sunglasses

I collect sunglasses.  Sue me. 

I love them.  I fancy them.  I also fancy that I have a ‘sunglass-face.’  As in a face that looks good in many shapes of glasses.  I don’t have ‘doll-face,’ I may not have an ‘honest-face’ or even a face-only-a-mother-could-love, but I (think I) have a sunglass face.

This isn’t the entire collection.  There are more.  Like this pair that were a gift;, they are huge, and tortoise shell and have a belt buckle side detail.  FABULOUS!  This collection has been pared down through the years.  Sunglasses have been stolen from me.  My collection has been targeted by girlfriends because, let’s face it, they believe I have so many I’m not gonna miss one.  But I do.  Especially when a friend shows up wearing a suspiciously familiar pair.  Previously, as in when I had lady friends that I saw on a regular basis, I would purchase sunglasses for them.  In hopes that my collection would not be thinned.  It didn’t work.

My collection has also been wounded.  My late dog, The Vicious Mugsy Brown, wasn’t called Vicious for nothing.  He was known to eviscerate glasses.  Sunglasses lose their allure when they have teeth marks on the lenses. 

My collection consists of cheap glasses purchased from a myriad of stores.  Target.  Macys.  Nordstroms.  Old Navy.  Cheap because I’m not known for my grace and poise, instead I’m known for random sunglass-clad face plants while swaggering down a street, and sunglasses are just so breakable (unlike my face).  Anywhere that has $10 or cheaper shades has been perused by me.  Or so I thought.

Yesterday I stopped by Bartell Drugs.  I was picking up a bamboo spa set they had on sale.  Secretly (well, not-so-secretly now) I heart Bartell Drugs.  It’s as close to Target as I’ll get since I live in the heart of downtown.  What I love about Target is the health and beauty areas, followed closely by the purses, then shades, then panties, then, well, I love everything.  But, Bartells has a (cheap as all hell) health and beauty section.  The whole damn store is health and beauty!  So, as I was waiting in line, my line of vision happened upon the shades display and I immediately thought: “Those aren’t hideous!  I could wear those!”  My collection of shades has stopped growing since moving downtown because, well, Target inspires shade purchasing. No Target, no inspiration.   And hitting any other downtown Seattle place is rampant with tourists and an above-average saturation of idiots.  EUREKA!  Bartells can provide (cheap as all hell) shade inspiration.  Additionally, idiots don’t flock to Bartells like they would a Macy’s Saturday one-day sale only with a Friday preview.  Note to Macy’s: Just call it a 2-day sale.  No one’s gonna mind, the Friday preview is, in essence another sale day.  Make the plunge.

This is my favorite pair right now. 

Now I only have to get past the uber-cheap stigma that comes with purchasing shades at Bartells.  I mean, I’m cheap.  Real cheap.  But Bartells is a level of cheap I have yet to stoop.  But for the collection, I will make the sacrifice.