For the second time in my life, I purposely went out on Black Friday. It was mostly because the bank is one of my Thursday errands that got shifted a day this week by the holiday. My secondary reason was that it's going to be cold (for Texas) on Monday and Laurel's winter coat is too short in the sleeves. Conveniently, Goodwill is two buildings north of the bank.

When I go shopping, I pay cash to limit "oh this is cute I'm going to splurge" temptations. With Kevin, shopping is another story, so we left $60 later with several pairs of pants and long-sleeve tops, a pink Alice in Wonderland hoodie that complements the green one I have/had (it's on loan to Laurel's best friend until she outgrows it), and a winter coat with a Justice label (I am informed this is cool) for Laurel; two skirts, a sweater and a leather jacket that Kevin picked out for me; an Airzooka, a piece of red glassware (Kevin collects it), a blue Camelbak bottle, 3D Red Eyes Jibbitz (spotted in a basket of carded buttons) and a hardcover copy of Carl Hiaasen's Flush.

The Walgreens trip was much more boring and can be summed up as AA batteries, candy, a pair of fuzzy socks for Laurel (she outgrew her old ones and we used them to make a sock creature) and a shiatsu neck and shoulder massager Kevin said can be my Christmas gift. I think that's a thoughtful gift, although I'm not positive on that. (I am not very good at gift suggestions when people ask what I want. I usually say books or an iTunes gift card, although my sisters like to buy me clothing. This is probably good since I have pretty much the same fashion taste I had as a toddler, only I have more Super Grover stuff now.)