Leave me alone!

....or, why every store in the Philippines is like walking into a Havertys.

First of all, I feel like I should apologize.  I made a commitment to publish one blog every month and I have obviously failed.  And to add insult to injury, I don't even have anything nice to say.  

Here's what I do have to say, "Why can't they just leave me alone??!!?"

You know that sinking feeling you get when you know you need to go shopping for a new couch or La-Z-Boy but you would rather get a shoddy root canal than enter a furniture store?  Well, multiply that by a BAJILLION, and you'll have some idea what it's like shopping in the Philippines.  

I'm sorry.  Ok, you know what?  I'm NOT sorry.  I recently made up my mind to minimize the qualifying statements I make and just stick to my guns.  So, here goes.  I am NOT sorry and this sh*t is ridiculous.  

Perhaps a more specific comparison is in order?  Imagine, if you will, walking into your favorite Target on a sleepy Saturday morning.  No one has really gotten out and about yet so it's pretty much just you and the people in line at the Starbucks in the front of the store.  You have no particular agenda though you do want to remember to get hairspray and deodorant.   Or wait...let's go with slightly more embarrassing....tampons and dandruff shampoo.  You grab a cart not a basket because you just want to stroll.  You don't need the weight of a basket on your arm...keeping you from browsing with reckless and relaxing abandon. With your gingerbread latte in hand and the world of Target in front of you, off you go!

Yes. More than anything in the whole wide world.

{Scene setter for below:  Please don't delude yourself...this did not happen at an open air market or a low-end mall/store.  I'd expect this type of behavior at a market or bizarre.  Easiest way to imagine the following is to pretend it happened in a hybrid Nordstrom/Target.  And go......}

Suddenly, your dream turns into a nightmare.  Before you've even picked up your (sad joke of a) basket, a security "guard" tells you to put your newly purchased hot coffee in the trash -- "No drinks" he says.  Apparently, this does not apply to the rich local lady with her brood of children and helpers and any number of assorted sippy cups and McDonalds fountain drinks.  You glare at him but throw your coffee away anyway.  Two steps in, you're accosted by salesmen with perfume.  Five of them.  Immediately in your face.  In your workout clothes with sweat still drying, perhaps you look like a solid mark...this lady NEEDS perfume.  On the other hand, YOU ARE IN YOUR WORKOUT CLOTHES!  WHO THE HELL NEEDS PERFUME IN THEIR WORKOUT CLOTHES?!?!? This is where you begin to rely heavily on the cover of your iPod.  It's not even that loud but you pretend you can't hear anyone.  Wish it worked the same with eye contact. 

Onward you go...you are determined.  Perfume boys be damned!  Two feet later at a small display, you are greeted by someone who clearly cannot see the lines of personal space surrounding you and though she's practically IN your ear, she ignores the iPod and says hello anyway.  Oddly, there's no offer to help.  She just stands there....waiting.  "I'm good,"  you say, "I don't need any help right now."  She smiles but doesn't leave.  So you do.  

But you are not leaving this store yet. You are so tired of being forced to buy things online.  You will succeed in this mission.....for hairspray...and nail polish remover.  Whatever the cost, you WILL succeed.  

The real shit thing here is, they have some good products at this place.  You want to browse and somewhere deep inside, you need to browse.  So you try.  You wander over to the haircare area, excited to see the beach hair spray that you've been buying on line all this time.  Who knew?!  But then, she's back.  And you don't know if it's a new she or an old she though, given the one to one shelf/salesperson ratio, you suspect it's a new she.  She's behind you.  You feel her there.  You initially try to ignore her...hoping she'll go away...for her own good.  The frustration is starting to bubble now and you're honestly afraid of what you might say to this poor unsuspecting saleslady.  But why the hell does she follow you??!  "Hi," you say, "I don't need any help. You can go back to what you were doing." She smiles but doesn't leave.  You keep walking.  She stays right behind you.  "Stop following me," you mutter under your breath but definitely at a volume she can hear.  She takes one step back, stops following you but doesn't actually leave.  Now she is pretending not to watch you but you can feel her eyes on you.  At this point, you think you might be going a little crazy. 

