the ocean

This morning I went out to the suburbs to run some errands with my sister and her kids. Admittedly, this was not a glamorous invitation, but our schedules this weekend did not align very well and this was the best opportunity I had to spend some time with them. And essentially, there is a lot of competition for these children's attention, so I need to get the face time in where I can. On this metric, the morning was an incredible success.

We started out at Costco, which I know no one can believe I have never been to before. And yes, it was an experience. I was frankly thrilled to see they had large wedges of cheese of the type that I thought only existed on Supermarket Sweep, and I got a free sample of some Feta that knocked my socks off. I saw a lighted patio umbrella that would frankly have been very tempting if I'd had any way of getting it back to the city, and it had the added distinction of being mere meters away from a giant package of Banana Republic branded t-shirts. And next to that, protein bars. Juxtaposition is everything.

That visit ended on a sour note due to the unavailability of some chicken finger samples hotly desired by the youths, but Kohl's was next on the scene. There were boys' shorts to be selected, novelty tops for the ladies, and an emotionally fraught return to be made. Also, I enlisted the children in selecting a mother's day card for my mother, since I'm not allowed to just draw one like they do. (Unfair.) Oh, and it turns out Kohl's has surprisingly cute picture frames. I may or may not have given them my email address for a 15% discount and regretted it immediately.

We rounded things out by taking my niece to the dance store, which she is adorably obsessed with but my nephew clearly feels threatened by. So he and I walked down the street to pick up Chipotle for the whole crew whilst the tights and leotards were selected. Well, not the whole crew. I have a giant box of Costco protein chips waiting for me, after all.