My Name is Amy...

...and I'm addicted to social shopping websites.

If you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, you're SERIOUSLY missing out on some shopping fun. Even if you're just browsing and never buying, it's still so great. Though, if you ask Dale, he would tell you that I need to focus more on the "browsing" and less on the "buying". I tell him that I'm just working on pre-purchasing for various holidays. Like Christmas, obviously. Or birthday gifts for the girls. Or for her little friends' parties to which I'm sure Ivie will be invited this year. I mean, if there's a really cute (and unique!) idea, for about the same price that you would spend at Target for the last-minute birthday (or, worse, Christmas) present, you might as well snag it and stash it away until it's needed, right? Then, you save yourself the stress of having to worry about making yet another frantic trip to Target, only to end up buying the same "Princess-this" or "Cars-that" that the birthday kid receives from another little friend at the same party. Can you tell I've been formulating this explanation in my head for quite some time, in anticipation of Dale someday (SOON!) telling me that he's had ENOUGH ALREADY with the online shopping? (I've got my credit card number committed to memory. It's that bad.)

It started innocently enough. With Jasmere. You all know the story of THAT. Then came Rue La La (to which you have to be invited by a member, so let me know if you're interested), though I'm pretty certain I don't make enough money to ever actually make a purchase on that site (or at least for 80% of the items they feature). But it's nice to look, anyway. They have beautiful jewelry features (which I might not even be qualified to claim, since I wear the same silver hoop earrings every day). Then came One Kings Lane which is a home goods-type site (feel free to use me as your member reference - ajschae@unc.edu). Then Groupon. And, just today, Kid Steals, Baby Steals, and Scrapbooking Steals.

My friend and neighbor, Brooke, and I have decided we're going to open our own site, similar to these. But unique in certain small, but interesting, ways that we will someday reveal. All we need is a really catchy name. And a website. And a website designer. And some companies willing to let us market and sell their products. And, as Brooke so accurately stated on Instant Messenger today, "a million or so followers" to make it even worth a company's time to talk to us.

Suffice it to say that we've got some work to do before going live with our idea. But every entrepreneur has to start somewhere, right? So let us begin with the need for a catchy name. Any suggestions? Or any other sites that I need to know about to further my addiction? (But please don't bring up Haggle. I checked it out already. It's just way too stressful for me.)