This post may contain affiliate links, please check out my disclosures page for more info. Thanks! As promised yesterday, here is my headb...
Continuing on from my Phoenix Comicon 2017 video, here is part 2. The shopping haul!
All the cute and/or unusual stuff I bought at the vendors hall. Mostly grab bags, I can’t resist them. One part surprise, one part bargain and full of fun.
Enjoy the video.
Here’s links for some of the items:
I will be posting the next video soon for the Sailor Moon gashapons. Look forward to it!
It would come as no surprise to many that I like shopping at Asian supermarkets. Love them actually. Yesterday one of my favorite stores, Mekong Supermarket had the grand opening of their new sister store, the AZ International Marketplace. Yay!
I had heard about it weeks before hand from flyers at Mekong and checked out the Facebook page for the new store. It was like every type of ethic grocery store combined into one ultimate super store. Yep, I was definitely going.
They were giving out free gift certificates for the first 500 people, so of course I tried to get there super early. Like 6 am early. There was no one there except for a nice elderly woman whom I didn’t see at first because she had gone to find a restroom.
I got to see what was left of the sunrise over the parking lot. The place was decorated with little flags of several different countries.
I was there to watch them set up the balloon arch in front of the doorway.
And to watch them later set up for the opening ceremony, I even got to help them set up the table cloth.
On the table here is a plate of exactly 10 pieces of fruit, an urn full of rice, a plate of pork buns, and several large candles and torches to be lit up during the ceremony.
Here they have the candles going. Behind the table you can see the head of the whole roasted pig, I spared you the view of the rest of it.
I was the second person in the store, and by the time I got my gift certificate and my raffle tickets the fireworks display was over. :(
I did of course get to see the dragon dance inside the store with drums to accompany them.
Once inside, I didn’t really get anymore photos because I was too busy squealing at the cute stuff and all the great deals. Here the sale flyer. At the top it says you get 10% everything that isn’t already on sale, I think that’s what brought most people in to the store.
Funny thing is that Mekong Supermarket had the same deal for their grand opening, but never actually got rid of it. Even now, years later you still get 10% normal priced items. So I’m hoping since this is the sister store, that they will do the same thing.
We were there all day, not entirely by choice though. The sales and such brought lots of people in and sent them straight to the registers to check out with fully filled shopping carts. This lead to hour plus waiting times just to check out. When I got home all I wanted to do was sleep.
Well, sleep and gush over what I bought, want to see?
Behold!
First up is this cute wastebasket. It was advertised as $3.58, and I somehow couldn’t resist something so adorable and actually useful.
The lid is shaped like a bear’s head but the rest has this pretty flower design that kind of clashes with the bear. I’d be tempted to just use it without the bear lid, but I think it’s more useful with a lid. Plus it is somewhat amusing to me.
I found this cute set of plastic drawers with the office supplies, normal price is about $5. They are probably meant for things like pens and stuff, but I could easily use them for storing accessories or craft supplies. Like the craft supplies I still need to sort through. :|
What really sold me on this was the soft pink color and cute plastic bow shaped drawer pulls. They also come in other pretty colors too. :)
Speaking of cute pink things, I also got this pink bento box. They had square-ish shaped ones like this and round ones in pink, blue, or green on sale for $2.99.
There is a third piece inside that comes out to form two separate compartments for food, and yes it does come with a spoon. This was part of a serious discussion I had with another shopper who was purchasing one as well.
Another serious discussion was where I found this adorable pink cup. It was actually with the bathroom accessories. I think it’s intended to use when brushing your teeth to rinse and maybe to keep your toothbrush afterwards.
It was about $1.50 regular price and it says “Dream, Love makes the world go round”. I love it when cute things from Asian countries have little English phrases on them like that, especially when the English isn’t very well translated.
The most useful pink item I got? A hanging laundry drying rack thing. I already had three of these and use them almost constantly.
Air drying is better for clothes and for the wallet as well as the environment. Plus you can hang a surprising variety of items on these things. Sock, undies, bras, tank tops, knit shorts, t-shirts, small kids stuff, etc. Naturally when hanging larger items you need to use more than one clip.
Anyway, this rack was about $2.50 normal price and came in other shapes as well.
