Clothes & books

Yesterday was a good day. I had a $30 gift card to Wet Seal, a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble and about $50 cash, all leftover from Christmas that I needed to spend, so my mom, grandma, boyfriend and I all embarked on a shopping trip to St. Cloud, a town about an hour’s drive from my hometown. Any time we have money to spend on shopping or eating out, we make the 50-mile drive to St. Cloud as it has a cornucopia of shopping and eating opportunities that, sadly, my hometown does not. It’s also fun to get out of my town, if only for a day trip.

The day didn’t get off to a good start. I had some pretty bad stomach cramping which is pretty normal for me but is still not something you want to deal with during a shopping trip. I had some hesitation about even going at all but in the end, I went. From the time we left until about an hour after we arrived, I battled this stomach issue. I was pretty crabby, snapping at my boyfriend for asking questions and was basically regretting coming on the trip. Finally after some walking about the mall (walking seems to help a bit), the stomach pain dulled down to what is normal and easy to deal with for me and I found myself finally having some fun. When my boyfriend is in the right mood (that is to say, not incredibly lazy like he is so often), he is a really fun shopping partner. He actually likes to help me pick out clothes and see me try them on. Even though his style is vastly different from mine.

At Wet Seal, I bought a fuzzy hot pink and white striped sweater that my boyfriend remarked looked like a "Dr. Seuss drawing." Fine by me, I love Dr. Seuss! It had some kind of malfunction so it was only $10 (I couldn’t even find the malfunction, so I was pleased). I also bought a faux leather motorcycle jacket. I’ve wanted one for a long time now and it was on sale so, again, I was very pleased. It’s cropped kind of short with the zipper off-center and silver studs on the shoulders. It sounds strange when I describe it but I love it so. I am very happy with my Wet Seal purchases. I also got a pair of sexy black and white undies, mostly for my boyfriend’s benefit. He picked them out. I still have about five bucks left on the card so I’m thinking I’ll peruse their website and get a piece of jewelry (if I can find one for $5 or under).

Barnes & Noble was another rousing success (as it always is when I go there). Book shopping is one of my favorite things to do. I can spend a long time just reading the spines of every book on every shelf. This time, I printed a list of books I was very interested in buying a couple days ago and brought it with me so I would have a reference. I decided on the following:

• The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (includes five novels + one short story)
• John Dies at the End by David Wong
• Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
• Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

I definitely have a "type" when it comes to what I like to read. I love dark comedy, usually the darker the better, with some kind of supernatural or "something-that-can’t-happen-in-real-life" twist. I’m also partial to apocalyptic stories and stories about quirky, dysfunctional people. I kind of sound like a hipster. I promise I’m not, I’m as vanilla as they come. Sort of. I have a wicked sense of humor, though, and I like to get said humor from books (that’s why I like Chuck P. so much). I know I’m not "well-read" in the sense that I don’t spend my days reading the classics like A Tale of Two Cities. But I do so love to read. I go absolutely bonkers if I’m not in the middle of reading a book. (I’m reading The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins right now as well as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Other Stories).

I’ve gotten off track. We ended our Barnes & Noble trip with a Starbuck’s beverage, what else. So hipster.

I’m going to spend the remainder of my day watching trash TV. LA Ink, to be exact. I don’t really care for reality shows but I love tattoos and and hearing the stories behind them, so if I’m going to watch any reality show, LA Ink is a good one for me to watch. I still don’t have any tattoos of my own, mostly because I’m extremely indecisive and am afraid to get one that I’ll end up hating in a year. So, for right now, I will live vicariously through the people on LA Ink and mentally plan my own tattoos.