Shopping on Saturday

It felt a lot like Black Friday. We woke up in the middle of the night so we could be close enough in line to get our hands on the prize when the sale started at the crack of dawn. It was the REI Used Gear Sale, and we were in search of the $150(!) BOB Revolution SE. See, Jake is almost -- finally -- old enough to take running in a jogging stroller, so it's time to take the plunge and buy ourselves a BOB (you can go on walks with babies in a jogging stroller, but aren't supposed to actually run with them until they are at least 8-months-old). Our friends Shaun and Amber are having their little girl in July and are also in search of a BOB to use as their all-around stroller. We knew the odds of getting the stroller were slim, so it was a good thing we had other items on our shopping list.

REI has an incredible return policy ala Nordstrom, so the Used Gear Sale is where they unload all of their practically-perfect condition items that had just already been opened, along with some overstocked items, at steep discounts. As presumed, neither of us got the BOB (um, those went to people who had camped out since 9 the night before), but we did get some pretty sweet deals on other sporty necessities. Matt snagged a much-needed $350 bike rack for just $35(!) and  overstocked $200 winter cycling pants for just $29, and I got a $70 Burton snowboard bag for $7 and some $50 Smartwool tights for $6, among other things. Not too shabby.

To celebrate our luck and fill our bellies, we headed to the Phelan Good Cafe in Shaun and Amber's Redondo Beach neighborhood for a delicious breakfast. A few naps and showers later, we found ourselves roaming the three-story IKEA in Carson, where they actually had our desired items in stock. It was a rather successful shopping day.