Girls' weekend recap

Well, I'm back and refreshed after a super-fun shopping weekend with my mom. My first trip to IKEA was lots of fun. We stayed there for about 3 1/2 hours. I came away with the Expedit for Ava's room, as well as a new dresser for her room. Poor girl was using the dresser I had gotten when I was about 10, and besides being, well, not really my style (white wicker), it was starting to get a little shabby. It's now on Craigslist. We opted for this one, which will take up less room while also providing some much needed larger drawers:

Obviously, it's nothing fancy,but at $199, it's a great little versatile piece that should last through her little girl years. I'm dying to completely redo her room. It's currently a way-too-bright green, and I'm thinking of scaling back to a soft lavender and white, with celery green accents. Or to keep costs down, I may just change the wall color to a very soft pink and then keep the pink and green bedding she already has.

From IKEA, we went to North Carolina's shopping mecca, SouthPark, in Charlotte. That is one serious mall. I thought we had gotten a little upscale here in Raleigh, but no. SouthPark has Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Tory Burch, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, and even Hermes. We did a lot of drooling. A lot. In Neiman's, I tried on these TB boots:

I'll tell you something. The difference between the $150 I usually spend on boots and these is the fit. I don't have skinny calves, but cheap boots tend to be either too big around my calves (so I don't know what you seriously skinny girls do), or they bunch up at the ankles. Yuck. For the bargain price of $495, the Tory boots fit like a damn glove. To be honest, I don't really even want black suede, but it was all they had in this boot, so I just tried it for the fit. I love the look of the black suede, but if I'm going to drop that kind of dinero on footwear, it's gotta be for something that I can wear all the time. Suede is not the way to go there. Brown leather? Yes. But, I used my better judgement, polished up my Bandolino riding boots that are in their third season, and left the store. And, to be honest, I've had my eye on these Frye Paige boots for a while now, so I may have to ask  Santa for them:

However, I did not leave empty-handed. How could I? We all know that shopping out of town is not REAL shopping. It's sort of like being on vacation. I did get a cute new pair of wedges, that I deemed perfect for all occassions, including church. See? 

Yes, you're right. I may have a small Tory Burch obsession. I can't help it. And when you go and look around Hermes and then the Chanel and Prada collections at Neiman's, Tory starts to look downright reasonable. Which is absurd, really. (Seriously, the woman in front of me at dropped about $1400 on some Prada boots). 

But these days, I don't buy a lot of shoes, so I like to love the ones I have. And really, I have bought a number of Target shoes, and they last exactly one season. I'm coming up on my fourth season with my very first pair of beloved Revas, and they still look good. 

See how I can justify that? It's an art form. (I can teach you, if you're interested).

After our day of shopping, my mom and I drove back home (her home) to meet my dad for dinner. It was so much fun to spend such great time with my parents without the distraction of my kids. Don't get me wrong. I love seeing my parents with my kids. But I'm a little selfish, and I still like to hang out with just them. We had a fun, grown-up dinner, and then I got to get a really good night's sleep in my old bed. 

The next morning was wonderful. My mom made coffee, and my dad went out to pick up biscuits at Biscuitville. (Vacation food is like vacation money, right? Calories don't count). We spent a lazy morning talking and just hanging out before going out to lunch. It was back to Raleigh for me mid-afternoon, where I was greeted by two very adorable, very excited children. And one exhausted husband. 

Honestly, the husband is so good with the kids. I have to admit, though, I loved it when he said, "I'm not really tired, but I've been  more irritable than usual." 

Guess he understands now why I'm not always Mary Sunshine when he gets home at night. 

Thanks to my parents and my husband for a fantastic weekend!