Friday, 10 Feb 2012 - SPI

The weather continues to be 'icky' and we'll have a couple of more days of it before things start to improve...none too soon for me.

Wayne bought an 18-speed bike from Walmart and after picking it up Wednesday, decided that assembling it might not be a big problem but adjusting gears, brakes and the like wasn't a job he wanted to do. Thursday morning he made the following offer: "Lynne, I'm going to take the bike into Harlingen, drop it off at a local bike shop and go to the Gold's gym that's located inside the big shopping centre. Wanna come?"

Hell, yes!! I've read, done laundry, tidied the condo, napped, bought groceries, etc. for the past few days and other than the afternoon in Brownsville, haven't been out and about. I'm do for some serious retail therapy AND the walking exercise that it affords. We headed out and he dropped me at the JCPenny door with instructions that we'll meet in 3 hrs.

Shopping isn't as easy as men think it is...simply because they don't have the 'browse' gene...it isn't their fault. However, what they don't get is that women have to look, touch, consider, re-consider and then buy or reject just about everything they see. Some women don't have the gene but they are in the minority. I've always loved cruising through malls--I inherited an over-active gene from my Mother and there's nothing I can do about it. Unfortunately though, this gene directs it's focus in one direction in particular....SHOES!!

I know I have an (another) addiction. I'd need 10 legs to wear all the shoes I own. I'd have to go somewhere 3x a day, every day, to wear each season's collection. Wayne says I've thrown out more shoes than he's ever owned, and (in this instance) he's not wrong. All that to say, the first store I hit outside JCPenny's is the Rack Room Shoe outlet THAT IS HAVING THEIR ANNUAL CLEARANCE SALE!! As I walk in, I start to hyper-ventilate and I can feel the perspiration forming on my upper lip. Shoes in every colour, style, and heel sizes for prices ranging from $5 to $15. I start to walk up and down the isles, looking at every single style and having an internal conversation with myself: "I already have 2 pairs of fuscia sandles but not in that style and for $6......"; "What do I have to wear with lime green?"; "My God...black suede heels for $5...I don't have black suede heels!"; MOG...do those brown wedgies have embroidery on them for $8?".

On and on it went and after 4 trips down each lane and trying on 87 pairs of shoes, I restricted myself to 4 pair. With the 2 pair I'd already bought at the Burlington Coat Factory, I have now set a new record for numbers of pairs shoes purchased in a 4-day period. BONUS!!

We are 11 miles from the Mexican border and when it comes to shoes, we might as well be in Mexico. I could never get over the gazillion different styles the Mexican shoes stores had, at prices that were below 'sale' prices in Canada. Forget drugs...someone is smuggling shoes across the border and I'm a willing buyer. Seriously, how can I buy shoes, in very colour, style, and heel size, full of rhinestones and other glitz, for less than $20? 'Splain that Lucy!

After all that excitement, we picked up Wayne's bike and headed back to South Padre. The sun actually came out for a half-hour and we decided we'd try a new restaurant. I had a pasta craving so we went to Gabriella's for one of the most wonderful meals we've ever had on the Island. We got there for happy hour so had some wine and then blundered our way through 5-layer lasagna and strip loin steak. This restaurant is definitely going to the top of our list of favourites.

 That was our day. The rain is supposed to start at noon today so I may take the camera down to the nature walk, or to the beach, before it starts. There's a new line of movies at the local theatre and I wouldn't mind seeing My Week With Marilyn or The Descendents...we'll see how the day goes. Hope all is well at home.  Until next time, love and hugs to all. xx