There was a funny episode of South Park the other night in which the economic crisis was parodied in a send-up of the Easter story—the economy equaled God, roughly, and Jesus was preaching the gospel of spending money. (
See a synopsis here.) It was a little sacrilegious—well, okay, a LOT sacrilegious—but the point was something like this: You have to believe in a strong economy in order for it to exist.
A lot of people have lost their jobs, home values are in the shitter, our retirement funds are dwindling—it all sucks, I get it. But the thing is, unless you personall, have lost your job, you still have cash. There's a good chance that your situation hasn't changed a whole lot in the past year (unless you make the unwise move of looking at your 401K balance). But here's the thing: if you're still contributing to that 401K and you're at least a little ways from retirement, you're picking up stocks for cheap right now, and your balance will bounce back in the coming years. In the meantime, you're okay, and you could be part of the solution—so spend some damn money.
Of course it's a good idea to create a solid nest egg, but I feel like I'm doing a good thing by going out to eat and making regular small purchases, because a lot of economic experts are saying that it's our fear of a bad economy that is causing this thing to spiral out of control. The more we all sit on our little cash heaps, the more screwed we're going to be. Yeah, Americans in general need to learn to live within their means and not rely on credit so much. So don't buy a McMansion you can't afford. Don't buy a car you can't afford. Try to only spend cash—but do spend it!
Megan likes shopping. The economy likes shopping. Everyone's happy.
I really, really love fascinators. What the heck is a fascinator, you ask? Well, that's the proper name for a formal ladies' headpiece that usually incorporates feathers and/or flowers. I wore a rhinestone-feather-flower number in my hair (which was arranged in pin curls) on our wedding day. But I wish I had seen this Etsy shop when I was shopping for bridal headwear. I think all of her designs are great, but the one pictured here is my favorite.
I love the delicately sexy cut-outs on this blouse from What Goes Around Comes Around. AND it's on sale. I'm currently taking a break from buying clothing since I kind of overdid it in Sweden and had to clear out my closet to make room for my purchases, but I hope one of my friends buys this, so I can borrow it. Did I mention it's on sale??
I've done a lot of traveling for work recently, and in my continuing quest for in-flight entertainment that doesn't rot my brain, I've become addicted to the New Yorker's free fiction podcast. Each month, the magazine's fiction editor, Deborah Treisman, asks a famous author to choose a favorite short story from the pages of the New Yorker, and read it aloud. Then they have a conversation about why the story was particularly fascinating or fun or meaningful. One story that stuck out for me in particular was "A Day," by William Trevor, read by Jhumpa Lahiri (author of The Namesake and Unaccustomed Earth). It's hard to describe the amazingness of the story without giving too much away, but I think I can safely tell you that it concerns a housewife who believes her husband is having an affair. It's very sparsely written, and about half the story is told between the lines—a real masterwork of verbal economy. 
