From the Inside Out

With only 19 days until Christmas, it’s time to get serious about shopping for gifts. For those of you who already have your Christmas shopping done, I hate you. No, I’m kidding. I applaud you. I wish mine were done, but it’s not. For the procrastinators like me, I’m going to share one of my pre-Christmas shopping tips.

Last year, I discovered a great tool on Amazon.com called “Gift & Wish Lists”. The Wish List lets you build a list of the gifts you’d like to receive for Christmas so you can share it with family and friends. You can add items from Amazon.com or from any other site on the Web. The Wish List works like a registry. When people buy items, they are marked as “purchased” so others don’t buy the same gifts. Purchased items are hidden from you, keeping the surprise intact when you open gifts on Christmas morning. Gary and I both have our wish lists here, and it works great.

The Gift Organizer lets you build separate idea lists for everyone on your shopping list. Amazon.com can even provide future gift recommendations based on your current list and past shopping history for each individual. It’s a great way to keep track of your gift ideas and online purchases. It can also save you from becoming one of the many frazzled shoppers at the mall since many of the things you need can be purchased from the comfort of your own home — no lines, no screaming kids, no bad parking spots, no crowded malls. Ah-mazing!!

To create your wish list, start here. Use the Universal Wish List to add products from any website to your wish list.

To create your gift organizer, start here.

Do you have any Dallas Cowboys fans on your shopping list this year? Well, you might be in luck. Neiman Marcus revealed its annual Christmas Book today, and it includes a significant piece of the Dallas Cowboys’ history. For only $500K, you can bring the entire Dallas Cowboys’ end zone to your own back yard.

No, I’m not kidding. This year’s fantasy gift is 530 square yards from the Texas Stadium end zone. According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, “the purchaser of the fantasy gift will get VIP treatment and a postgame party with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. After the game, crews will cut out the end zone, roll it up and install it in the purchaser’s yard.”

Hurry up, though…I’m sure it won’t last long!

If you’re not a sports fan, the Neiman’s Christmas book also offers a variety of other gifts for consideration including:

• “His and Hers” life-size likenesses in Lego bricks at $60,000 each

• Harlem Globetrotters on-the-court experience for $110,000

• 35-year collection of 45-rpm records for $275,000

• A limited edition 2009 BMW Individual 7 Series sedan, plus a vacation on the French Riviera for $160,000. Only 31 of the vehicles will be sold, representing the 31 years BMW has been in the United States. The black sedan with champagne-leather interior features an illuminated Neiman Marcus logo on entry sill and the glove box.

• Custom designed Jack Nicklaus Backyard Golf Course for a cool $1 mil.

For other gift ideas, check out the online catalog and get your shopping done early this year!

One of the fabulous things about New York City is the shopping. If you can’t find it here, then it probably doesn’t exist. The selection and range of the stores in this city are outstanding (especially along 5th Avenue). I was telling Gary today that it would be fun to come back for a “shopping” tour of the city. Ah, I could do some serious damage in the stores here.

We visited the world’s largest store, Macy’s on 7th Avenue, this afternoon. It boasts one million square feet of shopping space — a girl’s dream! My main goal was to find some comfortable shoes that wouldn’t further irritate the blisters on my feet, and while I was there I couldn’t resist doing some additional shopping. Yeah, I’ll be bringing home some great “souvenirs” from Macy’s.

Although shopping was fun, the real highlight of the day was our trip to Ground Zero. After exiting the Subway, it was obvious where we needed to go. A huge empty gap marked the space where the buildings once stood.

You can’t see much at this point. Ground Zero is a large hole that is slowly being filled in by new construction. Freedom Tower will replace the World Trade Center buildings that were destroyed on 911. Construction should be complete by 2012. The new tower will pay homage to the twin towers in several ways. The base of the Freedom Tower will be 200 feet square — the same dimensions as the original towers. The observation deck will be at 1,362 feet: the height of World Trade Center Tower Two. The glass parapet will be at 1,368 feet: the height of World Trade Center Tower One. Freedom Tower along with three other WTC towers, retail development and a performing arts center will occupy 8 of the 16 acres that previously held the collapsed World Trade Center buildings. An 8-acre landscaped Memorial Plaza also will be erected as a place for people to reflect on the events of 911.

As we walked around the site today, memories of that day flooded back into my mind. I know exactly where I was and what I was doing when it happened. I watched live on TV as the second building fell to the ground. It was one of the most horrific things I’ve witnessed. I can’t explain the feeling I had today as I walked around looking at what’s left of the site where so many people lost their lives. All I can say is that it was truly a moving experience.

Where the buildings used to stand…the sky seems empty without them:

Ground Zero as it looks today:

Bored in the subway:

I’ll be loading more pictures onto the “photos” section in the next couple of days. A few from yesterday’s photo tour are up now, but I haven’t had time to upload all of them yet. Check back tomorrow for updates.

It’s the perfect combination and a great way to spend a Thursday evening.  I forced myself to quit working at 5 pm today so I could meet up with Tiffany for a “girls night out”. 

First, we grabbed a quick dinner at Chipotle — their chicken bowl is great by the way.  After dinner, we trekked over to Stone Briar Mall (or “Stroller” Briar as Gary likes to call it) for some power shopping.  It’s great because we can now shop in the same stores and try on clothes together. 

Tiffany and I both love the Macy’s “Inc.” brand, so that was our first stop.  Actually, we ended up finding so many cute things there that we never even made it into the rest of the mall. 

By the end of the night, I picked up a few new outfits and spent way too much money, but it was a fun. 

Oh yeah….and tomorrow’s Friday…have a great one!