What started as a stroll with no agenda is morphing into something you can't escape fast enough.  Dreams of casual shopping are dashed and you begin to hasten through what would have been...should have been....a relaxing experience.  You rush to nail polish aisle, doing your best to stave off more aggressively friendly and ever-present salespeople.  You pick out two colors that, let's face it, will look hideous on you.  Then it happens, you see your very favorite brand of makeup and it seems as if, for the moment at least, NO ONE is around.  You shuffle over, keeping your head low and your podcast level high.  You have time to touch one.damn.eyebrow.pencil and she's on you.  "Hi ma'am!"...smiles, awkward smiles.  "Hi," deep sigh, "I don't need anything.  I'd let you know if I did.  You can go." SHE MOTHERGRUBBING STAYS!  You practically yell, "Fine! I'd have bought something if you would have left me alone!" You don't stay to watch her smile wither into well...a less awkward smile.  They never stop smiling; it's off putting. 

You just remembered you still need tampons and  shampoo but you can't imagine the hovering that would ensue so you bury that dream deep....real deep.  As you sprint to the cash register, just wanting it all to be over, you can't help but glance over to several missed aisles.  You are tempted to keep looking around and then you see them, lurking behind the aisle of your favorite B.B. Cream and you think to yourself, "I am gonna buy the shit out of Amazon when I get home."

The end.

P.S. As a result of above, I am determined to come up with some funny ways to handle salespeople here.  I don't want to be mean.  It sucks to be mean and I'm really no good at it but sometimes I do get frustrated..especially when I try to be nice at first but people don't listen.  They are not going to change.  For whatever reason, this is the way they do business so I have to figure out new ways to handle it.  I can't just let them follow me though...it's too much to bear.  Any ideas?!  

Found this little illustration at funnyjunk.com -- what do you think? 

Check out the new hood....

....which I'm happy to say is not a hood whatsoever.  We'll be living in the Salcedo neighborhood which, best I can tell, is a community within a community within a community.  Manila is HUGE but strangely enough, it's only the second largest city in the Philippines.  First is Quezon which is slightly larger by area and population but if the whole dang region is called the Northern Capital Region aka Metro Manila then let's just keep it simple and I'll reiterate that this place is HUGE.  So it's basically got what you'd consider counties and towns and suburbs and I guess Salcedo is basically a suburb of Makati and kinda similar to Shirlington where we lived before and which was I guess a suburb of Arlington.  Confused much?  Me too.

Point is, it's a cute little area that's close to a lot of fun things to explore and every weekend there are TWO community markets within walking distance.  The closest one to us (as in 10 feet from our lobby door) is the Salcedo Community Market.  We won't actually be moving into our place until probably July but Salcedo is within walking distance of our current hotel so we decided to check out our new "hood" this past Saturday.

So the sign must have lied, they DO allow dogs....

There are a lot of things to love about living in a tropical climate.  We have access to fruits people in the States will never see (because they're too delicate to ship), there's NO need for coats or any fabric heavier than cotton (woot!), and flowers....lots and lots of beautiful flowers.  I can't wait until we're moved into our permanent place so we can have them ALL OVER the apartment. 

Bessie has seen better days....

But not to worry, she was put to good use.  :)  Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I am still weary of the food here.  Something about this market though, made me feel more at ease.  Perhaps it's because it's in a "clean" area of town or maybe it's the fact that I could literally see the food being prepared.  It was too early for lunch so we didn't try any of the food the vendors were selling but maybe next weekend.  All I know is that every time I've tried something that looked "normal" (read, American), it has been awful.  I am a pretty adventurous eater but I've been taking it slow here.  Maybe the real trick though is to dive right into local fare?  I dunno.....I'm torn.  Canned chicken is gonna remain a staple for a while me thinks.  :)


Definitely buying some of this honey when we move in our place.  Doesn't get any fresher than that!

I know - the picture taking gods will be horrified.  Lighting is awful, husbear looks like a ghost.  Can I claim I did that on purpose and get a pass?  Truth is, I didn't really want this to turn out that great because then you might have noticed how far our place is from being ready.  The floors were super dusty and when they said they were renovating the bathrooms and kitchen, they weren't kidding.  I thought maybe that meant, a fresh coat of pain or some new appliances but no...whole walls were missing and concrete was everywhere.  Need I say how worried I am that our early July move in date was just some far fetched quote and nowhere near reaching reality?  Sigh.  At any rate, the place is huge, the view is great, and it's situated in just the sweetest part of town so I'm not complaining (too much). 

