Clothes Shopping: Doing What I Don’t Like To Do And Telling You All About It

/ Ally Bean / 15 Comments

The Facts.  I went clothes shopping yesterday afternoon.  I dislike shopping for clothes.  Yet I forced myself to get out there and buy something to wear this fall.

I wore: Josef Seibel sandals (from Dillard’s), Diane Von Furstenberg capris (from Kohl’s), Lands End t-shirt (from Sears) + simple jewelry (from Tiffany’s*).  I was carrying a Baggallini cloth purse (purchased online) which is lightweight and expandable.  For me, this is a typical shopping for clothes outfit;  I wear clothes that I can get in & out of easily.  But in this case I didn’t have on even one piece of clothing from the stores I was going to.  This was probably an oversight on my part.

I went to a lifestyle center where I could park my car in one spot, then walk along outside to these four women’s clothing stores that are almost side-by-side.

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•  First I went to Talbots.  This is not my most favorite store, but I admit that they do have clothes that are well-made and age-appropriate in decent colors.  Usually.

A sales woman dressed in black [isn’t that out of fashion?] greeted me when I walked into the store.  She then took one look at me, turned around and went to the back of the store.  After I picked up a few items to try on a young guy came over to me and offered to put my items in a dressing room.  I never saw him again.

After trying on a number of clothes, I decided to buy a few things.  So I folded what I wanted, took my purchases to the cash register counter and waited for the one employee at the register to ring up all the customers standing in line.  During my wait the first woman appeared, looked at all of us waiting to buy items, turned around and went back to wherever she was hiding.

It was a disappointing shopping experience.  I give Talbots a C-.

•  Next I went to Ann Taylor.  I love the style of clothes in this store.

A sales woman working behind the cash register counter enthusiastically greeted me when I walked into the store.  She explained the deals to me & smiled at me.  I looked around the store, but saw nothing that I needed now.  This made me sad because I wanted to buy something there.  So I said “thank you” and went on my way.  The sales woman said “good-bye” and told me to stop back again.  She was still smiling.

It was a lovely shopping experience.  I give Ann Taylor a B+.

•  Next I went to Chico’s.  I have a love-hate relationship with this store.  My style is not glittery and flow-y, but the clothes are well-made & the accessories are great. So I go in there when I’m near one just to see what they’ve got going on.

A  sales woman greeted me immediately as I entered the store.  She told me about the deals.  After I began to collect items to try on a different sales woman came over, took my items to a dressing room and then checked back as I was trying on clothes to see what I might need to resize.  She was helpful.

When I went to buy some items I did not wait in line because three employees were running cash registers.  The store was hopping and the vibe was fun which made me happy.

It was a wonderful shopping experience.  I give Chico’s an A.

•  Last I went to Coldwater Creek.  This store is popular around here and I like some of their clothes, some of the time, when the colors are not muddied and the textures are not too nubbly.

No one said a word to me when I walked into the store.  I wandered around, collecting items to try on– while carrying two large shopping bags from other stores.  No one offered to take my clothes to a dressing room for me.  No one offered to grab a blouse off the higher rack for me.  No one noticed that I existed.

I found myself a dressing room, tried on some clothes, re-dressed myself, went back out onto the sales floor carrying my two large shopping bags from other stores, found what I needed, returned to the same dressing room, and tried on some more clothes.  I then decided to buy a few items which I took to the cash register desk.

Here I found two employees at the cash registers ringing up customers while both employees carried on an involved [grandma one-upmanship] conversation with three other women who were [supposedly] shopping in the store.  I felt like an intruder within their [60-something] clique, but I have to admit that as the employee handed me my purchases she did manage to say “thank you.”  So there’s that.

It was a frustrating shopping experience.  I give Coldwater Creek a D+.

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The Conclusion.  I really have no insightful conclusion to this story.  Yes, I got some clothes.  Yes, I had a tolerable time clothes shopping.  I guess.

But what could have been one of the best afternoons of fall– filled with lots of new clothes & warm memories– was, as usual, a trial.  A struggle to find something that fit.  A struggle to find a sales employee who was attentive.  A struggle.

And I just don’t think that is how clothes shopping should be.  But it is.

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* Upon hearing this story, Zen-Den took it personally that my jewelry from Tiffany’s did not help me get noticed or good service in two of these stores.  From his POV, this shopping trip did not offer the predicted ROI that he was expecting from sinking his monies into platinum & diamonds!  He’s so sweet.

[Well hello there FTC!  It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?  But today, because I’m talking about specific stores, I want to let you know that I was in no way compensated for my opinions about what happened to me when I went clothes shopping.  We’re good, FTC.  Right?]

This & That

/ Ally Bean / 13 Comments

{september – monday – morning}

√  Saturday afternoon we spent driving around the city, going grocery store to grocery store, looking for one particular ingredient.  We both had a hankering for Thai curried chicken & vegetables– which, logically enough, requires Thai green curry paste.  It’s such a basic ingredient for Thai cooking, yet it turned out to be almost impossible to get.

