For many years now, Sharon and I have spent a day in November to go Christmas shopping, to enjoy a trip to our favorite mall, Square One in Mississauga, without the hassles of a crowded mall and such. Then after shopping, going to a roadhouse for lunch before returning home for the afternoon.

Over the years, Sharon and I have spent many romantic nights together and she has always accommodated my wishes to be dressed up in either formal or bridesmaid wear as we dined by candlelight, complete with all of the trimmings for our dresses. Also, in the past years, I have always dressed as the professional woman coming from the office on these shopping trips, while Sharon enjoyed her shopping trip in more casual and comfortable clothes, and when we went to lunch would always look a little bit out of place, her in jeans and me dressed for the office. So this year, Sharon asked if we could both go out looking a little more casual, and I agreed that since she had let me have the say on what we wear on our romantic nights, that I would not mind at all if she chose my wardrobe for the day.

A few days before the day of the shopping trip, I met with Sharon so that she could choose my outfit ahead of time so that if she chose something, I could make sure it was washed, etc. So one evening, Sharon rummaged through my closets and came out with my knee length jean skirt, a white turtleneck, and a light brown vest. I put the outfit on, and I slipped into my 3” black “business” heels, I modeled in front of Sharon and she nodded in approval and we talked about accessories and such, and she told me “as little as possible”, so no anklet, or watch, but a pair of long gold earrings would be perfect. So with my outfit chosen we talked about hers, and she was going to be in a very similar outfit, except she was going to be wear a pair of jeans rather than a jean skirt, and she said, “we don’t want to look too much like twins”.

Some of the other things that needed to be planned for the trip involved looking at Sharon’s Christmas list and then looking over the things I needed for myself. Sharon had asked for a “comfortable, sexy bra”, for Christmas, and I decided that I would get that for her, and on top of that the I jotted down the specific bra that I had bought a few years ago and thought it would be cute if we had the same, and thought would be perfect for her, and that was the one I was looking for. I also have a need for a real garter belt, not one of those ones with the plastic clips that are all lacy and frilly, and when push comes to shove, the snaps break in a heartbeat, one with rugged snaps. I also had a need for a new “formal” lipstick, and made plans to visit a drug store to take care of that.

So the day of the trip arrived, I was left to get ready and started by slipping into my lingerie for the day, a bra, a pink pair of comfortable silk panties, lined with lace, and my pantyhose for the day, and after discovering that the two recently worn silky nude pantyhose I had worn had runs in them, darn!, so I opened another pair and away I went. Once the pantyhose situation was under control, I slipped into a low black pair of heels and then a lace camisole and slipped on my pink satin makeup coat and headed for the washroom to start my makeup. My makeup was a standard application, pink on the upper lids, purple on the lower lids and a dark streak of brown on the outer lids to make my eyes look even wider. I then retired to the bedroom and relied on my makeup mirror for the closer application, my eyeliner, black, a healthy coat was applied, then blush, pink and soft, nothing dramatic, but perfect for the business environment, and as well the casual look I was trying to portray. I decided that I would tone down my lipstick and decided on a lighter shade of lipstick and chose my favorite colour, Rose and applied a coat.

Once I was happy with my makeup, I made my way back to the bedroom and slipped into the rest of the clothes for the day, my knee length jean skirt, white turtleneck, and light brown vest, and kept on my low black heels until I could have a chance in front of the mirror to see how they looked, as I was unsure of going with the 3” black heels, versus the more casual lower heels. I then slipped on a pair of long dangly gold earrings, and spritzed myself with Halston’s perfume and made my way to the mirror to inspect my look, and I did look exactly as Sharon described, “casual, but not quite, leaning a little more towards a business casual look”.

About this point, Sharon came home and looked me over, and liked what she saw and as she did a few things to get ready, I had her help me decided on what pair of heels to wear, and after trying both on, Sharon told me, “if you are comfortable in the 3” heels, they look better”, and that was the deciding factor and those were the shoes for the day.

I asked Sharon what the weather was like and all she said was COLD!, so out came my light Spring jacket, warm enough for short walks from the car, and cool enough to wear around a mall for shopping. The ride to the mall was pleasant and Sharon and I talked about things, were we would go for lunch etc., and at that point in time decided on our favorite roadhouse in Mississauga, the same place Sharon and I went on the evening she asked me to marry her.

