Greenwood L'occitane Grand Opening Haul

Hehehe... I did a haul at L'occitane yesterday XD I knew Greenwood L'occitane was opening yesterday, and I knew they had this bag of gift for 50 first customers... which I wanted!! XD Unfortunately when I arrived, they haven't opened yet. And unfortunately again, yesterday happened to be the training day -_- so I was tossing to come or not.

The training finished at 9:15. I was so happy and couldn't wait to run out of the door. But... Superexcited started talking and talking, and making questions for us to answer (or to read his mind -.- sometimes I wonder, it is obviously clear that what he thinks most of the time is not what everybody else thinks, so why waste time to train us to be mind reader?). He also said that none of us asked questions! Excuse me sir, 2 people asked questions before -_-

At last, the training officially finished at 9:30. I straight away checked my email, nothing urgent needed to be done, great, then rannnnnnnnn to catch a bus. I had to wait like 5 minutes for the bus -.-

When I got to the store, it was PACKED! I saw someone giving out small bags of samples, so I hung around hoping to be given one XD Not long after, I did get one wooohoooo!

L'occitane Opening Day Samples

 Not bad ay? Really not bad for samples. That shampoo is big for sample size, and the perfume is not vial size too! If they're not stingy with me, I won't be stingy with them too! Here are the list of samples:
- Magnolia & Mure Eau De Toilette 7.5 ml
- Precious Cream 1.5 ml
- Amanda Milk Concentrate 6 ml
- Creme Perfectrice 1.5 ml
- Dry Skin Hand Cream 3 ml
- 5 essential oils shampoo 75 ml (Travel Size!)
- Voucher for Elle Hand Cream Collection with a spend of $30

My plan was go to the store, grab a hand cream, and then pay! What happened was, I got confused where the damn hand cream was, so one of the lady staff asked me if I needed help. I did ask her about the hand cream, and she did show me where. Then, she asked, "Would you like me to give you a hand spa?". I said "Yes, please!" *banging my head on the wall" I completely forgot my original plan and that I MUST go back to the office ASAP!

The handspa was awesome by the way. She exfoliated my hand and put on the most popular hand cream in the world, so popular that 1 tube is sold every 3 seconds. And then asked me to compare it with the non-treated hand. I could really feel the different and it felt good :) I was nervous though, thinking I had to go back soon.

Finished with that, she asked me if I needed anything else. I said I actually needed moisturizer. Every change of season from winter to spring, my facial skin always goes super dry, cracking, itchy and bumpy. Sometimes it gets incredibly bad, I don't even dare to put on my normal moisturizer as it makes my face stings! (I really shouldn't have said I needed that since I really needed to leave! But after that treatment, I thought maybe... there is a product that can help too).

She asked me how do I want the product to be like. I said I don't really mind as long as it's not too strongly perfumed. I've been using Garnier lately, and their products smell SO strong! I have always liked fragrances, can't believe that because of those products I'm actually turning into my mum who hates fragrances -_-.

She then brought the cleanser, exfoliate and moisturizer. She said that I needed a good cleanser and exfoliate as those bumps are dirt and needs to be cleaned out. She tried them out on my hand and yes it felt great. Damn. 

She then apply the moisturizer on my hand and asked if I liked the feel of it. It felt good, but it was a bit heavy to my liking. It was still a little bit oily when touched. I asked if that would be fully absorbed during the day, coz if not then I wouldn't like it. She said it will, but if I thought it was too heavy, there is another one she can show.

The other one has less fragrance and the price was not as expensive. It is absorbed more quickly and doesn't leave oily feeling on my skin, I liked it better. She did say though that I should only use it during spring. It wouldn't cut it for summer. Well I can try it first right? If it's good, I can always come back.

