Revisiting Princeton

One of our biggest regrets from our US trip last year was that when we got to Princeton, it was already too dark to take nice pictures (read about Princeton last year and look at our dark photos here). E's cousin RC, our host on our last night in the East, so kindly brought us to Princeton for the second time. This time around, we took a lot of pictures because we absolutely love Princeton. My dream is to be able to stay in the university town and just watch people and time go by... while teaching or studying there!

Thawing at Panera

Chinese buffet dinner with E's cousin RC and wife MC

Visiting Friends by the Jersey Shore

E and I visited a good friend from high school, Dr. NN in Hazlet near the Jersey shore. It was a lovely and peaceful place. We spent the day with them, lunch at a dimsum place, a short trip to Best Buy so E can buy a wall charger for his iPod Touch and hanging at their house playing Wii and watching "Eagle Eye" on DVD. We had dinner at a very good Vietnamese restaurant near their place, loved the beef noodle soup and appetizers. We enjoyed time with his family very much.

Snow!

One of the reasons why we love going to the States in winter, walang ganito sa Pilipinas!

A Glimpse of New York

December 30, 2008. MS so kindly took us on a short trip to New York. Since we haven't gone to Chinatown, Battery Park and have not seen the Statue of Liberty on our previous trip to New York, that was precisely what we went to see. Although the original plan was to have lunch in Chinatown, parking was impossible that we ended up eating in Newark at this charming Portuguese restaurant. At least we managed to buy a dozen of that famous baked siopao (we wanted two dozens, but they ran out) from this popular dimsum place.

Pasalubong Shopping

December 29, 2008. Since MS (my cousin KS' wife) was off from work, we tagged along with her for grocery shopping. This was the best time to buy all the "bilins" so that we can fill up a balikbayan box before we leave New Jersey. We went to Costco for my parents' medicines and vitamins, chocolates, a year's supply of batteries in all sizes (yup, a lot cheaper there) and a lot of other things. I had to stop myself from buying additional bath and bed linen... we haven't used more that half of what we purchased last year. Next on the list was Wal-Mart for Hormel Chili con Carne (E's family's favorite snack) and cosmetics and toiletries that were mostly "bilins".

In the evening, we finally decided to buy the Roomba (been obsessing about it since last year)from Kohl's. Am really excited for it to finally arrive. We also went to Bridgewater Commons, the nearest mall to buy Bath and Body Works products for pasalubong and our own consumption. Luckily, BBW was already in the middle of its semi-annual sale. I bought my year's supply of home fragrance oils (I hope I got enough), hand sanitizers and liquid hand soaps. At day's end, we were able to fill up the Balikbayan Box.

Hoodies

I love hoodies, they help me look young and keep me really warm! So, in a span of 2 days, I have bought for myself 2 hoodies, one in purple/violet from Kohl's at USD12, and one in off-white from an H&M outlet for USD15. From then on, I knew I couldn't spend more than USD15 for a hoodie!

Atlantic City Adventure

We were so lucky to celebrate Aunt S' birthday with the S family in Atlantic City. We stayed at the luxurious Tropicana, one of the biggest casino hotels in the city. We tried our luck several times, and ended up shelling out USD30 and losing to Tropicana's slot machines. On hindsight, that could have bought me 1 pair of jeans or 2 hoodies...

But no regrets, because our Atlantic City holiday proved to be a very unique experience-- E learning poker on slots, outlet shopping and scoring a USD15 hoodie from H&M, walking along the Boardwalk in freezing cold and being in the middle of the festive holiday season in Atlantic City. It was great!

Lunch at the Tropicana Coffee Shop

The Christmas Tree inside Tropicana Marketplace with our niece and nephew.
Walking along the Boardwalk

Dinner at Hooters

The Boardwalk outside the Tropicana Marketplace

Back in New Jersey

E with R at brunch in Garden Buffet
Jackson Premium Outlets
Princeton University Town
Princeton University
Inside the Princeton University Campus

January 6, 2008, Sunday. We're back in New Jersey, but this time with E's cousin R in East Windsor. We started the day with a big brunch at a Buffet. Yum! Thanks R, for the treat! Then R brought us to Jackson Premium Outlets to look for more bilins and pasalubong especially clothes because we should take advantage of the 0% sales tax in New Jersey-- so it was the usual Polo Ralph Lauren and Gap. But for ourselves, we went crazy over dinnerware at the Corelle and Corningware outlet store. There were so many things we wanted to buy but we were constrained with the fact that it will be difficult to bring all of those home. Another reason why we wished we lived in the US. We had to content ourselves with the white-colored dinnerware which you can purchase in singles and were on extra reductions at buy 3 get 4. We figured that even if they didn't match what we had back home (we had white ones with a sunflower design which are no longer available) we couldn't go wrong with pure white ones. We also bought a couple of steak knives.

Before we know it, it was getting a bit dark ( it starts to get dark at around 5:00 in winter), and since we really wanted to see Princeton University, we had to leave.

Princeton was pretty. From the town to the campus, I felt that it was a place I would love to live in. Peaceful, with the right amount of activity around you. There were a lot of quaint stores, cafes and bookstores around the town. Inside the campus, the old buildings were beautiful, it was really nice to walk around. Being part of the academe, I felt inspired in that place. Maybe it's something I can dream about --- to teach and study there.

Last stop for the day was Walmart. We decided to send a balikbayan box from NJ because our stuff were already really hard to manage at this point (what with the dinnerware we bought and a lot of other things). Here I found a lot of bath things (which I also obsess about), good quality towels at USD4.50 -- can you believe it?