dianec42

5 out of 6, not bad...

Parking: Only about the fifth or sixth best spot in all of Santa Monica... someone was leaving just as I entered the parking structure, so I got to park about 20 feet from the sidewalk. Score!

Barnes and Noble: Oh my yes. Bought loads of things I didn't even know I needed, including some last-minute pressies for

stuartc. Also successfully killed time to 10 AM when everything else opened. (And they've started carrying Cross Stitcher magazine! Of course it was the Christmas issue, which I bought in the UK months ago. Still, there is hope for the future.)

Sur La Table: Successful Christmas pudding-age, sixpence included. Spared the agony of deciding whether to get a little one or a big one by the fact that they only had big ones left.

Ye Olde King's Head: Assam tea successfully acquired. Adorable Christmas mini-puddings successfully resisted.

Santa Monica Trader Joe's: Triple play! Found a street parking spot with 35 minutes still on the meter; they had plenty of semi-sweet chocolate chips on the shelf; and they had the express lane open.

Then I got cocky and tried to go to Albertson's supermarket to get brown sugar so I can make chocolate chip cookies... dear God, I feel lucky to have escaped the parking lot with my life, soul, and car intact. (Not to mention my liberty and pursuit of happiness, which probably would have been curtailed if I'd actually killed anyone. Like the cops could have got in there either.) Oh well, there's always the 24-hour Ralphs at 3 in the morning option...

Not a bad morning's work, and I suppose I can always make the cookies tomorrow.