Dancing In The Sand

Havaianas, so much sandal envy

I continue to torture myself by receiving email from each of favorite vendors.  I religiously un-subscribe to things I don't sign up for or hate, but I can't seem to let go of window shopping, or self immolation.  After spending 5 minutes at www.havaianas.com today I felt like I was going to burst into flames. 

My addiction to these flip flops is legendary.  I'm from Hawaii and there is a gene scientifically attributed to Sandal Envy.  One summer I bought 7 pairs.  My daughters and I wear the same size, so they kept disappearing, but somehow I've managed to hang on to 12 pairs. 

Check out their new Superhero collection and remember my birthday is in May.  I wear a size 7.

    

Costco is my new heroin

It used to be that when I was blue or sad or bored or busy or neutral, I would shop.  Now I find myself struggling to find replacement activities to fill in the void of not shopping.  Costco is my new brand of heroin. 

I can go to Costco and browse for hours on the pretense that I'm there buying "food".  I don't cheat and actually buy the banned items, but I do look at them longingly and sometimes even pick up a contraband purse or pair of jeans and stroke them with the same tenderness you might afford a brand new baby.  I'm sick and I know it. 

The "Shopping" Brain, or a big black sinkhole

While waiting for a friend to spend $200.00 on getting her hair colored, (proudly I color my own for about $6.00), I picked up an old copy of Newsweek and found an article entitled "Inside the Shopping Brain", you can find it HERE.  I was fascinted because I didn't know I had two brains, one that shopped and one that didn't.  That explains a lot.  All this time I've been thinking that I was totally responsible for the buying binges, shopping extravaganzas and pitiful savings efforts.  But no, I have two brains and one of them is evil.  Excellent.

The article explains that the "little brain region called the insula" is responsible for my shopaholic-ness. And that paying cash makes me spend less than paying by credit card.  Hell I didn't need a scientist to tell me that.  If I have to part with the little green guys it is always much more painful than whipping out the Amex and ignoring the fact that in reality the dollars add up.  I am one of the few people I know who really do charge things for the miles, and pay off the balance every month. Yes, just like the guys who buy Playboy for the insightful writing. 

Damn insula. Can I get mine cut out?

New eBay item, or junk, junk, junk

The latest item on the chopping block is this Longaberger Spring Basket, found on eBay

What the hell did I buy this for? It has four slots for utensils and napkins, but generally if I'm having a barbecue I just toss the plastic-ware on the counter and call it good.  Did I think Martha Stewart was moving in?