Black Friday

Happy Sunday Everyone!! Are you getting ready to go back to work tomorrow.........haha we aren`t!!!  So have fun with that.............

As everyone is well aware, Friday was Black Friday.  For anyone who doesn't know what that is.....ARE YOU A FOOL?   Just kidding....well not really.  Anywho - it's the biggest shopping day of the year in the US.  Sales are abundant and the atmosphere is crazy.  This year a lot of the stores in Phoenix opened at midnight.  Our original plan was to fly in, NOT get side swiped in the ghetto by a bunch of Mexicans, and sleep for a few hours to arrive at the outlet mall at midnight.  Obviously those plans didn't work out so well for us!  We ended up going to sleep at 9:30 and setting the alarm for 2:00 am.  

We arrived at Arizona Mills at 3:00 am for the shopping madness to begin!  Arizona Mills is considered a bit of a trashy indoor outlet mall, located in Tempe.   They are trying to revitalize it, but I am not too sure how that is working out for them.  They have built a huge sand castle in the middle of the mall which was kind of cool.  They had a "hunky" santa there for the ladies to get pictures with from midnight to 4:00 am.  Now who can pass up a picture with a "hunky" santa!!??  Part of my plan was to get my picture taken.  But as we all know.....plans don't always work out.  When I saw "hunky" santa all I could say was, "Oh hell no!!"  He wasn't so much "hunky" as he was wonky eyed and skinny like a meth head.  The mexi-calis were all over him like flies to shit.  Sorry - that wasn't a racist reference in case you thought it was.  Oh wait, I never did tell you he was black, so technically it wasn't racist. 

*Remove foot from mouth*

Back to the deals.........So I am trying to change Trent's shopping mentality of thinking that it's only a good deal if he can pick the item up for under $2.00.  If any of you  have ever seen his t-shirt collection, then you will know why he has so many! He doesn't realize that a name brand sweater that is 50% off then another 30% off is practically free.  He looks at it as a sweater for $10?  What a rip off!!  So....if you ask him about the Black Friday sales and he says, "Well.....I thought there would be better deals", you will know not to believe him.  No, he didn't manage to score a sweater for $2.00 but he got close at $7.50!!  He still thinks he paid to much......

We got quite a few things and shopped until about 7:00 am when we took a break for a bite to eat.  There wasn't much in the food court that I could eat and I didn't think that the asian vegetables and rice would be particularly fresh at 7:00 am as I watched the woman at the Panda Wok stirring the food over and over and smiling out to the 5 people sitting in the food court, in hopes of someone coming to her counter.  My choice was a salad....thrilling, I know!  I can honestly say that I have NEVER had a salad at 7:00 am.  I am pretty sure I never will again, but it was a weird sensation to say the least.  After eating we shopped some more until about 9:30 am when we headed for home.  We made a tired stop at Trader Joe's for some food, had a glass of wine and a beer at 10:00 am and headed to bed for a few hours.  Since Trent can sleep anywhere, anytime, he slept until 2:00 pm.  I slept until about 11:15 am.  Lucky me......We got up and got ready to head into Glendale for the Phoenix Coyotes vs. Vancouver Canucks hockey game.

We arrived at the Westgate area which surrounds the arena.  It is a really cool area full of restaurants and shops.  They even had a big Christmas tree!

There is even a fun hockey guy!

No, that isn't Trent and I with a tan!!  I know what you are thinking and honestly, I am NOT racist!!

We shopped around for a bit and I ended up buying 2 pairs of shoes because my feet were killing me and since we packed so light I had nothing comfortable.  What an idiot.  I guess I had hoped to have purchased some shoes by then, but we really haven't found many shoe stores.  Today we will be hitting up the DSW, but that will be posted about later.

Our obligatory pose with the tree and no this isn't a game of where's Waldo.......

After wandering around for a bit we decided to find a place to eat.  We settled on a Mexican Cantina.  There was nothing for me to eat since the tortilla chips had wheat in them.  Who does that really!?  Oh well.  Trent had nachos and we were off to find something "Jodie Friendly" to eat.  I settled on sushi - always a fab choice!  After eating, we headed over to the arena. 

Since Jobing.com arena is the third emptiest arena in the NHL, we were able to score cheap seats 4 rows off the ice beside the penalty box.  They were fantastic seats!!  

A shot from our fab seats!

The game was a lot of fun.  There were WAY more Canucks fans than there were Phoenix fans.  Must be all those JAFA's who winter in Phoenix.  Oh don't EVEN get me started on the JAFA's!!  We run into them everywhere!!  "How do you  know they are JAFA's", one might ask?  You can just tell.....they are pretentious, they think they are better than everyone else and furthermore, they give Canada a bad name.  Ok - I will stop ranting.  I have wasted too much time on the locusts of Canada.  Back to the game......

