Hello & Welcome!
☔ I’m Rani, pronounced like the weather. You know:
Wow, it sure is a rainy day out there!
I live in Dallas where I do yoga in the driveway and grow plants in the bathtub. I’m a middle-age dog mom and do some of my best shopping in the middle of the night.
My Ideal Look
Jeans, a great-fitting cropped Chanel-esque blazer, and a concert t-shirt. But a legit tee – from shows I attended and bands I love – not some silly reprint from Target, before we stopped shopping there, of course.
I haven’t decided what I want to be when I grow up, so I decided to stop aging.
Retail Therapy is a quirky, sideways look at the time and money we throw at our angst. I write about the things I’m obsessed with — from the importance of the First Amendment to why fashion seems to hate middle-age women. As a former business reporter, I need to follow the dollars — and make sense of them. Sense. Cents. You get it.
In every way, I want to feel like I’m enough. But the world is busy telling us we’re too much. That’s Retail Therapy. If you can relate, you’re in the right place!
I Believe
Coats should be fashion statements, only
Unused concert tickets are a crime
If you haven’t touched it & tried it on, never buy anything ‘final sale’
Where I Am & Where I’ve Been
I work in tech and have for the past 2 decades+ but why be specific and age myself? From being a reporter to now, there are 2 things I see that can change everything: time and money. When we vary either or both, it changes the outcome, both professionally and personally.
My writing explores how those 2 variables — money and time – influence our life decisions. Sure there are the big macro ones, like who you decide to spend your life with. But in a more micro way. Here’s what I mean. I spend lots of time reading the internet and working on my pollinator plants.
I spend a lot of time reading the internet and working on my pollinator plants. The plants are easy to justify — they’re pretty, smell amazing, and I love getting dirt under my fingernails, dirty, much to the chagrin of my manicurist. Reading Celebrity gossip, that’s harder to defend. And my addiction to buying piles of clothes online, hoping one thing fits? That’s just dumb. It’s a waste of time and money and returning it wastes even more time.
Retail Therapy explores why we keep doing things that rationally we know are silly.
Why Retail Therapy — Right Now
I’m done waiting for permission. I’ve spent years pitching mainstream publications, and there’s goodness in that — but it requires patience and waiting. I’m not good at either. I want to write the stories I want — today. Stories like:
Why fashion hates middle-aged women
How music is the best way to study history
Why independent watch brands are having a moment
I’m done waiting for someone else’s approval. Now I’m making the rules.
Want More? Go Paid
You may notice there are no affiliate links or sponsorships here. Because of your support, Retail Therapy is fully unfiltered. You know, in a way we’d never drink water.
Free subscribers get a lot. But paid subscribers get it all — every post, every conversation, full access. Your price locks in the day you subscribe and never goes up. Ever.
You’re paying a writer for their work and helping fund my bougie dog, Radio’s, acupuncture. He still hasn’t gotten a job. Or an agent.
Let’s Talk
This site is just like me: a work in progress. The best way for me to make it better is to hear from you — what you love, what you hate, what you want more of.
It can be such a lonely world. Let’s talk.
Most importantly: if you’re ever bored or not laughing, unsubscribe in a single click.
Cheers to spending our time and money well!
