Tag: DFW Metroplex Blog

ART, DESTINATIONS, Museums, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States, WRITING

Starting Off on the Wrong Foot

Jane Sadek

bitchingAT HOME IN HEATH: THE TRIP WITH NO NAME STARTED OUT ON THE WRONG FOOT

It’s not unusual for someone to go on a long weekend to brighten their outlook on life, but along with failing to inspire me to come up with a better name than The Trip With No Name, things seemed destined to get more frustrating for this recent road trip.

Booking a Room

After I ordered tickets for Living Proof in Wichita, KS, I sort of ignored the hotel information in my confirmation packet.  I’m such a huge fan of Expedia and Trip Advisor that I assumed I’d be able to get a great room at a bargain price which would blow away the conference’s negotiated deals.  I was wrong.

What’s worse is that my assumption led me to put off making my reservations.  I mean really, who was going to go all the way to Wichita for a Bible Study?  Well, it turns out thousands and thousands of ladies from all 50 States were going to make their way to the city and thousands more were going to watch on simulcast.

But I didn’t know that, so I waited until about a month before the conference before I finally sat down and researched rooms in Wichita.  I quickly found out that the conference had negotiated some pretty amazing deals, but I also found out most of them were already booked.  My first inclination was to find a room within walking distance of the arena.  Total fail.  Then I cast my net further.  I ended up getting the conference rates, but they were at a DoubleTree at the airport.  Not the end of the world, but not exactly my vision for the weekend either.

An Exciting Invitation

As I continued my planning for Wichita, I received an invitation to a media event from one of the local museums.  I’ve been blogging about local attractions for quite awhile now, but until recently I hadn’t made it to their media list.  I have a few publicist in New York and Chicago who send me invitations from time to time, but my budget doesn’t exactly cover flights to the Big Apple or the Windy City.  Gas to the Dallas Arts District is much more affordable.  Since Deb and I weren’t leaving until after she got off from work, I’d have plenty of time to pop by the museum and write the article, right?  Well, not exactly.

A Mixed Up Week

I don’t exactly live in a rut, but I do seem to get along better when things happen according to routine.  The week of the trip had nothing routine about it.  Monday was a holiday and my videographer client was having a picnic for all of us who work for him.  It was just the beginning of a strange week.  Tuesdays are the day I usually go into the videographer’s office, but Bill was having dental surgery, so I went in on Wednesday instead.  As I pulled into the garage Wednesday afternoon I had the realization that in a mere 24 hours I’d be picking up my bestie and we’d be heading north.  I hadn’t even thought about what I was going to wear and I hadn’t done the laundry either.  It was going to be a long evening.  At least I’d picked up sushi on the way home, so I didn’t have to fix dinner.

Dinner was easy, but other things challenged me. Things like my dog, who chose that particular day to have gooped up eyes.  And things like the certified letter notification that had been in the mail.  Those never have good news, so I promised Bill I would go by the post office on the way to the museum.  It should have been easy.  The media event didn’t start until ten.  It would be a cakewalk – right?

Good Morning Meltdown

I’m an early riser.  On the morning of the trip I was in my office about 5:30, even though I’d been up late getting ready to leave.  The first thing I did was open up my email.  As I perused the inbox, it seemed as if an email from my husband was the most important item, so I clicked on it.  Suddenly, a weird article about some celebrity opened up.  At first, I assumed I had just clicked the wrong thing, but it was quickly apparent that something was seriously wrong.

My husband is not an early riser.  At 5:45 he would not have welcomed a hysterical bedside visit, so I ran Norton while I tried to work around the fact that I had no computer.  I did have the laptop from work, but it’s not optimized for all of my sites and passwords, nor is it synched to my printer.  So I limped along hoping everything would be alright.

Norton got through at just about the same time my husband woke up, but I had a sneaky suspicion Norton had not killed the beast on my drive.  A few clicks confirmed my fears.  Then, I broke one of the sacred laws of our house.  I told Bill about my problem before he had his coffee.  Then I spent the next hour or so trying to get ready to leave while I coached Bill through saving my computer.

Things only got more interesting, but I’ll tell you more about it next week.