Enjoying the game!

The game was good.  It was a shut out for the Canucks, 5-0.  I got a few points in the hockey pool to help me maintain my status of first place.  Trent got a few points too, but he is still in dead last.  I am not really sure how that feels since I generally win the hockey pools, but we won't dwell on that now will we?  For those of you who are in our hockey pool, I feel a bit more experienced in picking players after being in first and being at a Canucks game.  So, for your convenience, I will be offering a session when I get back on How to Win a Hockey Pool and Lose Friends.  The cost will only be $50 each!!

Did I mention that there was a HUGE taco at the game!?  I was kind of obsessed with it because it dropped out coupons from the bottom!  Wow - technology.  How far we have come........

Yo Quiero Taco Bell!  (My Rhines Neuvos & Usado cartel taught me that)

Although parking is free around Jobing.com arena, our feet were killing us and we wanted to make a quick break to head home, so we opted for valet parking.  I am a HUGE fan of valet parking.  It was only $20!!  I say ONLY because we are used to paying at LEAST $30 for parking at sporting events such as ball games in Seattle.  $20 to have your car brought to you was a steal!  We managed to avoid all the crazy traffic and make a quick exit.  

After sleeping in a bit yesterday (Saturday) we decided to head out to Anthem to check out the outlets.  It was a nice drive out into the desert.  Trent is convinced tarantulas are living in the cactus.  

A lonely cactus in the desert

We arrived at the Outlets at Anthem and there was yet another big Christmas tree.  Trent took a picture of me in front of it and it was not pretty.  I looked like "hunky" santa with a wonky eye....except I wasn't black.....ok nevermind.  There is no picture of me.  

We shopped for a few hours (Trent made out way better than I)  I did manage to pick up a few things.........

Yep - That's right.  I scored a onesie!!

Pretty sure I am blogging in my one-er this morning.  Can I get a what what?  It's pretty awesome.  It has little penguins all over it.  They are pretty cute.  Enough about me and my fab one-er.......

After shopping for many, many more hours, we headed back towards our condo for a bite to eat.  We settled on True Food Kitchen at the Biltmore Fashion Mall.  I had found this restaurant online during my research phase of our trip and holy  HELL was this place AWESOME!!!  It's pretty maje for me when I find a restaurant that I LOVE!!  This place serves all organic, locally grown food.  Their menu is clearly marked vegan, vegetarian and gluten free.  Trent and I started by sharing the best salad I have eaten at a restaurant EVER.  Then I had the stealhead salmon on a bed of quinoa and greens.  The flavours were amazing and there was something to die for in there that I have never tasted.  It was orgasmic for me.  Trent had free range steak tacos.  He said they were fabulous as well.  Mmmmmmmmmmmm

2 of my faves

After eating we headed back to the condo to change and run as we were going to see David Spade at a comedy club and had to get there by 7:00!  We arrived at the club, got in and holy shit the place was PACKED!!!  We got seated along a bar area which was perfect about 20 feet away from him.  

There were 2 opening acts.  The first guy was good but the second guy was even better.  It was Kevin Farley.  Yup - Chris Farley's brother.  Now I am a HUGE fan of Chris Farley from WAY back.  That guy was EPIC.  Kevin wasn't as funny, but he was still hilarious.  Haha I just HAD to include that picture.  One of my favorite SNL skits EVER.  I laugh everytime I see this picture.  RIP Chippendale Dancers......

So after Kevin, out came David Spade.  I am SO in love with this guy.  He is FUCKING hilarious.  I pissed myself laughing the entire hour and a bit he was on stage.  He is such a creepy looking little skid of a character but there is just something about him.  I can understand why he dates all the hot chicks in Hollywood.  Since we were squished into the club like sardines, I got stuck beside this chick who kept talking to me. My friend, friend, Debra told me everything from the Phoenix road grid, to a restaurant she went to for her husbands birthday and how hungry she was to telling me about how far Chandler Arizona is from Phoenix!  Anyways, I was finally able to shake her a few minutes into David Spade's act.  So I can't even begin to explain how awesome it was!  He was so funny and charismatic, it was phenomenal.  Well worth it!  

After the show, we stopped at Culvers for some ice cream and lemon ice, then headed home to be in bed at a decent hour.  That brings us to today.........

Since you are up to date, I will try to take more pictures and blog later tonight or tomorrow.  Today we plan on heading to Scottsdale to check out a couple of markets and wander around the downtown district.  It's supposed to be artsy and full of culture.  We will also hit up a few DSW's and Macy's and JC Penny's at some point.  It should be another fun filled day!!  Since it's almost 9:00, I should get showered and ready.  So I hope everyone has a wonderful day and I will update you soon!!

Happy Sunday Funday!!!