Girls Shopping Weekend

Over the weekend, I went out of town with 4 of my friends from Martin in the name of 'Christmas shopping'. Carrie and I moved away around the same time, so it was a great reunion for all of us. I met the three that still live in Martin, Rachel, Erica, and Christa, and we drove to Opry Mills, in Nashville, to meet Carrie. We quickly backed out of Rachel's driveway before her husband changed his mind (since they have two boys under two) and we were on our way!

There was a lot of shopping, talking, wandering, and carrying bags.

We had to stop and rest our tired feet every now and then. The mall was so crowded. When we found a seat, we piled on and stayed for a while.

Apparently Rachel told some good stories while we rested.

There were a lot of bags, including some heavy candles (front and center) that were purchased at the beginning of the day. Since Christa is pregnant, we took turns carrying the candle bag for her. We really hope whomever gets the candles for Christmas really likes them :)

After the shopping was complete, we piled everything in the car and went to dinner.

We ate at the Spaghetti Factory. Our first choice was an hour and a half wait, so we walked several blocks in the cold rain to get there. It was worth it though. We grabbed a table in the bar and didn't have to wait at all. We ended up having a great dinner with a really nice waiter who made the night a lot of fun. This is what a long day of shopping and walking in the rain looks like.

We stayed at a place we found on Airbnb. It turned out to be the perfect place for us to sit and talk for hours.

It was a little strange. None of us had ever used Airbnb. Thankfully we had a personal recommendation, so we knew it was a good, safe place. We stayed up talking until 2:30am, which wasn't exactly what we had in mind for a restful trip away from all the kids (7 between us & 1 on the way, not including Carrie's since she went home for the night). Nonetheless, it was a great time with lots of laughs and catching up.

With just a couple hours of sleep, we pulled it together, went to breakfast, and headed home. I'm hopeful this becomes an annual trip.

Meanwhile, Darrin and the boys hung out at home watching movies on a pallet. Miles loves to do this with Darrin when I go out of town. I'm sure it was even sweeter with his baby brother beside him.