Shopping Woes...

So we finally have some money, and we can't seem to find anything to spend it on.

Inspired by my mom's recent success in wardrobe enhancement, I had Amit drive me over to the Atria Mall, where I glanced through the largely hideous and mostly overpriced foreign shops. The problem with anything foreign is that there's a very high (around 30%) luxury tax on imported goods. So not only are you paying the steep 100% retail markup, you're paying an extra 30% on top of that. Needless to say, I was not thrilled about paying upwards of $60 for a cheaply made pair of trousers of questionable material. And why oh why must everything be festooned with ruffly flounces and extra pockets and - worst of all in my book - enormous shiny buttons?? Whatever happened to the nice, classic, simple feminine silhouette?

Fortunately, these days, there are lots of lovely local designers coming out with well-made pieces in very nice fabrics. I stopped in a few of these stores instead and liked what I saw. Unfortunately for me, the clothes were large and small in all the wrong places for my shape. For instance, I assume that Indian girls are generally not as broad-shouldered as those of Northern European descent. And fashions today all completely hide the waistline - the one place I am actually lean. After a dozen strikeouts, I gave up.

Well, if you want something done right, maybe you do need to do it yourself. I am determined to find some nice fabrics, in pretty soft shades that will look nice on pigment-challenged girls, and have a tailor make something tailored for a feminine figure. As usual, I'm relying on Tanya to help me out!

Meanwhile, Amit, who desperately needs a new phone (the Motorola Razor, by the way, wasn't such a great buy to begin with) is wading unsuccessfully through the neck-deep swamp of the current cell phone market. After a week of visiting electronics stores and sorting through unlimited combinations of features and brands, he finally decided on a simple Nokia model. We figured at least we'd cross one badly needed shopping trip off our list. Sadly, they were sold out of everything except hot pink.

Just not our day, I guess!