’re very often in a huge group. This company specializes in small groups (4-10 people). We would have our own private English speaking guide and the ability to deviate from the plan if we choose. The best part is that the cost is only negligibly more expensive. Again, SWEET!
After all this planning, the little girl in my just keeps thinking - Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Huh? Huh?Huh?
PS - If you'd like another perspective on the day (along with a couple of
snapshots (make note of Angie's t-shirt for the day - I think she was sending me
a message <grin>), check out her
post.
Believe it or not, that's almost all of the clothes that I'm taking for the entire 8 days - including my "formal" little black dress (thank God for wrinkle resistant material and girlfriends who let you raid their closets when nothing in your closet will work ... Thanks Angie!)
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