image via Ontario Mills
Saturday I had the chance to get out of town for a bit. I had time to kill in Ontario, CA so I took the opportunity to have a very leisurely day by myself shopping and having a fabulous lunch. My first stop was to Joann craft and fabric store. I learned something about myself there. I have to go with a purpose. I actually have a few different projects in mind to do and had a little research to do on each one of them. I thought at the end of my research I would pick one or two of them to do and buy what I needed and get going on them.
Instead what I learned is that wandering every aisle and pouring over everything in that store just leaves me at the end totally depleted and overwhelmed. I looked at fabric for gauze cotton scarves, I looked at all the great chunky yarn, I studied up on fabric dyes, wood storage units, large cardboard letters, ribbons, scrapbook paper, holiday decorations and more. By the end I was completely without motivation to choose anything and couldn't wait to get out of the store. From now on I go in with a short shopping list, buy what I need and leave. I decided on a nice long wander at the dollar store next door.
After my wander to the dollar store, I headed across the street to Ontario Mills. I rarely have time to stop there of it I do I just make a quick in and out to two favorite stores right near an exit. But since I had the time I did the entire wander. I tried on a mountain of clothes at Gap Outlet, and went in every store that interested me. It's a great time of year to outlet shop, there are incredible sales. If you live in a warmer climate now is the time to stock up on clearance sale summer clothing. Lots of the fall stuff is on sale too, which is great for those in cold climates. Living in a place where I only wear fall clothing a few days a year, getting stuff on sale is a great way to go. No need for a giant seasonal clothing investment.
I was pleased to realize that Ontario Mills has a great food court. It looks like it's all very recently been done because it's very hip and cool looking while some other areas of the mall are a little dated. There were lots of food options. Since we don't live near a Chipotle I had a fantastic burrito in a bowl with barbacoa and chicken and their delicious limey, salty chips with a soda splurge.
It was so nice to sit and eat in peace without having cooked it, without having to jump up to get anyone anything or even have to converse. Heaven! You forget how exhausting mealtime can be when your managing the meal and feeding people three times a day. No heartburn, no dishes, no telling anyone to each their spinach, no cleaning up spilled water, no listening to other people chew loudly looking at how they are mangling their food on their plates, NO DISHES!!! I need to eat alone more often!
After lunch I completed my long journey around the circular behemoth mall. I found lots of temptations, including giving up on a pair of lime green leather clogs on clearance that I went totally ga-ga over and a pretty leather bag that was forty percent off. I didn't buy the cute flat pink leather sandals that felt like canoes on my feet but would have been perfect for standing and long walking days at amusement parks, museums, pumpkin patches and parks I find myself at so frequently. It's funny I'm still thinking of a few things.
I still have a little time to kill so I headed to DSW and Target. At DSW I finally gave up on pouring over all the lovely riding boots I had been looking at all day. I don't really need riding boots, as gorgeous as they are when I live in a climate where I can really only stand to wear boots about 10 days a year. I have a nice pair I keep to wear when I visit the family in the winter and I wear then every once in a while here. But honestly investing in boots that are just going to sit in my closet is a little silly. But boy do they have some gorgeous pairs out this season.
At Target I learned a big lesson. I found a faux leather jacket that I thought would be an awesome "high-low" style piece, something inexpensive that could be mixed with more upscale items to create a great look. In seconds I came up with a ton of different ways I could wear it and things in my closet that would work well with it. I am super picky about faux leather but not totally opposed. I tried on the jacket about five times, like it, thought I should get it. Texted my sisters asking their advice, no one responded. I balked & left the jacket at the register.
An hour later my sisters both texted me back, "get it". Great. I was still thinking about it too. So I headed back to Target. Checked at the register I left it at, even caught the same guy who was doing "go backs" when I was there. He had taken it to customer service, so he was nice enough to walk me over there and go through all the bins looking for it. When it wasn't there he said it must be back on the racks. No, no it wasn't. I actually went back to the department four different times while The Bug and I wandered Target and it never came back. Someone must've snagged it. Big mistake. Agh!
When I got home & checked online and of course they don't have the jacket available online. Maybe I will go check the two Targets about 20 minutes from here, but I don't have high hopes. I kind of feel like the shopping gods are just going to punish me to teach me a lesson on this one. I'm sure tomorrow morning I will see it on the pages of InStyle magazine as a great "high-low" fashion look on some supermodel or celebrity.
But hey, I'll just keep reminding myself how nice it was to eat all by myself. That was reward enough for one day. Next time I go shopping all day I'm taking someone with me who can give me an instant opinion. Do you like to shop alone or do you need someone with you? Have you ever put something back and then regretted it?
No comments:
Post a Comment