I have a problem.
No, it's not drugs, I'm not pregnant, my health is in the clear, and I don't gamble. (I've learned that if you cover all the worst case scenarios up front, it delineates the severity of the actual matter at hand.) But I do have a serious addiction that should be addressed: shopping.
Yes, I'm female, so most dudes will think this is pretty standard. I beg to differ. I cannot walk into a store, see something remotely cute and not walk out without owning it. (Which is why it's probably a good thing I don't allow myself to enter spaces where the price tags surpass $200.) It's just who I am. I'm not sure where I get it, because my mom (unless Chico's is involved) and sister aren't plagued with such compulsions. My grandmother, on the other hand, had a wardrobe that could have filled my entire house, so maybe this is all her fault. It probably wouldn't matter much, say, I'd chosen a different career path, I had indispensable income (AKA an infinite trust fund) like some other bloggers, was a skilled thrifter/sewer/vintage shopper like the adorable Jessica Schroeder, or heck, even a friend who was a designer and cut me some sweet deals. Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned apply, and so I must live with my addiction and, thus, dwindling bank account.
I don't say this with pride. I really do envy my many friends who are perfectly capable of walking into a store, seeing something they're crazy about and leaving without it because they "just don't need it." I seem to "need" everything that I find pretty. Well, not true entirely. While many women lust after shoes and purses (SVV will swear I have a huge collection of both; I beg to differ--if you peek into my closet, you'll find compared to the "average" woman, my number of stilettos and handbags is on the very modest side), I tend to be lured over to the dresses. And winter coats. Which would be sensible purchases, sure, if I lived in a normal place with normal seasons. Instead, I live in San Francisco, where it's never quite warm enough to justify a dress (I do it anyway, sacrificially, and freeze my tush off as a result), never quite cold enough to need a heavy coat.
Another facet affected by my shopping addiction has more to do with space than anything. You see, SVV and I live in a WWII house. With all of three meager closets (one of which is the linens closet, another in which SVV's sis Lisa, who commutes from Sac, stores her work clothes...um and my collection of coats, as well). I blame a lot of my problem on a lack of space. If I had ample closet room and not a mere shoebox (which I share* with SVV, I might add), then I could actually see what I had to work with and not always buy something, thinking it was a necessity.
This whole rambling was prompted by a mere stroll down Union Street in the Marina. I was helping my friend Autumn shop for her brother's wedding and we stumbled into Ambiance in the Marina (my new favorite store ever). Given the previous paragraphs, I'm sure you're not the least bit surprised to learn that I walked out with this BCBG number:
As did Autumn. But it's just so freakin' cute and so me, how could I not?! Most of my closet comes from J. Crew, the Limited (when I'm home; they don't have it out here or in NYC), and a tiny, tiny portion from Banana Republic or Anthropologie (when I get a particularly sizable paycheck, it seems). But I adore BCBG and sometimes spring for it when deemed essential. I wore it to dinner with SVV in Half Moon Bay last night and was going to completely try to pass it off as "this ole thing," figuring he wouldn't even notice, considering my entire wardrobe consists of casual-ish dresses, and boys don't pick up on that type of thing, do they? Not more than five seconds after I emerged from the bathroom, he remarked that he hadn't seen that one before. Busted! And I'm a terrible liar, so I confessed. "Good thing you make so much money," he commented. Um, ironically, I should add. I take on about a million assignments more than I can actually handle just to be able to shop, and I still make very average wages (and the way I look at is I don't spend money going out to bars or clubs, I don't have expensive hobbies like dirt bike riding, ahem SVV, that require a lot of equipment, so if shopping's my one big vice, let me have it already!).
Perhaps I would be more on the livin' large side if my publishers would actually pay me. In fact, I'm owed a whopping $25,241 in assignments and expenses from the first half of this year. Reason 943 why being self-employed is frustrating: No one ever seems to want to pay you. (Why is that??? Is it only me who has this problem? Fellow Freelancers, tell me if you're going through this same problem and we can gripe to each other. Why is that a major publication--REAL SIMPLE, I'M LOOKING AT YOU--can manage to get away with not paying you for NINE MONTHS? Seriously, do these editors and payroll people not think I have bills to pay and rent to meet? Ahem, and dresses to buy? Technically, I'm a contracted employee just like anyone who works in their offices. I'd like to see how those in-house would react if they're bi-monthly check turned into bi-annually.)
And since the cat's out of the bag, and SVV already knows about yesterday's recreational activities, I should just 'fess up. Because there was this that I saw the second I walked into the store:
I mean, how could I leave not knowing it would land a good home? That would be fashion homicide, as far as I'm concerned.
