Buckhead GA is the part of Atlanta where the wealthy people live. The homes in this area are huge and very much not something that I see in my day to day life. The mall in this area is also for the wealthy. We walked in and as I was looking around I was completely taken aback. Stores like Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Prada and Monteblanc were a few that I recall off the top of my head. We made our way to the food court and found a nice little place called the Fresh Basket to eat. As I stood in line looking at the people around me I felt judged even though I know I wasn't. It was obvious I didn't belong in "that" sort of place. I don't look like I have money or come from money. Here I am, my tomato red blouse on with my blue jeans and my black and hot pink Nike sneakers, hair not done and zero makeup. There were women walking around that place whose whole outfit was probably more expensive than my entire wardrobe. On the other side of the coin though there were normal everyday folk like me walking around with the same awed expressions waiting for the firework show to start and keeping out of the rain. I started to feel a little anxious because there were a lot of people there and I was in a new surrounding that I knew nothing about. I took a few deep breaths, found a table and ate my vegetarian lunch.
After lunch we walked around the mall some more taking in just what kind of stores were there. It was vastly different from the "poor people's" mall as I was referring to it. There were only a couple of stores that I went into. Bath and Body Works was the first one I went into because it was a store that I see in every other mall. I was grasping at normalcy and not feeling totally inadequate in such an upscale mall. I got to smell some of the new scents that they have and I found my inner girly happy again. I went into Williams and Sons kitchen store and was floored by the amazing gadgets, cookware and unique stoves they had in there. It was like something out of a magazine! Dreams of what I would do if I won the lottery began to flutter around in my head as I planned my dream kitchen. I also quickly went into a store called Free People. It looked to be a "hippie-esque" sort of store with natural fabrics and neutral colors. However when the hubby pointed out that most of the blouses I was looking at were over $100, I simply walked right back out.
As we were walking through the cosmetic section of a Macy's there was a woman who was completing her purchase and the cashier said her total was $750 and change. My jaw hit the floor. How in the heck do you spend that much money on cosmetics or perfume? Seriously, people do that? I had the sudden urge to find the closest WalMart or Target and hide. Maybe my thoughts would be different if I had money and spending that much money wasn't even an issue. I'd like to think that there are so many better ways to spend that kind of money though. We made our way back to the parking garage and sat in the car for a little while, I tried to decompress from feeling so uptight and completely out of my element.
Rain prevented us from doing much walking around outside the parking garage. We spent a vast amount of time sitting in the car, playing with our phones or playing little imaginary games with my son who at this point was bored out of his mind. When the fireworks started we were having a pretty good time. I had forgot to bring our camp chairs or even umbrellas so I was hoping that the rain would pause long enough for us to enjoy the fireworks. It did. We stood there watching and then everything stopped. Due to technical difficulties they had to stop the show for a bit while they fixed whatever it was. When they finally got things started again it was pretty but my heart just wasn't in it anymore. I was tired, hungry, overwhelmed, damp and my legs and back were killing me. The website for the show said that it was the largest display in the Southeast and it was easily over 20 minutes of fireworks. We got maybe 10 minutes of bang and that was it. What made it worse was the hellacious traffic in downtown Atlanta after the show as thousands of people tried to make their ways back home too. We finally arrived back home around 11:30pm and I crashed hard almost immediately. What a day!
Today I am going to go to stores that I feel at home in and can afford. It's time for a little bit of retail therapy and a much needed brow wax (it's been quite awhile). I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th celebration!
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