Gift or no gift

Hmmm ... buy nothing for Christmas. Justine referred me to this link on my previous post. I think it's a great idea! (no, it's not just because I don't want to fight the crowds in malls, although that is a good reason)

It does refer to some alternative gifts to give. Essentially, the most treasured gifts are those that reflect the thought and time put into it. Guess the old adage ... "it's the thought that counts" really does hold water.

Christmas shopping frenzy

It's been nine weeks since scissors have touched my hair. So, I found a *somewhat* reasonable hair salon nearby. It was a bit higher end then my usual beauty salon I frequent. In less than a minute, the hairstylist had sized up the characteristics of my insane hair type. Very impressive. She was very quick! I think it was worth it, in the end.

Afterwards, I dropped by Indigo (as it was just a few steps away) to browse books, but then decided to leave promptly when I saw hoards of people lining up at all the cashiers. Christmas is quickly approaching and the weather here is quite mild ... thankfully I'm pretty much done.

I'm even done Christmas cards too, much to my surprise. Usually cards are slashed to 50 per cent on boxing day. This year, I noticed stores are actually discounting the cards before the season (much smarter, so people will actually buy more ...)

paper or plastic?

Today, I went grocery shopping in my new neighbourhood Whole Foods Market. It's a bit pricey, but ValuMart had already closed for the day and I desparately needed some food for the week. At the til, the person who bags groceries asked me, "Paper or plastic?" To which I said, "Pardon?" I am not accustomed to having a choice of bags. I chose paper, since I could. And lo and behold, I found that they are encouraging people to re-use paper bags (get 10 cents off next purchase when you use one).

I may choose to use them there or another grocery store. It's still pretty cool to have such fashionable bags for toting food.