I can't be sure, but I bought a bag online the other day, and a denim jacket today, so my self-declared moratorium on buying bags and jackets and shoes may be at an end. Actually, I bought shoes the other day, too. I've been living in a fool's paradise, believing that I was still pure of heart and not buying things I probably don't need. Ah, well.Here's the thing. My name is Chai and I have a Bag Problem. It all started, doctor, in 1977 when I got my first Le Sportsac. I got it at Bloomingdale's; I think it cost about $29.95. You know how these things are. As the years went by, the sportsacs got more and more expensive, but I had to have more, and more. And tote bags. God, I cannot pass up a cheap or free tote bag. I've picked them up at convention booths, and then, of course, there are the Clinique bonus bags. *shiver* Oh, how I love the Clinique bonus bags. And of course, in recent years, the Vera Bradleys. But I still don't have exactly the right bag, y'know what I'm saying? So I ordered this one the other day. (Let it be known that I don't have a particular obsession with expensive bags, except the Veras. Just with the endless pursuit of the right one.) I think I can fit my lunch in it, along with my other crap, and I can put the strap on over a jacket (which is the major Vera drawback, so I don't use that bag, my favorite, in the winter.)
I stopped buying shoes because I got a couple of pairs this past summer, including the PERFECT sneakers at last, and I decided that I was never again walking in any shoes except Merrell shoes because they feel wonderful and are good for my back and so on. But after I walked away some pounds on Saturday, I was thinking that since I'm not actually going anywhere, it would be better to have some lighter weight sneakers, just for doing that. So I picked up some classic Reeboks the other day, like from the 70s, $29.95. Does this even count as violating the shoe moratorium? It's not like I'm even going to wear them out of the house. No other shoes, I promise.
The jacket. Part of my problem, you know, is that I never throw anything out. As a result, I feel as if I have 35 jackets in the basement that I'm not wearing, but probably most of them don't fit or are stained or something else is wrong with them. (And there really aren't 35 of them.) Let me state, however, that I do not own anything with shoulder pads. Not because I don't still have clothes from the 70s in the house -- you know I do -- but because I never owned anything with shoulder pads. I didn't need to, because my mother had the world market on such items cornered. (She was all about the hand-painted sweatshirts with gemstones on them and glitter paint and shoulder pads. She had nice taste, actually, but everyone has lapses.) Anyway, I vowed to purchase no more jackets of any kind until we clean out the basement and I give away what excess is there (even though I donated a few last year.) I certainly don't need a warm winter jacket and I have no intention of getting one for years to come. But it was a nice day today ...
Here's what I wear on a nice autumn or spring day: a hooded, zip-front sweatshirt. It's navy, and it has the logo of K's college on it. Here's what I wear when it's colder but not yet winter: a hooded, lined, zip-front windbreaker. It's navy, and it has the logo of R's college on it. Stylish, I ain't. And everything I wear is either big on me, because I like it that way, or too small because I bought clothes last year after I lost weight and now I've gained it back. And I'm not buying any more clothes because I'm losing again, and when I'm done, well, I've already got stuff to wear. What's a girl to do?
I don't know. But at some point during the day today, I developed an insatiable craving for a denim jacket. A nice, plain, old-fashioned jeans jacket. So I went to Old Navy after school and they had just what I was looking for. Exactly. Fits nice, too. $29.95.
It's a magic number.
I'm going back on the moratorium now. I swear.