I ended up getting the cleanser too since it was half price. $14 instead of $28. I always use supermarket bought cleanser, so maybe it will make a difference? (I still have a lot of them at home though, what to do??? :P). Plus, since Dove cleanser cost me around $10 last year or the year before, this is actually a good deal :) So I went and queued to pay for those and also the small hand cream. She got me a membership form to join too.

While waiting, another staff saw that my purchase was going to be more than $60. They have a special opening day offer to get a bag of Gift with Purchase - The ‘Scent of Provence’ for $25 if you purchased more than $60. The content looked like it was worth it so I got that too. Later on I saw that bag had some tubes of mini hand cream too... I then left the hand cream I originally wanted to buy :P

They tried to care for the customers by giving out a cup of lavender earl grey tea, and there was also a box of chocolate at the register. I dunno if that's their standard customer service as this can really be considered as my first real visit to L'occitane. The staffs were friendly and helpful too.

While queuing, I wasn't sure if I could still get the free goodie bag, but then the guy at the register took 4 bags of them out. Yes, I was still in the game! Then another staff came up and asked how many more bags left? That guy said 3. I started to get worried :l My line was taking forever! The other line was faster. The guy who served my line took his time to show the samples, sprayed tissue paper for the bag with jasmine and bergamot perfume and even getting us to sniff it. Nice service, but not when you are racing against the other line to get the free bag!! Lol

When it was my turn, there were only 2 left. I asked him (tactfully), if I still could get the free bag for 50 first customers? He put 1 next to my stuffs and said, lucky! Phew.... =P the women at the next register got the last one down too. Lucky I did it first, there were in a group!

Sooooo here is the photo of the items I got in L'occitane that day!!! XD Both paid and free :P The bottom ones are the samples just for turning up. 

The top left ones, the blue pouch and 6 items below it are the $25 Gift of Purchase. It consists of shower gel, 2 tubes of mini hand cream, block soap, Jasmine and Bergamot Eau de Toillete and body lotion. 

The wrapped tall bottle and small brown box in the middle are the moisturizer and cleansing milk I bought.

And finally the hot pink pouch with 4 items below it are the goodie bag for 50 first customer I've been eyeing since few days before the opening *shamelessly happy* XD It includes mini hand cream (the one that is sold every 3 seconds), Rose Nude Lip Balm, Perfecting Cream and a body soap. I really shouldn't buy any more beauty products until next year -.-

After that I ran straight to catch a bus back. In total, I was away for 40 minutes @__@ Lucky nobody asked *phewwwww

I put my bags at reception and then with my colleague in the other department just so I didn't have to carry them to my desk and made it so obvious hahaha XD

Don't tell anyone ok? ;-)

Busy Shopping Weekend! Part 2 :P

We had very busy schedule for Sunday. We hired a van to pick up all the stuffs and asked Kazeman to help us drive around the city. Lucky he is a morning person. Before I even told him the itinerary, he already said eagerly to start at 7 AM!! We did start with 7 AM train to the city. Met him probably at 7:15 on the train.

Here's our itinerary :)
1. Go to city to pick up Van.
2. Go to North Bondi to pick the dining table around 8-8.30
3. Either drop the table home or go straight to Yarrawarah to borrow trolley.
4. If we have time, go to Bunnings in Kirrawee to buy lawnmowers, laundry baskets and stuffs for the garden.
5. Go to Oatley to pick up organ by 10:30.
6. Either drop the stuffs home or go straight to Bankstown to pick the rugs up.
7. Lunch.
8. If we didn't go to Bunnings, go to Bunnings Bankstown Airport.
9. Drop stuffs home if required.
10. IKEA.
11. Drop stuffs to Yarrawarah.
12. Drop stuffs home.

What do you think? Busy eh? My plan was to be in Ikea by 2-3. But we ended up arriving in Ikea by 3:40 pm. Well... Not too bad right?

