So Saturday I was shopping online — otherwise known as procrastinating when I should have been revising.

I’m looking for one or two specific items, but found myself on piperlime.com. I guess it’s a shoe store loosely affiliated with Gap. Let me tell you, the sale prices were great. I almost pulled the trigger and bought a couple pairs of shoes, but i hesitated. The sales shoes did not allow returns. I can understand in one way: they don’t want someone like me to buy six pairs of shoes only to return four later. Yet, with my long, narrow feet, I’ve learned that I need to try things on before I find something that fits right, so they lost a sale…

And there were some really cute ballet flats on clearance! I almost felt like Ashley Stockingdale or the star of some other chick lit as I was looking at $300 shoes marked down to $50. Who doesn’t love that!

Lafayette is a great town, but the shopping is abysmal for someone my size. There is one store in town other than GAP where I can buy clothes that fit but don’t make me look like I’m trying to pretend I’m 16 again. Don’t get me wrong, I loved being 16…but I’m not anymore. And even if I were, I’m really not into belly showing styles.

There are many things I will buy online: Books, skirts, simple shirts, dresses. And I love going on a site like GAP.com and raiding the sale page. Books are pretty easy. You see the cover, read a review and purchase. But clothes, only if I can return them — and preferably if I can return them in a store where I don’t have to pay shipping. Call me cheap, but I can’t stand the thought of paying for shipping twice. Ugh!

So what do you shop for online? What store has surprised you with its level of service and ease of returns? What shopping secrets do you have to share with a bargain hunter like me…cause you know I’ll need to procrastinate again soon!