The World Is On Sale

I have a new boyfriend. I know, it's unceremonious to announce it on the internet... Sorry mom--hopefully you won't take it personally. Here's a picture of him--he looks a little goofy in his turtleneck sweater, but I think he's perfect.



Yeah, that's right. "He" is actually an "it"--a hot water bottle. It's getting colder and last night was uncomfortable so it was time for a sleeping upgrade. I bought him this afternoon at the ultra posh Turkish home store: MudoConcept--a cross between an upscale Pier 1 Imports and Anthropologie (since they also sell clothes and an entire lifestyle just from the experience of shopping in their store).

I thought my shopping mission would be simple enough, but what should have taken only a few minutes ended up consuming half an hour. The entire universe of Mudo was on sale--30 to 60% off to be exact--and stuffed to the gills with glitzy Turkish women vying for a spot in the check out queue. After standing in line for almost 20 minutes, I experienced more than my share of the winter shopping madness induced by the global financial crisis' absurd sales.

For the most part, I've been successful in resisting the temptation to buy things in Izmir. There have been insane sales on already-cheap clothes, but I have consistently reminded myself that I don't need anything more in my closet.

I've read some of the articles on NY Times about the sales in the States (not to mention the Walmart employee who was trampled to death), and how it's going to take seasons to retrain shoppers to pay full price for things--I think that maybe Turkey is experiencing similar problems. Everything is on sale. Everything. It's kind of nauseating.