Tired Feet and Breaking in Boots

This past couple of days has certainly been good for getting exercise in the form of country dancing! On Saturday, some friends and I went down to Borderline in Thousand Oaks, where we had a good time eating, drinking, hanging out, learning some new dances, and working up a sweat on the dance floor. I got a good mix of both line dancing and two-stepping in (it helps when you bring your own two-step partner along ;-) )

Me, Taryn, Amy, Tabitha. (Not pictured: Joe, who took the picture, and Mitch)

After I got home, though, I had a hard time sleeping that night, because my legs were sooooo sore and achy! It's a testament to how out of shape I am :-/ All day Sunday my legs were still aching, but they were better today, which was a good thing, considering I had to do a bit of walking around, shopping!

Saturday night at Borderline marked the second or third time I'd worn my new boots for some major dancing in a long period of time. So while they're definitely still in the "breaking in" stage, my feet, though tired at the end of the night, weren't hurting. I'm a big fan of the Ariat line-- good quality and great comfort. Only downside is that the shaft on them tends to be really wide, and since I have thin-to-average calves, they practically swim in them. Still, I love my boots-- from the deep oiled brown color to the pretty design to the scalloped top, and, of course, the comfortable fit!

Ariat Legend in Brown Oiled Rowdy

Today I went to Ventura to do some shopping, and stopped by Boot Barn to pick up another pair of boots: Durangos. The leather on these is much softer than on my Ariats, the foot is extremely comfortable, the shaft fits on my calves much better, and the square toe was narrower. And unlike the rubber sole of my Ariats, this one had a composite sole that was a little smoother, and hence easier to dance in without having to attach felt or some kind of cloth tape to the sole. Plus, it was a nice, neutral, tan color, which goes well with a lot of deeper-colored dresses I have, especially red.

Durango RD3478 in tan

Tonight, I got to break in my new boots with a two-step lesson sponsored by the UCSB country dance club.  The poor boots not only got some good use, but got stepped on a lot. Amazingly, you can't really make out the faint scuff marks that resulted. I guess that's the nice thing about a lighter color-- scuff marks don't show up as easily. As far as comfort goes, the sole of the Durangos don't have as much cushion as the Ariats. Plus, the heel is slightly higher, which gives rise to the usual high-heel-related leg/foot woes. That probably contributed to my having tired feet after less than 2 hours of active use.

Well, we'll see how they hold up on Friday!

Customized dresses from eShakti

It's been a number of months since I first discovered the eShakti website, which offers some really cute dresses at reasonable prices (an average of about $60)... and they're customizable! For an additional $7.50, you can customize not only the sizing to your specific measurements, but you can change details of the dress-- hem length, neckline, sleeve type.

My first purchase was this admiral blue pleated cotton poplin dress:

I had it custom-sized to my measurements, chose a hem length of "above the knee" and then waited eagerly for it to arrive. It actually arrived relatively quickly-- probably about 2-3 weeks after I ordered it. Considering it was custom-tailored to my size and that it shipped all the way from India, I was pleased with that timeline.

I was very impressed with the quality of the dress: good, solid, sturdy material, excellent craftsmanship in terms of sewing, and quite a lovely color!

I wasn't exactly enamored with the way it fit on top-- the neckline was a bit wide open for my liking, and because I don't have enough of a bust to completely fill it out, it kept bunching up when I sat down. However, the dress fit fantastically from the waist down-- I love the flared skirt, and so I was able to salvage it by wearing it with things on top, such as this black top:

 

... or a cardigan, either long-sleeved or short-sleeved:

I had such a good experience with the ordering process, and was so pleased with the quality of the dresses, that I promptly placed an order for two more, taking advantage of free shipping for orders over $100, and applying a coupon I happened to have, for more savings.

The next two dresses took a bit longer to get, I think because when I placed this second order, Jezebel.com had just put out an article about them, and demand increased faster than they could handle. They were really good about alerting me to the delay, and even so, I received them 5-6 weeks after placing the order. Still not too terrible for customized dresses coming from halfway across the world!

First up was this "Color trim poplin dress", a navy blue dress with red trim:

I added puffed sleeves to it, sent in custom sized measurements again, and chose an "above-knee" length. This is how it turned out:

True to its photo, this dress's skirt doesn't flare out as much as the other one, and as with the other blue dress, it's still a tad big in the chest, but it does fit pretty well, otherwise! Add a white cardigan and you've got the perfect 4th of July outfit! ;-)

I've also always wanted a green dress, and liked the look of shirt dresses (such as my Modcloth Soda Fountain dresses)-- good fit on top, flare on the bottom. So I selected this Retro poplin shirtdress, which came in a variety of colors, including a pretty, perfect shade of green: 

This dress (aside from tight armholes), fit amazingly well. Perfect fit on top, and a full skirt providing a bit of flare on the bottom:

My only complaint about these dresses is the fact that the armholes are really tight on all of them! It's not so bad on the first blue dress, but it's much more noticeable on the other two. I wonder how much it would cost to have the armholes enlarged so that they aren't digging into my armpits and restricting my movement (especially when driving!) while I'm wearing the dresses.

All in all, I'm really happy with my shopping experience at eShakti. Because of the armhole problem, I probably won't order anything but sleeveless dresses from them in future, but I really like being able to customize the dresses to fit my own measurements and to be able to further tailor specifics of the dress to my liking.

