Taylor Goes Shopping

Guess what I did this past weekend?

Yes. Shopping. How did you guess so quickly?

I couldn't hold back any longer. I'm actually surprised I waited two whole weeks after Easter to do it. But last weekend it was going to happen, come heck or high water.

How appropriate that I should mention high water...

Yes, I knew it was going to storm on Saturday. No, I did not want to put it off until another weekend. J.Crew was having a SALE, y'all. I was going.

My parents went with me, because I cannot make Brando go day shopping with me during the warmer months. His excuse is "It's too hot to sit in the car for 2 hours during the summer," or something lame like that. (What? I crack the windows.) But then he offers up a really sweet reason like "You'll be able to shop so much better if you don't have to worry about keeping me waiting. Admit it." Which gets me at first because it's so correct selfless, but then I realize it's just a trick to stay at home. So I left him there.

No rain on the way down, and only sprinkles when we rolled into Sandestin. I shopped at the Real J.Crew for who knows how long--they had so much on sale. I tried on short skirts, long skirts and medium length skirts, casual dresses, dressy dresses, tops that fit, tops that didn't fit, ridiculously cheap ZIPPERED RAINBOOTS, capri pants and neon orange shorts. I looked at belts, scarves, purple nail polish, and braclets shaped like giraffes. Seriously.

It was the best day.

Dressed up for work...

It was raining a bit harder when we left the Real J.Crew, so we ducked into Another Broken Egg Cafe to have brunch. I love brunch. And brinner. Or is it brupper? Anway, it poured while we ate, and when I looked at the radar, I realized that this was it--there was no slacking up. The rest of the shopping trip would happen in the rain. The pouring rain.

As I looked sadly down at my leather flip flops, I remembered...the rainboots. (Ah ha! That's why it was all bold and underlined and italicized and uppercase back there.) I had forgotten to buy the ridiculously cheap zippered rainboots while I was at the Real J.Crew.

So back we went. The saleslady recognized me as I blew back in, which is pretty impressive considering I looked a lot more rained-on than I did an hour before. "DID YOU SELL ALL THE RAINBOOTS YET??" I may have asked slightly panicky. Thank goodness they were still there because they came in really handy the rest of the day.

Went to the Not Real J.Crew (the outlet), and it was packed. Because, duh, Taylor, when it rains at the beach, everyone goes to the mall.  The worst part about it, other than the part where I had to elbow my way through people who were blocking the way to the cardigans/shorts/pencil skirts/everything/they were blocking everything, was the part where I had to wait in line just to try on clothes that I didn't end up buying. Yeah, it wasn't as awesome as it usually is at the Crewlet. I did get two very pretty necklaces and a lightweight sweater. And a shirt for Brando, because I'm thoughtful like that.

...and down for Wal-Mart

It was Dad's turn to shop, and we headed away from the outlets into Destin. I hadn't gotten quite the experience I wanted at the Crewlet (this is code for I hadn't spent all my money yet. It's also what makes shopping slightly dangerous for me),  so I was a little sad about passing over some pieces at the Real J.Crew. But we were all the way into Destin. We were right near the Mid Bay Bridge. We had already been there twice. So we headed home.

It's probably not a good sign when you have to talk yourself down from a third visit to the same store in one day.

T