Guilty Pleasures in Home Shopping - A Prologue.

Who can resist these rings???..not me.

When I was a very young girl, I used to receive random packages in the mail.  You may have had a similar experience (and I hope you did!).  It wasn't quite my birthday...and it wasn't quite Christmas so these unexpected brown boxes always came as Quite the surprise.  Not until I was well past 10 years old did I start to figure out their semblance of a schedule.  Digging through the packing peanuts always revealed the strangest surprises...precious moments dolls, angel figurines, snow globes, music boxes, kabuki makeup brushes...all of the most delightful (be it material) things in life...and most intriguingly Lots...and LOTS...of jewelry.

That being said, don't get too jealous picturing me in some kind of pre-war Austrian world of bon-bons, poof-a-loof dresses, and sing-a-longs.  I did not come from a particularly wealthy family and my parents barely even celebrated birthdays...but these boxes sent from the heavens (or large warehouses in western pennsylvania) really lit up my life.  I just didn't really understand it at the time.  Later I would realize that they contributed much more to my future than a way to clutter an already very tight doorway of a very modest home.

(My grandmother would call me on Mondays to inform me about good Today's Specials for Friday)

See, since these boxes came about 2-3 times per year with large shopping dry spells in between, I was always a little confused...a little confused about what to do with these items.  I wasn't a seasoned shopper by any stretch.  I didn't really know how to dress or wear jewelry, and I didn't really have the space to decorate my room with trinkets.  I'm not sure I knew how to have...fun.

"Just call your grandmother and say thank you," I would hear as soon as the boxes arrived, from my parents who probably really didn't get it much either.  I surely obeyed, but I didn't mean "thank you" then as much as I do now.  Although my grandmom was probably just trying to say hello and utilize me as outlet for a wee bit of bored with a credit carditis, what she was really doing was introducing me to letting go and just delighting in the little things in life.  Highschool and college passed along with most of my 20s but not once did I tune in to home shopping...I always thought it was kind of silly.  Then when I was about 25, a little bit overwhelmed with life, scared about making a career switch, and starting my own company... a switch went off...

I love watching the Home Shopping Network...and its ok (even for a modern woman! - no yeehawing about it!)  It was okay like delighting in my trinkets hidden in packing peanuts so many years before.  My grandmother, since passed, was possibly sharing this with me once again aiding me in this channel flip discovery.  Her initials, JDD, - which I later found that Jewelry Dose Daily mimics scarily, are engraved on so many of the beautiful jewels left to me that she enjoyed so much...many of the pieces purchased...in fact, through home shopping.   

...so anyway, to follow train of thought, I think my grandmother would want me to share this with you:

Home. Shopping. Network. It's ok. You can say it. They aren't dirty words. It's okay to let go and be mesmerized!  They are good at what they do... and I appreciate them for that.  

Here is a perfect tie-in video I found AFTER I wrote this post - how perfect!...if I can't get you psyched up for my next post about my fave' HSN brands...they surely can (after all, they're the experts! - just enjoy!)

These posts are dedicated to my grandmother Joan whose dream was for me to have a collection on the Home Shopping Network... or to not.. or... well, to simply do whatever I enjoyed doing!

Thanks Grandmom, I'm working on it...!

Tomorrow I will share with you some of my guiltiest home shopping pleasures... my favorite brands, bobbles, and beautious things. <3

until then, there's always http://www.hsn.com/ ...