USA Shopping Haul

I have taken over the corner of our room and renamed it the "Jasmine Corner".

Luckily the room we are staying now at Hyatt Regency San Francisco is huge!

We didn't managed to go to the factory outlet yesterday because of the massive jams on the highway. We are going to go tomorrow instead!

My initial plan was to cycle across Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and explore a bit of the famous landmarks in San Francisco, but le hubby is damn lam nua and said he rather bring me to go shopping. 😒 Why so lazy one!!!!

We rented a car just to drive out to Livermore Outlet tomorrow. Pick up in the morning and return by 5pm.

We returned the car we got from Los Angeles yesterday cos the average parking fees is USD10 PER HOUR here in San Francisco.

Honestly.. This city is so expensive I can't stand it! I've only been here for 2 days and I don't like it already. Expensive things, horrible traffic and there's little sense of security cos there's a lot of dodgy people... I prefer LA!

One of my best buy is this Aveda brush for USD22. It's so good! After a few brushes, my hair became really smooth and soft! Amazing!!

Honestly I don't need so many lotions and scrubs.. And these are super heavy, but they smell so good!!!

Bath & Body Works are having a sale now. Buy 3 get 3 free.

6 is too little.. 12 is so excessive! 😱

To quote my best friend Tabby:

 Buy now, regret later! 

Other than the few pairs of shoes I bought.. I also bought this beautiful pair of Ugg boots and my sister @joannatpywants the same ones so I bought another pair. 

Now we have the same boots! Yay! Previously we had the same fake Uggs I bought in Perth for AUD10. 😂

These two are the biggest bulky items that I am having a headache over on how to bring them back.

Anyway Samsonite is having a Buy 1 Second 50% off sale right now.. So maybe I should get two new big luggage tomorrow. Heeheeheee!!!

I can't resist buying shoes when I am overseas cos they have my sizes! It's hard to find good quality size US10 shoes that are not overpriced or "Aunty-fashion".

I love this pair of Tom's Flamingo print shoes. Super cute and sweet! 😊

Bought these from Nordstrom at full price.. USD58 including taxes.

This pair of Ralph Lauren heels are just too cute!!! I bought these at Macy's with a 10% off for tourists. It's around USD67 including taxes. There's a weird red colour print that was on 30% discount but I passed on that.

UGGS in wedges! And really comfortable ones! These were bought from the outlet malls at Barstow for around USD30++. 

Clothes!

My favourite buys are the Jones New York dresses! It's retailing at USD109 in Macy's (i checked) and I bought them at USD39 with additional 25% discount at the outlet malls! That's almost like Buy 1 Get 3 Free!

The cutting is very good and the material is awesome. There's so many designs but I chose 4 because the cutting are similar, only different prints.

Made le hubby buy new clothes cos he's always wearing the same old stuff. He needs nicer clothes to meet his clients instead of the cartoon t-shirts. 

The Polo tees are really cheap! It's USD19 with 20% discount at the outlet malls. It's good quality, unlike the dodgy ones sold in Indonesia. 😒

And I was confused with US Polo vs Ralph Lauren cos the logo is similar. Turns out US Polo is like the Giodarno equivalent. Lol! No wonder the clothes are so much cheaper than Ralp Lauren!

Ralph Lauren shorts! 

I bought the biege one (leftmost) 2 years ago and wore it so often but it still retains the shape. The Forever 21 shorts I bought around the same time has already went out of shape and expanded so much after washing.

It's not cheap.. USD59 normal price. There was a 30% discount for Mother's Day.. Including the tax of 9.5%, it's still quite pricey for a pair of shorts. 

But it's worth it cos the quality is damn good and it's super comfortable!

Can't decide what colour..

So I bought 4!

There were around 12 different colours, so it was a tough decision. 

Spending almost SGD250 on 4 pairs of shorts seems a bit crazy to me.. Especially since they last so long and I'm not sure if I'll become fatter or hopefully skinnier.. But like Tabby who likes to remind me whenever I have a dilemma to buy something..