The customer service was a pretty good experience, too. I had read plenty of negative reviews online complaining about customer service, so it was with some trepidation that I placed my very first order. Happily, I've found that I've had nothing but good experiences with them. All my emails were answered promptly, and all my issues were resolved MORE than satisfactorily. Based on that, I'd highly recommend them to anyone looking for custom-sized, good quality, affordable dresses. I wouldn't recommend it if you're on a time crunch (i.e. counting on it to arrive in time for an upcoming event that's less than 2 months out), but if time is not of the essence... well, go for it! :-)

And no, I'm not being paid by anyone to write this :-P I thought I'd finally chronicle my experiences with not only dress shopping online at a different site, but with attempting custom-fitted dresses. Still working on the armhole problem-- maybe I just have broader-than-average shoulders and don't know it!

Fashion Woes

A few weeks ago, Tabitha and I went on some shopping sprees together. No, we never physically set foot in any stores together, but, armed with a web browser, high-speed internet connection, and IM client, we browsed the cyberstores together, sharing finds and getting each others' opinions. It was actually a lot of fun! We each ended up buying quite a few things from different stores, and excitedly shared our purchases with each other as they arrived in the mail.

I'm not sure how the shopping spree started, but the focus was on dresses and skirts and more fun, feminine things to wear when the weather warms up. I was a bit skeptical of ordering clothes online, because I typically have to try on clothes before buying them, but some of these outfits were too cute to pass up, and the online stores had pretty reasonable return/exchange policies, so I took a chance.

You see, I have a notoriously difficult body size/shape to work with. I am almost always between sizes, and dresses are the worst-- they almost always fit well in one spot, and not so well in another. My bust and waist lead me to smaller-size dresses, yet my shoulders and hips (thanks to baby belly!) lean more towards medium. So a dress either fits my chest/midsection well but my arms can't move because the shoulders/armpit area is too tight, or it fits fine around my shoulders but hangs loosely around the bust/waist area. Can't win! Sashes/belts help, but are not always the solution.

Bras are another "fun" thing to shop for, something I am sure many women can sympathize with! I don't think there's anywhere on the female body with more variation than breast size, so I'm not even going to get into that rant. Suffice it to say that us less-well-endowed girls are a neglected corner of the brassier market :-P

Pants/jeans are irksome, too, especially in this day and age when "low-rise" is so popular. I have long legs, so pants that fit my waist are almost always too short, but pants at the right inseam length are too big around the waist! Don't even get me started on skinny jeans, where the low-rise phenomenon is even more prevalent!

Even shirts can be troublesome, though less often so than dresses, bras, or jeans. My arms are longer than average for my body size, so often times, either a shirt/sweater fits perfectly all over but but has too-short arms, or everything just hangs baggily (<-- is that a word??) 

Shoes can be a challenge for me because I have wide feet, and the majority of shoes that I'm interested in do not come in wide sizes. *Sob* On the flip side, when a shoe does fit my feet, it tends to look decent on me, no matter how weird-looking the shoe. I remember once when my mom and I went shoe shopping, and just for fun, she had me try one some of the chunkier or higher-platform shoes-- shoes that looked pretty wacky by themselves. To her surprise, they didn't look quite so wacky on my feet! So... chalk up one plus?

Hats are also another universal fit, it seems. When Allan and I were browsing a hat shop in Vegas last December, he jokingly put a big, floppy, garish, lampshade-type hat on my head, in an effort to find something to make me look silly. Seems it backfired on him, and even the most outlandish hats the store had (i.e. stuff clearly meant for costumes) didn't look quite so outrageous on my head. Go figure, as I hardly ever wear hats! Maybe I should start doing so :-P

Anyway, now you can see why, up till now, my outfits consisted largely of straight-leg Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and either turtlenecks or button-down shirts. Standard office wear for a small fish lost in a cubicle sea of fellow nerds.

But now I'm venturing out into the world of more feminine wear, and am slowly figuring things out on that front. Being in an office full of women has certainly inspired me, as has my latest shopping sprees/online window shopping with Tabitha.

She also introduced me to the idea of wearing dresses with tights and cardigans, thus making them more winter-friendly, as well. Next thing I knew, I had not only amassed a handful of dresses (which actually fit surprisingly decently), but I'd also bought tights in almost every color imaginable. Pull out the skirts I'd put away when summer ended, and I now have a plethora of items from which to mix and match!

And since I don't know the first thing about style or fashion (beyond being aware of what types of outfits do NOT fit my physique, and avoiding them), I thought I'd start up a pinboard with my own little mix-n-match combinations.

From the formulation of abstract ideas on Polyvore: http://hellykwee.polyvore.com/

To the actual wearing of these ideas on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/hellykwee/helly-s-personal-style/

What are your ideas/thoughts/feedback?

Friday Five: Shopping

In honor of Black Friday, I thought I'd do a shopping-themed Friday Five. So here goes:

1. Do you participate in Black Friday shopping?
2. What is your favorite thing to shop for?
3. What store do you have a weakness for?
4. What's the biggest purchase you've ever made?
5. If you had $1000 to do with as you pleased, what would you spend it on?

1. Maybe if there are online deals to take advantage of on things I already need, but other than that-- no. I don't understand the craze that surrounds saving a few bucks. It's just not worth getting up at the crack of dawn and dealing with unruly mobs. I also feel sorry for the poor retail workers that have to give up their Thanksgiving to come in at midnight (or other ungodly early morning hours) and deal with the mad crowds. They already deal with enough sucky customers as is, I know that Black Friday multiplies that number tenfold... even more.

2. Books! I can spend hours in a bookstore, browsing and browsing.

3. The 99-cent store :-) Usually I'm good about not buying things unless I absolutely need them (and even then I scour out the best price), but in a dollar store, that impulse control goes right out the window. Likely because I figure "it's only $1!" Thankfully, it's usually on items we need, anyway. I'll never need to buy glue sticks for Todd again, but he uses them plenty at school!

