Solopsism or anthropology: you decide

I'm going to tell you about my shopping trip. I'm not sure why I think you care, but it was kind of interesting, because of which stores were overflowing and which were empty.

I was in a holding pattern at work this afternoon, i.e. other people needed to do their stuff before I could do my stuff, of which there is plenty. Which means I'm going to need to sign in tomorrow--after a work-related trip to the zoo, followed by a personal trip to the theatre--and work mad hours next week. And I needed to get a dress for this wedding before I leave for the airport at 4am next Friday.

So I decided to take off a little bit early and go dress shopping, which was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do, especially at Pentagon City, but if you're smart enough not to want to get in your car on a Friday night in DC, and you need to hit a f*load of stores, that's pretty much the place to go.

First stop, Banana Republic, which I know and love. I know my way around the store, I know their stuff fits me, etc. It was crowded and had a few nice dresses, but they were all either fluorescent or drab, i.e. bright yellow or overcast gray, neither of which is appropriate for a Caribbean wedding. So on to J Crew, which had gorgeous dresses on their website but none in the store.

On to Macy's, which was insane, because apparently it's prom dress season. And apparently, Macy's decided to meet the demand because by my eye, prom dresses made up 85 percent of the dresses in that store. There were a few springy dresses, but they were very bright and fluorescent, and no one wants to out-neon the bride.

But Nordstrom's wasn't crowded at all (although it was just as full of prom dresses and the odd neon or tie-dyed dress. There were a handful of dresses that would have been okay, but they were several hundred dollars, which was over budget for perfect, much less okay. Is that why the store was empty? Is that the impact of the recession on the foot traffic at the mall?

I hit a few other stores along the way, nothing. And since when did all these highish-end stores carry so much polyester and rayon? WTF?

I had to make a decision: take a chance and go to Marshall's, which I do not like and where I rarely find anything worth buying. But it was right there, and I was at the point of doing anything to avoid prolonging my shopping nightmare into the weekend, so over I went.

Pentagon City's a funny place that way: three separate shopping centers in one area, all of them catering to different demographics. You have the mall, with Nordstrom's, Swarovski Crystals, Godiva, pricey jewelry stores, etc... and then across the street you have the strip mall, with Marshall's and Costco. And then you have Pentagon Row, which tries to be hip.

Anyway, Marshall's was insane. Insane. I had to think strategically to even get to the dresses. Why is everyone and her grandmother at Marshall's on a Friday night?? Were all those people also desperate for something to wear for an upcoming special occasion and too fat to fit into everything they already had?

I pulled every one that was not hideous or inappropriate (i.e. white, neon, red, black-- weddings are tough, I tell you), which made six. I was worried... if none of these worked, there would be no end in sight. If some of them worked okay, I'd feel the need to get that one just in case, but still keep looking for something better. This had to stop. And I had to get out of that changing room full of dust bunnies (do they not clean them out of principle, as if to say, "suck it. you're not at Nordstrom's anymore"?).

And then, something wonderful happened: one dress fit really well, and it was the one I liked best. It was perfect, i.e. it's exactly what I would choose to wear out of all the dresses I'd tried on and out of the ones I've seen online. It's cotton, it's a springy-but-not-loud color, it's the perfect length, it's formal enough but not overly dressy, and so on. I don't feel like I have to keep looking. I have found the dress.

Is this too good to be true? Am I going to somehow gain enough weight in the next week that the dress will no longer fit? Is Calvin Klein going to pull an Oscar de la Renta and diss Michelle Obama, putting me in a position where I won't want to wear the brand?

Can you tell that, somehow, in the two days since it occurred to me that I would need a dress for the wedding, I've managed to obsess about it to the point of neurosis? I'm so glad I can now move on. I mean, Wells Fargo posted a record profit and the Obamas' dog is arriving on Tuesday. These are exciting times.