It's not really my fault. I blame it on my father. He raised me to believe that it's always better to spend the money on the real quality items, rather than cheaping out for things that may cost less, but won't be as good. He's always had to buy the best of everything. If he's going to get a new frying pan, he'll spend $300 on a top quality frying pan, etc.

So here I am, always spending far more than I can afford, because I have to have the top quality.

Which led me in to Holt Renfrew this afternoon.

See, I was running out of perfume. And I just can't bring myself to buy inexpensive perfume. It's just wrong.

Plus, I love perfume. I love smelling pretty. I love having that distinctive scent, you know the one, the one that says "I buy really expensive French perfume".

It was fun today. There I was, slightly hung-over from opening day frivolity yesterday. The sales lady comes over to help me, and I ask her about this Armani scent that I read about in Vogue. She says "Yes, we have that, it's new." She sprays it on a card for me, but it was sweeter that I expected. She said "It has a sweet top note, but after a bit, it get's a little spicier". I suggested that would be the sandlewood in it. I then checked out all the Hermes perfumes (I love when they give you the coffee beans to smell in between scents). The one I bought last time was this lovely Hermes Mediteranian Garden (well that's the name in English, on the bottle it's in French), with Cedar and White Oleander and Fig. I like it alot, but I was in the mood for something new. I finally settles on Hermes Rouge, at $125 a bottle. She also threw about 4 different testers in the bag, saying "You HAVE to try this one, too". In the end, as I was paying, she said "Can I just tell you, you really know your perfume, and you have really good taste (read: expensive)".

I am, indeed, my father's daughter. Plus, I smell good. Plus, I'm broke.