This week I’ve taken advantage of extreme ends of the shopping spectrum.
On the high end, after much thinking, planning, wanting, wavering, fretting, and stalling, I finally upgraded my stroller. It’s no Bugaboo (I love it, but I just can’t afford it), but it’s still pretty swell. I bought a Bob Revolution stroller at a decent price from an online outfit. What finally made me give in to this lustful craving on my part was discovering that I had not invoiced my old boss for some freelance work I completed earlier this year. Since this was “found” money, I felt justified on blowing it on a total luxury.
The promise with the Bob is that it will handle well over just about any terrain, can be used as a jogger if you wish (I don’t), but has a rotating front wheel that makes it easy to navigate in tight spaces as well. The Bob arrived yesterday, and today I put it through its paces. I rolled over 100-year-old sidewalks with huge cracks, over curbs where sidewalks end, over massive potholes caused by recent gas-line work, off road in part of the park, and into a crowded a cafe.
The Bob performed marvelously. It was the easiest, smoothest ride I can remember having. No bumping into chairs when I couldn’t get my stroller to swivel well. No veering off the sidewalk when I hit a big crack. And no getting stuck in the road when I encountered one of many potholes in my neighborhood. Sheer bliss. In fact, it was so enjoyable that I nearly doubled my usual walk and even ran for part of it. I can’t wait to give this baby a spin in the Smokies next week.
At the other end of the spectrum, this morning at 10:00 a.m. sharp I hit Highland Presbyterian Church for their semi-annual children’s consignment sale. Bargain-palooza! I had but one rule going in, and I cribbed it from Tim Gunn’s A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style: Do not buy on sale something I would not have payed full price for. Those so-called bargains just end up filling up your drawers and not being worn.
I abided by this rule religiously and culled my stack before hitting the checkout line, yet still managed to come home with two matching top and bottom sets, a jacket, two pairs of pants, and a pair of overalls. All were Absorba, Catimini, Baby Gap, or Gymboree, all were very lightly worn, and all were super cute. Total financial outlay-including a toy and some baked goods-$32. To put this into perspective, that’s the same amount I blew on Simon’s cool double-layer Lucky tee and less than what I recently blew on his adorable Noppies jeans or sweater.
I need to do that kind of shopping more often! Much more often. I hear they have a spring sale in March or earlyApril. I’ll be there. And if I can part with the clothes I have stashed at the top of his closet, I may even do some consigning myself.