Trouble with a capital "T..."

Hi, my name is Terry, and I'm a shopaholic.

See, during all those years of financial struggling, I was very frugal. Sure, I splurged on occasion and spent too much money at Starbucks and on concert tickets and the like, but I didn't do a lot of clothing or shoe shopping.... which is SO against my nature. I love clothes. I love shoes. I love shopping. But I couldn't afford regular jaunts to the mall, even with my excellent bargain hunting skills.

But during this past year, since changing to a more lucrative job, I've gone a little crazy. I don't think I've ever bought as many shoes in my life as I have during the past twelve months. And my vast closets are starting to get pretty crowded with all the new clothes. I keep needing to buy more hangers.

Take last weekend. I went out looking for more warm-weather clothing, since I'm off to Hawaii soon (!!). When you live in the cool grey city of love, you don't have a lot of need for warm-weather clothes. I can make a pair of shorts last forever, because I probably wear them ten times a year, tops... and that's usually when I'm traveling outside the city (even to another city in the region). So I NEEDED to pick up some more appropriate island wear. Needed to.

That doesn't explain the really flattering pair of black pants I bought. Or the three long-sleeved kinda-dressy-yet-still-appropriate-for-work tops, either. In fact, I've worn something new to work every day this week, and only a few of these items will work on my vacation.

Which means I need to do some more shopping.

And you know how much that pains me.


(Tangent time! An open note to clothing manufacturers: I'm sure I speak for many chubby girls when I say... sleeveless shirts? No. Nooooo. I don't care how hot it is, I need a little sleevage. You need it too, to keep your dreams -- nightmares, really -- from being haunted by the sight of my full-on armage. So please... knock it off with the sleeveless or nearly-sleeveless shirts. It's not cute. Thank you.)