Once at the mall, Sharon and I headed into the Bay as per usual and walked through the department store to the entrance to the main mall. We separated just before the main mall, and as Sharon went one way, and myself the other. I decided to start my shopping day with a quick trip to the ladies room in the department store, and was kind of dissapointed when I was the only one in it, and once my business was finished, checked my lipstick and hair, and then left the washroom, and started my shopping day in the lingerie department.

On the internet, I made a friend, and over time we have been close and she, had expressed in an interested in the gay lifestyle and have chatted at length about that, and we decided that we would exchange panties, so that was the third item on my list that was lingerie!. So I looked through the bra section for Sharon, and could not find the exact manufacturer and style number, so I decided to keep looking, also the panties I was looking for were soooo expensive at this store, and I decided to look elsewhere. I left the store and headed into the mall and loved the feeling of all the stores and all the places to go, and I started to walk along to a few I knew that I had to hit.

I perused the earring store that I always frequent, and as with clothing, jewelry goes in cycles and I was a little dissapointed that the style these days in my area is away from clip-on earrings, as they had little or no selection, and in years past, they had tons. I then found one of the more popular female clothing chains, “Stitches”, and started looking around, and found some special occasion dresses, and as I held one to look at, a salesgirl came near me and was organizing racks, and told me hold pretty the dress was, and I agreed, and told her I was looking for the company Christmas party, and she asked when it was, and I told her it was December 14th, and she commented how close that was. It was a really nice conversation and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I then left the store and headed to a location of “Glamour Shots”, as I thought that would be a nice gift for Sharon at some point in time, and when I got there, the girl at the main desk provided me a brochure and we talked about pricing and such, and I thanked her and went on my way.

I decided that I would remain on the same level of the mall as Glamour Shots, it was on the lower level of the mall, and I remembered last year when Sharon and I went shopping in this mall and we visited a Drug Store, and I decided to head towards the store, searching all over, and eventually finding a sign that pointed me towards the Drug Store. I found the store and of course, quickly found the makeup area and started looking for a tube of my “formal” lipstick by Max Factor, and eventually found it and then started looking for some eyeliner, that I knew I was getting low of, and found some. It was boring, no sales help and such, but eventually I made my way to the front counter and upon passing the magazine rack, grabbed the latest copy of “Glamour” magazine. I bought my merchandise, really nothing exciting as I paid for the things I picked up and I left the store on to the next exciting location, and this trip took me back upstairs to the ground floor of the mall, and I had to do some looking around to find the escalator rather than the stairs, as walking up two flights of stairs was not that desirable to me!, I eventually found them, and rode them up.

The next shop I visited was a perennial favorite, Braemars, they specialize in petite and special occasion attire, they have stunning dresses and blouses, all ridiculously priced. I entered the store and started browsing around, and I was looking around, and there was a saleswoman, that instinctively read my mind and said, “mam”, the dresses we have are in the back, and the ones on the white hanger are the petite sizes”, I thanked her and moved to the special area in the back and started drooling over the gorgeous creations, all designed for special occasions and for petite women like myself, with bead work, black, above the knee, and sheer bodices, stunning, to say the least. I was in awe and knew that if I had time I would come back and try some of these wonderful creations on, they were all to stunning to pass up, the only down side was the fact they were in the $250 to $350 dollar range!, ouch!.

I left the store and as I walked around the very large courtyard of this mall, with my heels clicking, that was such a nice sound!. My next stop was Sears, as they most likely would have the lingerie I was looking for, and they were the next major mall in courtyard. I entered the store and just inside the doors to the right was the lingerie department, and I started browsing all of the extremely lovely and beautiful garments, and lone behold, I ran across a Warners garter belt, white and not flimsy in design, it was double snapped at the back, pretty, and most of all, the snaps were metal, rather than plastic, and for the price I knew that I was not going to find another garter belt at that price in one of those specialty lingerie shops. The display right next to the location I found the bra was were I located the exact model and size of bra I was looking for as Sharon’s Christmas present. I then started looking for the pair of panties I was shopping for and found a great deal on a very nice pair. I took all of my purchases to the cashier, and she rang them through and complimented me on my choice of bra’s and she liked the style I had chosen, and I just smiled and said thanks.

After I was finished with Sears, I continued along the courtyard and the next store I ran across was a personal Favorite, Reitman’s, a woman’s clothing store with exceptional values and they always feature a sale. I started scanning the racks and was a little dissapointed, as they usually have a great selection of special occasion dresses all ready for the Christmas party season, but this year Sharon and I were a little early. What I did find was a selection of leather and suede skirts for sale, up to 40% off, it was a perfect sale, and I was looking for another suede skirt. I also noted a short little corduroy skirt, blue and great looking. So I grabbed the suede skirt and the corduroy skirt and headed to the cashier area to get permission to use the change area, and once I was noticed, they asked if I would like to try them on, and I said yes, and was pointed to the change area.

