Flickr photo of Sawgrass Mills entry by Daniel + Carla

I don’t understand why tourists automatically go to shopping centers, like Sawgrass Mills in South Florida. I guess that’s because I’m not one of those people who considers shopping to be a fun activity. I just don’t get it — why in the world, upon arriving in a new, unfamiliar, locale, would automatically go for shopping? LOL, aren’t I spending enough going on vacation anyway?

Flickr photo of the Sawgrass Mills Mall map by Lumberg

Anyway, Sawgrass Mills is gargantuan. The mall itself is split up in avenues, and for good reason — each avenue is anchored with a big, outlet version of a department store — think Super Target, gigantic Burlington Coat Factory, JC Penney outlet — and within each avenue are smaller stores like an Aerosoles outlet (where I would have gone, but Trinity was not going to let that happen), a Coach outlet (what a zoo), a Crate and Barrel outlet and a Neiman Marcus outlet (outlet? riiiiight). After wandering around for a while, my feet, shod in flip flops, were aching. We did have to purchase some sweaters, seeing as how Florida’s weather turned rainy and windy and cold that day, but did we find any deals at the Gap outlet, the JC Penney outlet, the Marshalls outlet or the TJ Maxx outlet? Nope. We found sweaters for about $16 each at Burlington Coat Factory.

Bottom line? Skip the high gas prices and don’t go to any outlet. I used to go to the old-school Guess outlet at the Cooper Building in downtown L.A., where you had to pick through the discolored, torn, ripped or otherwise unperfect clothes that were rejected for the regular stores. Nowadays, you don’t see that at outlet stores — they look the same as a regular store. So if you really want to save some cash on new clothes — shop at the Ross, Marshalls, Burlington or TJ Maxx in your neighborhood — you’ll save money on the clothes and the gas.

When I use it, I hold one nostril down and sniff strongly with the other. I keep it bedside as I sleep. It’s the first thing I reach for in the morning, the last thing I put down before sleeping. It’s within reach at all times.

It’s my Vick’s vapor inhaler.

I initially wanted the Vapor Rub, you know, the kind Monica used in an episode of Friends to rile up Chandler. But we instead opted for this inhaler. It’s like crack, I tell you.

It seems I’m not the only one who drew this conclusion. Check out this epinions.com review:

Using the Inhaler/How Well It Works
I pulled the inhaler out of its packaging in the CVS parking lot and used it immediately, I was that congested. I took a long, long deep breath through my nose, with all the enthusiasm you might see from a drug film, I was so sick of my congestion. What was amazing was that I could inhale fully from the instant I used this product. I went for the second nostril, again with a big, emphatic, glorious inhale. The first good inhale I had experienced in weeks. Perhaps it’s one of these ‘active’ ingredients, but I did feel much more energetic, I think in part because the strong menthol/camphor smell has an invigorating effect but also in part because finally I could breathe! I could smell. It was glorious.The effect lasted for about an hour. I used this product many times throughout the course of my head cold and I found that depending upon how determined my sinuses were to produce congestion the effect would last anywhere from half an hour to the full two hours. After I recovered from my cold, sometimes using this product only once was all it took to knock out temporary congestion.

But it seems that, if you’ve got a drug test coming up, maybe you should avoid this “crack”:

A note about the ingredients: I have read in other reviews that this product contains 50mg of Levmetamfetamine (apparently a methamphetamine derivative) which can cause you to test positive for illegal drugs. The little wrapper on my inhaler says L-Desoxyephedrine. So I checked drugstore.com’s information, where they also have it listed as L-Desoxyephedrine. So I checked Vick’s website, where they list the ingredient as Levmetamfetamine. I’m not a drug specialist and I don’t know what the difference is between these two types of drugs, or how they’ll show up on drug tests. I’d advise you to not use this product if you have an upcoming drug test, no matter which ingredient is on the label. I welcome any input in my “Comments” section that might shed some light on why there are two conflicting ingredients listed in separate places and what the differences are in the ingredients.