No Shopping May: It INDEED Sucks

Remember when I said that NO SHOPPING MAY was gonna suck? I WAS RIGHT.

Why the hell did I decide to do this?! I am seriously suffering, yall. It's bad.

To be perfectly honest, I'm actually truly shocked about how frequent my impulse is to just go BUY THINGS. I'm not saying I'm enjoying this ban - I AM DEFINITELY NOT - but in a way I am kind of glad I'm doing it, if only because now I am so much more aware of my habit (okay, maybe compulsion) to just go kill time at the mall or hop on to a website and spend spend spend. Many times over the past 10 days I have caught myself thinking "I wonder what's new on JCrew.com" or "I can just stop at Bloomingdales on the way home."

(Speaking of Bloomingdales, I want to share what happened last week when I was in one, just days after NO SHOPPING MAY began. I needed to return something, so I stopped at the Beverly Center to run in. I parked, walked in, headed directly to the counter, returned the vest, turned around, and promptly headed to the exit... when out of the corner of my eye I saw the Dolce Vita shoe display. I froze in my tracks between the shoe section and the exit - it was like a scene out of a movie. You know what I finally did? PINCHED MYSELF ON THE ARM TO SNAP OUT OF IT. Yes, I BODILY HARMED MYSELF in order to get myself out of the store. Can't decide if I'm ashamed or proud.)

Also, coincidentally, the blogger behind Anthroholic (one of my favorite daily fashion reads) has ALSO decided on a shopping ban during the month of May, and invited lots of other people to join her as well, so I don't feel SO alone. And I KNOW that I'm saving money - a lot of it! - which no doubt I will probably put to good use, IMMEDIATELY starting June 1st! (My friend Julee commented on the Queen of LA Facebook page asking what I was going to do with the money I saved - maybe make a charitable donation? I told her she was giving me far too much credit and I was probably going to buy myself a fucking iPad when May was over.)

This is what I would like to be doing right this second:

wearing a fancy dress and sassy hat, making pouty lips, and carrying a jillion shopping bags.

So there's my NO SHOPPING MAY update. I'm trying to stay strong. Just keep me away from all malls and the internet. Also, in a few weeks, one of you is going to have to take my credit card away from me. Thank you in advance.