The rainbow over the mall

You know it's going to be a great shopping trip when a rainbow arches way out in the distance just past the mall. Joe and I decided to celebrate our 2nd anniversary with a trip to the mall to pick up a few special things for our getaway to Atlantic City. Let me just tell you...the man has style. I'll spare you the details (I want them all to myself) but let's just say that we've come a long way from kissing outside of a suit shop and separating for a while because clothes shopping is too 'couply.' Now, we're buying stockings for me and boxers for him, and let me suggest to ALL of you couples out there THE sexiest shopping excursion for couples ever. Ladies, you sit down on the shoe try-on bench. Men, you go pick out the shoes you find sexy. The result is amazing. My phenomenal boyfriend surprised me by making that one pair of sexy, strappy 3-inch heels my anniversary gift. (And all I got him was a couple of pairs of boxers. I need to up my game.) I share this story not to brag about my generous, sweet man, but in wonderment that I -- the woman who works barefoot or in fuzzy slippers most of the time -- could ever strut around in 3 inch heels. It may sound like nothing to most people, but that's an entirely different feeling. I've never been a shoe girl before...just never got the whole concept of shoe obsession. But now with these strappies (does anyone call them Strappies?), May 3rd may just have been the birth of a Shoe Woman. Add in the black stockings with the seam (very Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Page, etc) and how can I ever go back to my Valentine hearts pajamas or my Long Beach island gray sweatshirt and purple sweatpants? The Girl Next Door, as I've been called, kinda likes stilettos. My horizons have been opened.

Speaking of horizons, I've just been tapped for a corporate spokesperson position, doing radio and media tours for an allergy product. The whole outdoor weddings thing. Me on the radio talking about how allergies can put a crimp in outdoor wedding plans and spring weddings. We approached this company years ago, and it just came back to me. The stilettos must have been good luck. :) So I'm very excited, being an allergy sufferer myself, to help create a campaign and print content for the product site, and align myself with such a terrific company. It's been one of my goals to link up with a Fortune 500 and help people at the same time.

In other terrific news, I'm doing articles for Gift Shop magazine, a fun and beautiful glossy where I'll be able to write about marketing and special sales to the bridal market. Poornima is new in the office, and I'm thrilled to work with her.

Forget the work thing for now...I'm giggling over the shoe shop trip, how alluring I must have looked with my jeans rolled up and those horrid little stocking snippets, teetering on some extra high heels. Almost fell over once, and am still laughing about one particularly amusing pair of shoes with little rhinestone hearts dangling from the strap. Dinner was at a 50s diner style restaurant with milkshakes, burgers, chili dog and fries. When you're with the right guy, it's sigh-worthy even when your meal comes in a wrapper (I can't take credit for that joke, but it's true). Even the car ride was a highlight...talking about the greatest American athletes of all time who should be enshrined on a sports version of Mount Rushmore. Funny how we agree on Secretariat but split on some golf and tennis greats. I'll be thinking of that the rest of the night and might wake up with a shout of "Joe Montana!", which hasn't happened since that unfortunate night on my honeymoon. KIDDING.