i need professional help.

okay, well, that's nothing new. maybe you've noticed that once i discover something i like, it turns into an absolute obsession, and ihavetohaveitrightnow! heh.

yesterday's weather was so weird - it was gray and gloomy and drizzly, which pissed me off as i pulled out of the garage in my clean, shiny, just-washed car. normally, i dig june gloom, but not after i just spent $35+ on a fucking car wash! oh, well.

new shopping centers seem to be popping up everywhere around me. first there was the americana at brand, and now the shoppes at chino hills. i'd first heard of the latter at the bean's gymboree class, where the teacher and a couple of the other moms were excitedly chattering about the new gymboree store opening there. well, y'all know i love shopping, and i dig checking out new places to indulge, so it was inevitable that i'd make my way there in no time. not to mention, there's a pinkberry there. remember that ihavetohaveitrightnow feeling i just talked about? this is where that kicks in. and dammit, i'm salivating again at the thought.

so after i picked up the teen from school, we headed down the freeway and towards chino hills. it's really not very far from our casa, so it only took about 20 minutes-ish to get there, which is good AND bad. ha! and the teen was hungry, so we swung into the drive-thru at chick-fil-a. and then we totally laughed our asses off as we admitted to each other that we'd both wondered what the actual pronunciation of that damn place is. ha!

she went with some nuggets while i opted for a slightly healthier option - a wrap with grilled chicken. it was pretty yummy.

as we pulled out of the parking lot (it was located in a plaza across the street from "the shoppes"), i noticed a sign for ce fiore on an adjacent building. and then the great debate began in my head: do i stop and give it a try, or do i just wait, stick it out, and pick up a cup from tried-and-true pinkberry, my newest craving?

you know what option i went with. i know you do. keep reading.

so the shoppes are laid out in a similar fashion to victoria gardens, but smaller. it's all outdoors, and you can drive through most of it with metered parking right in front of the shops. there's also free parking lots nearby, and we chose to park by the trader joe's so that we could run in for some stuff before heading home. and, of course, there are fountains for the kids to play in. even though it was butt ass cold, there were lots of kids running through and playing in the water. brrrrrrrr. and the other fountain was cool - the water squirted out and danced across to the other side. kinda reminded me of the dancing fountains at epcot center, in orlando.

i noticed that they also had a lot of the same shops as the VG, although there's an H&M here, as well as a lululemon athletica and a handful of what looks like small, locally owned boutique-y type shops. the teen and i browsed in H&M, where we scooped up a handful of cheap tanks and tees, and stopped at limited too. as she looked at their selection of jonas brothers merchandise, the bean tried on some sunglasses.

of course, we paid homage to the gymboree gods, but i managed to resist the urge to buy stuff for the bean. and the silly teen found this pink leopard-print jacket that she had to try on.

we stopped in at the sanrio store, too, where we stopped to look at everything, were tempted by the display of sparkly tarina taratino jewelry, entertained the employees with our antics, and picked out fun hello kitty candy to take home.

and then we could wait no more. because a couple of doors down was this:

today, there was no sharing. oh, no. today, we each got our own cups, liberally sprinkled with our favorite toppings. and shhhhhh - don't tell the hub, but i gave the bean her first taste of fro-yo, and she loved it. hee!

as much as i've come to love the cool, creamy, refreshing taste of the original flavor yogurt, i think i'd be equally happy if they just filled my cup with the little bits of mochi for me to munch on. anyone know where i can just buy a bag of the stuff somewhere? i'll be your best friend.

we walked through the entire center (which isn't much, really), and then did some grocery-ing at trader joe's before heading home.

i wonder where we'll go today after school. ;)