Hi, my name is Jill, and I'm addicted to Athropologie

T and I just got back from a short trip to visit our families in Pennsylvania, where I reveled in the velvety warmth of what summer is supposed to feel like. It's still gloomy and cloudy along the coast in San Diego, which makes me miss the humidity back east even more. Soon enough I'll post some photos and details from our trip, but in the meantime, I'm going to talk about addiction. Specifically, shopping addiction.

A couple of months ago, I discovered Anthropologie blogs. The amount of time and money I have spent at Anthropologie stores since then is directly proportional to the amount of times I check these blogs daily. That is to say, substantial.

I've loved Athropologie for years. Even when I was a poverty-stricken college graduate serving an unpaid internship in Philadelphia in 2004, I would roam the sale racks hoping for something within my price range of zero dollars. I still have and wear a couple of shirts and a skirt that I picked up for a little bit more than $0 that summer -- Anthro clothing withstands the years. As I started making more money, working my way up through the ranks of intern to temp to professional, I allowed myself the occasional splurge at Anthro, still usually off the sale racks. When I lived in PA, the closest Anthro was a good hour away, so my trips were few and far between, which, I realize now, was kind of a blessing. Eventually I unsubscribed from the store's beautiful catalogs, because I didn't need the temptation. I very rarely ordered anything online, because the shipping fees were exorbitant.

Then I moved to San Diego. And I discovered three Anthropologie stores within 25 minutes of my house. When I got my job out here, the first thing I did was go to Anthro and drop a pretty penny on clothing (all sale items, I'll have you know). Still, my visits were limited to every other month or so. Until I found the fashion blogs.

See, on these blogs, the lovely bloggers scope out the new arrivals and write reviews, and they also alert their readers any time there's a sale at the store, which, since the middle of May, has been almost weekly. And remember what I said about only buying sale items? Well, that's still mostly true, except now I'm buying a lot more of them, because I know when they're available. And thanks to these bloggers, I know which ones are prettiest and most obsession-worthy.

I've tried to keep myself restrained to sale items that I really, really want and can't stop thinking about. But I've slipped a little; I've bought a couple of things full-price because they were getting low on stock, and I've bought another couple of items that were cute just because they were on sale, not because they were on my wish list. So... I've got a pretty stocked closet right now. And I think it's okay, but I also think I've hit my limit. I think I have managed to acquire most of the items I was drooling over, so now might be a good time to cut myself off. So, it's time for a shopping moratorium. It's time to have fun with what's already in my closet. It's time to save my damn money, already.

I don't think I can quit the blogs, though. I like looking at the pretty clothes! But of course, this might be kind of like staring at a dessert case when you're on a diet, so perhaps I'm a little masochistic? 

In closing, I present to you my Anthropologie outfit of the day, which I am totally in love with. Yes, I took this photo in the bathroom at work. Don't judge me.

 
And in post-closing, I want to direct you to two giveaways happening right now on two of my favorite Anthro blogs. If I post about them here, I get an extra entry for a gift card!

Roxy at Effortless Anthropologie, a blog that's pretty much the mother ship for all things Anthro, is giving away a $250 gift card. Yes, that much!

And Kramey at Kramey Martin is giving away a $25 gift card because she is awesome. Go look at these blogs and see what I mean about pretty things!