All the things I could do, If I had a little money...

OH MY GOODNESS! I haven't written for 6 days!


Well whatever, I think some people are glad about this...all the people that hate my opinions are probably thinking, "Thank goodness that witch finally stopped witching." Then again, it doesn't really matter because those people have probably stopped reading by now. Well, for my more agreeable readers, this post is going to be a personal confession of my sins over the past couple days...


All summer I did nothing but my online course and work part-time at BR--that is, until Wednesday, August 12, 2009, at 7 am. Unfortunately, that is the ungodly hour that my mother decided to wake me up and drive me to Katie's house. That is where we met up with Katie's family and my Auntie Jin to set out on our two-day adventure:

Speed Shopping in Grove City, Pennsylvania.

For anyone who even CLAIMS to know me, I hate shopping. Sure, say that I'm a lesbian or that I'm an extraterrestrial, but that's not going to change the fact that I get headaches just from walking through Square One for a couple hours. Also, I don't like spending money--that is, until two days ago...

It was about a 4 hour car drive to our destination. Translation: 4 hours of blissful napping and crazy iPod dancing/singing with Katie :) For those of you who have never been to Grove City, might I say you are deprived?

Just kidding...for anyone who hasn't really gone shopping in the States, the biggest issue is passing through customs. On the way there, they ask the driver where everyone's from, how long you're staying in the States, and what you're planning to do there. Since Katie's family is experienced with shopping down south, they had a whole story prepared: We were visiting my great uncle for his 70th birthday in Grove City. My aunt even printed out a mapquest address of the first Lee name that popped up in Grove City...talk about pro-scamming. On the way out of the States, there is a $50 spending limit per person. Me, my mom, Katie's mom, Katie, Thomas, and my other aunt = $300 bucks. Let me tell you now, that is how much I, alone, spent by the end of our two-day trip.

Basically, there are 6 "rows" with two lines of stores in each row. We pretty much covered all 12 lines of stores...awesome, we are. I bought clothes from Old Navy, Banana Republic, Reebok, Gap, Aeropostale, Guess, and Jockey. I also bought a new girly, long wallet from New York & Co. for 11 bucks. I hope I got a good deal, but whatever, I'm happy with it. Other stores we visited: American Eagle, Calvin Klein, Izod, Ralph Lauren, Oakley's, Juicy Couture, Timberland, Payless Shoe Source (some pairs were $5!!), Nine West, and MORE!

Between our two days of blissful materialism, we stayed at a Comfort Inn right across from the mall--literally a traffic light apart. We ate at a typical Caucasian restaurant called Rachel's Roadhouse. The food was mediocre, but the service and atmosphere were very accommodating. The evening was pleasantly spent sipping hot chocolate and tea, clipping off our tags (so we could pass through customs), lounging around from exhaustion, and making small talk ("What was your favourite purchase today?"). It was one of those nice family moments you would see in a movie or read in a book. I also stayed up pretty late watching Mamma Mia and Sex and the City. I even saw 3 episodes of Charmed in the morning! Surprisingly I also had an appetite for breakfast--this food topic is to be continued in another post. It appealed to me, mainly because they offered free unlimited bacon, eggs, toast, yummy-looking jams, and decaf coffee. Overall, it was a very pleasant hotel stay.

To tell you the truth, I wrote up a whole spiel for this post while my Internet was disconnected, while this was opened in draft form. Somehow I pressed some button that switched the page, and I lost everything, so I have lost the willpower to fancify my writing or anything. Just thought I'd put that out there as a side note.

Self-analysis time: Previous to this trip, I had only been to Grove City once. This was on our way back from a Caribbean cruise which took off in Florida. We had about 2 hours to shop, so we were running around like crazy, and I'm pretty sure we didn't even cover a row. :(

Katie's family members are all seasoned shoppers, so they know how to spend their money on good things. My mom and I sort of went crazy because we weren't used to seeing so many good bargains (apparently, the bargains are usually EVEN BETTER!). In total, we spent $700 American on our family. I spent $300 of that, while my mom spent the rest on herself, my dad, and Roberto. No need to lecture me, I already feel bad enough. In fact, I spent $190 after the first day, so I decided to slow it down and give myself timeouts on the front benches of some stores. No kidding.

My mom has always told me, "Spend your money on a few expensive things that you'll wear all the time." Do I listen? I just can't seem to resist buying those sale items in huge quantities. It just feels a lot better than buying a single shirt or pair of pants that are of a high quality designer brand. Maybe that's just me. But anyways, I've always prided myself on being a thrifty spender, especially since most of that dough comes straight from my parents' wallets --yeah I know, I'm not only sheltered, but I'm also spoiled. You hate me, I get it. That's okay, I feel the same way. I guess this sort of makes me feel obligated to minimize the trouble that I cause my parents, especially to balance out my younger male counterpart. *AHEM

The surprising thing is, even though I spent a lot of money, I still feel kind of good about it because I could afford to go for higher quality designer items but at similar prices to the things I usually get. I can't really complain about shopping now that I have enjoyed the full GROVE CITY EXPERIENCE. Nor can I claim that I hate shopping altogether. Perhaps, my Square One-induced headaches truly stem from my dislike of crowded places. Also, my disdain for shopping and trying on clothes comes from the impatience of waiting in changeroom lineups, seeing girls wearing clothes that are not even close to being age-appropriate (I did not have the misfortune of experiencing any of this in Grove City), and the fact that things are priced far above my marginal utility (hehe. Econ term, look it up). Translation: I don't like spending money on things that I don't think are worth the price tag. Perhaps, Katie's mom was right in saying that Canadian merchandise would be way more appealing if it wasn't for tax. After all, that definitely factored in when I purchased things at Grove City.

For the thrifty, cheapo shoppers out there like me, Grove City is the place for you. My only tips are to pack really light but carry a huge suitcase and cut off all the tags so you can escape through customs duty-free.

NOTE: Something interesting my aunt said about customs was, "When you're coming into the States, they're worried about terrorism; when you're leaving it, they're worried about duty."

When passing through the American customs, they ask all these questions like where you're from, where you're going, for how long, and if you have anything to "declare". They were pretty tight on security.

When passing through the Canadian customs, they were much more lax on their interrogation. They asked where we were from, and what we did in the States. When my mom said we went shopping, they were obligated to ask how much we spent (recall the $50/person limit) and my mom said $300 exactly. The guy obviously knew we were lying, but we Canadians are so much more lax and good-natured, the guy just let us through. Yay for being a nice Canadian.