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

The Trip with No Name

Jane Sadek
Hibiscus, Myriad Botanical Garden & Conservatory, Oklahoma City OK
And where did we find this in Oklahoma City?

TRAVEL THERE: THE TRIP WITH NO NAME, OKLAHOMA CITY AND WICHITA

It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.  I was in a funk.  The funk had been building for a long time and wouldn’t seem to go away.  I kept trying to think up things that would make it disappear, with little success.  My usual chipper mood would bob to the surface from time to time, but I couldn’t shake off the funk.  I even thought about going to Mastermind, a motivational event I used to attend back in my real estate days.  If anything from my real estate days seems desirable, that means I am in bad shape.   That’s when I got the email from Lifeway.  Beth Moore was having an event in Wichita, Kansas.  Certainly that would beat a real estate seminar!

I Love Beth Moore

If you are a real estate agent I thoroughly recommend Brian Buffini’s coaching system to you and Mastermind is a wonderful event.  But I hated real estate, in spite of the fact that I was making more money than I’d ever made in my life.  So wanting to go to Mastermind was a weird thing.

On the other hand, I love Beth Moore.  She’s a Bible teacher from down Houston way and she gets me. I can’t think of any other way to put it.  She’s real, she’s honest and she’s transparent.  Her Bible teaching is well researched and well prayed-over.  Her teaching gets inside me and squishes around on my private places.  Then she makes me do something about all those things I was trying to ignore in the first place.  After all that uncomfortable stuff I feel much better.  What I love most about her is that she keeps me laughing all the time she’s squishing around in my hidden sins.

I Love My Husband

Bless his heart, he was completely over my funk.  He’d sent me off to San Antonio not so long ago and I came back worse than I’d been.  He knew I needed something, and he didn’t think it was Mastermind, but he was willing to send me.  When I found out about the Beth Moore Event he was like, “Go!  Please go.  Do something anything to help me get my wife back.”  Oh and he wanted me to take my bestie with me.

I Love My Bestie

“Hey, Bestie!  How would you like to drive six hours to Wichita, Kansas, spend all day closed up in an arena and then drive six hours back home?”  How could anyone resist an invitation like that?

And here’s why I love my bestie.  The answer was yes and she wanted to stop in Oklahoma City to visit the Chihulys at the art museum there.  I’d told her about them years ago, before I even started blogging, and she’d been looking for an opportunity ever since.

The Trip with No Name was launched.  We left on a Thursday after work, spent the night in Oklahoma City and then drove on to Wichita.  We stuffed all the fun we could have into those three days and when it’s Deb and me, we can do a lot of stuffing.  Come along over the next few weeks and I’ll share the good times with you.

DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Road Trips, Shopping, TRAVEL

Finding Footwear for the San Antonio Stroll

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL THERE: HEADED TO SAN ANTONIO TX

Finally, it was time to go!

I love the planning part of a trip, uncovering all the possibilities and making geographic sense of them.  Who’s open when, how much does it cost and how long will it take?

What to Pack?

Once I’d mapped out the days of the trip I began to wonder what the heck I was going to wear.  Everything above the ankles was easy – mostly sundresses and one day a knit pantsuit that’s as comfy and cool as pj’s.  The problem was from the ankle down. One of the reasons I named this trip the San Antonio Stroll was that there was going to be a lot of walking.  (Another reason is that I like alliteration and Tanya Tucker’s song.)

I have a lot of shoes, but for hours of walking most of them won’t do.  They’re just for looks, but do they ever look good!  I made a special trip to the closet to check out my options and quickly discovered I didn’t have any.  See, I call those kind of shoes “fun shoes” and my fun shoe factor was in sad shape – holes in the sole in my favorite sneakers, sandals falling apart, straps broken.  Even sadder was the fact that I’d worn all of them for so long and so hard that the cobbler wasn’t an option.  That meant DSW.  I threw away the dead soldiers and planned my shopping trip.

DSW Emergency!