What was different from the plan was that the dining table was so big and heavy and hard to arrange in the van. Lucky the seller was really a nice guy and helped to load them up and arranged them properly. I don't think you would find this kind of seller often. The wife even gave us a bit of the paint that they used to patch it up if required. How thoughtful! We indeed needed it as the paint was scratched off etc otw home.

Even the parking was an effort! As pretty as North Bondi is with their terrace style townhouses and the tiny streets, the streets are TINY! And there are SO MANY cars parked along the street! The guy had to guide Kazeman to park every single inch of the way. Yep, every single inch. I'm not exaggerating.

Because it was a very big table and a lot of chairs, we had to drop them home first. Again, what an effort to get it in! Then we went to Yarrawarah to pick the trolley up. My sisters went straight to Oatley.

Even on the way to Yarrawarah we already knew we won't be at Oatley by 10:30. My sis text the owner that we would be late. Lucky she didn't mind (we got there at 11). I didn't know Yarrawarrah is so far! And you know what, after all that drive, we couldn't even use the trolley because the organ was too heavy!

I think our lucky stars were with us that day. The owner of the organ is such a nice lady too. Her garage is at the bottom of a slope, and he guided Kazeman along the way too, told him how to drive to get right to the best position to load the organ. Then, she explained every single feature of the organ, what issue the organ has, and even gave us the headset and make sure the chair strange doesn't contain rubbish. She also wiped the organ clean! She went all the extra mile for something she is giving away for free! Really, we were very grateful.

Now, the organ is heavy. She did say to bring strong people. According to her son, the organ weighs 200kg. I didn't believe it. Then I googled it and it says 230lbs, over 100kg. I was like omg, how are we going to load it?? But I thought we have 4 people anyway, should be okay! Umm... Not really. It was really a hard job. That dining table previously was nothing compared to this -.- but we eventually got it up in the van phew... The lady helped us too, even trying to find a piece of slate if we needed it.

Then, we planned to go straight to Bankstown as that organ is the only item in the van. Still have so much space. BUT! Just about 5 minutes drive, the organ fell! We had to put it up again and tied it to the cage. Originally we thought it wasn't necessary as it was very heavy already! But no, it still fell down. Looking at it, Kazeman decided to drop it home first.

Maybe it was really a good day for us all :) when we got home, we had to wait for my sisters to unload the organ. They took the train as the van was only for 3 people. At a time like this, Indo rule where you can fit the whole villagers into a vehicle if you can is really handy T.T then, tadaaaa my neighbor came out. We had a bit of chit chat and then I told him that we just got an organ but waiting for my sisters to unload it. Then, the magic question appeared, "Do you need a hand?". And world sparkled ^^ of course I felt bad asking him such a big job, so I asked are you sure?? It is very heavy! Which he replied yeah yeah it's okay. He genuinely wanted to help. So, great :)

And man, I didn't know that a guy's power compared to girl's is really that big!! Kazeman, my neighbour and me unloaded the organ and got it into the house and it wasn't as hard as when we loaded it up! And we only had 3 people! And I didn't help once they got it in the house (due to small door. 3 ppl can't fit you know XD). Man's power is scary.

That's one big job done. The biggest one for that day I might say. Lucky we have great neighbors :) next time I bake I will give them some :)

So, we went straight to Bankstown. Lucky my sisters weren't already otw home. We went to Bankstown Home Focus, picked the rugs, and had Oporto lunch. We weren't too late, it was around 1:30 when we had lunch. And maybe that Saturday was our lucky day. Even the Oporto guy was very nice and funny. All 4 of us ordered Wasabi Burger and chili cheese chips. Right before I paid, I asked him, "is it nice? If it isn't, I will change mine to something else". He replied, "The burger or the chips?". I said the burger. He said, "I haven't tried the burger, but I've tried the sauce. It tastes like wasabi, but not as strong. I've tried the chili cheese chips, they are great". Then after I paid he added, "If you don't like the burger, bring it back to me, I will change it for you". XD

The burger was good btw, and you can taste the wasabi. I was surprised, it was stronger than I thought it would be. Chili cheese chips were great too.

