Gasparilla, DSW, and The Ones That Got Away

Marriott Channel side View from Our Room
This was Friday Night, before the Invasion
View looking toward the Convention Center

I went to Tampa a couple of weeks ago on our yearly trip to Gasparilla with my best girlfriends, Kim, Lisa, and Beth. I really like Tampa:  if you ever get the chance, Tampa is a great city to visit.  There's lots to do, places to go, and who doesn't love a giant city-wide party where it is okay to dress up like a pirate?   

Invasion of Tampa Bay 2012

Rough Riders leaving EARLY in the morning
around 8:00 a.m., cannons blasting away! 

This year we stayed at the Marriott Channelside.   This hotel is awesome sauce.  The rooms are spacious, the service is spot on, the decor is gorgeous.  And the view channelside is fantastic.  For Gasparilla, the Marriott Channelside is great for seeing the ships leave port Saturday morning and return at noon for the invasion.  The hotel is also located within walking distance of the parade stands.  

Parade view from the stands

Gasparilla was great.  The parade was really fun, and we took home a huge load of beads.  We had tickets this year to sit in the stands, which I highly recommend.  We all had a little PTSD near the end though, since we were in constant defensive mode to avoid a lashing.  Those beads hurt when you don't catch them!  Every time I get hit, I am shocked like I've never been hit before. Weird. Of course, I rocked the pirate boots.  

Pirate Boots!

Gasparilla was a blast, and Tampa is a great city to visit, but straight talk here:  Tampa has the best DSW in the whole entire world right there on Dale Mabry just down from  the Buc's stadium.  For shoe enthusiasts, the DSW on Dale Mabry is Mecca, Nirvana, the Holiest of Holies....in a word:  Heaven. I know whereof I speak.  Whenever I travel to a new city, I always check to see if there is a DSW nearby and if there is, I visit it. Seriously.  

Saturday morning, after partaking of some healing breakfast fare at Denny's, we went straight to DSW.  We were there for less than an hour, but we made it count.  I love that store. Imagine a big space, the size of a ToysRUs with nothing but rows and rows of waist high shoe displays!  The clerks are friendly, helpful, and they actually know how to operate their registers.  They have also never heard of an expiration date.  

Julie and Kim's Take

As I was working my way up the second aisle, I turned to say something to Lisa and caught a glimpse of a shoe I had to have:  a pump with pointy toes and a low heel in a combination of animal print, tartan plaid, and patent leather.  Me and this shoe were Meant. To. Be.

It was like someone had made me my very own bespoke shoes.

Beverly Feldman Marigold Pumps

I nearly vaulted over the display case like OJ Simpson in the old Hertz Commercials until I remembered I'm only 5'5" and not terribly athletic or graceful.  So I settled for warning everyone else off.  I loved these shoes instantly!  Alas, it was not to be;  they didn't have my size.  The clerks at the store even checked to see if I could get them from any other DSW or from DSW online.  NO ONE has my size!                                                                          

Lisa and Beth's Haul                       

Our Combined Plunder from
 a 45 minute trip to DSW

In a cruel twist of fate, they did have Lisa's size.  And being my sister from another mother, you know she bought them and wore them Monday morning!  Ugh.  But I found a cool cross-body bag for my iPad and a pair of color block peeptoe platforms that make me almost six foot tall.    

This was only the luggage for three of us!
There's another DSW bag  next to the cart.

The Bellman called one of the managers (also a DSW shoe lover) when he brought our luggage down Sunday morning.  Apparently, this magnitude of DSW doesn't happen often.   Those guys were pros, they made it all fit;   however, Beth did have to hold her carryon in her lap on the way to the airport.

What a great weekend.  I can't wait until next year.

Cheers!

                                                        Julie

Vince Camuto peeptoe platforms.
They have a 1" platform and a 5.5" heel!

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