Now my usual gig at DSW is to go to the clearance department and discover the gems – those interesting selections that have gotten to the 50% and more off.  I don’t go with a shopping list, I’m just looking for bargains.  When I pay a tiny price for fab footwear, I’m over the moon.  It was immediately obvious that I wasn’t going to make that sort of score on this trip.  If their clearance inventory had included fun shoes, someone else beat me to them.  So I grabbed a bag, wandered the store looking for likely suspects and then sat down to try them on.

This one was too ugly, that one too heavy, another one hit me at the wrong place on my foot.  I narrowed it down to a sandal, an espadrille and  well, I did find one bargain I couldn’t leave behind.  The bargain pair wouldn’t be going to San Antonio, but I’ll look marvelous when they do step out.  The bargain and the espadrille were thrifty, the sandal was not.  Have to take care of those dogs though, so I made my way to the check out counter.  Now I was ready to pack.

The Old Red Suitcase and My “Hairable” Mistake

After dragging the old red suitcase down from the attic (the wonderful walk-in attic in my new house) I pulled together all the stuff I wanted to take.   As Deb pointed out on this trip, the clothes took up one small corner of the suitcase, while the makeup and electronics needed to have their own bellhop.  It didn’t take long for me to get it all stowed away.

Then I had to decide what to do with my hair.  I’ve been letting it grow and most of the time I’m not quite sure what to do with it.  My mom liked my hair to be short and she had a way of getting what she wanted.  Now that she’s gone I’ve been having a little late-life rebellion and so far the hair is down to my shoulders.  We’ll see if it goes any longer.  Anyway, it sort of has a mind of its own, so trying to get it to do what I want is like trying to control a force of nature.

Rather than wrestle with it on the morning we were going to leave, I decided to wash it in the laundry room sink.  That would be easier – right?  Well, first of all, I don’t think I’ve ever washed my hair in a sink when it was this long.  You’ve never seen a mess like the one I made.  I was so wet that I looked like I’d washed the dog’s hair, not mine.  I think I should have just stepped in the shower.  Then about the time I got it washed and towel-dried, I went outside to talk to Bill about something.  I do live next to a pond, so I exposed my hair to the damp night air.  Then I decided to see what it would do if I didn’t use any product in it.  Remember, Diana Ross’s huge ‘fro from her solo years.  Yep, that’s what my hair looked like when I woke up.

Come back next week and we’ll load the car and then head out on the San Antonio Stroll.

Attractions, DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, Shopping, TRAVEL, United States

Cannery Row on Monterey Bay CA

Jane Sadek
Shopping Cannery Row,Monterey Bay, Monterey CA
This almost came home with us from Monterey Bay

TRAVEL THERE: CANNERY ROW ON MONTEREY BAY 

Monterey Bay is one of my favorite destinations and Cannery Row is one of the reasons.  Whatever you like to do, you’ll find ways to entertain yourself.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

If you’ve never been to Cannery Row, then the Aquarium should be at the top of your list.  We’ve been many times, but on this visit to the area, we were short on time.  Still, you should go, because but kids of all ages (including Baby Boomers and the Greatest Generation) will be fascinated by the amazing exhibits, including the one of a kind otter tank.

The John Steinbeck Factor

Had John Steinbeck never lived in Monterey, it would still be a beautiful place to visit.  However, his novel Cannery Row, added to the area’s mystique and helped make it the destination it is today.  To completely appreciate the Steinbeck factor, it’s well worth the drive over to Salinas for a visit to the National Steinbeck Center – especially since it’s not far away.  In fact, here’s an itinerary you might enjoy for a three-day Steinbeck Immersion  Weekend.

Shopping Cannery Row

Two words:  Outlet Mall.  I love them and Cannery Row has one.  It’s called American Tin Cannery and it’s across the street from the Aquarium.  But that’s only the beginning.  The whole area if rife with shopping opportunities.  Truth be told, a lot of these opportunities are just tourist traps filled with junk.

Two shops,  Turkish Fine Jewelry and Fine Art Turkish Grand Bazaar, were new to us and they were also exceptions to the tourist trap trend.  I know, the names of the shops are less than creative, but OMG what gorgeous things they have inside.  I’d give you a link, but they don’t have websites!  And I’ll tell you this too: Don’t judge the places by their exteriors.  Without Bill I wouldn’t have walked into either one and that would have been my loss.