All in all, it was a very nice introduction to the neighborhood.  I sorta wish that we had waited a couple more weeks before trying to get a sneak peak.  Now I'll just sit around and KNOW what I'm missing.  On second though, maybe I should go pack and take more pics so I can get super anal about pre-planning furniture arrangement and wall painting......

When I die, bury me in shoes that sparkle

There are a lot of things I miss right now.  I miss my family, my friends, my dog, excessive cable channels, cooking, target, and the list goes on.  But I also miss being a girl.  My mom was kind enough to send my boots in the mail and I loove having the little splash of color out here in the desert but what I really miss, is being a freakin' girl.  And part of being a girl??? Flowery, colorful, ridiculously beautiful and extravagant....high heels!!!  I bought a phenomenal pair of Rene Caovilla's while we were in Vegas and I can NOT wait for an excuse to wear them.  So keep them safe dear mother in law and keep that daughter of yours at bay....cause I WILL BE BACK!!!!!!

Forgive the haphazard photo....we were in Vegas after all.   I couldn't be bothered to rebuckle (fine motor movement would have been required).  And I guess I couldn't take a moment to find a proper back drop....sigh...

But OHHHH!!!  They still sparkle

Rene Caovilla's shoes are seriously like a work of art.  If it's not the sparkly soles, it's the flowery and delicate adornments. 

 SO I say this....if I die, bury me in sparkly things.  And for goodness sake, if you cremate me...don't burn the shoes!!!!

Tysons Corner with Kendall --DANGER DANGER DANGER!!

 A day of shopping with Miss Kendall started off at Nordstrom.  They were having a fall shoe preview but we decided that fall was way way way away in Texas and that although these little fringy numbers were cute, she wouldn't get to wear them for a long time.

 So we got these!  Which are totally appropriate for a 14 year old!

 See!  I'm sure these will be fine for Spanish class!

 This is where the DANGER DANGER DANGER comes from.  Kris and John are definitely in trouble with this one!

BUT...before my sister kills me, these are NOT the shoes we ended up buying.  Unfortunately, Kendall is the only one with a pic of those so you'll just have to wait to see what her final decision was.

 Both of us decided we need one of these hanging racks in our rooms/closets.  How super convenient for outfit planning!!!  

 This was a winner of a shirt...especially with her little blue tank top underneath.  Brought through some blue that wasn't in the shirt so it looked super cute with the jean shorts.

 Ah yes.  It figures the only picture of me is the one where I'm digging out my wallet.  Perfect!

Testing out some of her boyfriend's perfume

Ok...so I got something for myself too

Don't we make good mannequins?  Ok, one of us does...I unfortunately was looking the wrong direction.

Misguided Angels

Finally made the time to visit a nearby boutique (at the suggestion of my lovely neighbor Callie).  Misguided Angels is a small clothing and accessories boutique in Ashburn.  Definitely worth the stop although next time I will remember that I am a much better shopper when I'm NOT in my workout clothes.  One sight of myself in the mirror and I immediately made the decision not to try on clothes.  Something about being dressed for shopping...don't know what it is.  I'm not talking about high heels and poofy hair but shorts and a cute top might have compelled my to try on some of their clothes.

Then again, maybe clothes don't make the difference.  Callie looked cute as can be and she wasn't terribly motivated to try anything on either.  This is where you might actually deduce that there really wasn't that much to try on and that I'm only trying to be nice to the store.  That's partly true.  They did have some cute things but not a ton.  It is a smallish store so I can't say I blame them.

We were able to stock up on some very fun jewelry however.  Callie has an eye for earthy-summery items (wood, turquoise, etc) and we were both on the lookout for stuff to match recent clothing purchases (maybe that's why we shied away from the clothes eh?). 

They also had some lovely shoes that I really wouldn't mind having were it not for my jacked up feet.  Some day, my high heels will be back where they rightfully belong....on my feetsies!  Right now, they're more art than function.  But I digress.

Here are the lovelies they had in the store: 
 

We also saw this shirt in the store.  I was immediately drawn to it because it is exactly the same shade as some ballet flats that I purchased recently.  The only problem was, I really really hated the lace on the bottom.  I considered buying it anyway and chopping off the lace but there's something distasteful about buying a brand new shirt you have to...well....edit.  :(

And these are some of the little baubles I picked up:

 

I really liked the store's dressing room.  It was very plush and girly...just like a boutique dressing room ought to be.  Needless to say, I'll be going back sometime in the future and maybe next time, I will actually try something on!