Sucker!

That is soooo what I am. This morning I went with Helen to an invitation-only preview of San Francisco's new Bloomingdales, which is set to open tomorrow, along with the expansion of the Westfield Shopping Center. After waiting in a line that moved quickly but stretched around the block, we entered the pristine and shiny new space. Salespeople were readily available, displays had yet to be mussed and tester lipstick sported nary a smudge.

At the end of the day, though, it is still just a department store. So I vowed only to look. I was not going to be sucked into making a purchase just because a big mall is opening tomorrow. Please, I'm way too strong to fall for that sort of amateur trickery.

Famous last words.

First, I saw the pashminas. Luckily, none of them really grabbed me, so I walked away. But when we got to the third (or was it the fourth?) floor, I was lured in by the cute mod-style coats. I actually tried on a $525 Diane Von Furstenberg number but was able to resist. Barely. This, after they had removed it from the mannequin for me. There was also an adorable black and white Tibby coat, but I was too late; someone else bought the last one in the store (also stripped off a mannequin) before I could pounce. However, before you conclude that my will power and poor fortune saved my credit card balance, I did see a darling BCBG Max Azria dress that I tried on "just for fun." They had only one in my size, and it fit perfectly. Who cares that I just bought a new dress for Matt's wedding; Bloomingdales only had one of these dresses in my size on their preview day, and I had found it!

The dress is now hanging in my closet, and Visa is very happy that I am one of their customers. And for the record, I am now on a mission: a cute mod coat will be mine before the season is done.

In other random news...

Do you have friends with whom you just laugh until your side aches? For me, one of those friends is Ann Marie. She and I are like junior high school girls without all the catty back-stabbing. We got together at Favorite Bar last night, and the giggle fits kicked in immediately. Some of the words that crack us up: yeti, thing, stinky, tambourine. Out of context this list probably seems pretty lame, but believe me, it is actually incredibly funny.

While I was at the gym today, I heard a Celine Dion song that once had been a staple at a former job of mine. In hindsight, I have no idea how I lived through all those months. The gym was redeemed a few minutes later when The English Beat's "Twist and Crawl" poured out of their sound system. For that job, however, there was no redemption. Getting let go from that position was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and my current workplace is 100% Celine-free. Thank goodness.

I was supposed to go to a wine tasting event with Emily tonight, but we both flaked. She has to go out of town in the morning, and frankly, all my shopping today wore me out. But tomorrow I am meeting Fabulous Patti and her new gentleman friend at Zeitgeist before embarking on day one of a... um... music project I'm doing with some co-workers of mine. More details on the music project once I assess just how embarrassing it will be for us. Then on Friday I'm going with Tom, Carolyn and maybe Dima to see Tippy Canoe and the Paddlemen. Yay!!! And on Saturday I see my other friend Tom, who has proven very elusive for the past few months. I'd say it was a good call to stay in tonight and rest up in anticipation of all that.