Retail therapy

Okay, so Blogger is going down in 20 minutes, so I'll have to make this quick.

I've been doing a little retail therapy the last few nights. I'm regressing a bit, and I haven't gone overboard, but still.

Last night, I found Eau Fresh by Jovan at this ebay auction. I was thrilled.

It's a special cologne to me, even though it was an inexpensive drugstore brand. I bought it at Long's in Goleta, with my own money, when I was 16 years old. It was $8.99 I think, a princely sum at that time.

See, I was going to a formal dance at school, the Homecoming dance, my Junior year. I had developed a mad crush on a boy, and had actually asked him to go with me (he was two years older and already out of school). When he said yes, I nearly fainted.

I worked hard to make everything perfect for that night. I went to Operation Petticoat, one of only two formal dress stores in town to buy the dress. Mom came along with her opinion and the checkbook. This was a store run by a stereotypical brash New Yorker with his wife and two grown daughters. The women had no problem barging on in to the dressing room; "how does that fit? Do you need another size? Oh sweetie, that's not your color."

Although I've not ever been known for extreme modesty, this was rather startling for a young girl to deal with. But, all of us knew that Operation Petticoat had the prettiest dresses, and we all lived through the ordeal of being seen by strangers in our underwear to get those dresses.

The dress we settled on was amazing. Royal blue, sleeveless halterneck, with a hem that was long in the back and rose up in the front. It was sexy, yet covered enough that my mother was satisfied. It had almost a shimmer to it. I felt like a movie star, and knew that my date wouldn't be able to resist me. Wishful thinking on my part, but we'll get to that.

$46 it cost. Isn't it funny how I remember that? I remember the price of almost every article of clothing I own. Probably due to the fact I was put on a very strict clothes allowance by the time I was 12. I get a thrill out of getting a bargain.

After the dress, I had to get hose and shoes and new make-up, and perfume, and hair doodads and a shawl. Okay, sure I didn't need them, but at 16, I really believed I did. I bought stockings with a golden shimmer to them, which didn't even last through dinner, got some new Maybelline eyeshadow, and bought the Eau Fresh cologne. Oh yeah, mom bought me a finely crocheted shawl graduating from the same royal blue as my dress into white at the end. It was beautiful. I think she still has it somewhere.

I can't finish this now, Blogger's going down.

Cheers.