I was there to drop someone off at the hotel. Embarrassing as it was, I had to stop every five minutes to reference the digital signage maps along the way and to ask someone to point me in the right direction.

The Christmas decor is up and the stores were beckoning. Luckily the kids and I were hungry and decided to spend our money on a nice dinner instead. When it comes to restaurants, we were so spoilt for choice we ended up walking up and down undecided.

Pity we had to leave right after dinner. I really wanted to do some shopping because I noticed some stores that I’ve not seen before at other malls. I got to go back there one of these days before Christmas.

The papers say that consumers are looking for cheaper alternatives for food and other items. And it’s true, I seem to notice many of the mid to high-end restaurants are practically empty during mealtimes, and the smaller, less fancy restaurants are always full.

Not that I mind the smaller restaurants but the servings are usually quite small too to match the prices. Unless you’re extremely overweight, there’s no need for top diet pills to help you lose weight.

The school holidays are here and we’ll probably be eating out if we happen to be out. I’m going to be looking out for the smaller eating places with good food to try and stretch that dollar and tighten that belt.

When we got there, a short line had already formed and the sale opened like 10 minutes late. Not that we minded, just that when we got in there, we found the only clothes they had looked like they were from 1999, know what I mean?

In fact, I saw a shirt I’d bought my daughter 3 years ago and they were still trying to sell it there at 70% off! Duh! We did a quick about-turn and left the place.

Nothing to buy but old leftover junk. We felt so cheated. Rest assured, we won’t ever go to that company’s (won’t mention names here) warehouse sales anymore.

My kids, though young, read the papers too and sometimes they’re the ones informing me about sales and asking me to try other brands. Actually there are lots of ways to save if we take the time to think and compare prices before we buy impulsively.

MY kids and many of my friends’ kids wear eyeglasses and this is one thing you can’t really save much on if you go to our local opticians.

Lately I’ve discovered Zenni Optical, an online store that offers a wide range of eyeglasses, like you would not believe. What’s even more amazing is that their stylish prescription eyeglasses start from as low as $8.

They’re a manufacturer of frames and lenses including sunsensor lenses and bifocals who sell directly to the consumer, thus removing the cost of the middleman and advertising.

I know some of the bloggers have purchased glasses from Zenni Optical and frankly, they only have good things to say, and from the photos, I’d say the glasses look really trendy. It’d be great if they ship internationally. I’ll go check.

What I’ve noticed though is that on many items, they only have limited stock. The other day, I bought a pair of shoes each for my girls. We went back a day later to buy two more pairs but the offer was over and the shoes weren’t even on display any more.

How wierd! The lesson we learnt is that we have to make a quick decision on whether or not to buy. Wait and it’ll be gone!

These gifts are okay except that they come branded with the name of the insurance company which pretty much renders them unusable.

I mean, seriously, do they expect us to walk around like some friggin’ advertisement and for free !!? At least those walking billboard people are paid to do a job, ya know.

I wonder if you get better gifts if you buy auto insurance in Texas? I wouldn’t mind getting a free Stetson hat since I missed my chance at buying one when I was in Dallas, heh!

Well, never mind, my auto insurance has stopped giving gifts this year. Times are bad, it seems, so the company is trying to cut cost! Grrr!

Of all the people I chose to ask, I had to ask someone who hardly ever goes shopping but spends most of her time chained to her home entertainment center watching Korean dramas.

Granted it boasts newly refurbished home theater seating, I still can’t understand how she can sit there all day. Is that even good for health?

As for me, I love shopping too much. You won’t find me glued to some drama series that never ends. It’s true those episodes run in the hundreds and there’s really no end to them. All the storylines are pretty much the same so where’s the fun in that?

Well, apparently since I came across this section at a mall selling Halloween stuff. There were also ghoulish activities organized for the kids to go around the mall trick-or-treating, I think it was.

I guess the economy is bad so it’s time to commercialize any which way we can, eh? That said, I guess it does lend a rather happy (if you can call ghoulish that) atmosphere to the mall. Happy Halloween if it’s not too late!

Just as I was leaving to go shopping this afternoon, he came to borrow my computer to watch Carlsberg web-tv. His laptop is at the repair shop for a few days so he’s at loose ends.

Carlsberg has recently launched its own web tv for football fans to keep up with everything that has to do with football around the world. Sound better than shopping to you? Then click yourself over to www.partofthegame.tv. Enjoy!

She doesn’t mind not going shopping with me though. She plans to go to New York with her friends this Christmas so she’ll probably do her shopping there.

In previous years, they’ve taken the Bus Charter NYC and she says they love it. It’s so convenient and economical because you deal direct with the company and not through some third-party agent which is where things can get sticky sometimes.

When she’s on holiday, she wants fuss-free so one of the ladies always does the arrangements for the bus to customize their tours for them.

If I were going to New York with a group of friends, I’d do the same. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to arrange for transport if you have quite a big group?

In my travels so far, I’ve been lucky that a designated organizing committee has always taken care of the tour arrangements so the rest of us can just sit back and enjoy the trip, and the shopping .