Dziękuję – the only Polish word I know, means Thank You. According to Google Translate it’s pronounced ‘gin-koo-ya’, which means though it’s my only only word, I’ve been saying it all wrong.

I just took a whirlwind Polish Pottery shopping adventure with the Spouses’ Club. We departed by bus at 10:00pm Monday, arrived at our first store at 6:30am Tuesday, shopped all day with a lunch break, and set out to return at 5:30pm. We finally pulled back into my neighborhood at 1:40 this morning. That’s about 950 miles and more than 10 shops with 23 other women in 27 hours if you’re keeping track. To say I was exhausted would be a gigantic understatement. I probably won’t do that again, but I’m so glad I did. Fun times, great deals, and an added bonus: memorable election results from friends in the States via text message and e-mail.

Rest stop on the Germany/Poland border for breakfast.

I stood at this spot for the longest time…

And as I was walking back to our bus? I got a message from my sister that said, “OMG!!!!!!! Yayy!!!!!! Bronco Bama!!!! YAY!!!!!!! Omg omg omg!!!!!!!!!!”

And another from Carey that said, “Obama WINS!!!!!!”

And one from Angie that read, “Woo hoo! Yes, I’m crying and I have chill bumps. Empire state bldg is blue!!!!”

All at the same time.

I was so sad that I wasn’t on the couch watching cable news with them, but I am so glad I’ll always have that memory.

Back on board the bus, I donned my Ojamas and popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

And then we shopped, shopped, shopped.

We had delicious Perogies, apple pancakes, local beer, and Honey Vodka(!) for lunch.

And after lunch? More shopping.

I won’t disclose how many hours I slept today! And as soon as I hit ‘publish’ on this post, I am going to bed.

Dziękuję for the memories, Poland!