Wishlist // Non-Cosmetic Edition

· Flat Sandals:

I really dislike the Gladiator sandal style, and I also hate those sandals that have a strap down the middle of the foot, but none across to keep your foot on the sole of the shoe... and those are also, coincidentally, the only types of sandals that are available in most stores, with the exception of regular flip-flops. However, what I want is something flat, strappy (but not too strappy), cute, and comfortable. Ugh!

I have found a few options, though. Including these simple brown ones from Asos:

Image from Asos.com

As well as these crazy cool ones from Forever 21:

Image from Canada.Forever21.com

I’m leaning towards the Forever 21 ones. And yes, I count those as flat, even though they’re 4 inches off the ground at their highest point, because they have almost no difference between heel and toe height, and should be nice and comfy.

· New Shorts:

Image from AE.com

I have a couple good pairs of shorts, but only 2 that I really like on, both, of course, from American Eagle. I was really sad lately, because they were (are?) having a sale where all their shorts are $25, as opposed to the usual $40. However, most of the midi shorts, which is the length I need for my legs, either look exactly like what I already have, or only went up to a size 12 (I, unfortunately, am s size 14). There were two pairs I really liked. One was like my other pairs, but had a leather braiding detail up the side seams, and the other had studs down the fronts (pictured), but alas, these didn’t fit, so I’m still on the hunt for another pair or two.

· New Jeans:

Image from AE.com

For the same reason that I need to wear midi-length shorts, I also go through jeans faster than the average girl, and so I’m in need of a new pair or two, despite the fact that the temperature is currently rising. This isn’t hard to find, I just need to get over it and spend the money on a couple of good pairs, since my favourite jeans are all American Eagle. I have a hard time finding other brands, especially cheaper brands, that look good, fit, and aren’t exorbitantly expensive!

· Great Gatsby (the book):

Image from BookDepository.com

Pictured is my favourite cover, but I’m much more likely to get a cheap cover, since I have a hard time spending $11 on a book I can get in a different cover for less than $3. I really loved this book when I read it, and I can’t wait to see the movie, and I would very much like to have a copy of the book for myself.

· The Beautiful and the Damned:

Image from BookDepository.com

The book in the picture is the one I’m most likely to buy, since it has two different Fitzgerald stories in it for less than $5. Because I loved Gatsby so much, and Fitzgerald’s writing style, I would love to get this to try out some more of his stuff.

· A new tea ball and/or a takeout cup with a tea strainer right inside:

I have no idea why I’m having such a hard time finding a tea ball that is larger than the one I have at home. I even went to David’s Tea, and all the ones they had in stock didn’t close properly, so tea would have leaked out everywhere, especially a rooibos tea! Ugh…

Anyways, I would also love a travel mug with a tea infuser inside of some sort, since at the moment, I’m pretty much limited to using my loose leaf teas when I’m at home, and stuck to store bought or bagged teas when I’m out. However, I haven’t found one yet at a good price and size. Maybe soon.

· Great Gatsby tickets:

  Image from Ocoos.com

· Star Trek: Into Darkness tickets:

Image from Snymed.blogspot.ca

Ok, not sure if the last two here count, but I really would love to see both of these movies in theatres. The only problem is that it’s hard to find a time when everyone who wants to see the movie is available... we might have to just suck it up and go at different times...

Eyes are delicate, yo!

Do you know what isn’t fun? Having a corneal abrasion.

If you have never had the misfortune to have that, you are lucky, and I advise you to be very careful with anything vaguely sharp around your eyeballs, including mascara wands, which was the object of my own misfortune. Also, before I get into this, I promise I won’t post any creepy pictures of how my eyes looked all red, irritated, or puffy, and I won’t show you pictures of corneal abrasions... If you want to know, I leave that to you to look up. I’m just going to rant a little bit for my own amusement, and maybe so you can laugh at or sympathize with my pain and discomfort. (In case you don’t know it yet, by the way, there’s a great term from German to describe the enjoyment that we receive from witnessing or hearing/reading about another person’s pain, and that term is “Schadenfreude.”)

Anyway, the other day, I was doing my makeup as usual, and as I was doing my mascara, I was attempting to use the wand to separate a clump in the outside corner of my lashes, when, next thing I know, I’ve poked myself in the eye, and squeezed my eyes shut tight in defence. Thus, promptly and efficiently smearing wet mascara all over my top and bottom lashes. This seemed to be my biggest problem, once I got over the shock of the poke, I didn’t think I’d really damaged anything, just hurt myself a little and messed up my makeup a lot. I had to take it all off and try again, and I went on with the rest of my day.

