I've decided that another reason that I don't like my birthday is the idea that I'm entitled to forego practicality and do something nice for myself. I'm a teacher, I have to do nice things for myself to postpone the development of my aneurysm, it's the forgoing practicality that is the add on of the birthday.
Well...the prime conditions for the Impulse Monster to come out are sales. Yes, I'm not buying any new clothes this year, but I'm just like a dog you try to train off of an obsession: I switch to another obsession. I've been focusing more on accessories and shoes this year and for my birthday, I allowed myself to procure FOUR pairs of shoes from Anthropologie of all places.
It started with the Cider Press Clogs, by Schuler and Sons:
There's something intriguing about a pair of red shoes, like the fact that I currently don't own a pair. I saw these at the Anthropologie store multiple times and they had just about every size except mine. I'd hope that someone would have maybe bought them online and then returned them to the store, but alas, they always seemed to have every size but mine and every time I was there I made sure to try on all the sizes around what would've been my perceived size in order to make sure that I wasn't hoping for the wrong size to appear. I did this over the span of a month. Since shoes were massively on sale and the red clogs wouldn't be
work appropriate even if I had a chance to get my size, I ended up coming home with two pairs of tan shoes by Schuler and Sons: The Marcia heels and the Gamut Spectators.
I felt odd buying two pairs of tan shoes despite the significant difference in style. I figured that it wouldn't hurt to just try them out. So far I've worn the Gamut specs once to work. My beat up orange loafers are my default and they're quite comfortable. There are times that I've been on the fence on the Marcia shoes. I still have the receipt, but when I try them on, they're cool design and practical quirkiness show me why I opted to keep them in the first place. Anyway, these two were not a birthday purchase. I was looking for shoes for work and even though my job doesn't allow for high heels, it's hard to pass up a pair of practical nude heels.
My birthday rolled around. Since my family lives an hour away, I spend my birthday, largely, by myself. It's not so bad, refer to the
previous post on how I feel about birthdays. Still, I allowed myself to indulge. At this point I felt that the Cider Press Clogs were a lost cause. I was down, and there was a sale on boots. Why not? I thought, I'd always wanted to try out ankle boots but I thought my calves were too big. These were extremely comfortable and the design was very unique. At 30% off I saved about $60, but I also could've saved $150 just by not buying them. Sale logic doesn't make sense, but neither do happiness preferences. These, like my other shoes, I felt I had nothing to lose just by trying them out. Pencils have erasers and purchases have receipts. I had my birthday coupon, so I was kind of on a mission. One thing I did not anticipate was the procurement of a pair of cuffed heels I had seen previously.
When I saw these the first time, I thought they were cool looking, but they were not what I was looking for, I was on a work shoe mission and these were uniquely shaped and not for work purposes, but now I was on a birthday mission and I just had to see what these shoes looked like on my feet. Perhaps sometimes I'm searching for the validation that if a really cool looking pair of shoes looks bad on my feet, I can send my wondering and curiosity elsewhere. This is one of those (un)fortunate situations where the realization that
lots of things look good on me comes into play. It didn't take me long to decide that these were mine. Financial practicality thrown out the door. Birthday coupon used.
I recognize that I can only have one pair of shoes on at a time. I've told myself that I will make more of an effort to wear my many pairs that have been sitting in the closet. I find myself in a position similar to a person taking too many puppies home from the shelter and can't decide which ones should go back. Even worse, procuring a new puppy.
Back in the day when I bought clothes (it feels like it's been that long), there were times when I'd search for the clothing name and when the page would be back up, magically, the clothes would be back in stock - and then I had to act fast before they went out of stock again.
This is why I'm not fond of bad days either, the idea that if I make it through a particularly bad day, I should reward myself. If you search "Cider Press Clogs," you'll observe that they're back in stock...and the size 8 just decreased by one in inventory.
Sometimes I'm not fond of how smart I am and it opens up a side that is not as smart. I applied the method above to a bag on the website that I had been eyeing for a while, the Mini Bucket Bag from Anthropologie. It's just a really awesome bag, but I'm sure I've said that before about a different bag. I've been rather fond of smaller bags as of late. After having made the purchase in the previous paragraph, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to try the search with this bag. I knew it was out of stock so I was madly surprised when it was in stock on the sale site again. I had JUST made a new purchase. (clogs) This bag is under the limit for free shipping by a nickel. Ohhhh my lack of patience...to my relief, it had sold out. Out of site, out of mind.
...but then again, based off of
my usual modus operandi I think I'll just go to the store and have one sent to me from another store. Once sale items are off the sale site, they get reduced again.
Yes, my innocent checking account is taking some massive abuse. I know, I'm a monster.
