eating and shopping with friends

my bosses give great gift 
okay
 their wives
 give great gifts

this christmas
 one
 gave me
 an amazingly gorgeous


 celine tote bag
 the leather was so soft 
when you put it over your shoulder 
the whole thing collapsed into itself 
had the shoulder strap
been a teensy bit longer
i might have kept it

 i took it back to the store
 got a credit
 oh boy 
what a credit

 i have since getting the credit
 mostly hibernated 
due to the weather

but it was
beginning to burn a hole in my wallet

what to do?

 i called
 two of my best gal pals
 organized
 an afternoon
 of 
lunch and shopping

 on the way to 
bergdorf goodman
 donna asked
 if i had made a reservation
 well no
 but i can do it now

i fumble
with my iPhone open table app
the earliest table for 3
 is 2:30
 its now
just a little past 1

 ironically
 it took me
 until the cab pulled up
 across from bg
 to make the reservation

 we decide
 to just go up to the 7th floor
see if we can 
get a table sooner
 if not
we'd shop

 amazingly
was able to seat us immediately

if you've ever dined
at fred's in barney's
 the comparison
 is
 the menu
 at fred's is larger/more diverse
 but
 the ambiance
 at 
bg
 wins
 with
 its view of Central Park
 and
 its cozy
 'trader vic' chairs


after
a lunch of 
scallops and mushroom ravioli for me
 deviled eggs for donna
 and 
lovely salmon for cheryl


we order
 'cookies for the table'
and coffee

fortified
we go shopping
they were having 75% off sales
however
 i managed
 to find

sold design lab brown faux leather skinny jeans


rag & bone forest green skinny jeans





 nili lotan cashmere boyfriend sweater in cobalt
none
 of which
were on sale

still came away
 with
 half the credit
 left for another day