Eventually we found it in grocery store #6.  You’d think that we would have been annoyed by this whim turned bona fide expotition, but the day was so pretty outside that wandering around the city together was interesting.  I forget how large this area is– and that what seems normal to one person is something unique & fascinating to another person.

Sometimes searching for the treasure is all that I need to be happy.

√  Over the weekend we planted some flowers in colors that we’ve not used before.  Out front by the sidewalk leading up to the front door we planted true blue pansies.  And by the side of the house where we’ll see them when we drive up to the garage we planted some coral-colored roses.

Once upon a time our garden had a tightly controlled color scheme, but those days are long gone.  Now we have a confetti garden;  that is, flowers of various colors growing wherever they will grow.  It’s not what I initially envisioned, but that’s okay.  I like to see flowers around the outside the house and if multi-color is what works, it works.

Go Team Eclectic.

√  We were outside doing yard work yesterday morning.  The weather was cool & clear so the sky was blue.  We heard the plane before we saw it–  and when we saw it we both stopped doing what we were doing.  Overhead, flying at a low altitude, was a B-17.  Just moseying along in a straight line going somewhere.  Over our subdivision on a Sunday morning.  In 2012.

Kind of cool to see it.  Definitely unexpected.

√  Zen-Den went camping [cabining?] by a lake in Canada over Labor Day weekend with some friends.  He does this every few years & always comes back with tales to tell.  This year, besides his stories of middle-aged boys’ antics, he brought back a new radio station for us to listen to: CBC Radio2 [Eastern].  It’s good.

I won’t try to explain it to you because playlists & music appreciation are topics that I leave to those who care deeply about being surrounded by music.  Me?  I just like to hear something that doesn’t set my teeth on edge in the background.  And this new-to-us station pleases me– enough so that it’s giving Radio Paradise a bit of competition.

‘Tis music that doth soothe the suburban beast.  😉

 

The Naming Of Crickets Is An Easy Matter

/ Ally Bean / 14 Comments

[This is a random post if there ever was one.  H/T to T. S. Eliot for the inspiration for the title.]

When I think of crickets, I think of three things.

1.  The Big Bang Theory.  There’s a cricket in our basement.  The cricket in our basement is noisy.  At about 10:00 p.m. each evening our little cricket friend ramps up his chirping.  I think that he is a he– and that he is trying to attract any lady crickets who might be around.

Of course I could be wrong about our little cricket friend’s motive because I learned most of what I know about crickets from an episode of The Big Bang Theory.  That’s how I got edumacated on this subject.

• • •

2.  Jiminy Cricket.  Once I realized that our little cricket friend was living with us inside our house, I named him for Disney’s famous cartoon cricket, Jiminy Cricket.  Then I set out to find a video with Jiminy.

The video I found features Jiminy as host and is about “How To Have Fun Safely.”  I remember seeing this cartoon when I was a kid.  Jiminy wants me to live to be 83.  And to not be a fool.  And other assorted things that I may or may not have done throughout my lifetime.

Somehow, after viewing this video, I get the feeling that Jiminy would not be the sort of cricket who, now that I’m an adult, would meet me for a cocktail.  He seems a bit judgmental and uptight to me.  Just a little bit too know-it-all-y.

• • •

3.  Buddy Holly and the Crickets.  I remember once upon a time, in the early years of our marriage, we received a housewarming gift that was a good luck brass cricket for our hearth.  I felt that the cricket was a cute, whimsical gift with wonderful symbolism;  I majored in English Lit.  Zen-Den, an Econ/Business major, thought it was dumb.

I don’t remember who gave us that gift because it was a long time ago.  Although not as long ago as when there were “Rock and Roll Specialists” singing about a girl named Peggy Sue.  Which, now that I think about it, is the name that I’d give the cricket in the basement if I thought he was a she.

• • •

 

My Summer Of Blogging Lightly

/ Ally Bean / 14 Comments

 √  I did things differently on The Spectacled Bean this summer.    

  • I only posted to this blog once a week.
  • I talked about things in a general way.  Rarely personal.  Everything light.
  • I shared more photos than I have in the past.

But doing the foregoing turned out to be more difficult than I’d anticipated.  What I did not take into consideration was that I’m in the habit of always being on the lookout for something to talk about here on The Spectacled Bean.  I’ve been doing this a long time, you know?  So it felt kind of weird to not tell you the details about what was going on around here.   

√  Be that as it may, here are my conclusions about my ~ It’s Summertime ~ idea:

  • I like posting on Tuesday.
  • I enjoy doing a few lightweight posts, but not all the time.
  • I miss writing in the moment about the crazy situations that make up much of my life.
  • I feel like my writing skills atrophy when I restrict myself to short & infrequent posts.
  • I don’t mind adding photos to my posts… which means that I need to take more photos. 

√  And on that note, I officially declare this summer experiment in blogging to be over.  I plan on returning to my 2 or 3 times per week posting schedule.  Because this is an old-school style personal journal type of blog I have no idea what I’ll be talking about next,  but I hope that you’ll check back daily from time-to-time to see what flapdoodle & twaddle vitally compelling & important topic I’m dithering on about discussing here at The Spectacled Bean.  You know you want to.