Yesterday, we somehow ended up at Neiman Marcus. I was looking for a foundation garment to go under the wedding dress, since it’s quite slinky. I was hoping to find something simple and slip-like, but after scouring Victoria’s Secret, Macy’s and even a brief poke around at the magical but unaffordableAgent Provacateur, I realized that these things come in two flavors: frothy little silk numbers that provide no support, or grandma girdles that only come in L and XL.

So anyway, that’s how I ended up at Neiman Marcus (where I did find something not-too-bad, by Spanx, for the curious). Now, there’s not much within my means at Neiman Marcus, other than makeup and apparently, the occasional girdle. And I’m perfectly fine with that, because I have no desire to spend $1200 on a dress, ever.

But oh! The clothes. I got to examine gorgeous Temperley dresses, check out the cut on a Chanel jacket, and pick up on details from a Galliano coat. It was so delightful and inspiring, and since it’s a department store, it was much less intimidating than walking into a designer boutique.

I had so many ideas from looking at these clothes, and realized that I really wished I’d had a little notebook with me to sketch or jot down all the little interesting couture details. So the next stop was to get a new Moleskine.

And before bed, I jotted down a few ideas I’d had on my sketchpad.

Lately, I’ve been trying to foster my creativity by making sure that I get ideas out of my head. Even if they’re a little crazy and I don’t see them going anywhere right now, you never know where an idea will lead. I’ve been sketching more, keeping lists, and writing things down. The amazing thing is, the more I synthesize everything I see and recognize these creative opportunities, the more inspiration I get from the world around me.

I can’t wait to fill up my new notebook.

(Neiman Marcus ceiling photo by Akkarael on Flickr)