So I've been back up in Sac for a couple days, with no down time to do anything awesome...or even a little cool. But I have several things to confess:
the isht I've bought:
-a baby gift
-a little kid bday gift
-a Christmas gift
-an iPod cord
Chord? Cord.
So I bought something for myself...but I felt like it was necessary...because I really need to be able to listen to my books on tape up here.
HOWEVER
I was SO HAPPY to be purchasing something again when I needed a baby gift that I may have gone a little crazy in the mall. Not like "bought everything" crazy, but more like "lost my mind a little" crazy.
So I was in Bakersfield (for work...and noooo other reason), and the girl who helps me coordinate the college fair up there told me that she is pregnant. Now...we are friends, but we're not FRIENDS friends...I would go to lunch with her, but I wouldn't invite her to my quincenera, you know? And we do share a love of designer denim. But I see her once a year, every year, in late September. The first time we met, she was dating, then dating again the next year, then just engaged the next year, just married last year, and just pregnant this year. They just found out that it's a girl.
So clearly, I felt like baby girl needed a present.
Did I tell you that I really love other people's kids? Not all of them, I guess, but I LOVE my friends' kids. I want to be everyone's Craaaazy Aunt Shannon. And I LOVE to buy things for people I LOVE to love.
Anyway, I was so excited for my once-a-year-friend, and perhaps a little fueled by the fact that I hadn't even walked into a mall for a month, and went to the glorious Bakersfield Town Center.
Not even Towne Centre. Just Town Center.
I also have to tell you that when I'm in gift mode, I have this idea in my head as to what the gift is going to be, and if I can't make that exact gift happen, I'm EXTREMELY disappointed. The recipient would have no idea what I intended, but I do, and when I give it to them, all I can think is "oh man...it would have been so much better if only I'd been able to find ______!", and it ruins it.
So I had this perfect gift in mind, and went to Nordstrom. Oh wait--there isn't one in Bakersfield. There isn't one for HOURS. So I just stood in the mall for a while, and tried to convince myself that I could come up with an equally cute back up gift.
Oh yeah, and when my perfect gift idea gets messed up, I also become really frenetic and buy a bunch of unrelated things for no reason other than the fact that I don't have a perfect gift in mind.
So I decided that I was going to get the new girl some baby jeans. I mean, that's about how deep my friendship with her mom goes, because I see her once a year, so it made sense. Because great gifts have to connect to something bigger!! And they have to be awesome. And they have to make sense.
Sidenote--one time I labored over a gift for my favorite two year old, and ended up (after an hour) with a toy cell phone because he always used to pretend to call me on my cell phone. What a meaningful gift...for a two year old. What the heck. Which two year old sits down and thinks "I mean, gifts are great, but this gift...this gift is something special...because this gift connects to something so much bigger." He probably would have had more fun with a Bumbleball.
Remember those?
Back. So anyway, the jeans present, in my mind, wouldn't be cute or meaningful if they weren't some sort of designer jeans. That's a little embarrassing to admit. In fact, I was embarrassed to myself at the moment I thought that, so I immediately went to Old Navy and found a pair of baby jeans for like $4. Amazing, right? But I (completely seriously) stood in the store for a full 45 minutes, and couldn't make myself buy them. Her mom and I don't connect over ill-fitting Old Navy jeans. We connect over delicious designer jeans that we try to get on sale when we can. So I put the Old Navy jeans back. They weren't very cute anyway.
I also went into Gymboree and some other kid store, but those also were not up to par. I did, though, in each of those stores, frenetically-almost-purchase about ten other things, because I kept thinking "WHAT IF I CAN'T FIND THE PERFECT JEANS WHAT IF I CAN'T FIND THE PERFECT JEANS?" (in caps, for sure)
On a whim, I went into the Gap, in hopes that there would be a Baby Gap in the back. There was not, and that was a mistake. I almost left there with a pair of khakis, because we have to wear them on our Preview Days at work, and my khakis are sick (not in the cool way), some spray scent, juuust because I used to love it in college, and a headband (I have never worn headbands). But after a little internal battle, I left, sans anything for me. Whew.
I finally ended up in Macy's, which was second best, I guess. I found some cute baby Hurley (as designer as kids clothes at Macy's go) jeans...baby skinny jeans...come on...that were what I wanted.
Then I decided that the gift would only be perfect if I got her THREE pairs...one 0-3 mos, one 3-6 and one 6-9 pair. I mean, what good are pseudo-expensive (not really--just expensive for tiiiiny ones. If I could find my size for that price, I would put them on and immediately pee in them.
What??) jeans if the new girl can only wear them for three months?
So, America, here was one of the first compromises I've ever made between a gift and myself and haven't left feeling like a gift failure: I bought one pair of baby jeans and an on sale tank top, and was done with it.
Cheers, cheers. One step on the eternal road to not being a crazed shopper for the rest of my life.
And new mom loved it, and I felt okay about it.
That was a long story with no real purpose. Sorry about that.
Anyway, since then, I've purchased a kid birthday gift (no need to go into that story), and an iPod cord. Chord. Cord. And one small Christmas present. But it was really small...and seasonal...so I had to buy it now.
Oh, by the way, I just gave a PLNU presentation to a group of about 50 with the middle button of my shirt open.
Awesome. And I thought they were all smiling because I was doing a good job.
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