From our Home to Yours...

May the TRUE SPIRIT of the season find you and fill your hearts with joy...

Weeks of No Update?

So what else is new, eh? I don't really have much to blog about so I tend to skip updating but since it's been a while, I thought I'd write an update here.

December came rolling in last week. Since it fell on a weekend, I didn't even realize it's December already. I don't normally look at the date on the weekend unless we have an appointment/date for something. Even the little one was a bit surprised when she realized that it's already December. She had to look for her Christmas stocking in her toy box so she could hang it...2 days late as she puts it. Anyway, before we know it, it will be the most awaited day of the year already [to most people I know anyway]...Christmas. We're still in the middle of gathering the stuff in our list. Our tree is still up in the attic. We planned in getting it out of there last weekend but we got busy so that didn't happen. Most probably we'll pull it out of hibernation this coming weekend. The little one is itching to decorate it already. She's been doing that [the decorating] ever since she could...about 4 or 5. We usually do it together but she does most of it now because she's taller than me now. Hopefully we'll have the tree up by next week.

That's basically everything in a nutshell. Nothing exciting. Just the way I like it....haha.

What is Black Friday?

Is it a HOLIDAY?

Those are the 2 questions that my daughter asked me while we were having breakfast. Why? Because all she sees in my emails as well as the on the sites I browse online are all about 'black Friday'. I had to explain to her that it's not considered a holiday although I'm sure some people take the day off to take advantage of the offers in stores.

I've been living in this country for more than 12 years but I've never gone shopping on a Black Friday. I know there are some deep discounts on that day but I'm not willing to wake up at the crack of dawn much less line up in front of stores before midnight to wait for the stores to open at the crack of dawn just to shop. Just reading how crazy people get on this day makes me shiver actually. Stampedes, pushing, shoving just to get in a store is not my cup of tea. Some people probaby get the adrenaline rush doing that but not me. I'm hoping our little one won't do that either because to me, it's hardly worth it.

Since I am blogging about Black Friday, I thought of going the extra yard and check Wikipedia for a little background about this much awaited day. Here's what Wiki says about it...


Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 am, or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the holiday shopping season, similar to Boxing Day sales in many Commonwealth Nations. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many non-retail employers also observe this day as a holiday along with Thanksgiving, giving their employees the day off and increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005,[1] although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate,[2] have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time.[3] The day's name originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.[4][5] Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday" indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black".[4][6] For many years, it was common for retailers to open at 6:00 am, but in the late 2000s many had crept to 5:00 or even 4:00. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers (including Target, Kohls, Macy's, Best Buy, and Bealls[7]) opened at midnight for the first time.[citation needed] In 2012, Walmart led several other retailers in announcing it would open its stores at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day [8], prompting calls for a walkout among some workers. [9]

Happy Birthday!

To me! Ha!

Actually it was last week. I just can't think of any title so I just greeted myself a happy birthday. Is that even legal? Hahaha...

Yep, I turned another corner. Another year passed...hoping to get to the next one. Isn't that what we all want? To go another year and then some.

My birthday used to be a big deal. That was before I moved... It was a big deal when I was back in the Philippines.  It's a big deal not because it's my birthday though but because it's All Saint's Day there. For those who are not familiar what All Saint's Day is, it is the day when we remember our dearly departed ones. Well, not just remember since we can do that anytime of the year anyway. We can say, it's 'THEIR' day because it's all about them. How? First, their 'tombs are cleaned and relatives and friends drop by their resting place to light a candle and offer a prayer or two as well as some flowers to them. Loved ones stay by 'them' for hours usually catching up and playing games. Some even camp out there and eat there. Yep, it's like a picnic in the cemetery I must say. Our local cemetery back home is usually bursting with people on this day from morning until midnight. That's how big of a deal my birthday...err...All Saint's day is back home. If only for that reason, my birthday back then was always a happy one. I may not know 99.9% of the people in the cemetery but it was fun watching hundreds of people walk past you on your birthday.

Now that I'm 12,000 miles away from all that, my birthday is no longer the same. I don't think it will ever be the same anyway. Does it mean it's not a happy birthday anymore? Not really. It's still a happy birthday for me. I don't celebrate it with as many people anymore but I have the most important people with me. That to me is enough reason to have a very happy birthday.

Life's Simple Pleasures

I am a self-confessed 'worry-wart'. Is there an intervention program like an AA program for people like me? I haven't heard of any but I'll make sure to post it here if I find one. Maybe I should start one, eh?

Anyway, because of my being like that, there are times that I don't get to see and appreciate life's simple pleasures. But I'm learning to do that now. I'm trying [very hard I might add] not to get stressed over things I have no control of. Instead, I try to enjoy the simple things that life can offer us right here, right now.

