Parental Approval

i've been on a bit of a buying spree lately and it all started when my mom came to visit a couple of weeks ago and since i knew she only had limited time here, we were constantly furniture shopping, rug shopping, appliance shopping, fixture shopping…basically anything and everything you could ever want to furnish a condo with we looked at and purchased. we were so productive that by the time she left to go home, my place was pretty much fully furnished and completely settled in and i was in love.

however even though she's been gone for almost a month now, the shopping has not stopped on my end or the constantly asking for her opinion on everything. i even started including my aunt from new york who was also out here during the same time and is largely responsible for picking out the new fixtures that i bought for my kitchen and bathroom sink and since then, i've been barraging their emails with random pictures or links to what i'm thinking of buying and or when i add anything new to the place. So far i've sent them links to a patio set and headboard i was thinking of purchasing and took pictures of my living room one night when i had the candles that my mom had put on the door lit up to show her what it looked like and most of all, i've even started buying fresh flowers on a weekly basis and arranging them myself in a vase and sending a pic of that to my mom. i even took pictures of me cooking one night so she could see whether what i was making looked ok or not and to also show her that the chinese tea she taught me how to make that is supposed to be good for my body and eyes was in fact getting made and drunk on a regular basis. the emails i've been getting back from her have been absolute gems and make me laugh each time. for my flower arrangement, her email read:

"i guess you bought a bunch of flower. it looks a little messy. i like to teach you do a simple way and will look better when we get together."

i never thought this day would come but i'm slowly becoming a mini version of my mom. in fact when i sent a picture of my condo to my friend the first thing he said to me was oh it looks just like your house in san diego but smaller and when i looked around he was right. i have curtains now, yes curtains! and fresh flowers on my dining table as well as a potted plant in my study. oh did i mention that when i took the plant home the first thing i did was take a picture to send to my mom and this is what she came back to me with:

"for my experience to water plant, you can let it sit in the water about 1/2 to 1 hour and drain the water out. this way the root really get enough water. you can try the different way and experience it. the most important is whatever you do it looks nice and fresh"

see what I mean? pure gold right. i walked away recently having just gotten out of a facial with night cream that cost almost as much as one month's worth of HOA fees and had to send the link to my mom and aunt to see if they thought i was crazy or not and should return it. obviously the answer was yes, i had a momentary lapse in judgment but it seems that nowadays when it comes to anything to do with the condo or any big decisions, i'm incapable of making them on my own. next thing you know i'll be actually seeking their advice and approval on what guys to date but if that ever happens, someone please pull me into reality and splash some cold water on my face to make me snap out of it.