About halfway through the day however, my eye started to hurt again, like there was something in it, but there was nothing to be seen, and my eyes were just tearing over and over again, until I didn’t know what was going on, my eye was getting red, and later my lids began getting puffed up. I tried washing out my eye with water, and I managed to bring down some of the swelling with a cold washcloth over my lids, but I ended up going to bed really late, with my eye still hurting, and feeling very worried.

I slept very little all night, and when I did, I woke up in the morning with my eye puffed up even more than before I fell asleep, and I was pretty much freaking out. My mom didn’t seem as worried, which was helpful, and she gave me a cotton pad with some witch hazel (pro tip: witch hazel is bloody amazing for taking down puffiness or inflammation, and it lasts forever!) on it to take down the swelling and began looking online for a walk-in clinic around us that was open on Sunday. There should have been one, but it was closed, so I was forced to go to the hospital. As we sat there, my eye slowly began getting better. After an hour and a half, I was in their “eye exam” room, where I sat for another 3 (Yes, three goddamn hours), while my eye continued to feel better, though it still hurt a fair bit, and I was starting to get a headache.

When a doctor finally appeared, he checked my eye, put a numbing drop in it, then a yellow/orange dye that fills in a corneal abrasion if there is one, and he looked at my eye in the dark under a cool blue light. If you look up corneal abrasion on Google, you can see the cool neon green of a scratch on a dark blue eye, it really isn’t that creepy, and I’m pretty creeped out by eyes. Anyway, he said that was the problem, and it should be better in no more than 48 hours, gave me some eye drops that are “basically Advil,” and I was done.

A few days later now, I finally had the confidence that my eye was alright, and I got to wear makeup again. It’s still a bit light-sensitive, which only makes sense, but I got by without using the drops every 4 hours, and I think I’m almost healed completely.

So, the moral of the story is this: be very careful with your eyes. Scratching your cornea fucking hurts, and your eyes may even puff up and make you scared for your eye’s existence.

Usually I’d ask for your comments, and I do like your comments, but please nothing too focused on your experiences with injured eyes, at least not the gory details... I can be pretty wimpy with that stuff. Thanks for reading!

My adventures in Anime

I’ve never been a massive fan of anime, unless you count Sailor Moon when I was really little, and then Pokémon and Digimon a little later. By the end of middle school, though, I’d pretty much decided that I hated everything that Anime was… the animation style, the ridiculousness, the lack of realism, the annoying girls’ voices, trying to read subtitles or else putting up with English voice-overs… I had tons of arguments. It was all the same, in my opinion, and I wanted nothing to do with it.

However, over the last few years, because of my boyfriend, I’ve watched a few, and not hated every minute of it. Although Brit, my best friend, had tried and failed to get me to watch anime, David has been a lot more picky about the anime he tries to get me to like, and the first one was a great choice.

Even if you have never watched or liked anime, you should watch Death Note.

Image from ranpict.com

It is definitely an anime in many stereotypical ways, but the animation feels little more sophisticated, and it is also intensely interesting. Rather than trying to explain it to you without spoiling it in case you want to give it a try, here’s a summary from Wikipedia:

“The main character is Light Yagami, a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook, the "Death Note", dropped on Earth by a shinigami (a god of death) named Ryuk. The Death Note grants its user the ability to kill anyone whose name and face they know, by writing the name in the notebook while picturing their face. The series centers around Light's attempt to create and rule a world "cleansed of evil" as "God" using the notebook, and the efforts of a detective known as L to stop him.”

Another one that wasn’t bad, even if I didn’t love it, was Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann… which I had to Google just so I could spell it right. Usually I just call it Gurren Laggan.

Image from Turtlespiralcastle.blogspot.ca

Aside from one character, who was barely a character, and couldn’t speak  to everyone else (his name is Boota), I never really fell in love with the characters or the story.

Image from Animestocks.com

Even despite the brightly colourful, highly stylized animation style, and over-the-top characters and voice actors, the basis of the story that this anime tells is definitely an interesting one. Basically, it’s a dystopian story with giant robots people fight in, and space, and not everyone is human. Lots of it is impossible, and unbelievable, but it doesn’t kill the appeal of this anime

I’ve watched a little of another two of David’s favourite anime, which are Ghost in the Shell, and Ergo Proxy.

Image from Nerdreactor.com

I couldn’t really get into Ghost in the Shell; it’s a dystopian again (my boyfriend really likes dystopians, and has for a long time), but its pretty ugly and I just never got into the story or learned to care for anyone in it. I might watch the rest one day…

Image from Occultperception.wordpress.com

Ergo proxy was a much more realistic animation style, though still very anime-esque. The colours are more muted, and the story was interesting. Another dystopian (yeah, yeah), but this time I cared about a few of the characters and the world really grabbed my interest. Apparently the quality goes down later in the anime, but I never got there. I wanted to, but we haven’t got around to it for some reason that I don’t understand.