Last weekend, we went on a drive. Where? Nowhere in particular. The weather was so nice and we didn't want to waste it by staying in so we hopped in the car after lunch and just drove aimlessly. We've done this a few times in the past and it was so much fun so we decided to do it again. When we first did it we just picked a road that we haven't been in and drove it....to get lost....LOL. We didn't get lost because hubby never gets lost...or so he claims. This weekend, we also picked a couple of roads we thought we haven't been into.

After about an hour or so of 'aimless' driving around, we came across a park. We asked the person in-charge and he handed us a map of the park forest trail. We drove around a couple of the trails and came across bunches of hunters looking for deer and wild pigs or boars. We didn't come across any animals though...just some 'angry stares' from the hunters themselves. Yep, they didn't look too happy to see us there. I wonder why? Can it be because we scared their preys away? Oops!

That's one of life's simple pleasures to me. To be able to get out there and just enjoy simple things like that. I used to not like doing that. I thought it's a waste of time. But how can it be a waste of time if it's spent with the most special people in your life? That I know now....

October Rain

Rain! That's all we've been having since yesterday so I might as well call it that...October rain, eh?

So the last quarter of 2012 officially kicked in Monday. I hardly noticed it because I was barely awake. Blame it on the tiring weekend we had prior because we just came back from a trip again. But we've bounced back already I think. I'm not as tired anymore although this 'bed weather' is really making it hard for me to stay active. All I want to do right now is curl up on the couch and watch some of my favorite shows. Not quite possible since it's the middle of a work week and I wouldn't want to miss work anymore after all the cancellations I made in the last few weeks due to appointments.

I'm sure this month will fly us by as well just like the previous months. Right now our little one is excitedly waiting for Halloween. Before we know she'll be talking about the holiday season and what she wants for gifts. Me? I just want to sit back, relax and enjoy life's simple pleasures. It's not easy especially with all that's happening in the economy. But I'm trying to take it easy the best way I know how. That's all we can do for now. Stressing about it won't help one bit. So why bother, right?

Factory Outlet Products Vs The Real Deal

Just like any girl out there, I like signature products. I don't buy them. Primarily because I don't have the hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars to pay for them. I can probably use credit card and pay through that BUT no thank you. I'm perfectly happy with what I can afford.

For some, knock offs are good replacements. I did too at one point but I got over it and just didn't think it's worth it. For a lot of people, buying from factorly outlets is a good way to get these branded products at a fraction of the price of the ones sold in regular stores. I've been to a couple of factory outlets more than 10 years ago but that's it. Where I'm at, the nearest outlet is hundreds of miles away. Needless to say, I've never been at that outlet. And I may never go...but who knows. Anyway, it was my understanding before that factory outlet products are just those high end products that just didn't pass quality control to make it to the next level so they are sold at much lower prices. Well, maybe not. Let me elaborate. And for the record, this is just my personal opinion.

A few months ago, I got an email invite to join an exclusive 'member' only pass for a popular company that sells mostly purses. It's for the official online site of their factory outlet. I was very happy to get that email. Now before I got that I email, I already have a purse and a wallet which were both bought from their regular stores months before. Both were gifts because if it were up to me, I won't spend hundreds of dollars for a purse or a wallet. But that's just me. Anyway,after getting the confirmation of membership I eagerly awaited for my first 'email only invite' from the site. I got one a few days later. As soon as I got in, I was already tempted to buy because the prices are really much lower than what they have in a regular store. Sometimes the prices are 70% off the MSRP of the product. So far, I got one purse. Not for me but for a niece as my thank you gift for her for all the favors she did for me when we went back home a few months ago. Other than that, I haven't been tempted to get anything else. Talk about self-control, eh?

So, are the purses/wallets sold in the outlet sites/stores the same as the ones sold at the regular store/site? Yes, but not really. Sorta? Here's what I found from my sleuthing...LOL...not much sleauthing actually...just a little bit of observing.

Aside from the big difference in prices, the products in the outlet site and the real site are also remarkably different. The products in the outlet site are probably made by the same company but they're not exactly the same as the ones found in the real site or the stores. The styles are similar but not the same. The materials used I believe are also different. I did a side by side picture comparison of some of the purses I like. At first glance they look the same but if closely inspected, they ARE indeed different. The designs on materials used to make the purses that seem to be the same are obviously not. One has bigger prints compared to the other. Now,  I have not compared the products in person but judging from the pictures, I think it's safe to say that there is also a big difference in quality of the products.

But I guess it doesn't really matter especially if the price difference is 70%, right? But then again, I pesonally now have to think even more before I shell out some hard earned money for something that is original but may not be as good as the real deal. Then again...that's just me. How about you?