The past 24 hours have been quite an adventure in spending money and sleep deprivation. I’m on my break at work, and I’m practically falling asleep at the keyboard. Our Black Friday adventures began promptly at midnight. Originally I had planned to get up early (not too early–just enough to make the doorbusters) and go to the morning sales before work. Then I heard the outlet centers were opening up at midnight, and that sounded like fun. So I rounded up the girls, bundled up against the unexpected cold, and made the pilgrimage to the Premium Outlets in Orlando.
We found a lot of great deals at the outlets, and before we knew it, someone mentioned it was 3:30! It certainly didn’t feel like we spent that much time there. I got a few gifts, but also ended up buying a lot for myself–something I had promised I wasn’t going to do, but the sales were so good I couldn’t pass it up. It was busy, but not so bad you couldn’t look…except at the Coach store, which had a line outside all night 
Since it was already 3:30, and we were still wide awake, we figured we might as well go to the 4am sales! We headed over to The Loop in Hunter’s Creek, and visited Old Navy and Kohl’s, with a much-needed coffee break at Panera Bread. Our timing for Old Navy was terrible. They were having great sales, so we all wanted to get stuff, but the line circled the entire store. And it was a HUGE Old Navy. We ended up waiting an hour! Probably not worth it, but you know how it is–once you wait for a little while, you keep telling yourself, I’ve already waited this long, I can’t leave the line now! Of course I ended up tossing stuff in my bag as we threaded through the store. More stuff for myself…not good. At least it was cheap.
It was now sunrise, and that seemed to give us the boost of energy we needed to see us through the rest of our shopping agenda. We headed over to Target, which was sort of a madhouse, but there were lots of great deals. $4 DVDs, $5 t-shirts, etc. At least we didn’t have to wait in line. We finally parted ways after this, as two of us had to work in a few hours, and desperately needed sleep, even if that was only a pipe dream at this point. I made one more stop before home–at Walmart, since it was on my way anyway. I got a couple more cheap gifts. As much as I usually loathe Walmart’s interpretation of “fashion”, I actually got a few things for myself. I even found the perfect black skirt I was looking for! Just like I found the perfect grey boots there a few weeks ago….what kind of Twilight Zone is this where Walmart has items I’m not embarrassed to be seen in?? Let’s hope they keep it up.
I managed to get a shaky two hours of sleep…until Mom called from whatever noisy mall she was in to ask me what I wanted for Christmas. I was so tired I was completely blanking. I put on a new outfit–purple Michael Kors billowy shirt ($16 on clearance!!!), perfect black skirt (Miley Cyrus’s music may be detestable but her Walmart line isn’t half bad!), grey tights, black boots, and purple owl necklace to match shirt. Now if only I felt as good as I looked. Only seven hours of work left…..
So ends the madness of our 2009 Black Friday Shopping Extravaganza. I left the house around 11:15 last night, and didn’t return until 9:30 this morning. I spent way too much money, but at least I got some important Christmas shopping done–and a few things for myself as well. Still so much to do though. I guess it wouldn’t really be the holidays unless I’m completely broke. 
