HOLY ALDO ?

One of the must-visit stores for me when I'm in the mall is Aldo.

While at the Eaton Centre today, I was shocked to see the new items Aldo now carries:

ROSARIES!
Reg. Price: $18
Sale Price: $11.99

These rosaries were in their accesories section! That is just so wrong... tsk tsk...

*I hurriedly took this pic from my phone before I get in trouble- again.

CONFESSIONS OF A SHOP-A-HOLIC

Ever since my bestfriend, Tiara, got me hooked on the Shop-a-holic series a few years back, I wished and hoped that they would make a movie out of the books. And they did. Finally! It will be officially showing on February 13th but since Tiara has crazy hook-ups, we got to go to the pre-screening earlier today at the Scotiabank Theatre.

The movie was pretty well done considering that it was based on a novel. It was a little different from the book but it worked out pretty well. It wasn't disappointing like most of the other movies based on novels. Isla Fisher was perfect for the part of Rebecca Bloomwood- the main character.

I cracked up so many times since I can totally relate to the character. You guys have to see the movie to understand what I'm talking about. HaHaHa. But I'm sure those of you who know me pretty well will understand just after watching the trailer. Enjoy!

SALE

I used to be a shop-a-holic. When I went to school downtown, my friends and I would walk to the nearby mall during our breaks to "see what's new." But there was never anything new because we never gave the stores a chance to get something new. We were there almost every single day- and every single day, I never came out of the mall empty-handed! Be it a new pair of shoes, a pretty top or even underwear, I always came home with something new. I would even buy Kyla random stuff that she probably didn't even need. Don't worry, I never bought anything that wasn't on SALE but it came to a point where I had to stuff my purchase(s) in my schoolbag so no one will bother me about it when I got home. Even though I only had a part-time job then, I didn't find it necessary to quit my not-so-bad habit.

Fast forward to the present.

I can say that I have a pretty good and somewhat secure job but... I DON'T GO SHOPPING ANYMORE. Every time I go to the mall and attempt to buy something, I'm like a new immigrant converting how much it would really cost me- but this time it's "how many hours do I have to work to pay for this?" Most of the time I could never justify working a full 8-hour shift just to pay for a pair of Aldo shoes. So now I've been walkin out of the mall empty-handed.

Now why didn't I have that mentality before?

*I finally bought me a couple of tops last week- only because they were 2 for $10! YAY!

A LITTLE GIRL'S DREAM

As a little girl, every time my mom would take me to the mall, department stores or grocery shopping, I've always felt envious about these ladies. I told myself that when I grow up, I wanna be just like them.

I wanna wear those nice little dresses, put on some stockings, slip on those high-heeled shoes and have lots and lots of money. They sit pretty, chat with their friends and people line up to give them lots of money. But the good thing is, they also give back- sometimes food, clothing, etc. and sometimes even money! Yet they still get to keep loads of cash in their little boxes. How awesome is that?

I could be in the mall ALL DAY LONG- Perfect!

I could NOT wait to be a grown-up.

I could NOT wait to be a CASHIER!

SIGNS 1

See anything wrong with this sign? I took this pic inside one of the malls in Chinatown while out Buddha-shopping.

Who needs to eat flied lice when you can just KAYAOKE!

BOXING DAY

December 26 is "Boxing Day" for us Canadians. It's supposed to be the best time to go shopping in Canada- like "Black Friday" is for our friends south of the border. But no way you'll see me shopping today! Why not? Aside from the crazy crowd and crazy parking, you see, the 'sales' actually get better AFTER Boxing Day. So if you're not exactly looking for anything in specific, then wait a week or two and whatever is 50% off now will be 60-70% off then. Trust me, I worked in retail for a bit plus I used to be a big shopper so I learned these things. Take note: used to be. :-)

But for those of you who wanna purchase electronics, this is probably one of the best times to get a deal on whatever it is you wanna get. But... don't be one of those lining up outside Best Buy/Future Shop at 4a.m. so you can be one of the first people to get in and maybe, just maybe, you can get your hands on whatever it is you wanna purchase. Why not just go on their website and purchase it there? It's for the same price and shipping is usually free! And the boxing day deals usually start on the 24th if you purchase online. If it's sold out online then wake up early in the morning on Boxing Day, bundle up, get a nice, warm cup of coffee then LINE UP outside the store a FEW HOURS before they open. Well... HAVE FUN SHOPPING! and remember, PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE. http://boxingday.redflagdeals.com/index.php/flyers/

X-MAS SHOPPING NIGHTMARES

I was at the Scarborough Town Centre this afternoon to do some last-minute shopping. Mahn, oh mahn! I totally forgot how hectic it gets in the malls around this time of the year. My Christmas shopping is usually done by the end of November since we always go south of the border during their Thanksgiving weekend to take advantage of the Black Friday deals. But this year, thanks to the low exchange rate, it was bye bye Black Friday shopping for me :-(

