The antidote to “Black Friday”

Posted on 27. Nov, 2009 by kchristieh in non-profits, religion, shopping

I’m burning out on rampant consumerism, and am trying to be more careful about how I spend my money in a tight economy. I found no reason to drag myself out of bed early this morning to join the throngs of people hitting the stores early to take advantage of the latest bargains.

Instead, here’s what I’m excited about: the LCPC Christmas Market. I’ve been helping my church, La Canada Presbyterian Church, with its alternative Christmas market for several years. You’re probably familiar with the concept: instead of buying a physical gift for a relative, teacher, client, etc., you buy something such as a goat, school supplies, tuition, etc. for someone who really needs it in your friend’s honor.

For the past few years, I’ve created a long online list of all the items available, with a PayPal button for each. It wasn’t very elegant, since you’d have to hit “back” every time you added something to your cart if you wanted to purchase something else. But none of the ecommerce packages I’d ever used – Yahoo Stores, GoEMerchant, Volusion, Miva Merchant – were cost and time-effective enough to bother with. This year I finally found the solution I’ve been looking for: BigCommerce. I had a blast creating this year’s online Christmas Market with BigCommerce, and am enjoying using it for other clients. After living through the creation and launch of eToys so many years ago, it’s mind-boggling how quickly and effectively I can now launch an online store.

Please visit the LCPC Christmas Market and put this year’s holiday dollars to good use!

There was a young driver who drove a red shoe

Posted on 11. May, 2009 by kchristieh in advertising

Given the choice between wearing bright red pumps and driving one up and down Brand Blvd. in Glendale on a Saturday afternoon, which would you choose?

I’d definitely go for the car.

Sleep under the trees in this magnificent bed

Posted on 20. Mar, 2009 by kchristieh in shopping

Instead of an Etsy find, this Friday I’m featuring the bed of my dreams. You can find it at Shawn Lovell Metalworks. Too bad it costs $15,000. But it’s really cool anyway.  :)

Imagine how much fun this could be: you could decorate it for Christmas, or put Easter eggs and a stuffed bird in the nest. Or maybe you’re not silly like I am.

My Favorite Etsy Find of the Week: Math Clock

Posted on 30. Jan, 2009 by kchristieh in shopping

When I need a break, I often click on the Etsy Pounce button. It’s really cool to see all the imaginative and beautiful stuff people make and sell.

Each Friday, I’m going to post my Favorite Etsy Find of the Week. So go stimulate the economy and get a unique handmade gift for someone…or yourself!!

This week’s favorite item is the Math Clock, sold by eagleapex.

I wish I could go back in time and give this to Mr. Kern, my old math teacher. I remember the time he held up my test and said something like, “Miss Christie got the answer wrong, but her handwriting is so neat that at least I could understand how she got there!” I think I got a few points for that. I’ve taken that lesson to heart ever since.  ;)

I remember what most of these mean, but I definitely forget a few. When I get a chance, I’ll look them up here.

Should I pay for college or buy a bed?

Posted on 20. Dec, 2008 by kchristieh in economy, shopping

My daughter’s 17th birthday is fast approaching, and I need to decide what to get her.

Should I save for college or get this $47,000 bed?

I think I’ll skip the bed. My daughter always liked Belle better than Cinderella anyway.

Perhaps this is why some of the first casualties of this economic crisis are high-end baby stores.

Best cheap stocking stuffer: CVS earplugs

Posted on 07. Dec, 2008 by kchristieh in shopping

I’m a light sleeper. That would be great if I were one of my ancestors, and needed to be on the alert for wild animals or marauding tribes. But in suburbia in 2008, it means I hear the freeway, the cars driving past, the guests who wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and the dog up the street. I’m lucky that’s all I hear; I can’t imagine how sleep-deprived I’d be if I lived in a densely populated city.

I’ve become a connoisseur of fine earplugs. The foam ones that you scrunch up and shove in your ears are the worst: they usually fall out by the middle of the night, and don’t offer much hearing protection. Awhile back I discovered silicone earplugs made by BioEars, and even blogged about them. They work very well, but I recently found something even better and cheaper. When our local CVS store didn’t have any BioEars in stock, I decided to spend $1.99 and try their generic brand of “Ultra-Soft Silicone Earplugs with Microbial Protection.” Oh. My. Gosh!! They work incredibly well. They form easily to the shape of your ear, and are just a little bit sticky, which makes them far less likely to fall out. They block noise incredibly well, to the point where I just hear my breathing and heartbeat. Sure, if there’s something really loud, I hear it. When I wear these, I sleep very soundly and have lots of dreams. Amazing dreams. But I don’t bore you with those.
I’m going to buy some as stocking stuffers for my relatives this year. At just $1.99 for two pairs, you can’t beat them!!