4. Well, aside from the house (which doesn't really fall under the realm of "shopping" anyway) and things for the house (such as flooring), I'd say our big-screen TV. It was a luxury gift to ourselves now that we finally have the room for it :-)

5. I'd probably first stick in savings to earn a little interest while I figured out what to do with it! Honestly, I can't think of anything that I really need other than things around the house: new memory foam mattress, probably. Or else paying a gardener to remove the plants bordering our house and a neighbor's, replacing it with a fence instead.

How about you?

Finally, I leave you with a funny little shopping cart fail:

Short Saturday

Short post today, as I'm currently in LA, dropping off the little man for his week-long Thanksgiving break. This is the first time he's ever had a whole week off for Thanksgiving. Of course, we go back to LA next Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving, and are bringing him back that following Friday, so we really only get about 3-4 full days off without him. But hey-- a break is a break, right? And then it won't be long until the 2-week winter break.

Obviously, we enjoy school breaks because it gives us a change of pace in our routine. We get a break from parenthood, Todd gets to enjoy a different place full of different things not available in SB (like cable TV and twice as many toys) and gets to spend time with his grandparents. My parents get to see their grandson, though he's such a handful that I'm sure that by break's end they are ready for him to leave! ;-)

I also enjoy my trips back and forth to LA, picking him up and dropping him off, because it gives me a chance to do some shopping in places that simply don't exist in Santa Barbara. Here we are, city in paradise, population nearly 100K, and we have no bona-fide dollar store (I'm talking big chains like 99 Cents Only or Dollar Tree), there is no Wal-Mart, no Target, no JC Penney, no major discount grocery store (such as Food4Less), and, now that the big box bookstores have packed up, no more Borders or B&N. All we have is one rinky-dink K-Mart that USED to tout itself as a "Big" K-Mart (ha!), and where prices for an item are higher than the what the exact same item would cost at a faraway Wal-Mart or Target.

Even our Home Depot and OSH are pretty tiny, and have slim offerings compared to Lowe's (which we don't have) and Home Depots elsewhere. It can get a bit discouraging, not being able to find what you need!

So going down to LA, where such stores (and the corresponding savings they bring!) are abundant, is a great opportunity for me to stock up on things we need, and save money doing so. Off I go to get some household goods now!

Black Friday... at home!

While hoards of crazy shoppers duke it out in the wee, ungodly hours of the morning to catch Black Friday sales, I opted to sleep in. And sleep in I did! I went to bed relatively late (nearly 2:00am), and didn't get up until about 10:45 this morning. I opened up today's and yesterday's copies of the LA Times and browsed through the fat pile of sales fliers in the Thursday edition, all advertising their Black Friday sales, start times (Wal-Mart at midnight, most other stores at 4:00am) and coupons. There were a few interesting items that caught my fancy, I'll admit. But honestly? Nothing worth the hassle of waking up at ungodly hours and braving traffic and horrendous, self-absorbed crowds. There's nothing I need so badly that I'd be willing to do that for a few pieces of discounted merchandise. Besides, stores have sales all the time, I can be sure to catch good prices on things I need/want anytime during the year.

Some of the best times to shop incredible bargains and avoid crowds? The days immediately following a holiday. I picked up my costume for Halloween next year, at 75% off, a few days after Halloween this year. The days following Christmas are the best time to pick up needed items such as decorations and giftwrap, and store them for use next year. Great bargains on candy can be had the day after Valentine's Day and Halloween. As evidenced by my purchase of Twilight-themed Sweethearts, who cares if there are hearts or ghosts and ghouls on the packaging? Candy and chocolate are all the same inside! And more everyday stuff like clothing? End of the season. I get the nicest sweaters for a couple of dollars apiece just before summer begins, and the cutest shorts, skirts and tank-tops as the weather begins to turn nippy and winter arrives. Even Black Friday can't beat some of those off-season bargains! :-D

So, I've been enjoying a quiet Friday at home. Did a little cleaning, washed the bedding, and settled down on my chaise to do some reading. Figured I'd do a quick post before I got comfortable. Then tonight is dinner with friends at Red Pepper (a terrific, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that serves some of the best Chinese food in all of Santa Barbara-- their onion pancakes are a must-have!) followed by a trip to Old Town Tavern down the street. With any luck, the normal Friday-night crowds will be greatly reduced in number tonight, given that it's the middle of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tomorrow I head back down to LA to pick up the little man, who got to enjoy his long Thanksgiving break with my parents. Gonna stop by Walmart on the way, and hope that the post-Thanksgiving crowds will have subsided by then. This economy has apparently given rise to many stores extending their Black Friday sales through the rest of the weekend, and even longer, in the hopes of encouraging shoppers to continue to come in and spend!

Which reminds me, it's time I started thinking about Christmas shopping... thank goodness for online purchasing! ;-)

Coffins from Costco, or Postmortem Bling?

A friend posted on FB about an interesting find he came across while browsing the costco.com website: a "funeral" section, stocked with coffins and other funeral-related essentials. How about that! When Costco aims to be a one-stop shopping place, with its gas stations and fast food and electronics in addition to food and household items, they're really rounding things out with funeral accessories! I'm not sure how Costco's prices stack up against normal "retail" prices of caskets at your average funeral home, but I guess if you really find yourself in the market for one, and if a comparable coffin goes for price difference of at least $50, then it's worth a year's membership just for the casket ;-)

Of course, Costco sells traditional, run-of-the-mill funeral items: caskets, urns, flower stands. Stuff you'd typically find at your local mortuary. But that's assuming that you're going to choose traditional burial or cremation for yourself or for your loved one. But what if you don't want to go with the norm?

