a little jaunt north

Yesterday the boy and I decided to go to Maine, for the afternoon.
It was a three hour drive, both ways.
While this seems a bit crazy, it was totally necessary that we do it. We have such crazy busy schedules that often the only time we get to hang out is when we are drunk, busy, tired or surrounded by millions of friends.

So we (okay, he) drove to Freeport, Maine.
We listened to Keller Williams, Pearl Jam and Phish.

Once there, we began the shopping extravaganza.

J.Crew, nada found.
North Face, just a bunch of overpriced bullshit.
Horny Toad, nothing.

THEN, we ventured into Patagonia.
Where the boy excitedly found a soft shell ski jacket that should be sold for 360.
He got it for 90 (hence the excitement).
During all of this I continually brought him ridiculous items (briefs, stretchy tops etc.) including a cashmere sweater. He rebuffed all of my (fabulous) ideas, however mentioned that he had wanted (for years) a hooded Patagonia cashmere zip up.
Guess what I found?
A hooded Patagonia cashmere zip up. On sale. Only 120.
So with my cajoling (your never going to forgive yourself if you don't get it said I) he reluctantly but happily bought the sweater.
So that's a total of 210 for the boy and 0 for me.

I then stopped by the jewelry shop, cause if he can get something huge and ridiculous, I should too, huh? Well, that didn't happen because my jewelry beliefs were confirmed. Antique and thoughtful specialty jewelry trumps average Zales crap any day of the week, even if the later has an extremely large amount of diamonds.

Then onto the biggest LLBean ever. Three (maybe even four?) floors of fleece, jackets, Adirondack chairs, and anything else you could want. We walked around with amazement and wonderment.
He ended up with a pair of Keen shoes.
I ended up dreaming of flannel sheets come chilly fall nights.

A stop at Burberry left the boy amazed by the expense of bold plaid and me amazed at the ridiculousness of it all. I mean do you really need plaid EVERYWHERE? Well, if you do Burberry is the place to find it (and more). This is not to say that I wouldn't LOVE a nice trench with a subtle plaid on the inside. I also (more realistically) found a wonderful pair of shoes that could possibly be perfect for the wedding I'm in later this year. No purchase though, as I need to get the bride's approval on shoes and don't know if I could handle walking/dancing in the highest of high heels for the whole night.

So this leaves the score at: Boy 300 spent. Alice 0 spent.

Onto the LLBean factory outlet.
Where I eff-ed shit up leaving with not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 6 BUT 5 different Boat and Tote bags.
This maybe extravagant but they're canvas and last forever. I mean my parents still have a couple on the boat from before I was born...
So, an extra large one with black handles for laundry.
A large one with long lime handles, for something...
Two medium ones, both long handles, one with the boat print and the other with moss green handles. Good for everything...
Last one, extra small with the boat print.
So for 84 dollars, I got FIVE Boat and Tote bags. This is a life investment, you know...

Dinner at Gritty's, a famous brew pub.

The drive home was tired but fun.
Now this is exciting because after the whole day together (and it was a long tired day) we still had things to say, laugh and gossip about.

Oooh, young love. It's really some great fun.