The BIG BLACK FRIDAY post

I don't drink but I always equate the Saturday after Black Friday as being my once a year hangover. In all honesty, I felt pretty good for it being a hangover day! Friday was a BLAST!!! I went to bed at 10:45pm after getting home from a fabulous Thanksgiving day with my family and was awoken at 2:15am by my trusty alarm clock. By 3:30am my girlfriends Elise and Shari and I were on the road with a plan of attack in mind. First stop?? TARGET, baby!!! The line to get in the store was INSANE...but we got in it just as the doors opened and it only took about 5 minutes to get out of the 39 degree weather (thank heavens). Once in the store it was a little chaotic and crazy but within about 10-15 minutes it felt like the place had literally cleared out. It was so weird! We spent about an hour gathering our things and got in line. We were only in line about 10 minutes before making it to the cash registers...10 minutes! In past years we have stood in lines that wrapped around the store for almost an hour! This was actually an enjoyable experience. I picked up lots of toys and video games, some on sale, some just normal price. The Toy Story 3 X-Box game was only $35 instead of the normal $50, I got my older boys the door buster sale Nerf guns for only $19 and I picked up a DS game for my oldest son's stocking for $7. They'll be happy.

After Target we headed to the nearest Starbucks to get some hot chocolate...a yearly tradition. This year, however, we were greeted with something more divine than even my regular mint hot chocolate...this year they are serving Salted Carmel hot chocolate! OH MY GOSH...RUN TO STARBUCKS AND GET ONE NOW!!! It was SO GOOD!!! I can't even describe...I'll be going back for more several times this year I'm sure. After we downed our muffins and hot chocolate we were back on the road and arrived at the mall around 7am. We went looking for valet parking because with like $1000 worth of stuff from Target in the trunk between the three of us, we felt like valet was warranted. No luck...valet wasn't opening till 10am. It's Black Friday people! What the heck?? So we found what looked like a pretty safe parking spot in covered parking and went on our merry way. We hit up Pottery Barn Kids where I picked up Star Wars sheets for the two older boys, the Apple Store where I got a new case for my phone (Coby broke my case over a month ago...he threw my phone from the top of the staircase to the bottom floor...phone survived, case didn't), went into a few children's clothing and/or toy stores, William Sonoma where I found a seriously amazing kitchen toy for my mother-in-law for Christmas, walked through Banana Republic, Nordstrom, stopped for a quick snack--Jamba Juice for me of course, went to Gap (this was by far the worst crowd of the day...I've never seen a line that long at a clothing store--and seriously, for 50% off? Shoot--I got 45% off just last week!) and ended at Forever 21. The mall was good to us...crowds were low which was both surprising and nice.

After the mall we high-tailed it on over to my favorite store...Anthropologie! Now, I hardly ever actually visit the store...it's not exactly close to my house and when I do go I almost always have my kids with me, so since it was just me and my friends I had GRAND PLANS to pick up everything I could find that I wanted to try on and spend like an hour trying it all. It was so much fun! I tried on so many things...found out what I actually liked and didn't like off my wish list, figured out what sizes worked best on the things I liked and was able to add a few more things to my wish list for futures sales. I did indeed take some pictures for reviews...by that point in the day my phone was down to like 10 percent battery so I mostly took pictures of the things I liked. Reviews to come later. Anyhow, Anthro was fabulous, and I ended up taking 2 pretties home with me...the Stormy Seas tights on sale for $9.95 and..........the teal Circle the Globe skirt!!! Can you even believe it? There it was in the sale room hanging all alone...I almost fell over when I saw it! I could tell what it was just from the color alone...and then to look at the tag and see it was my size...SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can't even believe how that made such a great day even better! I have called customer service looking for this skirt so many times, just hoping one would find it's way into my hands somehow. And BAM...for $39.95 it was mine. I was one happy camper. I can't wait to wear it...gotta figure out how to winterize it up!

After our marathon dressing room session at Anthro we scooted on over to PF Changs for lunch. We were starving..it was like 2:00pm by that time. PF Changs for lunch is also a Black Friday tradition for us...we eat there every year. It tasted so good!! After we were refueled we headed on over to Nordstrom Rack to spend our $50 Groupons we picked up last week. Well, as soon as we walked in the store we knew we were in trouble...I kid you not, the line to pay was wrapped around the entire store! At this point in the day (now 3pm) that was a little overwhelming so we decided to come back to Rack another day. Loft was just across the parking lot so that was our last shopping spot of the day. We all tried a few things on but only my girlfriend Shari ended up bringing anything home. My other girlfriend Elise and I were both hoping to see the faux fur vests in the store but the two we were hoping for weren't in yet. BUMMER! I put in a request for the Chunky Cable vest with Faux Fur through Loft's customer service today because they're sold out of my size online so hopefully a store will be able to match it and send it to me soon (and it'll be 40% off!)!

Anyhow, after Loft we were done (we did have to run back to Nordstrom for Shari to pick up her boots she had on hold but Elise and I just stayed in the car). At this point in the day we were starting to be very comical...we were delirious, really. Everything was funny. We laughed at everything. It was hilarious. While we were sitting in the parking lot our friend Amy (who usually goes with us Black Friday shopping but couldn't this year because she now lives in Japan) texted us and said "good morning!". The funny thing about this is that we had talked to her at 5:30am when we were at Target and she was just heading to bed (Japan is 15-16 hours ahead of us). So literally, she had gone to bed and slept all night and had now woken up...and we were still out shopping! That puts the day into perspective now doesn't it! Too funny

So that was my Black Friday...not a dull moment and such a fun experience. Days like these are what my girly self lives for. I look forward to Black Friday all year long partly of course for the shopping, but mostly for the fun experiences I have with my closest friends. I love these girls to death.

So I can't leave you without showing you what I wore for the big Black Friday outing...first with the coat:



And without (sorry for the blurry picture):



Details:
-Top-Nordstrom (BP)
-Cardigan-Banana Republic
-Skinny Jeans-Banana Republic
-Boots-Dollhouse via Endless
-Coat-Old Navy (picked this up for $4.01 with rewards cards and coupon a few months back)
-Earrings-Kenneth Cole via Macy's
-Necklace-Fossil via Macy's
-Ring-Forever 21

It was one cold morning so I piled on the layers. The coat kept me pretty warm...and it was festive! =)

Did you Black Friday shop? Did you find anything good? Anything good for YOU? =) DO tell!

Stay tuned as I'll be posting some Anthro reviews later on and my new, revised wish list...I'm always hoping for a good sale! =)