Finally, I just finished the one and only season of a new-ish anime called Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (another one I had to Google. I just can’t get the handle of Japanese words or names for some reason).

Image from Alive3333.blogspot.ca

The animation is nothing special, but the story and the characters are really engaging. It’s a fantasy/historical-fiction anime, and is interestingly based around the idea of macro-economics. Its like anime with a large side of history and social studies lessons, which I find really fascinating. The only problem I had with this anime is the (non)ending. This better get another season or more, since there is very clearly a lot more story to tell, as it ends right as it seems that shit is about to go down. I was not impressed that I spent that many episodes falling in love with characters and the world to possibly never find out what happens to them all.

The source for this anime is a “Light Novel,” which is apparently written somewhat like a play. There are also manga of the story, but from what I’ve found, I can’t see a way to get an English translation of these so that I can get the end of the story! I’m pretty upset.

Oh, I almost forgot, there’s also Bleach, which you have probably heard of if you know anime, or anyone who knows anime, since it’s old and long and very popular.

Image from Wikipedia

I recently started reading the manga with David, and it’s pretty interesting, though very daunting, since there are sooooooo many chapters and volumes! Still, and interesting concept, though I’m sure I could never watch the anime version, which, from the bit I’ve seen, epitomizes all I used to hate about anime. It’s kinda funny, in this case, that I like the manga so far! But I guess it lets me make up my own voices and such, so maybe it’s not so surprising.

Anyway, I think that’s all I wanted to share for now. I’m sorry it’s been so long since I last posted. I’m trying very hard to get back into posting both here and on My Glittery Obsessions.

Thanks for reading! =)

I wish I had more time to write…

So it's been almost 2 weeks since I posted anything to my makeup blog, and almost three weeks now since I posted anything here. I actually have a bunch of stuff to write about both here and there, but with school, and trying to make space for my new computer, I've been really busy.

I had 2 presentations in the past little while, as well as 2 papers. One of which I handed in late and only part finished, planning to take a hit to my grade and then do it better for the revision mark. Instead, my prof was nice enough to let me take a few more days, do my research, and hand in the paper tomorrow, but that means that I now have to finish another 1000-2000 more words by tomorrow night at nine. After that, I'm hoping to get some posts done for you, and line them up so it doesn't look like I'm behind again for a while, since I will then have more work to do ... with 2 more research papers and a short paper due before the end of the semester.

But Wednesday is my birthday, so I shan't be doing any work then, or even going to class. So that should be a good time to write some posts for y'all.

Anyways, thanks for sticking with me while I'm silent. I'll be back soon, I swear <3

I want it… (Google’s Nexus 7 Tablet)

So, I used to think that tablets are pretty useless and too expensive to be worth it. You have a laptop, you have a smartphone, why do you also need a device that lives somewhere in between those two worlds? However, I’ve come to really really want one, specifically the Nexus 7.

Image taken from Google.com

Why?

Because, I think it could actually be really useful, for a few reasons:

1) pdfs: I’m a university student, and, though they used to make us buy essentially books full of printed-off pdfs which were more expensive than God’s togas, most profs, or at least all the upper-level class profs have stopped making those part of the book lists and have started either posting pdfs to WebCT, or else emailing them out when they are needed. This is great from an environmental standpoint, right? Less wasted trees? Yeah, sure, until you realise they expect you to have these articles in class… So unless you have a laptop or an ipad (or other tablet), that means printing them off. And they are not always short, I’ve had some spanning 40-50 pages!

So, long story short, having a tablet would be an easily portable way to bring those documents to class without carting my 16” laptop around (which doesn’t hold more than a 2 hours charge), or else murdering my phone’s battery.

2) eBooks: I love paper books, and I will never buy an ereader, though I will admit that sometimes ebooks would be super useful. Classics, for instance, are often free on ebook apps, be that Kobo, Kindle, or Google Play. Also, some books are massive, and it’s not fun carting a 500 page book around with you to read on the bus, so maybe buying (or borrowing from the library. Yes, you can borrow ebooks if your library is cool enough) big books would be a nice alternative. Also, for travelling, it would be a lot lighter.

2.5) Cheap magazines: the Google Play store lets you buy single digital issues of magazines, or else subscribe to a digital version of a magazine, and for a lot cheaper than a hard copy. In the case of magazines, this sounds pretty awesome, since Canadian subscriptions to American or British magazines are a little pricey, and those are, of course, my favourites. UK Cosmo, for example is more than a dollar less per issue, and a subscription almost looks reasonable, whereas a sub to Canada, for a hard copy, is over a hundred a year! Also, less magazines lying around that I’ll never look at again, but have a hard time throwing out!

