The Lenox Stroll

I took about an hour from the office to dash up to Lenox Square Mall for some new perfume. By the way, I must have been high on perfume this past weekend when I made the decision to buy a fragrance called "Very Sexy for Her" by Victoria Secret. Last year, my friend Chrissy and I were hanging out in the mall and I'm pretty sure that I smelled the fragrance for the first time and thought it was awesome! We went back to the mall this past weekend, and we smelled it again only to scrunch our noses up in displeasure. There's a pink bottle and a red bottle of Very Sexy perfume, so I convinced myself that the red bottle smelled okay on the smelling strips. Chrissy gave me a slightly apprehensive glance when I let her smell the paper, and I should have taken heed. Ladies, always listen and pay attention to your true girlfriends; they will never lead you astray! Unfortunately, I didn't heed this advice and I am now $55 poorer, and have been sneezing for the last 5 days! Very Sexy For Her perfume smells crappy!! There. I said it!

Back to the original story. In case you're unfamiliar with Atlanta, Lenox Square Mall is one of the malls that was built and designed with the fashion conscious, lofty-incomed individual in mind. It's the 1 of only 4 or 5 malls in all of metro Atlanta where I can find my favorite fragrances, shoes, and makeup. They have all of the "top of the line" items that I purchase and generally only use on special occasions.

This is the second time since I've been working at CNN that I have gone to Lenox to shop. This is also the second time that I have noticed some interesting things about a lot of the other shoppers that were there at high noon on a weekday:

1) A disproportionate number of shoppers were black women

2) Most of them were drop-dead gorgeous

3) Most of them were sauntering through the mall, browsing at their leisure

4) Every other car/truck I saw pulling up to valet park had a young gorgeous black woman at the wheel.

Get my drift? Not yet? Okay, stay with me. Here are the facts. I am aware that most black women are not housewives; most black women are out working during the day. It's just a fact. Almost every woman I saw this afternoon was flawless from the top of their perfectly brushed heads to the bottom of their well-manicured toes...in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. The fact that most of them were taking their time, looking around trying to decide where to go next suggests that they didn't have somewhere to be within the next 60 minutes, like work. Land Cruisers, Hummers, Benz's, one after another with flawless, young black women dropping off their keys at valet parking.

Yeah, I think you get my drift now. I just realized that Chris and I got into a conversation about this a few years back when he and I went to Lenox Square. Back then, he pointed out all of the things that I note above. My side of the coin? I figured it was obvious that these are the girlfriends/wives of very wealthy men that have nothing better to do than spend their boyfriend/husband's money. Chris laughed. Of course, Chris is WAY more astute than I am on any given day, so that's not a surprise.

Still at a loss? Find a friend and ask them about it or email me. :-)