This particular Reitman’s has a great change area, it is a long hallway as you enter, with a full length floor to ceiling three way mirror setup at the end of the hall, and very spacious change stalls, with doors and a floor to ceiling mirror right in the stall. I first tried on the suede skirt and was not really happy with the way the skirt fell, it was too wide at the bottom and did not compliment my figure, and the size I grabbed, the 13/14 was just too loose. I then walked out towards the cashier area and flagged down a salesgirl and asked her if she could help me find a size down, and she said sure and I waited back in the change area, and when she came back, she informed me that there was no lower size in the suede skirt I was looking for and asked if I would like another style and she suggested one of the leather skirts on sale, and I said, “sure, I would like to try one”. I then slipped into the stall and as she went to get the skirt, I decided to slip into the corduroy skirt, when I discovered that it was not a skirt at all, but one of those garments that looked like a skirt at the front and was really a pair of shorts, the saleslady later told me that it was a “skort”. As I left the change area, the salesgirl came back, and I asked her if she would not mind having a look at both the skort and the leather skirt to see what looked better on me, she agreed that she would be glad to give me a hand. I modeled the skort around a little and used the three way mirrors and she told me that it looked great. She then handed me leather skirt, and I noted that it was a size 9!, and she informed me that she took a guess at my size, and I decided to give it a try. I quickly changed into the skirt, and it looked and felt great, it was nice and short and soft and subtle, it was great. I came out of the change area and once again modeled the skirt in the three way mirror and admired how it looked, and asked the salesgirl what she thought looked best, to help me make a decision. She and I talked about what would be better, and I told her that my husband would appreciate the short leather skirt, and she just commented back that it did make my legs look good. We then talked about how the skort allows you to not be so self-conscious when wearing it, and I agreed, and she gave an example, “you should have seen yesterday around here, up and down ladders, hanging signs”, and I agreed and told her I would have been real uncomfortable in a short skirt doing that as well. She also described her friend that was a kindergarten school teacher that enjoys the skort, especially when she was sitting down with the kids, and I agreed. She then pointed out that the price had another 30% off the ticketed price and after I analyzed the price, I decided I could easily afford both, and since I did not have a skort in my collection, I went for it.

I paid for my purchases and thanked her for all of her assistance and left the store with purchases in hand, and went back into the courtyard, and then looked at my watch and realized what time it was, it was time to go and meet Sharon, and was dissapointed as I was really wanted to head back to Braemar’s and try on one of those wonderfully delicious dresses, but I knew Sharon would be waiting for me so I headed back to our pre-arranged meeting spots and found Sharon waiting for me.

We then both headed out of the mall and back to the car and then started to drive to the restaurant we had talked about going to and then noted a brand new restaurant close to the mall, it was a roadhouse style, and looked inviting, so we decided that this one was it. We parked then went into the restaurant, and noted that the time was about 20 minutes before 12 and the restaurant was fairly quite and as we approached the hostess, she asked, “smoking or non-smoking ladies”, to which we of course said “non”, and she left us for a little bit, then came back and picked up a couple of menus and said, “right this way ladies”, I smiled and looked back at Sharon and she lead us to our table, and told us the name of our waiter and we sat down and waited to be served. The restaurant was unique, with the tablecloth being paper, and crayons on the table as well. We were greeted by our server with a cheerful “good day ladies, any drinks to start”, again I smiled.

We order and enjoyed lunch and thank heavens we came when we did, because by 12 noon there was a lineup to get in!. Sharon was first to use the ladies room, and when she did, I took a crayon, and wrote on our tablecloth “Jennifer loves Sharon 100% true”, and then circled it with a heart. When Sharon came back she smiled and said, “I thought you would do something like that, let’s hope the waiter notices it after we leave!”, I just smiled and told her, I really don’t care, and she just smiled back. Then it was my turn for the ladies room, and I grabbed my purse and headed for it. I finished my business and went to the large mirror and fixed my lipstick, and while I was there, another girl came up beside me and started brushing her hair, we excahnged glances and smiles, and I zipped up my purse and went back to the table.

Sharon and I got our coats back on and headed back to the car and then headed home, purchases in hand and a lovely day behind us.