Over the weekend, Dave and I took our girls up north to visit Smith and Edwards. It's a super old, giant store, that carries just about anything you would ever need to be a cowboy or do some outdoor recreating and it has a huge section of Army Surplus. It's oddly cool to check out everything in that department. I don't particularly need an official US Navy sailor hat, but I like knowing that I can get my hands on one in a pinch. The store is NOT fancy,and it's NOT modern, but it's awesome. I'd say most people in Northern Utah have a soft spot for this crazy old store.
You get the idea that I really like it there, but I haven't even mentioned the best part. The people watching is out of this world. There are some serious "time capsule" people wandering the aisles. I saw a woman that was maybe forty years old, but she was straight out of 1985. She was wearing what the hipsters call " an ugly Christmas sweater", but she wasn't trying to make anyone laugh, it was her legitimate outfit. She had on some L.A. Gear shoes, and her jeans were a shade shy of acid wash. Her hair was classic eighties, as was her make-up. I'm not making fun of her at all. I was in awe of her really. She's a simple, old school, country gal. A walking page out of fashion history. I was so into it. She looked genuinely happy.
There were also the typical modern women dressed in the day hooker look that I don't understand. I don't see any reason, fashion or otherwise, to wear leggings, and thigh high boots and a shirt that exposes one full shoulder, for a mid-morning shopping trip to Smith and Edwards. That's not fashion to me, that's just weird. The line between streetwalker and Christmas shopper isn't the least bit blurry to me, yet I see many confused ladies strolling the aisles at stores. Save your club look for the club. It's wreaks of desperation during the daylight hours, especially at the "county boy store".
Maybe the sight of those skank ladies made me so pleased with the time capsule 80's lady. She and her cowboy husband were having a grand old time Christmas shopping. Dave and I found ourselves secretly longing to be a legit old school, country, cowboy family. Sometimes I just want to go back in time to a simpler time. With no internet and no constant news coverage. Just old fashioned farmer times. I would love to see us all dressed up in the Wranglers and western shirts, with our cowboy boots and Stetson hats. Maybe we'd have a little land, with all the farm animals and some crops. It just seems like a cozy, safe lifestyle. I mentioned this to my family on the car ride home and they were all into it. Sasha asked me again today if we could just turn into cowboys and cowgirls sometime soon. Maybe all the horrible stuff on the news prompts me to want that life, or maybe it's the massive Johnny Cash kick we've been on lately. I can't pinpoint it, but I find myself longing for that alternate life. I wonder if it exists anymore?
 |
| I would dress like this EVERYDAY, and I would love every second of it! This chick looks like a badass! |
And now for a giggle. My friend, Brody Jerman, shared this photo on my Facebook wall. He took this photo back in the summer (I suspect his wife should be worried). He saw this ad in the window at Smith and Edwards. It's real and hilarious. The hillbilly match.com is the front window at Smith and Edwards, in case you were wondering. If this doesn't tell you how awesome this store is, I don't know what would ever convince you.
 |
| Latter Day Saint, Divorced White Male (NOT RICH!), and he knows a little Espanole! |
No comments:
Post a Comment