It was a brisk Friday night. Work was rough and never-ending, which is always how it feels on a Friday. New projects with tough deadlines and expectations that led to DOS bringing her work computer home to catch up. As she trudges towards the train station, she starts to slow down due to the weight of her laptop, purse, lunch bag, and thick winter jacket and curses in her head for she hates being on the train and carrying so many things. The day made even worse for the trains were running slow and there were issues with the Purple train line causing DOS to stand on a platform waiting for 40 minutes.
It took three trains for her to be able to get on and finally wedge herself between two large and burly men. She quickly decides she cannot survive an entire 30 minute ride with a man's armpit in her face and decides to stop at the station closest to Blog Nazi's work. Luck finally shines as she was just in time to catch him with the car on his way home. Frustrated and annoyed with the conclusion of her day, DOS drags her feet as she walks up to the door of their condo. Blog Nazi turns the key and Wrigles greets them at the door, bouncing insanely and wagging his tail frantically, for he missed them so much. DOS gives him a strained smile and a pat on the head, then runs over to the thermostat to immediately turn the heat on and warm the house.
As they slowly change out of their mundane work attires, DOS turns to Blog Nazi and says "So... feel like camping out in front of H&M?"
LOL! Hey guys! So I had me a pretty insane weekend. Yes. I did it. I stood in line in front of H&M for 13 hours for the chance to snag items from the Versace for H&M collection. Never ever have I done anything this crazy for clothes. I'm actually really surprised I did it and oddly proud of myself for doing so. But what really blows my mind is that Blog Nazi was with me the whole time. I love my hubby, but lets be honest here. He's not the most "down to do stuff" guy in the world. Most of the time I, like most wives, have to force him to do things. Snowboard, jet ski, ride a segway... the list goes on. So when he said, "If you really want to do this, I'll go with you", I was pretty floored. He considered it his gift to me to celebrate our 9 year "fake-iversary". It's basically our "dating" anniversary. As of this past weekend, we have been together for 9 years. I have officially been with Blog Nazi for one third of my life. Yikes!
I still wasn't 100% certain that I wanted to do this. So we set out just to see how bad the lines were as of 7PM Friday night. I dressed pretty warmly just in case. There were only two stores in Illinois that were carrying the line. State Street and Michigan Avenue. As we drive past the Michigan Avenue store, it was clear to see that the line had already formed. There looked to be already around 50 people camped out on the sidewalk and the line was beginning to wrap around the block. Seeing the dedicated people made me think to myself, "I can do this!" We proceed to head to the State Street store out of curiosity only to find that there was no one yet in line. That was it, my signal that I could be one of the first in the store. I hopped out of the car and went inside. The sales rep told me they would be getting the entire line but in a lesser quantity than Michigan Avenue. Good enough for me considering there was no one in line.
As I get back outside, I notice one lone person had started "the line". She was on her phone and she tossed me an awkward smile. I smiled back and took my place next to her. Turns out she wasn't even there for herself. She was there for her boyfriend. Her boyfriend got there about 10 minutes after I decided to stand in line. The following 13 hours were spent sitting up against the storefront, chatting it up with random peeps, and taking turns getting coffee.
As each hour passed, we all got a bit more settled in and around 3AM, everything was pretty quiet. I did spend from 4AM-5AM holding in my pee. If you know anything about the Loop area in Chicago, then you know there is barely anything that is open 24 hours. There was one lone Dunkin Donuts but the guy said "We have no bathroom here" and to which I responded "So do you pee in a cup while you work then?!" Sheesh! I contemplated the alley by the H&M but quickly realized it had cameras all over the place. I contemplated many other alleys but decided to hold it and save my dignity.
The rest of the night was pretty much a blur. When 7AM finally hit, we were rewarded with our bracelets. The way it worked was that the first 280 people in line received one of 14 different colored bracelets. Each color represented your particular time slot. The entire collection was fenced off within the store. Once your time slot was called, you would be let into the collection and have exactly 15 minutes to grab items. You were limited to two of the same item but at different sizes. For example, I was able to grab the same skirt but in a size 2 and 4. Not two of the size 2. As soon as we stepped foot in the section, it was a mad dash to grab my sizes (There was another teeny Asian girl that was 6th in line so I had to cut her off! Funny because we were super buddy buddy all night... hehehe). And being delirious from a lack of sleep and gallons of coffee, I made some mistakes that I now regret. Such as grabbing only one of the highly sought out fur vests. And damn why didn't I think of grabbing one of those Kanye Jackets?! Obviously not for myself but for some reason that was a hot ticket item. Most of the guys that were in line were there for that one jacket. I guess it's one of those rookie mistakes. Shoots!
I grabbed all the items I had my eye on and then a few more things I was iffy about. Now that I think back on it, I should have just grabbed two of everything so that the entire 13 hours would have been much more worth it. I didn't bother to try anything on. Just straight to register. One swipe of the credit card and we were out the door. We were only in the store for a total of 45 minutes. We got home jittery and pumped with adrenaline. It took about another hour for that to subside and exhaustion set in. Blog Nazi hit the bed and was snoring in 10 seconds.
So was it worth it? When I look back, yea it kind of was! Not only did I get all the things I really liked, I had fun doing it. There were definitely some hours where I was just plain miserable but overall the experience was worth it. Sitting outside and meeting people just as cray cray as I was. Making jokes and laughing at things to help the time pass faster. And it was totally amazing to have gone through it with my partner in crime. =) I really didn't think Blog Nazi would last let alone actually enjoy himself. I think it's one of those things where it felt like a total adventure and completely different from the norm. Life can sometimes become repetitive and predictable so when you go through something different and odd, it feels rewarding. I was extremely proud of the fact that after all this time, I can still pull off an all nighter if I HAD to. Hahahaha!
I can't wait to show you all what I got. If you read this whole thing, here are some digital hugs and kisses for ya! xoxoxoxoxoxoxo! I'll also be selling off my extra stock. I'm going to post exactly what I have and you can go ahead and email me if you are interested =D dos@drunkonshoes.com
Thanks loves!
-DOS
