Shopping, shopping, shopping...

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful... Yes, soon I'll be settling in front of the fireplace for the evening, but I wanted to drop by and post a few things before further induling myself. Indulge myself today - I did - in droves, darlings! Today was another ladies of the investment club spa-and-shop-til-we-drop day. Oh, we had so much fun! We had a wonderful time despite the never-ending snow (started with small gritty snow sometime late last night or early this morning, then it turned to big fluffy flakes and now it's back to small gritty snow. We may get up to 9 inches by tomorrow morning and the winds are going to whip up to around 20 mph, meaning I'll have 3 foot high drifts by sunbreak tomorrow). The constant snow made for rather slippery road conditions off the expressways, and we did a fishtail worthy of the name on the way back to my house while Ms. P was pulling onto 83rd Street in my subdivision - the last street in the entire city, I swear, to ever be salted or plowed. So, tomorrow I will be totally stressed as I haul out the shovel yet again and attack the drifts and attempt to fling the snow sufficiently out of the way to create a pathway from my front door down to the road - and pray that I don't get plowed in. I already have 3 feet of ice boulders at the base of my driveway that I could not shovel out because of their sheer weight when we had ice/sleet/snow/ ice/sleet on December 1st. Sigh. But today - ahhhh, today. My spa de-stressing treatment and wash/cut/ style was just what the doctor ordered. I had two more inches of hair chopped off. Perhaps this length (about an inch below shoulder length) will give me the fullness I want... Our friend Ms. G was totally transformed - she hasn't had a professional hair cut in TEN FRIGGING YEARS! She went from Old School Marm Bun to a snazzy layered short cut that frames her face perfectly! I couldn't stop looking at her during lunch and finally blurted out that she looked 15 years younger. Well, she does! Amazing what a good "do" can do for one! But perhaps not the most tactful comment I've ever made... After the Aveda spa visit we had a leisurely lunch, then we did some shopping, then Ms. G had to leave us. Ms. P and I continued, braving the blowing snow as we trod the streets of Bayshore Town Center and hit several stores. Altogether we visited Sears; Brooks Bros. that is not really Brooks Bros. but I can never remember the name of the store and for some reason it reminds me of Brooks Bros. or perhaps Brooks & Dunn; Boston Store; Kohls; Yankee Candle Shoppe; Bath & Body Works; Coldwater Creek; J. Jill. I think that's all of them. I finished up my shopping for dondelion, bought a new pair of Sketchers, a new pair of Totes waterproof boots, some scented tea light candles, hair spray from Aveda, and five beautifully scented products (I mixed and matched after-bath/shower body spritz and silky body cream) for the fabulous price of $25 at Bath & Body Works. Speaking of Bath & Body Works, there were several guys (those trailing behind their wives and girlfriends) huddled in a small cul de sac near the entrance doors, making jokes and laughing with each other - they were so cute! I couldn't help but overhear them as I was perusing the "Velvet Tuberose" and "Japanese Cherry Blossom" displays and had to chuckle at their comments and bon amie. Those guys get extra kudos for following their gals into such a shop instead of begging off and heading toward the nearest video store! A super-special treat as we shopped was coming across two groups of carolers, one group of four women, one group of four men. Both groups were excellent, singing winter/Christmas-y songs a capella. It was a perfect cherry on top of our wonderful ladies' day. Tonight I will wrap gifts in front of the fire and admire my beautiful Yule tree. It's particularly sparkling this year as I added extra gold bead garland and some new crystal and gold ornaments.