We stepped into the jewelry store first.  The pieces in the window were out-of-this-world gorgeous.  GORGEOUS!  Not your usual stuff.  Exotic, but not so weird you wouldn’t wear it.  Frankly, I wanted one of everything I saw in the window, but I knew I couldn’t afford any of them.  I was glad Bill wanted to see more, even though we weren’t going to buy anything.  The decor of the store is pretty boring compared to what’s in the showcases.  What I’m saying is that this is not one of your premiere shopping experiences, but if you’re looking for beautiful jewelry, it’s the right place.

Along one wall they display hand-crafted mosaic chandeliers – jewelry for your home.  I’m sure the proprietor could tell we weren’t serious jewelry prospects, but he quickly picked up on the fact that we might buy a chandelier.  He and Bill chatted for a bit.  That’s how we found out about the Grand Bazaar across the street.  It’s owned by the same people.

Loved this too!
Loved this too!

As I said, the jewelry store was not exactly a premiere shopping destination, but the bazaar looked like a place I would avoid altogether.  The front of the store was crowded with cheap imported knick-knacks, but they did have dozens of the beautiful mosaic chandeliers, so in we went.  Ignore the chotckies!  This place is a treasure trove.  Stunning pottery, unique clothing, hand-embroidered boots!!  I loved it.  Bill got me in there and without his restraining influence I would have broken the bank.

In the end we left empty-handed.  Bill couldn’t negotiate the owner down far enough on the chandeliers to justify carrying them all the way back to Dallas and I really didn’t need another pair of boots.  But my-oh-my, did I ever want a pair, and about four of the outfits, and several of the plates, and some jewelry, and…well, you get the drift.

(Psssst!  Dallasites!  Since this trip Bill and I discovered Another Place & Time at The Shops at Legacy in Plano.  They don’t much of a website either, but they do have a facebook page and they do have the same kind of gorgeous stuff the Monterey store has, though they’re in no way related.  The store has been in the mall for a while now, but it didn’t used to have all this cool stuff.  They also just moved off Bishop, but I promise, it will be worth the effort to find them.)

Did Someone Say Lunch?

It’s amazing how long we lingered in the store admiring the chandeliers, but eventually hunger pangs overwhelmed our urge to buy.  I’ll tell you about that next week.

Accommodations, DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, United States

Where to Stay on Monterey Bay

Jane Sadek
Beachside in Cali
Beachside in Cali

TRAVEL THERE; BEST ACCOMMODATIONS ON MONTEREY BAY

Did you miss me?  Yes, I know I said I’d be back in a week, but for the last month or so, life has been interesting.  I’ll save the details for another post.  Now let’s hit the road!  The Pacific Coast Highway to be exact.

Heavenly Highway One

This Texas girl wasn’t crazy about life in California.  During the six years I lived there, all I wanted to do was move back to Dallas.  Now that I hang my hat in the Lone Star State, I do love visiting my old West Coast stomping grounds.  Even though I didn’t love living there, I appreciate the scenery – especially on Highway One.

Every mile of the PCH is remarkable, but some miles are more remarkable than others.  My favorite bit hugs Monterey Bay.  When I lived on the Central Coast we would frequently drive the shorter inland route to Monterey and then return via the glorious Pacific Coast Highway.  If we had to, we could make it home in time for bed – but we didn’t always hurry home.

Rooms By The Beach

One of our favorite places to stay back in the day was the Marina Dunes Resort.  The resort has changed hands and is now called Sanctuary Beach Resort.  The reviews suggest that it’s even better than it used to be.  So, if you’re inspired to visit Highway One, Sanctuary Beach Resort would be a good place to start.

We love it because it’s very different from your usual hotel experience.  When you check in, you’re assigned your own golf cart.  You see, cars aren’t allowed down by the sandy beach where the rooms are.  I have fond memories of those golf carts.   On bright sunny days they’re a blessing, but they can also be a curse.

One night we arrived quite late and it was cold, rainy and windy.  Thankfully we found the logistics of it all hysterical.  We were drenched as we loaded the luggage from the car into the golf cart.  Then we maneuvered the less than powerful cart through the thick darkness, because lights are frowned upon down at the beach, also.  Had it been our first visit, we might have given up and moved to the Holiday Inn, but we knew what was waiting for us.

