Mantra

HGTV is sort of my obsession right now. I turn it on as soon as I get home and I don't turn it off until homework or my beau insists. My absolute favorite shows are Spice Up My Kitchen, Property Virgins, and House Hunters (dude, buy the $150K house with the fugly laminate floor and the floral wallpaper and rip it all out as soon as you finalize the contract!). My mom calls this a dangerous habit because "it'll make you want to redo your whole house." My response to this was, "I think your kitchen needs a retractable vent, we might want to knock down half of the wall between the game room and the study, and wouldn't the guest room look lovely with deep lime walls and tan, orange, and blue accents?"

Rather than indulge these impulses to restyle a living space, I opt instead to shop for personal accessories. Earrings are versatile, necklaces and scarves are cute and interchangeable, and one can never have enough dresses. I used to be a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl, but I rarely wear my school t-shirts anymore and the last time I went to Ross to take advantage of their dress sale, I couldn't find anything because all the dresses looked so similar to the ones I already owned. I think the indomitable Clairee Belcher put it best in Steel Magnolias when she said, "The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize."