"Lock the doors and close the blinds -- we're going for a ride..."

Just a quick log of what we did today.

We shopped! And spent oodles of money!

Well, not oodles. Actually not very much at all. We decided to make the 45 mile trek to the Outlet Mall of Leesburg Corner, tucked back in Loudoun County, Virginia. Actually, it's not far from where I work.

It's a nice, refreshing change for what we're used to when it comes to outlet malls: instead of Potomac Mills' "all-inside" approach, it was built as an outside open-air walkway with stores on both sides. And it was enough of a beautiful day that we were able to cover a lot of walking at the same time.

First store we went into, by chance, was a Skechers outlet. And we found the coveted holy grail of toddler apparel: little tiny Chuck Taylors at low, low prices! We got a pair of navy blue ones, and ended up inadvertently tickling him into a giggly stupor as he was trying them on. They also came with a free Converse basketball which is about half as tall as him...

The Old Navy Outlet was also a success: a good price on a bathing suit for him (we're going to try to do swimming lessons with him this summer), and three pairs of socks for $3.39.

And then -- The Oshkosh B'Gosh outlet store. Wow! A reversable windbreaker, a funky checkered floppy hat, and a t-shirt which states so eloquently on the front of it -- "BUG."

I did have three "shoe epinahnies:"

(1) K went into the Nine West Outlet. She came out less than two minutes later. Possibly a record for her. Later I went into the Rockport outlet and looked around for far longer. Possibly the first (and only) time this happens...

(2) Yes, I'm guilty. I find baby clothes kind of cute. But what I really get interested in is baby shoes. Not the white and black saddle shoes, but little mini-versions of adult casual shoes. Example: the Chuck Taylors we just bought. I was looking for tiny Air Jordans at the Nike outlet. When we find reasonably priced Doc Marten's for the little guy, you better believe we're getting those.

(3) I realized that even in an outlet mall setting, I'm simply not as interested in buying clothes for myself as I used to be. I used to be a mall-whore, and now I'm simply not interested. And that's possibly because I own pretty much all the clothes I need right now. Work is "dress casual" except when I'm doing training -- and even then it's my decision to dress up a bit. There are two exceptions to this rule: (a) henley collared long-sleeve shirts from Target, and (b) shoes. Which is why I spent a lot of time in the Rockport store and still didn't buy anything.

And then we went to Wegmans, since we were relatively close by to one. For those of you who don't live in Upstate New York, Wegmans is a supermarket which prides itself on having everything. Everything! A cafe, an eat-in food court, people making fresh sushi, six couters of bakeries... everything. And the prices are even better than most of the supermarkets around here, with a better produce selection. Even a pretty big Kosher for Passover selection. The only one in the DC area just opened near where I work on February 29, and I simply had to share the experience with K. We ended up buying bananas and Kix. How exotic...

After that, a special excursion to Red Robin to eat out for a change... Av was a champ, only getting fussy as it got late. And I don't know if he was deliberately trying to get macaroni and cheese in his eye or not -- but he succeeded with flying colors.

All in all, a good day... Feelin' thrify.