PS – DON’T get the Tyr silicone earplugs for swimming. They’re completely useless.

Here are links to past stocking stuffers:

• Monkey Key Covers
• Bottle Camp Tripod
• Twist Magnet Pen (but the ones I gave didn’t have Dora on them!!)

Pictures of Glendale’s new Americana mall

Posted on 04. May, 2008 by kchristieh in local news

If last night’s crowds are any indicator, the Americana mall is the new heart of Glendale. The two-acre park in the center of the 15.5-acre complex is a natural gathering place where mall patrons can enjoy world-class fountains, a trolley, a playground, a large, grassy area and live music. The mall itself is pretty upscale. Just like its smaller, older sister, The Grove, it’s anchored by a huge Barnes & Noble and a movie theater. Restaurants include a Cheesecake Factory, a fancy Japanese restaurant, a Pinkberry (why can’t they ever open on time?) and a creperie. Stores I remember seeing include Free People, Anthropologie, Chico’s (coming soon), Juicy Couture, some ultra-high end baby stores and a few foreign stores I didn’t recognize. I think we’ll still give the Glendale Galleria our business for the bulk of our clothing purchases.

We rushed through the mall on our way to see the movie Ironman in the mall’s big new theaters, but along the way I took a few pictures. Here’s the northeast corner of the mall, on Brand Blvd. Note all the other people taking pictures. Here’s the south end of the fountain in the mall’s central park. It reminds me of Rockefeller Center in New York City. The fountain’s jets were coordinated with music, and people were ooh’ing and aah’ing over how extraordinary the other part of the fountain looked. (That picture didn’t turn out as well.) It’s hard to tell from my pictures, but the crowds were quite diverse. I like that.

Here’s a picture from the LA Times story about the mall. It’s weird to see it so empty.

If I had a little kid, I’d be incredibly tempted to buy this sock monkey shirt:

Instead, teenagers want these cool red glasses. Funny, but not as cute as a monkey shirt. We didn’t get them.

Here’s the view as we left. I couldn’t stick around longer to get the exposure right, but this gives you an idea of how cool it looked.

Artsy Russian umbrellas

Posted on 29. Jan, 2008 by kchristieh in art, shopping

The next time it rains, it’d be cool to have this umbrella designed by Evgeny Kiselev from wisli.org:

Here are more patterns:

Too bad it’s a Russian website. I wonder if they ship to California? It costs 3500 rub, which equals $142. Ouch! It doesn’t rain here nearly enough to justify that. I’ll stick to my Monet umbrella.

The new Whole Foods in Pasadena will blow your mind

Posted on 07. Nov, 2007 by kchristieh in food, local news, shopping

I’ve seen some great supermarkets, but the new Whole Foods in Pasadena is AMAZING!! According to the bagger we spoke to, it’s 77,000 sq. ft, and employs 450 people, of whom just over 200 are on the premises at one time. It’s a two-story building, and uses a cart escalator like the Target in Eagle Rock. It has at least three levels of underground parking.

I felt like the Country Mouse visiting the city for the first time. Here are just a few of the amazing things we saw:

• A pretzel bar. Get a sample of the grilled cheese pretzel. Whoa.
• A pudding bar (see picture below)
• Of course (!) a chocolate and gelato bar, complete with a chocolate fountain
• A wine and tapas bar (see picture below)
• A roasted nut bar
• Exquisite pastries, including cannoli
• A butter bar, with flavored herb butters
• Soap by the pound

Two out of the four of us are looking forward to our chipotle salmon burgers tonight. One doesn’t know about them, and the other refuses to eat fish, so he’s having something else.

This is definitely Pasadena’s newest tourist destination.

I’m sure that if the executives at Whole Foods could post on blogs, they’d agree with all I say here. Too bad they can’t.

Now to get a Whole Foods in La Canada so I don’t need to travel to Pasadena each time I need figs and berries. I know ours would never be this big, but I’d love it anyway!!!

Bookins status report – amazing!

Posted on 20. Oct, 2007 by kchristieh in books, shopping

I’m so happy I joined Bookins last month. So far I’ve traded away 9 books and received 5. I’ve got lots of credit points amassed, so I’m sure I’ll get more of the books on my wish list long before I read the books I’ve already received. It’s only cost me $3.99 for each book I’ve received.

My previous blog posting describes how Bookins works. I highly recommend it if you’re an avid reader. I wasn’t going to re-read the books I traded away, so I’m happy to pass them on to someone else who will appreciate them and get some points in the process. You can click here to sign up for Bookins.

