Update -- Shopping!

Hello all!

I'm still alive! Sorry for the long break!

We went to Martha's Vineyard for a week and then to Amsterdam for a day, and now we're back home. I loved being away, but I also loved coming back! Our trip was very relaxing and it did good for all of us. By us I mean the whole family, kids included.

My mom took care of the animals, which was really nice of her. We stayed at my mother-in-law's, and visited all of the relatives who live on the island. And some of my hubby's friends. And of course a lot of other places as well.

Since I don't have any pictures yet I don't feel like telling about the island, but I'll tell you about something almost as interesting. And that is: shopping!

The island itself doesn't have great opportunities for shopping, so we had to take the ferry to get to the mainland. That took about one hour. Then we'd have to drive for an hour or so, depending on the destination, to get to the shops. And then more driving to get to other shops. And then the whole thing again to get to home. Quite a lot of transportation.

Our first destination was Target. We all had gift cards, so it was kind of obvious choice. I didn't like it that much, but the kids enjoyed it. I still managed to buy a lot of stuff, junk food mostly. I don't think American candy is that good, but quite many of it is vegan. They rarely use natural coloring, which they do in Finland, so the use of insect-based colors is very rare. And for some reason they don't use that much gelatin, either. Dunno why.

Few items from yard sales, most from heaven.

I don't know where my fellow travelers went after that, but I know where I went: to heaven. In America they call heaven "Michaels." I think it's funny. I'd name it Angelina or Angelica. I had an hour, and $175 worth of gift cards to spend. The amount of time was good, but I had to use some cash as well. :) It was a lot of fun! I couldn't find everything on my list, but I got it even by buying a lot of stuff that wasn't on my list. Among all of the things I bought was a Smash Book for my daughter. I really didn't know what it was. I had actually heard the word the day before we left, and didn't know what the people were talking about then. But it looked very interesting. I also bought some Smash stuff for myself, but not the book. Just some embellishments for my scrapbook.

After landing from heaven, some of us went to Paper Store. It wasn't as fun as it sounded. Mostly crap and cards. But I do have to admit the Americans sure make the best cards. Or they make the Chinese to make the best cards.

Only the robot fabric is organic.

And that brings me to something that was really bothering me while walking down the isles of heaven. The unfairness of all of the items there. Everything, and I mean everything, was made in China. Or somewhere like that, where the rules and regulations, human rights and all that are not so important. 

Some time ago we had scrapbook papers made from (partially?) recycled materials. Some cotton fabrics are organic and from abroad (meaning not from Finland). You can order fleece and synthetic felt made from recycled plastic. But that's about it. No fair trade items, no paying attention to the excess packaging (quite a lot of craft items are way too over packaged!), no more than just a couple supplies made from recycled materials. Dear manufactures! We demand Fair Trade craft supplies! We demand items made from recycled materials! We demand more organic fabric!

After Paper Store we went back home, tired but happy!

The second shopping trip happend a few days later. We headed towards Whole Foods. Before that we stopped at another Michaels -- I had to get my own Smash Book! They gave me fifteen minutes, and went somewhere else. As this was a new store I couldn't find the Smash items, so I was forced to walk down all the aisles. And of course I found a lot more to buy. Eventually I found the thing I went there for, plus some more things I didn't know I needed before seeing them. I spent around a hundred dollars. Expensive Smash Book... even though I got it 40% off, thanks to a coupon I had. I love cupons.

Food/kitchen related stuff

Whole Foods was another kind of heaven. A lot more nicer, actually. Gentler. Tastier. And mostly organic, Fair Trade and vegan friendly as well. :) And expensive!! I had a gift card for there as well. I spent that and a lot more. We ate super yummy lunch there too. The cashier was the first not super friendly person I met in the States.

From Whole Foods to Trader Joe's, because we had cards for there, too! Mine was worth $30, and I couldn't use it all. Whole foods was too much! Finally hubby, who wasn't able to use his card either, combined ours and bought some cashew nuts.

More food/kitchen related stuff

On the island we went to all of the possible thrift stores and yard sales there were. Dind't find any treasures, but some nice stuff anyways. Something useful and something fun. I also spent quite a lot of time at the local grocery store. I love grocery stores! I could skip all clothing and cosmetics and jewelry stores, just take me to a grocery store and I'm happy. :) I found vegan chicken and beef stock powder. Very interesting! I also found freezer paper. For crafts. Don't know how to use it yet, but I have a book saying I will need it. :)

I liked doing some shopping on the island as well. Mostly just to support the locals. I heard their rent is really high and a lot of stores go out of business, so I felt bad for them. But the selection was a lot smaller, a lot more tourist oriented and everything was quite expensive. But I did my best. :) For example I bought these fancy cookies for the dogs.

Here's the other than food or craft related items I bought.

I've already put 99.9% of everything where it belongs. I think that's one of my favorite things to do. Unless it gets too overwhelming. With candy and snacks it almost got out of hand, and now I have yummy stuff everywhere. Which is not good since I'm determinate to lose 6 pounds.

That's about it! Take care!!

xoxo,
Raisa