Does anybody read these?

We all have our vices

So, 31 days to let you all figure out who I am and what makes me tick. Surely that includes a few confesions, right?

I'm a bitch before I have coffee. And sometimes I'm still unpleasant after two cups, but that is probably has nothing to do with Juan Valdez.

I love chocolate. With the exception of chocolate-covered bananas, if it is has chocolate I will probably eat it. But I hate bananas.

But, perhaps the most serious problem that I have is that I am addicted to Bath and Body Works.

I went to college in Ohio in the mid-90s. Bath & Body Works was started in the 90s in Ohio by Les Wexner, who owns just about everything. OK, maybe just The Limited Brands. Regardless, he's a billionaire and the person behind Bath & Body Works. And when I started college, they didn't have one on every corner. You had to make a day of it and go spend a fortune in Columbus, purchasing lotions, soaps, shower gels and whatever else you needed.

And, I did it. And once they built one in Athens, where I went to college, and then later moved to a big city, I realized that I always got caught up in their "more is less" promotions. (One soap might be $4, but if you buy 3, they are 3 for $10.)

Anyhow, years and years of my love for all things that smell delicious caught up with me when I moved earlier this year. I found bubble baths, soaps, lotions, that were still in the box delivered to me from their online store. I moved all of these boxes with me and then said, "You are not buying anymore Bath and Body Works until you use what you already have."

I have been making progress, but I am pretty sure I could provide free bath products to dirty people for at least another year without buying anything new. And, true to my plan, I deleted all of their e-mails promising free gifts and savings with my purchases.

Well, that was until I got some housewarming gifts. Apparently, giving smellies for your house from Bath and Body Works makes a nice housewarming gift. They really do, I am being seduced by the aroma of the strawberry scent bug in my downstairs bathroom while I write this.

However, this week, I had to break down and go inside. My new wallflower air freshener needed a refill. It did not, however, need six, but they were only $4 each if you bought six. So, that's what I bought.

I did not buy holiday soaps or candles or sugar scrub, so I still consider this a victory.

Or at least a manageable loophole.

Now, I must go upstairs and take a bubble bath with last year's after-Christmas clearance chocolate peppermint bubble bath.

posted by Laura at 3:49 PM