So what do you know about this girl?

Ok so as mentioned, I went shopping with my friend Charlie for a bday gift for a girl he has been dating since early December. We were both working from our respective homes yesterday and I was tired of work from being in the midwest this week and dealing with irritating people (see separate blog) plus I got home at like 2am so needless to say, I wasn't feeling work. On Thursday from the midwest airport, I emailed CBrown "lets play hookey tomorrow afternoon and grab lunch and hang out" to which he replied "It could happen"... ok you know I had a response to that!!!

"Could happen? U r so lame. Its a good thing I like being ur go to friend for all things fun. I will call u in the am. Even if we go later than lunch and you bring ur bberry. You know it'd be more fun to get her a gift if I'm there to contribute ideas."

And contribute ideas, I did! I think in the end he spent too much money but after the hassle that is shopping with him, it was worth it. We had a great time and I earned my mini burger, fries and black cherry soda for which he treated!

So we are at lunch and I'm asking him questions about her and I'm giving the typical girl ideas (perfume, earrings - no ring, no necklace- too early on, a small bag) and he says.... mmm maybe a season of Private Practice or some girlie show. I go "um do you like this girl or not?" thats such a blase gift. Then he goes, "I just don't know". So I say, "what does she like?" and he says "thats the problem, I don't know her". Um ok... what! So by this point we are walking through the mall and I gesture to a store "well you could pick a bunch of random crap and put it into a gift basket for her, thats kind of the go to for guys who don't have a clue" he starts laughing bc I hit the nail on the head --> the store, Bath&Body!

We make our way to the directory, on the way we see a women doing that fast walk but I'm not running shuffle across the mall, he looks at me silently portraying 'what?' and without skipping a beat I say "She's in a rush, there's a big sale!". He doubles over laughing. I start scanning the directory and give my top 3 gift ideas:
- Ipod: She has one but I explain he could give her a small one for travel or working out
- Digital Camera: Lots of reasonably priced ones
- Perfume
We head towards Apple store and on the way pass a 'make your own soap' store and it smells god awful, Charlie says "mmm yeah I could buy perfume that ends up smelling like that when its put on and I'll be gagging all the time"... dork! On the way, we see brookstone, I like brookstone for idea generating and take him through some things: keychain digital picture viewer maybe or I teased he could get her a personal massager (yeah you all know what those look like!!). We stop so he can try out the back massager (this one is legit) that RJ & I bought his mom for holidays, Charlie almost bought one.. I had to peel him off the chair! And that is when I saw it... the digital photo frame! Why didn't I think of this sooner? I've bought 2 ppl this for a gift. Charlie loves it but I tell him we can get it cheaper at best buy so off we go.

Best Buy is not in the mall so we have to find our way back to the car which at the Nordstrom garage at Natick mall, it was like that Seinfeld episode!!!

After finally finding the car, it almost came to hitting the panic button, and getting the frame, we headed to target for gift bag and card. I start pointing to girlie gift bags
CBrown "Um, I would NEVER pick that bag"

Hello! its not for you, its for her. Whatever, we finally agree to a bag that still has some pink but is closer to what he might have picked if I wasn't there. Let me tell you miss thang (no nickname for her unless she lasts 6 months... but funny side story, she is younger so I got a lot of jokes in about potential gifts at toys r us or build a bear--- ha I kill myself. Best was when he said "I could just call my sister, they are the same age" and I say "Or you could just give her a gift bag full of $ and tell her its what you get all the 25 yr olds in your life" btw he always gives his sis $... he almost pushed me after that one but I saw the smile!), you can thank me for the good gift bag!! Ok so we have the bag now we need a card. I try to think like a guy.. I pick some basic cards... he vetos them all. He finally finds one and he is SOOOO proud. I read it, its good but then I look at the inside of the cover after I finish reading.....

"Insert Gift Card"

I laugh and show him. 10 mins more of searching and he says "whatever thats the best card" and grabs it.... me "guess you could just say you didn't see it and she'll think ur so adorably helpless"

I did get a little push but I also got treated to gummy bears and we all know Target has the BEST gummy bears.

All in all, a great afternoon!