In spite of the predicted thunderstorms, there was no rain to be seen on Saturday; unfortunately by the time I realized I could have taken pictures I was already out shopping and had left the camera at home. So I didn’t get any pictures taken, but I did manage to do some damage to my checkbook.

Nope, no rain here. This is where I had lunch, by the way.

I actually bought some pretty cool stuff while out and about, and I did try to take photos of some of my new clothes when I got home, but the pics weren’t in the least bit interesting to me, so I didn’t bother to process them. I was shooting in a rush as the sky was getting stormy by the time I got home around 3 PM, plus I tried to shoot in our little brick atrium which turned out to look too cramped and, in spite of using my ExpoDisc, terribly orange. I did process one jump shot before deciding to give up, so I’ll share that here, but even it isn’t all that thrilling:

I’m wearing a dress I bought while out that afternoon; it was from one of those little boutique stores that carries odd designers you’ve never heard of and would never find anywhere else – mostly overpriced shiny stuff in strange prints and sheer fabrics with polyester linings. The sort of clothing store where broomstick skirts are always in style. But never let it be said that there is a clothing store in the universe in which I cannot find an outfit. This is actually a skirt and top ensemble, and the material is kinda cool and parachute-y and light, plus there’s this dip-dye effect to the skirt so it fades from khaki into a dark olive green.

I also hit up a boutique at the opposite end of the price spectrum and scored a load of cheap, loose-fitting t-shirts and some kelly green jeans, which I’d been desiring since seeing a pair over on Pinterest. I took pics of a pretty cool green-jeans-and-royal-blue-shirt outfit I put together, but was too bored with the shots to process them.

Enjoy instead this picture of t-shirts.

While hitting up a handcrafted jewelry store next door to Cheap T-Shirt Central, I spied this clever idea for a birdcage decoration, and thought I’d share it with all of my blog readers who might have spare birdcages and strings of lightbulbs sitting around the house, waiting for this to happen:

I totally know people who would do this.

I may have mentioned this before, but the salon where I get my nails done every two weeks is in a modern town square-like mixed-use facility that includes our city hall and a large Marriott hotel. The grounds in front of city hall hosts all kinds of events on weekends, including movie nights, a yearly American Idol-like singing competition, and Saturday gatherings and festivals. The hotel stays busy with different events which are held in the conference rooms – proms, conferences, and dance/cheer competitions are always going on, and the whole area overall is usually bustling with activity. The area also has a large Indian population, and it is not unusual to at all to see women in colorful saris and men in kurtas around the hotel; on this particular Saturday I managed to capture the tail end (no pun intended) of a baraat as it ended in front of the hotel’s entrance to the conference halls where a wedding was about to begin, which was pretty awesome (as usual, I forgot to hold my phone in landscape position, so the proportions of the video are wonky):

As that was going at the hotel, literally right across from it in front of city hall, this was happening:

Yep – car show. Complete with blasted-out country-western music and roaring Corvette engines. Only in Texas?

Oh, and a friend of mine has been asking me to take a photo of my hair to see how much it had grown, so I finally got that done. Here you go: