Books Read in 2011

Tessa's books-read-2011 book montage

Clockwork Angel
The Hunger Games
Mockingjay
Catching Fire
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer


Books Read in 2011 »

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Back!


Image: www.hotelmorgana.com

I'm back after three days of intensive shopping. We shopped until 3 AM on Saturday (we ended up in Wallmart), so our feet were literally crying by the time we got back to the airplane. Everything was absolutely lovely, from all those polite, easy-going Americans, fabulous stores, and to the amazing food. I'd probably be four times my size if I lived in America! We ate breakfast twice at the Ihop - the first day (Saturday) we ate there at eight o'clock (four strips of bacon, scrambled eggs, hash brown, two pancakes, and a huge glass of orange juice), and we weren't hungry for the rest of the day. I think we ate again around 10 PM or so, some yucky food at Wallmart that I sort of just nibbled at. 

So yeah, we started out in the outlets, which may have been a mistake. The day after, we went to Target where the clothes were soooo cheap (I bought, like, 12 pajamas for my sons, each on $5 (pajamas here never go below $25)), and there were these cute little jogging pants for $7 and such. I'd bought some for $10 at the outlets, but that didn't stop me from buying more at Target! I know that the quality is better from Carters and such, but my boys grow so fast that it's pointless to buy expensive clothes for them. 

I did shop for myself as well. I bought three Levi's for $100! You can get one pair here in Iceland for no less than $160. So you see how the price difference is and why I literally lost it over there. I also bought four pairs of shoes, two purses, a wallet, loads of shirts and sweaters, belts, underwear, and anything I could get my hands on that's seriously overpriced in Iceland (Mascara for $5! It never goes below $20 in Iceland). 

We went to bookshops on the final morning. I didn't get a chance to go to Barnes & Noble (pout), but I did go to Boarders and some half-price bookshop. I bought these at Boarders: The First Five PagesWriting Dialogue, and The Copyeditor's Handbook, which I'm really excited about. I bought these at the Half-Price Books: Building Believable Characters and Comma Sense (for a dollar). I know that these books are a lot cheaper on Amazon, but since I was only staying for 3 days, I didn't want to chance having them sent to the hotel in case I'd miss them. They're also cheaper the way I bought them, because the tax in Iceland is very high (not to mention the shipping).

Anyway! When I got home, I learned that the my PC had died for no apparent reason! I turn it on and it stays on for like five seconds and then just dies. I took it to the shop that sold it to me and they're having a look. I'm so dead if the data is ruined! All my Creative Writing assignments, and a years worth of pictures of my boys! ...I should call them and make sure they don't swipe the memory clean...

Anyway, I'll blog less until I've gotten my computer back.

19 comments:

  1. Gosh I am really rather jealous.... all that shopping. I think I need to go to New York, like NOW.

    I'm sorry to hear about your computer... there seems to be a lot of it about at the moment. I hope the pc doctors fix it for you and you haven't lost anything.

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  2. Sounds like a great trip! I totally understand what you mean about the prices. When David and I go back to Sweden, I don't shop. At all. I'm always astounded at the prices!

    But Ihop? Ew! :)

    So sorry about your computer! That sounds awful! Crossing my fingers that they haven't lost any of your files.

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  3. You had a marvellous time and now that! Hope you recover all your work! Carole.

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  4. No one does breakfast like the US! That's one of the things I miss the most while living overseas.

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  5. Mmm...I love IHop.

    That's horrible about your computer, though! I really hope they fix it and everything is still there.

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  6. Have to agree with Ted ... no one beats the US at breakfast. Glad you had a great time. Welcome back!

    I had no idea things were so expensive in Iceland. How do you have money for anything?

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  7. Wow, those are some crazy prices in Iceland! I'm glad you had fun shopping. Good luck with your computer. The same thing happened with my daughter's laptop, and it was something to do with the motherboard, but it was fixable. Hopefully yours will be too.

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  8. I'm so jealous about the shopping! Here's hoping that your computer just needs a new fan or something else minor and that your harddrive and memory is all safe.

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  9. Welcome back Tessa, whoa! So much shopping, and you just made many jealous...

    Hope your pc will be up and running soon.

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  10. How did you get all that loot back to Iceland, ha ha. Sorry about your computer. It makes me think I should do a download, but I probably won't.

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  11. Thanks for reminding us how good we have it in the US. It's easy to forget, unfortunately! :/

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  12. Welcome back Tessa, we missed you!!! Sounds like you had a fantastic time. Hope your computer gets fixed soon :(

    Rach

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  13. awe man- hope your computer is okay! I envy all that shopping! lol.

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  14. Thanks for the welcomes! There's still no news on the computer :/ But I'm wearing brand new clothes (from socks to hairband!), so I'm content, for now.

    Quinn: Things didn't use to be like this. After the financial catastrophe, all our money goes to buying food and paying off debts (and no, we weren't one of the ones who went overboard with buying stuff and plunging into depts before the crash - we owned everything but the very small appartment - and what we owned in the appartment has been eaten by inflation and risen by 50% (stupid loan system in Iceland)). So, clothes here have doubled and trippled in prices. We had some money saved up, which is why I went to the USA to shop. With the cheap flight/hotel, it will pay off in the long run (my cousin is an airline employee). Oh, and people probably get paid better here than in the USA, so that's another factor.

    Okay, getting depressed all over again! *Strokes very soft, very stylish sweater*

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  15. The stores love you. I came by to read your ghost story for Quinn's Boo-fest so I am wondering if your ghost fried your PC while you were gone. I had no idea the tax was so high in Iceland. Maybe we should set up a blogger support group and send U.S. goods to our followers.

    Nice to meet you.
    Nancy
    N. R. Williams, fantasy author

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  16. Sounds like a fun trip! I had no idea the prices were so much cheaper here. Guess I won't cringe at $30 jeans anymore. Well.... I might. :)

    Hope the computer issue isn't permanent.

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  17. I'm a not-nearly-well-traveled-enough-for-my-liking American reader, so I loved this entry! I already knew that we're the place to go for impressive breakfasts and generally giant portions (it's hard to forget it when you constantly encounter so many obese adults and children, unfortunately) but I had no idea about the price differences and everything else. $160 jeans!?! Of course you went on a shopping spree here! I'm glad you enjoyed the places and the people and I hope your computer behaves itself soon.

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  18. N.R. Yup, the ghost must have fried my computer...along with the ghost story. I'll have to post it once I get it back. The computer people assured me that my data hasn't been lost.

    Perri: If you could get jeans for $30 here, the store would empty in no time! Honestly, I haven't bought jeans for years, or ever since I lived in Denmark. Even when I was a kid and 501's became popular, they still cost 60-70 bucks (and that was over 17 years ago).

    Jillian: Huge portions is a vast understatement! You'd probably laugh if you saw the tiny portions in Iceland (portions I rarely manage to finish!). When my cousin and I ate at the Cheesecake Factory, we ended up eating a huge dish of salad together (because the other stuff we ordered was stuffed with coriander (ew)). We left about one third of that dish untouched!

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  19. Glad you had a good trip and went home with some fabulous clothes! Good luck with your computer and your writing. (good book ideas for me! thanks for sharing your list!) christy

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