christmas shopping in Birmingham- can it get any better?

Today, I secretly left the house and walked to Birmingham for the first time ever. From my house, it takes about 5 minutes to drive there but more like half an hour to walk to. I felt so...ALIVE. You know there's something wrong when you get excited just by being outside. See, my parents are VERY overprotective. I never leave the house alone. Sad, right? I know. But I deal- with escapades like today's. Today, I went to Birmingham with my i-pod on, listening to Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareille's 'Winter Song', tasting snowflakes, and walking through a wispy winter scene that made everything seem to go in slow motion.

My goal for today? To find a beautiful snow globe for my 10 year old sweet baby sister, Bridget. I thought the best place to look for one would be Anthropologie. But alas no, no snowglobe there. I continued to wander around and look through shops, but still no dice. Just as I was about to give up, I allowed myself to look in a Claire's. And no, I did not find a snowglobe. But I did find a wonderfully tacky tote bag with a kitten on it (Bridget, aside from collecting snowglobes, is OBSESSED with cats. When asked what she wanted to be when she grows up, she said a cat). So though it was below my standards, it's not about what makes me happy but instead I thought what my sister would really like.