Then we went to Bunnings Bankstown Airport. It was my first time to Bunnings, and it was HUGE! We could easily spend hours there. What we were looking for mainly was a lawnmower. A staff tried to help us, but he was new, so he said to wait for the other one. The other one was AWESOME!! I told him my backyard size and told him I just wanted something easy. He said he would normally recommend the petrol one, but you need to know engines, I.e. sparkplugs and stuffs. You need to YouTube it and see how to work it together. It takes some time to get the hang of it. But if you don't have all those, he suggests the electric one. It has the power etc, the only downside is you have to carry the cord over your shoulder when you now the lawn. And you can't do it when the lawn is wet. I said I don't mind the cord, it's just like vacuuming the floor. And he went, "FINALLY!! Thank god!! That's what I always says! It's just like vacuuming! You carry the cord anyway! I don't understand why people always complain about it!". LOL

But yeah, he was good. Seems like Bunnings have great staff. Last time my sisters went to buy locks, they asked the staff too and they were very helpful. This lawnmower guy even point to each of the lawnmower and said this is great, this is expensive for what it's doing, this is rubbish, this one is the cheapest but great etc etc. It was clear that he was genuinely helping, not ripping you off.

Then, after that my sisters and Kazeman went to Ikea Tempe. I took the bus to Bankstown and changed train to Sydenham instead. My friend, Jen would pick me up from there to go to Ikea together.

She was late, so by the time we got to Ikea my sisters already got all things we needed (I got to Ikea at 4:20 while my sisters got there by 3:40). The wardrobe Jen wanted was sold out though, so she had to find an alternative. We finished around 5:30, loaded all the things into our van and drove to Yarrawarrah.

Lucky Jen had her in-law at home to help unloading her stuffs, he is STRONG!! So it didn't take us too much time nor energy. Then we dropped our stuffs home, and then went to city to return the van. Jen tagged along with us too so she could drop us all home :)

Then, dinner time! Finally lol. Everyone was so tired, Kazeman too. I told him he could choose what he wanted for dinner. He said, "No, better not, you guys would regret it later...". I said it's ok, even if it's Hotpot I don't mind. He then grinned widely and said Hotpot hahahha...

I don't know if that Hotpot was really good or I was very tired and hungry. We had very nice dinner. We finished by 9:30 and Jen dropped us all home. But I had to patch the dining table and chairs and take shower before going to bed T__T everyone was dead tired and went straight to Cotton Island, including Kazeman Hehehehe... Thank you so much Kazeman!! I bet he won't help me next time lol. But at least you had a new experience today, right? Driving a van! Hahaha XD

That's all! Busy eh? XD

Busy Shopping Weekend!! Part 1 :P

Boy, I had very very busy weekend last week. I woke up even earlier than my weekdays and already out of the house by 7! On Sunday we were even already on the train to city by 7.

As you all know, we just moved into our new house last month. So, last weekend we went to do furniture shopping. The prior weekend we already went to Ikea to see what we need to get. Last Friday we checked on Gumtree and all those furniture stores' website for all the things we needed. So the weekend was to finalize them all.

Saturday morning we left at 7 and went to North Bondi to inspect a dining table set. It was second hand, asking price was $400 for the table and $350 for 8 chairs. But if we buy them all, they're asking for $650. It's solid wood. Originally we thought to get one from Ikea, but the price is around $600 too. Plus it's Ikea quality, so well, you know, after 2 years maybe it's wobbly and stuffs. While this one is solid wood! And it has that unvarnished table top that I like. We saw it, liked it, haggled a bit and ended up buying them for $600. We will pick them up on Sunday. Phew, at least we didn't wake up that early on Saturday for nothing :)

We then went back to Bondi Junction, had brunch, checked out $2 japanese shop for those little things we needed for the house. Lucky we had brunch there, we won't have time for lunch later.

