How We Spent Black Friday

We didn't get up early (or stay up late depending on which store you were going to). In fact, we had to chuckle at the people standing under umbrellas in the cold rain at Toys R' Us last night as we drove home from Thanksgiving dinner. We didn't laugh too hard though, as we know it could be us next year, or some year in the future when there is some must-have-toy-doorbuster-deal. Oh, the things we do for our kids. But we did enjoy a slightly lazy morning. We ended up at our local coffee shop up the street around 10:00am. Eric and I enjoyed their yummy decaf blueberry crumble coffee while Cate enjoyed a chocolate chip cookie the size of her face.

Then we decided to patronize a couple of our favorite local businesses. First up was the record store where we really wanted a special U2 vinyl (yes, that means a record) EP. Several bands released EP's on vinyl today that were only available at independent record stores. U2's 3 song album had only 5000 copies available nationwide. So exciting to have one of them! We also found a KT Tunstall Christmas CD for $4 (it's not bad...sounds like it should be on a Gap commercial), and we let Cate get a Yo Gabba Gabba cd (hey, mommy and daddy were okay with it considering bands like MGMT, The Ting Tings, Solange, and Jimmy Eat World are on it).On a whim, we stopped by the comic book store. Eric enjoys reading graphic novels and comic books from time to time. He really liked the movie American Splendor and was excited to find a few of the comic books. The guy that worked there was also able to suggest a couple of other "slice of life" comic books similar to American Splendor for Eric to try next time he's there. Cate found the kids' section and picked out a Finding Nemo comic book.
After patronizing our favorite local stores, we headed downtown to Krohn Conservatory to see the poinsettia displays. And yes, I did get my hair chopped the other night. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but I love the shorter length!
Cate was fascinated by the trains they had running through some of the displays.
We also stopped down at Fountain Square to take a quick picture. A friend of mine from high school teaches elementary school in North Carolina. Her class made Flat Stanley's after reading the book by the same name and then she shipped their Stanley's all over the country to her friends. So we took Stanley downtown for some pictures and to pick up some brochures to send back to her class. Here's Cate holding Stanley up:
It's hard to see here, but part of the fountain was frozen. It's cold here today, but is supposed to warm up again tomorrow. At least it's sunny.

The rest of our Black Friday will be spent napping, putting ornaments on the tree, cleaning the house, and just spending time at home. Not too bad of a day if you ask me. And we didn't have to get out of bed early for it.

~Melody :-)