 Buy now, Regret later! 

I love my Bath and Body Works scrubs & lotions so much, I have to post it again. 

All in all, I bought 14 bottles! Mwahahahhahaa! Gonna give a few away and keep the rest for myself.

Wanted to buy the scented candles cos it's damn cheap but it's too heavy. 😔

It's 2 for USD24 and they smell heavenly lah! 😭 Why I don't have unlimited luggage space!!!

I was recommended to get this eyeshadow palette from Lorac.

Wah it's damn difficult to find! It's not sold in Sephora and I can only find it in Ulta. 

I've never even heard of Ulta before! It's similar to our Watsons Mostly selling women stuff. Beauty, hair, etc.

Hope it's good! I haven't tried it yet. I've been using the Naked Palette from Urban Decay for so long, I've moved house 2 times since I bought it! Lol!!! Time to retire it.

My Chanel blusher is damn cui until it fell off. I think it's cos I dropped it a few times... I'm lucky it didn't crack and disintegrate. It's also quite old! I bought it in May 2012! Lol! Just realized it's 3 years old! Omg. 

Time to change time to change!

I bought a Tarte blusher to replace it (right hand side). I haven't tried it yet, but I heard it's really good for Asian skin tones. The only thing I don't like is it doesn't come with a brush. So mafan.

Stole this pic from Google images.

This colour is damn hard to find! I went to 4 Sephora outlets and they don't have this particular shade. They only carry a limited range and this is a rare colour.

Thank God I found it in Ulta!

I also finally bought a new Urban Decay potion!

This stuff is magic and it allows your eyeshadow and eyeliner to stay on forever until you remove them.

Tested and proven!

I have the original and shimmery one which I bought in.... December 2011 and May 2012. Omg! My makeup are all damn old lah. 😅 Still have a lot left leh! How to throw away! So wasteful!!

My tube is so old, that they already changed the packaging and design. Kuakuakua. Now the new one has an applicator stick.

Benefits cosmetics!

I love their "They're real!" mascara so I decided to get a few of their other signature products to try them out too.

The names of the products are super funny and witty. Hahahaha!! "Fake up!".

Buy 2 full sized items and get a free pouch with 3 mini samples. I bought 5 full sized items leh... Only got 1 free gift. Should have separate receipts and asked le hubby to buy for me! #auntyalert

I nearly bought this cos I think it's so cute but le hubby damn pantang. He don't let me buy any Alcatraz merchandise cos they are for prisoners. Like the prisoner cup I was holding, and the prisoner Tshirt, etc.

Ok lor.. Just take picture.

I bought a super cute postcard for my sister but was too busy to send it out. Alcatraz Island don't sell stamps and I kept forgetting to go to my hotel concierge desk for stamps.... Bobian have to hand deliver already. 😞

Super cute post card I got for my sister! Heehee!

I finally bought a Duffy doll for myself! Got an extra one for my best friend's birthday. He loves Duffy and always bugs me to help himbuy one for him when I go to Disneyland but it's so hard to carry him back especially when I go to Japan and have to run for trains.

The costumes are so cute! I didn't see them in Tokyo so I think it's exclusive to Anaheim Disneyland. Saw it last year when I went with my sister and had lots of self restraint not to buy. This time just buy lah! Heh heh!

San Francisco Farmers Market

The weather is so cold today! Brrrrr... 

We are supposed to be on a flight back to Singapore now.. But we are still in San Francisco cos I am sick and I can't endure a 20hrs flight.

Went to the doctor last night and the bill was USD615! Wtf! Just 5 mins with the doctor and 3 tablets (i have to go to a pharmacy and fill out the prescription!) and they charge us so much?!

Wow. I wanted to faint when I saw the bill. Thank God we have travel insurance! But we have to pay first, claim later. 😒

We changed our flights to depart on Monday morning instead and extended our hotel stay for another 2 nights.

