"Don't cry, Shopgirl. Don't cry."

......"I wanted it to be you.  I wanted it to be you so badly."

Oh the days of dial up internet and soft filtered shots of Meg Ryan.  Now although my last 2 weeks haven't been anything remotely close to my favorite scene in You've Got Mail, this little quote keeps popping into my head.  "Don't cry, Shopgirl. DON'T CRY".  For instance, I was sitting in my car outside of a Walmart 2 nights ago, talking to my mother on the phone about a mother/daughter errand day we were going to have.  As we began to iron out the details and I found out that we would have to postpone it ONE DAY (ONE DAY, guys.  I can wait one extra day to get these things done, right? ummm wrong apparently.)  I just lost it.  I was stressed out and the last three "errand days" I had were miserable!  So from one Shopgirl, crying from the driver's seat of her car, watching innocent Walmart customers walk past my car in amazement, to another...here are somethings that I've learned:


1. If you buy something from Forever 21 online, they DO NOT send you a paid return sticker.  If you want to return whatever you bought for whatever reason, they make YOU pay to return it.  EVEN IF you got free shipping. Just think about how much it weights before you buy it off Forever21.com, should you need to return it.  Because you may end up paying up to HALF the price of the item to return it!  BOGUS!

2.  If you get a ticket and the police officer says, "Oh just take a piece of paper up to the Police department and you won't be charged,"....HE'S LYING!!!  APPARANTLY, you are NEVER supposed to just follow the advice of the Police officer.  As the sweet, ever so loving woman who HATES her job at the Police Department front desk told me, "Police aren't supposed to be telling people how to handle tickets, because they're usually wrong."  Who knew?  I was always taught to believe Police men! They're the good guys!!!  Trustworthy and dependable. But NOPE,  I was bombarded with and extra $40 charge that I didn't even know I would have to pay because of some shotty advice.  Had I have known that I was still going to be charged even after I paid to fix my offenses (an old DL address and a burned out headlight) I would have fought the ticket a little more.  BOGUS! (Added note: Police officer's are great, I'm just a little bitter)

3. Walmart is the only store I CAN FIND that sells Loratadine.  It's a 24 hour allergy pill.  But it is clearly the best for its price ($3.25 for a box of 30).  So I bought 5 more boxes added to the box I'm already going through.  (Added note:  I have tried Alavert, Zyrtec, and non-drowsy Benedryl and I still prefer plain old Loratadine, the off-brand Equate kind.  It works for all 24 hours without one single sniffle.  Now, I'm not going to go show off my Loratadine powers by rubbing a cat all over my face, but for everyday indoor/outdoor allergies, I HIGHLY recommend it.)  WOO WOO!

4. Buying a bathing suit in January is a GREAT diet plan.  I bought a brand new bikini two weeks ago in preparation for the sunny Spanish beaches and every meal since then I've thought, "is this counter-bikini or pro-bikini?"  My life is a Speacial K commercial.

5. Amazon.com has MP3 downloadable cds for $4.99.  All you do is download the Amazon MP3 downloader (which takes no time at all), purchase your cd, and then the songs go straight from the MP3 downloader to your iTunes.  I just bought  Speak Now by Taylor Swift and Waking Up by OneRepublic for $10!  Which is great when your a broke college student but don't want to illegally download songs.  Or when your about to go on an expensive trip to ESPANA and are looking for ways to penny pinch! WOO WOO!


6. Nearly every headache, backache, cramping, pick-a-spot-on-the-body pain medicine is the same thing, 500mg of Acetaminophen. I was at the drugstore trying to decide which migraine headache medicine I would take with me to Spain.  See I get headaches ALL THE TIME.  At times they are crippling.  So I wanted to make sure I had some should I need it on the plane or as soon as I arrived.  WELL, I picked up Tension Headache, Migraine, and just plain Excedrine.  AND THEY ALL HAD THE SAME INGREDIENTS.  So, feeling bambooseled by the Rx industry, I started looking at the ingredients of other non-headache related medicines.  Medicines targeted to just "Back relief", "Joint pain", even Midol all had the same ingredients, 500mg of Acetaminophen and 60mg of Caffine.  So instead of buying any variation of Excedrine, Advil, you name it,  I just bought the off-brand 500mg Acetaminophen tablets.  Talk about saving some money! WOO WOO! (Added note: Midol does contain and extra ingredient, 15 mg of Pyrilamine maleate, a diuretic, used to diminish bloating. Other than that, it is the same as any other "aches" medicine. I just wanted the facts to be clearly presented)


7.  Target jeans are THE SMALLEST jeans in the WORLD.  I had to try on a size that was 4 numbers up from my normal size,  6 numbers up if we're talking about a good day!  That's really all I have to say about that.  Next time you're at Target trying on jeans and you get all discouraged because you have to try on a much bigger size, it's not you baby, IT'S THEM!

8. Last but most certainly not least, It's okay to hunker down at home and spend some nice quality time with the fam, doing nothing, 2 weeks before you're trip. You're friends love you.  They will come to you.  And all the errands you need to run can get done while they are at school or at work.  But the moment they walk through that door, you're going to want to be there.  I cannot tell you how many times I've rushed home because it's 2:45 all the sudden and I know Bekah will be home soon.  Or how many times I've stayed on the phone a little longer with my mom just so that we can chit chat.  Or how I've sat through the Proposal, Sweet Home Alabama, or Wild Justice in Poppy's case, for the BILLIONITH time just so I could snuggle up to the fam.


God is good and I adore Him through these lessons,
Bernie Bee-sting Bell