Run for the Border

Yesterday after work Jp and I took a trip "across the line" to Bellingham, Washington for a cruise through Bellis Fair Mall. First stop, Auntie Anne's for some pretzel dogs - oh so yummy and buttery (oh and fatty and bad for you, but still yum!) And then once our energy was revved up - on to some clothes shopping - a peak at shoes and dresses for me, and shoes, pants, sweaters for him.

I picked up a couple scoop neck tees in black, white and brown - always a good staple for the wardrobe. And then I spied the cutest dresses; the photo doesn't do it justice but it's got pin tucks down the front and a flouncy hem. I bought one in navy and one in brown with wasabi coloured polka dots and matching ribbon:

Detail of the pattern:

I'm very excited about wearing this dress this spring and have been dreaming of the perfect shoes and cardigan to go with it. On my way to pay for my finds, I spotted a short, double breasted red wool/cashmere winter coat. I tried it on and it fit very nicely, so I added that to my collection. Jp found some pants at a great sale price too.

Many of the stores seemed to be cleaned out of stock, I guess there was some heavy after-Christmas sales - but that's probably a good thing for our wallets. Still there were some amazing prizes.

Next we hit Wal-mart for some of those items like laundry soap and other household things (including embroidery needles and yarn) and there I found these cute little note pads, oh and some heart shaped paperclips - just in time for Valentines:


And then we picked up some groceries - you know the things most Canadians cross the border for - milk, cheese and things we can't get - like this jar of cheese (?) I haven't tried it yet, but I will very soon. We found a very interesting grape juice/white tea combination - First Blush Juice, no alcohol but all the flavours were named after the grapes used - chardonnay, merlot, syrah, cabernet, etc. Oh it's very yummy - I feel all yogalishis! If you're a cold tea drinker, I'm sure you will love it.
We always try something interesting including many of the Mexican/Hispanic foods - so many are so yummy, our family favourite - La Lechera - the squeeze product as well as the cereal - La Lechera Flakes. Although we haven't seen the cereal for several months - if you know where to find it, please let me know. Read this blogger's comments here.

We did have to pay duty(on the clothes) and taxes (on just about everything else) at the border, but really even adding that cost, we still came out ahead.

On the way home, Jp stopped for gas and came back to the car with this little treat for me, isn't it cute? Even the company it came from is cute - AmuseMints - cute name and check out their website for all the adorable tins.

We got home later so we're a bit tired but everything went smoothly and it was great to get out and have some fun. And that's how we take our minds off the fog and the cold, now back to life as we know it - work, laundry, cleaning, cooking.....