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Tommy and I had a bit of a late start this morning. I woke up a little later than I expected, and I text him to tell him that if I don't answer the door right away, I'm in the shower. He didn't leave his house until 9:50 am. He told me that his dog's stomach started rollin' and he was cleaning out his colon, diarrhea, diarrhea.
LMAO...I remember a conversation on facebook involving many renditions of the diarrhea song.
He got to my house at 10 something, and we started our day with Waffle House. It was around noon that we had finished up there, and began to drive south. Thinking of things to do, I mentioned how I had an urge to go to Towson, and possibly White Marsh. The original plan was to do that, until Tommy mentioned how we haven't been to Potomac Mills in years. The plan was averted to Potomac Mills. We were stuck in traffic for a good 30 minutes around the Tyson's area. Even as we got closer towards the Woodbridge area, the traffic picked up again. It was all the construction. We acted stupid when we saw the Potomac Mills sign, and took pictures of the entrance. People looked at us like we were such tourists, but it was exciting. The last time I was there, I was about 9 or 10 years old. That place has definitely changed a lot. It's not as busy as Arundel Mills. There's a new movie theater and a Costco. The Ikea is still there. We talked about how we used to complain every time we went, because our trip always ended at Ikea, and everyone would always buy a ton of stuff. The itis began to kick in as soon as we entered the mall, and both of us were trudging along. I wasn't really trying to buy anything, except a reading light, and Tommy found this kiosk that sold belt buckles with the belts for a reasonable price. I think Tommy was the one who was going to do more of the shopping. We both assumed that the mall would go full circle, but it ended with exits to the parking lots. We had to turn back around and go towards the food court, where we parked. As soon as we reached the food court, we hauled ass to Starbucks. The itis really kicked in, and we were in dire need of caffeine. We got our drinks and decided that it would be a good idea to sit there for a while. They had a really nice lounge area with really comfy couches. Both of us almost fell asleep there. The one thing I noticed about Potomac Mills is that it's Pinoy central. It almost reminded me of the malls in the Philippines, only there weren't 20 Pinoys going "psst!" We did our round of the second half of the mall, and made it as far as Five Below. From there we made our way to Ikea; oh my gosh! Of course now that we're old enough to appreciate it, the trip to Ikea was more welcoming. I scanned the lighting area and found a really nice desk lamp for $5. We saw some cacti, and Tommy kept telling me to touch it. I told him to touch it, and that inane argument lead to me telling him to touch it with his face. We browsed through the ready to hang art, and deliberated on which pieces each of us would get when we get our own places. They still had the Audrey Hepburn picture, so of course I would get that. There was a beautiful photo of Paris; the entire photo is black and white, but the Eifle Tower is the only thing in color. Tommy showed me a photo of a twisted tree on a beach he would get, and some abstract impressionist paintings he would like. On our way towards the warehouse/check out area, we saw a display of pet furniture. There were dog and cat beds, a cat couch (I would still get it for Maxx), mini tents, toys, etc. I thought it was the coolest thing!

The drive home was a nightmare. We had hit the rush hour traffic, and took a wrong turn somewhere. The signs in Virginia aren't helpful, so you don't know where you're going until you've missed the exit. We ended up taking the Wilson bridge to PG county, and drove up from there. Traffic was horrendous, and there was no other outlet until we've reached the College Park area. From there I exited off, and drove through Wheaton and dealt with that traffic. The sleep deprivation really got to us; we began laughing at the stupidest things. I saw a car with a hanging tag that said, "I love my Bichon Fries". Tommy asked how one would pronounce that, I jokingly said, "bitch on fries (think french fries)". That pretty much became the new inside joke. Tommy had to leave my area no later than 6:30 to beat his mom home; I guess she thinks that her son is at school "studying" for God knows what. We both talked about our plans to crash as soon as we got to our houses. I told him how I'm going to lounge in my chair and read and take a nap, he said he was going to turn on his laptop, put some music on and crash in his bed. We barely made that deadline, I pulled into my driveway at 6:20 pm. As soon as I got home, I changed, grabbed my tote bag of books, assembled my new desk lamp and put it to work. None the less I fell asleep reading. Impromptu road trips are always fun. We plan on going back next week, only this time we'll hit up Potomac Mills much earlier.