The rooms at the resort are elegant and comfortable – fireplaces, french doors to the beach and luxurious linens.  One of those places where you’re tempted to just live in your room.  On the cold, rainy, windy night we were also hungry and the weather discouraged going very far.  So, we decided to eat at the hotel’s restaurant, which was all the way back up the hill near registration.

The golf cart almost didn’t make it.  It was going so slow that Bill actually got out and pushed, while I kept my foot on the gas and steered.  The hotel was all apologies when we finally got to registration and assigned us a new cart.  That might have been the same stay where we woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a beach creature wandering around in our dresser.

If we still love the place, in spite of the faulty golf cart and the midnight invader, you can imagine how wonderful the place is.  We’ve also stayed at the Holiday Inn in Seaside, just a few miles from the Sanctuary Beach Resort.  The budget accommodations reminded us that you really do get what you pay for.

More Rooms By The Beach

This trip we didn’t stay in Marina or Seaside, because it was too early in the day and we were on a tight schedule – not so tight we couldn’t drop by Cannery Row.  We love Cannery Row.  Author John Steinbeck made it famous, but I doubt he’d recognize it today.  The sardine canning facilities have been “re-purposed” and the whole area has been “re-vitalized”.  I’m not sure that re-vitalized is the correct term.  Maybe “tourist-ized” would be a better one.  Still, we enjoy spending time there.

Our first stop was the grand old Monterey Plaza Hotel.  We love this place and we refer people to it all the time. Funny thing is, we never stayed there.    We fell in love with the resort in Marina and made it “our” place, but we’ve always promised ourselves that we’re going to correct the oversight.

Monterey Plaza Hotel is right on the bay, but it’s beach is rocky rather than sandy.  Of the two resorts, I’d say MPH has the more dramatic views.  The rooms aren’t on the beach, they are overlooking the ocean.  It’s also a part of Cannery Row, more congested and busy than Marina.  Though both hotels give you a great peek at nature, MPH has a lot more wildlife and nightlife.  I don’t say any of that to criticize MPH, it’s a great hotel.  I’m just trying to give you a feel for the differences.

Here’s my confession – the main reason we dropped into the MPH was to use the restroom.  In fact, that’s the only thing we ever do at MPH.  We park near by, stroll the the hotel and hang out on the balcony, but so far we’ve never so much as ordered a drink in the bar.  Still, we’ve sent them so much business that we don’t even feel guilty.

You Can’t Lose

The bottom line is that you should go visit Monterey and both of these places are wonderful.  In fact, you should go and stay at both and then tell me which one you liked best.

After our MPH potty stop we did spend a few hours hanging out on Cannery Row.  Come back next week and I’ll tell you about it.  I promise – my sabbatical is over and I will be here next week.

DESTINATIONS, Road Trips, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

California on My Mind!

Jane Sadek
Santa Barbara CA
On the Beach in Santa Barbara

TRAVEL THERE: STILL CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

We just got back from California and it was a crazy trip. In fact, it was crazy before we packed the first bag.  Just getting the vacation planned had been all kinds of crazy!

The Best Laid Plans

See, last year one of our nephews moved into a new home and had his first child.  We were all geared up for a long weekend once our grand-nephew settled in.  Then my mom went into the hospital and that meant all travel was on hold.

She was in and out of the hospital several times, but rehab was planned and Bill thought the care-giver needed a break.  Everyone seemed to agree with him, so I re-planned the trip for nine days and bought our airfare – just a little too soon.  Rehab turned into hospice and then a funeral.

I wasn’t much in the mood for travel, but Bill thought I needed a change of scenery, so I started trying to coordinate a date for new travel plans.  However, the holidays were coming up and nothing worked.  So, we postponed the trip until March.

Believe it or not, before we could get the trip planned, another game changer came along.  A niece and grand-nephew from Egypt would be in California in June.  So we postponed our travel plans to June and the trip grew to 11 days.

Does this sound familiar?  Does this kind of thing happen in your family?  Well, it got crazier.

