holiday rants and raves

Image via Anthropologie

Oh USPS, how you've foiled my ingenious (or so it seemed at the time) plan to avoid stores at all costs and just order all my gifts online. Amazon proved to be a wonderful ally in this quest. At least the gifts that I ordered for my little sister and my little niece arrived well ahead of Christmas (in my niece's case, the video games that I ordered on the 18th actually made it to her by the 23rd despite a shipping estimate of December 29. Hoorah!). My Brookstone order, however, failed miserably! Despite those reassuring "Guaranteed Holiday Delivery" banners, I found out today, on the eve of Christmas, that my order had been rescheduled to arrive on December 29, 2009. Brookstone washed its hands off any responsibility, of course, saying that they had sent out my order on the same day I placed it but it was USPS that had rescheduled the ship date. Whoever's fault it is, I will never believe in the words "Guaranteed Holiday Delivery" ever again!

So tonight I'm waltzing into Christmas Eve dinner with just half of my presents. Haven't really got the energy to duke it out today at the mall because I'm still recovering from the flu. Fortunately I have a pretty laid back family. My mom insisted I just tell everyone what happened and distribute the gifts when they arrive. "What's more important to them is that you're here," she said, and I actually believe that's true.

Sorry for starting the holidays off in a rant but I've had a rough one so far. I got bogged down with the flu as soon as I got to Seattle, and now this! But despite feeling like I got hit by an 18-wheeler, it's been wonderful to be taken care of by my mom while I'm sick (it's the best thing in the world!) and to be surrounded by so many loved ones who will brave my germs just for a long overdue hug. It makes my heart feel full.

It's not the most perfect Christmas ever, but definitely one of my happiest. The wonderful gift that I've received this year is knowing and appreciating exactly who and what I have in my life, and being appreciative of and content with it. I am surrounded by so much love and light, and no flu or USPS fiascos will get my spirits down.

I hope that you are having a wonderful Christmas as well!

Foiled Again: Alexander McQueen for Target zigzag dress

I have beef with Target today. I ordered this dress on March 4, 2009, literally on the day that the collection dropped.

The ship date was atrocious, something like first week of April, but I bought it anyway because I had been wanting this dress since I heard about the collab. After a week, I hear from my friend Sonu that she received an email from Target saying that her order for the same dress cannot be filled and so it is cancelled. I received no such email so I clung to the hope that I would get mine. But last night, the email came in with the unceremonious message:

Unfortunately, the following item is not currently availablefrom any of our sources.

"Alexander McQueen Ebony/Charcoal Zig Zag Print Dress - 1" [Apparel]

We have cancelled this item from your order.

Just like that, my hopes were dashed. What I want to know is, what kind of fuckery is this Target???

DO NOT order flowers from Proflowers.com!!!!

And now for a public service announcement.

Do not, I repeat DO NOT, order flowers from Proflowers.com! I made the mistake of ordering flowers for my Mum last Mother's Day. It took me four months to realize that I had inadvertently signed up for this service called Easy Savers. It apparently gets you discounts in establishments or something, and costs $14.95 per month to maintain. That totally makes sense right? If I wanted to save money on random establishments that I'd be lucky to visit once in my lifetime, it makes perfect sense for me to pay $14.95 every f*cking month for the privilege! Such idiotic crap.

How does this happen? Well when you order flowers from Proflowers, there's some tiny miniscule print somewhere, I'm guessing, that signs you up for this crap. I must've failed to uncheck some box or whatever because I somehow got signed up! I searched my inbox and found no emails informing me that I have signed up for this service. I finally noticed it when I was checking my bank account to see the damage I wrought upon it last weekend, and there was this $14.95 that just snuck in there! I Googled the account name and number and lo and behold, droves of irate consumers have written about getting screwed over! I called my bank to put an end to this nonsense, then I called Easy Saver and unleashed my fury on the supervisor, who had a very well-rehearsed spiel—doubtless from talking to a multitude of angry customers daily. So the bank is crediting me for 2 months and Easy Saver is giving the other 2 months back, so I should be okay ... but please, spare yourself this horrid nonsense and never ever ever buy flowers from this unscrupulous website!!!