Moms' Morning Out

This morning my BFF and I were given two hours of freedom. She had hers because all of her kids are in school for at least part of the day, thanks to preschool, and I had my freedom because my parents graciously took my children for a bit. We decided that we would go to the grand opening of a new discount bookstore and then grab a coffee after. Everything was supposed to be 20% off, and while we knew there were going to be some small giveaways, neither one of us were prepared for the sheer masses that this opening garnered. We arrived three minutes after opening, and there were 300 people in the store. We had to be breaking some sort of fire code. Have you ever tried to look in a bookstore with 300 other people? I looked at a lot of behinds, backs of heads, and even a few armpits. I finally gave up, and helped my friend find a few books. I was getting too frustrated looking for myself. I was poked, bumped, prodded, and only one person even bothered to apologize. I am not a fan of crowds. After about a half an hour, my friend and I called it quits, and approached the line. I am not ashamed to admit I tried to get her to give her purchases to someone we knew that was very close to the register. She said she would feel bad doing that, but after seeing the line stretch all the way to the back of the store I felt less bad about my suggestion. Surprisingly, it only took 15 minutes, but I am not sure what she and I were thinking going to this bookstore on opening day. Optimism is not my strong suit, so maybe I was just very naive that no one else would care about this discount bookstore opening on our side of town. We did enjoy a coffee at Panera, and shared a cup of bogels. If you haven't been to Panera recently, they have taken their Cinnamon Crunch bagel (my favorite) put it in bite size pieces which they call bogels, and then sell it with some cream cheese icing. Heaven! It was a great time, but next time I will skip any grand opening, and just head for the coffee and bogels.