I slept the whole day today. The pills have some narcotics inside so it's a bit different from our medication. The nurse said that if I'm not a regular druggie (hur hur), I will feel a bit high when I eat the drugs. Drug abusers won't feel the kick. Sounds dodgy leh. 😒

Anyway we settled everything only around 4am and I went to bed at 5am. Woke up at 11am to go to the Farmers Market.

The Farmers Market is located just beside our hotel!

It's on every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are from 10am-2pm. On Saturdays they open earlier at 8am and there are more stores compared to the weekdays.

The weather was really cold and I had a very bad cold on top of my gastroenteritis.. So it was quite jialat. 

We just did a quick walk-around to grab some food then went back to the hotel. Had a super long nap and I feel better now compared to last night.

The stalls start just outside our hotel entrance and stretch all the way to the nearby Ferry Building terminal.

The whole atmosphere was really good! Local produce, handmade products and interesting art stuff. Very "hipster" ambience.

Personally I feel that San Francisco is a very hipster city. If you love hipster stuff like organic food & cafes.. Then this is the place for you. But you have to be rich or be earning a lot cos the standard of living here is too darn high.

There are also stalls behind the building! You can buy the food and eat them at one of the benches overlooking the bay and the Bay Bridge.

I am holding on to two slices of pies I bought. Key Lime Pie for me and Honey Walnut Pie for le hubby. (in the end I had one bite and went to sleep.. Hahahah!)

There are also stalls inside the Ferry Terminal Building. The main tenants who are open everyday and the temporary tenants who are only there 3 days a week.

We bought bread from ACME bakery to eat with the peanut butter we bought in Solvange a few days ago.

These are the nut butter machines in an organic supermarket in Solvange. Super cool cos you can blend your own nut butter! And it's super fresh and delicious!

Le hubby had a great time operating the machine. I think he wants to buy one. Haha!

Tadah! We chose the honey roasted nuts.

We bought two containers and kinda regretted not getting more cos we just had it with the ACME bread and it's so awesome. Hahahaha!

There are also many other bakeries selling bread and they look so good!

However...

 BREAD IS EVIL! 

Cannot eat too much bread cos it's damn fattening. I always tell my sister @joannatpy not to eat bread cos she loves them yet wants to lose weight.

Carbo is evil!

Unfortunately on this trip I ate too much Carbo cos that's the way the American diet is.

I'm so "burgered" out from eating burgers that any chance I have I'll look for Korean or Japanese food which has soup and rice! I seldom eat rice in Singapore but they are so comforting to eat here in the cold weather.

I bought Korean Fried Chicken (Soy Garlic)! 

Not bad! But I think that Four Fingers is still better though.

Wah the BBQ chicken rice bowl (USD9) is awesome!!

But I'm still feeling a bit nauseous and dizzy so I'm tasting most of the food and le hubby is finishing them up.

Thank God I don't have to fly back today cos I'm really not up to tackling a long flight in my current condition.

Le hubby bought this for USD6++ from Cowgirl Creamery.

I think it's quite expensive cos it's just plain bread with cheese.

It's the novelty of it cos the cheese is melted off directly from the cheese block and scrapped onto the bread. There was a long queue for it!

Honestly I think it's so-so only lah.

Lots of organic fruits and vegetables for sale. They look really awesome and the vendors are super friendly.

The tomatoes are super huge and red!

Honey!

Blueberries!

I bought some peaches and they are super sweet! Yums!

Tried the yummy frozen custard too! It tastes like really smooth and dense icecream.

Bought a double scoop. Dirty Chai and Burnt Caramel. Woooooo! 😍 but after eating a few mouthfuls my stomach started churning. Omg. Sucks to be sick!

Showed my sister this and she said we should buy it so I did! Hahahahha! This is how le hubby looks like most of the time in Singapore because it's so hot there.

The weather here is currently between 8 to 19 degrees celcius so he's a happy cat here. It's too cold for me though.

Hoover Dam, Nevada USA

Hello Olaf! ⛄ 

I find it funny that a snowman love summer and warm hugs.. So I brought it to the desert. Lol!

