The other day I ventured into Anthropologie with my girlfriend, “just to window shop.”

“I know you are on a strict budget, I won’t let you buy anything, we’ll just look,” my friend assured me.

We wandered around sighing, randomly touching lovely frocks, diaphanous blouses and whimsical tablecloths.

If we passed something particularly fetching and dangerously tantalizing, my friend would immediately say, “that would be so ugly on you!”

If I lingered too long near anything, she would say, “that would be even more hideous on you, don’t even look at it, I think I am going to vomit!”

“Not as much as I’d vomit if I saw you in this!” I’d say, holding up the perfect dress for her.

“Wouldn’t you love to wear this to the garden party I’d have to show off my new tropical painted serving dishes?” I’d ask, holding out a flimsy frock. “And look, here is the apron I’d be wearing as I’d prepare punch and canapes for everyone.”

Every now and then my friend would gasp and hold out the perfect ensemble, “If I won the lottery, I would totally buy this for you!”

“If I won the lottery I’d buy that for me too! And then I’d get something for you too,” I’d answer.

Then I saw it. A delightful little frothy top in the sale section, in my size, reduced from $148.00 to $29.99. So really, it was like a savings of $118.00, right? I tried it on (just to try) and instantly fell in love, as did my friend.

“You have to get it. I’m sorry. I know I was supposed to help, but you have to.”

I had to.

It is the perfect Holly Hobbie gets a job as a secretary blouse. When I brought it home The Sweetie didn’t look convinced, saying, “isn’t it another loose top that looks like a pregnancy top that you have been trying to move away from?” Finally however, he had to admit that it had a Little House on the Prairie meets Librarian kind of charm.

To atone for falling off my thrifty no-shopping wagon, I decided to cook lentils. Lentils with couscous, a lentil loaf and a lentil curry. We have a lot of lentils and they are cheap. It is all about checks and balances. I can be indulgent and frugal at the same time. I can feel guilty and smug all at once. I will wear my Holly Hobbie Librarian shirt, stuff myself with lentils, and be charmingly chic and cheap doing so.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 26th, 2010 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Cooking & Baking, Splurges . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.