Sale at Hollister 大拍賣!

The last few days have been cold and damp in Los Angeles. My daughter needs a jacket she can wear to school (without worrying about loosing it). I bought her a ski/snowboard Burton jacket a while back, but I think it's too fancy for school. So today, I went to the mall to look for a jacket she can wear to school. I started at Gymboree, then to Crazy 8, Children's Place, and GAP. I don't think these stores stock jacket for cold weather in Los Angeles, so I didn't find anything that was thick enough for my daughter to wear on cold days like today. My daughter's favorite clothing brand is Abercombie and Fitch, but the mall I went to didn't have A&F, so I went to the Hollister store (www.hollisterco.com)instead. A&F actually owns the Hollister brand. There are so many similarities between the 2 brands that I think they are interchangeable, aside from the logo.

To my surprise, a lot of stuff at Hollister was marked down. Moreover, there was a sale on whereby everything that was marked down already is reduced further by 50%. I found several wintery jackets for $25 (regular price $125-$149). Hollister hoodies were going for $20 each. I was surprised at the size of the inventory. I guess people haven't been to the mall lately because of the recent downpours. I quickly grabbed 6 items and lined up. I waited 1/2 hour before I got to the cashier. They didn't have bags big enough to fit all 6 items. They were going to bag it one item per one small bag. I told them not to bother, I easily draped 4 jackets over my arm and carried the other 2 in bags.

Unfortunately, my daughter did not like any of the 6 jackets I brought home. I think stylistically, Hollister is still a bit old for my daughter. Once the weather clears up, I would have to return all 6 items. It's too bad that I have to return those jackets because they were really good deals. But I guess my fashion sense isn't on the same wavelength as my 10-year old daughter. She said she still likes A&F better!

UPDATE: I returned all the items I bought for my daughter. Luckily my friend gave me some of her daughters' hand-me-down jackets a few days after my shopping trip at Hollister. My daughter loves her semi-new jackets!

如果您家裏有 13歲 至 18歲的小孩, 趕快去 Hollister 買衣服 (www.hollisterco.com)。 Hollister 是美國青少年喜愛的名牌。 平常它的服飾價位訂得很高, 但是只要有減價就很划得來。 Hollister 現在正在打折。 折價後的產品再打五折!!! 一些原價要 $125至$149 的冬天外套只要 $25。 本來幫女兒買了六件不同樣式、顏色的外套, 只可惜她沒有一件喜歡。 再過幾天等到天氣轉晴後,再去店裏辦退貨。 真是麻煩! 女兒說她還是比較喜歡 Abercombie & Fitch 的衣服。 Abercombie & Fitch 是一家服飾上市公司(NYSE: ANF)。 其實 Hollister 的東家就是 Abercombie & Fitch。 這兩家店賣的服飾還非常類似,只是品牌標識不一樣而已。

說真的,我覺得只要衣服的品質好、價錢公道, 買名牌服飾給小孩穿是 OK 的。 最主要還是希望小朋友能融入美國人的社會。 在美國長大的小女生很辛苦、壓力也大, 就連穿的衣服也不能太奇怪! 在女兒的五年級班上, Abercombie & Fitch 的服飾就好像是女孩們的制服喔! 當我發現這學生潮流時,我就先告知女兒 Abercombie & Fitch 牌的衣服我一定會買給她的,只是不會馬上買。我會等減價再買給她。我給女兒訂的原則是上衣、褲子、裙子不能超過十元,外套、洋裝不能超過二十元。 這樣就保證不會給小孩子買到太昂貴的名牌服飾了。
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白忙一場! 搞半天我女兒一件 Hollister 的夾克也不喜歡! 好在我的一位住在附近的老朋友在一星期後送了一大包她女兒穿不下的衣服給我。 其中有一伴夾克大衣我女兒好喜歡! 剛好派上用場!

快要開學了! The summer is almost over!

My children's school will begin the 2009-2010 school year exactly a week from today, on September 1. This is the first time in our school's history to have the first-day of school before the Labor Day weekend. Typically, schools begin the day after the Labor Day long weekend, on a Tuesday. So many of our neighboring school districts are still following this traditional and will begin school on September 10. My kids are mourning the end of their summer. I am worried about their morning regiment once the school begins. How am I going to get them to wake up at 7:30 AM again when they have been sleeping until 10 AM, and sometimes even until 11 AM?!

To get them into the swing of things, I took my kids to the library after lunch today. They have been reading over the summer, but nothing really challenging. My 9 year-old daughter have enjoyed the Beacon Street Girls series by Annie Bryant (http://www.beaconstreetgirls.com/) and the Camp Confidential series by Melissa J. Morgan. She has read all of the Beacon Street Girls books, except the two latest books (Sweet Thirteen and Ready! Set! Hawaii!). As for Camp Confidential, she also has read all of the Camp Confidential books that have been published so far. Two more Camp Confidential books are scheduled to be published in the next 7 months--Extra Credit (September 3, 2009) and Politically Incorrect (March 4, 2010). My daughter is waiting anxiously for our library to purchase these books.