The Heath Project

If you’ve been following my Friday posts, then you know that sometime in March we decided to start looking for a new home and that search turned into a building project in Heath.  Since one thing always leads to another, we put our house on the market, thinking we might be lucky if someone bought it before the end of summer.  So, of course, some one bought it, right before we were supposed to leave on vacation – but that’s for the Friday posts.  Bottom line, even though it looked like something might undo our plans, right up to the phone call I got as we boarded our flight.  We made it all the way to California!

Confession is Good for the Soul

I’ll just tell you right now, with all this planning and re-planning, more than one thing fell through the cracks.  I double-booked myself into two hotels on one night, for instance.  I packed way too much and ended up with an $85 extra bag fee for another.  So travel stuff happens to the best of us.  Come along with me and I’ll show you a good time over the next few weeks as I share my experiences – good and bad – with all my blogospere friends.

DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, International, Road Trips, Shopping, TRAVEL

Shopping in the Good Old Days

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE/TRAVEL THERE: SHOPPING IN DALLAS IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS

I hate to say it, but today’s mall rats don’t know from shopping. Drop me in any mall from sea to shining sea and what do you have? The same hundred-odd stores and fast food outlets they have in every other mall in America.  (YAWN!)

My Memories of Shopping in Dallas

I live in Dallas where shopping centers were invented. (Well, not really, but kinda.)  Forget Mall of the Americas, I shop at NorthPark!  In days of yore, NorthPark only had three anchor stores:  Neiman’s, Titches and J.C.Penney’s.  and the other stores? Margo’s La Mode, Chandler’s Shoes, Continental Coiffures, The Carriage Shop…those were the days.  We didn’t have a food court.  We had El Fenix.  Things have changed since then, but I’m still loving me some Northpark.

Back in the good old days, department stores had departments.  I don’t mean you went to the men’s floor and then wandered from designer department to designer department to find a pair of navy slacks for your dad’s birthday.  I mean you went to the men’s pants department and wandered through islands, seas and oceans of men’s pants.  In fact, the pants department would be divided up into types of pants, so by looking on only two or three fixtures, you’d be able to tell whether they had any dressy navy blue pants in your dad’s size or not.

Shopping in Paris

I foresaw the disappearance of departments, as I knew them, before it actually happened.  In the eighties I visited Paris.  My trip was in December and the city was aglow with twinkling lights and snow.  Galeries Lafayette, all decked out for the Christmas season, was astounding.  I wandered around the store to my hearts content.  As I made my way around the upper floors for my second or third time, I began to realize what was bugging me.  I couldn’t find the blouse department.

See, as a twenty something career girl I didn’t have a lot of money, but I envisioned shrugging off my blazer at work one day and hearing someone say, “What a gorgeous blouse!”  At that point I could have answered, “Oh, I picked it up in Paris.”

But Galleries Lafayette didn’t have a blouse department.  They had blouses from many, many designers, but they were all spread out.  I couldn’t just go to the blouse department, check out the markdowns in my size and see if I could afford any.  To find out if there was a blouse in the store I could afford, I would have had to wander around all the different designer’s boutiques and handle the merchandise.  The perfectly coiffed French-speaking clerks were entirely too intimidating.  I went downstairs and bought a Christmas ornament instead.

Designer Departments Take Over

Back in Dallas I was only able to enjoy the blouse department for a little while longer – the designer departments were on their way.  Now, if I want to go to the men’s department and see all the navy dress pants in one fail swoop, then I’m headed to either Walmart or Target.  (BTW, I love Target, but that’s beside the point.)

I miss the old style department store.  To begin with they had a sort of local flavor and were targeted more specifically to local needs.  I also think that you were more likely to come up with an individualized look in a store where things were not pre-coordinated for you.  I mean you don’t have to go all matchy-matchy to look pulled together.

Nowadays, things are entirely too homogenized.  Sure Nordstrom’s has great service and a great selection of merchandise.  I love Bistro N.  But I still miss Titche-Goettinger.  And I miss the blouse department, too.  How about you?

