What I spend money on when I spend too much money

August has been full of good excuses for shopping.  Incentive gift card for filling out a heathcare survey at work, an unexpected gift, labor day sales and a little freelance cash all went toward these purchases.

1.  My two-year-old Macbook is about as pristine as it could be after all the hours I’ve logged on it.  I regularly cleanse with compressed air and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, but I just bought the Incase Hardshell to protect the glossy exterior.  The case is softly frosted, so it changes the whole look of the laptop, and it has a very touchable rubberized coating.  Externals snap perfectly into the laser-cut outlets.  I can’t believe I waited so long to get one of these.  Comes in pink, plum, red, blue, black, and frosted white for Macbooks of all sizes.  $50 at the Apple Store.

2.  The retractable blush brush at Sephora open and closes smoothly and it’s built for travel.  It’s also the first blush brush I’ve ever owned that didn’t come free-with-purchase.  $20 at Sephora.

3.  We finally, finally retired the Times Square photo poster that’s been hanging above our futon for a year and a half and replaced it with this ready-to-hang wrapped canvas print.  I love it.  The image is a magnified, sepia-toned photograph from beneath a leafy canopy.  At first, I wished some green accents had been preserved, but there’s a lot of depth in the image.  I tend to like artwork and patterns based on motifs and sort of nebulous themes instead of one focal object, and this one makes a much better impact than Times Square did.  $70 at Ikea.  Oh, and if anybody needs a tacky poster of Times Square, please let me know.  I have this random one just lying around.

4.  The kitchen is also getting some much needed attention.  I’ve had my eye on these sweet rebus-inspired screenprint posters for a few months, and the designer, BluLima, lured me in with this romantic, minty ink color (eco-friendly water-based ink, at that!).  I love.  Also in two shades of pink.  $12 (plus shipping) at BluLima’s Etsy shop.

5.  My bank statements and student loan account info are still in an unsorted pile laced with Dunkin’ Donuts receipts, but now the pile is inside one of these letter-sized Stockholm storage boxes instead of shuffling across my desk.  Available in graphite, red, orange, brown, and white.  $10 each at The Container Store.