Shopping for boyfriends is hard. Yeah, they will usually pretend to like anything you buy or make for them, but nobody wants their boyfriend to be secretly disappointed with a gift. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the only one who has a hard time shopping for guys. I do tend to over-think most things. To me, buying a guy clothes is very generic and just screams “You need to learn how to dress!”. It’s true, there are lots of guys out there with a very poor sense of fashion, but I think that’s more endearing than anything else. Besides, I would rather my boyfriend not obsess over what he wears. That would be weird and annoying. I tell him I like the way he looks in green, he wears green until I tell him he looks good in another color. It’s easy and I don’t want to ruin the system. Most guy gifts like cologne and tie clips are too impersonal for a boyfriend. Guys do like electronics, but I’m not sure I’m willing to spend the kind of money it would take to get him something that he would actually like from Best Buy. I have a tendency to pick out presents that I would like too, which isn’t always the best way to go about gift giving. I have given a few pets or video games that I never really intended to let the recipient keep. I also worry about giving a guy a gift that’s too sentimental. If it’s too mushy, I’m afraid he won’t really like it but will feel obligated to use or display whatever it is. Guys can get away with giving a girl something fuzzy or shiny for just about every gift giving occasion, but jewelery and stuffed animals aren’t gonna fly when buying a guy a present. My boyfriend doesn’t wear jewelery or stockpile sentiment. He likes the trumpet and his bicycle. That’s not much to work with.

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I do the majority of my shopping at Wal-Mart, because things are usually cheaper there, and if you need to get things that aren’t grocery items it’s nice to just go to one place and it all out of the way. When ever I go to United and realize that I need to get shampoo or something like that, I can’t bring myself to buy it there because I know I’m spending so much more money and not even getting the product that I would really purchase if I had more of a selection. So, most of the time, just hit up Wal-Mart and get everything out of the way. BUT… today, I went to United. By choice. Because they most certainly do have one thing that Wal-Mart can’t compete with… grocery baggers. At Wal-Mart the cashier is also the bagger, so they just spin that little wheel and you get your own bags off the trolly and then put them in the cart, then you just take the cart outside and put your own groceries in the car and then put the cart in the cart holder and then you can leave. When you go to United, they have people in there whose jobs are to bag the groceries, put them in the cart, then go outside with you and load them into your car. Tonight, it was freeze raining. So you can understand why I went there and how awesome it was to have someone go outside with me and help me out in the cold, and then take the cart away themselves. Thanks, United, for paying someone to take out my groceries.

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Black Friday happens every year and I refuse to be apart of the madness. My cousin is going this weekend and wants me to go but I value my life more than that. Black Friday is a time for good deals,limted stock,tug a wars,fist fights, and possible totaled cars. I think anyone that gets into black friday has some really big guts. When you actually look at the sale ads you notice that they arnt as great as you think, and when you find something that looks good guess what there is again limited stocl so if your not there as soon as that store opens then you can forget about it. What about the drivers trying to get to the stores fast enough that they are not paying attention to the other driver? You have people talking on cell phones, or texting during the traffic of black friday, how stupid can they be but yet we put our lives and cars out on line every year for it. If you pay attentiono the radio that day while you are at home getting your things ready for christmas then you notice that they report more and more traffic accidents and advise to stay away from certain streets because of the traffic issues. When people go out to theis big event they dont consider the fact that there could actually be many issues that cause hardship when they are there.  the end you come home with a possible black eye, totaled car, minnimum amounts of gifts and you are mad the rest of the day.

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I looove Christmas shopping. What I don’t love is keeping secrets. I have the hardest time not telling people what I got them, or giving them their presents early. My sister and I are both really bad at this, so it’s always been our tradition to give each other our gifts as soon as we get to see each other over the holidays. This year, I already have pretty good ideas of what I’m getting everyone, and I want to make sure that everyone is happy, so it’s really hard for me to not ask them and make sure it’s going to be a good gift idea. And, I’m always really scared that I’m going to get something for someone that someone else got them. I hate when ever I get someone a double gift, it makes me sad that they are going to have to return it and get something else to replace one of them. I always try to talk with everyone before hand in the family to make sure and find out what they are getting so there are no duplicates during Christmas. This year, though it’s pretty early, I already know what my brother is getting for his girlfriend and what I should get for him, so I just have to fill in everyone else and we will all be on the same page. Now, I just have to make sure that I can do that for everyone, so we are all good with the entire family. I can’t wait to go shopping!

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Just about any larger purchase these days includes some kind of contract along with it, or a payment plan. I always get really nervous when I have to sign a contract with a big purchase, and I like to have a few days to think about it and go over everything before I commit. I’ve signed several apartment leases since I’ve moved away from my home and out of the dorm, and even when it’s at the same apartment I get nervous and want to go over everything I’m agreeing to before I sing and get stuck with it. When I bought my first lap top, I had saved all the money up for it and just paid for it in one payment. With my newest lap top, I decided that I wanted to do it in payments on a credit card so I could help out my credit score. I had never had a credit card, so when I signed up for it all the contracts and agreements were scary to me, but it was time for me to get one and build on my credit score. Now, I’m in need of a new cell phone. Instead of how it’s always been, where we just get a new cell phone and add on to the contract we’ve had for years, we have to sign up for a whole new contract that’s completely different because our cell phone company, Alltel, was bought out by Verizon. We’ve been going over it, but just getting into that two year contract is still a bit unnerving. Contracts are a part of almost everything now, and it’s just something I’m going to have to get used to.

