Hold any of those type of thoughts--I promise you I have a shirt on underneath my jacket! And yes, that is pizza hanging out of Tristyn's mouth.
Tristyn had off from school yesterday and we spent the whole day together which is something we rarely get to do. Right now, we are a one car household because of mine being in the shop, so first on our agenda was to take Rick to work in order to keep his car. From there we went to Starbucks.
It sounds strange to say a 9 year old likes going to the coffee shop but he really does. We chose a table outside taking care to make sure it was under the umbrella because who wants a table with no umbrella. Then, we both pulled out books and sipped and read together in a very companionable quietness. For Tristyn--Indiana Jones + clementine soda + rice krisipie. For me--The Fairy Godmother (not very heavy reading there!) + tall, nonfat raspberry mocha.
The neighborhood we were in, Squirrel Hill, has my children's favorite toystore in it and no trip is complete without stopping in to browse. S.W. Randalls is a small shop that contains a large variety of different things--some found at the 'regular' toy store but most not. Every inch of that store is packed with lovely things and one can easily spend--even as an adult!--an hour browsing.
LIttle's Shoes is my Squirrel Hill must-stop. The service you receive from the employees is the old-fashioned kind you rarely find anymore. Even when the store is at its most crowded it's never a long wait before you are approached by a sales person who seems to always know if you want immediate service or prefer to browse alone for a little bit. They will listen to what you want, make appropriate suggestions, measure your feet and then bring out your shoes. Then, they seem to have an unfailing ability to determine if they should put the shoes on your feet or if you are the type that would rather do so for yourself.
I can't help but think of my grandmother when I go to this store and I say this because some years ago I took my grandmother to Kaufmanns. She wished to purchase a new pair of shoes along with some other things and was appalled at the customer or rather lack of customer service she received. To her, Kaufmanns had always been the place to go for shopping and her disappointment was palpable. She asked me if all stores were like this: spend ten minutes chasing down a salesperson only to have them half heartedly point you in the right direction or toss a box of shoes at your feet. I told her yes this type of 'care' was the norm and often if it was even worse.
Little's has exactly the type of service my grandmother was looking for. I'd love to take her there but I don't think she would want to leave the suburbs to come to the city. =( My last words on Little's and then I'll stop rambling about them this morning: They have a great selection of REAL QUALITY shoes that they stand behind. Not to mention an out of my price range fabulous pair of boots that I'm lusting after!
After the Little's stop where Tristyn got new school shoes and reluctantly walked away from my new favorite pair of boots, we had lunch at the pizza shop I've mentioned in other posts.
We also play this game while we eat. Needless to say, it takes us a long time to finish our pizza but it saves us from burning the roof of the mouth!
The rest of the afternoon was spent cozily snugged up inside a movie theater watching this Star Wars cartoon movie that Tristyn had been dying to see. (I feel asleep but don't tell him that!)