I guess the silver lining of all of this is that I only allow myself one credit card with a modest limit, so I can't ever get into too much trouble/debt. But heaven help me and my bank account if I ever do get a lucrative job and up the caliber of stores in which I shop (Marc Jacobs, Alice + Olivia, Christiane Celle, you could all be mine one day!). (And yes, I've read all of the Shopaholic books, and yes, the potential consequences terrify me.) Because while admitting you have a problem is the first step of many, repenting is surely a bit further down the list. And I'm not quite ready to give up my addiction to clothes, not just yet. Call me vain, call me shallow, call me Kristin.
Now someone invite me to a cold weather destination so I can try out my new find!
How about you guys, what's your vice? Does shopping consume your life as much as it does mine? Do you officially think I'm the most vapid human being in the blogosphere?
*Sharing doesn't imply equal proportions, does it?
No, it's not drugs, I'm not pregnant, my health is in the clear, and I don't gamble. (I've learned that if you cover all the worst case scenarios up front, it delineates the severity of the actual matter at hand.) But I do have a serious addiction that should be addressed: shopping.
Yes, I'm female, so most dudes will think this is pretty standard. I beg to differ. I cannot walk into a store, see something remotely cute and not walk out without owning it. (Which is why it's probably a good thing I don't allow myself to enter spaces where the price tags surpass $200.) It's just who I am. I'm not sure where I get it, because my mom (unless Chico's is involved) and sister aren't plagued with such compulsions. My grandmother, on the other hand, had a wardrobe that could have filled my entire house, so maybe this is all her fault. It probably wouldn't matter much, say, I'd chosen a different career path, I had indispensable income (AKA an infinite trust fund) like some other bloggers, was a skilled thrifter/sewer/vintage shopper like the adorable Jessica Schroeder, or heck, even a friend who was a designer and cut me some sweet deals. Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned apply, and so I must live with my addiction and, thus, dwindling bank account.
I don't say this with pride. I really do envy my many friends who are perfectly capable of walking into a store, seeing something they're crazy about and leaving without it because they "just don't need it." I seem to "need" everything that I find pretty. Well, not true entirely. While many women lust after shoes and purses (SVV will swear I have a huge collection of both; I beg to differ--if you peek into my closet, you'll find compared to the "average" woman, my number of stilettos and handbags is on the very modest side), I tend to be lured over to the dresses. And winter coats. Which would be sensible purchases, sure, if I lived in a normal place with normal seasons. Instead, I live in San Francisco, where it's never quite warm enough to justify a dress (I do it anyway, sacrificially, and freeze my tush off as a result), never quite cold enough to need a heavy coat.
Another facet affected by my shopping addiction has more to do with space than anything. You see, SVV and I live in a WWII house. With all of three meager closets (one of which is the linens closet, another in which SVV's sis Lisa, who commutes from Sac, stores her work clothes...um and my collection of coats, as well). I blame a lot of my problem on a lack of space. If I had ample closet room and not a mere shoebox (which I share* with SVV, I might add), then I could actually see what I had to work with and not always buy something, thinking it was a necessity.This whole rambling was prompted by a mere stroll down Union Street in the Marina. I was helping my friend Autumn shop for her brother's wedding and we stumbled into Ambiance in the Marina (my new favorite store ever). Given the previous paragraphs, I'm sure you're not the least bit surprised to learn that I walked out with this BCBG number:
As did Autumn. But it's just so freakin' cute and so me, how could I not?! Most of my closet comes from J. Crew, the Limited (when I'm home; they don't have it out here or in NYC), and a tiny, tiny portion from Banana Republic or Anthropologie (when I get a particularly sizable paycheck, it seems). But I adore BCBG and sometimes spring for it when deemed essential. I wore it to dinner with SVV in Half Moon Bay last night and was going to completely try to pass it off as "this ole thing," figuring he wouldn't even notice, considering my entire wardrobe consists of casual-ish dresses, and boys don't pick up on that type of thing, do they? Not more than five seconds after I emerged from the bathroom, he remarked that he hadn't seen that one before. Busted! And I'm a terrible liar, so I confessed. "Good thing you make so much money," he commented. Um, ironically, I should add. I take on about a million assignments more than I can actually handle just to be able to shop, and I still make very average wages (and the way I look at is I don't spend money going out to bars or clubs, I don't have expensive hobbies like dirt bike riding, ahem SVV, that require a lot of equipment, so if shopping's my one big vice, let me have it already!).Perhaps I would be more on the livin' large side if my publishers would actually pay me. In fact, I'm owed a whopping $25,241 in assignments and expenses from the first half of this year. Reason 943 why being self-employed is frustrating: No one ever seems to want to pay you. (Why is that??? Is it only me who has this problem? Fellow Freelancers, tell me if you're going through this same problem and we can gripe to each other. Why is that a major publication--REAL SIMPLE, I'M LOOKING AT YOU--can manage to get away with not paying you for NINE MONTHS? Seriously, do these editors and payroll people not think I have bills to pay and rent to meet? Ahem, and dresses to buy? Technically, I'm a contracted employee just like anyone who works in their offices. I'd like to see how those in-house would react if they're bi-monthly check turned into bi-annually.)
