confessions of a shopaholic?

It's great to be back. It's taken a while to get adjusted back to a normal sleeping cycle and doing work again, but I just love being able to drive in my car, enjoy my pretty neighborhood and friendly neighbors, and be alone in my apartment. And last week I indulged myself in some shopping at Bay Street Mall. Originally I was only supposed to go to Pottery Barn and IKEA to buy some heavy drapes for my freezing apartment; but I allowed myself to look around the shoe and clothing stores, too, usually a no-no for me ("I'm above caring about what I look like"). With retail being in the sorry state it's in, I suddenly felt emboldened to look in every store, even ones that I didn't want to admit to being interested in. I wanted to take advantage of the bargains, of course, but this indulgence was really my twisted reward for being so thrifty over the years, and I acted as if I had a duty and special privilege to spend money since I could and many people couldn't anymore.

I went inside Steve Madden (been wanting a pair of high boots, but waiting out for "the one"), H&M, Victoria's Secret (bra-shopping is really as fun as jean-shopping, but that night I was going to make a good faith effort...oh, just kidding - I'm too tired tonight...), and even Abercrombie & Fitch, which I always vowed I would never support ever since that discrimination lawsuit initiated by its Asian and Latino employees...but that's settled now. And it was a ghost town in there. Wow, this whole retail downturn is for real.

So, what did I buy? I bought a warm long blue cardigan from A&F. It makes me feel like a Mr. Rogers hipster. I was so excited by its halved price that I got over my guilt of shopping there. At Sephora, I bought an eyebrow comb and clear eyebrow gel. Shopping has an interesting effect on me. It pushes me to get over my pride of hiding the fact that I obsess over minute details of how I look and that I don't have to torture myself anymore by ignoring the plethora of tantalizing solutions - like eyebrow gel. "I've been wanting to get this!" I acknowledge. "This is a worthwhile investment in making me feel good about myself...so I'm going to get it, dang it!" (And just so you know, overly exuberant and uncooperative eyebrows do really run in my family, as you can see from this picture of my grandfather whom I recently saw in Taiwan. Here we are consuming ice cream after a huge meal, which we later fed to some fish because we couldn't finish it.)

Browsing at products with such slashed-down prices was also an exercise that confirmed what I already suspected. Trash is trash, no matter how little you're paying for it. I was happy that I did not succumb to buying any crap on this last shopping spree (yes, buying three make-up/clothes stuff is a shopping spree...because don't forget that I bought some curtains that night, too!).

*pat on the back*

But if I can be frank, this experience has taught me that on some occasions, it actually feels nice to be a normal oblivious consumer than the elitist snob who refuses to buy anything, that I've been. It really chokes me up thinking about the cool products I would have missed out on if I continued my ways all the time. Seriously.

happy new year!

I've been traveling the world...actually just Hong Kong and Taiwan for the holidays and am still processing it all. In the meantime, here's a little global-themed cheer for the ladies.

(I couldn't decide which version of this Flight of the Conchords gem to post up but ended up picking this "Three's Company"-ish video. However, I think the live performance in Australia is slightly more fun for the ear. Which do you like better?)