A Day of Shopping

I love having a day to myself. No husband. No kids. No extended family. No birthday parties. Just me, myself and I. Actually, I didn’t realize how much I loved spending a day alone, until my trip to LA, a week ago, reminded me. (Yes, I’m still talking about this trip.)

It was Black Friday, and I was not dying to go to The La Brea Tar Pits or Griffith’s Observatory. Firstly, we had just been there this summer. And, secondly, I was itching to do some shopping. So, really, this is when being the only female in the family does come in quite handy. Mark, living by “happy wife, happy life,” decided we should split up for the day. He took the boys for a day of fun-filled sight-seeing, while I headed out, to do my own thing.

My day started with a drive down Rodeo. In a word, exciting. Here, I thought I was going to have a day of mindless shopping, when I found myself in the middle of an actual PETA demonstration.

PETA occupies Rodeo!

Can you see the sign that says "Only Frigid Women Wear Fur?"

I was so enthralled, that I told the driver, “Stop! I have to get some pictures of this!” Ralph, my driver, (sounds fancy but Ralph came with the hotel) immediately stepped on the brakes, and almost sent me flying. I love how committed the PETA protesters are to their cause. They seemed totally unfazed by the lack of public participation. Check out the pedestrians below.

Clearly, the demonstration made quite an impact on Rodeo Drive. That one guy was snapping pics like me. Tourists.

I then headed over to Roberston for some retail therapy.  Check out the first thing I purchased…

Soft. Navy dyed rabbit fur clutch at Philip Lim on North Robertson.

Kidding. Kidding. I had to do it.

Seriously, I have a real shopping problem, and it’s not what you think. (I’ll be tackling this issue in a future post.) I will tell you, my shopping problem often results in the accrual of many store credits. Luckily, no matter where I am in the world, those credits are always with me. Listen, you never know when you might be able to whip them out, so I highly recommend keeping a pouch in your bag for “store credits only.”

And, that’s exactly what happened to me when I found myself in the Philip Lim store on North Robertson. Wouldn’t you know, I had a credit that was approaching it’s one year expiration date. Thankfully, I was able to use it. And, boy, did I use it. I even added to it. You know, to ensure that there would be nothing remaining on that store credit. At least, that’s how I rationalized the spending to Mark.

Feeling really productive, I decided to try and get rid of some other credits while in LA. This brought me to Barney’s. Oh, Barney’s. I love the LA Barney’s store. The people are always so friendly. I’m not kidding. Any and every time I’ve been there, I’ve made friends. And, last weekend was no different.

They were so friendly from the moment I set foot into the store, that I didn’t make it past the make-up counters. I spent two hours with my new buddies, Alex and Vida. They totally tag-teamed me. And, I loved every minute of it. Vida did my make-up and talked me into all the things that I “had to have” in my beauty arsenal. Alex would chime in with those extra little pearls of skin wisdom. I, of course, loved being pampered and absolutely loved kibitzing with my new pals. Fun!

Vida and I strike a pose.

Alex got in on the posing fun too!

After several people stopped to give me their unsolicited opinions on how fabulous I looked, I ended up spending my whole $580 credit on Kevin Aucoin make-up, one Chantecaille eye-shadow, and three items from the Radical Skincare company. Don’t gasp. That $580 sounds like a lot, I know. But, it was actually from one pair of boots, purchased in a state of delusional grandeur, that I stupidly held onto for 35 days. Five days too late for a total cash refund. Five fucking days. Damn those retail return rules! Damn them to hell!

This is what $580 at a Barney's make-up counter gets you.

And, here’s Alex swiping my card…

Charge it, big boy!

An absolutely fantastic day, filled with political activism, shopping productivity, new friends, and lots of fun. However, the best part of the day happened at the end.

Back in my hotel room, I sat very still. I didn’t want to ruin any of Vida’s handy-work. The boys came running into the room, attacked me, and told me they missed me. Mark gave me a kiss hello, and told the boys, “Look at how beautiful Mommy looks.” They looked at me for a while. And, then they both shook their heads in agreement and said, “You look really pretty.”

At that point, I didn’t really care about how I looked, because I felt FABULOUS!

If you had a day to yourself, how would you spend it?