A Year of Anticipation

Yesterday was a much anticipated day in the hearts of women all across the United States - the release of the new IKEA catalog. It's beautiful. Captivating. Shiny. Exhilarating. Bliss.
And yet it's bittersweet. Sweet because the items within its covers are worth hours of entertainment and inspiration. Colors, shapes, textures of all kinds. Not to mention, the costs are minimal. Now many people might scoff at the idea of IKEA because it "may require some assembly" and most of their stuff is made from particle board...translation: it's cheap quality. However, it's cheap monetarily which means that I could $1000 for a quality, name-brand entertainment cabinet that may last me 20 years. A good, solid investment, right? Or I could pay $250 for a similar cabinet from IKEA which lasts 5 years, thus allowing me to change my mind 4 times in 20 years for the same amount of money. Perfect!! If I had the $1000 piece, I couldn't justify getting another one... (ok, tangent finished)
However, the coming of the catologue is also bitter because it makes me want to spend all kinds of money that I don't have for items that I really, truly don't need...no matter how much I try to convince myself otherwise.
So in the midst of watching the olympics, my eyes were further stimulated with visions of vases, couches, bookcases, beds, curtains, silverware, goblets, and yes, entertainment centers.