My confession

Alright. It’s confession time.

I would feel much worse about making this confession if I didn’t know it was a prevalent condition among my fellow women. Perhaps that fact should actually make me feel worse, but at least I’m assured I’m in somewhat good company. After all, Sarah did it, too.

I went binge shopping.

Maybe it’s the fall weather, maybe it was getting my highlights redone, maybe it’s that I was realizing how old my corduroy pants really were, maybe it’s the fact that I don’t have any wedding gifts to buy in the foreseeable future for the first time in what feels like five years. “Maybe it was Memphis… maybe it was southern summer nights… maybe it was you, maybe it was me…”

Okay, since only Ashley probably got that, the musical montage will now end. In any case it doesn’t distract from the fact that I bled my checking account today because I was somehow convinced that I needed the following items:

-A black tweed suit with white patterned stitching.

-A three-quarter green-brown fall blazer-jacket. (Anything that can be described using three hyphens must be worth it.)

-A soft, cream cap-sleeve shell.

-Nice brownish khakis for work.

-Corduroy pants.

-A new pair of “skinny” jeans. (This is loosely defined in women’s vocabulary as a great find based on two factors: (1) for some reason you fit into a size smaller than you expect to and (2) these are the pair of jeans you wear to feel particularly attractive.)

-A burgundy-wine dress described on store’s website as “a beautiful keyhole back dress in our flattering matte jersey fabric with flutter sleeves and empire waist.”

Ladies, what is it that produces this great desire within us to clothe ourselves in the next best – or at least new to us – thing? What is it that makes us feel great about wearing a new dress (especially when we paid full price for it)? I don’t necessarily mean to overanalyze the perfectly natural tendency to want to look our best and even receive a little recognition for our sense of style or even a simple “is that new? It looks nice on you!” (I would know – I hear that at work ALL the time. *rolls eyes*) My question is more along the lines of why do we (I and at least one of my roommates) participate in such materialistic (pun intended) gluttony all at once? I hadn’t even thought of clothes shopping in months, and then, today, out of nowhere – boom. One thing leads to another and I’m suddenly staring triple-digit receipts in the face.

Sarah assures me it’s all okay because we used my Chick-fil-A freebie coupons for dinner and therefore saved money at some point in the day.

I am strangely willing to accept that explanation. After all, Chick-fil-A makes everything better. Who would’ve thought a piece of fried chicken between two fresh-baked buns with two pickle slices could be so magical?

Of course, I’ve never had a really good pickle – at least, not till I went to Pennsylvania a few weeks ago.

*giggle* I need to quit before I say something I will actually regret or will otherwise incriminate myself or an innocent party somewhere. Good night.