Friday, August 17, 2007

a cry for help

I realized I had a problem over a year ago. Sure, it was something that my friends were always teasing me about. “Ha, ha. Liz shops too much.” “Liz’s favorite pastime is shopping.” “Did you make any money working for the Crap?” (BTW, the answer to that question is yes because after a while, I was SO over the clothes and I continue to be over them).

Over a year ago, I had shopped the Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual sale. People who know me know that I live for this sale and practically countdown the days until the sale. It is also known as Liz’s Unmentionables Stock Up Sale. So, during one particular VSSAS, I had spent quite a deal of money. I left the items in the shopping bag. And because I have an overabundance of unmentionables from previous Vicky’s sales, I completely forgot about my purchase. In fact, I so forgot about my purchase that I was totally and entirely pleasantly surprised when that shopping bag was discovered as I prepared to move about 3 months after the sale. There were my undies and other items, neatly packed away in tissue just as I had left them.

Clearly, this incident means two things:

  • One, obviously I don’t need new underwear
  • Two, obviously I shop so much that I forget about my purchases.

Ok, so I have a problem. Where does this problem come from? Why do I shop so much, especially for things that I clearly don’t need? Is it because I am female and a love for shopping is considered an inherently female characteristic? Is it because I hated shopping for clothes as a child so I feel that I have some catching up to do? Or maybe it’s because (as my therapist has told me repeatedly) I’m a control freak and somehow shopping makes me feel that I am in control of something….(maybe I haven’t thought this one through)?

So, yesterday, I stayed home sick from work. Following my morning doctor’s appointment, where I was poked and prodded to no end in an effort to find out what was making me ill, I turned on my laptop and did some online shopping. I knew that shopping would make me feel better. In fact, I online shop every time I need to kill some time. Somehow, I ended up on endless.com (a site that my friend Kattie turned me on to and it’s great because they PAY YOU for next day shipping) and proceeded to buy two pairs of shoes. Before you start thinking, oh two pairs of shoes aren’t bad, I should tell you that in the last two weeks I have purchased 5 pairs of shoes—only one pair absolutely needed to be purchased. Here is what I bought:





The brown kitten heels are cute, no? But the leopard print flats? This is the third pair of leopard print flats I’ve purchased (one of which is currently on ebay because I clearly don’t need two pairs of leopard print flats). However, this third pair is pointed toe and I love pointed toe flats.

I’d love to hear from the blog peeps about this. Am I just like any other girl who loves to shop or do I need to check myself into shoppers rehab like stat?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lately I have become very obsessed with buying cookbooks. I'll go into Borders/Barnes and check out the bargain bins, where they have amazingly gorgeous cookbooks for less then $10! They have lots of pictures, which I like in a cookbook :)

I use them...sometimes...not as often as I'd like, mainly because the galley kitchen of my studio on Capitol Hill is not really conducive to cooking gourmet meals!

I don't think you need shopping rehab...I think it is very normal. I also think that the brown kitten heals are adorable!

ELS said...

Shoes.

I came home from work the other day and I saw my wife's curling irons were gone. The bathroom counter was clear. I knew she was gone. Is it business or forever?

I checked the closet. All the shoes were there, the whole back half of the closet.

If the shoes are there, I know it's business and she'll be back.

Relief.

- Æ

Anonymous said...

Being more of a tomgirl myself, I kind of don't really like to shop for clothes so much.

Those shoes are cute, but don't those pointy toed shoes hurt your feet? I've never been able to find any that were comfortable enough to wear all day. If I could wear running shoes all the time, I'd be a happy camper.

AE: that's a funny story about the shoes in the closet. :)

an orange county girl said...

alexis--awww...capitol hill. i miss that neighborhood.

thank you for supporting my shopping habits. i'm happy to hear that i'm not alone.

aesop--GREAT story! BTW--14 days til the BIG day--the start of USC football!! woo hoo!

sunchaser--the pointy toed shoes are fine for me as long as they are flats. however, these leopard print ones just got delivered to my work and they are fugly. they will be going back to endless.com right away.

also, when it comes to shoes, sometimes beauty=pain :)

Anonymous said...

Before I start sermonizing you with stones of wisdom from my glass house, I will say that it's been a hard month for me, reining in my habit of buying anything I want.

I think that part of the fun of shopping is to treasure your purchases and look forward to wearing or using them for the first time. If you no longer feel that thrill of the acquisition and it's just acquisition of the sake of, you might want to think about why you need to acquire more.

(I don't think it's a control issue, as much as an impulse control issue, incidentally)

Pee ess: Thanks for weighing in on the vibrator issue ;o) I giggled.

Beakerz said...

good that you stayed home sick....because you must have a sickness (like most of the women I've come in contact with) with this over-shopping thing.

I mean, you bought underwear, lost em, found them 3 months later and probably can't wait until the next sale, am I right?

You ladies....