Cher: 'I have direction'. Josh: 'Yeah, towards the mall

It was time to refill my Angel, and get some other colognes, so I headed off to Cherry Creek. Probably not a good idea to go shopping when bored. I ended up dropping some major cash at the mall.

So, I know that a lot of people think that Saks and Neiman Marcus are hoity-toity, and that the salespeople ignore you if they don't think you are their kind of clientele. I have to say, I have never had a problem with either. Although I may look like a scrub, the counter staff always help me. Today was no different.

While sampling some new scents, the fragrance lady came over to assist. I picked out what I wanted, and while ringing me up, she asked what salon I worked for. ? That was odd. I guess she could see I was confused by her query, and she clarified, that she assumed I worked at a salon based on my hair.

I kinda took it as a compliment. I pay a decent amount to have my hair styled, so I was ok with her comment. Her demeanor conveyed that she honestly thought what she asked. Nice. Made me feel somewhat 'with it'.

So I ended up getting my Angel refilled, and 'Eau d'Hadrien' by Annick Goutal, and 'Pomegranate Noir' by Jo Malone. Having worked at Neiman's, I knew Goutal is some good stuff. It is comparable to Creed. Hadrien is citrus-y, yet masculine. It rocks.

But, oh man, Pomegranate is unreal. It's a mixture of pomegranate, raspberry, plum, with a high note of frankincense and patchouli. It's woody, yet fruity. Undescribable. I think it may be my new signature scent. Angel is still my favorite though, as it smells like chocolate, leather, and oranges. Yum. Only DKNY's 'Fuel' challenges Angel as my favorite scent. Unfortunately, they don't make Fuel anymore. But luckily, John Varvatos smells almost identical.

So I leave Saks, to look for some shirts and pants as with my somewhat recent weight loss, I need to get stuff that actually fits. One of my teachers at school had a pink Gingham shirt that I loved. I have been looking for a similar shirt ever since. The place where I usually go to have shirts made, hasn't carried the material I have wanted. So bonus for me, when I saw that the Ralph Lauren section at Foley's had exactly what I was looking for.

I also managed to find a crisp white linen button down, and a sunflower yellow Gingham button down short sleeve. I go to ring it up, and the chick at the counter scans something and she gives me my total. It's about $100, which surprises me. The Ralph Lauren shirt was listed as $80 itself. So as I walk away, I check the receipt, and Score!, the register chick gave me 20% of all three items because of some Father's Day sale.

For less than the price of having one shirt made, I got three. Yay.

Next off, I stopped by Abercrombie. I usually don't shop there because their clothes are HUGE on me. But, I have been looking for a pair of Madras pants. I figured with the trend this summer being all about Madras shorts, Abercrombie should have some.

Needless to say, it's been a long time since I have been to Abercrombie. And, needless to say, wow, that store is a joke. It is SOOOO gay.

Not withstanding the Bruce Weber photos of shirtless dudes all over the place, they were loudly pumping out some of the gayest house music I have heard this side of Tracks. Holy man. I wander through the store, and don't see what I want, but on the way out, I noticed they are selling a cologne called.....wait for it.... 'Fierce'. Seriously. Does any hetero dude shop at Abercrombie anymore? Abercrombie was a big thing for the gays in the late 90's, and it makes me wonder, who still shops there. Yeesh.

Nearby is the Polo store. I enter the store and the guy at the front counter says 'hi', and asks if I needed anything in particular. I told him I was looking to see if they had any Madras pants. At first he says no, then he's like 'wait a minute. Madras? What's that?'.

Seriously? He works at Polo an doesn't know what Madras is. Polo is the epitome of preppy couture, with Madras being one of Ralph Lauren's signature fabrics. I explained to him, that Madras is kind of like a plaid, with bright colors.

Luckily, right off the front counter, was a mannequin with a pair. I told him that that was what I was looking for. Found my size, tried them on and told him I would need them altered. He wanted me to try them on so he could mark them for alteration, but I explained, I'm a short dude and I know that I have a 26" inseam. He looked perplexed. Finished the sale and left.

After I left Polo, I forced myself to leave the mall. I had just dropped an arse load of money, and needed to leave before I spent more. It was a nice day, so I figured I would walk back home. Besides the occasional dead squirrel, I discovered something I never knew.

Snuggled in between Congress Park, and the Country Club neighborhood, is a section called Driving Park Historical District. I am pretty familiar with Denver history, but had never heard of Driving Park. I assume it's because it was part of Speer's plans of creating park line neighborhoods as part of his civic beautification plan. The area is auto, yet park like oriented.

Random day, better spent then staying at home and watching the boob tube all day.