What really sold me on this one was the cute heart shaped clips. I’ve had problems in the past with these racks with the clips breaking off, but still being useful as clips for household stuff. So I think having cute sturdy looking clips is a good thing to look for with drying racks.
And the cute pink parade ends with this adorable comb. They had several different colors and patterns, all of them were 89 cents each normal price.
I’m not sure if I actually want to use it for my hair or just hang it on the wall and admire it. At the very least, I want to save the packaging to decorate things. Decoupage anyone?
Since this place is a grocery store, I had to actually buy something to eat. So I bought…
…Quail eggs?
I love them, they taste really good if you season them and dump them in pasta dishes, stir-fries, etc. And I’ve found that it’s actually cheaper and easier to buy them canned instead of fresh. You get more than twice as many eggs for about the same price and they are already hard-boiled and peeled for you.
This is one of my favorite brands of canned quail eggs (mostly because of price, about $2.20), but the last few times I went to Mekong Supermarket they were sold out. Imagine how happy I was when I found them at AZ International Marketplace. So I immediately grabbed two cans and wandered off.
Along with the great assortment of foods to buy, there were plenty of samples available, like these biscuits that were handed out at the door on the way out. I also got to sample various cheeses, seasoned fruit, and got little bags of Takis chips. I would have gotten a picture of those too, but I ate them all.
While I was there I noticed a display for sunglasses, specifically I noticed the 40% off sign for the sunglasses. I really had been in desperate need for a new pair (Summer in Arizona, enough said), so why not take a peek.
The normal price for this pair was about $10 with many other pairs for about $8. With the sale I only paid $7, not too bad I think.
The last thing I got were these fans. They are similar to a fan I bought at SAS last summer that was a godsend. They were the same price too, about $1.99 normal price and tons to choose from. The white one is for me, and I have other ideas for the other two.
These fans, like much of what I brought are made in China. I noticed and found it rather interesting that on the red fan this fact was incorporated into the design.
Overall, I had a great though exhausting time, but the fun isn’t over yet. If you couldn’t make the grand opening, this Saturday and Sunday, April 23-24th, AZ International Marketplace will continue their celebration from noon to 5 pm. They will have a BBQ and music, bounce house, raffles, etc. and of course sales.
So another chance to enjoy this new store. And if you aren’t local, why not check out what you have in your area. Got any great ethic grocery stores or restaurants you love? Please share. :)
This post may contain affiliate links, please check out my disclosures page for more info. Thanks!
Over the last couple of days, I managed to pay a visit to almost all of the stores I typically shop for craft supplies. Everywhere except Goodwill and other thrift stores and Bookman’s. My bank account took a hit, but I’m happy with the goodies I found. So happy that I wanted to share them all.
At Michael’s I got various jewelry findings including jumps rings, crimp beads, and ribbon clamps. There was deal where if you bought three of them you would get 22% off, couldn’t pass that up. I also got a chain I’ve really needed and a bottle of possibly the best glue known to mankind, Aleene’s Jewel-It.
It’s an embellishing glue intended for gluing things like beads to fabric, but I use it for so much more. It’s really useful for making hair accessories. So many times I’ve glued flowers and bows to metal clips and combs using the glue gun only to have them pop off with use. Never happens with the Jewel-It. I’ve also used it to glue magnets to things, it lasts for years.
At Joann Fabrics and Crafts I got this jewelry making tool kit. I was in need of a pair of pliers as well as other items for jewelry and this kit had everything I needed and more for only about $10. Works out well. I also got a spool of stretch cord and found a string of glass pearls that are the perfect size for making doll sized jewelry. The best part is that I found it in their “Treasure Box”. It’s a special area for beads and stuff where everything is only $1.99.
Speaking of bargain priced glass pearls, I found these beauties at Wal-Mart for 97 cents each. I got two each of both white and off-white. I’m hoping they will work with some pearls I already have.
The bulk of the my craft shopping was at SAS.
Here’s what I got from them:
It all came to under $30, and around $60 combined. Not too bad. Best of all, most of it is actually stuff I planned to buy. The fabric, vinyl, zippers, elastic, ribbon and thin lace are all intended for projects on my current craft list. And the thread, flowers, jewelry stuff, glue, hair clips, pearls,and other laces are for future projects I’m planning.