After that we went to Sefton to check out mattresses and beds. My colleague, Little Missy, told me he bought his bed and mattress from this place and says their price is very low. My sister actually went last Wednesday to check it out, but they already moved to Sefton. We got their phone number, got their new address and was told to call half hour before coming.

I called them before coming, and the main contact didnt pick up. Called the 2nd contact and was told they're open, just come. But weird thing happened, the main contact returned my call and said they have already closed their store and all of their stuffs are in his house in Burwood @__@ we could come if we wanted around 4.

The thing was, our next stop was Home Focus in Bankstown. Sefton and Bankstown are in the same line, so it works well. While Burwood is in different line. From Sefton to Burwood and back to Bankstown, I don't think we had enough time. We would, surely, if we drive a car, but we don't. And you readers, just read okay, DO NOT lecture me on learning how to drive. I will do it myself when the time comes. So, keep it for yourselves!

Wasn't it weird? The 2nd person said they were open. The main said they are already closed? We started to think there was some broken business relationships there... So my sister said, just go to Sefton to check it out! They said they are open, aren't they? I called them again and they still said they are open. So off we went.

The place was a warehouse. We had trouble finding it coz we didn't even know the store name. We only knew their phone number! Apparently they are called Awesome Furniture. The prices were alright, it wasn't as cheap as I wanted them to be, but still around $100 cheaper than Super A-Mart. I think I could get same or cheaper ones from Ikea, but my cousins warned me against Ikea beds as their ones already started to deteriorate after 2 years. And I did check Ikea's bedslates, they are very thin. I want something stronger. We got the prices etc and would come back later after our parents arrived back in Sydney.

Then we went to Home Focus Bankstown. We pretty much checked almost every single store! Home Focus is a shopping centre area for anything home decorating/furnishings. Well they have Gym World or something, but it's home depot really.

We found the rugs that we liked in the first store we went into, Rug Mart. But the price was a bit too much for the living room one. It's $350 for the one we liked for the living room, and $129 for the one in my room. My room's not that expensive considering Ikea sells that size of rug for $99 (And it's not as soft as this one!). I think I'm already biased here, aren't I? They did say they might be able to do something if we bought more. We left the store and checked the others, afterall, it was only the first one!

We checked so many stores, rug stores and furniture including DecoRug, Freedom Outlets, and Super A-Mart (the other ones I don't remember). But there were no other rugs we liked. And the price too, apparently compared to the other stores, the ones we picked were already the cheapest. There was one rug that we liked in Super A-Mart for the living room, but it's just plain colour, no pattern at all. And that I think already costs around late $200. Btw, Super A Mart customer service was really bad. Not rude, but just bad. We asked if they have other size for a particular rug, the girl said they come in 2 sizes, the big one and smaller one. Okay, there is the big one there, how much is it for the smaller one? She said, around $50 cheaper. She didn't bother at all to see which one I was refering to and check the price. Well, that makes it easier for me to decide :)

Super A Mart apparently has better bedslates compared to Ikea. The cheapest range has similar bedslates, but the more expensive ones have stronger bedslates. There was one that I liked that has thick bedslate for $600 or $700 I forgot. Probably $600. But it's bulky, hence will make my room appear smaller. Plus it's still more exxy than Sefton one.

Freedom Outlets was very expensive. Okay it's cheaper than Freedom, but really it's way out of our budget. I really need to be rich :l

But we did make a good decision with the dining table. With that quality, it would be easy $3,000 in Freedom. And still over $1,000 in Super A-Mart. Decent one in Super A Mart would be around $600.

So we went back to Rug Mart to get those 2 rugs. Thank god the living room one hasn't been sold yet hehehe... We negotiated the price and ended up getting them both for total of $430. Pretty happy with that :)) will be picked up on Sunday!

