Would you say alcohol is a stimulant or a depressant? 

If you visit a bar on a Friday evening the noise and laughter can be deafening – strong evidence that alcohol is a stimulant (beer goggles anyone?) But fast-forward to 3 a.m. and the same raucous behavior has dwindled to people slumped on bar-stools, asleep in the corner – or on a park bench somewhere.

Scientifically speaking, alcohol is a powerful depressant, but its short-term effects are the exact opposite.

The same can be said of the marketing effects caused by the wrong kind of marketing strategy.

Not surprisingly our town mandated the use of masks effective last week. Of course I completely forgot, and had to make a mad dash to Target to stock up. Also not surprisingly Target was pretty much sold out of masks. Except for about 10 packets left of “kids masks” - in your choice of coal black or coral pink. Two masks in every packet. $4 a packet…

Not long ago I stumbled on a little farm stand which is extremely well known here in the south. It’s not exactly a farm stand - more like a farm “boutique store” full of locally sourced meat, produce and their very famous tomato pies. I had heard great things about this farm stand. People would drive for 50 or more miles just to buy their home-made pies. So when I finally made it through their front door, I had high expectations. Boy was I wrong. I could barely get through the front door due to all the “stuff” that was crammed inside the store. Between 7 ft high book shelves, piles of knick knacks and rows of freezers, the place reminded me much more of a garage sale meets appliance clearance store. It was overwhelming.

Last week, I was close to running out of foundation and knew there was no way I’d be able to get to Nordstrom’s before it was gone. As an avid online shopper, I have no idea why I insist on going to a department store to buy my makeup, but it’s just something I’ve always done. I Googled the exact color and name of my foundation (which is made by Chanel) to see which online stores might be offering the best deals. After a 30-second turbo search I gave up trying to read through all the fine print and just placed an order on Chanel’s main website.