i got a postcard in the mail a couple of days ago advertising a sale at my favorite shoe store. the place is thrillingly called "the wide shoe warehouse". i love it. i walk in, inhale deeply and proudly, and think to myself, "i can wear any damned shoe in here!" it's a beautiful feeling.
anyway, last night i told myself to take it easy... i don't really need any new shoes. but i'm fool enough to know that mantra never really works; i knew deep in my soul i'd walk out with a new pair of shoes.
and the owners, they knew that, too. because they placed the most amazing pair of black suede pointy-toed heels right near the entrance and i was immediately sucked into their powerful vortex. i had to have them. they told me so. besides, on sale (and with the $5 coupon that was on the postcard) they were half-off retail: $30! so i'm only feeling a little bit of guilt. a half-priced amount of guilt. (plus, that guilt disappears whenever i gaze at the shoes, so right now they're on the dining table next to my laptop.) i wish the photo up there better showed off the pointy-ness... i think it's literally possible to put someone's eye out with these shoes.
the north carolina symphony has a new conductor who, in this campy little blurb, says one of his least favorite things is "shopping and all it stands for." i remember a time when i would have stood up and cheered for that kind of public statement. but now i'm torn... yes, shopping for things no one really needs is bad. but shopping for food & clothing is good, isn't it??? i want to get him out to the station for an interview and question him thoroughly about this.
ray & i went out to dinner last night with josh, ray's old high-school friend who we both absolutely adore. he was in town for a day while his company tried to get him to agree to relocate from san francisco to durham. (bahaha!) while josh is actually quite amenable to the cultural switch (i told you we loved this guy... he already believes durham is a hip place!), he's not so sure he wants the job they're shoving at him and he's pretty torn up about what to do. anyway, we thought a night at pop's would be nice after his whirlwind day of schmoozing.
pop's, as you may or may not know, is under new ownership (their website hasn't even been updated yet). ray & i go to pop's a lot and have witnessed their subtle transformation over the last few months. the bar seating area is now extended to the right of the door (thereby removing some previously painful booth-seating). the wait staff now all wear gorgeous burgandy shirts (the previous drab gray is now gone). and the food seems a little less hit-or-miss, too. all of our entrees were phenomenal (breaded tilapia over garlic mashed potatoes for me, please!) and of course the desserts were great too (panna cotta with pear butter and almond brittle). we had a really nice, long dinner and fun was had by all.
josh is a gadget geek, and after dinner he showed us his new cell phone/microwave oven. (ok, it's really not a microwave oven, but i just wanted to make mr. pinky's ears prick up.) he played us some of the nutty ringtones he's downloaded... and i've gotta say, the audio that comes out of these phones now is pretty amazing. i tried to get him to download the sex & the city theme, but he just looked at me like i was insane. i think i made a lttle more headway with the laverne & shirley theme song, but it's more likely that he'll just stick with the days of our lives theme song. (kidding! he's an i love lucy and star trek guy all the way.)
so, the heating guys are here today. it sounds like the freakin' civil war is being reenacted in my crawlspace. they are currently ripping out all of the old ductwork and i hear them, down there below my feet, hollering at each other over the noise. the cats are totally freaked out... mimo was hiding behind the washer, but i didn't know that until i put in a load of laundry and he came bolting out, looking for a new place to hide. there are no hiding places today, sweet kitten. sorry.
i guess i need to go spend some time out in the garage figuring out how to run these kerosene heaters y'all have graciously let us borrow. i think greg fishel said it was going to be in the 30s tonight.
Posted by xta at January 14, 2004 10:24 AM | TrackBack