the joy of shopping.

i don't usually go shopping on black friday. however, this year i had spent the previous forty-eight pre-thanksgiving hours alone. sewing and cooking. i needed human interaction and to not sew for a minute. and k had to work.

so, when mom asked me to go shopping with her, i was happy to tag along. (dear walgreens,  my dear mother got to your store at 5:30 a.m. to get one of those stupid little pre-lit trees for $5. off...and your stupid little associate wouldn't sell it to her until 6:00a.m. she.is.very.upset. and is staging her own boycott.)

we went to the outlets (i got up at 5:00 a.m.!) and got there right around when they opened. i wanted to go to the outlets because they have a store with the two things i wanted to get k. and they were 70% off.

i really don't like to shop. i hate crowds, i loathe trying on clothes, parking in crowds, etc. but i just kind of felt like hanging out with my mom, and wanted to get my shopping done.

because i don't like to shop, when i do, i get a lot of things. in fact, i haven't been to the outlets in over a year, and the last time i went it was to hang out with my 4'11 little person mom.

so, yeah i got a lot of things. k's presents. a new purse. with matching wallet. and scarf.all at the coach store. it was sooo (relatively)cheap! we waited in line to get in (shame!) i don't really like the COACH purses with the C's all over them, but i do like the leather ones that aren't so branded. plus, they invented the tote. i've had another coach purse since college and it still looks nice. so, you get what you pay for. although, this time at the coach store i got a lot more. my mom kept looking at this one really nice purse and i kept trying to get her to get it. she kept saying no that she was going to target on the way home and that she would just pick something up there. she kept looking at it and when she walked out to wait outside, of course i picked it up for her and bought it. my mom is the cheapest person on the planet. she will not spend money on anything. well, except for her children. i've bought her little stuff, but i never want to embarrass her or flaunt the fact that we (because we both make more than her meager salary) make more than she does. lately it's occurred to me, if you can't spoil your mom, then she needs to get better at accepting gifts. so i bought and she kept refusing to take it, but before long she was showing the waitress the "beautiful purse her lawyer daughter got her." funny, huh?

i'm glad i made her accept it. i know she likes it. and likes the fact that her daughter bought it for her.

i kept telling her, and it's true, that it was much more fun to give it to her than it was for her to receive it.

i feel like i am making  big deal about this? it's not the purse or what it cost, it's that i have never really bought my mom anything that expensive, because she wouldn't have accepted it before now. it's not the gift, it's the giving and accepting that's the big deal.

i would never tell her, and i didn't realize the significance of it until i was an adult...but i remember her pulling over in the mcdonald's parking lot when my brother and i were 6 and 4 looking for change in the bottom of her purse. she would find some and pull out a crumpled dollar bill or two to buy my brother and i happy meals. we would, after about two bites of our hamburgers, ask her "why she didn't get a hamburger?" she'd always say that "she just wasn't hungry." then, i didn't think about it. had i, i would have known that that didn't make sense. that she certainly was hungry. but that there was only so much change in the bottom of her purse. 

***

she would be mortified if she thought i remembered that and/or had figured it out. 

anywho, onto a much more shallow story. k and i do not have bedroom furniture. well, not real furniture. we have the furniture that i bought, in college(10 years ago!) at a yard sale for $60.00. it's awful. were i not so tired, i'd take a picture of it. here's what I got at the restoration hardware out and pottery barn outlet.   for 70% off of the outlet prices.

do you think it matters that the woods aren't the same color? i don't want a 'bedroom set. ' i think i'll be able to pull this off? i got the $400 mirror that is the length of the dresser. (for $100!). i'll get new pulls for the nightstand and dresser. the bed is actually a little darker than that. exciting huh? i can't believe how cheap it was! of course i'll make bedding. i am not going to put up a canopy. unless i put up a unicorn. ;  ) so this post is long.and.rambling. take care.

Comments

[tipsymarie]

Oh yeah. I really dislike shopping as well; for all the same reasons. BUT we've been staking out the Restoration Hardware outlet for about a year looking for furniture and waiting for a sale. We still have our same stuff from college. From the Salvation Army near Tech. Really something special.
The point of this is to tell you I AM SO MAD we didn't go up there yesterday! Oh well, maybe next year.
I don't think it matters that it's not the same wood, it makes it more visually interesting. What you chose coordinates very well.

[Farah]

You are a great daughter! ANd i love that the furniture is not so matchy matchy

[My Reality]

If you bought a new purse and wallet, what are you going to do with the fab red one??

I love that you bought your mom a purse. She will cherish it always.

[niobe]

I love the furniture. I'm not big on matching wood colors and it matters even less for a bed, since it will "read" more as whatever color the sheets, pillows, blankets are.

I'm smiling at your story about your mother, but I have to admit that I'm just a teeny bit jealous, since I wish I could have the kind of relationship with my mother where we could go out shopping together.

[JessPond]

I love the bedroom stuff. The bed looks a little light in the pic comparatively, so I'm glad that you said it's a little darker. Just a smidge and I'm sure it would be fine!!

You could always make a matching scarf thing for the "canopy" part of the bed. That would be pretty. And not too much, really, imo.

I'm so glad that you got your mom that purse! What a lovely thing to do. She'll remember that forever. I'll bet she NEVER gets rid of it. :)