Giveaway for anyone, anywhere, because I hate to discriminate

A few weekends ago, I was thrilled to be invited to The Shops of Grand River for brunch and a Fall Fashion Tutorial, courtesy of Grand River (of course), the team at KC Projects and the oh-so-fabulous Tracy James.

Now. I know what you're all thinking: "Grass. You're SO fashionable, why in the WORLD would you need to go to a fashion tutorial, unless it was to be the guest speaker?"

You're right. But sometimes you have to be the change you want to see in this world. I had to set my ego aside, pull my maternity shorts up and try to get over the fact that I wasn't asked to speak. My friend Rachel -- otherwise a lovely, affirming person -- had invited me to simply OBSERVE.

Oh, and spend a $50 gift card on the premises AND give one away to one of you. So there's that.

I'd love to tell you that I was wearing my black maternity shorts because A) I thought they'd be the most forgiving apparel for the sprinting I needed to do during our blogger scavenger hunt; or B) I'm pregnant (biologically 99.9% impossible), but neither of those things is true. I was wearing them because they're what fit. It was hard to show up at a fashion event not-pregnant-and-wearing-maternity-shorts, but it became markedly harder once Tracy James made a reference to how hard it can be to find clothes appropriate for her IN THE JUNIORS' SECTION OF THE STORE OH MAH GAW KILL ME NOW.

But other than that single offhanded remark, she was perfectly delightful.

She gave a funny, thoughtful, stylish presentation on all of the top trends for Fall and Winter, and she had examples of almost everything with her. The BRILLIANT thing was that everything there could be purchased at Grand River. And let me tell you, was THAT effective. A couple of women couldn't get out that door fast enough at the end of the presentation to find some of the hottest items.

Rachel, Robin, Jamie and I looked around for jeans, and I almost melted in a puddle of sweat right there in the dressing room. Shopping makes me sweat, shopping for jeans makes me sweat even grosser, and shopping for jeans while girlfriends shout out numbers ranging from 1 to 10 at my butt makes me sweat to the point where I'm likely to give you a look like this if you try to take a picture of me at that moment:

Just ask Robin.

Regardless, the day was completely worth the sweat and the maternity shorts. I got to spend lots of time with some of my favorite people:

(Thanks to Beth for this picture of Robin, Stephanie and Beth.)

AND, I still get to share some of the fun with you.

So here's the deal: I have a $50 gift card from The Shops of Grand River to give away to one of you. But I feel bad that it's only local, because I want anyone to be able to win and use it. So when I pull a winning number or whatever it is I'll do to determine a winner, if someone out of town/state wins, I'll substitute a $25 Target gift card. Then I'll choose again for an in-town winner. But if an in-towner gets pulled first, I get to save my $25 to put toward some new maternity shorts.

It's as simple as leaving a comment ... One comment per person, please. Good luck! Comments close on Thursday night.

Disclosure: I was given $50 gift card to spend on myself and a $50 gift card for a reader giveaway in exchange for attending this event. I also got to eat an amazing brunch. My opinions and maternity shorts are completely my own. Not that The Shops of Grand River are going to want to be claiming credit for anything within this post, but you know. Full disclosure and all that.