Weekend Bazaar

We spent last Saturday at the Orange County Marketplace in Costa Mesa. It was fun, after all it was one huge bazaar (known as a swap meet in the West Coast, flea market in the East Coast, and tiangge back home). I absolutely love bazaars - going through stall after stall, looking for bargains, and then negotiating the best price with the sellers. My sisters and I have been to every tiangge, flea market, & swap meet back home – from the Xmas bazaars at the Peninsula and Intercon, Weekend bazaars at Makati Sports Club and Forbes Park, the good old tiangge in Greenhills, Home and Gift fairs at the World Trade Center, the stalls at Tutuban and Divisoria, even our parish’s tiny annual tiangge was too good to pass up! It has been ages since I have been to one and I spent most of Saturday making up for lost time.

The OC Marketplace was huge and sold everything from clothes and shoes, to paintings and furniture, to even yachts and mobile home trailers. The stuff for sale was ecclectic and a bit kitschy too - but a lot of fun. (I wished my sisters were here!) There were good deals and friendly salepeople. The event was incredibly well attended too, even on a hot summer day in the middle of August. There were food stalls that sold orange juleps, hot pretzels, beef brisket sandwiches, frozen bananas dipped in fudge, and fresh lemonade. Live music from different artists stationed every couple of meters from each other. It had a very county-fair-like atmosphere.

My hubby and I started off together but found that (as usual) our shopping pace and taste are actually quite different. So in order to keep our peace and sanity, we had to split up a couple of times.

At the end of the day, my hubby got cell phone cases (his is a cool looking black leather one, while mine is a very girly-looking pink and silver one – not quite my style, but the look kinda grows on you). I got a hardbound version of Amy Tan’s the Joy Luck Club for $1.35 and found my hubby a collector’s edition of Superman comics for 99 cents! How can you not love these types of bazaars? We also got some stuff for the house – little odds and ends. Contemplated buying two huge terra cotta pots on stands for our porch, but later on decided we did not want to carry them out to where we parked - half a mile away!

When we got home, I looked through the bags of things we bought and found that most of what we got (aside from the books and cell phone cases) were stuff for the house. Not surprising since most of the stalls I really lingered in were places that sold paintings, decorative mirrors and knickknacks, candles, garden accessories, wicker furniture and kitchen stuff. (My gosh, Mina, I think you are right, I am turning into a Stepford wife!). Yikes! When did this happen???

Gone are the days when shopping means going into a store and splurging on clothes and shoes and jewelry and make up. These days whenever we go to the mall, I browse a lot in stores like Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma, and Sur La Table. I have been even known to pass the Women’s Department in Macys and Robinsons-May to head straight to the Home Section. I told my husband that I think I am turning into my mother! Seriously.

I recall how my family used to spend some of our Sunday afternoons at the mall. These were special times when my dad would generously allow all of us to go choose any one item we wanted to buy. Anything at all. Once my dad said those magic words, we would be off and running. We would all go off our separate ways and come back with a million and one different ideas on what was the one best thing to get. For us kids it would be either books, shoes, clothes, CDs, or occasionally toys.

But for my mom, it would undoubtably be something for the house. No fail. Either new kitchen gadgets, cook books, towels, sheets, serving platters, decorative pieces, etc, etc. It was always a wonder to me why she would never get anything for herself. I'm sure I’ve asked her a couple of times but don’t really recall what she said. Come to think of it, I don’t think she’s ever really given me a straight answer. It was just how things were. And in this case, it seems it is how things are all over again.