3) Apps: I love my phone, but by technological standards, it’s really getting on in age. (He’s an HTC Legend, and yes, he also has a name: Seth. I’m a little odd, so all my devices have names >_>). Anyways, my phone is as full as his little brain can handle, and his OS is a little out of date, so a tablet would let me use newer and bigger apps, which I might want to use, but just don’t have space for. Like the really cool feature of new YouTube, which lets you preload your new videos to your device for watching offline.

Image taken from Google.com

Anyways, it sounds like a really great idea. I tried to convince myself I didn’t need one, but my pro/con list wasn’t very convincing:

Pros	Cons
1. ebook reader	1. expensive: ~$255
2. portable	2. already have phone & laptop
3. pdf viewer	3. would also want case/cover; added cost
4. 16 gigs and new OS (plus, gets updates)
5. new YouTube (and other new apps)
6. cheaper magazines
7. holds charge for a long time (I think it’s like 10 or 11 hours)
8. It’s shiny…

However, all that said, I think my first con was a very important one; as a currently-unemployed student, $255 bucks (the tablet is $209 CAD, plus shipping and taxes and such) is a lot of money, and would come out of my student loan money. Granted, I could argue to myself—because who else cares?—that it’s okay to use student loan money for this because it is first and foremost a purchase to make my school life easier.

So, my plan is to try to cut back my spending for a couple of weeks, and if I can do that, I might actually allow myself to buy this very expensive, but very shiny piece of technology… and really it’s been such a long time since I got a new geeky toy! (If you don’t count sci-fi-esque merchandise…)

Anyways, if you actually read all that, thanks for reading! <3

Annnnd… busy-ness…

So, apparently I started this at the worst time. This week I have a midterm to study for, a paper to write, and all the other regular reading I would have to do during a week, so it might be a few days before I can get around to some of the posts I want to write. I do want to do a review type post on the book I just finished on this blog, and I have some purchases and reviews to share on my other blog, but I suppose they will have to wait until Thursday night or so.
That kinda makes me sad, because I would much rather be doing this, but such is life. I mean, I paid for class, so I have to make that a priority, I suppose >_>…
Anyways, for those who have found this blog, thanks for reading! I swear it will turn into a real blog soon!
<3
P.S.: to keep you happy for now, here’s a picture of the beautiful Jennifer Lawrence in her Oscar dress… because everybody who isn’t crazy loves Jennifer Lawrence! =)
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My Valentine’s Day(s)

This year, I was lucky enough that my boyfriend had two days off the same time as Valentine’s Day, so I got to spend both the 13th and the 14th with him. This may not sound all that special to some of you, but considering he works 5 days a week, and last year he worked Valentine’s Day, it was pretty awesome for me.

We did our more official Valentine’s Day stuff on the 13th, so that it would be less busy, which was good, since we still had to make a reservation to get into Milestone’s for dinner! I’d never been to Milestone’s before, since we usually go to the Keg, so I was excited to try it, and I’m so glad we did. I had the Shanghai Chicken stirfry thing, which was so so delicious! I was so full by the time I finished, but finish it I did. (The first food picture below is what David had: the Portobello Mushroom Chicken pasta dish thing. Mine was so much better =P)

And here’s a random picture of me posing behind my strawberry lemonade, because David decided this picture should exist. I’m sharing because it actually turned out surprisingly well…

Also, I looked pretty awesome, if I do say so myself, and that isn’t something I would declare on a regular basis. I wore my new dress from eShakti.com, which is this cool site that you can pick a dress, make customizations, and plug in your own measurements, and they make the dress and ship it to you! If you’re wondering specifically which dress I’m wearing, it’s the “Her Fifties Sundress” in crimson. Over that, I wore a little half-length black sweater, and my new tan polka-dot wedge sandals from Forever 21.

If you want a closer look at my makeup, you can check out my Valentine’s Day FotD post on my other blog, where I also list all the products I used.

As a V-Day present, I also got the matching earrings to the ring and necklace that David bought me for our anniversary in October, so I have the whole matching set =):

**

On the 14th, we went to the mall for lunch at the food court, before driving out to Delta to find the only Krispy Kreme in BC. It was so so so worth it. I already knew that I loved their donuts from fundraisers at my highschool and then at my university, so it was awesome to get to go to the actual store. I had 2 donuts and a coffee while we were there, and then bought a box of 6 more to bring home. (You will soon realize, if you continue to read my blog, why I am not a skinny girl.) To be fair, three of those donuts were for my family, and the other three were for me!

We didn’t do too much else for actual Valentine’s Day, aside from start watching Star Wars. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen everything, but it’s been in bits and pieces, and some of it was a very long time ago, so I wanted to start again. I’m starting with the original trilogy and going from there, since it just seems more logical to me.

**

Anyway, that’s all for now. I hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s day, let me know in the comments what you did, on your own or with someone else, I don’t care! =)

Thanks for reading!