I Can Walk to the Gap

When I say that out loud it is scary. I can be to a Gap store (among several others) in less than 10 minutes just by moving one foot in front of the other. I can walk to the Gap and a Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, J. Jill, Talbots, The Body Shop, The Apple Store (more on that later), Barnes and Noble (okay, I could already be to a Borders in under 5 minutes, and it didn't seem to bother me this much), and others.

Today is Buy Nothing Day. It started back in the 80's to get us to stop and think about our conspicuous consumption. Remind us that the more we buy the closer we come to destroying the planet, Earth -- you know the place we call home. A woman on NPR today talked about some of the statistics. Things like the average couple spends less than 12 minutes a day talking to one another. That we spend more time shopping each year than playing with our kids. And that most of us having paid off the bills from last year's Christmas presents. She urged listeners to go out to a cafe, talk to people, relax, and have fun. Sounds good to me.

Although that's not what I did. I shuffled my feet over to that new Apple store. They were having a big late night shopping event. There once again was a line outside the door. We waited over half an hour, just to get in and STAND IN ANOTHER LINE!

Of course, along with our cool Apple bag came a roll of wrapping paper (designed by one of their crafty staff), a mouse pad, and a set of magnets. Was it worth it? Probably not. But it was an experience. I think I got a little high off the fumes from the computers.