Back in January 2006, I spotted an article in the current issue of Popular Science that dealt with the various alternatives of body disposal (besides cremation and burial) available to the public. One environmentally-friendly option is dipping the body into a vat of liquid nitrogen, which essentially freeze-dries it and makes it so brittle that one zap of vibration shatters it into a pile of powder. This powder is then put into a potato-starch box and buried in the ground, where everything disintegrates within a year, returning nutrients to the soil. Pretty eco-conscious, not to mention cost effective (at $1000, about the same cost as cremation, and much less than the $8000 average price tag for conventional funerals and burials). And as they say... ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Very fitting, no?

But wait, it gets better (this is copied verbatim from the article):

LifeGem in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, has perfected a flashier type of after-death alchemy: transforming cremated remains into man-made diamonds. Technicians extract pure carbon from the ashes, then place the carbon into a diamond press that exerts intense heat (about 2200 degrees Fahrenheit) and pressures of up to 50,000 atmospheres for several days. The rough diamond that results-- which will be naturally colored yellow or orange but can, through processing, be made blue with trace amounts of the element boron-- can be faceted and polished just like an ordinary stone. In addition to choosing the color, you can specify the size of your LifeGem, from 0.2 to 1 carat. At $20,000 for a 1-carat blue diamond, though, it's a fair bit more expensive than a typical cremation, which costs around $1000 (small yellow gemstones start at $2700). Total turnaround time: six to nine months.

LifeGems have attracted a devoted following of thousands who prefer their deceased loved ones around their fingers, not underfoot. "The diamonds are tangible, they're beautiful, and they can be handed down", says the company's CFO, Mike Herro. "Family members say we've made their difficult situation a little bit better".

How's that for an icebreaker at a party-- stumped for something to say? Just show off your jewelry and explain how that's Grandma on your finger or Great Aunt Millie around your neck.

And in case you're wondering why I'm quoting an article that's almost 5 years old, it's because I did blog about it on my Grab.com blog back when that issue of the magazine came out. No doubt LifeGem was a fledgling company back then. I looked them up, and it appears that they are still around. Wonder how business is doing. Given the fact that nothing in life is certain but taxes and death, I suppose they'll always have a steady supply of customers, if people are quirky enough to consider it ;-)

Me? I actually like the sound of the more eco-friendly options. If nothing else, it saves money AND space. I always wondered what would happen when cemeteries ran out of room to landscape more burial plots or build more mausoleums.

How about you? What are post-life options would you consider?

Candy

This post is partly inspired by a recent Plinky.com prompt, and partly by a recent shopping trip this weekend. Nothing fancy– just the usual errands, and a quest to find 1) white non-sheer knee-high socks and 2) hair shears. I’ve got my costume for next Halloween all planned out, and need white knee socks to complete the outfit. I also tried my hand at trimming my split ends this past week, and while that endeavor actually went pretty well, I noticed that my current hair shears are no longer as sharp as they used to be. I tell ya, though– it’s HARD to find white knee socks and hair shears in this town! I must’ve hit every drugstore between our place and the local K-Mart, to no avail! Gonna try my luck at Wal-Mart this weekend, while I’m down in LA for little man’s dental appointment. Wish me luck!

Anyway… that was a tangent. While at CVS, I came upon the bins of post-Halloween candy for sale. I grabbed up Twizzlers, Tootsie Rolls, Now & Laters and a 25-cent bag of candy corn. 4 decent sized bags of candy for under $3? Yes, please! :-D As I surveyed the mass of candy now in the house (keeping in mind that we still had leftovers from our own trick-or-treat giveaway stash, plus candy that was there even before Halloween), I started thinking about all my favorite candies and how I liked each one, and was surprised at how many of them I actually prefer STALE:

– Gummi Bears. This is one of the rare times when I’m a brand whore (anyone that knows me knows that I readily eschew brand names for store/generic brands in a heartbeat when it’s cost-effective).  Haribo gummi bears simply cannot be beat. They’re okay fresh, but leave the bag open for a day or two and allow the bears to develop a chewy outer coat, and YUM.

– Red Vines. I prefer these to Twizzlers, but I can deal with Twizzlers on a bite-sized (i.e. Halloween fun-size packets!) basis. Either way, nothing beats the taste of a chewy, slightly stretchy piece of strawberry-flavored licorice that has been sitting out for a day or two.

– Marshmallows. I like my french fries with a crispy outer shell and a soft, mealy inside. Same goes for marshmallows– a perfect marshmallow for me is slightly hardened and chewy on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside. And bite-sized, not jumbo!

– Tootsie Rolls. I don’t know about you, but fresh Tootsie Rolls always seem to stick to my teeth far worse than stale ones. Does that happen to anyone else?

Then there are the rest of the favorites that my sweeth tooth gravitates toward, such as:

– Smarties (aka Rockets in Canada, Fizzers in the UK). I don’t know why, but I’m a sucker for pastel-colored, chalk-like candy. The kind that crumbles into a powder in your mouth like… well, chalk!

– Candy Corn. I like eating them in an orderly fashion– first the big yellow bottom, then the orange center, and finally, saving the best for last, the white tip.

-- LifeSavers Mints, particularly the Wint-o-Green (spearmint) flavor. Peppermint seems to strong for me, but spearmint possesses that perfect blend of sharp mintiness and sweetness. A couple times a year, I buy the big 3 or 5-pound bags of them at Wal-Mart, and keep them in my desk drawer at work :-D

And now that I have finished writing this post, I think I shall mosey into the kitchen and find some candy to nosh on :-)

How about you? What are some of your favorites?

