My friendship with Stella has been a long one. We keep in touch regularly, but these days we don’t get to lay eyes on one another nearly as often as we’d like. She’s a nurse with a busy schedule which makes finding time a challenge, but also keeping us apart is the fact that she now lives outside the city to the north. So our easy get-togethers for a drink, dinner and/or a movie are a thing of the past.
Throughout November we’d been back and forth on email, trying to set up a date, when she suggested that each of us travel a little and meet in the middle, at Yorkdale Mall.
Having opened in 1964, this mall is the oldest one in the city and having both grown up nearby, (to the west in Malton), we’ve known Yorkdale Mall forever. However, while I spent many the hour there as a teenager, I can’t remember the last time I was there. They’ve recently undergone a major renovation that I was keen to see, so when she suggested we meet there my immediate response was “sure”.
While it is nearly at the end of the line, there’s a subway train stop connected to the mall, so it was easy for me to get there.
We met outside The Bay …
After hello hugs she led the way to lunch — an Indian restaurant within the food-court called Amaya. The food was nice and spicy and very good.
↑ We selected a variety of vegetarian dishes to share. ↑
After lunch we ended up just walking around the mall and talking, and not really doing much shopping. We did go to a couple of stores, H&M being one, where Stella got a sweater.
Then we came to Lush which we smelled before seeing. (If you’ve ever been outside a Lush store you know what I mean.)
This got us to talking about baths and their bath-bombs, which I love. Stella had never been before, so of course, we had to go in.
I picked up one of the choices for Christmas, called Golden Wonder Bath-bomb. It’s shaped like a little gift and when you shake it you can hear that something is inside. Apparently, it fills your bath with gold sparkles and turns the water turquoise. The description on their site (here) is tantalizing : “Cognac and zesty lime oils get this bath party started with mood-brightening scents while sweet orange oil refreshes the senses. In the water, this present-shaped fizzer unwraps itself to reveal glittering golden luster and a sparkling turquoise explosion. Don’t wait until Christmas day to bathe yourself in festive luxury!”
I’d not tried their Bubble Bars before but have wanted to. I got this one called Sunny Side, which also has shimmery gold in it and smells like citrus fruits. (I used some of it in my bath the other evening and it was delightful.)
And I got some of their herbal deodorant powder called The Greeench to try. It might not be the best thing to use when things get really hot — it’s not an antiperspirant — but so far I like it and appreciate that it doesn’t have all the chemicals found in regular deodorants.
Aside: My bag of bath goodies is right beside me now as I type this and it smells so nice — I always keep my Lush things near my desk before I use them because they double as great aromatherapy room fresheners!
I got Stella a couple of bath-bombs as a gift. (We were there on a Tuesday and the following Sunday she emailed me to say : “Hi Lou. How’s the weekend going?
Had a bath bomb last night…it was delicious!”)
She got herself some deodorant too, hers in the bar format (this one), and she got some lip scrub.
After our visit to Lush, during which we looked at every product they had, we stopped for a little treat at Godiva — a bag of their chocolate covered strawberries to share.
Then we hit The Bay’s lingerie department.
I certainly think another meeting at Yorkdale is in our futures during the colder months on the horizon, because hanging out in a beautiful mall with an old friend was a good time.
Thank you for checking out my post.
Wishing you a great weekend,
xo loulou
