What I Bought on My Summer Vacation

No trip to Ocean City is complete without stops to the boardwalk's Cloud Nine and Asbury Avenue's B&B. In a sea of cheesy T-shirt shops (this year's ubiquitous trend was day-glo crop tops emblazoned with "cool story, bro") and exclusive, don't-make-eye-contact-with-the-salesgirl boutiques flooding the boardwalk and Asbury respectively, these stores emerge as bouillon. (Making Waves on Asbury is a good spot too, although I didn't buy anything there this time.) Trendy and affordable, these always-packed tourist destinations bring to mind a Kohl's or JCPenney shored up on the beach. Usually, I make several forays into Cloud Nine, acquiring a small sampling of trinkets each time. But during this trip, I went in only once, boldly grabbing a shopping-made-easy tray and loading it up with every bauble that struck my fancy. With jewelry starting at just 99 cents, this wasn't as lethal as it sounds. Even so, I managed to practice some restraint. Which was good because when I got home I was greeted by an enormous box bearing my XOXO going-out-of-business order and an envelope stuffed with jewelry-making gems from Etsy's Neon Narwhal. "Make me into necklaces now!" the acrylic unicorn heads, strawberries, pumps, and dessert cups seemed to scream. But in my sleepy, saltwater-taffy-stuffed state, I left them on the coffee table unstrung.