Day 9 – Sunday

We extended our stay in Dallas because we wanted to spend more time with Shannon's family, and I knew we would not feel like packing up our truck and checking out of the hotel at noon. We had 2 breakfasts scheduled Sunday morning; an early one with Dad and a late one with DH’s extended family.

After breakfast, we returned to the hotel to pick up the leftover cupcakes and the cupcake stand to return to Shannon’s house. Also had to return the tux, so we packed that up too. We hung out for a while at Shannon’s place, then took Ada and Ben with us while we went into downtown Dallas to return the tux and to check out a Dallas-exclusive perfume that I wanted to smell. The maker is rather exclusive in general, so I was not surprised to figure out that they don’t actually have a storefront in Dallas, but a counter inside of Barney’s. I had never been in a Barney’s before, but I knew it was upscale and that we’d be going to a very expensive shopping mall. When we drove around the parking lot looking for Barney’s and the best place to park, I exclaimed over Neiman Marcus. DH had to explain to us that Neiman Marcus sells the droppings and leftovers from Barney’s. I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about, but we were about to find out. We parked by Neiman Marcus and walked through that store to get to the mall. It was beautiful inside, red carpets running the aisles, designer handbags, designer everything, beautiful clothes and jewelry. DH told all of us that we could touch and destroy anything in Neiman Marcus but we must not touch anything in Barney’s, which cracked us up. Near the mall entrance, was the Neiman children’s department. We picked up a little pink fur coat for a baby, priced around $300-$400, if I remember correctly.

Then we went into Barney’s.

I’ve never seen a store like it. It was like we walked into a clothing museum. There were no racks. There were displays set into the wall and backlit. Displays suspended from the ceiling. When we did walk by a random rack, which must have been a “sale” rack, since it was all mismatched clothes and seemed a bit out of place, DH put out his hand and picked up the first blouse he touched. It was a green sequin short-sleeved shirt. Very ugly. The price tag was in the thousands. Multiple thousands. Now that little pink fur coat for a baby didn’t seem so ridiculous.

We descended a spiral staircase to go to the perfume counter. There are no escalators in Barney’s. Ada and I went to the perfume counter while Ben and DH went to look at men’s shoes. I found the scent I was looking for and was both relieved and disappointed when I didn’t like it. It smelled like a medicine chest. Of course I had been kind of hoping to add it to my collection, but the city exclusives are very expensive and so not liking it actually saved me a lot of money. The lady behind the counter showed me some fragrances I did like. I’m afraid I don’t remember the perfumer’s name, but she said they were exclusive to Barney’s, so I should be able to find them again when I’m so inclined. They were reasonably-priced, by the way, a little over $100 per bottle, which is normal for perfume.

We left the perfume counter and caught up with Ben and DH, who had actually found some sneakers or something that were also reasonably-priced, I mean like $40 or something like that. I suggested that they buy some just to be able to carry the Barney’s bag around, but they didn’t.

We were hungry and it was getting to be around dinnertime, so we returned the tux and then headed back to the house to pick everyone up. We all went out to Cracker Barrel. Abe ordered one pancake and Theo ordered one piece of bacon, which the server did not even question. I hate it when you go to a restaurant and you order something like 2 scrambled eggs and some toast, without looking at the menu, and they get confused or upset because that order doesn’t exactly match any combos on the menu. When were in Wyoming and we ate at that restaurant in Rawlins, this other patron was pitching a fit because she wanted chicken-fried steak and couldn’t seem to find it on the menu. I didn’t know why she had to pitch a fit about it. Instead of simply asking if the chef could make some chicken-fried steak, she screamed complaints at the waitress. Who incidentally ended up pointing out that it was, in fact, on the menu anyway, along with chicken-fried chicken (whatever that is), which cheered the woman up immensely and she ordered that. Anyway, I do that all the time. Not pitch a fit, I mean order without a menu. If I want meatloaf and rice I simply inquire if meatloaf and rice is available even if I don’t see it on the menu. You know what? It is!! So back to the Dallas story, I liked it when my sister said “he (pointing to Abe) will have one pancake,” the Cracker Barrel wrote down “one pancake” and didn’t try to sell her anything else.

We were very tired and I think DH and I both nearly fell asleep during dinner. So, shortly after dinner we retired to our hotel for the last night, ready to leave Dallas the next day.