Holiday travels...

I'm so excited over the fact that the Offspring and I got to spend most of his winter break in Texas with family! We haven't visited in winter for, oh, seven years? Anyway, we had a blast with aunts and uncles and tons of cousins.
As always Mom and I did serious shopping- even if we're getting older and "shop 'till you drop" isn't so much of a joke now. Ha! I have much to tell about everywhere we went so more posts to come. But here're a little about the pics above...

Ultimately unimportant...and totally EXCITING! *UPDATE*

Ok, so maybe this is something only a few people would be excited about. But that's what my blog is for- the exciting stuff nobody in my physical life actually gets! Anyway, the big thing is...I placed my first-ever Rakuten order! LOL. I feel like a worldly, global consumer. (Not a dumb 'merican that can't read any of the Japanese in the confirmation email.) Oh the things we get excited over, right? But there's enough English in there for me to see that yes, I have ordered this:



 

 

I ordered "aqua" (no surprise there), the bottom color. (They were sold out of a similar top in lavender or my bank account would have taken even more of a hit! LOL)The seller is osharewalker, and I couldn't find any of the stuff they carry anywhere else online. So I screwed up my courage and went for it, even though they're not a shop that specifically caters to global customers. (e.g. They don't promise to correspond in English.) But Rakuten has a lot of helpful ordering info, and as I said, the shop's confirmation email had enough English specs for me to see that I was ordering the right item and they had my name and address all correct.

 

Have y'all in the States ever ordered from Rakuten?

 

Has there been a "momentous" shopping experience in your life? (This is not my potential first. I've had many throughout my life where I thought, "Yeeeeessss, I have arrived." Where? Some happy place known only in my own psyche. LOL)

 

Novel-length Update after the jump...

Haulin' and guiltin'...

I finally pulled the trigger on an order from ebay seller f2plus1 even though the timing turned out to be not so great. (The guilt.) I should have saved my fun money for necessities to keep things from being quite so tight . But the order shipped before I knew how tight the finances would be and sometimes things just come up all at once that we can't foresee :-/ Anyway...

This seller is The Best. I will stick with them for LIFE.

• Prices on Korean cosmetics that are lower than most American drugstore brands? Check.
• US$2 flat shipping w/tracking? Check.
• Shipped in two days (on a weekend)? Check.
• Arrived in 10 DAYS (not business days- ALL days)? OMGCHECK.

Ok that last one may be Korean airmail kicking ass, but still...

Here're the goods...

 

(L to R) Holika Holika Aqua Petit Jelly Make-up Fixer

Skinfood Red Orange Face Mist ~ Glossy

Lioele Seaweed 90 Trouble Care Mist

Holika Holika Petit BB ~ Essential

Skinfood Good Afternoon  BB ~ Berry Berry Tea

Skinfood Red Orange Sun Stick BB

Etude House Goodbye Pore Ever Primer Essence

Etude House and Innisfree BB samples

 

H Maaaaaaart!!!....

I got to go to H Mart OMGeeeeeee! H Mart is a (mostly) Korean supermarket in Houston. It's been there 30 years and I NEVER knew. I wasn't sure what to expect since I'd only heard about it's grocery, but when I walked in I swear a choir of angels descended. So big...so clean...so much of everything. A bakery/tea/smoothie counter, several food court style lunch counters, amazing produce and seafood, premade foods like tofu and mochi. And the markup was so much lower than other places as to possibly be nonexistent! (Yeah, Uwajimaya, this hairy eyeball's aimed at YOU.)
My mom even said she wants to go back and she only shops at, like, three places when I'm not in town. Sprout wasn't thrilled with the hour+ we spent, but once he discovered the snack aisle (Asia-exclusive Cheetos flavors!) his 'tude settled down.
I saved the beauty and housewares for last!

Solar Flower~ it wiggles in the sunlight!

$2.99 O.O