Let's Go Shopping!

After shopping all day on Friday, my sisters and I decided to shop again on Saturday --- I know, it's a real addiction! (My bff, Carolyn, went shopping with the three of us once and she couldn't believe what die-hards we were. We hit every store, every department and shopped for hours. I don't think she viewed shopping quite the same after that!)

On our way to the mall, we first had to stop at Panera Bread for some fresh bagels.

If you have never been to one, Panera Bread is a fabulous bakery/cafe that has the best baked goods, sandwiches, soups and salads. Since there aren't any near our home in Ontario, my ds and I always make a point to stop at one when we are in Michigan. Their cinnamon crunch bagels and Asiago cheese bagels are the best!

Actually, their caramel pecan brownie was calling my name, but no, I did not get a slice for breakfast (as tempting as it was). Then, with our warm bagles in hand we headed out to Somerset Mall which is one of our favorite places to shop. It is a beautiful mall that has some really unique stores in it.

Nordstrom was our first store and we barely made it in the door when we spotted racks and racks of gorgeous scarves!

Now you have to understand that my two sisters and I are all very close in age and have similar taste. So when we see something that we all like, it is a mad race to see who can grab it first! Scarves were literally flying everywhere as we were trying them on and deciding which ones we would buy! In the end I think a total of 10 scarves were bought. My nieces each picked one that they liked and their favorite Aunt Joanne treated them to an early Christmas gift!

There were so many cute things at Nordstrom, including this adorable owl canvas bag! Doesn't it remind you of scrapooking?

And speaking of scrapbooking, there was a line of clothes called "Scrapbook Originals"!! How cool is that?

Another favorite store of mine is the Pottery Barn. I could spend hours (and mega dollars) in that store. They had some beautiful Christmas table settings that I loved and I got some really great decorating ideas for the holidays.

Many stores later it was time for a lunch break. We decided to eat at California Pizza Kitchen.

This chain of restaurants serves amazing hearth-baked pizzas with flavors from around the world. They have everything from BLT pizza to Pesto Chicken pizza. They also have fabulous soups, pastas and salads. My favorite is their Smashed Pea and Barley Soup and their Thai Crunch Salad which is served with lime-cilantro dressing and Thai peanut dressing on the side. Yummm! Oh, and their frozen lemonade is the best!

After lunch it was back out into the mall to shop some more.

Somerset Mall is an open concept 3-level mall and I have to say that Santa's workshop (castle!) was incredible. It was so much fun seeing all the boys and girls dressed up in their Christmas outfits waiting in line to have their picture taken with Santa. It was another one of those moments where I became nostalgic remembering the days when my boys would sit on Santa's knee and whisper in his ear what they wanted for Christmas. Now they just email a Christmas list to me complete with links to the stores where I can order them online!!

One of the last stores we went into was Vera Bradley. I had never been in one before and I have to say it was truly a treat for the eyes! Vera Bradley sells brightly patterned handbags, totes, luggage, tableware, stationery, rugs, etc.

It was a totally amazing store and I was very tempted to buy a couple of their purses, but since this was one of our last stores and my budget was totally blown, I held out. It will definitely be a store I will revisit on my next trip to this mall though.

We had a totally awesome time doing one of the things we do best - shopping! It was great "sister" time - something that doesn't happen often enough now that we are grown and living far apart. And even though my feet totally ached for the next few days, the memories we made were worth every minute!