after ray & i spent most of the afternoon painting (we're almost done!) he decided he wanted to go shopping for clothes. i never turn down an opportunity to improve his wardrobe, so i suggested we go out to southpoint mall where he would have lots of choices. i had to check online first, though, to make sure that the stores out there would be open late on sunday... it was already close to 6:00. luckily, most of the big department stores have late holiday hours this time of year.
so we went to hecht's first, where he got a nice eggplant-colored pullover sweater. then down to belk where he shopped for pants. i'm going to brag on his weight-loss for a second, so bear with me... while we were shopping he was wearing a pair of size 44 pants that were clearly too big for him. he knew from previous shopping trips that he could fit into a 40 now. but tonight he confirmed that he even fits into a 38! that's 6 inches he's lost! (he says he remembers last fitting into a 38 back in 1998...) so he was having fun trying on clothes, which, of course, is the whole point of shopping.
we were disappointed, though, that nordstrom was closed. the belk salesman was a little snarky about that when we mentioned it. "i guess they don't have to be open holiday hours like the rest of us..." ray had his mind set that he wanted to try on shoes at nordstrom, so he was a little bummed that they weren't open late like the rest of the stores.
however, when we got back to our car we noticed that the outside entrances to nordstrom appeared to be open. the doors from the inside of the mall had been gated shut, but it was clear that there were people coming in & out of nordstrom from the exterior doors. so we pulled up and asked one of the doormen what was going on. he said that there was a special event in progress for nordstrom card holders. invitation only. when ray started to walk away, though, the doorman said, "well, why don't you come in anyway." i think he could smell money on ray and thought it foolish to turn him away.
so we entered and were greeted by a woman who ushered us over to the nicest associate named john. he asked what ray was looking for (shoes, pants, winter coat) and he assisted with everything. i know it's his job to be helpful, but he was also totally cool (and cute ;) and funny. he found ray a pair of pants that fit well, but needed hemming and they did that on the spot. he helped find a cool pair of shoes that mary will totally drool over. and we picked out a swank sporty winter jacket, too... but it's on hold for a few days to let ray's bank account recover a bit.
the best thing about this special sales event at nordstrom was that there was live music, free wine (!!) and hors d'oeuvres. i'm sure it works out well for the store if they get the customers loaded. and tired... we were there until 10:30! (the doorman had said that they'd be open "until the very last customer leaves." i think we were those last customers.)
so we're exhausted now, and while i thought we'd get the final coat of paint on the bedroom walls tonight we're just going to sit back and watch space ghost instead. we'll hopefully finish the painting tomorrow. (how many days in a row have i said that now?? garh!)
Posted by xta at December 7, 2003 11:18 PM | TrackBack