happy day-after-st. patrick's day!

i was so busy yesterday trying to recap my very full and very busy weekend that i completely forgot about st. patrick's day! although i made sure the bean was wearing green, and as for me, well - i had green chonies on. that counts, right?

ah, well. it's not like i have any irish in me anyway. although my stepdad does, so to him i offer a hearty "erin go bragh!"

(i also learned this weekend that most of my family reads my blog, which is fab and scary at the same time. too many f-bombs? not enough about the bean (bwahahahahahahaha!)?)

so anyway, i had lunch yesterday with a couple of great friends that i've managed to keep up with over the years. we met at the office from hell (well, okay - the office itself wasn't necessarily hellish per se, but my two bosses sure as fuck were) and one of them is still there, hanging on by her fingernails. ha! no, actually, she's moved up to the position of office manager, replacing the bitch on wheels who'd clutched her office tiara for quite a long time. and my other friend is my buddy mommybelle - you know her, with the adorably ginormous child. he's almost 8 months old now and weighs a whopping 27 pounds. but he's just so dang cute and cuddly, and he can hang through an entire lunch just kickin' it in his car seat, chewing on a toy. the bean - not so much. she's apparently inherited her father's ADD - she gets bored after about 10 minutes of sitting in there. heh.

we went to bj's, where we were pleasantly surprised to be offered one of these things - it's an infant seat sling. it was way better than putting the seat on the table, on a chair, or in the booth. i never really cared much for bj's before, but yay - point for baby-friendliness!

anyway, we had a great time, laughing and chatting and catching up. and in my mind, it was their birthday lunch - they'd each been birthday princesses in january and february. so i gobbled up my yummy shrimp tacos (yes, i had shrimp tacos at bj's, and they were actually really good) and stealthily handed the server my card. it was funny to watch my friends' faces when he brought back the slip for me to sign. dang, i'm good.

and then after lunch, i made my way to ontario mills. normally, i hate this place. i worked within a few minutes of it for years and always tried to avoid it unless absolutely necessary. but i wanted to check out the nike outlet in the hopes of finding some drastically discounted running gear, so i strapped the bean in our trusty carrier and waded into some very dangerous waters.

why do i say this?

well, as i strode through the "neighborhoods" (the mills is so freakishly huge that they broke up the joint into sections, and that's what they call them), i stumbled upon what i now call "baby clothing crack row" - the gap outlet, carter's, osh kosh, gymboree. shit. and the "50% off sale" sign in the carter's window drew me in like a moth to a flame.

so $48.83 later, i decided not to let myself go into any more baby stores - and after finding nothing interesting at the nike outlet, i decided to give nordstrom rack a shot. i found a couple of pairs of joe's jeans for $80 and literally tucked tail and RAN outta there. the hub would kill me if i came home with more premium denim.

my last stop was the adidas outlet, which i found as i was trying to navigate my way back to neighborhood 3, where i'd parked. and they were having a "buy one, get the second 50% off" kinda thing. shit x 2. so i slunk around the racks, found a running skirt for $12.97 and a pair of shorts for $5.97, and headed to the cashier. whee! two more pieces of workout clothing for $17.

i could learn to like the mills. heh.

we went home, had a snack, and then i threw dinner together. and what were we having? well, what day was it? mmmmmm. corned beef and cabbage is one of my most favorite meals. it's just so delicious. and when the hub got home, he took over holding the sleeping bean while i dished it up. okay, i gotta admit, it looks gross and disgusting, but it's oh so yummy. shut up.