A funny thing happened on the way to dinner

Friday morning I woke up and started thinking about what I was going to wear that evening. I had plans to help celebrate a good friend's last days as a single woman. Karen was getting married on Sunday and her sister planned a great evening to send her off in style.

Still feeling down in the dumps over Bailey and not being excited about anything in my closet, I decided a quick trip to Kohl's was in order before taking Sam to the gym. Retail therapy is sometimes the best medicine to cure the blahs.

I found a cute little skirt and some killer sandals. I tried the skirt on and was pleased with the size I needed to get. I left Kohl's with a smile on my face and headed for the gym. Once I got back from the gym, I took a shower and put on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts to wear for the rest of the day, until it was time to get dressed.

I picked Ian up from school and Sam went down for her nap. Needing to be at the restaurant between 4:45pm and 5:00pm, I told Jeff I would bring the kids to his office at 4;40pm and switch cars with him. Jeff's office was only 5 minutes away from the restaurant (Maggiano's in Tysons) and this would alleviate Jeff from having to leave work super early to come home in time.

I was hoping to be in the car by 4:00pm, but unfortunately Sam was still sleeping. I absolutely hate having to wake a sleeping a baby and decided to give her 10 more minutes. During these 10 minutes, I decided to get dressed and put on the new skirt. I gave myself the once-over in the mirror and to my horror I discovered the sensor tag was still attached the skirt. OMG! Well actually, I think my exact words were "Oh Shit!!". I yelled to Ian, "Get your shoes on now! We need to leave!" I ran into Sam's room and woke her up. Very quickly changed her diaper, got her shoes on and ran for the door. I told Ian we needed to make a stop first on the way to daddy's office.

Fortunately Kohl's is across the street from my house. But still, the idea of getting two kids in and out of their car seats twice and adding 10 minutes to my travel time with the big unknown of how bad 495 was going to be, was totally stressing me out. I double parked in front of Kohl's, put on my flashers, grabbed Ian and Sam and headed for the front door. I carried Sam the whole time because I knew the minute I put her down, she'd be off shopping. I told Ian to stay close to me at all times. As soon as we walked through the sensors, the alarms went off. Everyone stopped what they were doing and started wondering who was trying to steal merchandise. In my loud voice as I am rushing to the first register, I said, "I bought this skirt this morning to wear tonight, and the cashier never took the sensor off. I need you to take it off now! I am running very late!". The person I was talking to was a young man in his 20's and replied with, "this is going to be awkward ma'am." He said that because the sensor tag remover was a permanent fixture on top of their counter. I replied with, "This won't be awkward" and proceeded to jump straight up on the counter, still holding Samantha. It was one smooth move and I had no idea I could get myself that high up off the ground without needing a running start. I guess it is true what they say about adrenaline and having super powers kick in when needed. The cashier was able to take a hold of the side of my skirt and run it through the machine to remove the tag. Yay! I jumped down and made a beeline out of there. In and out in under 60 seconds. It helped the alarm went off to announce our arrival. The woman who was in the process of getting checked out, was hysterical with laughter.

We made it to Jeff's office in plenty of time. And, to my delight, out of the 13 women attending the dinner, I was the first one to arrive at the restaurant. Never a dull moment! And for a few minutes my mind was on something completely different than Bailey.