Mall Rats

Today, I went to what is possibly the world's snootiest mall: Tyson's Galleria. If you click on that hyper-link there, you will be able to sense the snootiness just from the little slide show that comes up on the home page. But I HAD to go. It has Anthropologie. And I haven't been to an Anthropologie in over a year. So, the big plan was to load up the Peanut and drive down to meet my mom and dad at the Galleria for a little mall time.

If I may quote the great Mo Willems, "arrangements were made." We were to meet G-Ma and G-Pa on the lower level of the mall, just outside of Macy's at 10:00. So, Daphne and I sat on a blue couch on the lower level of the mall just outside Macy's. Several minutes went by. No sign of my parents. I knew they were there, because I had just talked to them from the parking garage. Weird. So, I called my mom.

Me: Where are you?

Mom: Sitting outside Macy's.

Me: No you aren't, because I'm sitting outside Macy's and I don't see you.

Mom: Hang on...(shuffle shuffle shuffle)...

Then I hear her having a conversation with Mall Information Guy, who, after a confusing exchange, finally figures out that my parents are at the WRONG MALL. They were at Tyson's Center Mall or Tyson's Corner Center, or something like that. But not Tyson's Galleria.

Oh boy.

Luckily, these two malls are located basically within inches of each other, so I barely had time to grab a coffee and get back to the blue couch before they arrived.

Now, this mall has nothing kid-friendly at all about it. In spite of this, my parents bravely offered to watch Daphne for me so that I could have 30 minutes to myself in the happiest place on earth: Anthropologie. I swear I could live in that store. It has big comfy looking beds inside. I could just hide somewhere until all the workers leave and then stay there, like that girl in that movie who lived in the Wal-Mart. I could hang out all night, smelling their candles and trying on their clothes and reading their books. I'm telling you, you could not possibly go wrong buying me a gift from that place. I love every single thing in the store.

And they have great sales! Today I got a $118 denim jacket for $29!

So, thanks to Mom and Dad for going on Daphne Duty for me. I had a great 30 minutes.

The only other store we went in was Williams-Sonoma. That was pretty much the only store I felt comfortable going into wearing jeans and cowboy boots. I wish they would move the Anthropologie over to that other Tyson's mall. I looked it up on line. It has a much friendlier line-up of shops.

I am not big on lunch, but when I got home, I remembered I had some left-over Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup from last night. So I ate some, and it was AWESOME. I took pictures of it, but honestly, it doesn't look very appetizing, so I'm not going to post any. Just trust me. It is the same one I made last year during the Winter of Soup. I followed the recipe except I added carrots and mushrooms to the broth, and used a larger box of long grain and wild rice because last time I thought it could have used a little more rice. Here is the recipe. I like to put a giant biscuit in the bottom of the bowl, and just pour the soup right on top. (I didn't say it was healthy).

Finally, congratulations to Fooie McGoo and his wife Melissa on the arrival of their newest family member, Sam. If I was anywhere near them, I'd totally make them some soup.

UPDATE: There is another Anthropologie in Reston Town Center! Much closer and a way smaller snootiness factor! Thank you, internet.