I am swamped at work.Ok .. I worked till 3:30 am yesterday .. er.. today. I think August 3rd is the date - that is end of week. So I decide to do birthday shopping.Then I decide to get rent money order first. So I do that and go to cumberland mall. Dazy from lack of sleep, unsettling feet, heavy head.
[The birthday was actually August 2nd - I get confused every year. And
it is end of day of August 1st that you need to celebrate - so that is two days.
Luckily, I planned to do some early shopping and made it in time.]
From the cumberland mall shop map, I singled out 'hallmark' , hoping to get some gift items. Could see gifts for kids - one photo frame in the shape of a house was interesting. Then I see a nice little screen in the shop with good photos. So I checked with the sales person - he directed me to Sears and I bought the best looking digital photo frame.
What I really wanted to get was a good set of clothes because we have not been good shoppers at dress shopping- a budget , unremarkable wardrobe is what we have. I did not want to shop clothes that don't fit and come back and return and all that. But at the same time , I thought I should buy one by myself. So, clueless, I walked into the first shop - walked out clueless. Well, three more shops - still no clue.Then, I remembered that she had admired the window tops on one of the shops on the first floor.
So I walked, looking for remarkable tops on the window mannequins and walked all the way to the food court. Then I walked back and entered an NYC store. Meanwhile , time started playing a role too. Deadlines - shops close. Time - If only there was no time. If only, you could live like a leaf in the wind.
NYC it is, tops looked good - I started seeing some clues. One of the tops I liked very much but that was sleeveless. So I started liking other tops.Ended up buying a black and white top. After all the amusement I offered as I shopped, I think I did a good buy. She looked good as we had our dinner at the blue moon pizza later in the night.
Now, I was more relaxed. Walked out to cheesecake factory and bought a vanilla bean cake. Just as I was about to drive back home, our daughter called and asked 'Where are you? Are you buying gift for me?'. I said 'I am driving' but then I did not have the sense to buy her a gift.
That is for the shopping, I put the dress in the laptop bag for Divya to find. The rest in the car. Divya found it and as she tried it on, I sneaked in the cake to the fridge. Then we decided to have dinner outside and at blue moon pizza where Divya wanted to go and we had gone multiple times on Sundays when it is closed. You might ask why multiple times - I say why not.
There was some work on the road, and I drove on to a curb, blocking traffic. A passing car stopped and advised on how to get off the curb. So that is what we did. We were one complex early.Instead of walking down to the next shopping complex(blue moon pizza) , we asked GPS and it took us on one real cursive course and we were back on the same road we just came in through. As we reached, my parents called from India and wished Divya happy birthday.
Bluemoon pizza rocked. We had Santa fe chicken and Barbecue chicken. Santa fe was the winner as was blue moon pizza.
As we reached home, we had the cake cutting - the vanilla bean was sweeter than anything in my memory. Divya is as sweet as the cake though - in earnest. I am no flatterer. Then we took some photos of the cake and the new dress - the typical photos. Then we put those photos in the photo frame and saw them in the photo frame.
Then it was time for Divya to take up the laptop and take all the wishes from around the globe. That is the reason, this post got pushed by a day.Happy Birthday dear.
