2001-12-02 - 7:45 p.m. 50 Foot Queenie My holiday cookie and treat making fest, planned for all day today, didn't happen. My partner in crime called to say she'd been delayed due to her boyfriend...she called again on her way over ( a wee bit late) to say they needed to stop by the Gap to buy her boyfriend a new pair of jeans...at that point, I suggested we skip out on the cookie baking and instead just hang out. I told her she had underestimated two things: how long this brief shopping excursion would take the seriousness and time commitment involved with making cookies you roll out, bake, cool, ice and decorate and let dry Besides, as I told her, more than half the point of the day was just to hang out and chat -- the cookies were just the facilitating activity. She'd received a "friends & family" discount card for all of the Gap's fine family of stores, good for today only. So, I accompanied her, her boyfriend, and their roommate into the heart of the downtown Xmas shopping frenzy...and it wasn't that bad. Except for the hour we spent in line at the Gap to buy her boyfriend his jeans. He and the roommate were long gone by the time our purchases were rung up there. He was able to stand being in the store for about 10 minutes. We actually had fun waiting in line -- they kept giving us candy canes and we had plenty of time to talk. Oddly enough, I noticed, while waiting in line, that I was the tallest person shopping there. This was surprising. I'm 5'7", and was wearing boots, but not super tall boots...I felt like I were a giant beanstalk! Or maybe I was just delusional from the low blood sugar. After the Gap, we had to go look at the kittens up for adoption in the nearby store windows. As usual, we wanted to take all of them home with us. Unfortunately, my kitty, a former hunter extraordinaire when he was an outdoor kitty, does not want a kitty friend. So, no cute balls of fluff were carted home in my pocket. We knew we'd need sustenance before we could brave the Banana Republic store, so we headed to Macy's and the Cheesecake Factory. They always serve you way too much food at the Cheesecake factory, but the lure of tasty high fat food plus a full bar is always more than I can resist. We had mai tais while we waited for our table, then another cocktail a piece with lunch (I had the Cobb salad and she had the fried chicken salad.) Then we were ready to re-enter the shopping fray. I think we shopped for 5 or more hours today. Yes, lines were long and stores were pretty crowded, but it was nice to not feel rushed and to have a leisurely conversation with a good friend. I have to admit I didn't buy any presents for anyone other than myself though...two everyday sweaters, a nice pair of jeans, and a slinky/flowy black top for going out on the town for the holiday season. And all at 30% off, which somehow makes it all seem so much more affordable, even though the store is still making a 200% or so profit. Yeah, I know consumerism is evil and all that. But I just emptied my closet of a few bags of stuff, have lost lots of weight due to tons of stress, and thus the retail therapy of buying clothes that fit was all worth it to me. Now, time for dinner! If I lived in Toronto, I'd share some of my leftover roasted vegetable soup with daysuit -- I think he could use some! any comments? (0 so far) previous - next recently on almostgoldsf... in defense of an email box I came to do battle with SPAM - 2008-05-17 hello 2006 - 2005-12-31 Happy Thanksgiving - 2005-11-14 bon voyage - 2005-11-05 October already? - 2005-10-09