Tonight we went to dinner at Maggiano’s because we had a gift card.  And, really, what better way is there to celebrate the commencement of your weekend than to go spend free money on delicious food you don’t have to make?  THERE ISN’T ONE.  We were all going to the free valet parking, since it was Maggiano’s, but when we got there…the Valet guy wasn’t at his post.  So instead of driving up there and sitting around waiting for him to show up, like the couple of idiots we are, we just parked and walked in.

And I was all, well, we didn’t get the valet experience, BUT WE SAVED THE $1 TIP.

So we’ve still never actually valet parked our car.  I guess this is one experience we’re just going to have to forego.

We managed to only use half of our gift card, and we squealed to ourselves as we walked out the door carrying a bag of leftovers that this was even more awesome since we could go out for dinner again!!!!

I had recently come into possession of some Christmas money, some of which was in the form of a gift card to Williams Sonoma.  I love Williams Sonoma with all of my heart, because I love to browse the tools and pans and various awesome things they have.  But what I really covet every single time I go in there?  The essential oil kitchen candles.

Yeah…I realize it’s the totally wrong thing to covet in a store full of All-Clad pots and pans and Le Creuset French Ovens.  That’s just how it is.

I agonized for a good 30 minutes over the best, most effective way to maximize my gift card.

Then, I did what I thought I would do from the moment walked in the store.

I bought a kitchen candle.  Because it is my Christmas gift card, and those should be squandered in semi-careless fashion.

I got the Basil scent.  It smells….heavenly.  And the odd thing is that I really don’t care for the scent of basil in my food.  (If you really want to know, whenever I smell it, it makes me feel like I’m going to throw up.  And if you didn’t want to know, then sorry.)

After Williams Sonoma, we continued our lap around NorthPark (as we usually do), and as we walked past the Aveda store, Joey said, “Oh!  You should go in, they’re giving samples today with a hair consultation.”

I tried to tell him I didn’t want to.  Because I was really kind of ambivalent about it and, frankly, I think those hair consultation things are uncomfortable.  (I don’t like random strangers touching my head, OK?)  I did one last time I was in there buying Smooth Infusion Glossing Straightener, which I highly recommend, and I felt like I didn’t really need to repeat the experience.

But somehow we were propelled into the store, mostly because Joey was steering me in.

Like I said, I feel really uncomfortable with these types of things.  So we started looking (awkwardly) at the Scalp Remedy I got recently to kind of give us an alibi for being in there in the first place.  Like we were in there for something other than the free stuff.  And the sales guy came over to us and said, “Hi, how are you?”

I totally froze.  I looked at him with that deer in the headlights look that under-socialized engineering students at Iowa State University have, and I said “Um, fine.”

Then I said, “He needs a hair consultation,” and shoved Joey forward.

The look he gave me was not unlike what you would see from one of those reality shows where there’s a lot of backstabbing and cut-throat type competition.  I’m pretty sure he wanted my head on a platter.

So there he stood, poor, poor Joey, as the sales man messed around with his hair and asked him what he put in it.  He sampled the styling creme and then the sales man dashed off to get some samples.  Joey glared at me while we waited, and soon enough the sales  man floated back to drop the samples in our bags.  And then we got out of there as fast as he could drag me.

“YOU THREW ME UNDER THE BUS!” He gasped.  I think he had been holding his breath the entire time we were in the store.

“Well….well I didn’t really want to do it in the first place,” I said.  ”But we got you free samples of the shampo you already use!” I chirped.  ”And samples of the gel too!”

Yes, yes.  Joey already uses the Aveda manly shampoo and conditioner and gel.  So the consultation was totally unnecessary.

“I cannot believe you threw me under the bus,” he said again.

It happens.