Hubby's Trip

Every year, D gets to go on a business/training trip, usually to Downtown Vancouver. If he's lucky enough to find a training course offered in the summer, it means two things for me:
1. If I don't get to go with him, it means bachelor food for me.
2. If I do get to go with him, it means big-time shopping spree for me.

When I Don't Go With D
I missed out on accompanying D this year because I had to teach summer school. D tries to cook food for me prior to his trips, so that I would have leftovers to eat for at least the next two days. Unfortunately this time, I had eaten everything he has made before he left, so I ended up not having any leftovers. I don't cook. In fact, I HATE cooking. I don't mind some baking, but I only do some baking when I'm in the mood or when new neighbours move in and I bake cookies, tarts, or cakes to welcome them to our neighbourhood. As a result, from Monday to Wednesday (summer school ends on Thursdays every week, so I took off after work yesterday to come into Vancouver), I had eaten gong zai mein (instant noodles), Zoodles, Mini Ravioli from a can, a Fudgesicle, pizza and lasagna (take-out order with my neighbours) and Cordon Bleus that I heated up in the toaster oven. Don't pity me -- I actually love instant (spicy) noodles and Chef Boyardee stuff, so it's a guilty pleasure that D isn't here because he will usually make healthy, but delicious, food for me.

I barely used the stove; I microwaved almost everything. I had neither 2-4 servings of fruit nor 3-5 servings of veggies; I had one garden salad on Monday, which came with the pizza and lasagna, and a bit of mustard-flavoured store-brand coleslaw on Tuesday. That was my only healthy intake of the week. The fridge had food, but I just didn't want to make anything. Did I mention that I HATE cooking? I'm so blessed to have a husband who enjoys cooking.

When I Go With D
Because I didn't have to work on Friday, I was able to go shopping while D went to his class. I'm not a shopper. In fact, I'm what people identify as a "guy shopper" because I know what I want, I go directly to that item, I purchase it, and I get out. I don't dilly-dally at the sales rack, I don't shift through endless racks of stuffed shirts, pants, or skirts. I don't know how to bargain shop because I shop for and out of convenience. Once in a blue moon, however, I get in the mood to shop, and even then, I find only one or two items and I buy them only because they were a good buy. I knew I would have time to shop today, so I made sure that I was in the mood for it. If I wasn't, I could just duck into Chapters and browse the books to pass my time.

To give you a taste of how good my shopping mood today was, I'll have you know that I didn't even get a chance to go into Chapters before I had to meet up with D for lunch. In three hours, I bought:

3 men's polo t-shirts (2 for $55, one at $32.50 -- RW & Co.)
1 black flared skirt ($48 -- RW & Co.)
1 oatmeal-coloured short-sleeve sweater blouse with a peekaboo-hole in front($28 -- Plenty)
1 burnt orange camisole tank top ($14.99 sale price -- Mexx)
1 polka-dotted mesh robe dress ($99 -- Mexx)
1 black fitness pants ($54.98 -- New Balance)

Total bill = $372.38!

To top it off, I didn't even buy the things I was looking out for, which are earrings, a red necklace, tan-coloured heels, a black purse, and a pair of black casual pants. Rarely, do I ever spend that much, but I figured that since I only do this once a year, $372.38 is actually pretty good. For some people, this may seem excessive. Or it might be chump change for others. I know girls who can easily spend that much each time they go shopping, which is at least once a week. For me, it's difficult to justify spending so much on clothing, but one day of splurging isn't too bad, is it? D has said, on more than one occasion before, that if I was a major spender on clothes, shoes, accessories, etc., he wouldn't have married me. Well, then, it's a good thing I'm not a shopper.