Shopping and Sexism

I made a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond today and picked up a bed desk for my laptop. It has a built-in USB-powered cooling fan, a little lamp, soft padding on the sides for a mouse, and a cupholder. Since lately I've been spending a lot of my computer time on my laptop from the comfort of Todd's bed, I found a need for a sturdy stand that would keep my laptop cool and protect my legs from its heat. Pillows may protect my legs but aren't good for the laptop. Especially mine, which is 6 years old and prone to really heating up! This is what I wound up getting:



I'm using it as I type up this post now, and I love it! It's just the right size for my large, 15.4" widescreen laptop, which seems to love the cooling fans. They provide some really nice airflow, and keep the laptop happy. Which makes me happy :-) And with a 20% off coupon, it's really worth the price!

So my little purchase covers the "Shopping" part of the post title. What about the "Sexism" part, you may be wondering?

Well, I took my co-worker Timo shopping with me, as there were some things he wanted to get at Bed Bath and Beyond as well. But before that, I wanted to visit a couple of open houses before they closed up. When we got to one of them, we were greeted by the slick, stereotypical-salesman type of agent. The type you know you'd have a hard time saying "no" to if you wandered into his showroom. We introduced ourselves individually, and the guy immediately focused his gaze and attention on Timo. When the agent asked a question, I would respond, and he would glance at me for a split second before turning back to Timo "full time". Apparently I also asked a question during this introductory discourse, which the guy answered, all the while looking at... well, not me! Just when I was starting to feel a bit disconcerted about this, Timo explicitly directed the agent's attention back to me, and we moved on to the tour.

Afterward, we both mused about how there are still people out there who just automatically assume that when they see a man and a woman together, the man is the one making the decisions. I haven't encountered very many forms of sexism in my life (surprising, considering I served in the still-predominantly male Army), so it was a bit surreal to actually witness a form of it in action.

I've also had similar experiences when accompanying my parents to business transactions. When we were shopping around for a burial plot for my grandmother, some of the funeral home personnel would turn their full attention to me, even though it was my mother asking them questions/answering their questions/making the decisions. They just assumed they'd get faster answers out of me because my mom's English isn't as fluent, but come on! It's not like she can't speak it at all! And if there's something that needs clarification, I'm there to help, but I'm not the primary person to be addressed.

All in all, it made for an amusing part of the day, but it still makes you wonder: whatever happened to the common courtesy of addressing the person who is talking to you, regardless of what you think his/her role is?

Retail therapy... conservatively!

Retail therapy. Ah, there's something you hear about every so often. Boyfriend dumped you? Retail therapy! Rotten day at work? Retail therapy! Creditors hounding you? Retail... oh, wait.

I've never been much for that sort of extravagance-- the word "therapy" is probably the most amusing euphemism I've ever heard to downplay flagrant shopping sprees. My idea of "splurging" is most people's idea of normal shopping. Still, I get the euphoria that comes with treating yourself to something nice. I just don't think you have to shell out of lots of dough to accomplish that. Therefore, Wal-mart and the dollar store are my playground. Some would call me cheap, but when it comes to the important things, I'll spend wisely. Everything else is just a nice-to-have instead of a real need.

This week has been a week of splurging, Helly-style :-)

It began with an upgrade to my phone. It's been nearly 3 years since I upgraded from a standard Samsung bar phone to my beloved RAZR phone with the dragon tattoo. Yesterday the UPS guy delivered by brand-new T-Mobile (HTC) Shadow. It's amazingly lightweight and, in closed form, not much bulkier than my ultra-slim RAZR. It cost me $50, so I figured this was my Christmas gift to myself :-)



Last night I went to K-Mart with Todd and treated myself to a pair of nice, soft, fleece pajamas (last week they were 40% off, this week it was 50% :-D) to help keep me warm in this cold weather. The apartment can turn into an icebox at night and I knew it was time for something warmer when I woke up one morning, wearing flannel pajamas and snuggled deep under a thick comforter... shivering! I'm looking forward to snuggling in my new fleece pj's tonight!


I also got a bottle of Garnier Fructis leave-in conditioner. Normally I don't fuss much with hair products, and care even less about brand names, but with my trying to grow out my bangs and grow out a haircut (note to self: Helly cannot wear layers well!) I figured I needed a little help. And it's still cheaper than going to a salon! My hair's unruly, but it's not really in such bad shape.



I'm having fun with all of my new purchases, and yet they are all still practical things. I suppose retail therapy has its uses... and can be very enjoyable, when partaken of in moderation! :-)

Ah, shopping

Unlike most women, I don't generally like shopping. Oh, don't get me wrong, I do enjoy perusing department stores by myself from time to time to see if there's anything cute on sale, but I probably do that as often as I see the dentist (and yes, I'm a good girl and visit my dentist twice a year :-D) As a rule, I like to go into a store with a shopping list (or at least, a set idea of what I intend to buy, such as particular household goods), get all the items, maybe allow myself a few detours by well-placed, marketing-approved display items, and get out. An exception would probably be bookstores, as I do like to just wander the aisles without any agenda and see what's new. But even that is a rare occasion, as I do most of my book shopping online through used-books outlets. The last time I bought something brand new at a physical Borders store, it was only because 1) it was a compilation-- seven of C.S. Lewis's books in one tome and 2) I had a 40% off coupon, making the net price of each of the individual titles quite cheap.

And so it is with amusement and general amazement that I read about folks like Joe and Tabitha braving ungodly hours on Black Friday. What fortitude! What determination! What bargains to be had! :-) My parents themselves hit the stores on Friday, but went later in the morning, thus avoiding the mad crowds... and all the terrific sales :-) Not me. My days of getting up at ungodly hours are over-- 8 years and counting (wow, it just dawned on me that I've finally been out of the Army, post-discharge, than I've been in!), and I wouldn't trade my warm blanket and pillow for anything.

