You know, I fogot to mention yesterday that it snowed! :) And when I woke up this morning, as I opened the blinds, I saw snow sprinkled all over the ground. It was just beautiful, a new season, a new change.
But the snow melted about an hour later, by the time it was time for me to walk to class it only looked like it had rained.
It's actually quite surprising right now because the ground lays barren without any snow whatsoever this late into fall time in Alaska. This is quite unusual. We're having a long fall by Alaska's standard. Usually fall lasts abour 2-3 weeks, but now it's going on it's 5th week, which is amazing! (And I LOVE Alaska's Fall time, it is a b s o l u t e l y breathtaking!).
So, I went shopping today, I actually went and looked at stuff yesterday and saved it for today. Bentley Mall, the mall in Fairbanks, has got to be the smallest mall in the world. It's about as big as safe way, if not smaller. 10-15 stores in it. I mean, really, this mall is really smallll. I grew up in California where it'll take you almost a full day to get through one mall, but over here, you'll be able to walk back and forth 5 times in fifteen minutes. I was kinda shocked when I moved here to find that this was "the" mall. It was just too funny to me. But nonetheless, I am quite quaint with our litte shopping mall. Anyway, I don't shop very often, infact, maybe twice or three times a year, but when I shop, I shop. :) I'm just your average girl, I like me some shoppin'. ;)
So, I didn't have much of a budget, but I did find some very cute, and comforable clothes that I really liked. To me, that is a rare find when something is both cute and comfortable, especially pants. So, I'm one of those inbetween people, I am a size 4 when it comes to pants, and most of the time stores will only carry either a size 5 which is slightly too big on me, looks baggy, and then they will also have a size 3, which is too small on me. Only on rare occasions do they actually carry a size 4, which is very rare. I've only seen that happen a handful of times. So today, I found a perfect pair of pants! They were kinda spendy (less than $50 bucks, which in reality is not bad at all for a great pair of jeans), but they had it all, the looks, the comfort, and the fit! Yeah! And I bought a shirt and a jacket. I'm a jeans and t-shirt type of gal. :) So yeah, great finds, BUT, it turned out that I overestimated what I had in the bank and I had to choose between the three...I hate choosing. Especially when I find super rare finds that score high in the comfort and looks category. Bummer. Then I'm just stuck debating which is better, which I really need at the moment, what I can do without, and maybe what I can buy later, if it's not already too late and sold out. But you see, dividends are coming out soon (actually they came out today) in Alaska. And when people get their dividends, let's just say that things run out pretty gosh darn quick around here. And right now we still have some leigh way, but by the time saturday rolls around, people will be running around like crazy, shopping and stocking up on stuff. It's a busy sales season for us Alaskans when those dividends are hashed out. So, with that in mind, and with all of the great finds I found starring at me in the face today, I made the bold decision of purchasing all three items. And you know what? I'm glad I did, my instinct was to buy them because I remember somebody telling me once that "if you see something you really like, and you see yourself wearing it all the time, get it while you can, because by the time you come around to actually buying it later, it will be gone, and you'll probably never see it again, and then you'll just simply regret not buying it." ...Now hold on, I know this kinda even sounds like a crazy formula for shopaholics and debt, but it can be a wise thing if you use it with caution. You gotta know how to handle it. I must admit that I used to be kinda care free with my shopping, but I've learned to handle my money well in the past two years (thanks to my husband and to the fact that I have to choose between food and clothes most of the time, which I choose food). You can only buy so much when you're starting out on your own like we have, and while being a college student. So yeah. I don't shop much. But when I do, I take time out to shop, drive around to different stores, pick the best deals, and then buy them. I am what you might call a quote unquote "smart shopper," I must admit that I learned this secret trade from my sister in law. She is the best smart shopper I have ever met in my life! This woman devotes entire days to shopping when she shops and she goes from sunrise to sunset, literally. This lady is a madddd shopper (meaning good). She will drive around everywhere, find the best bargains, put those items on hold, go to other stores, find great or even better deals, and at the end of the day she comes back to those stores and buys what she put on hold if she still wanted it, unless she's found something better, and she saves a bunch of money doing it! She buys really good quality stuff at a below bargain price. She just knows how to do it, she has an eye for it, and she knows all the best spots. She is what I would call a devoted shopper. Once a couple of years ago, I took the liberty of going shopping with her...tell you what! At the end of the day...I was exhausted!!! But I never found greater deals and bargains in my life! It was awesome! She is the one who offered the advice to me by the way.
Well anyway,
Today, I trusted my instints to buy something that I didn't really have the $$ for, but I did have some spare change at home, so I'm actually all good, I didn't overspend like I thought I did, I wasn't worried cause I knew I had it in the back of my mind). Yeah..I don't think I would have bought it if I didn't have anything in the bank at all, I'm not a fan of debt, but I do very much dislike the feeling of letting go of something that I truly and really like. But I guess that's pretty healthy too. Ya know what I mean? If I can say no in those type of cirumstances, that means that I will never have to write debt a certificate of divorce, cause I'll never be married to it. At least I hope I won't be. Have been okay so far, but I'm pretty sure everybody gets into some type of debt in their life. So we'll see what this life's journey will bring my way. But I'm pretty keen on not having any. :) That's probably why I don't actually shop that much. I try to make it a point to stay away from stores when I don't have the $$ to buy anything. Because I too quickly get attached to things if I see them, I guess this is part of the shopper complex, and it's a fine line to walk on between being debt free and not. The question is, will I be okay if I live another day, another week, without it? And I find that if I want to buy something really bad, and I take the liberty to put it on hold to buy for the next day instead of in that moment, or just come back to look at it later, the feeling of wanting whatever that thing is flees, simply fades away, and the desire to want it no longer rules over me or floats around in my mind. Most times, It's just a tasty thing at them moment, a lure, a temptation of a sort, you know?
Brian laughs at me everytime I tell him that, "this is it, this is that one thing, it's rare that I find things that fit me and that I actually like, If I don't buy it now, it'll be too late." And his response while chuckling is, "you'll always find something you like into every store you go to." And this is very true. (That's why I make it a point to stay away from the clothing sections of certain stores when I shop for food or for other needed items). Eyes are a wandering thing, they never satisfy the soul. The more we see, the more we want, that is my conclusion. And the key is to find that happy balance of being satistfied with what you've got and knowing how to handle things in the right way when they come atcha.
Well ladies and gents,
This concludes my epic journey of the day,
and to you I wish a good night.
-Your gut instinct following Fellow Chocolatier
P.S., What are some of your stories of following your instincts? Please do let me know. :)
P.P.S, a thought occured, I was talking about dividends and how some people in Alaska got them today which will cause a huge shopping spree on the weekend, but I forgot to mention that others will recieve theirs in late October. I am with the latter. So that's why I am still the broke college student today and I decided to buy the stuff I bought today because I knew that it defintiely would not have been around by the time I actually recieved my divdend. Anyway...don't know if that was very necessary to say or not. lol. Thought I'd point of a little left out detail....??
-Goodnight!
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