Day o'indulgence

I love family visits. It gives you a free pass to act like a tourist without any twinges of guilt. Today my dad and stepmom visited the city and we took Michigan Avenue by storm! Lunch at Nordstroms, window shopping, dinner at the Gage! It was a tour de force.

Fortunately we didn't have too many freak encounters, minus the homeless woman on Monroe and Wabash who stared lustfully at my stepmom's fur and muttered that my stepmom had somehow stolen this homeless woman's coat (very untrue). Oh, well there was also the fur protest next to the Apple store too, and trust me, those men and women looked like red paint was just hanging out in their pockets, ready to go. I'm glad to say that we avoided them - I didn't want to have to beat one of them to death with my stepmom's cane if they damaged that beloved coat.

I also successfully launched my "2008 trench coat hunt," giving my "girl" at Nordstroms the heads up to be on the watch for a traditional, double-breasted khaki or off-white one for me. And of course, I got my usual praise from her of "you look so great" (thank you, I do), "your hair looks great" (it does), "your make-up looks great" (again thank you, it does). This may sound conceited, but sometimes, it's just nice to hear someone say these things, even if they do get seven percent of your sale and their compliments are not necessarily true.

Now I'm blissfully enjoying my Christmas gift to myself and prepping for an exciting Tory Burch shoe fashion show in the comfort of my apartment. Tomorrow is Anne and my pilgrimage to Wisconsin - cannot wait!