Adventures in Retail

First off,  I had no intention of shopping today.  I had to drive a temperamental sewing machine out to Walnut Creek to be fixed and decided to reward myself  with a drink at Starbuck's, which required parking near Macy's.  Then a  little light came on: I'd seen an ad in the newspaper for a  swimsuit sale at Macy's.  I buy swimsuits all the time because they rot after repeated exposure to chlorine, such as my twice-a-week water exercise class.

I quickly shopped the rack of swimsuits  in my size.   Marveled at all the tankinis.  Tried on several one-piece possibilities.  Decided on a swimsuit that was 60% off.  So far, so good.

Here's where it all went wrong:  Someone had left a dress in my size in the dressing room.  It was short and cute, so I tried it on.  Too tight, but I had a Michelle Obama Moment and became entranced with the idea of buying a sleeveless dress for a wedding I'm going to over Labor Day.  Macy's had thousands of them--I do not exaggerate--on a one-day sale.  I bought the swimsuit,  wandered around gathering up an armload of dresses, and returned to the dressing room. 

The dress  I loved, conveniently black-and-white so the pair of heels I share with my sister would coordinate, was too small.  I tried on a much larger size: too big.   Oh, I wanted this dress!  It even had a little embroidered flower detail on one shoulder, very Michelle.  It did reveal quite a bit of untoned upper arm, but  I would cleverly camouflage that  with bronzing cream.  The saleslady gave me a long list of Macy's stores  that had the dress in what I thought would be my size.  I would have to do the calling around myself.

So I came home and called.  On the fourth try, I found the dress at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles. Oh, hurray! I ordered it.  Then I worried that the size would be too small.  I moseyed around online and  found the same dress one size bigger on Overstock.com for $50 less. I ordered that one, too.  Now I'm in the position of hoping I take a larger size so I can get the dress for $50 less than it cost at Macy's.

I am now officially finished with shopping.