797 kilometres

Saturday 7:42AM of the long weekend:
Phone rings three times
Avi: Hello?
Sandy: (phew, he's awake) Hey, where am I picking you up from? (wow, this makes him sound so slutty)
Avi: Shit, my alarm on my Blackberry didn't go off. Give me twenty minutes. I'm at my place.
Sandy: OK (so I have another thirty minutes or so before I have to leave...)

Saturday 7:43AM of the long weekend:
Phone rings four times, about to go to voicemail
Terence: Hel-lo?
Sandy: (don't tell me same thing happened to you) Dude?
Terence: Shit, my alarm didn't go off. Give me fifteen minutes.
Sandy: Well, Avi needs twenty, so I'll see you in twenty five.

Saturday 8:31AM of the long weekend:
All three are now in the car, blocked by two cars in Terence's round-about. On our way!!

Long drive down, but it was fun! It took us until about 11:30 to get to the border at Sarnia, with a pit stop at McD's for breakfast included. The line at the border was sooo long that by the time we successfully crossed, it was well past noon. After much debate, we decided to go straight to Somerset Collection and skip the outlets. I was quite gung-ho about the outlets initially but I decided to be realistic and join the team. Somerset Collection is huge that it really required the dedicated time.

Another hour and fifteen from the border (due to construction and all that), and we finally arrived at Somerset close to 2pm. We began on the South side where the fancy stores are (the side closes at 7pm), and Avi and Terence devised the walking tour plan to ensure we would not accidentally miss a store. We stopped in most of them for quick peeks and so on, and did the laps around Neiman's and Saks too. Barney's Co-op was slightly disappointing - the sale section was tiny, the actual selections were not that impressive, and I didn't see a lot of names/designs that resonated and made my heart jump. Haha. I got a skirt from Theory's fall collection at Neiman's. Since the economy is so bad, it's already on sale from $230 to $80. The customer service at Saks and in general on this South side, was terrible. Saks had a pathetic denim collection, and the women who worked there reminded me of the snootiest of the bunch at Holts. It's such a huge difference from Dallas where everyone's falling all over themselves to help you and make your experience magical. Clearly in Dallas they understand that magical experience = exponential growth in spending power. We got a few little things at C&B and then proceeded to unload at the car and work on the normal people side - the North side.

Since we had already deposited some of our shopping into the car, really, it was like I was starting with a blank slate. The denim collection at Nordstorm's was fantastic (can you imagine having the same style in every single size? What a concept!) and I got COH jeans :-) Finally! I've been punishing myself with "fat clothes" that are mediocre, so I was excited to finally get back to the fancy denim. Anthropologie was really disappointing there, though. It seemed disorganized and also really uninspiring. I hate it when stores don't have any inspiring pieces on the mannequins...it really sets a negative tone on browsing through the rest of the store. We spent a long time at BR for the boys, and Terence went all out. Avi got this beauuutiful pull-over sweater that I just loved! It is such a nice comfy fall sweater, and his outfit of the day just so happened to go with it very well that I felt compelled to find the same one for Alex. No such luck - these two are not meant to be matchy-matchy, I guess. I then stole the sweater from him while he tried on the rest of his stuff...it was so comfortable to wear too!! Haha. I found flats at BR for $25 (marked down from $100 - genuine leather and everything), and an orange knit shirt for work.

We walked past BCBGMaxAzria and I almost turned in, then decided against it, then they encouraged me to go in anyway...and I headed straight for the 70% off racks. They had all these dresses on for 70% off, and I grabbed a couple that I had seen at the Eaton Centre with Denise in May. While I was trying them on (ridiculous looking), I saw another girl try on a black cocktail dress. I asked if I could try it on so they found me a size...and I almost didn't actually put it on because it's satin and I'm not a huge fan of the corset/satin look (kinda trashy when overdone). For reference, the other two I tried on were more tulle than anything else. So anyway, I put it on, and as soon as it zipped, I had a good feeling. So I called Avi and made him come into the store to check it out and we both loved the dress so much (egged on by other shop assistants) that I had to buy it!! It was marked down to $99 from $340!! Definitely best buy of the day for me.

Dinner was at McCormick Schmicks, which I felt really bad about because they had three items on the menu that Avi would actually eat/like. Oops! PF Chang's had a huge line-up, and there was no cheesecake factory close to the mall!! So sad...

We left for home at about 10:45, and got to the border/paid duties & taxes at midnight. By the time we made it back to Toronto, it was 3AM and we were basically all zombies. Avi fell asleep before we even got on the highway in London (driver-switch), and I fell asleep mid-sentence when trying to talk to Terence to keep both of us awake. I'm not sure what I was about to say...

All in all, it was a realllllly fun day!! We think we might do this at least a couple of times a year...however, Pepper won't be making the drive that much because of the limit on the lease I think.