The rest sadly are impulse buys. It’s something I’ve come to expect when shopping for craft supplies. It fuels creativity, mainly because some impulse items are so strange that I need to get really creative to figure out what to do with it.
Anyway, I am now very well stocked and ready to get going on my projects. Look forward to that.
It has been so long since the last time I’ve done a Favorite Things post. And there are so many favorite things I need to share too. But lets stick with one at a time.
This time it’s body wash.
I find body wash works better for me than bar soap and is less likely to contain ingredients I would rather not put on my body, like animal fat.
I love the body washes at CVS, and I’m not saying this just because I actually work there. Of course I have to admit I do get an employee discount on things I buy at the store that aren’t on sale, especially store brands. But this is just a bonus for me. I get to buy products I love for a little less than normal, and I don’t have to make an extra trip.
Anyway, the body wash is great. There’s a great selection of scents or as I call them flavors, and because it’s a store brand the normal price isn’t going to bust a budget too much. And for those who aren’t lucky enough to get a discount, it does go on sale frequently and you can usually get store coupons from the coupon center that make them even cheaper.
My current favorite is the Romance body wash (in the picture). It smells like soft roses, so pretty. I have a vanilla moisturizing body wash and I like to mix the two together for my own custom blend. They are perfect together. Of course if roses aren’t you’re thing, they have other body washes with less flowery flavors like citrus and cucumber. There’s a Sport one intended for men. But for me, the pretty flavors are the way to go.
That’s right. Today is my birthday. Age-wise it wasn’t exactly one I was looking forward to, but a birthday is still something to celebrate no matter what the number.
Technically I already celebrated it last Saturday with my closest friends, the hazards of a week day birthday. We ate pizza and hung out which is always fun no matter what day it is. I received several goodies this year, gifts from friends and from myself (it makes the whole aging thing easier).
First is these dice bags. I have been dragged into the wonderful fanciful world of Dungeons and Dragons by my friends, so these will really come in handy. They were apparently bought from a vendor at a craft fair, love the MLP print one. Of course a new dice bag isn’t complete without…
…Dice. I got to pick them out myself. 
Moving on, there was only one thing I really wanted to do for my birthday. A trip to the Sanrio store. It was fantastic, one little bitty store packed with so much cuteness. Even the plastic shopping bags were cute!
As a gift for myself, I got this Chococat laptop sleeve for my new computer. Did I mention I got a new computer? I’ll give more details on that later. Anyway I needed a case for it and this one was on sale and too cute to resist.
Back view.
My friends got me a grab bag. This was one of the reasons I wanted to go in the first place. I can’t resist grab bags. It’s always fun to see what surprises await, and you get them at a fraction of their normal retail price. Plus, if you don’t like the contents than you can give them as gifts or even sell them. It’s a gift the keeps on giving.
So what was in this bag?
On the right is a set of Keropi stickers with a “sticker book” and the left is a Hello Kitty bobble head and a stretchy bracelet with a thankfully removable Hello Kitty charm. I say thankfully because I really don’t like the bracelet part. I don’t care what anyone else says, orange and pink do not go together. Beyond that, I think I faired very well with this pack.
And one last gift was these birthstone earrings from another store at the mall. I know my birthday isn’t in June, but I got to pick them out and I just prefer the June stones the October ones. The color is more me.
So overall it was a good birthday and now there’s more to look forward too. Halloween! In just 2 more days. Just wait until you see the costume I made. Look forward to it.
Specifically, one of my favorite things is Alberto V05 conditioner, their shampoo isn’t too bad either. What’s not to love? They have so many different varieties with different scents and colors to choose from. I am currently using their Herbal Escapes Free Me Freesia, but my favorites are their Moisture Milks Berries and Cream and Peaches and Cream. They smell wonderful and are perfect for dry hair.
Another thing that’s great is the price. You’re looking at $1 or less for a 15 oz. bottle of conditioner. I frequently see it go on sale at CVS for 77 cents a bottle, usually with a limit of 10 bottles. A couple of times I’ve seen the price drop as low as 66 cents, also at CVS pharmacy. I tend to wait for those sales and stock up. Why not? They are non-perishables that are fairly easy to store. And conditioner is a good thing to have on hand.
Good uses for conditioner:
Want more? Check this list of ideas.
How about you? What’s your favorite conditioner? Know any other uses for it?
