I needed a hug

Today was one of those days that wasn't bad, per-se, but not great either.  A co-worker has been out of the office for some time which has increased everyone's stress level, a family member who I did not want to see dropped by the office and I just felt cranky and sad for no particular reason.  Then I left for the day and went and got into my little roadster and put the top down.  I let the sun warm me up for a minute while I plugged in my ipod and my misery began to thaw.  As I drove home in thick traffic, I thought about how this makes just about everything better on a bright sunshiny day like today.  Then traffic got worse.  So bad in fact, that I turned off the highway onto a road that happened to take me past the mall.  Figuring it was fate (I could either stop and shop or sit in traffic for another hour and waste gas), I pulled into the parking lot.  I don't usually go for retail therapy as a rule, but sometimes it does hit the spot to just wander around with your own thoughts.

With no particular goal in mind, I noticed how nice it is to shop during this time of day.  There are no crowds and the stores have not been busy all day so things are fully stocked and clean and neat.  I popped into Sephora and started testing perfumes.  My husband does not like perfume so much, so it's something that I rarely buy, but when I came across "Daisy" by Marc Jacobs, I had to have it.  Forgetting the fact that daisies are one of my favorite things on earth, the package was lovely and it smells like summertime.  They had a tiny bottle so I went for it.

Another fairly random find is the sparkly knotted silk bracelet from J Crew.  I had been trolling around looking for something just like it and finding lots of nice things, but mostly at ludicrous prices.  There are a few cool ones on Etsy, but for some reason, every time I find something really unique, it's from some far off country where the shipping will take forever and I'm not entirely convinced that it's actually hand made and not pumped out of some factory in China.  The $18.50 price tag on this one made it a win-win and I had to hold myself back from buying one in every color.  I think the pink is just right.