Yuck - I went to the mall

I braved the crowds and found time to put off the inevitable at this time of year. Yes, I wish I could have pledged to buy handmade but I need to be realistic. I am in South Florida, mecca of "shiny and new". Some friends are getting handmade (by myself and others), but others are getting store bought/mail ordered.

I left myself less time to shop, arriving later than I expected, so I have to go again.

Every time my son needs new sneakers are asks for the exact same ones that he wore out/out grew, they are discontinued and I now have to take him shopping to try on sneakers. eek.

Anthropologie opened up at our local mall last month. I do like the store but I get the feeling that it is so mass produced masquerading as indie/handmade. Example: Flower necklaces made out of the cute vintage plastic flowers (are theirs vintage?) like the ones I use for my bracelets. Only they had a rack with 15 identical necklaces. hmmm. In their case of more unique jewelry they had a few bracelets like the ones I have using vintage findings and pieces of jewelry mixed with new. Lots of people create similar things. But for sale at $298.00?!?! I did pick up a hostess gift for a neighbor.

I still need a birthday gift for my step-father-in-law who is turning 80.

I also need to add some photos to my posts. How about this:

via cute overload. I love this site. I have it sent to my phone so I can amuse myself with cutie photos in carpool line.