At the mall

I have not been to a mall since about November of 2008. I used to like going there but because of my driving anxiety plus my lack of funds, I have stayed away from there. Both of our malls are about 20 - 25 minutes away. I like Woodbridge Center better than Menlo Mall because the latter is too upscale ever since they did the remodle in the early 90's.

Menlo used to have many shoe stores, JC Penney, Alexanders, Bambergers which then became Macy's, Nathan's which we liked eating at sometimes and an art store which we bought a few paintings from. JC Penney moved to Woodbridge Center when they built the fourth long wing there.

My Dad bought me the Yankees team set of Topp's baseball cards in 1984 at a collectibles show at Menlo. A couple of my Swatch watches came from Macy's. Even though it was kind of a cheesy mall I have good memories of it.

I was never really a mall rat. I did go there and to Kohl's way too much for a few years in the 2000's because I was using shopping as therapy for my anxiety and depression which was not good. I got into credit card debt because of this. Should've stuck to reading books and going to Barnes and Nobel to read magazines to escape my problems.

Mom, grandma at the farm, Aunt Al, Mary, Mark and I used to go to Woodbridge sometime in either October or November each year in the late 70's to mid 80's to do our Christmas shopping which was fun. We usually ate at the Ponderosa.

Mom and I usually go to the calender store there in November for presents- I always get Mark the Star Trek one and she gets me a cocker spaniel one and I get her Golden Retriever pups. We didn't do this last year but I probably should try to get over my fear of driving there and do so this one. We also need batteries for our Swatches.

Maybe I'll just order the calenders from Amazon.com and try to find a local jewler who has these batteries. Just the thought of going to the mall is overwhelming. I'd be saving money on gas too.

My favourite stores at the mall are Macy's, JC Penney, Gertrude Hawke candy, Mandees, Wet Seal, Sears and Claire's. They haven't had Sam Goody in a while now and I forget the name of the music store that's there presently. They had a couple of bookstores - B. Dalton and Waldenbooks. I think that the former is still there.