Garbage Bags?

We went on the great luggage hunt this weekend. By about 4pm this afternoon I was convinced it would be just easiest to pack our clothes in garbage bags and write our names on them with a sharpie marker. Oh. My. Goodness. Too. Many. Choices.

We started looking last night at the outlet mall closest to our house. We found the Samsonite Store and found some luggage we really liked. I like to call it grown-up luggage because it's a complete set of good luggage, something we've never owned. Keith and I are splurgers but for some reason, our common sense kicked in. Probably because spending over $500 on luggage is not a good thing to do when you have to pay six gazillion more dollars over the next 3 months for an adoption. Brilliant.

Please keep in mind, Keith hates to shop. He groaned on the way there about having to be in a mall but then HE was the one I had to drag out of stores! I had such an "ahhhhhh..." moment when we went into The Children's Place to get a few things for a friend. I looked over at Keith and see him looking at some of the little boy clothes. He had this ear to ear grin on his face. He didn't know I was looking, but it was just the best feeling in the world to know, deep down inside, he's excited. He is so reserved in his feelings because he has the "it'll be real when it really happens and then I'll be excited" outlook vs. the "I'm a dreamer" mentality I have.

Although we didn't buy luggage last night, we did buy some toys to take with us - 2 touch and feel books, a funky rattle/teething toy and a wooden puzzle. I also bought 2 pairs of mittens at The Children's Place for a whopping 50 cents a piece (orginally $4.99). Both pairs match the $1.99 sweater and fleece I bought a few weeks ago. :-)

I also found a jacket for myself. Wilson's Leather is closing their regular stores and shipping their merchandise to the outlet stores because they'll be keeping those open. In order to make room for the regular store merchandise they're having a massive sale. I bought the coat below (originally $200) for $37, and that includes tax. It is SO warm - suede outside, fur inside. Now I just need one of those big furry hats! :-)

In order to keep semi-organized, I bought 3 big gift bags from Walmart and labeled them Trip 1, Trip 2, Trip 3 and as I buy things, find things, etc... I throw them into each bag. Of course, I had to draw all over the bags. Stars, balloons and smiley faces make the world go round!

So, today we resumed our luggage hunt. We went to Kohl's (they were having a buy one piece, get one free sale). We stared at luggage for an hour and Keith suggested we go to the other outlets. We drove up there, went from store to store and left empty handed. While eating lunch, Keith said "you'd better blog about this painful luggage process". :-) After we left the outlets, we headed back to Kohl's and finally settled on some middle of the road luggage. Not too cheap that it will only last us one trip, but not too expensive that we'll need to take a 2nd mortgage on our house.

Things are coming along (I think). Going to work on finalizing some lists this week and hopefully have the majority of everything done by the end of next weekend! 5 days until we know our travel dates..... Woohooo!

Have a great week!