‘What are you doing today Mel? Going to a have a little visit with your friends, maybe a quick shopping trip?’ This is the question that I get from my husband almost every weekend. He knows my routine and likes to tease me about my ‘quick trips to the mall’ with my friends (a quick trip usually adds up to three hours and includes lunch).
Lunch before shopping
My husband knows that my favourite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon is to get together with my girlfriends. A typical Sunday starts with lunch at one of our regular spots (Earls or the Rockford Grill). The Earls restaurant is a popular spot for us in the summer as it has a huge patio with flowers all around, the music creates a great vibe and the restaurant is always full of people. I don’t remember the last time I went to Earls and it wasn’t busy, but the good thing is that it is very big and unless you are going on a Friday or Saturday night, you rarely have to wait for a table. The Rockford Grill is a trendy restaurant with a great ambiance that serves both traditional and Asian inspired food. With giant lampshades hanging from the ceiling providing low level lighting and private booths, the restaurant is a perfect place for us to catch up. Last weekend when we were at the Rockford, we could hear the server giggle every time she left our table. Our lunch time conversation often rivals that of the ladies on Sex and the City…
Retail therapy
Once lunch is over, we all head to the Pine Centre Mall, which is an indoor mall that features nearly 100 stores. The variety of stores is a good thing for my group of friends as we all have unique styles. While I tend to shop for business clothes, Tasha is a personal trainer who rarely has to dress in anything business-like and usually leans towards a toned-down grunge style when she isn’t dressed in athletic wear; Colleen has a hipster thing going on (although she wouldn’t admit that herself); Sheralyn can’t commit to any particular style and buys anything that catches her eye (somehow this works for her and she always pulls it off); and Tracy is a fashionista who can make any outfit look as though she found it on a model in a magazine. One of my favourite stores at Pine Centre is Le Chateau, but due to my unique group of friends, we visit nearly all of the stores every weekend.
The next stop on our shopping tour is usually Winners, which is a five minute drive from Pine Centre and has something for everyone. You can get the best flavoured coffee beans at Winners! Then we make our way to the Hudson’s Bay Company and usually finish up our day visiting some of the local shops in downtown Prince George. Homework is by far my favourite downtown shop as it has everything from unique gifts to clothing, jewellery, kids toys and even furniture and home decor.
After an afternoon of shopping with my besties, we bid each other goodbye and go our separate ways. I head home to my husband hoping he doesn’t count how many bags I’m carrying (although I’m sure that he just pretends not to notice) and spend a relaxing evening watching a movie and playing fetch with my dog. #TGIF
