Catalina Island posters

Bad news for my bank account: I'm falling back into shopping mode. All summer I've been so good: avoiding H&M, coming out of the Gap empty handed, window shopping but never actually pulling out my credit card. See, when you're a recent college graduate with no job, living in the most expensive city possible, you need to be frugal. But when I was home in Arizona I bought a dress from Target, and a few days ago I got a Ralph Lauren blazer off Ebay, and today I went to Target (which is obviously a weakness of mine) and spent way too much. I intended only to snag a peg off a bookshelf on display (long story), and ended up buying :a poster frame, Never Been Kissed and Catch Me If You Can on DVD (have I already mentioned how my dream job is thinking up movie combos for those 2 for $9.99 packs?), and a bunch of treats like microwave popcorn and fruit snacks.

See, shopping mode is like a wound that won't stop bleeding, except the blood is money. You get used to throwing down $30 bucks here and $60 bucks there, and before you know it you're buying a $3,000 wedding dress that was on sale, even though you're completely single.

So I am making a concerted effort to stop shopping...and yet. I moved in August, and I've just now started to really decorate my room and put things on walls. I have a few posters that I really, really love, but there are also a few that I've had for so many years that I'm sort of sick of looking at them. Sorry Lloyd Dobbler, sorry Scarlett O'Hara, sorry doorways of Prague. So I was thinking, maybe I should get just one or two new posters, and then I can start a rotation of posters--switching them around every six months or so.

And I know what I want--sort of. I would love to have the second season Mad Men poster: the one with Jon Hamm striding through Grand Central Station. The first season poster (the iconic back of Draper's head, with arm outstretched) is great but doesn't feature Jon Hamm's glorious face, and the third season poster (Draper in his office with the rising waters) is too stressful. But this poster is gorgeous, with Jon Hamm looking like a man above men. Ugh, I love it so much, but I can only find a small version on Ebay--$9.99 for 11x17 inches. Maybe if I got some nice matting and a frame, it wouldn't look dwarfed by my other posters.

Ok, next, I want a poster of Catalina Island. I went to Sea Camp there for nine straight summers when I was a kid, so Catalina Island is one of my favorite places in the world. But the problem is that there are so many fantastic Catalina posters available, that I'm having a hard time choosing. So that's the main issue of this post (and it only took me five paragraphs to get to it).

I'm partial to the posters that look like vintage travel ads, but I'm not totally sold: they're usually drawings, so they don't quite capture all the picturesque details of Avalon.

A: "Catalina by Air," 26x38 inches for $25.

B: Air Catalina, 18x24 inches, $49.99.

C: Giant Palm Tree, 12x18 inches, $19.99. I wish this and the next one weren't 12x18--I think that's too small a poster size.

D: Two Palms, 12x18 inches, $19.99.

E: Ticket to Catalina, 18x12 inches, $19.99. This one is sort of weird--all that text in the middle. And the faux-Hawaiian girl is out of place, since Catalina is off of California and does not have indigenous people. And yet, it's so weird that I think it works!

F: Avalon Graphic, 18x12 inches, $19.99. I think the green in this print would match really well with my blue/green accent wall, but the design might be a bit too minimalist for me.

G: Avalon Harbor photo, 37x26, $18. This one is the biggest and also the cheapest, which makes it very attractive. The only other black and white poster I have is of Say Anything (the movie), so it could be smart to get another and not overwhelm my walls with bright colors. My big hesitation is that this photo was taken in 1885, before the Casino was built--the Casino is the big, round white building with the red roof, and it's by far the most distinctive aspect of Avalon Bay.

Any one have an opinion they want to share? Like I said, I need help deciding. I think my favorite is the Air Catalina one (option B), but it's also significantly more expensive than any of the others. I could get it on Ebay for $36, but still. Please, tell me what you think!