So maybe I told a lie…

I often say I don’t really “do” clothes, and that I dislike shopping and…so forth.

However. I think I’ve found a store that is my new Talbot’s / Nordstrom. See, I used to be able to basically walk into Nordstrom’s blindfolded, grab pretty much anything off any shelf, and go home and be thrilled with whatever I had bought.

These days…eh. Not so much. I still find things I’d love to own/wear, but I love keeping my $500-$800 in my wallet even more. And more and more, at both those stately stores that used to provide me with nothing but temptation, I walk in, wander around, and walk out again without even being slightly tempted.

I thought this meant that I had passed some kind of threshold. That I had ‘matured’ past my irrational shopping phase. That I was somehow ‘above’ such things.

Uh-huh. So when I went back to work, I had to buy clothing. I was very frustrated by my seeming inability to find anything that I felt had the right blend of ‘good enough to wear downtown’ and yet also being something I’d wear, you know, just around.

Then I wandered into Coldwater Creek. And I got a couple shirts from their discount rack (delicious shirts, I might add) and a cute skirt, too.

A couple days ago, I got their latest catalog. I’ve been going through it. FOR TWO DAYS!!!!!

Yes, that’s right. This catalog has provided me with ‘idle moment’ pleasure for two.whole.days.

I have been flipping through this catalog making squealing noises. Oooooh, I just adore those earrings (OK, yes, but I have a well-documented weakness for earrings and can’t wait for Captain Adventure to be old enough not to consider them his personal toys anymore so I can wear them without fear again)! EEEEE! Lookit this dress! Ooooooh, that shirt is hot! OH MY DAWG!! This would look so good with those pants and these pants would look so awesome with this shirt and eeeeeeeeeeek! Shoes! Shoes! What cute little shoes! And I want this little set and SHRIEK! That’s is the coolest little black dress! I could totally wear that Irish Diamond Shawl with it, and it would look awesome!!!!!!!

**sigh**

Apparently, I am actually a girl-type. And I might even have a fashion gene.

And the Spending Money In My Head gene, I definitely have. I calculated it out, and if I were to buy everything I want out of this catalog, I would be spending just north of $8,000.

North. Not south. North.

Ouch.

And if I threw all caution and common sense to the wind, it would be more like $30,000. Seriously. Because I love the handbags (even though I don’t carry one) and the shoes (which is silly because I have very fussy feet and could never just buy a pair of shoes out of a catalog) (I have even had my feet reject the same shoe model from the same manufacturer – one pair was great, the other hit my ex-bunion ‘just wrong’, go figure), and the {swoon} earrings (which I don’t need but…well…this one just has such a frisky little pearl thing on it…!)

Unfortunately, I have literally the day before I got this catalog (curse you, Slow Mail Delivery!) undertaken a fairly major savings goal. I can’t possibly reconcile Wild Eyed Spending on Clothing I Don’t Technically Need.

So I’m just going to sit here and pout until my husband says he was just kidding about wanting to move back into the Bay Area and I can spend the pile I’ve started accumulating toward the downpayment on the McMansion closer to his job.

…pout…

…stupid ‘long-term goals’ and ‘what-we-really-want’ conversations and Bay Area housing costs! Coming between me and those DARLING little sparkly rainbow earrings!...