aka "Bitches Be crazy"
aka "Yogi's Gone Wild"
What I assume it looked like Friday morning before the start of the sale.
(And all sorts of other pics from this weekend's sale)
So for those of you not on the Lulu bandwagon, this past weekend Lululemon had their first ever US Warehouse sale in Rosemont IL at a gigantic convention center. It started Friday at 9am and went through Sunday at 9pm.
I dabble in Lulu because their stuff is way cute...but ridiculously overpriced!! I just don't have $90 to drop on a pair of yoga pants or running tights. I don't even know if I could exclusively shop there if I had the money...Anyways, a good friend of mine Jenn had decided to take the train in from STL for the sale. Discount Lulu alone wouldn't have lured me to Chicago for the sale, but the chance to hang out with one of my fav's AND score some cute running clothes....SOLD!!
We tried to coordinate our schedules and arrive in Rosemont around the same time. I was driving down from Madison, which is roughly a 2hr drive. That is unless you miss your exit and get lost like I did. Somehow I ended up in the blackhole known as O'hare Airport. Seriously. I ended up in the Avis rental car lot...at the International terminal...all the while trying to reach W to give me directions the fuck out of that place. In case you are wondering, my next car WILL have an in-dash GPS. After my 45min detour, I finally parked at the convention center at almost noon. Jenn's train was suppose to get into Union Station around 10, followed by an easy eL ride to Rosemont, getting here there around 11...but instead that stinker took a car from the train station to the convention center and was there by like 10:30, making me really late. Shit.
Needless to say, being the self-proclaimed Lulu addict that she is, Jenn got in line without me. By the time I got inline she was already shopping. The stress and panic of being lost, running late, yelling at W because I was lost and late (don't ask), and now waiting in line by myself for who knows how long was almost enough for me to get back in the car and head straight home. The linw as moving relatively quick, and the ladies around me were friendly enough, so I stuck it out. A little under an hour I was entering the sale...
I have to give the Lulu peeps credit, it was no where near as chaotic as I thought it would be. It was busy but not overwhelming. The photo at the top gives you a much better idea of just how HUGE the sale was. Lulu as far as the eye could see. Best news of all was that I was able to find Jenn relatively easily, which calmed me down immensely. Let the shopping and fun finally begin! We shopped and gossiped and hung out at the sale for an hour or two before deciding we had enough!
We tried at this point to get Jenn checked into her hotel, which was a debacle in and of itself. Lost reservation, reservation at the wrong hotel, "husband" out to sea and unavailable...it was a comedy of errors. An hour later she finally had a room. A king bed rather than the requested 2 queens, with 2 complimentry bottles of water and a Twix bar, but it was a room. We sorted through and inventoried our finds, coordinated with another friend who was planning to drive down for the night, and made plans for dinner. All along I had been planning on heading back to Madison Saturdat evening. I did not need 2 days of Lulu shopping. Plus I had painting and cleaning to do at home. STD*, as my office mate would say.
Drinks with friends and stay the night OR Drive home in the dark...hmmm...It was hard to convince me to stay. Real hard.
Jenn's Saturday afternoon finds.
(In all fairness, she was shopping for friend's too.)
A few of the goodies I snagged for my coworker.
We headed to a nearby Mexican restaurant to refuel and enjoy a few margaritas. The bartender, who must have been listening in on our conversation, decided that we deserved bottomless margaritas. We were most definitely not going to argue. :) Our friend Nesa arrived just in time to peruse the sale, again, and the hit up the hotel bar for a nightcap before we all called it a night. After all, the plan was to be up at the crack of down to be the first people in line. Like I said, Bitches Be crazy!
After the debacle that the hotel room was, the hotel was nice enough to offer us complimentary room service for breakfast. Now most normal people would have enjoyed the ROOM service in the room. No, no. Not us. We drew the line at actually rolling the room service cart to the lobby to wait, but that didn't stop us from stacking the plates and bringing it all with us.
Picnic breakfast in line for the sale. Classy.
We waited for close to 2 hours Sunday morning, but we were 5th in line for what that's worth. When the doors opened at nine It was like a yogi death match. There was running, pushing, pulling, grabbing. You name it, it happened. Zen went right out the window. I have never been to a Black Friday sale but I can only imagine this to be the equivalent of people fighting over a $100 87" flat screen tv of the one and only PS7 at Walmart. I am also known for getting claustrophobic in crowds (which isn't really claustrophobia at all...I think it's actually ochlophobia, but you know what I mean). I'm not introverted, at all, but I am definitely too timid for shit like this. I opted to stand guard over the Jenn and Nesa's finds rather than push through the crowds and paw through the racks. An hour later, we were all DONE and OVER IT!
We said our goodbyes. Nesa headed back to Milwaukee, Jenn went to nap before catching the train back to STL, and I am happy to report that I made it home on the first try, with no detours or side trips. :)
I'll try to update this later today with a pic of my goodies. :)
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