Thanksgiving and beyond...

First and foremost...I would like to announce that my disastrously bad looking pumpkin roll/sandwich cake tasted just fine! Brad made it presentable for me when he got home, and many of the pieces were gone! So yay it was not a total failure!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We really did have a great time here in Austin! It was so hard being away from home, and I may have shed a few tears when talking to the family, but it was nice being with Shauna and Aaron and their family. The meal was DELICIOUS! We had turkey (obviously), stuffing, green bean casserole, cream corn, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rolls. While I know it is a typical Thanksgiving meal, being able to have that with friends and not by ourselves, made it that much better! YUM!

So, last night I decided I was going to be the complete Black Friday shopper and go out WAY early to the stores for my Christmas shopping adventures. I mean, I had a plan. I was going to go home, take a quick nap, and be shopping by 3 am. I was planning on going to the outlet malls at 3, Kohls at 4, Target at 6, and the mall after that! I mean this plan was perfect...all until I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 5:30 am, so I decided it wasn't worth getting up then and decided to get up at 7:30 instead. However, still managed to have a good day shopping. Kohls had fantastic sales. Can I just tell you, it has been at least three years, if not more, since I have been able to go shopping on the day after Thanksgiving! I loved it! I love all the people, and the feeling of Christmas, and the Christmas music! It makes me so happy! Seriously, I spent like 2 1/2 hours at the mall and didn't buy anything, but I had a great time! I love talking to strangers in line, I just do! So today was great! I only lasted until about 1pm, so I came home, took a snooze and then decided at 9ish it was time to go again. This turned out to be an adventure!

Brad and I had rented a couple of movies and needed to return them tonight, so I thought I would do some shopping on my way. So, I stopped at the gas station on my way to Old Navy. The sweet gas attendant was in a good mood and gave me a punch card full of punches so I could have free coffee next time I come in! She said she was feeling happy! I was all excited, but then I got back to the Rodeo. I pulled the gas pump out of the car and apparently was holding onto the handle. As I was doing this, the gas poured, and by poured I mean shot out at me and all over my clothes! I saved my coffee, but literally I REEKED of gasoline! However, I didn't see the need to go change, because I just wanted to go shopping and go home.

So, I walked into Old Navy, and was all determined to do some shopping. However, every time someone walked by they were all like "Do you smell gas?" "Is something burning" or "Why does it smell like the gas station?" Seriously, it was embarrassing! I kept having to tell everyone that I was the reason the ENTIRE store smelled like gas. It was a trail, I couldn't get rid of it! The worst part was when all the employees went to their manager and told her they were concerned about the gas smell in the store, they were worried they had gas leak. Ok, seriously...there are many issues with this.
1. Vehicle gas and natural gas (or whatever that would be that would be leaking at a store) smell NOTHING alike!
2. It was clearly located in a small area that traveled whenever I traveled...do you REALLY think the store is going to catch fire?
3. I then had to go up to the manager and explain that she need not fear, because the smell was ALL me. Ridiculous.

However, there were good points because I saw our friends Tamara and Jim at Old Navy and got to catch up! They are in our small group, and we didn't have small group this week so we didn't get to see them! They are such a sweet couple! They also pointed me to some jeans that only cost $15 for Brad; who could pass that up?! After running into our friends, I then was revived on my shopping spree and continued to pollute the air of Old Navy. When I got to the cash register I apologized to the girl, and she laughed and then asked how the smell didn't bother me. Seriously! Just wow. I explained I had a head ache, but didn't see the need to change clothes for an hour of shopping. I don't know any one else who has these mishaps.

I then went on to Barnes and Noble, and had the same issue. The cashier was a cute girl who laughed with me, and right as we were talking about it, another employee told me she had been really concerned because she smell gas all through the store. I think I'm a mess.

Finally, the best part of my night. You know, I moved to Austin and was sad about never running into someone I knew when I was out around town. So tonight, I was extremely excited when I ran into Tamara and Jim, and then I got to Blockbuster! The guy working seems to be there every time either one of us goes to the store, but I didn't figure he ever remembered us. Well, he was telling this guy about the new Die Hard movie and the guy was all bummed because no copies were in. However, Rach saved the day, as I had just turned it in. Now, I found another movie to rent and got up to the register, and told the employee my last name and he goes, "Brad right?" Seriously, he didn't even type the name in and he KNEW our name. How sad is that? The guy that works at Blockbuster is our buddy! He then tried to get me to buy some yearly deal that they have now, and used the fact that he knows us as ammo to get me to fall for it. I didn't, but it was sad that he was able to use that against us. Wow.

Haha...so all in all, life in Austin gets better by the day. We make friends with the video store employees. Yay for us! No pictures tonight, sorry. Just wanted to share another adventure. Take care!