It's good for the soul

I have a confession to make. VERY GUILTY.

So, I was reading Vanity Fair magazine a couple of weeks ago, and I turned the page to see an ad for St. John, the famous designer of high-end knits. My heart stood still (thank you, Lorenz Hart!) because there, in front of me, was THE most gorgeous dress. It was just my style, simple yet sparkly, very elegant, very streamlined........just perfect. I went on the website to see more of it but the dress wasn't shown, so I wrote to the information email address. They wrote back & said it was available at Neiman-Marcus and Nordstrom.

This past Tuesday I stopped at Southpoint Mall because I had to go to the Apple store to get my iPod fixed. (Small aside: I was really prepared for the worst, since it's 3 years old and a model not even made by Apple any more, but lo and behold the technician got it reset and running.) While I was there I strolled down to the Nordstrom to see if "my" dress was there. It wasn't, but the saleslady said she knew exactly which dress I was drooling over and, after a few minutes of computer searching, located one in the Atlanta store. Original price: $1500, on sale for a shade under $500. They wouldn't order the dress to come to the Durham store just so I could have a look-see.

So--and here's the confession--I bought it. It's being delivered to the house. I can try it on and if I don't like it I can return it to the Durham store. So as far as an extravagance goes, I'm basically having Visa loan me $500 or so for a couple of weeks, so I can indulge a fantasy and try this creation on. I can't possibly keep it but I can take a few photos! (Assuming it looks good on me, that is.) The whole thing makes me feel just a little wicked, especially since I generally get nervous if the bill for any one article of clothing is over about $75. But oh, the temptation!

Now that my inner splurger has been tapped, I also bought a new Christmas tree. It's 9 feet tall, 65" in diameter, a beautiful blue/green spruce, and--here's the important part--it's PRE-LIT. No more spending hours walking around the tree trying to get the lights perfect. No more runs to the store in the middle of decorating to replace strings of lights that suddenly, inexplicably fail. No more trying to figure out *which* bulb on the string of 150 is the one that failed and made the whole string die. I think I'll be a much happier woman! Plus the tree is bigger, which means more room for more of the beautiful glass ornaments that I love so much. (Take note, Christmas shoppers.)

So between the dress, the tree, and the various on-line purchases this week, I've definitely done my patriotic duty and contributed to jump starting the economy. And it was fun!

Hey, if you're out there, and you're reading, post a comment, OK? No need for novel writing (unlike me), just a quick hello would do.

Happy Thanksgiving weekend--try to stay out of the Wal-Mart stampedes. What a sad commentary, in so many ways, on our culture....a worker? trampled to death? by people waiting at FIVE A.M. to get into a Wal Mart, of all places?