Day 6, Person 6

It was raining again in Austin. It's probably going to rain until Monday. We had this bright idea to go on a shopping spree with my roommate Amber. We went to Marshall's, Forever 21, the Gap, and J. Crew. I'm not usually a fan of F21, but Kaidon and I selected a variety of clothes for Amber. She spent $160 +. We have a project coming up called "Cheap & Chic." We like cheap things but love chic things even more. But ... this is for another post.

Anyway, we drove to HEB later to find a movie for our quiet night in. There's nothing like spending rainy nights with a handful of good friends. Good thing we went last night because I met a girl named Suzanne McDonnell as she was checking out her groceries.

Meet Suzanne McDonnell

School: University of Texas at Austin

Major: Studio Art

Wearing: Forever 21 Dress, Urban Outfitters Shoes, and Anthropologie Bag.

Current Obsession: Girl group from the 60's and 90's, and Western Style

Suzanne is originally from Bedford, TX. If you don’t know where Bedford is, it’s a small suburb near Southlake and Grapevine. She usually tells people she’s from Dallas, but we both know Bedford’s closer to Fort Worth. Funny story. Even though she lives in my neighborhood, she went to Nolan Catholic High School. Apparently, we also shop at the same Tom Thumb. Isn't it weird how two people can live in the same neighborhood and never meet until several years later in a different city - 200 miles away? Based on first impressions, I think she’s really put-together. But ... she begs to differ, modestly claiming that she’s mostly a “jeans-and-t-shirt” type of girl. In particular, she loves Western style things. It’s not every day you hear someone in Austin say that. Or at least … I never do. More interestingly, she loves bears. She even named her Border Collie Bear. In fact, she carries a leather bear wallet with her all the time. I think that’s really cool that people have fascinations for certain animals. I usually see girls wear certain animal pendants around their necks of owls, horses, and you get the point. Do people feel some sort of connection to these animals or something? Anyway, when Suzanne finds spare time, she likes to look at design blogs – ones about furniture and habitat. Oh, and did I mention that she loves to wear the same two rings all the time?

Easy. Casual. Gray.

I think it’s cool how much you can learn from someone in the span of 10 minutes at the local grocery store. I’m a strong believer in fate. There’s a reason for everything, and I think people meet for a reason. I never thought that I would meet someone I have never met before from my hometown. Even if I don’t really know Suzanne, I felt like we somehow shared some special bond … just because we were two girls in the rain from the same city out at the market on a Thursday night.

- Mary