And since the cat's out of the bag, and SVV already knows about yesterday's recreational activities, I should just 'fess up. Because there was this that I saw the second I walked into the store:
I mean, how could I leave not knowing it would land a good home? That would be fashion homicide, as far as I'm concerned.I guess the silver lining of all of this is that I only allow myself one credit card with a modest limit, so I can't ever get into too much trouble/debt. But heaven help me and my bank account if I ever do get a lucrative job and up the caliber of stores in which I shop (Marc Jacobs, Alice + Olivia, Christiane Celle, you could all be mine one day!). (And yes, I've read all of the Shopaholic books, and yes, the potential consequences terrify me.) Because while admitting you have a problem is the first step of many, repenting is surely a bit further down the list. And I'm not quite ready to give up my addiction to clothes, not just yet. Call me vain, call me shallow, call me Kristin.
Now someone invite me to a cold weather destination so I can try out my new find!
How about you guys, what's your vice? Does shopping consume your life as much as it does mine? Do you officially think I'm the most vapid human being in the blogosphere?
*Sharing doesn't imply equal proportions, does it?
12 comments:
I LOVE THAT COAT. Do they have an identical one I could snap up right away? Um, even though I already have a fairly similar-looking red winter coat?
By the way, you'll totally need a winter coat come November, December, and January -- at least in the city. I practically live in mine during those months. Hey, good excuse to buy another one!
I'm with Holly. ADORING THE RED COAT. I had a red coat once. I loved it so. (Sighs heavily.)
I used to be a big shopping fiend, but had to give it up when I decided to try freelancing. :) I haven't done any real shopping in a year and a half now. How sad.
My mother suffers from the same affliction as you. When I was in high school, I could walk into the Macy's closest to home and ask the sales clerks if they had seen my mother that day. Honestly. I now realize that perhaps this was not a "normal" childhood. And the clerks would leave messages at the house like, "You know that Ellen Tracy suit you looked at? It's going to be on sale next week."
I try to restrain myself because I don't have a trust fund. And the coat and dress? If you had the funds, then of course you had to get them. They are too cute to have been left behind.
Your dress and coat are adorable. You will need a winter coat come November, and you will look so cute!
I also count shopping as one of my vices, and once I got into so much trouble that I had to make some big sacrifices (lifestyle-wise) to pay it down. As long as you're a girl who knows when to say when (because I didn't have that ability), you should be fine.
That coat is darling! So glad you got it! As you can tell I LOVE LOVE LOVE shopping-and yes I too am addicted!
I think everyone knows the answer to this for me.....
toronto. you can wear that amazing coat HERE!
LOVING THE RED COAT. But I love red...
The Okanagan in the Winter? COLD. COME HERE.
Oh, that coat! So freakin' cute! I am a sometimes-shopaholic -- I won't buy clothes for months and months and then all of a sudden I'll buy new stuff every day for a couple weeks. I just can't resist a really good deal!
My other "addiction" is projects. I get completely obsessed with some artsy project or another (watercolor painting, origami, jam-making, etc) and buy a ton of shit for it all at once. And then, um, lose interest three weeks later, having not used half of what I bought. The current obsession is sewing. I am justifying spending the money I have on sewing stuff by saying I'm going to make some of my own clothes. Think it'll happen???
Have you thought about getting one of those portable outdoor sheds? You could tuck it away in the corner of the yard and have your own outdoor walk in closet. I had to get a permanent outdoor shed to house my collection of fabric, clothes, baskets, doll molds etc., so I know whereof you speak
Sometimes I am so impulsive that I need something right now and I get it. But my financial situation (where I actually do get paid on time, just not nearly enough) has trained me to go shopping in stages.
I do a quick walk through where things I "need" (in most cases shoes) jump out at me. I inspect them for a while, try them on and then walk away. A few days later I make another trip to see if they still stick, if they are the same price, but worth it- I get them. If they are a bit too high (price, I'm 5'0- I can go high), I wait. I make a third trip a few days later and if they still jump out at me- I make the plunge. In many cases they are on sale by then. I know it's crazy.
Oh girl, I am such a shop-a-holic too! It drives my husband crazy, but I think he's learned to live with it because I always get a good bargain.
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