I cannot exactly remember the last time I went shopping at the mall. The mall is a difficult place for me to  go. First of all, there are too many people. Second, I have a difficult time shopping there because there are too many choices. I get a little lot overwhelmed when I have too many choices in front of me.

Well, not only have I recently gone to the mall, I went on a Saturday! The worst day of the week to go shopping, a Saturday! Granted, I was only in one store and I stayed in the same department the whole time, but it was still the mall.

I had a Macy’s gift card for $47.74. I wanted to use it to buy something for my mother, so I decided to try to find a really nice purse that would fit within that price range. That was not easy. Some of the purses were several hundreds of dollars, I even saw one that had a $500 price tag. Even the ones that were on sale were more than I could afford. So I spent about an hour and a half wandering through the purses. I must have had a really confused look on my face, because one of the managers asked me if I needed any help. I explained to her I was trying to find a purse that I could use the gift card on, and it was very important that the price not go over what I had on the card. She told me if I found something I wanted to buy, bring it to her and she wouldring it up at the register so I could see how much it was going to be with tax.

Eventually I found a purse that I wanted to take a chance on. I took it to the manager, she rang it up, and it was about four dollars too much. I told her that I would just have to put it back. Well, this manager was really, really nice, she told me she had a coupon that would help me out. By the time she finished applying it, I could afford the purse.

So, in essence, I spent zero dollars on a $90 purse.

Later that same evening, mom and I had a few errands to run. She and I decided that instead of going home and cooking we would get supper from a restaurant and take it home. The restaurant we decided on is a place called Reinhardt’s Oyster Bar, and its theme is “beyond casual dining”.

I was the one who went in to place the order and to wait for it. It was loud in there, and I hate loud noises. I had halfway convinced myself that it would be better for me to wander through the crowded dining room, and head back outside to wait, but I changed my mind. So, I waited at the bar. And I waited, and waited. I amused myself by listening to the guys try and pick up the girls, and watched a drunk customer complain about not getting her bread. Even with all the noise there was no freaking out on my part, I did not even come close to having a panic attack.

I did come close to asking for a non-alcoholic Bloody Mary.

Yesterday, I took another bold step and applied to a college. I also began filling out paperwork to see what federal education grants I might qualify for. Whether I end up at the school I was talking to yesterday and today, or somewhere else, I am going back to school. As of now, I have decided that I am going to major in psychology.