It was Saturday morning and I woke up with so much excitement. It was the day of our road trip to L.A., California. So this is day 1 of our 23-day trip and we left the house at 7am. All of us (little Brandon, Hubby, and I) were ready to go and have packed our luggage overnight: clothes, stroller, snacks, water & juice, an portable cooker. We also decided to drive our own car instead of renting one.  It will be a long drive, but I'm sure this would be a great experience.




Our first night, we stayed in Portland, Oregon. It was a 6 hour drive, but we stopped in between cities on our way.  Our first stop was in Bellingham, WA (30-45 minutes from the border-crossing) where we had breakfast at McDonalds before heading further down.

We arrived in Seattle, WA at about 10:15am, but we didn't stop to explore or rest there. We also drove past Tacoma, but we'll stop and stay around Sea-Tac area on our way back. The weather was mainly sunny. It did rain on and off during our drive. We're really looking forward to the nice, warmer weather down south.

At about 11am, we stopped at Supermall in Auburn, WA and had a bit of lunch and relaxed. At 12:45pm, we were on the road again.  After some long driving and resting in between, we arrived in Portland, OR at about 3:30pm. We stayed at Homestead Studio Suotes Hotel in Tigard. I was amazed with the cleanliness and the full kitchen available for a great deal at $72cdn/night. We reserved a king-sized bed with TV as well as a living room with another TV.

Sorry everybody for being MIA for a bit. I've been trying to catch up with a lot of stuff. Tomorrow, I will be away for vacation till the end of May 2011. Don't worry, I will still be able to check up on my emails, read your comments, and post about my travel experience.

I'm so excited for vacation. We're heading out tomorrow on our Westcoast roadtrip from Vancouver, BC, Canada to Los Angeles, California. I will be posting a travel journal over on my other blog at Jen's Blog of Random Thoughts.

Sorry everybody for being MIA for a bit. I've been trying to catch up with a lot of stuff. Tomorrow, I will be away for vacation till the end of May 2011. Don't worry, I will still be able to check up on my emails, read your comments, and post about my travel experience.

Where am I going you asked? I'm off to sunny California! I am so excited! We're not actually flying by plane. We're going to be traveling by car -- a roadtrip. That's what my husband decide to do. We plan to stay at hotels in between our trip from Vancouver, BC, Canada to Anaheim/LA, California. We'll visit San Diego too. Wow, thinking about it that we're going to be traveling across 3 states. Oh yeh, and we'll be checking out the Sand Dunes and the Oregon Coast.

Places to stop along the way:
- Bellingham, WA
- Seattle, WA
- Portland, OR
- Lincoln City, OR
- Medford, OR
- Sacramento, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- San Jose, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- San Diego, CA

So check back for my upcoming posts and photos.

There wasn’t anything really exciting. It was like in a warehouse with lots of clothes in one of the rooms, racks of shoes, bags and purses, the other room with tables of antiques, and accessories. The other location nearby had furniture and set decorations and props.

Prices were really awesome and quite a few designer brand stuff: Leather jackets ($100), jackets/coats ($25-$45), hats ($5-$10), shirts/blouses ($10-$15), suits for men and women ($10-$30), dresses, and more...

I didn't have enough time to stay too long to browse in detail, but will head back tomorrow and probably pick up some 'new' clothes (updating my wardrobe... hehe). There are a lot of nice, used clothes.

I did pick up a green coat/long jacket that Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) wore in Season 8.18 Eternal. And it was only $25 Cdn. You can click on the image to see larger view.

Also picked up a really nice Le Chateau blouse that Lois Lane (Erica Durance) wore. Blue pajamas with helicopter prints worn by Lois Lane (Erica Durance) in episode 9.02 Metallo:




And then there some other extra stuff I picked up at a GREAT DEAL: Tokodoki crossbody bag/handbag. I assume it is a knock-off tho. And also got a couple of photo frames for my signed autographs :)





I didn't buy a whole lot of stuff cuz I couldn't find too many that I like or fit me. I wanted to buy shoes, but then again I was thinking that I already have a lot and don't really need them. I'll be saving the extra money for my vacation.

The lucky winner for the Lilla Rose Flexi Clip Giveaway that ended April 17, 2011 is..... (drum roll, please)



Congratulations to.....

Amy C (#161) with the comment:

daily tweet
http://twitter.com/#!/Butterfly_012/status/57906983549939712
g***********e@gmail.com
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 1:46:00 PM

I have sent you both an email. You have 48 hours to respond. Thanks everyone for participating in my giveaway contests. Check out my other current giveaways.

The lucky winner for the Summer Fresh Product Coupon Giveaway that ended April 6, 2011 is..... (drum roll, please)



Congratulations to.....

klfvilla (#22) with the comment:

following you via gfc #2
klfvilla at aol.com
Tuesday, March 08, 2011 8:22:00 AM

I have sent you both an email. You have 48 hours to respond. Thanks everyone for participating in my giveaway contests. Check out my other current giveaways.

I was recently introduced to Aleratec Shredder Lubricant Sheets and was given the opportunity to review the product. To be honest, I really had no idea that there were such product available as I don't often use paper shredders. This was very useful as it extends the life of the shredder blades on my shredder.



I received the 12-pack and each lubricant sheet uses the right amount of lubricant to the blades of your paper shredder every time optimizing the shredder performance. It is easy to use with no mess and no hassle. I just feed it into the shredder just like shredding a sheet of paper. Pretty easy, right? It doesn't jam and it works with all shredders.



Features & Benefits:

• Reduces blade friction optimizing shredder performance
• Uses the right amount of lubricant every time
• Easy to use, just like shredding a piece of paper
• Eco Friendly: Made with 60% sugar cane pulp, mineral oil, and 40% recycled paper
• Sheet Size: 8 ½” x 6”

For more info and list of other products, visit the website at www.aleratec.com. Also follow Aleratec on Facebook and/or Twitter to stay up-to-date with promos and new products.

Disclosure: I received free product samples from the company to use in exchange for this review. The opinions expressed in my review are my own personal and honest thoughts. No other compensation was given.

I made mini cupcakes (shaped in apples)! Chocolate cupcake with red & green icing and coffee Pockie (pretzel) sticks. OMG >_< I got all messy making this.

Here's something I found that is kinda neat. You can draw your own art online and animate it. Go ahead and experiment. Also feel free to share what you've created. Have fun!



Click here if you want to work with it on full screen.