is retail therapy just another form of self medication?

yep, i think it is! i used to have a very serious addiction to retail therapy - so much so that with relative ease I would, at least once a year, 'consolidate' my credit card debt...

and i've talked about my addictive tendencies previously, and for those of you who know me, you know that whilst studying to be a therapist i had to do some research on whether addiction was 'psychological' or 'physiological' and i concluded, that it was in fact, probably a bit of both...

so it seems that the incidents of last week were just too much (not gonna recount them here...i'm bored with the same old shit, bored of being consumed by someone who isn't going to turn out to be anyone special in my life, and bored with letting it get me down) and whilst in Melbourne, the slippery slope into retail therapy began...

admittedly, of late i have lost 7kgs, so there is an added incentive (like i really need one...) to shop...of course, almost the entirety of my old wardrobe now fits, so one would think that this would be a sufficient deterrent...but as a good colleague pointed out to me, no point taking my new body out in clothes that are 'no longer in fashion'....kinda made me laugh coz i am not exactly a slave to fashion!

so whilst in Myer looking for that perfect pair of jeans - you know the ones we spend almost our entire life looking for but rarely, if ever, find (or is that just me?), i not only find jeans, but 2 fabulous jackets (one grey and on my 'winter list'), and 2 fabulous winter knits (one a stunning green, and the other a wonderfully rich aubergine)...

so then sunday i go out with a friend on Sunday and she takes me to a designer store in Paddington that she has recently discovered...one silk blouse later (and some $375 i might add) we leave...she is empty handed!

and then today, after an email from one of my favourite shops announcing that their 30% sale starts today, i take myself down there to see if there is anything i fancy (and on sale)...an hour and a half of trying on almost every item of clothing in the store, i emerge with a new pant suit (gorgeous, charcoal grey), skirt (black silk), pants (another grey pair), and 4 gorgeous tops...oh dear...

that not being enough i 'duck' into DJ's thinking i'll take a look a boots, figuring that i have been so incredibly fortunate to find so many things i love in the last few days, that knee length black boots surely can't be too much of a challenge (at this point i must tell you that even though i am not fat, never really have been...i seem to struggle finding boots that do up over my calf muscles - i keep telling myself it's all the walking!)....so i walk through handbags (don't look), past stockings (all on sale, can't be arsed) to shoes, and the first thing i see is the most ADORABLE pair of Kate Spade mary jane's for a mere $650...i pick them up, imagine them on my feet and then admonish myself...

having put them back i make my way through the expensive designers to the less so, but can't help it! go back, take out the iphone and photograph the mary jane's just in case i get an urge for them at a later date...that way i can send the photo to my shoe maker in Hong Kong (they were called Karma - maybe it is karma that i get them?)...

finally as i am almost out of the expensive section i see a pair of the most stunning black knee length boots...

on closer inspection i see that they are a combination of black suede (i love) and black leather....mmmm this could be it!

so i pick them up, not bothering to look at the price, ask the assistant to get me a 37, try them on, do them up (yes, they did up relatively easily...must be the weight loss...) and i take them...in a little over 3 minutes i find and buy them...$500 later, i own a pair of fabulously sexy and glamorous Mimco boots...yay!

so now there are very few 'items' left on my winter shopping list....

mental note to self to not forget that as i am in Brisbane this weekend with a girlfriend who loves to shop and has an agenda which includes shopping all mapped out!

so if i thought i had permanently kicked my 'retail' habit, i was wrong...

maybe instead i can consider myself a recovering retail addict...i kinda like how that sounds! recovering meaning in progress, rather than recovered, past tense!...

nite x