The Domain
Pati said it best when she commented that the reason people like to go to places like The Domain is because it makes us feel like we are being “included” in a members-only club for rich people. I imagine this is the same thrill people get from watching soap operas or any show on the WB.
I am sitting at Cru having a white wine flight, and I really feel like I could go on a naughty spending spree at Sur Le Table and Banana Republic and giggle about it later with Michelle over pate and crostini. It doesn’t help that today I got my car back from the shop, I got my cell phone repaired, and I got a new keyboard installed on my laptop; all free warranty-covered work. But it feels like I bought three brand new expensive products. And that little pleasure center of my brain that likes to shop is stimulated and wants me to shop some more; even though I haven’t spent more than the $11 for these 3 teeny tiny glasses of wine.
Say what you will of unbridled icons of consumerism, but the designers of The Domain did a GREAT job keeping a bunch of the old oak trees so The Domain appears to have been here for years and years. The illusion is superb; all the shops, sidewalks, fountains, and street-art are brand new, but the fully mature, gorgeous trees give the impression of an expensively manicured and well-established plaza from Ye Olden Tymes.
I have decided to move in a different direction with the trails I am building in my backyard. My inspiration is Randy with Austin Green Art and this website: http://www.lesslawn.com/index.html