Simply Beautiful...

Without a doubt the Houston Galleria has to be one of the most beautiful places in Houston.

Well, let me refine that. It has to have the greatest concentration of beautiful things in Houston: beautiful women, beautiful men, beautiful children, beautiful food, beautiful clothing, beautiful stores....If Stacy and Clinton were a building, they would be the Galleria; it can make anyone look good on the inside.

Playing hooky today, I took Alvis and Lavie out to the mall. We snagged an parking slot in the underground parking right next to the store entrance. Beautiful parking.

Lavie and Alvis looked at beautiful blouses in the Dior store while I looked at beautiful leather men's shoes and Polos. We toured the street level stores and looked at the beautiful fish in the tanks they have scattered around the mall. Tiffany's had beautiful jewelry. We eventually made it over to the Limited Too store for Alvis and I sat for an hour in a beautiful leather chair in the mall area--people watching. No. Beautiful people watching. People wearing laughter and confidence, suits and cargo pants. All beautiful.

Lavie would say I make a pair of faded denim jeans, Polo shirt and leather boots look good--but I had an almost uncontrollable urge to shed them all for a dark Armani suit and gold tie. I used to wear suits frequently in a past life, but not anymore. I have one sad suit (used for funerals) and that's it. I'm proud of my tie collection, but I don't have any reason to put them on.

When was the last time you were somewhere when you actually wanted to dress up? Just because.

The place smells like beauty; leather, perfumes, chocolate, dark-roast coffee. I swear I could even smell the granite tiles and wood trim.

It's a good thing we don't live nearby.

The Galleria might seduce me. And I don't think Lavie would mind.

Actually, we made it out pretty safely. Brought home about two-pounds of candy from the candy store and took out a small mortgage leaving Godiva. Not too bad. See, even the calories are beautiful.

And our parking space?

I turned it over to a beautiful Armenian looking lady in a shiny little silver Honda.

I bet she was thinking "How beautiful is that!" as we were pulling out and she was pulling in.

--Claus