Shop Safely Shopaholics!

I went with my SO to the mall tonight (just to look around...of course!) and something very disturbing happened - I think someone was following me for awhile. So here's what happened...

I had just picked up a cute tank top at Banana Republic and made my way to J Crew (meanwhile my honey was shopping Polo at Belks). Just as I stepped inside the store, I happened to look back and notice a man standing just outside the store (like two feet from the door) looking around kinda confused and kinda glancing at me. I started to look at the clothes at the front of the store and realized that the man had also stepped into the store - mind you, the women's clothes are in the front of the store. I looked at him again and he was looking at me. I started to slowly make my way further inside the store and would stop at every other rack turning to see if the man was still there. He was! He was still at the first round table at the front of the store, half-heartedly looking at the clothes on the table and I swear every time I looked at him, he was looking at me. Well, I decided to let him know that I'd seen him looking at me by giving him a couple glares. Then, I called my SO and by that time, the man was gone. Luckily, my SO was with me, so I didn't have to leave the mall, but how freaky is that? Call me paranoid, but I don't think there's anything wrong with minding your surroundings. In fact, this brings me to my point...

Tip of the Day - Pay attention to your surroundings and those around you when you're shopping - even in places you feel safe like the mall you've been going to for years. If you see the same person or persons seemingly in every store you go into, they may be following you. If you think someone is following you, don't freak out - stay calm, but try to go somewhere where there are lots of people - personally, I wouldn't leave the mall/store alone - I'd try to have security walk me out or have a friend pick me up. If you feel really threatened, see if a store associate can help you or possibly even call security/police. Anywho, I'm not the best resource for safety tips, so here's an article on general safety tips (click here - there are a couple pop-ups so make sure your blocker is on)

Anywho, one good thing that happened on this shopping trip is the purchase of some new J Crew heels. I bought the Phoebe peep-toe heels like these, but in off-white (yes, I have these shoes in flats but brown - I wouldn't be a shopaholic if I didn't, right?):

Phoebe leather peep-toe heels - normally $178
Can you believe these babies were on sale in the store for only $99?! To sweeten the deal, they were also an additional 25% off - that's a steal of a deal! Yay! Cute shoes on sale and my honey to walk me safely to my car!

Shop safely everyone!

NOTE: Image and item from jcrew.com