Uptown Girls

In what is fast becoming a Friday tradition, the girls and I drove the 45 minutes to the Tri Cities to run some errands after we dropped Jay off at school this morning. Normally, I prefer to do all of my errands in one, maybe two trips into “town” per month (since it’s a bit of a drive) but I am still sleep deprived and out of shape and toting a baby and a 4 year old. It’s hard on all of us to go-go-go for more than a couple of hours. Hence the weekly trips. Jay gets out of school at 1:10pm on Fridays, giving us the perfect time frame: we arrive in town around 9:30am and leave by 12:20pm. Everybody wins: Rose and Amber don’t have to do too many boring errands and I don’t get too exhausted. Now that the boring explanatory intro is over, it’s time for the story.

Amber, being her cute self after I fed her in the back seat of the van. She’s such a good-natured smiley little traveler.

Hang on, just kidding—there’s a little more backstory: three weeks ago I took my violin bow to Music Unlimited (a shop in Richland) to get it re-haired. I finally called yesterday to check on it and they told me that they never got it done because the only guy who could do it was stuck in the hospital. Thanks for letting me know, guys! Not. So I’m out of luck, and I went first thing this morning to finally reclaim my sad saggy-haired bow. We got there at 9:40am and the shop didn’t open till 10. We had twenty minutes to burn, and we were deep in unfamiliar territory. I only know a few routes through the Tri Cities environs--the roads that take me to all my normal errands. I'm slowly expanding my knowledge of that area, but the music store was off my beaten path. It is located in a quirky old strip mall so we decided to walk along and check it out.

It was fascinating! There were so many locally owned little shops--no big chain stores at all along the whole long sidewalk. There was a store that sold only pet fish, called Fintastic, for goodness sakes! I thoroughly enjoyed myself while marveling that all of these dinky little shops could stay in business in this Target/Amazon age. Most of them weren't open for the day yet, so we contented ourselves to window shop at the many cute antique stores and other fun little nooks along the way.

My phone labeled the pictures I took as located in "Uptown Richland" and of course that got me singing Billy Joel in my head.

When we turned the corner, we found ourselves in front of a true gem: the Amber Rose Consignment Boutique. I mean. How perfect! Of course I had to pause and take a picture of my Rose and Amber in front of the sign. When I was finishing up, a lady opened the door and asked us if we wanted to come in. I explained the coincidence to her and asked if they were really open yet. She said she decided to open a little early when she saw us out front, so naturally I could not refuse her offer, and into the Amber Rose we went.

I was expecting a musty dingy room full of shoulder pads and stretched-out shirts, but instead I found a tidy, orderly little shop with sleek, fashionable outfits on display. It was awesome! The room was just small enough for me to feel comfortable letting Rose roam and browse to her heart's content. And boy does that girl have an eye for style! Every now and then she plucked a hanger off a rack and said "look at this, Mommy!" More than half of the times I showed her something, she said "oh," in an unexcited voice. HA! I have little to no sense of style and my four year old daughter knows it!

The clothes were quality brands, they somehow didn't smell musty, and they were arranged in an aesthetically pleasing way so I did not come down with my usual case of thrift store anxiety after the first 5 minutes in the shop. At length I realized that I might actually find something for myself to wear, and I started looking more carefully. My brother is getting married next weekend and my wardrobe is not what you'd call wedding-friendly. So this could be good, I thought.

After a few Rose-rejections, I finally landed on a dress we both liked. When I tried it on, it FIT! I rarely find clothes in stores because I'm 6 feet tall and it's not worth looking because nine times out of ten I need a tall size that stores rarely, if ever, carry. Tall sizes are usually online only, and they are expensive! So I don't have that many clothes that really fit. But this dress fit my broad shoulders AND long legs! A diamond in the rough! And it only cost $13. In order to settle my final fashion qualms, I texted a picture of the dress to my fashion-savvy sister Em and got her stamp of approval, along with some accessorizing advice.

The luck just kept coming--I found a jacket to go with the dress IN THE SAME STORE! For a mere $15! I could hardly believe it. I already had shoes and a scarf at home, so I purchased my $28 outfit and went back to the music store. Thrifty shopping is so satisfying! And I love the quaintness of a home-owned shop. Both the Amber Rose Consignment Boutique and Music Unlimited didn't even have cash registers--I got those yellow handwritten receipts from both. Sometimes it's easy to believe that if Amazon doesn't sell it, it doesn't exist, but our stroll today reminded me that's not true. It felt good to support local businesses and get a good deal at the same time!

I just had to share my fun find. I will definitely be going back.

PS There were a few of these amazing hangers scattered throughout the store. They made me like the it all the more: delightfully creepy but so fitting for the personality of the establishment!