I just unsubscribed to 67 catalogs

Posted on 13. Oct, 2007 by kchristieh in environment, shopping, startling statistics

Ever since I discovered that catalogs can be recycled, I’ve been obsessed with putting them in the recycle bin. But wouldn’t it be better if we never received them in the first place? Imagine all the trees that would be saved, as well as the money we’d save since we wouldn’t find so many cool things to buy.

Today I discovered CatalogChoice.org. I searched for the catalogs we receive and unsubscribed to them. I couldn’t readily remember all the catalogs we receive, so I actually searched letter by letter and found 67 that I recall receiving in the past year. When you multiply that by the number of issues we received of each one, that’s a lot of paper.

It’s no wonder they’re endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council: their website says that “over eight million tons of trees are consumed each year in the production of paper catalogs.”

Hopefully this will take effect in time to stave off some of the Christmas catalog rush. If I want to order from any of these stores, I’ll just go to their websites.

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Trade books online at Bookins

Posted on 13. Sep, 2007 by kchristieh in books, shopping

I discovered Bookins yesterday, and I’m hooked. This book trading site allows you to trade your books with other people, and all you have to pay is the cost of shipping a book to you. It’s organized brilliantly:

1. You register. No cost, but you do enter your credit card so that you can be charged shipping when you receive a book. You start out with 15 points.
2. You enter the ISBNs of books you’re willing to part with. Each has an assigned point value. If someone wants one of your books, you get an email asking if you’re ready to ship it. If so, you print out a mailing label, tape it to the envelope with the book in it, and put it in a mailbox within 48 hours. You never need to enter a post office. Bookins tracks the shipment. Once it’s delivered, your points are credited to your account.
3. You enter the ISBNs of books you wish to receive. If someone has a book you want, they ship it to you and you pay $3.99 for the shipping cost. Your account is debited the number of points that book is worth.

Within hours of signing up, I’d already shipped out one book and had two on the way to me. It was so simple. Many years ago I sold a bunch of books/audiobooks on Half.com (before it folded into eBay) and it was such a pain in the neck to wait in the line at the post office. This was painless. I can’t wait until the book I shipped arrived and I get my points credited.

Now to find time to read all the books I have waiting for me!

The three most amazing things I purchased this summer

Posted on 02. Sep, 2007 by kchristieh in shopping

I know that money doesn’t buy happiness. But I must admit, I’m very happy I purchased the following three items this summer:

Renetto Canopy Chair

As a Certified Soccer Mom, I’ve become quite the aficionado of fine beach chairs. Over the years I’ve sat in everything from a humble $4.99 Sports Authority chair purchased when it turned out a baseball field didn’t have bleachers to a fancy schmancy Target lounger with a footrest and attached umbrella.

But nothing even begins to compare with the Renetto Canopy Chair. I first learned about this chair when Tom Bartlett rated it as the best portable beach chair in Slate.com. I’ve got a garage full of chairs, but I was feeling some financial exuberance the day I decided to spend the $49.99 and order my Renetto online. I’ve never regretted it.

This chair doesn’t have a carrying case: all you do is unsnap it, unfold it, and put up the canopy. You can do it all in about as much time as it took you to read this sentence, and it takes not much longer to fold it all up again. It’s incredibly comfortable, and comes in lots of fun colors. Wherever I set it up, I’m asked where I got it. I even set it up in my room at church camp. Seriously.

BioEars Soft Silicone Earplugs

When the 210 Freeway extension to San Bernardino was completed this summer, it became much louder at our house. If the wind is blowing the wrong way, it can be too loud to sleep. (I’m a light sleeper.) Ever since our old neighbors had their evil barking hounds from hell, I’ve tried many different kinds of earplugs. Until now, they’ve all been little foam tubes that need to be rolled in my fingers and then inserted into my ear canal. Unfortunately, they take several times to insert correctly and only provide moderate sound blocking.

So when I saw BioEars at the Longs Drugs in Scotts Valley, I was intrigued. They’re silicone disks about the diameter of a dime that come in a small plastic carrying case. I was desperate for something to block the sound of my son’s snoring (we all shared a room at church camp), so I purchased them. I need to throw out all my other earplugs, because these beat them by a mile. All you need to do to get these to work is mold them into balls and push them into your ears. That’s it. They don’t go into your ear canal, so I’m not worried they’re hurting my hearing. Also, they mold more to the shape of my ear, so they work really well. They’re reusable, and come in a compact plastic carrying case.
I used them last night since I wanted to sleep late this morning, but then I woke up when I had a dream that my son was trying to talk to me but I couldn’t hear him. Duh!

