Wednesday night, after having dinner with Jerry, I received a phone call from Shawna, saying she was coming into town the following evening. Why she wanted to hang out with me, instead of spending a quiet evening at the hotel I will never know. I was grateful, however, she rescued me from the fate of another evening home alone, where the only excitement in my life is an occasional David aka "hot workout guy"-sighting or actually speaking to Stephanie on the phone instead of communicating through IM or emails. Such is the life of a recent graduate, who's best friend lives in Montana. Aghhh! Although Shawna wanted to spend the evening in Alexandria, I asked her if we could hang out at Tysons instead. She agreed, and we had a wonderful time eating dinner at the Nordstrom's Cafe, my new favorite place. I introduced Shawna to the grilled chicken & strawberry salad with black cherry vinaigrette dressing that is to die for. I don't even like black cherries but I LOVE this dressing! If you have not experienced dining at the Nordstrom's Cafe, DO IT NOW! I took Kate there last weekend and she loved it too!

Nordstroms has three levels, and on each level there are shoes. The higher you ride, the escalator, the more expensive the shoes become. Beginning with level one we slowly made our way to the third level. Where I tried on the shoes below. I have always wanted to buy shoes with some type of animal print on them but have never had the courage to do so. The shoes that I am modeling were only $300.

Our shoe salesman, Jared grabbed a matching Dolce or Prada, can't remember which, bag and snapped a photo of Shawna and I before trying to convince me to open a Nordstroms account. Do I have stupid written across my forehead or what? Why do men treat me like I'm an idiot? Did he really think I would fall for his charm and persistence? I am too old and I have heard every line I think men are capable of expressing, which is pretty limited in number, bless their hearts.

As you can see, he sucked at taking photos because this one, which would be great otherwise, is blurry, and thus not so great.

Although I didn't purchase anything last night, Shawna walked away with the sexiest brown shoes ever! Who knew Jessica Simpson designed cute, affordable shoes. Anyway, I was so excited she agreed to buy them because she had reservations initially. I told her if she didn't feel comfortable wearing them to church there were other places she could wear them. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. I think every woman should have a pair of shoes she can't or shouldn't wear to church or anywhere in public for that matter. I confessed to Steph that I found found them, black Dolce boots, but the thousand-dollar price tag is a huge barrier for someone with a limited cash-flow, like me.

The shoes in the second photo are also Jessica Simpsons. Although they are cute, Shawna and I both agreed they looked better from a distance. I recently purchased a red pair of patent-leather BPs from Nordstroms and showed them to Shawna while we were shopping. She liked them so much she may get the same pair next week. I love it when people confirm my fashion taste!

The man in the last photo, as you may have guessed is Jared, the schmoozy shoe salesman. He really was nice but way too young. I promised him, once I met my sugar daddy, I would come back and buy the Kate Spade heels and the Dolce boots; especially the Dolce boots BUT until then, I my spending would be limited to first-floor shoes only.