Still, Black Friday or not, there is always holiday shopping (and its accompanying madness) to contend with. I had blogged earlier about how grateful I am that Allan has a small family, making our holiday celebrations nice and calm and low-key. That also comes in handy when it comes time for Christmas shopping! We all tend to get each other the same things every year, and to be quite honest, I rather like the predictability of it. It makes shopping each year a snap.

Best of all is when it can all be done online. Save for actually placing the orders, I've already finished my Christmas shopping this year. I've picked out what I want to get each family member, and logged it all in my Kaboodle.com shopping list. A few clicks of a button and it's done. No long lines. No antsy customers. No harried cashiers. No traffic to fight. No parking spots to vie for. No fidgety kid to drag along. No crowded aisles to squeeze through.

It doesn't get any better than that... does it?

The Great Inconsistent Sizing Conspiracy

Men have it easy. They don't succumb to female hormones. They don't deal with monthly visitors. They can pee standing up! And they can buy clothes (be it online or in a store) without having to try them on.

Unless it was for a pretty standard, no-frills piece of clothing like a plain T-shirt or sweatshirt, I dare not buy clothes online, where I do not have a chance to try them out. Allan, on the other hand, has it easy. He can buy pants because they are sized by waist and inseam, and he knows his measurements. He can buy shirts based on neck size and sleeve length. If those standard sizes don't fit, more often it's because of a change in his own physique, not because of a particular manufacturer.

Not so with women's clothing. It boggles the mind how widely and inconsistently women's sizing varies from one manufacturer to another. I can run the gamut from Small to Large, from size 4P to size 10, depending on the item of clothing and on the manufacturer. One company's size X is another company's size Y, which prevents me from ever giving a blanket answer to the question: "what size are you?" The answer is, quite honestly: "it depends". It's a tiny bit easier to estimate sizing when it's in terms of actual numbers instead of S/M/L/XL, but not much. And some brands even use ODD-numbered sizing instead of even (like Bongo jeans), giving me yet another range of numbers to keep track of :-/

Some clothing lines even accommodate differing stature among women, which is great because pants are a source of frustration for me: they either fit well but are too short, or are the right length but too loose. But even then, their versions of "tall" are inconsistent. Some are longer than others. I found this out when I ordered a pair of "tall" jeans from JCPenney, only to find them bunching around my feet, whereas the "tall" sizes in Bongo and Gloria Vanderbilt are a perfect fit.

This is true even of bras! You would figure that since bras are sized almost like men's clothing (by chest girth and cup size), it should be fairly consistent. Nope. Among varying brands I've also run the gamut from a 32 to a 38. And of course, cup sizes are never consistent because they hinge on the chest size. A 32A is not the same as a 38A (that is, assuming the latter can even be found!) There's another point: why do bra manufacturers assume that larger chest girth = larger cup size!?!? Not every flat-chested girl is a waif. Not to mention the fact that most women are asymmetrical and may need two different cup sizes at once! But that's for another rant... oh wait, I already did: http://blogs.grab.com/hellykwee/380443

So, what IS the deal with this vast inconsistency in sizing women's clothes? Is it just a conspiracy to get women to come into the stores to try on new clothes, thereby enticing them into purchasing more when they actually see it in the stores? Kinda like the impulse-purchase reason behind all the candy stocked at the checkout counters.

It is annoying, to say the least. I envy Allan's ability to pick up a shirt or pair of jeans, examine the label and then throw it into his shopping cart. No wrestling out of his clothes and shoes in a dinky little dressing room. Sigh... it's not penis envy, it's clothing-shopping envy! ;-P

March madness? Try May madness!

... aka, why I haven't had more time to blog other than random bits and pieces on my Tumblr blog, which is still pretty up-to-date: http://hellykwee.tumblr.com

I thought April was busy. And it was. But we're barely into May and I just know I'm going to be in non-stop mode till the end of it, especially THIS year!

We kicked things off with my birthday today (a day I share with FOUR other people that I know of. One of them on the same year, even!). Nothing eventful-- I actually spent 9 hours shopping with my son in a town 40 miles north of here (it has a Wal-Mart, FoodsCo and Dollar Tree, so the savings is well worth the trip up there)-- well, 7 hours shopping and 2 hours driving back and forth. Still, it was nice to let Allan have some peace and quiet in which to work, and fun to hang out with my little man all day.

Since we didn't get a chance to clean up today, tomorrow shall be cleaning day after church, and then I have to head to Todd's school to finish inventorying uniforms. Also planning a trip to the library to get some more books and videos for the little man.

The birthdays continue-- tomorrow belongs to a friend from church. Since Tuesday brings Cinco de Mayo, we're all getting together at her place for a tri-fold celebration.

Then comes Mother's Day next weekend. Weekend after that is the California Strawberry Festival. I've been meaning to go for the past 6 years, but each and every year, SOMETHING has come up that prevented me from going. This year, by golly, I'm bound and determined to go ;-) That weekend is also the wedding of some college friends of mine, so it will be good to catch up with the old geek crowd again.

Then comes Todd's birthday. Little man turns 5! FIVE!! Where does the time go!? He's not so little any more! The weekend following Todd's birthday (if it doesn't already fall on a weekend) is always Memorial Day weekend, so hopefully that 3-day weekend will provide a little breather (not likely, if we're holding the family celebration in LA that weekend).

The last Saturday of May will be Todd's karate tournament, followed by the kiddie celebration (all his school friends) at the playground in our apartment complex, for his birthday.

