"You're cheering me up and I'm thanking you"

All creatures have their preferred seasons, and I'd happily say that mine most definitely is not winter. Being a December baby, I crave the sun and warmth and clear blue skies. I can never understand how people enjor the dreary greys, clouds, rain, wind or cold! Perhaps it's British blood, or most likely the obscure desire to pile on mounds of clothing until you're cocooned away from the atmosphere. I'm not fond of this, but I understand that it's a necessity in these cooler months. Therefore I've been looking for the perfect coat to barricade the chilling winds. I'd had no such luck in finding something warm, somewhat aesthetically pleasing, aaand retailed at a decent price... Well, not until yesterday.

I consider yesterday to have been one of the best winter days I've encountered so far in 2009. The rain was on pause, and I took the opportunity to head into town and get some things done, including some shop browsing. And of course browsing leads to trying things on, which leads to me pulling out my eftpos card and leaving the shop with a bag in hand. Ahdear. But! The point is... I finally found a pair of jeans in JeansWest which were marked as being $79.99 (AUS), but I asked about the student discount offer which I saw on the counter. So down to $72 they went. How sweet it is to milk a discount! Haha.

Next stop: Lick. Seriously, if you ever visit Fremantle or Cottesloe (Western Australia), check out this little shop. I love just about everything in there, and it should turn out that after yesterday, I love the staff as well. Just before thinking I was going to turn and leave the shop, I spotted just the kind of coat that I'd had in my mind that I was after all this time! Even bigger bonus, it was only $90, so I tried it on straight away and decided it needed to be purchased.

Now if you check out the site, under 'Stockroom' the manager gives updates on new stock that comes in and the goings on in the shop. You might also see that Annette (the manager) might set a little task for customers to do in order to receive a discount on their purchase. I'd checked the website before leaving home and saw that if you said "Would July to me?" (nice pun!), you could receive 20% off. Very generous! So I asked about quoting this at the counter. While the shop assistant wasn't sure of the task, being as lovely as she was, she was kind enough to call Annette about it - who was apparently very happy that I had checked out their website and completed this little task :)

So not only was I happy to receive (what I consider to be) a wonderful little coat for $72, but also to be reminded of some simple values. I sometimes forget that there are good kind-natured people in the world (for some reason...), the kind that can be bothered doing something for you and just treating you kindly. I also forget that little tasks on your own behalf can brighten somebody else's day in some way, which in turn brightens your own day a whole lot! Maybe I forget because I'm usually the checkout chick trying to please the customer, and mostly remember the bitter customers that cut you down, rather than the lovely ones that appreciate your work and conversation.

Who knew that a good shopping trip would be the pick-me-up I've been looking for this past month...

P.S: Photos of the Sunny Girl coat!