Wa Gwai 兩隻人見人愛的搗蛋嘩鬼 - My 2 Little Rascals

Alex’s birthday is coming up in a few days, and I have been preparing his gifts, party favors (@ the childcare center), and his birthday outfit. No, not naked!

He has a pair of favorite jeans, but they are too small now, size 18-24 months. There’s a monkey dangling on the cargo pocket, that’s probably why he loves them so much. I had already put them away, so that he won’t ask for them anymore (hopefully).

Alex has been asking for a pair of jeans with his favorite character - Lightening McQueen. I have searched high and low and couldn’t find any. I ended up digging out his used white tee, buying a pair of pull up denim jeans (elastic waist band all around, that’s another hard to find item when you need them), and a few iron on transfers and embroidered patches, I made his birthday outfit with his favorite character on them.

The results, pretty good. The only mistake I made was that I didn’t trim the paper before I iron the “Birthday Boy” on the back of the white tee. For the front, I trimmed them really good. I can’t wait to show him his new outfit.

xoxo

I always wanted to go shopping at the new San Fransico Center in SF Downtown, but couldn’t find the time to go. Afterall, it’s an hour drive and parking in the garage could be expensive. This past Saturday, I need to go Chinatown, so I thought it’s a good chance to go Downtown too. Dear Hubby agreed to go with me to keep me company. Kids were supposed to stay home, but under certain circumstances, Ashlyn tagged along. The only store I wanted to shop at was H&M. Why? Here are the reasons:

1. Bigger & better selections (I assume)
2. Early Fall collections just arrived
3. Most important, have a $10 off $50 purchase coupon for Kids’ department

We got there, parked. Both Ashlyn & myself were excited to go shopping. Went to the one on Powell Street. As soon as we went in, Ashlyn said, “I told you not to look at adults department. I told you to go to the kids’ section.” We went upstairs, nop. I remember Elaine told me there’s kids’ section, so I called her. She told me to go to the new one at the Westfield San Franciso. We went. There’re 4 doors at the entrance, 3 of them were shut. A security guard standing in the front, answering people questions. OMG! how could that happened? Not today!! A piece of paper posted on the glasses, and all I could see was “Power Outage” NO! NO! Not today! We went in anyway, and I checked the directory, H&M was located on 3rd floor. I looked up, dark, no light at all. Oh well, so we turned around and left the building and head home. Both Ashlyn & myself were disappointed.

You know what my Dear Hubby said to me? He said, “It’s not your day today!” How comforting.

*sigh*

In 2 days, it’s Ashlyn’s 4th Birthday. I have been looking forward to her birthday weeks ago, because she is going to have her first birthday party at the childcare center, celebrating with her new friends.

I have been discussing what to get for the favor bags with Elaine, and finally got all I needed online.

Last week, after a quick lunch in the mall with my lunch buddy, we were attracted by a sign of a kids clothing store. “up to 60% off”, how could we miss it??!! I saw a white tee, with “Birthday Girl” on the front, a little bit of sequins sewed on. The damage? $19.50. In my opinion, and Vivien’s, not worth it. So, over the weekend, the idea of D.I.Y. crossed my mind, since I already bought Ashlyn couple of white tees for $1.99 each. I began to search online for iron on graphics.

Voila! Perfect! Found it! Elaine and Vivien approved it. I’m sure Ashlyn would approve it too, cux it says “Birthday Princess” with lots of blings.

I received the graphic on Tuesday afternoon, as soon as I got home from work, I locked myself in the bathroom, make sure Ashlyn won’t see it, with all the things I needed, I began to work on my little project. As a result, well, see it for yourself.

I’m crafty. What can I say?

Buy 1 Get 1 Free. Good Deal Hun? That’s 50% off. As a bargain mom, how can I let it pass. Yup, that’s exactly what happened when I saw this toddler tee in Hong Kong. I couldn’t resist. Click on image to see the picture of this great deal.

.

.
Haha! Got-cha! They didn’t have the promotion for the tee itself, it was the graphic, it says “Brother and Sister, buy 1 get 1 free” Even Ashlyn & Alex couldn’t help and thought that was a great deal. Look at them, how happy they were.

Ashlyn has a green one, and Alex has a black one. Too bad I wasn’t able to get the both of them to model the tee. Maybe next time.

