Fake Money

I think I might be the world's biggest fan of gift cards.

Up until today, I thought they were a total cop-out when you didn't want to think too hard about a gift in your price range. (yeah, I thought that last Christmas when I was purchasing them too... only then it wasn't not wanting to think, it was a last resort.)

Now? Now I think they are pure genius!

I had 2 gift cards from co-workers (I suppose I should specify that they were both from management-level co-workers and not from anyone I may or may not have been "favoring") (yes, I'm still pissed) (yes, I'm getting over it) (no, I'm not totally over it) and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.

The $25 at Target? Easy - clothes! I desperately need some new work pants, and I figured even if I found an "expensive" $30 pair, then I'd only have to pay $5 out of pocket. Well, wouldn't you know, I hit a sale! With my $25 gift card, I bought 2 sweaters (one yellow, one orange... don't ask what's up with my color palette!), a pair of pants (really nice gray ones that are a little too long, but what else is new?), and a black & white twill (is that the word I want? maybe I want tweed. well, if I knew that much about fashion, I wouldn't be shopping at Target!) skirt that's going to look sweet when I buy a white oxford shirt to go with it. So what if I only got one pair of pants? Go where the sales take you! Oh yes - the best part is that I still have money left on the card (you know, enough for a pack of gum).

The $25 at Best Buy was earmarked for a video game. Scott bought me a Nintendo DS for Christmas with two games - both of the educational variety. And while I enjoy doing speed arithmetic and have learned to love Sudoku, I wanted some good ol' Nintendo brain-mushing to undo those great mental exercises I've been doing for the past 2 weeks. So I bought myself a two-in-one Incredibles/Nemo game. I really want a Mario Brothers title... and a Legend of Zelda... and one of those 5-arcade-games-in-one games... but for now I'm happy with my little collection.

And today I did all that without even taking my debit card out of my wallet. How fabulous!