However, when I got my first big girl paycheck, I had an epiphany: I HAVE MONEY! For the first time ever I am not digging for dimes in my seat cushions to buy some French fries. I AM RICH. (PostGrad “rich,” which means poor in case any real person was wondering). The days of putting $2.42 in my gas tank to get me to Harris Teeter and back are over! “I Believe I Can Fly” plays as my own personal symphony in my head every time I decide I am going to go buy stuff.
Then, I sit in Suzie, the blue swagger wagon, and reality slaps me square in the face. Point is, I at least appreciate the art of retail therapy, or actually being able to buy the things I need for once, like toilet paper. (I apologize to my sorority for taking the massive rolls of toilet paper from the house every other month throughout my entire college career… and for anyone I subjected to using that sandpaper for your…stuff.).
Anyway, we ate at locally owned Cantina 18 in Cameron Village, where I developed a food baby made of chips and guacamole. I am a sucker for guacamole as it is, but this was like green nectar that angels delicately poured into my mouth. I attacked it. Like, omg so good. Then, Ms. Hottie Jeffries showed me the locally owned treasures in Cameron Village… that for some reason I have been too blind to notice they existed before.
Kannon’s Clothing (for the husband I need but am not even close to finding), Scout and Molly’s (for when you want to look more put together than everyone else), The Art of Style (for when you want to school everyone in Raleigh with your city slicker vibe), Charlotte’s(for when you need to find that perfect present), and Bailey’s (who OMG will clean your jewelry right there in front of you and make it look like you didn’t spill beer all over it for the past four years and never cleaned it).
Considering I have only been to a tailor to patch up my favorite jeans which I split open getting into a cab after Zinda did me in, I have a lot to learn from the Queen of Retail. And, maybe I should spend more than $20 on shoes so they are actually worth repairing when I trip over stuff. Lisa writes articles regularly on IHeartRetail.comand loves helping establish retail locations in Raleigh, so get after her shopaholics!
