Playing Hooky in Houston

Question: what happens when four women get together and have been all equally deprived of serious shopping opportunities with major department stores and swanky chain stores? Add to this equation the fact that these women altogether have nearly a hundred years of education with about a dozen degrees between them, as well as numerous decades of teaching?

From Houston Galleria's Facebook Page.
This fountain drove me a little nuts after a while.

Answer: OMG. The Houston Galleria is what happens. It was all the idea of one woman, G., who had lived in Houston at an earlier point in her life, and whose parents still live nearby. She was the driver, and grabbed two others who had a record of post-conference shopping. Florentina happens to be one of those lucky shoppers. My initiation was last year on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. This year we initiated a new member of the post-conference shopping club, and we did really well.

How well? Let's see what we bought in a matter of two hours, not including lunch.

• Pandora bracelets were purchased and discussed obsessively in the backseat. G. and I had no clue, and spent quite a bit of time trying to sort out the attraction. If anyone can clarify the appeal of this jewelry line to Florentina, please leave a comment or two! (Are they like Trollbeads?)
• Chloé Perfume at Sephora.
• Estee Lauder face creams at Nordstrom. (Plus two big bonus gifts!)
• One laptop adapter at the Apple Store.
• Two nail buffing kits from a good-looking Israeli man who notices women's nails at his kiosk.

What didn't we buy?

• An unnamed handbag or two in Nordstrom.

...the print of this shoe = no sale.

• A Macintosh laptop. (It was so busy, the sherriff's office had deputies stationed in the Apple Store.)
• Gifts for our spouses/partners. Sorry, guys.

(from https://ryggradfashion.wordpress.com/)
The shape of these shoes plus...

• Christian Louboutin shoes were examined carefully and admired at Nordstrom. We had no idea how anyone affords them, but we'd like to see someone wear them in public. (On the other hand, G. had trouble with the shoes that have been seen on Lady Gaga -- resembling leopard-skin lobster claws.)

Ice skating rink in the Galleria.

 I will admit that the mall was a little intimidating at first, but it was a great trip. The ice skating rink was  really fun to watch, and one of us had been an ice skating instructor during graduate school up in Canada, so it was probably even more interesting for her to watch.

Admittedly, we were rather tame shoppers considering how deprived each of us had been in the months leading to this breakout. But at least no one came out of the Galleria emptyhanded. If that had any chance of happening, we would have marched that woman to the good-looking Israeli man with the nail buffing kits.

We were all glad to return to our hotel, though we secretly wished we had decided to stay in one of the two hotels at the Galleria. 

Florentina says Howdy, Houston

Spent a lot of time enjoying this part
of my hotel room because of my cold.

For the last four days, it's been Florentina on the road. This time, Houston was the destination. Unfortunately, upon arrival in Houston's Hobby airport, it became clear that a cold was paying a visit to Florentina's upper respiratory system at the same time she was visiting Houston. The very warm weather made things a little uncomfortable because of my cold, but overall the warmth was really welcome for my entire stay because I was otherwise indoors in air-conditioned discomfort. Luckily the hotel room was really very nice with a super comfortable bed.

UHD at night. View from Spaghetti Warehouse.

Houston was this year's location for a conference I have attended on a number of occasions and have always enjoyed because of the terrific people and great conversations. The conference organizers always pick great places, too. This year's actual conference site was at University of Houston-Downtown, which came as a surprise for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons is that I usually can't quite figure out where the actual panels will be presented from the program materials.

Dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse

 Unfortunately, because of the cold that traveled with me, I was not as adventurous as I had hoped to be when exploring the food scene. Italian-style food seemed to win out in the choices made, partly because it meant exerting less energy that would be otherwise needed for recovery and/or doing work-related activities. Mexican food seemed to fall out of favor when laboring under a cold, unfortunately.

We ended up at the Spaghetti Warehouse, right near the UHD campus, which has a colorful history to go with its colorful, eclectic decor. It also has its very own ghost that haunts the ladies' room. I was very glad to learn about it long after I had left that space, as I might have been too freaked out to use the faciliities if I had known. Remember that ghost that shows up in the bathroom at Hogwarts?