sometimes i can walk into barnes and noble and just browse...find a reference book on clearance to leaf through, gaze through the oversized art books, grin around the humor section, read a newspaper, listen to the samplings of the latest cd's from the worlds of jazz, folk, whatever...

...and then there are times i am unexpectedly drawn to shop in there - like to walk out empty handed would be a loss of some sort. i need a magazine, some new stationary, a birthday gift, of course a card to go with the gift...i need coffee from the starbucks located INSIDE my b+n, and then i head to the childrens section where i am sucked in completely by all the cute, fun, educational merchandise that my kids need for rationales that only seem silly now that i'm home, away from the unexplained lure.

i've always been a bookstore junkie, and in my current town, it's the only thing besides walmart open past 9 or 10. what's a girl to do? i chalk it up to the idea that there are much worse addictions, i'm not so bad off...