Adventures in Shopping

Today is a grab-bag day: saw a shiatsu client, then zipped 40 minutes away for a TB test required to do volunteer work, made a couple phone calls, and en route back from TB test, stopped at a mall to shop for my friend's bridal shower tomorrow. (Still have to get teeth cleaned, pick up antibiotics, and--the fun part--dance away at a Nia master class this evening.)

But let's zoom in on the mall for a moment. After grabbing delicious Indian food at the food court for lunch (naan and everything, hurray!), I stopped by Macy*s, hoping for a hat. The invitation to the bridal shower--tea at a seaside inn--encouraged me to wear a garish garden-party hat. You don't have to ask me twice to don a floppy monstrosity. I've been looking for the right hat for a while, but I have a relatively large skull and mounds of hair, and therefore all hat-contenders have been too small. But luck was a lady today, as I found a bright bright bright pink straw hat with a ribbon, and it fits over my curls, for 50% off*. Blessing #1 from the Mall Gods.

I felt rather out of place in Macy*s, a store populated by manicured, coiffed, made-up women in pastel sundresses and color-coordinated heeled sandals. I left the mall and paused to drink wonderful chai from Indian food court place in my car, blasting the A/C, and call my mom to ask about shower gift protocol. She encouraged me to go off-registry, save the registry items for the actual wedding, and just purchase something from the heart my friend would like. I appreciated my dear mother's counsel, specially because it spared me a trip to the heinous, big box store known as Bed, Bath, and BEYOND.

So back into the mall I trooped, making a bee line for Williams and Sonoma. And I have to tell y'all, in stark contrast to Macy*s, at W&S I felt as if I'd been beamed up to the Mother Ship. There we all shopped, casual in our Eddie Bauer tees and khakis (or variations thereof), most of us wearing distinctly different, yet similar, plastic frame glasses, no "done" hair in sight. I became best friends with the checkout guy in 5 seconds. In addition to the heat-resistant (to 800F!) spatula for my friend (in pink, naturally), I picked up a book about tea for me. It was marked down to $7.99, but it rang up at $5.99--it was on a double sale, my new BFF the cashier told me! Blessing #2 from the Mall Gods.

Then, blissing out in the good shopping mall A/C, I had to stop by the bookstore because W&S, love it though I do, has no Jacques Pepin cookbooks, and what shower is complete without Fast Food My Way? Well, the Little Chain Bookstore (name still on the sign) was bought out by Big Chain Bookstore (name on the bags), and although normally this would make me sad, this Big Chain really is better than the Little Chain was, and besides which, I have a discount card for this Big Chain. So, Blessing #3 from the Mall Gods, Fast Food My Way was 30% off today, which wasn't even posted anywhere.

Dentist time!





*Yes, in fact I am wearing my favorite new hat right now as I type. No, it doesn't go with my red tee shirt. What's it to you?