NWWB Notes: Hi Gals – Indulge Me A Little Humor Here – We Need It

All the boating women I know are having such great adventures. I thought I would regale you with a “saling” adventure of a different type. About midday, a couple summers ago, I hopped a downtown bus outside the boat. Yep, no lines to untie and the “captain” steered that sucker perfectly. It was pretty full for a Thursday afternoon, but the trip was uneventful. We didn’t get stopped by logs, fog or anything. Hoping off, I navigated among the shopping hoards. I was focused; I had a purpose. I was determined to find a perfect pair of sandals–on sale. Past the Westlake Center, Nordstrom’s was my destination. It was dangerous because every time I go shoe shopping there, I end up wanting the $225 ones, not the ones on sale. I detoured through the cosmetics department for a perfume spritz, Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do, indulge in a spritz of expensive perfume before you head in to blow your wad on clothes and shoes? There was no special deal on Este Lauder’s Beautiful, the one I wear, so I saved some money there.

Onward to the shoes. Now understand that I have wide feet; hard to fit feet, and what I walked into was Pointy Toe World. It was Disneyland for narrow feet! Four inch heels and toes so pointed that China’s foot binding would probably have been less painful. And, not one sandal was right. I wanted an attractive leather thong type. I didn’t even see any $225 ones that appealed so I escaped Nordstrom’s newshoeless.

The Rack was next, Nordstrom’s odd little spawn. Upstairs in “shoe city”, there were shelves upon shelves of shoes falling all over themselves. There are so many shoes that I got cross-eyed trying to take them all in. They tend to feature the oddest colors and styles. Lime green heels, gold and silver flats. What seemed popular were those little round toed ballet slipper types, sort of Audrey Hepburnesque. The sandals were all clunky, non thong things with soles so high I would surely topple over when the boat moved. I was crestfallen. I was so sure that I would succeed. I had never found the right shoes at FredricksBonMacys. But, I was stuck. If I went anywhere other than these three places it would be like real shopping and I would start to get overwhelmed. I would get drawn in and I might start wandering, zombie-like, from store to store and never make it back home.

The first thing I did at FredricksBonMacys was head to that second floor women’s lounge. I loved that little respite from the world. It’s large individual stalls almost like your own powder room, the large scale with a dial, huge mirrors, real couches and overstuffed chairs. Like white gloves, it was a vestige of a time gone by.

Calmed by my time in the lounge, I headed back down to the shoes. They had thongs, and shoes on sale, but gathering up six or seven specimens to try I sat down and they all looked funny, dumb or downright ugly on my feet. Alas. I had almost admitted defeat (no pun intended) then I saw them. A bit more than I’d hoped to spend even with the $10. off, but they were perfect; they made my feet feel classy. As I sat there thinking, the smiling sales gal offered, “you get 10% more off because they were the display pair. It seems they were the last one of their breed. Well, that did it, I wrote my check, clutched my cool new sandals and felt triumph having achieved my goal.

So gals, there are all kinds of saling adventures, some requiring a bit less physical exertion and I didn’t have to tie down any lines on the bus that took me home.

Side note: With Fredricks/Bon/Macy’s recently closed, I’ll miss that that Ladies Lounge the most. If you’re streaming The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, it would have fit right in and, it would feel nice to hang out there a bit today.

Do something nice for yourselves today, and if you can, call someone and laugh a little.

Marilyn Michael