The Good Stuff at Lenox Mall

Lenox Mall (like most malls) is one of those places where you have to sift through a lot of crap to get to the good stuff. However, there are a few bright spots.

Club Monaco is one of my new favorite stores. I know that as a girl, I'm supposed to love shopping, but it's really just a necessary evil. The problem is that my taste has gone up, but my income hasn't quite kept up with my style. The clothes at Club Monaco seem to be made well from quality materials, they fit, and they don't cost an arm and a leg. It's a good store for basics if you have a hard time paying full-price for Theory, real Calvin Klein (not the sub-standard label in the department stores) or Elie Tahari, but you don't want to wear Banana Republic and end up wearing the same shirt as 5 other girls in your office. Of course, I don't like everything there. Today, as usual, I tried on 1 skirt and 5 shirts, but only left with 2 shirts. 2 classic cap sleeve t-shirts - 1 black, 1 black and white stripe = $50.

One of the big problems I have with blouses, especially button-downs, is my chest. Actually, the problem is not my chest--it's the proportion of my chest to the rest of my upper body. My shoulders and waist are sized for a small or xsmall, but my chest is a medium. A couple of years ago, I discovered why my 36C bras weren't comfortable--I'm actually a 32E! I know, you didn't even know that size existed. Neither did I, but finding out my true size was a dream come true. Finding clothes still isn't easy, because I'm not really into wearing a shirt to work that gapes at all of the top buttonholes or a shirt that is falling off my shoulders and ballooning at the waist. With the popularity of surgical enhancement, I can't believe more designers haven't taken this issue into consideration. Unfortunately, I didn't choose this fate, but I have to live with it. Sorry, I'm rambling, but the point of all of this was to say that the Club Monaco white shirt ($69) did not meet expectations, but the Theory white shirt ($185) at Bloomingdales fit perfectly. Welcome to my life!

After waiting for me to try on 6 items in the dressing room at Club Monaco, Derek deserved a break, so we headed down to the Clubhouse for a break. I was happy to get a bloody mary with real horseradish in it, and the bartender asked what kind of vegetables I wanted in it. While the veggies weren't very creative (olives, celery, cucumber), it was the thought that counts. Derek had a couple of greyhounds, and the bartender gave him the second one on the house and invited us to Sunday brunch for $10 bottomless mimosas sometime. It was a nice gesture, so we'll probably go back.

Third bright spot at Lenox Mall--the Apple Store. Even though it's crowded, it's a great store because you can check out fully-functioning computers, ipods, iphones, etc. without being accosted by salespeople. Also, I had a great experience a few weeks ago at the Genius Bar. One morning, my computer wouldn't boot up completely, and I tried everything I knew to fix it. Derek made an appointment online at the Genius Bar for the next afternoon. I was fully expecting to leave the computer, and either pay a large fee to have it fixed or to find out the hard drive would have to be replaced. We arrived at the Apple Store and saw on the huge screens at the back of the store that we were #3 in line for the Genius Bar. We looked around a little until my name was called, and then went back to see what was going on with my computer. The "genius" said he thought my directory was corrupted and that he would take it into the back to fix it. 10 to 15 minutes later, he came back with the computer, completely fixed. He told us the problem and how to fix it if it happened in the future. I asked what I owed, and he said "Nothing. Let us know if we can help with anything else." For this reason, we went back today to buy a case for my ipod and consider it a great store.

The final bright spot at Lenox is the Bloomingdales' parking deck. Lenox has turned almost every parking lot into a "VIP" pay lot or valet lot, so being able to park close to any part of Lenox is a treat. I don't think there are too many people reading this blog yet, so I'm giving away the secret to great parking at Lenox.