My Love-Hate Relationship

Target. That mistress of (mis)spending one's paycheck. That provider of home decor crack. That lesser of three evils (Walmart's the devil...Kmart, where I once worked, is slightly less evil but stuck in a time warp of sorts...appropriate partnership with Sears). Target. I love it. I hate it. I love to love it and hate to resent myself for the post-shopping trip guilt that ensues.

It's as if I wake up on my living room floor in a haze surrounded by bags of beautiful things and find myself swooning over them...then thrust into a mild depression when I happen upon the receipt. Buzzkill.

Last weekend, the only difference was that several of my purchases were on clearance. "Clearance" is usually one of those words that give most women and a handful of men cause to happy dance. In the aisle. While performing as one's own back-up singer. Holding the clearance object as a mic. This case was no different (strange how the baby is only a tad amused by these public embarrassments these days...old hat, I guess), although I also knew that sometimes a clearance price is a matter of a difference of only a couple of dollars.

Here's a crappy iPhone picture I took of my babies when I got home (clearly too dark for a picture, but I was too excited to care):

Doesn't look like much, I know. The Tupperware-ish container on the upper right is now holding all of our baby food pouches, so it's utilitarian, and the three miniature pails are for the Hadman's birthday cutlery 'n stuff.

Otherwise, the pillow was just over 13 bucks. That's wicked cheap, and for a burst of color on the living room couch, it's worth it. Ole, ombre!

Going with the sunshiney theme (am I looking forward to summer, ya think?), I got two gold items. The weird thing is, I'm usually not a "golden girl" (even our wedding rings are white gold), but the way that it's being done these days, in a brassier way, I'm in love.

Also a small brass type of vase (or something) great for adding a pop of color and depth to a desk or bookcase and containing pens or...hell, anything. It's just so damn cute!

Then there's the brass cage hurricane candleholder. Ohhhh, Lord. I've been eying this for awhile, agonizing over whether or not to buy it, and when I saw the red sticker on it, it clinched the deal.

The white urchin is a glossy Nate Berkus clearance item that isn't even on the Target site anymore -- so I feel like I snagged a deal. It's my first white accessory, so it does stick out a tad, but it won't for long.

So, those are my splurges (among Father's Day cards, a "Super Friends" toy for Hadley's birthday, and a handful of other stuff at other stores). How about you? Is there a store that you have a love-hate relationship with? Do tell!