You Are How You Shop?

All my good friends know that I LOVE shopping. Okay, that was an understatement, even the security guy at my office building knows I have a serious problem. I think every person has his/her secret addiction, be it cigarettes, or alcohol, or food, or drugs. Mine is shopping. It's pretty bad really. I work in the CBD, which means I am 3 minutes away from shopping central. I try to go check out all the new stuff in the shops at lunchtime, and get really cranky if I dont get to do that for a few days.

I have been wanting to go on a shopping spree since the Boxing Day sale started (which was last year if you think about it) because it has been really hectic at work and I am working on some sort of compliance campaign which is both 'important and urgent' which means I have been staying back almost everyday and having sandwich at my desk at lunch and geez wasnt I feeling grumpy. I whinge about this so often that even my manager's greeting to me now goes 'So have you gone shopping eventually?' Everyday I fantasise about all these beautiful clothes, cheap, comes in my size, in every colour, and there are shoes to go with them.

You would be pleased to hear that I finally got to go shopping last Saturday and I think I really havent hit the racks for way too long. I felt very conscious about what went through my mind when I shopped, like how you would taste something you havent eaten for a long time. And I realise how the way a person shops really reflects his/her personality - you reckon?

1. I shop well under stress. Most of my shopping is done during lunchtime when I need to get back to the office in 15 minutes. This is really bad. Last Saturday I spent the first 4 hours being very picky and I 'only' managed to find a top that I think is good enough and cheap enough. I rang Yuting to ask him to come pick me up at 5.30pm and I thought I would just shop a little bit more while waiting for him. You wouldnt believe this - I managed to get a dress (at Jigsaw), a skirt (at Ted Baker) and a pair of suede shoes (at David Jones) in half an hour! I was so efficient - I should shop for my country at wartime.

2. I think I am more special than I really am. I spend a lot of extra money due to the fact that I skip chain stores only because I dont want to wear the same thing with other people. Which proved to be such a pain because there is no real one-off and let's face it, Marc Jocobs is just another Sportsgirl with much more expensive price tags and much less stores. But then I truly believe I am too cool for like, Portmans or Witchery. I think this comes down to low self-esteem. Deep down my ultimate fear is to wear the same thing with a 21 year old graduate who is taller, skinner, has no cellulite and a great tan and when people see me all they could think of is how you can buy clothes but you cant buy youth.

3. I am a pathetic cheap work slave who thinks about work even while shopping. Seriously, everytime when I see some nice tops or skirts or dresses, the first thing I think about is 'Can I wear this at work?' I couldnt get any gypsy/hippie/boho stuff this year because I just cant wear those things to work. I think this is so sad because I work in a big tech team where I am pretty much the only analyst who wears skirts (we do have quite a few girls in the team but they all wear pants) I really dont know who I am trying to impress. I guess like how lunchtime is the highlight of my days, dressing up in the morning is the only thing happy about work?! (Now this is getting depressing)

Anyway, all the self-analysis aside I had a great Saturday afternoon. And I have also re-arranged my wardrobe last night for some possible mix and matches. I am a happy addict - at least before my next craving hits.