I have a classic case of “Champagne taste on a Lemonade budget”. I mean this figuratively and literally…for I do LOVE champagne. More on that later. For now, lets discuss my love of fine garments. 

My grandmother (my Nunny) says I have always been like this. She was responsible for buying all of my clothes as a child and we would always go shopping at Macy’s. Please remember that I grew up in Baltimore, MD so Macy’s was the HEIGHT of fashion. So began my love of department stores. The escalators, the make-up counter, the thick smell of perfume…so much glamour under one roof.

Nunny says that as soon as we entered the children’s dept I would immediately gravitate to the most expensive rack of clothing (probably GUESS?). I had a patented technique of conveying that I wanted something. Surely I couldn’t come right out and say it, that would be tacky. Instead,  I would gently feel the fabric and sigh significantly (always the actress). I had to give the impression that I LONGED for the item. At which point Nunny would pick up her cue and urge me to “try it on”. At which point I would “give in” and take several outfits to the dressing room.

In theory I was only allowed one outfit but as I hemmed and hawed in front of the mirror in a overly dramatized state of indecision over which to choose my Nunny would always give in and say ” Oh, get them both!”

Ahhh those three magic words, get-them-both. Still to this day it is hard for me to get a buzz off of buying just one item at a time.

This same scenario played out all throughout my childhood. And as I write it really does seem like a game we invented. Sure, we all knew how the game would end but that didn’t make it any less fun to play. 

The grand finale occurred when we would be pulling into her driveway. She would whisperer to me pensively “Leave the bags in the trunk, I don’t want your grandfather to see.” Our decadent shopping trips were our special little secret.

As if he thought we went to the mall every weekend just to eat at Chick Fil-A.