Whew! Busy busy busy month. It's kinda sad when I look forward to Mondays solely because the routine of work provides a respite from the hectic busyness of these crazy weekends!

Big Brother is watching

In a recent email to Jenna, I realized I didn't have much in the way of updates because everything pertinent in my life has already been published on my Facebook status and/or on Twitter. Such Big Brother transparency the internet provides these days, I mused.

But it's a little more obvious on Twitter. I don't use it a whole lot, and only follow 2 people and a couple of websites, but it's kinda fun nonetheless. Here's where it got a bit spooky:

Before Christmas, as I was doing online shopping and using kaboodle.com to keep track of my shopping lists, I put up a status about how much I loved Kaboodle. That same day, kaboodledotcom started following my feed. A few weeks later I put up a comment about the joys of shopping from the comfort of your living room. That's when shopping_chic started following me. How bizarre, I thought.

Then there's today. And my current status proclaiming how much I enjoy receiving Borders coupons in my email. Within hours, I had a new follower: PromoCodedotorg.

Makes me wonder about those bots circling the web, looking for related keywords in order to advertise themselves. Considering that each time, I received a new follower within at most a day of posting my status, it's pretty efficient. Marketing at its finest, hey!

Sunday afternoon funny

This little gem is currently reflected on mine and Allan's Facebook statuses, but since some of my readers aren't (active) on FB, I thought I'd share it here, too.

Sunday afternoon, we're shopping at Vons (Safeway for those of you outside of Southern California). Like most supermarkets, it has a rewards card entitling you to discounts. Allan and I both have one, but since his has long been inactive, we just use mine. To save on carrying multiple cards in my wallet, we simply key in my phone number at checkout, and watch the numbers roll off the prices. Easy peasy. Right?

Yesterday was no different-- I minded Todd while Allan paid for groceries. As he reached for the receipt, he was greeted with "Have a nice day, Ms. Kwee!"

Apparently my name popped up as the owner of the rewards card after I punched in my phone number. If the cashier had simply addressed him as "Mr. Kwee", it would've been funny enough. It HAS happened in the past, though usually by people who haven't actually SEEN Allan (i.e. mail/telephone correspondence) and seen that he doesn't look remotely Asian. Still, stranger names have happened, and it's obvious we're a family, so "Mr. Kwee" would not have been too much of a stretch.

But "Ms. Kwee"? When the obviously MALE customer is standing right there in front of you? Well! Too funny! Although I suppose if it hadn't been for this gaffe, I wouldn't have an amusing story to tell, and more ammo with which to poke fun at Allan! :-D

Or should I say... "Ms. Kwee" :-D

(this does jive well with the assertion that he's the woman and I'm the man in the relationship, but that's for another blog entry...)

This and that

I've been quite remiss in my blogging, haven't I! It's been crazy busy here, and I feel as though I barely have time to stop and catch my breath. Now the holidays are approaching and it's going to get even madder for a while, as it always does. I realized I haven't provided many personal updates. Not that there's much to tell!

Todd got his first report card as we had our first parent-teacher conference this week. He's doing fine, gets along well with his classmates, and is starting to come out of his shell a little more.

Gas prices have been dropping nicely-- I hear it's below $2 in some parts of LA. I've never seen prices dip so fast! One station I keep my eye on frequently was changing their sign almost every day this past couple weeks! Let's hope it soon translates to lower prices in the stores, too.

I've joined the choir at church and have been having fun practicing Christmas carols with our little group. Sometimes I'm the only tenor, as the other two guys will occasionally prefer bass, depending on the song. Despite our small size, though, I think we sound pretty decent singing a capella. This year we're also trying something a little ambitious-- the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. My head has been filled with Christmas tunes a little earlier this year!

This weekend promises to be a busy one-- along with the usual chores/errands, we've got a (surprise) party to attend on Saturday, and then Thanksgiving potluck with our church on Sunday. Allan shall be hard at work in the kitchen, preparing our dishes :-)

Next weekend brings the usual festivities and seeing our families in LA as we celebrate Thanksgiving at Ron and Debbie's. Then a holiday party at work, and preparations for Christmas!

Christmas shopping is never an easy task, but this year, with all my online perusals, I discovered a website that makes your shopping easier. It's called Kaboodle, and you can enter the URL of just about any shopping website and it will extract key information and keep it in a list for you. It's been great for organizing potential gifts from a variety of stores.

One store in particular garnered lots of browsing by me last night: Lush! I would never have heard of it had it not been for Jenna sending me some of their soap a year ago. I spied some interesting gift sets there. So... thanks, Jenna, for introducing me to some really unique bath items!

Back to the grind... end of year means annual eval time at work, and all the fun paperwork that entails!

Anti-theft devices?

Went shopping after work today. Came home with a new bathing suit from K-Mart. Great deal, clearance sale-- it's almost the end of summer, after all.

I get home to try it on again and model it for Allan. To my surprise, what do you suppose was still affixed to one of the straps? That big, bulky plastic security device. You know, the ones that can only be removed by special removers at the checkout stand, that burst and spray indelible ink if you try to force it off yourself, and that set off alarms if you try to walk out of the store with them?

Yeah... nice little surprise, considering there were no alarms to be heard when we left the store.

Kinda defeats the purpose, eh?

Clothing woes

I hate shopping for clothing sometimes. It's not so bad when I'm looking for standard fare like shirts, shorts and skirts. Shoes aren't generally a problem, though my wide feet precludes some selections. Pants can be interesting, because my legs are pretty long. But nowadays having "tall" length in pants isn't uncommon, so sticking with Bongo or Gloria Vanderbilt usually suffices.