We did the Dam Tour at USD15 per person which includes a short video and 2 spots inside the dam. The diversion water pipe and the power generators. Quite cool and very informative!!

I wanted to go for the most comprehensive tour but the places were sold out (limited slots) so we went for the normal tour instead. The parking is USD10 per car and you can park the entire day.

We visited the Generator room where electricity is generated when the water gushed into the narrow pipes.

Water is the main precious commodity here because the whole area is a desert. Electricity is a by-product which earns them money to maintain the dam and pay the employees.

Our guide (in blue, behind us) was explaining about the generators and the length of the huge room.

The thingy on the bottom right of the picture is a generator. We were "lucky" that they were doing a routine service maintenance on it so we got to see how it looks like.

The length of the place is 650feet from where we stood all the way till the end, behind the American flag.

The concrete wall of the Hoover Dam is 660feet. 10 feet more compared to this huge room. Imagine that! It's just crazy!

After the tour we went up the building and took pictures at the observation deck.

We were told that they are experiencing a drought that has been going on for 13 years. Before that the river floods every year. They still have enough water reserve to last for the decade or so.. But they are hoping that the cycle will change and the drought will end soon.

Quite amazing to have at least 25 years of water reserve... Shows how far sighted they are.

If you are afraid of heights, you can stay indoors and look out through the windows.

Look at the size of the wall!

We were just in the generator room behind the wall which was 660feet (2 football fields) deep! Squinty eyes because the sun were directly in our eyes and we can't keep them open. Well, I can't. Le hubby made a good attempt. Haha!

It was also hard to take a picture cos there was going to be an event that night and there's a platform or some sorts being set up so there's only a really small walkway.

Thank God there were very little people cos it's close to closing time. We also got my sister's friend's GoPro camera so it's much easier to take a selfie. I am seriously considering getting the Gopro camera cos it's cheaper here in USA & it's so fun to use!

But Le hubby kept asking "When you gonna use it?".

Spoil blanket.

You can see the stage and sound system being set up just beside us.

There's a very nice and informative exhibit about the construction of the Hoover Dam and how electricity is generated. It's located at the exit of the visitor centre.

There's even interactive games for children to play with!

Average salary was 0.65 cents per hour.

Workers worked 8 hour shifts and only had 2 off days in the entire year. Fourth of July and Christmas Day.

The dam was built during the Great Depression which partly is the reason why the dam was completed ahead of schedule and under budget!

Total budget was USD48million and they had 7 years to build it. Amazingly it only took 5 years and less than the money projected.

The project was so huge, 6 big companies have to joint venture to build it together!

In this picture you can see the building behind us which was where we stood earlier to take the pictures.

The visitor centre close at 5pm so we had to leave. At 5.02pm we saw a bunch of employees streaming out and I told Le hubby how lucky they are not to have to work OT at all.

The famous statues!!

They were located across the road from the visitor centre.

I thought the two statues were gargoyles! Well, I read about them in storybooks and the description made me think they were ugly but they are not!

It was not so crowded cos the visitor centre was closed and many people left already. Good thing cos we can take nice pictures!

Told Le hubby that people rub the toes for good luck.

He asked "What if I hug the whole feet?" and he did it. 😓 ok lor. Give you super good luck.

Shiny toes are really shiny!

"They died to make the desert bloom".

96 people died building the Hoover Dam.

For a project this massive and considering it was 1931 when the construct started, the number of fatalities were surprisingly low! Well, the best is zero fatalities but look at the scale of the construction and the conditions the workers have to work with last time...

There was another exhibit nearby but we didn't have enough time to visit it because it closes at 5pm. Sigh.

Quite awesome to see the landmarks which were featured in the first Transformer movie! I'm gonna go watch it again (part 1) so I can see the fight scenes and go "ooh! I was there!". Hahahaha!

I wanted to buy magnets but the giftshop closed at 5pm. We were there at 5.15pm. Sian. 😔

It is a nice place to visit if you are in Las Vegas! Worth the time!! :)