Let's Go To The Mall

Of course Robin Sparkles is one of my favourite musical artistes.  That goes without saying.  We're both Canadian, we have similar names, and we both love going to the mall!


Or maybe not.

I decided to take a day off from work just for the heck of it.  I have some vacation days saved up, and I just didn't feel like going to work.  Instead, I thought the day would be well spent at Yorkdale mall, shopping for warmer-weather pants.  Because a) Yorkdale is crazy-crowded on weekends; and b) since I gained a size over the winter, none of my summer pants fit anymore.

Part a) of the plan worked out perfectly.  The mall was relatively sedate.  I was able to secure a seat in the food court at lunchtime without having to ninja-battle anyone for it.

Part b), not so much.  Every single women's-wear store offered 16 different shades and patterns of pastel or rainbow bright skinny jeans.  There was milky green, sunny yellow, coral, hot pink, flowers on a white background, flowers on a black background, flowers on a grey background, lavender-on-white tiger spots, sky blue, polka dot, and easy-stain white.  Endless choice.  And not a single thing that I was tempted to buy.

My main priority right now is being able to dress properly for work.  I also wouldn't mind getting a few casual-specific pairs of pants, but in the summertime, on a hot day, wriggling into a skin-tight pair of long jeans, even in a light colour, doesn't seem appealing.

The only work-appropriate pants I found were of the unstructured, super-drapey, dry-clean-only variety.    Survey says:

Therefore, the only thing I bought at Yorkdale all day was a burger, fries, and an iced tea.  I will be trying again at another mall soon.  It occurs to me that I may have better luck shopping  downtown, close to all the office towers full of working women.  Apparently Yorkdale is now catering exclusively to people who are too wealthy to work.  They just hang around the Espressamento Coffee Bar wearing loud skinny jeans, sipping no-fat lattes and debating which fluorescent Kate Spade handbag to buy this season.

After I had pretty much given up on the whole pants search, (and yes I even went to plain old Sears and even their plain old trousers didn't fit right), I wandered around the mall for a bit before heading home.  There were some new stores added since I'd last been there.  For example, there is now a store dedicated entirely to selling bottles of fancy olive oil.  Wow.  Who wants to bet on that store staying in business?  Not me.  

I also saw the new Microsoft store.  Yes, Microsoft has opened a store, literally two doors down from the Apple store.  Picture the Apple store exactly, with Microsoft products on the display tables, and obviously the employees are wearing Microsoft T-shirts.  It is a pathetic exercise in imitation.  I didn't see a single customer in there.  I wonder what they have renamed the Genius Bar.  Perhaps Smartypants Central?