Remember how I told you I was (and am) a recovering shopaholic? I used to go out to the mall and blow $300 each visit. And since I was bored, I’d go to the mall once every week or two weeks to relieve stress and just “browse” which ended up into my wanting items that I didn’t need.

I also shopped at unique boutiques in stores, to buy $150 purses and things I knew I couldn’t buy mass market..

So why am I telling you this? Because I was still a bit of a shopaholic while with Ex because I purchased things on the sly, or I’d find ways to buy things online without him knowing and have it shipped to the hotel and pick it up before he did…

I also wanted to shop a lot more with him. Every time he said “Go ahead, get it” I’d be thrilled that I was given a chance to buy something with him knowing, and I didn’t really evaluate if I wanted it or not.

I thought about this the other day, but if people shop to fill an emotional void in their lives (which I clearly was doing), can it be true and even more remarkable that I haven’t wanted to shop ever since BF came along?

I’m coming clean, folks!

The only purchases I’ve bought in recent weeks is my Passport, pills, and … oh wait, a couple more pairs of sweatpants, but to my defense I threw out my old pairs that were getting quite old and baggy, and the new sweatpants fit perfectly and were on SALE (I’m picky about sweatpants.. they can’t be too thin, too high, too low, not soft enough, etc etc)..

But before, I was really awful.

Spending so much money made me feel good, but as I went through my closet, really evaluating what I had wasted my money on in the past, I started filling up 4-5 boxes of STUFF. Unused clothing, some still with tags, shoes I bought and never wore.. and I want to really do a major overhaul on my closet, go through everyhing and pare it down to a reasonable amount. I really have too many clothes and shoes.

Thinking of hosting a mini get together with my girls in January and I’ll bring my nice stuff that I want to donate, and whatever doesn’t get taken by my friends I’ll donate to charity. I really just want to see them benefit SOMEONE, and it’ll be such a huge load off my chest to get rid of half of my wardrobe.

I have 40 pairs of shoes that I’m keeping (yes… BF thinks I’m nuts), and 2 full racks of tops, half a rack of skirts, half a rack of pants, half a rack of suits, half a rack of dresses and a full rack of coats.

Yup.

(A rack would be maybe 4 feet across?)

Ugh, I need to get rid of my junk!!!

My friend was telling me this the other day..

A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you’re a great guy, but I don’t like you in that way.

This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we’re not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants.

But, we’re going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn’t work out, we’ll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired.

I laughed so hard, I think I snorted a bit of water up my nose.

How true is that!?

I am a huge fan of tea. I really really love the stuff. I don’t drink coffee because the amount of caffeine in there is enough to give me a huge migraine for the day, but tea has just the right amount of kick.

Now, as a fan of tea, I really don’t like drinking tea made from teabags. To me, it’s usually a sign that they threw in other filler leaves with that tea, and it’s been chopped up too fine, it loses its flavour in the bag, and just isn’t as appealing as drinking tea made from loose tea leaves.

I’m really experimental with flavours, and I just happened across this site: Adagio Teas and some of the samplers they have on there sound delicious!!

Here are all of the flavours they have, and the teas even have ratings (on the right-hand side) given by other people who’ve ordered and tried it..

The ones in bold are the ones I’m interested in…

almond 4.2
apple 3.9
apricot 4.5
banana 3.5
blackberry 4.1
blueberry 4.3
caramel 4.2
cherry 4.0
chocolate 4.1
christmas 4.2
cinnamon 4.3
coconut 4.4
cream 4.2
currant 4.2
forest berries 4.3
ginger 3.9
grapefruit 4.3
hibiscus 4.0
lemon 4.0
lime 3.7
mango 4.5
melon 4.0
orange 4.3
oriental spice 4.3
passionfruit 4.4
peach 4.3
plum 4.3
pineapple 3.8
pomegranate 3.6
raspberry 4.3
rum 3.8
strawberry 4.4
tangerine 4.2
valentines 4.4
vanilla 4.4

Can you tell? I’m going for the sweet stuff

They also sell cool looking teapots (incredibly innovative) and other things for the tea lover on your list.

Another really good loose tea to purchase is called “rooibos” said like this “Roy Boss” or “Roy Bosh”.. because it has a nice light flavour and tastes faintly of vanilla.. It’s been my favourite to drink.

From Wikipedia:

Rooibos is becoming more popular in Western countries particularly amongst health-conscious consumers, who appreciate it for its high level of antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), its lack of caffeine and its very low tannin levels (since tannins can affect the metabolism by decreasing absorption of certain nutrients like iron and protein) as opposed to fully oxidized black tea or unoxidized green tea leaves.[citation needed] The unoxidized—green—version of rooibos theoretically contains more intact antioxidants.

Basically it’s good for you

I couldn’t think of a better blog title than that, but I’ve been making notes in my PDA about things I’m seeing and incredulously trying to figure out the logic behind..

Et voila, here’s the list!

Crocs in Winter

We got a crazy amount of snow in Canada (thanks Texas!) and I went back for a bit to kind of walk around and take in the sights, and breathe the smog-filled air again.

It was definitely minus 20 or so, windchill, and huge snow banks (with snow still falling) in effect.

I saw a girl wearing a pair of bright orange Crocs.. with socks. In the snow. With the slush. With the ice. With the salt. Everywhere.

Dude,.. WTF!?!?!?!?!?

Enough said.

Sunglasses Inside

I have NEVER understood this. Unless you have some seriously awful problems with your eyes and you’re sensitive to light, I do NOT see the reason why girls especially, have to wear sunglasses inside.

This one princess got on the subway, and she was decked out in her Juicy Couture, had her headband in, makeup slopped on so thick it looked like a second skin, and UGG boots (which by the way I’m starting to almost think are a good pair of boots)…

And the biggest pair of sunglasses EVER on her face.

I kept staring at her, totally incredulous (the subway lights weren’t bright by any means), and it was clear she was uncomfortable because she knew I was staring at her, and she kept shifting in her seat. I just kept thinking: I hope you’re not wearing them inside just to make a statement that you’re like a celebrity…. but not.