if you can't stop thinking about it...buy it.

Shopping and travel are two of my favourite pastimes. Every once and a while? Those loves are combined. That happened recently when my mom and I took a shopping bus tour to Eerie, Pennsylvania. We actually took this same trip last year and had such a great time that we decided to go again! Essentially, it is a three-day trip, full of shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Since the holiday season is quickly approaching (can you believe it?!) this seemed like the perfect time to share a little bit of my experience with you all. And hopefully inspire you with your own seasonal shopping. Here goes....

It started very early on a Friday morning. Very early. Long before the sun came up, we were sitting on a bus full of shoppers heading towards the border. After a quick stop at the duty free store, we continued on our way until we arrived in Eerie. The bus dropped us off at the Millcreek Mall for a couple of hours (it would pick us up after that to check into the hotel and then bring us back to the mall for a few more hours). Though everyone else went into the mall right away....we went to the stores across from there first. It included Ross For Less, Ulta, Five Below, and a Christmas store. Basically, my paradise! We found tons of great deals and I picked up the Jaclyn Hill Morphe palette and some Paris Hilton makeup. It was super exciting.

After checking into the hotel we went back to the mall and did a bit more shopping. The highlights of that included Hallmark (there were some awesome DVDs there) and mailing a letter to Santa at Macy's. We didn't find a whole lot during that part of the evening but it was fun to see all of the holiday decorations everywhere. The mall even had a massive tree set up. Even though it was only the beginning of November. For a Christmas fanatic like me, that was extra special.

After that, we went back to the hotel to eat and unwind for the rest of the evening. Then bright and early the next day, we drove an hour to the Grove City outlet mall. This place was huge and there were a ton of different stores to look at. It was definitely a really long day (we were there for about six hours) but we got a lot of great deals, found some Christmas presents, and had fun. The bus then took us all to the Cracker Barrel for dinner and that was really great. We don't have those where I live so it is always exciting to go inside. The store is amazing, the decor is fantastic, and my food was really good. After dinner, we were dropped off at a plaza that had Kohl's for a couple of hours. I had gone there with the intention of buying something from Lauren Conrad's line....but alas. There was nothing that I really fell in love with. And the prices were pretty high, considering!

Once we finished at Kohl's, it was time to head back to the hotel and pack. We filled our suitcases with everything we had purchased the last couple of days and added up our receipts. Not a fun time! Then it was another crazy early morning for the trip home and some last minute shopping. We loaded up the bus and went over to Wal-Mart to browse. (I ended up finding a really cute Minnie Mouse onesie and some awesome holiday movies.) Then it was over to my favourite place....Target! I seriously love Target and was sad when they closed them in Canada. So it is always exciting when I am able to visit one.

We drove a couple of hours towards the Niagara Falls border and made a quick stop off at an outlet mall. Though we didn't have much time there (about an hour and a half) we were able to get in some last-minute shopping at the Disney Store and a couple of other places. Then before we knew it....it was back on the bus to cross the border and head home.

It was a weekend that was busy, hectic, exhausting, and full of fun. My mom and I had a really good time shopping and getting excited about the holiday season. Definitely a weekend to remember!

Have you done any shopping lately?

xo Shannon