Yesterday afternoon the weather was gorgeous (all things being relative) so I hopped on the bus thinking I'd walk around St. Stephen's Green, just cuz. But first I wanted to check out a special at LUSH I'd received an email about. (A night in: products for a facial for two for only 10 euro!) The nice lady slathered all sorts of magical potions on my hands, and I walked out one happy customer. The world around, LUSH has the best employees.

But I was extremely hungry, and when my blood sugar gets low, I get a little spacey. So instead of stopping in somewhere to get any old snack, I sort of wandered around like a zombie, not knowing what to do. And instead of going into St. Stephen's, I thought, "Oh I'll just go over this way and see if there's a place to get a bite to eat, and then head back." But then I kept wandering, and wandering, and wandering. It's like I just had no rational thought anymore. So finally I got to Cornucopia, which, let me tell you, isn't near St. Stephen's Green, and I bought a scone. Which, is ridiculous because I passed about fifteen places where I could have bought a scone. But, I didn't. By then it was dark, so I decided to just keep wandering toward home.

As I walked along the Liffey, I took this rather cheesy photo of the Ha'Penny Bridge, but I liked how it looked:


I conveniently remembered that it was Thursday and the shops were open late, so I stopped in to a couple of stores, and like a magical miracle, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the pair of black flats I've been looking for for well over two years.

Have you ever had an article of clothing that's in your head so clearly, you know exactly what you want, but you can't find it anywhere? For me it was a pair of plain black flats made of nice soft leather with a rounded toe, and an ankle strap. Comfortable but not too sporty. Simple simple simple. You think you've seen them everywhere but you haven't believe me because I've been looking everywhere. Something was always just barely not right. I thought I had found them last year, a pair of Izods, but they were just a little too pointy and shiny, and then when they came, their smallest size was gigantic on my tiny foot.

But there they were in the flesh, staring up at me. Price? Not bad. Size? In stock. Fit? Fabulous. I didn't think twice. I mean, I literally did not own a pair of black flats. Most women have like ten pairs of black flats, don't they? I didn't have one pair because I've been holding out for these. I told the sales woman that I didn't want the box, and she replied that they would be non-returnable without the box. I told her that I was positive I wouldn't be returning them, as I'd been looking for these very shoes for two years. "Well, we have a website," she said, "So when you return home, you can still order shoes from us online."
"Oh," I replied, "I'm not returning home. I live here. This is my home now." And as I said it, I wondered, when exactly do you call a place home?