In other words, when it comes to casual, everyday wear, I'm pretty much covered (no pun intended, as you shall see).

The trouble comes when I try to go for something a little fancier-- either a fancy top to go with a skirt, or an outright dress. Something I can wear to semi-formal events. Granted, such events only come about once a year or so, but it's nice to be prepared. These days, such tops and dresses seem to be solely designed for women with cleavage. They are either low cut (i.e. too low for me) or they are designed to be worn without bras. Neither option, of course, is feasible for someone like me.

Just once I'd like to be able to pore over the dress rack of our local department store and quickly be able to find something I can actually wear. On the rare times I find something that suits my body type, it's inevitably the wrong size. I think I had to go through hundreds, maybe even a thousand dresses before I finally found the quintessential "little black dress" that actually fits me! Lovely odds-- 1 in a 1000? That's a lot of perusing.

Oh, and don't get me started on swimsuits. Those are even harder to come by-- again, everything out there is designed for women with at least moderate chest sizes. We're going on a campout for 4th of July weekend, and I still have not found a decent one-piece. Looks like I may have to resort to wearing my bikini (which I can't comfortably swim in) with a T-shirt on top of it.

I say-- down with all the cleavage-showing clothing! Or at least... balance it out a little with stuff that better suits those of us less well-endowed! :-P

How about you? What clothing woe do you have to deal with?


(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/408463471)

They've gone and done it

I've been trying to sell Allan for years. In fact, I've offered people MONEY to take him off my hands. Strangely, I never seem to have any takers. So what makes the menagerie think they will have any better luck trying to offload Allan's offspring on some unsuspecting buyer?

For Sale Ad (if you haven't already seen it)

Speaking of buying things, last weekend we finally went ahead and purchased a memory foam mattress. We got a full-sized one for the futon. That means we won't be able to put the futon into its upright position, but we haven't anyway-- while Todd lives with us, I sleep out on the futon while Daddy and little man share the queen bed in the bedroom. We got a pretty good deal on one-- $475, made cheaper because it's not the TempurPedic brand (I rarely do brands, anyway) and because the place spends little overhead on the frills and upkeep of an actual indoor store-- everything is inside a couple warehouses. But the salesmen were very friendly, very knowledgeable, and very easygoing-- no pressure tactics, just the information the customer needs. If you live here and ever need a new mattress, I'd highly recommend them: Mattress Mike in Goleta :)

Okay, that little plug over-- the mattress has been pretty good so far. I think it's still in the break-in period, a little firmer than it should be, so my back is still occasionally sore sometimes upon awakening, but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. It's a good test drive-- if it works out well, we'll buy a bigger one when we have our own house someday.

On another note: a physiological oddity: the knuckle of my left hand's ring finger has taken to having occasional "hot flashes" out of nowhere. Without warning, I'll suddenly get this flood of heat on the knuckle, almost like I'm exposing that little area to a flame or something. It lasts several seconds and then goes away. It's the darndest thing-- and the oddest sensation. Anyone ever experienced something like this before? What IS it, exactly?

Wow, almost dinnertime, and it's STILL light out. Yeah... I'm enjoying the longer days :-D Summer will be upon us before we know it!

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/365423228)

It's Raining, It's Pouring

... the old man is snoring!

Feels like the storm of the century has hit. Gusty winds AND cold, pelting rain all day today. When I came back to the apartment this afternoon, I had to haul my umbrella and wet shoes INSIDE because even the covered parts of our front porch and back patio were getting soaked from rain blowing every which way. My pants were instantly tossed in the hamper due to all the dirt I splattered on it, just walking. We're supposed to get record amounts of rain this next couple days. I suppose, as dry as So Cal normally is, we do need it. Plus it makes for coziness indoors-- warm and listening to the pitter patter outside.

I stopped by the store today and grabbed some excellent after-Christmas deals, 75% off everything holiday-related. But my biggest amusement came in the form of a "sale" item-- sweaters originally marked at $25 apiece and that I saw priced at $10 last week. Today they were marked "Clearance!!"... and priced at $12. Yeah-- more like a clearance of shoppers' wallets :-P

My New Year's Eve was relatively uneventful. I had put Todd down for a long nap earlier that afternoon, figuring it would cause him to stay up till midnight and catch some fireworks on TV with us. At 11:30, however, he was yawning and actually saying "yes" to the notion of going to bed (something he rarely does), so I tucked him into bed and headed for the living room. We watched the ball drop on Times Square, toasted each other with sparkling blueberry juice, and then watched a bit of regular TV. At 12:30 I went to check in on Todd, who was still awake!! Ah well, 4th of July shall provide an opportunity for even more fireworks, AND a warmer environment in which to watch them.

Yesterday Todd surprised me by choosing the library over shopping (where he knew there was an ample selection of toys to browse). I told him I wanted to go shopping, but he chimed in with "I want to go to the library". So, off we went to the library instead, coming home with an armful of books-- a couple for me, and a dozen for Todd :-)

Then today I read him some of his books aloud, and I just wanna know-- why is it so tiring to read books out loud? I was absolutely bushed by the time I'd finished a round of stories. I mean, it's not like it's very physically taxing-- sitting comfortably on our futon, maybe a bit of strain on my vocal cords, but other than that... so why was I tired and sleepy at the end of it?

Time for dinner... Allan has been waiting home all day today for his new computer to arrive. I guess UPS is waiting till the absolute last minute to deliver it to our doorstep. In any case, it's made for some fun ribbing at Allan's expense, getting his dander up over the slight possibility that he might have to wait yet another day for his much-anticipated new toy ;-) Aren't women evil? ;-D

(originally posted at:  http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/344422846)