confession.
i love shopping. or rather, i love getting new clothes. there's something about finding new clothes that feel like me--that match my style and my personality--that makes me happy. so much so that occasionally i indulge in a bit of retail therapy. last fall for instance, i had a particularly bad day one friday. and after breaking down in tears at work (fortunately work is in the home of a woman i consider a friend), i decided i'd splurge and buy the $50 cardigan sweater i'd been wanting. and it helped, even if it didn't solve the problem.
last saturday my parents gave me some money and told me to go buy something new for church. you can imagine my frustration when i exhausted every option at the mall without finding anything. so i made the trek up the freeway to the j.c. penney where i found not one, but two new skirts with shirts to go with them. and then i hit a nordstrom's rack where i found a pair of orange, blue and white plaid ballet slipper shoes. those shoes make me happy every time i look at them--and they make me think of two of my favorite people whose style i love.
i feel kind of bad that i like shopping and new clothes so much. i don't want to support industries that i know use underpaid (and that's probably a gross understatement) labor. and obsession with possessions and acquisition really bothers me. i do keep my taste for shopping in control. saturday was the first time i'd gone shopping (as opposed to running an errand for a specific purpose) in months. and it was the first time i'd spent more than about $20 on clothing since that yucky friday afternoon last november (and even these small purchases have been very few and far between). i also refuse to spend the kind of money on clothing that so many stores in this area ask. those things make me feel a bit better about myself. but still.
and while i'm in confessional mode, i suppose i should get it off my chest that i once confused the mama's and the papa's for the beatles (i know, i know--sacrilege), i detest ketchup (totally unamerican of me), and i occasionally eat at--and enjoy--chain restaurants.
haha amy. i like this post. i won't tell jb that you confused the mama's and the papa's for the beatles...don't worry.
ReplyDeleteI complete agree with you about shopping. I practice retail therapy more often than I should (but I keep it under control for the most part) and I love shopping for clothes-and new clothes. I also feel guilty for the same reasons.
ReplyDeleteNow, I'm just imagining those ballet flats in my head, and I'm a little in love.
ha, ha, ha....Amy, what is it about this guilt thing? Mark pointed out to me today that I shouldn't feel guilty for the blessings I have (just responsible to do good) Last week a couple of "high drama newpapers articles" had me feeling guilty that I lived a life with so many blessings - how messed up is THAT thinking? SO reading this post made me laugh because I have been thinking about this a lot over the last few days. Your shoes sound dang cute -I wish we wore the same size!
ReplyDeleteI love you!
tash
hey meka! nice to see you. it was a pretty silly mistake to make. but considering i was in the infancy of my exposure to music (i probably hadn't listened to even one full beatles album at the time), i think i deserve some slack... and that incident probably compelled my now best friend to begin my beatles instruction. something for which i'll be forever grateful.
ReplyDeletei like mark's advice, tasha. it makes no sense to feel guilty about blessings. and generally i don't. it's more that i feel guilty that i use my excess to indulge myself rather than to help others. and that my indulgences support the mistreatment of others.
now i'm not totally opposed to indulgence. i think some indulgence once in a while is good. but there's got to be a balance and i don't always strike it. and i see the wild excess of people who live in this area and i feel guilty in a collective way for american excess in general.
and sherpa--the shoes are adorable. seeing how i've never actually met you, i suppose i'm not qualified to comment on your style. but they seem to match my idea of you--a bit funky and very fun.
ReplyDeleteHey Am,
ReplyDeleteWho are the two people you look up to for their style choices?
well, these particular shoes reminded me of m.e. and brooke. m.e. cause she has a really cute pair of ballet flats with floral print and i could see her liking these shoes (she also inspired those low-heeled green shoes i got at your house last summer [which i wore with one of my new skirts on sunday]). and brooke cause she loves orange and slightly funky shoes and socks.
ReplyDeletebut there are of course lots of other people i know whose style i like. my sisters being two of them. :)
As a perpetual fan of your wardrobe, I'm excited to see your new skirts and especially those shoes! Orange and blue were my wedding colors.
ReplyDeletei didn't know those were your wedding colors. but i'm not surprised, cause i do know your penchant for orange. i love that you dress your boys in orange. and that they've picked up your love of color (at least it seems they have).
ReplyDeleteand i was thinking of you as i was walking around the store in the shoes, deciding to buy them.
Hi Amy. I hate ketchup/catsup as well. In my opinion, it should only be eaten with fries. And that's if there's no fry sauce. Only.
ReplyDeleteAs for consumerism, I am dealing with this in a very embarrassingly silly way right now. H & M is opening two stores in the area this week and giving out gift certificates to the first 200 customers and I really want to go. But I've decided to try really hard not to consume when possible, especially cheaply made (though really cute and oh so stylish) clothes.
you're much more lenient on the ketchup hate than i am. in my world, it's never okay as a condiment (though i do occasionally use it as an ingredient). and my distaste for ketchup extends to fry sauce. i'm a freaky no-condiments kind of girl.
ReplyDeleteand i know all about that H&M desire. they sell cute stuff. and such good prices. but the problems are still there. and the only solution i've come up with is to try to limit consumption and maximize use of what i already own (or do buy).
even if his wife won't do it, i'm totally telling jb.
ReplyDeleteseriously, you confused the mama's and the papa's with the beatles? what song? and how? i mean one group has women singing in it. this might be one of your all-time most unbelievable cultural lapses. this is what happens when you grow up without tv. you should be the posterchild for an awareness campaign. i'll get right on that.
i swear i've told you this story before. i have no idea what song. and you know perfectly well how. i was 19 and, as i said, had never even heard a full beatles album. ever. it's not unheard of for a usually male group to use the occasional female backup singer. given my utter ignorance, i don't think this is surprising...
ReplyDeleteand just think of how dull life would be if i weren't around to occasionally stun you with my cultural/musical ignorance.
i want to see the shoes. as a great fan of plaid i do commend your taste there.
ReplyDeletei also wish i could spend money on clothes more often...
Was this purchase the outfit I saw you in on Sunday?? Because you looked dang cute!! You do have great taste in clothes. If I ever decide to spend money on clothes again because my body isn't so, well, FAT...I would love your help with shopping.
ReplyDeleteAbbie
that was one of them. and thanks for the compliment! and i like spending other people's money just as much as spending my own--just ask my friend caroline. every time we go shopping she ends up buying more than i do. :)
ReplyDelete