Impulse purchases

I forgot how expensive the world is

I went to Target this week. Like an actual Target. And not so someone in five masks and two pairs of gloves could throw an order into my trunk, I WENT INTO THE STORE. It was glorious, until I checked out and remembered impulse purchases. Remember in the before times when you would go to Target for toilet paper and walk out with a new hat, athletic socks, four headbands, six sheet masks, and a pint of ice cream? Yeah.

Then I went to my first hair appointment since December 2019, got my nails done, got a facial, basically all of the old stuff and then went to dinner with friends and I suddenly realized how I’ve saved so much money in the last year.

I am trying to go back into the world taking with me some of the lessons that I learned through this Patricia while also getting rid of some of the terrible habits I’ve picked up. I deleted my Postmates and Uber Eats accounts. I am only drinking at home in emergencies. I am going to try to not watch TV before 6pm (she said, laughing maniacally), I am only ordering things from Amazon that I can’t find within a reasonable distance from my house, I am going to work in a coworking space a couple of times a week.

I am also going to try to stick to an actual shopping list when I go to Target, spend a lot of time hiking and taking long walks on the beach, not check my email on weekends, and keep taking a lot of photography classes and doing fun projects.

I’m going on my first big vacation tomorrow (I’m going to see my grandmother!!) and I plan to spend some of the time I’ll have alone to really reflect on this experience and what I went to get out of it. I love reflecting. It’s my favorite thing.

I know I want to dress up more often and possibly never wear another pair of joggers. I keep telling myself I’ll figure out how to do my hair and makeup but, let’s face it, when a girl spends her 20s in the library there are some skills she’s just never going to pick up. I do want to go on a lot of trips, some of them even with other people, and go out even when my introvert heart really just wants to stay home.

Have you thought about what you’re keeping and what you’re tossing from this experience? I want to know, you’ve probably thought about something that I haven’t.

Watch:

M*A*S*H*- I love MASH. It got me through law school. All of it is on Hulu. It’s still great.

Generation Hustle (HBO Max)- I love grifters so much, and some of these deserve Nobel Prizes.

Trixie Mattel and Katya watch Bling Empire (YouTube)- Don’t watch Bling Empire, just watch TM & K watch it.

Listen:

Pop Fashion (podcast)- Listen to the latest episode and learn about the amazing people who won their microgrant! Except the guy getting an MFA in poetry. I mean, look, if someone makes a vow of poverty just let them live it.

True Crime Obsessed- Sasquatch (podcast)- Somehow Hulu managed to make a boring docuseries about Sasquatch which isn’t really about Sasquatch. You don’t have to watch it but listening to these two recap it is pretty great. Just be warned- I like this podcast but they are two people who have never left New York and are trying too hard to be woke white liberals (which is better than the alternative) so sometimes you just have to roll your eyes and more past something they just said.

In The Heights Soundtrack- The Broadway one, not the one from the new movie which will be terrible. This is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s second best musical (after Bring It On, don’t @ me, these are the facts). Hamilton is a distant third.

Read:

The royals are losing their minds. All of them. (h/t Sascha)

If you’re in California and you want to go outside call me and let’s pick a place.