Siss's Birthday Continues

This being The Birthday Weekend, as soon as we checked out of the Hilton the next morning I took Siss shopping (her request) at Houston's Galleria (also her request). I must interject here that I truly detest shopping, and until I met Sig I had never been inside the Galleria. Even parking there is intimidating to me. When I need to buy something like a gift, I prefer the many museum gift shops in Houston or shopping online. However, by the time Siss and I pulled into the parking lot, I had been there often enough to be immune to the honking horns and rude, entitled behavior of the Galleria patrons.

The Galleria is the largest urban shopping mall that I have ever seen. I know that larger ones exist, probably most of them called "The Galleria", and hopefully they will remain legends to me forever. Our Galleria features well over three hundred shops and a designer row worthy of Rodeo Drive. We were there to shop for some new scent for Siss which, of course, had been another birthday request. I gladly waltzed her down to Macy's, where we picked up both "Lovely" by Sarah Jessica Parker and "Pure Turquoise" by Ralph Lauren. Both of these are scents that I have and love and wear, but since Siss lives almost 1500 miles away from me, I thought it would be safe and not too "matchy-matchy". Siss had actually fallen in love with "Pure Turquoise" at my place, and we had both drifted into the Skyline Grill in a cloud of it. Now I remember that night every time I wear that scent. Isn't it funny how smells remind us of places and events? Sig says that the anti-bacterial liquid hand soap that he uses reminds him of his grandmother's linen closet. How Gothic.

Did I mention that I hate shopping? I do, and with a passion. Remember how, before Sig, I had never once been to the Galleria in all my years in Houston? Well, he lured me there to see the Christmas tree and the skating rink, and reminds me regularly that while we were sitting in a Starbucks overlooking the skaters and sharing latte and gingerbread, I ate all the frosting off the entire piece while he was otherwise occupied. I suppose that I will be atoning for this for the rest of my life. Actually, as I remember, it was well worth it.

Maybe I had been lured by the holiday decorations, but I was really hooked by the regular trips to Jimmy Choo and Dior and Max Mara and Wolford. I had never seen things like that before. I mean, stockings that cost $300. a pair! And I have them. And I have actually broken down and worn them! Face it! My idea of shopping is either online or in a museum gift shop. For myself, if I ever needed anything, Ross Dress for Less was the place to be....or Pay Less Shoe Source. When Siss and I attended Cella's memorial service, we shopped together for something appropriate to wear, and I could not imagine that she went to Nine West for shoes. That was too upscale for me. Needless to say, my ideas of what is "upscale" has changed a little.

But I digress.

So, armed with enough scent to last for years, we hit the Interstate for San Antonio. I must interject here that at the end of the long trip, Siss got too greedy for scent, and tried to take a half-bottle of my Dolce and Gabbana "Light Blue" on the plane, where it was confiscated from her clutching hands. Ha Ha.

The road to San Antonio. Two hundred miles of nonstop gabbing. My sister is a wonderful conversationalist, witty and funny, and with a speaking style that is full of picturesque imagery. We stopped at one of the "destination spots" along the way. This would be Buc-ees, a combination gas station, gift shop, deli and outdoor shop, with the cleanest restrooms in the West. Honest.

Anyone who stops at Buc-ees, this particular one in Luling, Texas, must avail himself or herself of the facilities, buy "Beaver Nuggets", which are corn pops with a burnt-sugar coating, and shop the tasteless western stuff. We accomplished all of this, in the protected, "no tractor-trailers" sanctuary where you can also buy deer corn, barbecue grills so big they have trailer hitches, and Mexican rugs and chimney-type burners. We scored several deals. Thank goodness I don't have a trailer hitch.