Unfortunately, schools don't usually assign these books as reading material. Beacon Street Girls and Camp Confidential are fine for summer readings, but as my daughter is heading into grade 5, these books are not difficult enough to be on the grade 5 reading list. And hence a trip to the library was necessary today. I want her to pick out some books that are more appropriate for her grade level. I steered her towards the Newbery Award winning books (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newbery_Medal), but she wasn't going for them. Instead, she borrowed some Nancy Drew Mysteries. Those are books that she thought I would approve, but realistically, I still think she should go beyond these books as well. At this point, I am not going to push her too much. As long as she gets into the habit of reading, I am happy.

Going back to our library visit. I actually saw 4 families from my children's school at the library today. During the school year, once in a while, I would see only a family that I know every time we visit the library. So it was rare to see so many parents from our school at the library in one visit. I got to chat with them about their summer break and how everyone was doing. I guess all the parents are trying to get their kids back into the swing of things before the school starts next week.

時間過得好快喔! 再七天就要開學了。 兩個小孩已經開始感覺到開學後的壓力了。今天帶他們去圖書館借書。 我希望女兒能借一些有點深度的書, 符合五年級的小朋友該讀的書。 在美國, 沒有教育局指定的閱讀課本。 都是老師採用現有的兒童讀物來教學。 小孩子上了五年級之後, 老師就會陸陸續續的介紹西洋英文文學名著給小朋友做為上英文課的題材。 所以只要看得懂, 小朋友自己就可以到圖書館借一些西洋文學名著來看。 當然這種事, 我的女兒不可能會自願去做的。 從五月中, 加州政府的基測 (STAR test) 結束之後, 老師就不再積極的教學生新的課程。 小朋友就自由的等著暑假的到來。 就在那時候, 我幫女兒在圖書館找到二套系列的書-- Beacon Street Girls (Beacon 街的女孩), 作者是 Annie Bryant (http://www.beaconstreetgirls.com/) 以及 Camp Confidential (露營密事) 作者是 Melissa J. Morgan。 這二套系列的書籍非常適合閱讀能力較強的小三女生, 或者是給小學高年級的女生做為輕鬆簡單, 閒暇時可閱讀的書籍。 不愛看書的女兒就靠著這二套書過了一個愉快的暑假。

好康逗相報...蛋篇 Great eggs!

Our family has a history of cholesterol problem, so when I eat my eggs, I always just eat the egg white and throw out the egg yolk. Unfortunately, my kids see how I eat my eggs and they imitate me, to my chagrin! My son loves hard-boiled eggs, so we always have hard-boiled eggs in our fridge (easier for him to snack on). One day, we ran out of eggs and my husband happened to be at Trader Joe's, so I asked him to pick up some. He came home with these Sunshine Farm Grade A Jumbo eggs. I was mad at him. I said these are more expensive than the ones I normally buy. Why spend more money for something that's not going to make a difference?! My husband told me those eggs were the cheapest ones left on the shelves. Well, we did need eggs, so I let it go. It was really a $0.30 difference per dozen eggs!

But to my surprise, these jumbo eggs had the greatest amount of egg white and the smallest egg yolk I have ever seen in an egg. Since we only eat egg whites, these eggs proved to be a better deal for us. For $0.30 more per dozen eggs, I'm sold.

I took some photos of these Grade A Jumbo eggs from Trader Joe's. That's a roll of quarters ($10) next to the single egg, so you can see the actual size of each egg. These eggs are a great deal at $1.79 per dozen!

我們家 (老公除外) 吃蛋時都只吃蛋白, 不吃蛋黃。 小孩子長久以來都看我只吃蛋白, 不吃蛋黃。 有樣學樣,他們也養成這“不良”習慣 (我老公很不能認同)。 可是我娘家有高膽固醇的基因存在, 所以有高膽固醇的食物能不吃我就不要吃。不愛吃肉的兒子喜歡吃水煮蛋, 所以我就時常放水煮蛋在冰箱裏給兒子當點心吃。

有天老公正好在 Trader Joe's 時, 他打電話來問說要順便買些什麼東西回家。 我說蛋, 家裏沒蛋了。 結果老公回家後,我發現他買錯蛋了。 他沒買最便宜的蛋。 正要問他時,他說我要買的蛋已經賣完了,所以他只好買貴一點的蛋。 沒辦法了,也只好這樣了。 結果沒想到, 陰錯陽差老公卻買對了。 這打Sunshine Farm 的 Grade A Jumbo 的蛋只有小小的蛋黃, 蛋白卻很多。 讓我這個只吃蛋白的人吃得很過癮。 其實這些蛋只比我平常買的蛋多 US$0.30, 一打蛋才 $1.79, 真的是物超所值! 好康逗相報!