Until You Drop

Hi, my name is Amber, and I'm a shopaholic. (I imagine you fellow shoppers responding with the typical AA type response, but I also imagine most of you non-shopaholics are rolling your eyes and shaking your heads) It is a shameful part of my life, but I am. I have sadly been known to participate in retail therapy. Yes, I have used shopping to make myself feel better. Yes, I know that is sad. I decided I needed some new clothes for work. I know what you are thinking- by "needed" does she actually really mean "wanted"? No, I really did need some new clothes because 90% of what I own is either not appropriate to wear to work, or too big for me. So I decided to head to the Leesburg Outlets because I knew I needed to do some considerable amounts of shopping. Here is my thing when it comes to shopping, I HATE to have to search for a good deal. I am not one of those people who will sift through the sale rack until I find that $5 skirt. I find it annoying and honestly I would rather pay full price than waste the time and energy. I do however LOVE a bargain. This is why I love outlets- everything is on sale, but the stores are still nicely organized so I don't have to do a ton of digging. I can still fully enjoy my shopping experience. Another thing about me and shopping, I probably should not be allowed to do it alone. Now I don't shop like many girls out there. I know what I like and I make decisions quickly. So I will often shop alone to avoid having to spend hours with a friend who will try on everything in the store and make me give my opinion on it all- it takes forever. There are however a few friends who I know I can shop with and I should be forced to always take them along. Reason being that I need someone there to tell me no. If I ever do get married, I feel for the man because he will have to tame the shopping beast. I need someone to tell me to put it down, you don't need that 4th pair of jeans, even if they do only cost $35. I say this because although I do love to shop, I am also a guilty shopper. I think that this is in part due to my time in Kenya. I do my shopping, get all excited about my purchases, and then get in the car and feel like a horrible human being for spending all that money on something as stupid as clothing. I notice that every once in a while I will have an experience that makes me stop and realize how easily I have slipped back into my old habits. Experiences that make me realize how much has changed in the year I have been back. How I used to stop and really think about making a purchase because I had constant visual reminders of how that money could be better spent, but now I just hand over my credit card because I can. Not should, but can. So I came home with my shopping bags (I will not admit here how many that was) and decided I had to give away at least once piece of clothing currently in my closet for every piece I bought. Does this make it better? No. Is this probably just my way of justifying the choices I made today? Most likely. But, at least it's a start.