what i predicted would be "a short shopping trip" evolved into a full-blown, all-day excursion. i wanted to finish my christmas shopping on saturday, and ended up "dragging" kt along with me. at our first stop, i bought $2.98 worth of photos; meanwhile, she brought an armload of purchases to the cashier. i made a quick stop at a restaurant to buy a gift card for the parents, where we were both surprised and confused at the vast amount of people eating there at 3:30 in the afternoon. now, at this point, all i REALLY needed to buy was another gift card for my brother and sister-in-law, and some coffee for part of another present. however. knowing that we both had $10 "coupons" [essentially, gift certificates] burning holes in our pockets, we [i?] decided to brave the mall and check things out. once there, i realized i was really not in the thorough mood that proper clothes shopping requires. so we ventured out into The Mall, katie on the hunt for a certain crafty lighted cube sort of creation she had seen earlier in the week. our "mingling" included but was not limited to: curious george christmas cards, coloring books, the big poofy cow above, and the discovery that spongebob squarepants has his own 12-step program. who knew?

 

on our way out, we ended up making our essentially free purchases, consisting exclusively, of all things: socks. [my, we like to live on the wild side]. the salesclerk was probably not impressed with our savvy shopping skills; but then, i did end up with socks made partly of rubber so i think it evens out. we hit up arby's for some curly fries action and upon our exit, witnessed some high school boys navigating the drive-thru in reverse. amusing, in a head shaking sort of way.

 

we made it home, even after an attempt by katie to navigate me through a dead end street. we proceeded, among other things, to inspect the capabilities of the lobster teether she had purchased for a friend's bayyy-beeeee [this is always how the word "baby" is pronounced in katie's world]. this picture worries me somewhat -- pleeease, back away from the lobster -- but this one is priceless. note the dainty pinky suspended in the air for the occasion! the perfect product modeling for the camera! the sheer glee regarding the teething on the lobster!

 

my favorite observation about all of this? she's allergic to shellfish.