So as I was saying... I went to the mall today with the hubby and the girls. Just turning in to the parking lot, I already knew I was gonna have a bad day! Even the farthest parking spot was taken. But I still decided to see if the Customer with Child spots were all taken. As I was nearing the spots, I saw the spot nearest to the entrance empty. I signaled to make sure other drivers knew I was turning into that spot even though I was still a few metres away. I was almost there when this car turned in and parked in MY spot! HELLLLOOOO?!?! I SIGNALLED FIRST! But he wasn't gonna give up the spot. He turned first! *rolling my eyes* UGH! $%#^%$#! Fine! Then there was another spot on the other side. So I hurried but again, somebody got there first. The pretty Asian lady got out of her Honda Accord and... ran straight to the mall entrance! Wait a minute. Why'd she run off?! She parked in the 'Customer with Child' spot but she ran off without a child! What the...?! That's when I lost it... I couldn't even scream at her cuz she ran in to the mall so fast since she probably knew what the other drivers would do once they realized she didn't have a kid with her. But I was sooo pissed off that... I RAN AFTER HER! Yes, I did. I put the car to park, turned on my hazard signals and RAN AFTER HER. She was still walking so fast even inside the mall. I was a few metres behind her but I didn't wanna scream, "Hey You!" So I followed her... to the BATHROOM! I thought, "Perfect!" As soon as I went in, I said, "Excuse me? Was that your Silver Honda Accord parked just outside the entrance?" And she replied, "YES." I smiled and said, "You know that's a spot for 'Customers with Children,' right? It doesn't look to me like you have any AND I have 2 with me! Guess what this lady did?! She shrugged her shoulders and went inside the bathroom stall! Like, really! GGGgggRRRRRrrrrr... *&%$$#%$&^*&^(*%^%$@#$!^&^*&(* !!! My heart was beating so fast that I thought I was gonna explode. I went back to the car, dropped off the kids to the closest entrance and left to find a parking spot. I ended up parking in an uncovered area and as soon as I got off, it started to snow! (It's just my luck, eh?) But oh wellz... At least I got a spot.

The mall was so crowded and a lot of people were rude and impatient- including mall employees! Geez... Now I remember why I HATE doing last-minute shopping. For next Christmas, I'm starting my shopping on Boxing Day this year! I'll be done my Christmas Shopping even before this year ends! And... I'm taking the TTC! TAKE THAT!

F-O-B

I am currently in Ajax at my parents' place and I don't know how it all started but we started talking about random stuff- including MY FOBBY moments. And now, my MOTHER AND HUSBAND wanted me to share my VERY EMBARRASSING moments to the whole wide world!

-I was on my first few shifts at McDonald's (my very first job) and a customer asked me for something... I couldn't understand what he was saying at all. It sounded like pure mumbling to me although that 'something' he was asking for sounded familiar. After he repeated himself so many times, I started to panic- I still had no idea what EXACTLY he wanted and he was getting really frustrated with me. And I was already trying my hardest to lip-read! I thought I was gonna cry but since I thought I knew what he was asking for I said, "Oh, that!" I can see the relief on his face while I started to walk to the side- going to the ice cream machine getting his 'something.' I walked back to the customer with a huge smile on my face and handed him the MOST PERFECT VANILLA CONE I was capable of making. The customer looked at me like I just did the STUPIDEST thing and said, "What's this?" I said, "You wanted *me mumbling trying to make it sound like whatever he said*, right?" At this time, a good friend of mine (who happened to work with me and was working on the next till) was looking at us trying to figure out what was happening. When the customer shouted, "I want some S**V****ES!" I was almost in tears, then I saw my friend walk outside to the condiments counter and got him a whole bunch of napkins. She then walked up to me and said, "He was asking for SERVIETTES!" (To all you Filipinos out there: get it? SERVIETTES? SORBETES? And I wasn't even sure what SORBETES meant. I just remembered seeing that word on some ice cream container in the Philippines so I assumed it meant ice cream!).

-Same setting: McDonalds. A man came up and asked for some 'chips.' I was very apologetic when I said, "I'm sorry, sir. We don't sell chips here. This is McDonalds. The convenient store is just around the corner." He looked at me and pointing to the fry machine he said, "What are those then?" FRIES!

At least when the incident above happened, I finally realized that it was okay to order 'Fish and Chips.' I never wanted to order it before cuz when they say 'chips," it's usually Lay's or some kind of potato chips which I don't really appreciate much. And besides, why would you eat fish with CHIPS? Fish and Fries sounds more appetizing!

-I was doing some shopping and when the cashier handed me the receipt I looked at it and looked at her in shock. I walked back and said, "How'd you know my name? I never told you my first name, did I? By the way, it's misspelled." Then I left staring at the receipt that said, "THANK YOU, MERCI!"

