loving up the locals

I forgot to mention that Pic and I visited the Arlington Gardens Mall for the first time last week. We were looking for gifts for her teachers and didn't find anything suitable-seeming at Sundance (I have no idea what they enjoy reading in their free time). I was heading over to Target after that, but, on impulse, I decided that we should check out the Arlington mall, first, just in case. We ended up buying a personalized tree ornament and a lovely-sized, cute coffee mug for each of her teachers. The prices were good, but, even better, the service was excellent.

The woman who runs (owns?) Wedding Style had another little shop in front where she was selling seasonal merchandise. She was excellent with Pic. (Too often, people are quick to rush over and admonish her for thinking about touching something. "Back off people. If she breaks it, I'll pay for it. She's curious, but amazingly gentle.") We left Pic's teachers' names and then walked around a bit. The sign said the wait would be an hour, but the shopkeeper halved the time (business wasn't exactly booming on a weekday, two days before Christtide). The mall is tiny, maybe four shops and and restaurant, but I'm pretty sure we'll go back when we need more gifts. We went to the spa-shop-place (I can't quite remember exactly what it was, obviously) in the back and the woman working the desk bestowed Pic with two faerie* kisses, one on her hand (that had been earlier stamped by the lovely Ms Judy from storytime) and one on her cheek. Pic was ecstatic about this. We bought a faerie pen there.

We went back to pick up the ornaments and ended up also buying the mugs and a couple of holiday cards there.

The shopkeeper's middle-school-aged son was off school for winter break and he was helping out in the store. He had fantastic manners. He was polite to both me and Pic and I'd love if Pic ends up nearly as nice as he is. The shopkeeper (sorry, I don't know her name) discreetly asked if Pic could have a candy cane treat and I said yes. I was expecting one of those mini candy canes, but Pic was given a Christmas-tree-shaped candy cane confection that had a gummy Santa perched on top. It was the size of an ornament.

I like Target okay, but local's definitely better and, in this case, local's definitely and tremendously way better. I'd recommend a stop there if you feel so inclined to buy someone a gift...or plan a wedding.

* Ah, Spenser.

------------

P.S. I'll post pictures as soon as I figure out how to do this. I'm not sure where the camera cable thing is, nor am I sure that I'll be successful with the transfer.

P.P.S. Her name is Roxana! I'm a genius. Or, I looked up the mall with the mind-numbingly easy Google. Yeah.