Life's Luxuries
In these magazines, there are never any "average" looking people. Even the people who are candidly photographed have an heir about them. They just scream -- "I live in a world of luxury."
I've always loved going to Pic N Save and Big Lots. They always seemed to have such nice items for very cheap. I think it has now been replaced by numerous Dollar Stores. However, one time while visiting a sister in law in Palm Springs, I became aware of the demographics differences. My Perris, CA Big Lots and the Palm Springs, CA Big Lots were in contrast two different stores. When I walked into the Big Lots in Palm Springs, I thought I had entered Macy's. The product they offered there for their customers was in contrast to Perris of much higher quality. The irony is that the prices were not much different, but certainly the quality was pristine. Then as we entered into the mall there and visited several stores, I noticed that a lot of the product there seemed to be of higher quality than our mall in Moreno Valley. That's when I first became aware of the economic marketing differences.
In our own "villages" and I'm talking about Perris, CA and Los Banos, CA (I own a house here.) and nearby surrounding shopping choices, you certainly can tell the difference between a WalMart and Target, Bargain Outlet, Safeway, Whole Foods and Trader Joes. But I can assure you that if you go to Palm Springs or Sausalito, what these same stores offer will be far superior than our own village. The differences in the quality of produce alone is crazy.
My lovely cousin treated me to an Opera this past Spring as a gift for my birthday. Prior to the event, we walked around the theatre and looked at the many shops they had to offer in the midst of San Francisco. We entered a chocolatier shop that was spotless and each candy was displayed like a piece of art. She indulged me by buying me some of the displayed candies and yes, the quality was like nothing I had tasted before. Each one just melted in my mouth with melting perfection. (My favorite chocolate is still See's Candies.) There were several artsy boutiques we walked in to -- I actually purchased a very beautiful scarf from one of the shops. I wore it that evening, however, now it is on display on my room divider. It's like a piece of art that brings me joy as I stare at is as soon as I wake up or go to sleep at night. It also is a reminder of the beautiful evening she provided me. Oh we also ate at a small Mexican restaurant where the food was a culinary delight for both of us.
I had never experienced much culture as I was growing up. It wasn't until my 30's that I got to experience fine dining -- initially through a family I married into and then as my career grew, it seemed that I frequented these fine dining experiences as part of networking through employment. One place that I really got attached to eating and now staying at is the Riverside Mission Inn in downtown Riverside. Now that is as classy as I got for the longest time. Now that I've moved to the Bay Area, because of Covid, my companion and I don't venture out too often, but we do indulge in ordering from many of the fine dining restaurants we have in the surrounding area. One area that we often like to go to is Sausalito, CA. It's a lovely little town right near the Golden Gate Bridge and next to the Bay. There is a little shop there that I adore called Image that I love to patron. My companion has spoiled me with several outfits from there. One time we entered a shop as I was going to be attending an event and we were assisted by this lovely lady. She pulled down some beautiful outfits that were exactly my size. When we settled on an outfit, my companion wanted me to get it -- I hadn't even looked at the price tag, but for one pair of pants, a sleeveless blouse and a very artsy suit jacket -- it cost $600. He just said, I'll buy it for you. I'm not used to such indulgence and actually felt guilty leaving that place and thinking what I could have bought at Target with $600. A similar experience happened to me when my boss promoted me from an Administrative Assistant to a Human Resources Manager. He took me to Nordstrom and had his personal stylist find me a dress -- his treat. The dress that was selected was a beautiful tightly knitted fabric that flowed and just felt good to wear. He had me select a pair of shoes to match. Let's just say that outfit was more than my $600 one from Sausalito. I told him, let's just go to JC Penney and find something else. He insisted and bought it for me. I wore that beautiful dress for many years up until the day I retired almost 12 years later. It looked just as new too. It's true about the quality of items that you pay high prices for certainly do last much longer than the ones I am used to purchasing and frequently needing to replace.
There was a time when my perfumes used to cost between $7.00 and $20.00 at the most. Then I was gifted my first bottle of Calvin Klein Escape -- that was the end of my purchasing cheap perfumes. My favorite luxury perfume that I purchase now is Coco Mademoiselle -- I have owned two bottles so far as the price to me is too much for my lifestyle. Now I stay within the $65 - $100 range for my perfumes and I only can tolerate a few scents that won't make me nauseated or sneeze endlessly. However, I do indulge in Victoria Secret and Bath & Body Work fragrances.
Needless to say, I do love owning nice things and am like a parrot to anything sparkling. I own some nice pieces of jewelry, but I don't indulge in much. I do love Brighton and costume jewelry. It's only been recently that now I can afford Michael Kors purses and I only buy them when they are on sale. I love technology and have invested or been gifted in nice technology -- all mine are Apple products.
It's unfortunate, but I have never been much into traveling, so I definitely am not attracted to anything having to do with traveling across the globe. I'm attracted to things from around the world, but I wouldn't go in person to buy it.
My cars have been pretty modest -- with the exception of my Miata that I owned for too short a duration. I drive a Nissan Sentra. I do like to admire nice cars, but I have never really seen myself in a luxurious car. There was a time I desired a black BMW Coupe with black interior -- my Miata was the closest I got to it.
I do love art, music, live theatre and entertainment overall.
BUT WHY DO WE (I) LIKE NICE THINGS?
Believe me I am very aware that anything and everything that I acquire in this world is very temporary. I often think about my children and what things I've acquired that will be left behind for them to deal with. Between my companion and myself, we really do need to downsize so when we both leave this world, my children will not be tasked with a heavy load of stuff to disperse and donate.
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