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So, this year they came out with the new holiday “It Toy”, just like they do every year. This year, it’s a Zhu Zhu. I hadn’t heard of them, either, if you haven’t, so don’t feel bad. It’s little hamster that’s fake, but does all the god stuff that a hamster does with out the bad. So far, they have calculated that over 97,310 of these little critters have been sold, and that they are now impossible to get for Christmas. When I was younger, I remember Nano Babies being the huge thing one year. Then, I can remember everyone wanted a Furbie. Once I got older I still head about these toys causing so much stress, Tickle me Elmo, so on, and every year this happens, and I don’t understand it. All you have to do if you really, really want to get one and can’t find one anywhere is wait a month after Christmas, and they will be all over the place and even cheaper than most paid for them in the first place. I can understand trying really hard to get one, but I can’t understand almost killing yourself over stressing out if you don’t. Just tell you kids that they will get it, but it just can’t be on Christmas morning. I wish people wouldn’t stress out so much over something that is supposed to be a fun thing. Getting and receiving presents is supposed to be the best part of the hoildays, and if you stress out so much it just ruins the fun. So, get them what ever you can, make sure they are happy and have fun and safe, and enjoy the holidays yourself, as well.

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Gander Mountain is one of those stores that remind me of my dad. We can go into Gander Mountain, and he can get lost for hours and hours just looking at stuff. He does this with only a few places, those places have to have either guns, fishing stuff, knives, or home repair stuff. I love going to Gander Mountain because they have so much stuff in there to look at. It’s like the best place to go and look at different guns and one of the only places you can ever find certain ammo at. And their selection of fishing stuff is INSANE. I don’t even know what some of it is for. I like to just go in there with my dad and follow him around the store around Christmas time, because it makes shopping for him really easy with out him even knowing. He can talk about everything in that store, and anything you pick out he can tell you what it is, who made it, what it does, and if it’s good. It’s like he studies those outdoorsman magazines all day, because he knows EVERY thing there is to know about the stuff in there. When I go in there with out him, it’s just not the same trip. My mom and I like to go walk around and look at the girls stuff, and then we try to see who can guess where my dad is and find him the fastest. I can’t wait for a trip here soon, because I need to get him his Christmas present!

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Sometimes I feel like I’m living in an episode of “What Not To Wear”. As the host of course! There are so many strange trends that are popular here in Lubbock that I can’t understand. Now, on a regular day you can catch me in anything from sweat pants because I’m leaving or go to the gym, jeans and a t-shirt when I’m at work, to a dress. But, when I do go somewhere that I am expected to look decent, I do. I absolutely love to get dressed up, and I love to go shopping. I love to go out, and one of the best parts of going out is getting ready with my friends. Girls here in Lubbock think that going out to a club means wearing as little as possible, no matter what your body looks like in it. Which is always a no. Just because something looks good on the rack doesn’t mean it’s going to look good on anyone who wears it. Sometime when I leave the house, I have to wonder what people are thinking. When I was in college, girls would be wearing little Nike athletic shorts with tall fuzzy Ugg boots. This is still a common trend that I see around Lubbock and I don’t understand. Are you cold, or are you warm? Shorts and fuzzy boots? Make up your mind. All the girls must have some kind of meeting together to decide what the next trend is going to be, because they all do these things at the same time. You can go out in Lubbock and you will see that all the college girls are dressed the same way. The mirroring each other thing is worse here than it was in high school, and I just can’t understand it.

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I love to shop just like any other girl, maybe a little bit more. I have always been addicted to buying shoes and dresses mainly, but I love to get anything. I love sunglasses but I have a really hard time keeping track of them. I also love to get jewelry, but I lose things that are small a lot or I lose just one earring and can’t wear them anymore. I love to go to the mall right before a night out and get a new outfit to wear with my friends, or get a new pair of shoes for the night to match what I’m already wearing. But, the one thing that I don’t understand is name brand clothing. Now, I love nice things just like everyone else, and I love things that are made with quality and that I know will last, but I don’t like getting tricked into paying three times the amount something actually costs because it has a specific label on it. I am fine with shopping at any old store, and the only tag that I’m interested in seeing is the price tag. Would my high heels be any more comfortable if they had a designer name on the bottom of them? No. There are some things no one should be cheap about, but most of the time it isn’t going to matter if you paid 20 dollars for a pretty dress versus 120 dollars for that same look at a different store. Some people for some reason really care about this kind of thing, and I just don’t understand. If I look back at all the sunglasses I have lost that cost me 20 bucks or less and say that I spend 100 bucks or more on them, then I’d feel like an idiot. I’ll keep buying what I buy, and if someone has a problem with the brand I am wearing then they don’t need to be standing so close to me that they can tell.

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I have a very powerful weakness for shoes. Shoes can sometimes steal my entire paycheck. I have gotten a lot better and making myself wait before just buying a pair that I like. I used to just go to the mall and buy a pair of new shoes every time. I just love the way heels feel and look and that I can get any color to match exactly the outfit I want them to. It started my freshman year of high school, with my first pair of black stilettos. To this day, they are still my favorite shoes. All you have to do is take care of them, and replace the tips, and you can keep them for years. I have never cared about comfort, just looks when it comes to shoes. I have the worst weakness when it comes to black heels. I have several pairs of black heels, but it seems to make sense that I would only need one. But, I find them and I want them, so I get them. I go through phases where I wear a certain pair for awhile when I need black ones, and then I remember another pair that I have and I decide to wear them. My most recent shoe purchase is a pair of really cute lime green heels. It’s hard to find an outfit that goes well with them, but when I tried them on I had to have them. I’ve worn them twice, so I think they are worth the purchase so far. My closet is overflowing, and I hope my feet never grow!

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