Needless to say, I was looking forward to the trip, but late on Tuesday, the conference was cancelled and so was the trip to NYC.
Handed a lemon, I decided to make a lemon meringue pie.
Wednesday morning, I phoned my boss and told her I was taking a vacation day. Then I shaved, showered, did my hair and makeup, dressed (new sweater dress from Dress Barn, black opaque tights, black Payless Karmen pumps), grabbed my coat and my bag and headed to the malls.
I arrived at the Westfield Mall in Meriden (CT) a few minutes after it opened. Usually, the mall is very quiet when it opens on a weekday, but it was very busy yesterday. I assume the now perpetual Black Friday had something to do with it.
Wow! How I have changed!
Only a few years ago, I would carefully strategize my mall visits. I would use an entrance with the least amount of foot traffic and sit in my car until I was sure no one else would be entering at the same time as me.
After the all-clear, I would enter the mall and avoid any males who might be traversing the mall and I would avoid eye contact with any human being I might encounter. I would be all business and go directly to the store(s) I was interested in visiting and not browse, window-shop and enjoy my shopping experience.
That version of Stana is so foreign to me now. Now I do the mall just like a typical civilian woman does the mall and I enjoy every minute of it!
Westfield Mall is in decline. JCPenney closed its doors earlier this year and its large footprint remains unoccupied. There are other vacancies throughout the mall and most of the replacements, if any, are of the dollar store variety.
However, one replacement is now a favorite spot for me to shop: Fashion to Figure. They have a nice variety of clothing for fuller figure girls like me, yet their price tags are very reasonable. And they were having a buy one item and get the second item at 50% sale.
I spent an hour trying on clothes in Fashion to Figure and cashed out with three new dresses and one new jumpsuit for $125. (I hope Stana gets invited to some holiday parties this year because two of the dresses are too party to wear to work.)
By the way, the sales associate was so helpful and enthusiastic. She picked out some excellent items for me to try on and when she helped zip me into one of the dresses, she noticed I was wearing my Squeem (she was wearing hers, too), yet she was mum about the stray hairs poking out from the top of my Squeem.
After Fashion to Figure, I exited Westfield and headed to West Farms Mall to continue my day out en femme.
(Caveat Emptor: This is a repurposed post from the past.)
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| Wearing JustFab. |
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| The Prancing Elites |
Good post, as usual. I also love my Payless Karmen pumps. I have them in black and nude and my order a pair in black suede, wine suede and navy.
ReplyDeleteI also see many mall failing or struggling. I guess Amazon and the other online venues are ringing the death knell for brick and mortar.
Pat
I so understand that change. I use to be the same way. I use to be careful but now I am just being me. I think we have reached a confidence level along with a more accepting society. This new reality allows our femininity to radiate, without any fears. Do you remember the dreaded pack of teenage girls? Now they are one of our biggest supporters.
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