Then, we had to find our bus home T.T we had to walk a bit to catch the bus, and finally arrived at home around 5:45. What a tiring day! But no, we still have things to do. I had to make itinerary for Sunday as we have soooo many places to go, list the things we needed to get from Ikea and Bunnings, and checked out Bunnings catalogue. My sisters still needed to decide on the furniture she wanted to get.

Early start on Sunday!

Tourists Shopping Style by Country

Working for years in tourism industry, I picked up that each different country has their own distinctive characteristics when shopping for souvenirs. Be it their attitude, or their questions...

Chinese tourists: 你说华语吗?

Shopkeeper: Sorry, I don't speak Chinese..

Chinese tourists: Do you sell You-Gee-Gee?

Shopkeeper: you-gee-gee??? *confused*

Chinese tourists: yeah Youuuu-Geeeee-geeeee!

Shopkeeper: *thinking... You-gee-gee? U-gee-gee?? U-G-G?* UGG????

Chinese tourists: yeah!! You-gee-gee! You have??

Shopkeeper: -____- it's called UGG!! Not you-gee-gee!!! *pulling hair* -____-

French tourists (who almost all of them believe that French is international language, not English)
Tourist: (speaking French) bla bla bla... Bla bla bla... Bla bla?
Shopkeeper: (blank face) sorry... I don't speak French...
Tourists: bla bla bla... Blaaaa blaaaa blaaaa (still continue in French)
Shopkeeper: ??? I.. don't... Understand what you're saying....
Tourists: bla bla bla blaaaaaaa
Shopkeeper: :l

Indian tourists (who love berkilo2 of gold)
Tourists: (looking at a necklace that has a small glass pendant filled with gold FLAKES with a tag on it saying 99.99% pure gold) how many carat is this?
Shopkeeper: it's pure gold.
Tourists: how many carat is this?
Shopkeeper: it's pure gold!! 99.99% pure gold!
Tourists: yeah how many carat is this?
Shopkeeper: (kill me now...)

Tourists: (while looking at the same damn necklace which btw is pretty) how many grams of gold is this?
Shopkeeper: -_-" it's only gold flakes, just flakes. Very very thin and light...
Tourists: yeah, but do you know how much gram is in there?
Shopkeeper: -_- it's just flakes!

Japanese tourists (i'm really speechless about this)
Tourists: (after they paid for their shopping) ummm... (pointing to the shopping) presento... can I... have more bags please?
Shopkeeper: how many?
Tourists: (cheerfully) 20 PLEASE!! (big smile)
Shopkeeper: -______-

Philipino tourists typical question:
Do you accept USD?

Phillipino tourists: can I have 5 extra bags please?
Shopkeeper: sorry, we can only give 2 extra.
Tourists: why?
Shopkeeper: To save the environment. Those bags are not good for the environment you know.
Tourists: Don't worry!! I'm bringing them back to Philippines!!
Shopkeeper: Errrrr..... @__@

Indonesian tourists when finding out the cashier girl is an Indonesian
Older generation: Oooh.... You're an Indonesian!! How long have you been here? Do you study here? Is this your shop? How cool that I meet an Indonesian here!

20++ generation, particularly tante2 group: Oh?? You're Indonesian?? You should have said so from the beginningggggg, so I don't need to hardly speak Englishhhhh!! You stay here? Not going back?? Do you have family here? Which city are you from? How long have you been here? You like living here better than Indo eh? Is this store yours? No? Who's the boss? Indonesian or Oz?? How much do you get per hour? Good? How much?? Eh is there any discount? We buy a lottttt!! 

Shopkeeper: @___@ *headache* (and ended up forgot to change the wrong price of some items.. suckersssss :P)

Below 21: from the beginning till the end doesn't want to say a word.

That's all I can remember for now. As I usually say, I write this just so I don't forget it in the future. After all, looking back, there were pretty interesting, though annoying when those actually happened. So don't get offended if you're one of those nationalities, I myself is also one of those ;)