Retail Therapy Monday

Today’s Attire: Today I’m sporting a long black spaghetti strap cotton maxi dress (Old Navy $10.49), silver textured flats (Payless Shoe source $15) I’m accessorized with small white sapphire stud earrings (Tippr.com $2) and a long Elsa Perreti infinite circle pendant necklace (Tiffany & Co birthday gift from my husband)

Outfit Justification: Maxi dresses are easy. Black is easy. Put the two together easy.  So here’s the deal, I woke up at 8:50 this morning and I have to be at work at 9:00.  Can you say blind panic?  Well that was this morning’s mentality. I was kinda blue most of the weekend.  Whatever was bugging me was stayed with me all weekend. I made several attempts to get out of the house and failed miserably 8 out of 10 times. I managed to make it to my friend’s wedding rehearsal, and at 5:30 on Sunday I managed to finally leave the house to get some kind of retail therapy.  This dress was the result of yesterday’s retail therapy session. The dress was meant for mornings like the one I had today.  And frankly, a black dress can be dressed up or down. It can cover a multitude of sins.  And when it’s new, you know it’s clean and know where the darn thing is…it solved my Monday morning dilemma. Plus I think I look pretty darn good.

Retail Therapy Is A Beautiful Thing:

I have a shopping problem. I might as well put it out there. I shop way too much. My husband is aware of my shopping addiction and so is my financial planner.  My husband is more understanding than my financial planner. Oh well, everyone has some kind of a vice. Mine won’t kill me, but it could make me go completely broke in the end. At least I’ll look fabulous.  That being said, when I’m sad or upset I have a tendency to turn to a couple things.  Listening to music is usually my first choice generally.  Second I turned to singing. Third I try to write. And if the first three options aren’t doing it for me, then it’s off to the mall.

To keep it real, I have battled depression off and on for the last 3 or 4 years. I’ve seen therapists, I’ve been on medication, I’ve tried natural holistic remedies, you name it. I’m doing better now, but it’s something that I will probably battle for the rest of my life. Every now and then I hit a patch that’s kind of rough, this weekend was one such patch. There have been so many changes in my life recently and I’m having trouble adjusting. This includes work, friendship management, figuring out who I am as an artist and sleep deprivation. You add the fact that I’m still recovering from a 2 month long illness followed by gallbladder removal surgery and you have the equation of my depression this past weekend.

After multiple attempts to leave the house over the weekend only to end up not going and wallowing, I finally made it out 5:30pm on Sunday. I know most stores close at 6pm on Sunday, I had to work quickly.  I headed to 3^rd Street Promenade because I figure things would close a bit later. I had a mission.

I try not to shop without having a purpose or mission in mind. This was the plan:

1. Go to White House Black Market to shop their sale

2. Stop at the Gap to find a black maxi dress,

3. Head over to the Apple store to look at their setup at their Genius Bar so I can emulate their display at my work Genius Bar.

4. If I had time I’ll pop by another store for anything interesting.

I did execute the plan effectively. I did everything I set out to do. And I came away with some decent purchases that were super on sale.

The trip was fun and positive. I however, had one incident with a salesgirl that insulted me after I tried on a striped dress that wasn’t as flattering in the stomach area. It wasn’t the salesperson that was assisting me, but another one in the store. I was telling the lady helping me that I loved the shape of the dress, but I didn’t think it was flattering in the stomach area. In comes nosy salesperson. Who looks at me, twists her face in disgust and says to me “You should really stick with basic black”. Did she actually just say that to me? That of course pissed me off. First of all you shouldn’t offer a negative opinion when you’re not working with the customer. Second, that was extremely offensive telling me I should only wear basic black because I’m not friggin size 2 and don’t have abs of steel. Third of all, Eff you stupid size 0 moron, go back to customer service training because you have obviously don’t know anything about it. I made sure she knew I was annoyed by her statement.  I snapped back and said “Basic black is boring, and I’m not boring! Basic black is for those who lack creativity and want to fade into the background. In case you haven’t noticed I have blue hair and I have no intention of fading into anyone’s background”. She scampered away after I said that. I don’t feel bad for getting mad. I know that I don’t have the perfect model size body.  I feel I have a great body for my current circumstances. I know how to dress the body that I have. I have curves that I embrace, and I know tricks to camouflage the curves that I don’t embrace. I don’t need some stupid girl to make me feel self-conscious about not having a flat stomach and still wanting to wear something body hugging and not black.

Despite the not so great experience, I felt like a million bucks after picking up a few items that I absolutely adored. Pieces that will no doubt show up in my blog this week. After shopping I was in better spirits. I picked up something fabulous to make me feel fabulous. I call that mission accomplished.