And lastly...

-We were at Fairview Mall earlier this evening and I volunteered to order the food. Brice wanted something from Grill It Up so I decided that I'd get something from there too to save time. I ordered Tandoori Chicken and I specified that I wanted it mild. When the guy handed me my order, I stared at it surprised (again!). On the container was scribbled, "TAN, M"- my last name and first initial! I guess the guy saw my expression cuz he then said, "That's what you wanted, right? TANdoori Mild? I just smiled like an idiot and left.

Mahn! Even after being 'Canadian' for a while now (over a decade already!), these things still happen to me! But now, I can finally laugh it off and say, "I AM SUCH A FOB!"

It's okay, you can laugh WITH me :-D

HA - HA - HA !

TIME OFF

It felt nice to have a few hours all to myself!

It is (or was... 39 minutes ago) Friday! Brice is finally working again after being off for a month or so for school purposes. He was scheduled to work from 5-9:30pm and I really wanted to come to the mall with him. But I realized how hard it would be going around the busy mall by myself with Kyla, who always whines about how tired her feet are already (and that shopping is sooo boring- thank God!), and Kaelene, who for some reason whenever we're in the mall decides she'd rather be carried by either me or Brice instead of sitting in her stroller. So I decided to stay home and just do some cleaning up (yeah right!). But everything changes when Kyla decided (last minute- as always) she didn't wanna stay home and she wanted to go to Brice's sister's place and play with her cousins. So Brice called up his sister and asked if it was okay for Kyla to stay with them 'til he's done work. She said it was fine and that Kaelene should come over too. When Brice told me that they wanted Kae over too, I thought, "hmm... maybe I should go to the mall..." Brice and I made sure that it was really okay for Kae and Kyla to stay there without either of us before I made my final decision: "YES! I AM GOING TO THE MALL!"

I got ready in less than 5 minutes and off we went. After we dropped off the girls, Brice and I drove to Yorkdale Mall. He was teasing me saying how I was all dressed up and my reply? "Of course! I'm going to be single for the next few hours!" :-) When we got to the mall, Brice got off and hurried to work while I had to go find parking- on a Friday afternoon! Thank God it only took me less than 5 minutes to get a spot- I've waited more than 30 minutes in the past! As I turned off the engine, I had butterflies in my stomach. Hahaha! I realized that I haven't been in the mall all by myself and all dressed up in a very looooonnnnnngggggg time!

I had 4.5 hours to kill. I told Brice I was gonna get soooo bored cuz I usually finish walking around the whole mall in an hour. He told me to just chill and finish reading my book. But whatever! I was gonna enjoy the few hours of freedom I have from being MOMMY. So I started walking around and I went inside pretty much every single store in the mall. I wasn't planning on shopping (cuz I'm broke as it is- haha!) but I NEEDED to find me and Brice something to wear for Christmas Eve... something CHEAP (at Yorkdale!). I went inside Mexx, Club Monaco, Dynamite, Zara, H&M, A&E, Gap, RW&Co., Aldo, Brown's, just to name a few. It was then that I realized how much different being there by myself was compared to when I have the girls with me. I actually got to see every single item the store had, I got to try on stuff (I would've gotten these really nice pair of jeans but they weren't on sale... ggggrrrrr...) and I didn't have to worry about Kyla complaining how bored she is and/or Kae crying cuz she's... well, take your pick: hungry, hot, wet diaper, or probably just bored too. Also, I finally got to go in the newly-opened Crate&Barrel. I finally got to go inside stores I've never been to even after the hundreds (maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit) of times I've been to Yorkdale. And I've discovered a few things, too! The 'Hudson's Bay' store in Yorkdale has 4 levels! I always thought that that 'Bay' store was boring. Boy, was I wrong! It was almost as big as the downtown store. And afterwards, I walked and walked some more until my feet started to hurt.

When I finally decided to sit down and read (I totally forgot about the book I wanted to finish reading), it was almost time to go home! Wow! I actually spent almost 5 hours walking around and shopping- a bit. I waited for Brice outside his work and when he came out, I showed him everything I bought and... NONE OF THEM WERE FOR ME! They were all for the kids! When he asked me how my 'time off' went, I said it was nice not having to worry about feeding Kae, changing her diaper and pushing the stroller around! Kyla wasn't there to repeatedly ask me how I could possibly find walking around the mall 'fun' and complaining that she's tired and hungry (and she'll only eat at Casey's at Yorkdale). Then I realized, I actually missed my two girls and I couldn't wait to come home and just do whatever we usually do at home- watch TV/movies, play Monopoly or just lie in bed playing DS or just simply talking about how our day went.

Oh... and I couldn't wait to have dinner... (all that "mall-ing" made me forget that the last meal I had was more than 8 hours ago!) Thank God for cheap Jap food take-out!