Shopping

Pumpkin and I just had our annual Christmas Shopping Weekend. It started in college when I'd join her and her aunt in Branford, CT for Thanksgiving weekend. Neither one of us could fly home to Hawai'i just for the long weekend and she didn't want us to be homeless so we'd have a great dinner with her and spend the rest of the weekend shopping and watching movies. A great fall break. And now, I go to Boston to spend the weekend with Pumpkin and do our shopping and such. We hit the Malls. We get out photos taken. It's a good time. We haven't had our photo taken with Santa in a while as the line has always been a mess. But we did get our photo taken in the Limited Too at a photo booth so all was not lost.

Pumpkin and I are awesome shoppers. Most people are frightened by our mad shopping skillz. And the fact that we can shop all day quite happily. We were trying to figure out why this is while trolling the malls on Saturday. It certainly didn't come from my parents. Mom and Dad hate shopping. Dad likes buying things and researching big purchases but he doesn't seem to like shopping so much. And Mom just hates it. Though, I do find that some people who don't like shopping like doing it with me.

Pumpkin and I were thinking that it's partially because we're relaxed about it. We know in our heads who we need to shop for and don't make everything all tense and planned out. We like browsing and seeing what looks good. We have similar taste in a lot of things and also know how to look for things that the other might like even if we don't. We keep in mind when the other person might be bored and we're good about entertaining ourselves while the other is browsing for something we might not care about. We giggle and gossip as much as look and shop and buy. It's just a lot of fun spending hours with a friend roaming around saying, "So Cute!" every five minutes. We hardly notice the crowds and the cranky shoppers, unless they're just begging to be mocked. I find lots of purple things for her and she keeps an eye out for pink and red for me. She tolerates my need to hug TiVo every time we walk into Best Buy. And I try not to make too much fun of her every year when we have to go into Brookstone's so she can lay on the Tempur-Pedic Swedish Sleep System mattress they have out. This year they hid it in the back of the store so we thought it was gone. Until I hear someone calling my name. And I turn around to find her head peeking above a ledge (behind which is the mattress she's laying on) informing me, "I found it!". Heh. So Cute!

Anyway, it was a great weekend. Lots of good shopping and some damage done to my Christmas list. Fun brunch at Johnny D's and Soundbytes. Dinner at a tapas place with great food, good sangria and the Worst Service Ever. Visiting with Pumpkin and Fishboy and lots of pets including the most adorable Border Collie puppy ever as well as cute cats and a teeny, tiny kitten who liked running around more than she liked playing with me. Sadly.

But, it was an awesome weekend and I feel much less stressed than I did on Friday. Though I'm now a bit tired. But it is a Monday morning and all.

Thanks for the great time, Pumpkin!