Minnie Trip: Entry 2. The one where she's had 4 hours of sleep

3:59 a.m. That's what the clock read when Amara and I got into our room. We'd spent 12 hours on the bus.

I spent Wednesday night at my parents' so that when I was done work for the day on Thursday they could pick me up with all my luggage already loaded. When I packed on Wednesday I failed to recognize that my last workday for the week would only feel like Friday, but not actually be Friday--casual day. I got dressed in my jeans and Abercrombie t-shirt at six a.m. and then realized my error. (My mom is shaking her head right now and saying,"you little kapusta".) What were my options? Driving to my house to pick up dress pants was out--the city was under a fresh dumping of snow. Cruise into the office in my denim and shrug it off as a minor oops? Not cool on a day when I had a 10 a.m. with the manager of HR. I opened up the folding door on my old bedroom closet and browsed options there--my college grad dress? My mom's winter formal pants? My sister's first lab coat? I scored when I landed on a mandarin style satin dress--two sizes two big for me, but passable. I'd packed some black heels for the trip that would go with. I wore the jeans and t-shirt to catch the bus but did a quick change in the bathroom when I got to the office. No one was any the wiser.

In a few minutes now Amara and I will join the rest of the ladies back on that damn bus and take the 40 minute or so trip to the outlet mall. We're kind of scared. The parking lots as we drove by them at 3:30 this morning were packed like it was a Saturday afternoon. Are the stores even going to have anything left for us? Will report to you later. Wish me luck!