My summertime blues…Not by Alan Jackson.

This past weekend, I ventured across the state with my parents to move some furniture into my apartment. Everything was fine and I had a WONDERFUL time with Lafonda and Cher (even though I only got to see Lafonda for about twenty minutes). Cher and I went out to a nice dinner, ate gelatto, and watched the movie “Penelope” which was adorable. We laughed…I talked…A lot (that’s how it works: I talk talk talk and Cher listens listens listens- my mouth runeth away).

^^^ This was such a feel-good movie! I loved it!

So after we got on the road to come back home I suddenly felt incredibly depressed and I don’t really know why. I think it mostly had to do with me being cooped up in a van for 5 hours, two days in a row (a trip that usually takes me 3 and a half hours). AND I was in the back seat with tinted windows; I hate tinted windows. On top of this, I haven’t washed my hair today and I wore no makeup with old shorts and a plain t-shirt. So I didn’t look that great either.

^^^ Me. Words need not be spoken.

Before we really hit the road to home, we stopped for a shopping spree which you think would sound like a ton of fun, right? Especially for a college girl! Wrong. In general, I hate the true sense on shopping. Don’t get me wrong; I like finding great clothes that fit and look good and blah blah blah. I shop very well with Lafonda…because we tend to like the exact same clothes (our closets are strikingly similar…even our shoes…down to the brand, color, and style). So we’ll stumble upon cute stuff, gather it up, and hit the dressing rooms. We both make our decisions quickly and efficiently; THAT is how I shop. I can go in a store and I can decide whether or not I want anything within two minutes. A quick breeze through allows me to scope out the premises and if nothing catches my eye, I leave.

^^^ “Nope, nope, nope, yes, nope….Done!”

My dearest mother, on the other hand, is the true female shopper. (Mom, if you’re reading this, please remember that I LOVE YOU DEARLY and that writers must draw from even the most unattractive and gloomy experiences to produce something readable and interesting.) When the mood strikes her, she will go into a store and won’t leave until she has purchased SOMETHING! Anything! So after shoe-shopping as a family and having wonderful luck, I split off to continue my own shoe-hunt (I am supposed to attend a wedding next month; I have a dress but no shoes). I hit three shoe stores within about fifteen minutes. My mother caught up with me and suggested we go to Anne Taylor. Now, I knew I didn’t want to shop there; I shop at Anne Taylor LOFT (a totally different store) but I decided I’d go with Mom (because who doesn’t LOVE hanging out with my Mom? She’s probably the coolest person I know…seriously).

^^^ My mother shops with style and grace…

This store is generally unpleasant. All the walls are completely white. The clothes are incredibly cookie-cutter and ordinary. They played the most awful music; you know, the kind when a female singer does all this crazy stuff with her voice and sings so loud that you feel like she’s yelling at you? Yeah. Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, and Christina Aguilera are the only women allowed to do that…because they do it well. Everyone else should be banned. Ok, I over-exaggerated, but this particular soundtrack that they played should be burned. And I don’t mean copied and distributed.

^^^ Ok ok… So there are a ton of really talented divas. But the girl playing over the loudspeaker at Anne Taylor is not on of them.

So my mother adores her children (myself and my older brother) and she is on this mad hunt to find the perfect wardrobe to wear to my brother’s Marine boot-camp graduation which is next month. (Yay for my brother, whom I shall dub “Jake”). And who can blame her? But my cruddy mood plus her ambition in this awful store did not bode well. I was being pushy, admittedly. But we must have been in this one store for about an hour. I was going insane. If we were anywhere else, I think I would have been fine. When we shop together in a store we BOTH like, it’s like heaven; I find my stuff quickly and feel accomplished so then I am content to wait more patiently and help her out.

^^^ “Is it over yet?!”

So we finally got out of there, mostly unscathed. A couple stores later after waiting some more, I lost my patience (a personal flaw of mine) and we all had to take deep breaths to start afresh. We split up; I went to Fossil where I could stare at watches and forget about trying anything on. Mom was able to hit some of her desired locations without her whinny daughter who shops like her father. Dad napped in the van. We were all much happier when we reunited.

Tomorrow I plan on sleeping in, going to the gym to get those endorphins pumping, shaving my legs, and laying in the sun for a bit. Perhaps I will cook dinner and dance around the house while nobody is at home…that’s one of my favorite things to do.

^^^ I think I will put on my Bollywood music and pretend I am this exotic Saharan princess who can belly dance the night away…