a musing julius…

tonight, i went out with my friend ingrid, who over the last 4 months has lived in detroit monday-thursday as part of her consulting work with accenture. tonight was her 2nd to last night in detroit, so we went out to the dbc to say goodbye.

i find it amazing, that someone who i’ve known for so long (nearly 7 years) can find themselves back in your life so many years later. ingrid and i were close for most of her freshman year, but only kept random contact throughout the next 6. surprisingly enough, she was the first to talk to me after my most recent relationship fiasco.

it was good to have a bit of home come to detroit for a short period of time. many days i miss chicago, my friends and my life that i think i could have had…had i lived in chicago. i chose to move to detroit, and prayed for my friends to visit…so many have, and to those that made it here, i thank you all the time.

ingrid’s 4 months in detroit, and her opinion of the city, makes me proud i live here (she also told me detroit is in the nyt’s top 53 places to visit in 2008) it’s sad to see her go, but at the same time, i’m glad she got a great impression of detroit, and an experience she may not have had visiting another big city like ours.

sunday, i ventured to the mall. not just any mall. no, i went to:

the somerset collection

not a mall. a collection. they’re even so special, the add THE in front of their name. and what is somerset. it just sounds haughty. well that’s what it is and sadly, most of the time i feel like i fit in there.

the somerset collection is the only mall i know that is divided into two malls. one for rich people, with stores like banana republic, anthropologie, and an apple store. the other part is for oppulently wealthy people, including stores like louis vuitton, gucci, coach, tiffany & co. and countless other stores that would kill to collect 2 months of my salary for a purse thats made in china with a fancy logo on it. also, the mall has a skywalk to get between the two sides, and 3 starbucks. 1 on each side, and 1 in the food court. it’s like my haven. i hate to admit it, but i like going there. i like throwing on my $300 wool coat and roaming the mall, and getting compliments for it (1 in banana, the other in the store i bought it in, bachrach)

anyway, i find the somerset collection one of the greatest places on earth to people watch for many reasons. its located in an area of michigan which makes it accessible to thousands of upper and middle class individuals out shopping. many of these individuals make boatloads of money, which frustrates me as to why these individuals, who probably dress quite nicely to goto work, go out shopping in tights, some cowboy boots, and a green holiday sweatshirt with an embroidered santa clause face on it. the 12 year old daughters of these people seem to have gotten the budget for dressing nicely to go out. what ever happened to the brady bunch phrase of “put on your sunday-best kids. we’re going to sears.” except these people aren’t going to sears. they’re going to coach and buying their 9 year old daughter a $800 purse because how could she goto the 4th grade without it.

each starbucks had a line of 20 people. many of the individuals completely impatient and unfriendly, curious why their ridiculously embarrassing order “wasn’t quite right.” (a testament to all the baristas out there that get orders for a skim half-caf triple shot 2 pump chai white peppermint mocha with light whip perfectly while serving 6 other customers and have 15 queued up behind them)

sometimes, i think people get wrapped up so much in spending money during the holidays, that they forget its about being a family, getting together, being thankful for the time you have together.

this year, my grandma is flying in from poland to spend the holidays with my family. i see her once every two years. that’s something to be thankful for.