All my dear friends know how much I love to shop. It could be in upscale department stores, that usually just window shopping, and if I did make a purchase from these stores, items must be from the sale racks. I wouldn’t miss the chance to dig for exceptional deals at discount shops, or fighting for the great stuff with other moms at the street hawker stands (that usually happened in Hong Kong only).

“The item” I purchased from the Hong Kong trip was a ring I got from a friend’s jewelry shop. It caught my eyes cux it’s simple, but yet multi-functional. The price tag was in the 5-figure (Hong Kong dollars), which is in the mid-4-digits in US dollars. Since it’s her family business and they are wholesaler, let’s just say I got a pretty good deal.

OK, back to the ring. It is a ring, but, you can wear it as a pandent — 2 ways. Pictures tell a thousand words.

There will be more goodies to come!

I’ve been back for 3 weeks now, and I haven’t really started to blog about my trip. One word - AWSOME!! It was a blast!

My last trip to Hong Kong was almost 4 years ago, when Ashlyn was 4 months old. Things haven’t changed much, except more high rise buildings, and upscale shopping malls.

The best part of my trip, besides seeing my nephew for the first time, spending time with family, all the good food, and lots of lots of shopping, was that I had met up with many of my friends from elementary school, secondary school, ex-coworkers, and family friends.

I think I should start organizing all those pictures of food, stuff I bought (for Ashlyn, Alex and myself) and start blogging.

Stay tune!

Ever since my first child was born, I have been obsessed with sending emails and greeting cards with her photos on it. When my second child was born, needless to say, pictures of one turned into pictures of two. Every time I saw advertisements of stationary companies that offer “design your own”, “do it yourself”, or “put your favorite pictures here” greeting cards, note pads, and even bank checks, I would stop whatever I was doing and just had to check it out.

I love custom photo cards, especially those with simple, contemporary designs, and neutral color that would fit into any occasions.

Every now and then, I would pick out a few good pictures of my kids and turned it into photo note cards or photo greeting cards. I just left it blank without any holiday or seasonal greetings, so that I could use it for anybody, anytime, and for any occasion. For example, I have used it as thank you cards after birthday parties, get well cards, or just to say hi cards to relatives who live overseas. I also use it as a gift tag, so that the recipient would know exactly who gave him the gift without second guessing.

There are so many other way I can use a custom photo cards for. You just have to be creative!

I had a day off on Good Friday, so I had a long weekend. That’s the first long weekend since our company shut down a week for Christmas last year. Starring at the calendar, feeling kind of depressed, cux we are not going to get another long weekend until end of May - Memorial Day weekend.

Well, I guess I shouldn’t be too up sad, because I already booked my plane tickets to Hong Kong in April. I haven’t been back there since October 2004. The main purpose of the trip is to see my new born nephew, the leap baby, who doesn’t have an American name yet. Of course, how can I not do some damage to my hubby’s wallet while I’m at the heaven of shopping. The one mall that I must go, which was open last year(I think), is the IFC Mall (International Finance Centre). It is located in Central, heart of Hong Kong, which houses over 200 international brands, restaurants and bars, beauty services, and a unique new cinema. I guess I can spend the entire day there and pamper myself. Got excited just talking about it.

I’m starting the count down. Less than a month to go!!

Nowadays, we can basically do everything online over the cyber world, even apply for loans. Carblvd.com offers car Loans for new and used cars, car refinance, auto insurance and even auto warranty. Simply hop over to their website, fill out the easy application online, and you will receive a free quote on a car loan.

I went shopping over the weekend. I bought a few things at Bath & Body Works. As I walked out the door, I kind of regret that I didn’t get the Country Apple foaming hand wash (3 for $10). So I returned and exchange 1 of the items I purchased 5 minutes ago. I don’t shop there often, not to mention returning/exchanging an item at BBW. I was in shock when I saw the cashier took out a marker and marked an “R” on the bottle. I immediately assumed “R” meant RETURN. What blew me away was that she turned around, open the cabinet and squeezed out the content from the bottle to the trash can, and dumped the empty bottle too. Oh My God! I just realized I wasted $3.33 worth of merchandise. I must applaud their policy to throw away the returned items for sanitary reasons. From now on, I must think it through before I make a purchase at BBW.