Bottle Cap Tripod

I carry my camera in my purse at all times. Moments are fleeting, and it’s best to be prepared! Unfortunately, every once in awhile I wish I had a tripod so I could either include myself in the photo (as if!) or, more likely, make sure to not move the camera while taking the picture. Tripods are big, so until now, I never had the tripod with me. But this summer I discovered the Bottle Cap Tripod. It’s the size of a bottle cap, and fits over the top of most (non-sports top) water bottles and soda bottles. You can see a review of it and the Gorillapod at Photojojo. The Gorillapod looks great, but I wouldn’t want to carry it all the time.

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Home Goods coming to La Canada. Yippee. Not.

Posted on 26. Aug, 2007 by kchristieh in shopping

When the developers of the Sport Chalet complex wanted a variance on one of their buildings last year, I started an email campaign and pleaded with the city council to give it to them since it looked like that variance would probably convince a Borders or a Barnes & Noble to come to our fair city. This week’s La Canada Valley Sun reports that instead of a bookstore, that space will house a Home Goods store.

If you’re not familiar with Home Goods, you might appreciate the following pictures I took today at their Glendora store. If you’ve ever been to Marshall’s, Ross, or TJ Maxx, you’ll find that their merchandise will remind you of the housewares that those stores carry. It’s not surprising, as Home Goods is owned by TJX Companies, which owns TJ Maxx. I tried to have an open mind and an open wallet, but I found absolutely nothing I wanted to purchase.

Even though it’s August, you can already purchase Halloween merchandise at Home Goods. Here’s a happy pirate bear you probably don’t have yet. I wonder what the bear would have sung or said if I’d pressed its paw?

The mascot at my kids’ elementary school was a panther. Too bad I didn’t get this for the school office!

There were many of these torso statues throughout the store. They were scarier than the pirate bear and the panther. The torso must work out at Curves…

I bet these cages would be great for a really big bird. Or a pirate bear.

Too bad I didn’t see these pet beds when I bought one for my dog recently. The cheetah one is really soft. Unfortunately, it doesn’t match my decor.

There’s furniture for every taste at Home Goods. Just not mine, apparently.

I think the only thing my son liked in the store was the candy.

I was disappointed when I first heard that Home Goods was coming to La Canada. I figured there were about 30 stores I’d rather see here instead. Today’s trip confirmed for me that I’m not likely to be a frequent Home Goods shopper.

But when I analyze the situation, there aren’t many other retailers that would fit a space this size that would be much better. The space is too big for a non-chain store. Clearly, a bookstore isn’t coming here, and neither is another sporting goods store. Trader Joe’s could use a larger space, but they don’t need such a tall store. (Does that make sense?) Petco, Nordstrom Rack, Famous Footwear, Cost Plus Imports, Crate & Barrel, Staples, and Office Depot all probably think they have stores too close by already. What does that leave? Can the space be split up?

I look forward to hearing what other tenants are signed on. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a Camille’s or a Daphne’s. Or, my wildest dreams will be fulfilled and Soda Jerks will resurrect itself here. And maybe when Sport Chalet moves into its new store, Whole Foods will decide to build there. Imagine!

Of course, to put this all in perspective, is this is the hot issue in LCF, we’re pretty lucky…

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Customer service purgatory

Posted on 29. Oct, 2006 by kchristieh in my life, shopping, things that bug me

I’m on hold, bouncing back and forth between Amazon.com, whom I purchased my color printer from in February, and Preferred Product Protection, the company that is supposed to honor the service plan I purchased at the same time. PPP says the service plan I bought was for a more expensive product, so they won’t honor it. (I purchased the plan on the same page as the product – there was no choice.) Amazon then said to call PPP back and demand to speak to a supervisor. The service plan company says there are no supervisors there (yeah, right) so I asked to have Amazon conferenced back in, just like they said I should. Maybe by the end of this blog entry I’ll have resolution.

This reminds me of the darkest days at eToys, Holiday Season 1999. eToys was royally messing up fulfilling orders, and asked corporate personnel to work in customer service. I’d only done CS duty for a few days when they told me I was promoted to supervisor for the season. It was horrific. People yelled at me at all hours of the night and there was usually nothing I could do – we didn’t have the toys to ship them. I tried to calm myself by reminding myself that no one was going to die if they didn’t get the green Power Ranger, but it was still incredibly stressful. After my last day before Christmas, I went out to my car and just cried tears of joy that it was over. I have so much sympathy for people who work in customer service, but I also know more than I used to about what can be done. I feel so fortunate to not be there anymore, and hope that other CS departments are better than what I experienced.

Turns out I have to call back tomorrow and have a conference call with the service plan people and a higher level of Amazon rep. Sigh.