Shop Till You Drop

Have you ever shopped till you drop?  It isn't pretty.  The key is to stop shopping just before you drop.

I had this really great plan.  There's a huge outlet mall about an hour and a half from here.  Conveniently located right next to a hotel/casino (on tribal land).  A coupla months ago, I won free passes to the hotel buffet in a raffle.

So, I had yesterday off.  The plan was to drive out to the hotel on Thursday night after work, stay over at the hotel, and do ALL my holiday shopping the next day -- being able to return to the hotel for free meals when I needed a break.

Yeah.

Didn't get out to the hotel until around 11:30 on Thursday.  The parking lot was pretty full so I had to park a serious hike away.  Hauled my bag up to the hotel/casino.  (The registration desk is actually IN the casino.  Actually -- following the guiding principle of hotel/casino design, EVERYTHING was in the casino.)  When I checked in, they charged me an extra $9 "resort fee."  This included valet parking.  How nice to know this after I'd trudged in three quarters of a mile from the self-parking lot. 

Went up to my room.  Went down to the casino for a little while.  I'm not much a gambler -- which was good because this wasn't what I'd call a high end casino.  I mean, not only did they have nickel slot machines, they had penny machines.  And they were pretty busy.  I played a little on a quarter machine and felt like I was in the "High-Limit Slots" section.  (They had a "non-smoking slots" room, which was thoughtful -- but the machines therein kinda blew.  In fact, I tried to "cash out" of one when it owed me a dime and it didn't give me anything.  Oh well.  The casino would've had that 10 cents one way or the other.)  I lost about $10, by which time I was sick of playing slots anyway, so I went back to my room and got some sleep.

I'd hoped to shop some in the morning, but that plan was shot when I slept in till 10:30  Hotel check-out was 11, so I barely had time to shower, dress, and get the heck out of there.  The buffet opened at 11, so I had a nice (free) omelette before heading off to Round One of shopping.

I hit the outlet mall around noon, and could not find parking.  Seriously.  I circled the damn lot for twenty minutes, before I switched to the satellite lot and finally found a spot.

And then I shopped.  And shopped.

The first store I went into, I saw a pair of shoes I wanted.  Normally, this isn't a problem, but I was supposed to be shopping for gifts, not for me.  Still... they were in my size, and on sale, and I really wanted them, and ... ok.  One purchase for me.  Now I'll shop for everyone else.

Next door -- lots of clothes.  For me.  Y'know, it's one thing to just grab a pair of shoes, but quite another to take all those clothes into the fitting room and try them on.  When I'm supposed to be shopping for friends and family.  Still, that skirt is awful pretty.  OK, I'll have to come by this store to go back to my car -- so I'll buy some gifts and then stop off here on the way back.  If I've been good.  And put check-marks next to a bunch of people off my holiday list.

... you can see where this is going.  When I innocently walked into The Gap, I found a massive amount of stuff on massive sale.  I got a $35 skirt for $18.  I decided to grab a second in another color and it rang up for $7.  The exact same skirt.  (I asked the cashier if she was sure, and she said she was.  Sometimes they price different based on color.)  OK, a $35 skirt for $7.  I'll take it!  I spent so much time in The Gap, it was dark when I came out of there.  And there were still about 10 people left on my list.

I thought maybe it would be a good idea to go back to the hotel to have dinner and rest up for the second round -- but then I realized it was about 6:30 and the mall closed at 9:00 and I wasn't even halfway through.  I figured I'd stick it out. 

By 8:30, I was moving slow.  There were a few stores where I walked in, saw some clothes I liked, decided I was too tired to try them on, and walked right out.  By about ten to 9:00, Ihad five stores left and I just waved 'em off.  I shuffled back to my car, dragging 8 or 9 packages behind me.

When all was said and done, I'd spent over eight hours shopping.  For my effort, I ended up with four skirts, two shirts, a scarf, a jacket, five pairs of socks, four pieces of intimate apparel, and a pair of shoes.  Oh yeah, also three gifts for people on my list, two "backup" gifts, and a wedding present for my cousin.

After scarfing down my (free) dinner, I got home last night around midnight.  Was so wiped, I slept in till 2:00