Huge sales at Macy’s today.
They seem to be trying to get rid of all the merchandise built up during Coronavirus.
On line was this stylish lady in an orange dress with a white handbag.
On her arm were happy, playful tattoos, including a Minnie Mouse with her tongue out on her upper arm.
Life goes on with Disney characters cheering us up with or without a global pandemic. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I went to the mall today.
This is a few weeks into reopening phase 2!
I expected people would have pent up demand and be swarming the stores even while keeping their social distance.
They weren’t at the mall!
The stores were nearly void of people.
The shelves were virtually empty of goods.
Whatever merchandise there was seemed to marked “sale, sale, sale” even on the already deeply-discounted clearance items.
It was completely frightening–like the economy is dead or on severe life support!
Most stores had 3 or more associates standing around or sitting twiddling their thumbs.
This while the stock market keeps ticking up and the NASDAQ is reaching new highs almost daily.
Coronavirus is surging again across much of the U.S. and there is almost 140,000 dead in the U.S. after just 5 months even though much of the population was in self-quarantine.
The economy looks to me in sh*t shape, despite the U.S. pumping $3 trillion dollars more of debt to artificially prop up the economy and the fed lending out money at super low rates.
It makes NO sense for the market to be hitting all time highs as if everything is all roses when the economy is still a true mess!
The New Yorker magazine wrote back in May of a post coronavirus “decade of depression” with an L shaped recovery, yet we keep seeing a V-shaped one and no one seems to be able to offer any plausible explanation for it.
Two-months ago, even before the recent stock run-up to higher levels, Business Insider reported that “the Stock Market is trading at its highest valuation in 18-years.“
Last month, Forbes reported that “the stock market appears to be reaching unsustainable highs.“
Yesterday again, Bloomberg reported that the “economic recovery is faltering.”
Almost daily, I read that companies are laying off their workers (in Travel, Transportation, Entertainment, Retail, Energy, etc.) or declaring bankruptcy (e.g. Hertz, JC Penny, Neiman Marcus, Chesapeake Energy, and more).
This while we are still, in the best case scenario, maybe half a year away from the possibility of a tested, approved vaccine. And then it will then need to be mass produced and mass distributed to hundreds of millions of people in this country and billions globally.
In the meantime, we certainly could be up for a second wave of Coronavirus on top of the flu in the fall/winter. And then the Coronavirus may mutate and become more virulent requiring annual vaccines like the flu shot–more hit or miss.
All this while U.S.-China trade war is imperiling our economy further, and arch-enemies Iran and North Korea remain national security threats.
To me this all points to that we are nowhere near out of the woods and perhaps that there is a wildfire raging and no one seems to be paying any attention!
The stock market euphoria is a common trap and is the definition of “irrational exuberance” but comes after investors have been robotically indoctrinated to buy the dips!
IMHO, buyer beware, beware, beware. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So went to Nahariya today near the Labanon border.
Nice shopping strip and gorgeous beach.
Had a nice cappuccino at Cofix.
Got a new modern Kiddish cup for Shabbat and a washing cup for Netilat Yadayim.
Enjoyed the train ride up and back on the beautiful Mediterranean Sea shore.
Had dinner at Azrieli Mall in Tel Aviv and marvelled at all the shopping and crowds on a Tuesday.
Real contrast between more sleepy resort town, Nahariya and high-tech, bustling city Tel Aviv. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Thought this was cool at Tyson’s Corner Mall in Virginia.
Create your own wall art.
People passing by in the mall, just pull over and start drawing with their fingers in these cool colorful shiny sequin tiles.
One way moves the sequins to one color and the other direction to an alternate color.
Some people went up to draw and then took a picture of themselves next to their artwork.
Everyone loves a little creativity (even in between shopping). 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
(Source Photos and Video: Andy Blumenthal)
These were my new sneaks for like two hours.
I loved them in the store.
My stylish and lovely daughter helped me pick them out.
Nike bright orange–cool, fashionable.
“Just do it!”
But when I tried them on, I didn’t have socks, and had to use the ridiculous thin ones in the store.
The sneakers were snug and I asked for a larger size, which they were out of.
I took the sneakers anyway, hoping they would be okay when I got home, but disappointingly, they were way too tight.
And “the give” that the saleslady said would happen with the sneakers, absolutely didn’t.
My foot was being crushed in there.
I think Nike’s run small.
Like the look, but not the sizing.
Anyway, saw three people playing soccer in these (or something close to it) the same day.
Orange is the new black. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So this is one of my absolute favorite ice creams.
Soft chocolate swirl ice cream topped in a hard chocolate shell that literally melts in your mouth.
OMG, this is to die for.
This is not something you get every day…it’s a special treat.
They have this ice cream locally in the mall, and sometimes I just go there, literally, just a taste of this.
Usually, I get the small and then share this, but even that is too much really.
It is like a meal in and of itself.
So rich, creamy, cold, and chocolatey flavorful.
Who needs caramel (sitting next to it) when you have chocolate!
Love it, love it, love it.
Yum, yum, yum. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So we’re down in Florida.
It’s pouring today, so we decide to go to Sawgrass Mills Mall.
When the rain let’s up, we decide to go outside to this one row of stores that is like designer row.
We went into Robert Graham, Ralph Lauren (the purple label), Roberto Cavalli, Versace, Gucci, and more.
We saw this nice Chasidic couple in Gucci.
He looked at me and me and him–he was buying his wife a gift and I was “window shopping” and taking some cool photos.
We gave each other the thumbs up.
The shoe here was from the Gucci store.
Pretty incredible, no?
It’s definitely a brand standout!
Nice job Gucci designers. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Just wanted to share these beautiful Turkish lights that I found in Hollywood, Florida.
We had a delicious lunch at L’Chaim Asian Cuisine and Steak House–the honey chicken was to die for–OMG, it was like candy!
Afterwards, we walked about the shopping strip there and came across this store with these amazing lights.
It was a hookah (not hookers!) store which I am completely not interested in, having never smoked a cigarette or anything my entire life–true!
But these light were gorgeous.
I took these pictures and was even tempted to buy one–loved the colors and happiness of them.
Held off for now, too many nice things, especially since we then followed up with a day trip to Saw Grass Mills today–what an unbelievably huge shopping and outlet mall.
I know it must definitely be time to head home soon, because the shopping experience down here is wearing me down–just kidding, but it’s definitely a paradise not only for the beach, but for the shopping fun as well. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So is this the power of sexuality or branding?
1. Head first for the lingerie sale
2. Picking out pink for that special someone.
3. Forgetting to pay the meter.
All three of these made us laugh.
People are a combination of spiritual and physical beings.
Sometimes the physical takes over and that’s when the problems start happening! 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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