Outdoor Malls Were Not Designed for Hot Weather

Today I went out by myself for a few hours.  Mom, Bill, and I all agree that Karina and I need to spend a little more time apart, both for her and my sakes.  Karina's doing a lot better with her separation anxiety, most of the time, but her mom....well, I am doing okay.  I'm fine as long as she doesn't cry.  If she cries, I would rather poke my eyeballs out with forks than leave her. 

I went out to this outdoor-mall trendy-area they've been working on near my house.  We used to have a "real" mall there, all inside, with air conditioning.  They tore that down and built one of these new trendy outdoor shopping center places, which, in my area, are all named things like "City Towne Center" or "Citye Pointe at Towne Centre".  They all sound the same and there are about 6-8 of them in the 6-8 city area I call home.  Instead of air conditioning, we get to walk around outside, in the weather, which is fine, if it's 73 degrees and 0% humidity.  It was neither of those today, but I went anyway (It was 98 degrees and the humidity felt like about 472%). 

I wanted to go to Target (my home away from home) and this mall-town-center thing is right there next to it.  There's an H&M store there and Bill suggested I check them out (Crazy, I know.  Why does Bill know about this store?  I don't know, but he told me to go and I'm sure not going to NOT go shopping if he tells me to!).  He had heard they have good prices or something.  They did have good prices, but they were so trendy that I felt very out of place (nothing new).  Except in the little kids' section.  Now that was nice.  I could have spent $200 in a minute there.  And they really do have good prices.  I got some cute socks with little roses on them, a pretty turquoise dress with a flower print border (only $10!), and two $5 cotton summer dresses, all for Karina.  I don't have pictures yet because they're in the laundry.  I found nothing for myself, because like I said, I felt really out of place there.  I am not a trendy or with-it kind of person, and never have been.  I doubt I ever will be. 

After I left H&M, I went walking down the sidewalk in the heat and passed another store I've always been curious about, which is Forever 21.  I went in on a whim, and I felt out of place a little, but I did see some other women who were definitely not teenagers shopping in there.  Their prices were pretty good, but I shop on the super-cheap, so I didn't buy anything.  However, they did have some really pretty, lacy, white blouses/tops that I loved.  I was so tempted.  I am such a sucker for white, lacy summer shirts and dresses. 

The last place I went in was Gymboree, which is a dangerous thing to do.  They were having their 30% off everything including sale items sale, and I wanted to buy everything.  I didn't, but I did get her a shirt that says "monkeying around", a cute ruffly dress where the ruffles alternate pink, brown, and white all the way down, and two pairs of socks to go with her new red outfit that my aunt just gave her.

After that, I returned to the heat and walked back to my car, which was parked in the Target parking lot.  Thankfully, I have a great little car that I love and which has fast-working AC.  Karina was happy to see me when I got home, and Bill reported she had been playing with an empty lemonade container for almost an hour, screwing and unscrewing the lid.  There's nothing like coming home to my child, and I never knew how good that would feel.