Sunday, January 17, 2010

Country Life is the Kinda Life for Me

*This post is for those who don't understand why I love living on the farm as much as I do. Aside from the obvious - space, cost of living, the ability to have chickens as pets - here is my latest reason I'm thankful I've gone country.*

Don't get me wrong. I love Seattle. I love the city and I love traveling. A weekend in Seattle is filled with lots of things to do with Grace, shopping and restaurants. However, there are some downsides...

I went out to U Village to run some errands thinking that would be the best place to shop with Grace because EVERYONE has their kid with them at U Village. It's family friendly - so they say.

Strike One. I didn't get the memo that there was a Husky Basketball game. Any kind of event at the University of Washington shuts down practically the whole city. After an hour of fighting traffic, avoiding purple-and-gold-wearing fans, and dodging all the crazy think-they-can't-get-hit-by-a-car-so-they-jump-out-in-front-of-you-WITH-their-stroller pedestrians, I found a parking spot. All I wanted to do was go to this one store and get this one thing. It couldn't be too tough, right?

Strike Two. They were out the item I wanted so they called their Bellevue store. In luck! They had it! So I piled Grace back into the car, fought the traffic AGAIN and headed to Bellevue. I unloaded Grace - headed to the store and...drum roll please...they are out of my item as well! Come again? Didn't you just tell me you had it? The U Village people told me they called Bellevue when in actuality, they called downtown. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

I was on the verge of tears but thankfully, mercifully, Grace was being the best baby on the planet. No crying. No whining. No begging to get of the stroller and touch every single thing in the store. So I had the Bellevue people call the downtown people and I buy the damn thing over the phone. Not wanting to pay the $7 to ship when I am so close, I tell them I'll pick it up. (Oh I love when I try to be frugal. It ALWAYS back fires.)

With the thing bought I relax a little and head to Pottery Barn Kids. Where else does one go to relax?!

Grace (and I) fell in love with this - a butterfly mobile...


and a few other things that took ALL - MY - WILL POWER not to buy.
(I am taking good notes for the Easter Bunny though!)

I hit a few other stores but they were disappointing at best. Baby Gap looked like it had been hit by a tornado and I'm sorry, but Gymboree - why do you make the SMALLEST, most narrow stores when you know a 1,000 mothers and THEIR BABIES IN STROLLERS are all headed your way?!?! For that fact alone, I REFUSE (you hear me Gymboree? I'm talking to you!) REFUSE to shop there. It would be like a nursing home not having wheel chair accessibility. It's (almost) that bad.

After cursing Gymboree, Baby Gap and the other handful of baby stores at Bellevue Square, I decided to high tail it downtown, or as much as you can high tail during Husky basketball traffic, to pick up my item. I picked it up and a fancy, over-priced, trendy little boutique caught my eye. My will power depleted, (see above) I stepped in for just a quick peak. "I'm not going to buy anything," I told myself. "Just gonna look. No harm in looking."

The harm in looking is that it always leads to wanting and of course, I fell in love and couldn't live without something in this store. Of course. After trying to talk myself out of it, the sales person did a complete number on me and the next thing I know, I'm digging into my purse, reaching for my wallet.

Strike Three. No credit card. NO CREDIT CARD!! WHAT!?!? Where could it be? I haven't bought anyt..h..i...oh wait! The butterfly mobile that we "needed." I did buy that. It was super crowded in that store and me and the sales clerk were highly stressed during the transaction. I must have left it there. I called them. Good news - they had it! Bad news - I had to drive all the way back to Bellevue in Husky traffic. UGGHH.

And that folks is just one more reason why farm life and I mesh so well. The only shopping I do at home is online. No cars. No traffic. No people. {Sigh of contentment.} Just the way I like it.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I would like say that I totally agree on the Gymboree issue. Way too freakin' narrow!!!! I got so annoyed one time going in there that I vowed to not go back. I had to leave the stroller up at the front...luckily my husband was there and just stayed with her. But I thought it was the dumbest layout in retail design history.