Blondes in the city…

My little sister (a.k.a. The Runt) is a blonde. So is her roommate, Melissa.

Earlier this week, the two of them went to Northpark Shopping Center to check out the brand new section of the mall, which recently opened at the beginning of the month.

See picture below:



Please note that the new section of Northpark now means that the mall is shaped like a square (as illustrated by the pink dotted line). Previously, the mall formed a "C" or "J" shape, as seen below (shaded in blue):



Prior to the opening of the new section of the mall, shopping at Northpark required quite a bit of backtracking. Typically, I’d always try to park near Dillard’s, because of its central location to both “wings” of the complex. Now, however, it is possible to park anywhere and walk the mall in a circle (or square) – no backtracking required. Much more convenient (and logical), if you ask me.

It is important to mention that I haven’t actually visited the latest section of the Northpark, yet. However, I have been to the mall (several times, actually) since they broke ground a year and a half ago, and – since my grandmother lives in close proximity to Northpark – have witnessed the construction in all stages. Consequently, it was obvious to me FROM THE BEGINNING that the mall would one day be connected (therefore, turning the mall’s "C"/"J" shape into a much more shopping-efficient square/circular shopping experience).

Yet, this realization wasn’t obvious to everyone (i.e. my sister and Melissa).

When the blonde bombshells ventured into Northpark earlier this week, they parked over near Nieman Marcus and made an immediate beeline in the direction of the brand new section of the mall – all excited about checking out the latest stores, food court and movie theater complex located there. Melissa was especially excited about the new pretzel shop. Apparently, they pass out free samples, which is something that all starving college students (especially those with "emergency" Nieman Marcus cards) find appealing.

After seeing all they could see of the new part of the mall, the blonde duo decided that their shopping excursion wasn’t over yet, and, consequently, continued on towards the older part of Northpark to check out the “new” JCrew (by “new” I mean that the store was “new” to the space, not to the mall. JCrew had just moved from a smaller space on the other side of the mall near Neiman’s, to a larger space over near Foley’s). From there, the Runt and Melissa passed by Dillard’s on their way to Express and Sephora.

To give all of you (who may not be familiar with Northpark Center) a visual, this is what their route (shown below in red) looked like up to this point:



After visiting Sephora, the girls decided that they had had enough of shopping for one day. Their purchases of so many new, cute things had them quite weighed down, you see, and my sister was starting to get a cramp in her arm form carrying around so many bags.

Obviously, the quickest and easiest way back to my sister’s car was to do the following (shown in green):



After all, that was the most logical way to exit the mall considering the location of my sister’s Montero. However, we are talking about two blondes here, thus, logic – sadly – doesn’t enter into the equation.

Therefore, with something that can only be described as “blonde reasoning”, my sister and Melissa rationalized the following:

When visiting Northpark in the past, we’ve always had to retrace our steps to get back to the car – thus, it only makes sense that we should still have to do it now.

So, even though they had no reason to go back the way they came (except that they always had done it this way before), the pair proceeded to walk back to the car the same way that they had come in. The LONG way. Neither one of them ever stopped to consider that there was another way out, even though they had both been in the old part of Northpark a million times (and could see Niemen’s from where they were standing in front of Sephora).

Apparently, it only dawned on the Runt and Melissa that they could have exited the mall much more expeditiously while dining with me later on that evening. After hearing about their shopping trip, I couldn’t help but inquire as to the reason why the two didn’t simply walk the short way from Sephora to Nieman’s (instead of retracing their steps around ¾ of the mall). After a long pause, my sister looked at me and said, “Ooh, yeah! We could have done that, couldn’t we?” She then looked across the table at Melissa (as if to say, “Now, why didn’t WE think of that?”) before they both burst into hysterical laughter.

I’m starting to wonder how they are able to navigate their way around their own apartment without getting lost…

UPDATE...

Below is a quote from Melissa reprimanding me for leaving part of the story out (NOTE: Had I known about the following, it never (EVER) would have been left out of the original text, believe me):

Melissa: "Ohh and you didn't mention how we thought there was two Neiman’s since we went around and didn't realize it was a square. Get the story right!"

*Sigh* Blondes…