ART, Attractions, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Museums, Shopping, TRAVEL

Remembering Dallas Department Stores

Jane Sadek

TRAVEL HERE: REMEMBERING DALLAS DEPARTMENT STORES

Frequent visitors to my blog know I’m crazy for Neiman Marcus.  It’s a touchstone for my beloved Dallas.  I might be shopping in Atlanta’s NM, but I still feel right at home.  I’m devoted to Neiman’s because it’s the only thing left from my childhood shopping experiences.  Titche-Goettinger, Colbert-Volk and Sanger Harris all bit the dust.

My, How Things Have Changed

The transformation of the crisp turquoise-and-white-striped Titche-Goettinger bag into Dillard’s boring beige plastic thing was a disappointing retail slide for me.  My mom went to work for Titches back in the 60’s.  Along the way they merged with a San Antonio department store called Joske’s.  I didn’t think Joske’s had near the eclat of Titche’s.  For a few years, though they belonged to the same team, they each kept their own identity.  Finally, the Joske’s name won out, but at least it was still a Texas name.

Then along came Dillard’s, an Arkansas company, and bought out Joske’s.  I’d like to be able to say that I haven’t walked into the store since, but my mom retired with a 25% lifetime discount, so I’d be lying.  However, I would be telling the truth if I told you I missed that department store with the turquoise-and-white-striped shopping bags.

For all those decades my mom worked at Titches/Joske’s/Dillard’s her main competition was Sanger-Harris, but it was a friendly competition.  If we could buy it a mom’s store we would, but I had plenty of Sanger’s labels in my closet – especially stuff I’d bought at Red Apple days.  The prices were so low you felt like they were paying you to carry merchandise home.  Joske’s had EOM (end of month) markdowns that were often as drastic, but Red Apple Days just sounded like a lot more fun.

I had a grudging admiration for Sanger-Harris after Titche’s became Joske’s.  I wouldn’t have mentioned it to mother, but I thought they were winning the retail war.  Their stores seemed more upscale and their shopping bags were prettier.  I especially liked the exterior of the stores.  When you went to a mall Sanger’s always stood out, because they had gorgeous mosaic murals on the exterior.  You didn’t have to be able to read to know you’d arrived.

Sadly, Sanger Harris eventually went the same route as Titches.  First, they merged with a Houston retailer named Foley’s and ended up changing their name.  Then Macy’s bought them out, and not too many years ago, at that.  I remember visiting the Macy’s in Temple with my Aunt Edie shortly after the change-over.  We agreed we liked Sanger Harris better.

DMA to Remember, Too

With all these pleasant Sanger-Harris memories it is no wonder that I’m excited about a new exhibit on it’s way to the Dallas Museum of Art.  According to the latest issue of the museum’s member’s magazine, back in the 50’s a young VP of A. Harris & Company (which later merged with Sanger Brothers) commissioned an artist to create a series of paintings of Dallas.  The paintings were exhibited at the DMA a couple of times in the fifties, but they haven’t been in Dallas since.  Now they are coming back and will be presented with photos of my city taken at the time of the paintings.

Art, shopping and Dallas!  That’s like three of my favorite things in the world!  Why do you think I enjoyed the Jean Paul Gautier exhibit so much?  Anyway, mark your calender for May 20th, because George Groz’s Impressions of Dallas is coming to the DMA.  The name of the exhibit is “Flower of the Prairie” and you’ll be able to see it until August 19.  And  Macy’s, since you’ve gone to the trouble to sponsor this exhibition, all is forgiven.  I’ll come spend some money there soon.

ART, Decorative Arts, DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Road Trips, Shopping, TRAVEL

Remembering Neiman Marcus Fortnights

Jane Sadek
My Fortnight Christmas Ornaments

TRAVEL HERE: NEIMAN MARCUS FORTNIGHTS

So you think Black Friday is a shopping experience?  To me, it’s just a feeding frenzy.  If Sam Walton has been successful at anything, it has been getting us to focus on price.  I sort of liked the world better before Walmart.

The World Before Walmart

In those days price was certainly a factor, but it wasn’t the only factor.  Designer names were guideposts, not a decoration plastered across the seat of a pair of sweat pants.  Developing your own style was more important than being in style.  In other words, going shopping was about more than consuming.

