Wow, it’s been more than a week since I wrote my last post.  Time really flies when it comes to blog writing, or shall I say when you are not updating your blog   According to my new year’s resolution, I would write a new post this week.  I also mentioned we will write about topics beyond food and so here it is – my first blog post about clothes.  To be precise, this is a blog post about how Christina went completely out of control with buying cashmere sweaters over Christmas.  Yes, this is a confession of a cashmere shopaholic.

It all started about a year ago when everything was normal and I was happy with regular wool sweaters as they are soft, comfy and warm.  One day, I stumbled upon a navy blue, crew neck cashmere sweater on sale at an unbeatable 75% discount.  With this discount, I knew I HAD TO buy it.

What I didn’t realize was since that day, my life was forever changed. Cashmere is one of those items that you think you don’t need until you start owing the first one. Yes, I’m using the word “need” and not “want”. You see, after I started wearing my first cashmere sweater, all of a sudden I found my wool cardigan feel itchy. When I put on my favorite turtleneck wool sweater, I realized it wasn’t keeping me warm. Like falling in love, my brain tells me my wool sweaters are just as good as they have always been, and yet my heart tells me the opposite. The cashmere sweater conquered my heart in the end – actually, I was addicted to it! I was wearing it everywhere – to work, to dinners, even to grocery shopping. One day, ET asked me “Is navy blue that popular this season?”

ET’s question made me realized I must do something about my addiction. I must do the most painful and difficult thing – make a choice. After thinking for a long, long time, I was able to come to a decision. From now on, CHRISTINA WILL BUY AS MANY CASHMERE SWEATERS AS SHE CAN AFFORD! Like someone who is working up to a breakup, I felt light and relieved after I decided.

Fast forward a year later: I was doing Christmas shopping early December on Robson St. and my eyes lit up as I walked by the Club Monaco store. For this season, almost every sweater in that store is made of cashmere! As excited as a child in a candy store, I browsed through the new collection with joy. As disappointed as a child told not to have candies, I was deterred by the price tags. Fear not, I told myself, the sweaters will go on sale over Christmas. And it did. In the week before Christmas, I just “happened” to walk by the store again (or at least that’s what I made ET believed). Some of the cashmere sweaters in the store were marked down by 40%. Most importantly, my sizes were still available in most colours! In 5 minutes, I bought…take a guess…no, not 1, not 2, not 5, yes, believe it, EIGHT SWEATERS! Half of them were cardigans while the rest were pullovers. I bought the same style in different colours – heather gray, oatmeal, pastel blue and salmon pink. All sweaters are in good quality but I especially appreciate the yarn used in the pullovers. The pullovers feel so thick in my hands and soft against my body. Since Christmas, I’ve been walking around in grey, oatmeal, light blue and pink in addition to navy blue

You might ask, did I over do it with my cashmere sweater purchase? Yes, perhaps a little. But I would counter with these reasons: the styles are so classic, the quality are so good and the prices are so affordable. Besides proving that Christina is a little crazy, this story also proves sometimes there is no logic when it comes to things, places or people whom you love. The only little problem though, is that over the years I’ve fall in love with many things and cashmere sweaters is only one of them. One day, I’ll share with you my confession on those items

For guys who think clothes shopping is just an unavoidable chore like toilet cleaning and stick to reading this post anyway: THANK YOU and you must be one of those guys who wait patiently outside of changing rooms playing with your iPhone or Blackberry! For girls who are not big on shopping but are reading these words anyway: THANK YOU as well and I envy the amount of cash you get to save over the years