When your birthday week is a stressful mess and your mood is swinging violently from abject misery to manic panic, it isn’t time for Fantasy Shopping ^[1]. It’s time for actual Spend Money Like There’s No Tomorrow Shopping. So off I went for a long lunch and in the course of helping the economy out, discovered the new American Apparel ^[2]store downtown, on F Street between 11th and 10th.

The store opened last month, and is so unlike the usual downtown shopping experience that I was caught like a newbie supermodel in paparazzi flashlights upon entering – cement floors, bright lighting, loud music – and perfectly ordered racks upon racks of lightweight cotton clothing in a rainbow of delicious colors. This is “LA style” (so they say, I’ll have to take their word for it) – causal yet sexy. I went mad for the scoop back tees. They even have tees for baby and poochy. Bikinis, capris, skirts, hoodies – all cotton and all in the $15-35 range.

I’m not sure about the quality or the longevity, but with that kind of selection I don’t think I care. There’s nothing like soft gentle sexy cotton to improve my mood tremendously.