Holiday Shopping: Bliss or Blight?

Wind in your hair is not much better than beneath your wings.

Despite the crazy, high-speed winds that made our picture turn out like this, among other atrocities, George and I spent last Saturday shopping at the Town Center Plaza in KC. It's not my favorite. What I liked was the little shopping center across the street that housed Crate&Barrel, West Elm, Z Gallerie and an exclusive shoe store that I'll revisit when I'm not supposed to be shopping for others.

If you're ever in the KC area, head over to SPIN! Neopolitan Pizza for yummy pizza with good crust and fantastic salads. Their olive & artichoke pizza with caramelized onions and greek side salad (George loved the caesar) made up the best dinner I've had out in ages.

We started out with good intentions. Our county here in Kansas is really small and also quite poor. We called the local relief office to see what they needed help with this time of year and decided to shop for kids' gifts and clothing at Target.

First, it was the weekend.
Second, it's too close to the holiday.
Third, it's Target.

Rookie mistakes that we won't be making again.* Luckily, we saved this run for last on our list. After 90 minutes circling the toy department while reading the backs of the little glittery angels with the kids' preferences on them, we raced our carts to the checkout and were relieved to escape traffic on our way to the boonies. Now I know why my mom used to pack us all up for shopping in November.

My wish for you this shopping season: Good luck and good exit strategies.

*Note for next year: earlier in the month + weekday shopping.