Purple on the Promenade

It was a couple years ago that I developed a rather dangerous habit, that I've luckily now gotten mostly under control. That dangerous habit was shopping. Oh my gosh, you're probably saying, how cliche is that? Women and shopping? Okay. It totally is and I totally enjoy it. And lots of guys enjoy sports and I don't hear anyone complaining about them. So I can like shopping. 

For most of the time I've lived in NYC, I've been in Queens. And while there was a mall near enough to me (four or five subway stops to Roosevelt Ave.), I rarely went out there, except when I needed home goods from Target. Yes, I learned the hard way not to buy pots and pans at the dollar store.

It wasn't until I moved to Brooklyn that I first tried Macy's. It wasn't even the big Macy's on the 34th Street, just the littler Macy's in Brooklyn. I say little, but it's still like six stories and is larger than any of the anchor stores I remember back in my mall shopping suburban days.

The first time I went, I was going to be coming out to all my friends and wanted a really stunning dress. Macy's seemed like a good spot. When I showed up, I was amazed by the vast variety of beautiful dresses to wear. I could hardly believe it because they were all there for my trying on pleasure! I grabbed a few and headed into the changing room (thankfully having no issues with any employees about the female fitting rooms) and tried on a few things. 

Eventually I settled on a black stretchy Calvin Klein that really worked for me. That trip was the dangerous one because two months later I returned to Macy's to enjoy the whole experience again. This time, I went and grabbed a bunch of different dresses; dashing red, sexy black, some lacy green and for some reason satin purple. While I've never been into purple, I thought, what the hell. Why not at least try on something crazy, something out of the ordinary for me. Purple is probably my least favorite color (although it competes with yellow in this regard).

I tried some things on, I took some photos and then finally was just left with the purple. Purple. The color of grape candy, my least favorite flavor of candy. Purple. That color that ruins perfectly good blue and red by squishing them together. Purple. Ugh.

Well, from the moment I put on the purple, satin Ralph Lauren dress, I was in love! Seriously, it fit me perfectly and it looked amazing. Even the color seemed to work with my hair color and skin tone. Just seeing myself in that dress made me super happy. It made me feel beautiful.  

In fact, I felt so beautiful that I actually left the changing room in it and walked over to the larger mirrors outside the fitting room area. There were a couple of Macy's employees standing there, but they didn't seem to notice me as I admired myself in the mirrors. Oh my gosh, I didn't want to take this dress off! I wanted to wear it forever. It looked so beautiful and I felt so beautiful. All I wanted to do in life was wear this dress.

Sadly it was $168.00. Sadly for my bank account, I bought it. Now I know why they let you try on all the dresses. They know they'll get you when you find a perfectly fitting, beautiful dress. They got me. Macy's and Ralph Lauren got me.

Although it was in November, it was still a pretty nice day. It was one of those fall days where as long as you have sun and no wind it's still pretty nice out. As long as you can avoid clouds and breeze it's pleasant. This day was pleasant enough, although I didn't manage to entirely avoid the wind. In my neighborhood I can never avoid the wind. 

While my neighborhood is certainly windy, it's also picturesque. It's incredibly picturesque and regular viewers of my photos, videos and blog will notice that I love to take photos on the Brooklyn Promenade. So, with my brand new purple dress, I decided to head to the Promenade to capture some photos. 

Okay, Brooklyn Heights geography lesson. These photos are not from the Promenade, this is actually the Fruit Street Sitting Area. Okay, yes, I'm splitting hairs. Both are good spots for photos though, I must say. 

Needless to say, I'm now sold on purple. And my love of fashion, shopping and trying on dresses continues unabated. Though, I've figured out some ways to not spend a ton of money. Firstly, you have to be patient and wait for things to go on sale. Secondly, you can sign up for stores' mailing lists and wait for them to send you a big coupon (if you're patient they'll throw you a 40% off coupon or a free $25 off your next purchase). You can also wait for clothes to go on eBay. Most nice dresses you see in stores will be on eBay for way cheaper in a few months. Lastly, I'm lucky that NYC has a lot of high end thrift stores where you can get a used $300 dress for $30. It takes some searching, but you can strike gold from time to time and find that perfect dress.