Wonderful, Wonderful Fortnight

A perfect example of this was Neiman Marcus Fortnight.  During a two week period in the fall, Neiman’s would transform their Dallas stores into reasonable facsimiles of some exciting destination.  The straw ornaments above are from Bavaria and were purchased in 1983 during  the German Fortnight.  D Magazine gives you the details of Fortnight, but I want to convey the experience.

For a middle-class kid living in Dallas in the Sixties, Fortnight was a window to the wider world.  On a special evening, Mom would dress us up in the our best.  The minute Dad got home from work he’d load us in the car and take us to Neiman’s flagship store in downtown Dallas – but it didn’t seem like a store at all.  In fact, once I entered Neiman’s, I felt as if I’d stepped off a plane into a faraway place.

Granted, back in those days I’d never been on a plane, but I thought what was happening to me then must be just like arriving at a long awaited destination.  See, Mom didn’t just dress us up and make us go shopping with her for the evening, she carefully primed us for the experience.  All year we played a guessing game about what country Neiman’s might focus on for Fortnight.  If the evening news mentioned a place we’d never heard of, we discussed why or why not it might be a good country for Neiman’s.  As we studied our history and geography lessons, Mom would ask, “If this country were featured in a Neiman Marcus Fortnight, what products do you think would be stocked in the gourmet food department?”

In additon, Mother took us shopping at Neiman’s all year long, so we’d know the latest in fashion and appreciate quality.  Then we’d go to Titche’s and buy our wardrobes with Mom’s employee discount.  But a splashy ad in the Dallas Morning News Neiman’s would announce our Fortnight destination and I’d be giddy for weeks until our annual Fortnight visit was scheduled.

During Fortnight, we’d wander through the retail wonderland all agog.  The ultimate treat was dinner at one of the NM cafes tricked out like the featured locale and serving their traditional fare.  Along with many items from the featured country for sale, each floor of Neiman’s hosted special exhibits and demonstrations.  We’d watch traditionally garbed dancers perform exotic dances.  We’d see animals, artisans and actresses.   Our family added very little to Neiman Marcus’s bottom line during this annual pilgrimage, but Fortnight was such a retail success, in spite of folks like us, that many stores attempted copy cat experiences.  Yes, shopping was fun back in those days.

During the years I was busy going to school and living the disco scene, Neiman’s sort of fell off my radar.  Then I became an official consumer with a credit rating.  A Neiman Marcus charge card provided a plastic invitation to another world.  Among the most important privileges offered was postal delivery of the famous Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog with its legendary His and Hers gifts of opulence.  Trust me, nothing on the internet can replace that catalog.  The recipient of a gift, in the store’s  traditional shiny red Christmas box with the gold Neiman Marcus logo, expected no additional wrapping paper and bows.  Adulthood arrived when I received my own Neiman Marcus credit card.

I have to confess I did not inherit my parent’s frugality.  I found it impossible to merely visit Fortnight and buy nothing but dinner.  I went to the store as often as I could during those special two weeks to buy myself and others as many little treats as I thought I could get away with.  Being at Fortnight was one of those particularly Dallas experiences, like visiting the Great State Fair of Texas or seeing the Christmas decorations on Beverly Drive.

Now Neiman Marcus has stores all over the world and they belong to some big corporation – not Mr. Nieman and Mr. Marcus.  Most middle class kids in Dallas have flown somewhere before they reach their sixth birthday.  Someone took Fortnight out of the Neiman Marcus budget, but I miss it.

I still have my Neiman Marcus credit card and it gets plenty of use.  Neiman’s is my luxury store of choice.  Having lunch at Neiman’s is one of my favorite indulgences.  I will always love giving gifts wrapped in nothing but a Neiman’s logo.  Nowadays I shop at Neiman’s and buy my wardrobe at the Allen Outlet Mall, because even though Mom retired with her discount intact, department store shopping isn’t as much fun as it used to be.  Drat that Mr. Walton.

Update:  This is by far the most popular post on my blog, so even though I have created Miscellaneous Jane for the purpose of offloading things from this blog, this post stays.