(Picking up where Part 1 left off)
Anyone who follows Heather regularly on Livejournal knows that she loves My Little Pony. In her efforts to get a complete set of G5 My Little Pony blind bag clips, Heather bought up the remaining stock from a bookstore she shops at, figuring that she could give away any duplicates to her friends. She wrote on Livejournal that she did manage to get all 11 clips in the series. The duplicate pony that she gave me for my keychain collection is named Zipp Storm. I've got to say, I really like her hairstyle/mane situation for some reason.
Next, we have this surprise pet blind box, which I still need to look at in depth. I was planning to write a full review and upload it as a separate post. But I've fallen way behind on my posting, as you can obviously tell.
The last gift that Heather brought along on the lengthy drive from Florida was this keychain advent calendar. I didn't even know that such a thing existed. Heather also bought one for herself, with her idea being that the both of us could open our individual calendars over the holiday season and then show off what we got.
The location chosen for our meet-up was the thrift store near my neighborhood. Heather has heard me mention this store a lot in blog posts and emails. I gave her a few pointers for shopping at this particular store, such as which departments to check for keychains and where that day's special offers would be posted. Unfortunately, Heather visited me on a Tuesday, which is one of the worst days for shopping at this store location.
Every day, one color tag is supposed to be 50% off and a different color tag is 1/3 off. The colors are rotated twice a week on Sundays and Thursdays, with the 1/3 off color going 50% off and a new color going 1/3 off. This helps to clear out older stock and make room for 'new' items. However, due to space limitations at this location, the tag color that goes from 1/3 off to 50% off on Sunday will only be available for purchase at 50% off on that day. Any remaining items with that tag color after the store closes on Sunday night get pulled from the racks first thing Monday morning, presumably to make room for fresh stock. I've seen store employees doing this.
There is another location of this store chain that I shop less frequently, because it's further away, that does seem to leave stuff on the racks for the duration of the discount period. However, that location is much larger, inside of a former Babies 'R' Us. I've gotten the general impression that pulling discounted items off the racks early must be a management decision, rather than a corporate policy. Regardless, I shared what I knew about the situation with Heather as we were shopping. And like me, Heather found the store's 'policy' frustrating.
I did manage to snag a decent 'grab bag' of keychains at the thrift store that day, although not at 50% off, obviously. Still, the price wasn't too bad. And I just couldn't pass up on Alice Snuffleupagus, Snuffy's little sister from Sesame Street, even though the clip needs to be replaced. Also, the Disney Goofy flashlight and the Marvel Comics Spider-Man clip that came in the bag are pretty fun too.
Speaking of Sesame Street, it so happened that Heather's friend/driver for the trip, Josh, works for the corporate parent company that operates SeaWorld and a variety of other theme parks, including Sesame Place. As an employee, Josh can bring a select number of guests into any company owned park with him for free. Since it was within a reasonable driving distance, Heather and Josh suggested that we all go to Sesame Place. Heather had actually brought this up as a possibility via email before leaving Florida, so I knew ahead of time that it might be happening.
I hadn't been to Sesame Place since I was in the Girl Scouts. But I was pretty sure that, unlike the Disney parks, Sesame Place as a whole was primarily aimed at young children, rather than people of all ages. Still, if Josh and Heather could get me in for free, then why not have a look around? Besides, as long as we got to check out the gift shop for keychains and any other fun Muppet goodies, I'd probably be happy regardless.
All in all, Sesame Place was a pleasant way to kill some time. The park itself had some nice themeing, as far as the buildings and the 'set-dressing' went. Heather and I even took a spin on the merry go round. And Heather and Josh let me hit up every gift shop in the park before we left, searching for unique Muppet items. Josh even let both Heather and I use his corporate discount to each pick up a souvenir keychain for our collections.
I'd like to send a big thank you to Heather, and Josh, for making time to come and see me in their already packed trip schedule. The fact that Heather made visiting me one of her priorities, and the fact that Josh was willing to spend time hanging out with me when he didn't even know me, really means a lot. And I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to get this write-up posted. One of these days, I have got to get myself a decent camera that works well, but that isn't too complicated for me to use. Auto focus just isn't doing it for me.
But at least Heather got the thank you card with keychain that I sent to her.
Signed, Treesa
P.S. Heather also promised to pick me up a keychain from the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant on her way home. But I'll save that package for another post.
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