good eats!

Whenever I'm in the US, all thoughts of diet is forgotten.  I'm just thinking that all the walking I do from the shopping will burn those calories anyway.  Hehehe.  Here are some of the things we indulged in...

Dunkin Donuts for breakfast (for some reason, the donuts taste good here than back home!):

Boston Creme goodness!

McDonald's Mushroom and Swiss Angus burger (I wish they'd bring this to Manila!):

Seafood Alfredo at Olive Garden - love the shrimps and scallops!

Coldstone ice cream:

Caramel apples at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory:

And a new fave - Godiva Strawberries!  The dark chocolate one is just sooo good!

I still have some favorites that I want to revisit when I get to Cali and Minneapolis.  And of course, any new foodie find is more than welcome :)

shopping @ Jersey Gardens

Since we were not able to go Jersey Gardens last Memorial Day, we decided to go today instead.  Since it's technically a workday, parking was a breeze and there were not much people at the mall.  

I had to control from buying too much since my luggage is nearing the 50-lbs mark already, but I couldn't pass up on these dresses from Banana Republic and New York and Company:

Original price is about $60 each and guess how much I got them?  Only $15!  Talk about a good deal!

The little one also had his little shopping spree at the Lego store.  He went gaga over all the selections!

The little one can't choose which one to get!

I promised to get him a new toy and he was more than happy when we finally stepped out of the store.

I think I've already reached my shopping quota here in the east coast.  Better save the rest for the coming weeks in California and the Twin Cities :)

shopping @ Woodbury

The boys taking a break from shopping :)

Today was a big shopping day as we headed to New York and went to our favorite outlet mall - the Woodbury Common :)  The weather didn't cooperate though.  It was in the 90s and it was just so hot!  But that didn't stop us to shop our hearts out.  I kinda held back a bit though since I only have 1 check in luggage for now (I'll be getting another one not until I get to Minneapolis).

This was today's haul:

I got everything for at least 50% off! And most of the clothes were about 70% off.  They were really good deals and so hard to resist!

Got the Signature Striped hobo bag from Coach...I love the multi-colored stripes which is not common:

And as an impulse buy, I got myself the classic Longchamp Le Pliage tote in old rose:

That's the only item that was just 20% off but for only $100, I just had to get it.

Everything I bought (except for the Longchamp bag) would have originally cost about $600, but I actually paid only $300!  Not bad for my first shopping day :)

Memorial Day

It's Memorial Day and the official start of summer!  The pool has finally cleared up and the water is very inviting.  The kids can't wait to jump in (and I wouldn't mind to take a dip as well...hehe)!

Since it's a holiday, everyone's home and Kuya Benji gamely offered to take us shopping.  How could we say no? Hahaha.  For a change, we went to The Mall at Short Hills and this gotta be my new fave.  It's very upscale and has almost all the designer brands.  I had to stop myself from buying a purse from LV - that would have taken up my entire shopping budget already!  

But I sure didn't leave empty-handed from Tiffany's :)

I was supposed to get this at LA with my best friend but seeing it in person and trying it on, I didn't want to let go!  I got the Filigree Heart Lock and Key bracelet...

And what I like most about it is that if you look closely, the 'petals' within the heart lock actually spells out Tiffany:

It's also much lighter than the classic Return To Tiffany's heart tag bracelet.  I love it! :)

We were supposed to go to the Jersey Gardens for some outlet shopping afterwards but it was just so packed!  We can' even find parking, and with the little one with us, it doesn't seem like a good idea to still go in.  We'll do the outlet some other day instead, when people are already back at work. Hehehe.

So we headed home and Hannah and Greggy were already in the pool.  The little one got excited and hurriedly changed into his swimsuit to join his cousins.

I was starting to feel sleepy (I woke up at 4am earlier!) and was a bit tired already from the day's activities so I sat this one out and just hung out by the pool with the rest of the 'adults'.

Kuya Greg then fired up the grill and cooked steaks for dinner.  Yummy!

We bought a big box of strawberries at Wegman's earlier and so this was dessert...

It was also Tito Didi's (my cousin's father in law) birthday so we also had cake :)

It was a pretty good holiday and it was nice to kick off the start of summer with my New Jersey family :)

my kind of m&ms

Saw this at the grocery earlier and I just couldn't resist...dark chocolate mint M&Ms :)

good morning, Jersey!

I was able to get some sleep again at around 4am but I was up by 6ish so goodluck later, seems I'll be down by noontime.  Haha.  I loaded up on caffeine to keep me going for the day paired with a hearty breaky of bacon and eggs:

Here's looking forward to a fun day ahead :)

summer vacay starts now

I knew sleeping by 10pm wasn't a good idea.  I tried to stay up longer but sleep won.  And now, I've been up since 2am!  Jetlag it is.  My flight was pretty long - I had 3 legs for about 21 hours of flying time in total.  Whew!  Good thing the flights were all on time and things went smoothly except for that incident mid-flight from Nagoya to Detroit.  

A man got arrested for causing a fight!  I really didn't see what exactly happened since I was sitting about 6 rows up front but I just noticed that there seemed to be a commotion at the back with people suddenly standing up and trying to get away.  When I looked, there was a guy shouting angrily and was trying to beat someone up.  The next thing I knew, the flight attendants were all around, trying to keep everyone calm and the air marshals were trying to stop the man from doing more harm.  Those were pretty tense minutes which ended up with the man getting arrested.

I was sitting at the exit row (was able to upgrade to economy comfort) and a few minutes later, we were told that we had to vacate our seats - as protocol or something because of the incident, they needed the 3 seats by the exit freed up.  The upside?  I was moved up to business class!  Sweet!

When we landed in Detroit, we had to wait for the federal agents to get in the plane and escort the man out, before we could go down.  It was just like in the movies - the security officers were already waiting for us and as soon as we landed, they got in and arrested the man.  Scary and interesting at the same time.  What a way to start my vacay!  Haha.

But all in all things were pretty good - from the upgraded seat, to being first in line at immigrations (was done in less than 5 mins!) and then getting my luggage pretty quickly.  I finally arrived in New Jersey by 4pm.  My brother-in-law and cousin Benji picked me up from the airport.  The rest of the fam were at Kuya Greg's house and it was nice seeing them all again!

My niece Hannah is all grown up...

And the little one (who gave me a really big hug and kiss when I arrived) and my nephew Greggy were just inseparable!

We had chinese takeout for dinner then just hung out by the pool afterwards.  Have to get used to still being bright at 8pm!

A cold bottle of Corona with lime perfect for a nice summer evening :)

We're having a BBQ party tomorrow since it's the birthday of Val's dad, as well as it's Memorial Day weekend.  So far so good!  My vacay is kicking off nicely and can't wait for what's in store for the next days ;)

all set!

I finally finished packing and I'm pretty much set!  I'm just charging all my gadgets and I have just a couple of hours left before I head to the airport.  I'm looking forward to seeing the little one and the rest of the fam, and of course see my friends and simply have a good time.

3 stress-free, work-free, F release-free weeks!  Vacation mode starts now :)