My friend/business partner P. and I went to a medical conference last week in San Antonio, TX.

I lived there from 2005-2008, so this was a Homecoming of sorts for me.

I introduced her to the prickly pear margarita.

And we saw Dolly.

Yes, that was The Real Dolly. She was gracious and gorgeous in person.

I also had dinner with my dear friend J. and we had some of the most beautifully presented sushi I’ve ever had.

Yes, two of those plates are on fire.

On our last day, P. and I also hit up the San Marcos Premium Outlets, which are about halfway between San Antonio and Austin, and all the way to Awesome. 

The last time I went to the outlets was two years ago, on a trip to Austin with my friend A. She and I both had extremely good luck with our finds and I was hoping that P. and I would have a similar fate.

We did.

Here were the best deals of the day:

At the start of our trip, P. and I both said that we wished we had a backpack for travel. The Tumi store did not disappoint. There were at least ten different styles, most for about half off retail. P. selected a more business-y version than the one above, which was my choice. It’s roomy and the chunky zippers make it casual enough for leisure travel.

Kate Spade had some witty finds, including this cute bunny coin purse:

And this tee:

Yes, Glitter *is* my favorite color.

And how about that scarf?

It has a sibling:

These Burberry scarves were an ok deal. I was disappointed because they had a lot of coats for about 75% off, but I didn’t quite find one that worked. I had to pump the brakes because I was finding all kinds of ways to justify buying an ill-fitting Burberry coat simply because it was a deal. Luckily P. said – nicely – to walk away, and I did. Sigh. No coat.

We also had a family photo last weekend and I also had the pressure to find something coordinating for us to wear. For Spouse and MGM (10), I found shirts at the Vineyard Vines outlet. This was my first time shopping there and I will be back. Trixie (8) got a sweater from J. Crew in a color that picked up the plaid pattern in Spouse’s shirt. I decided to repurpose a blouse I already had but added a sparkly necklace from the J. Crew outlet.

Overall, P. had similar luck. We had to stagger back to our hotel room and then comically cram our bags with our outlet finds to make it home.

The last bit of our trip found us having breakfast with my terrific friend L, who was kind enough to meet us in the A.M. even though she’d been up delivering babies all night.

Successful trip. I miss you, San Antonio.