Thank you all for your continued support. Hope you have a lot of fun holiday plans spent with family and friends!
P.S. As you can imagine, I’ll be very busy today and leading up to the New Year. (I’m sure you will be busy, too!) It will take me much longer than usual to reply to any comments and tweets, but I will reply to them all eventually.
And, should you find a little time to stop by, yes, I’ll still have scheduled posts so that this blog continues to be updated daily. š
My nephew, Berkeley, is 1 year and 3 months old. Every time I see him, he keeps getting bigger and bigger. Soon I’ll be the shrimp!
Since his parents don’t visit my blog and he’s much too young to be looking up reviews (hehe), I feel pretty safe posting this.
Here’s what I got my nephew for Christmas! š Remember The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle? I consider this to be a children’s classic book!
The caterpillar passes by leaves and other things, eating its way through everything. The book has holes to make it fun for kids.
This particular version comes with a plush toy, so my nephew will be able to play along. Unfortunately, though, the holes in the book aren’t big enough for the caterpillar plush toy to go through. (I didn’t see that edition or I would’ve gotten it.)
It’s my mission to build up Berkeley’s home library because books play an important part in a child’s education. I want him to look back on his collection from Aunt Mary and think that it’s kick-ass. š I’m going to get him as many old classics as well as the modern ones.
Another reason why I chose The Very Hungry Caterpillar is that Berkeley is a really fussy eater. So I’m sure my brother and my sister-in-law are going to appreciate this since the book encourages eating. š We’ll see if this psychology works! Continue reading
When I was in elementary school, my mother taught me how to knit and crochet. She’s a whiz at both, and when she was pregnant with me, she made blankets, sweaters, cardigans, scarves, and you name it…hehe, just not hats. She no longer knits or crochets – her vision’s really bad.
Unfortunately, I’ve completely forgotten how to crochet, but throughout the years, I keep going back to knitting. I’m more comfortable having 2 needles instead of just 1, but I suppose with more practice, I’d get used to it.
About 5 years ago, I bought a big set of bamboo circular needles on eBay. I don’t own a single crochet hook. (That’s about to change, though, because I saw cool YouTube tutorials on pom-pom scarves! I’ll link to it and other knitting and crocheting videos at the bottom of this post in case you want to try any.)
Knitting scarves is really relaxing and extremely easy to do.Ā I’ve made a few basic scarves and one insane scarf made out of shiny,Ā variegatedĀ monster-fur-type yarn.
This Christmas, I wanted to knit something for my boyfriend. Conveniently, he didn’t have a good winter hat, so I knew right away what to make.
However, I had my work cut out for me because I had never made a hat, let alone done any knitting in the round. (I always use circular needles, but all my projects up to this point had been K1, P1 basic, flat, rectangular scarves.)
So I looked up a free simple hat pattern online,Ā referred to my Knitting for Dummies book, did research on YouTube when I got confused or made mistakes, and checked out knitting forums for tips.
In today’s Smorgasbord Sundays post, I’m going to show you the two types of wool I bought to make the hat for him and a scarf for myself. I’ll also share with you photos of my projects in progress. (The hat is pretty much completed, though. I just need to tie the end, and it’s good to go.) Continue reading
I’m going to talk about hair. Don’t worry, it’s not about removing it or anything nasty like that. (I’ve already published that ‘scary’ post on Hallowe’en. ;))
I’m going to gush about my love for redheads and also share with you my struggle to accept my dark hair.
P.S. The redhead in the photograph is Anne Shirley (from Anne of Green Gables). Ever since I read some of the books in the series and watched the movies when I was in elementary school, I fell in love with her spunky, creative, witty, and easily provoked character. She was probably one of my first big feminist role models.
P.P.S. I’m like Gilbert Blythe staring at Anne.
Image Credit: http://officialanneofgreengables.wikia.com
Gilmore Girls is one of my all-time favourite TV shows because of the witty, whip-smart dialogue delivered ridiculously fast!
It’s crazy how they could spit out those lines and make tongue twisters look like it ain’t no thang.
It aired from 2000 to 2007 and starred Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore).
The show is set in a small town called Stars Hollow and features all sorts of quirky characters that I fell in love with. It was amazing how much chemistry the actors had with each other.
I was impressed with the script, too, because for the first 5 seasons, it was really strong. It’s not easy to compose so much dialogue for an hour-long show. You could really tell that they were like artists fine-tuning their craft.
It amazed me how they always managed to include tons of references to other work (e.g. movies, books, actors, news, etc.) and weave it in seamlessly. That’s another challenging feat, but they excelled at it.
I believe that Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel’s roles in Gilmore Girls were their best roles to date. I’ve seen the movies they’ve been in and I’ve watched some episodes of Parenthood (that Lauren Graham’s in), but none seem to have the magic like Gilmore Girls.
It really looked like the actors hadĀ amazing chemistry with each other, and I fell in love with many of the characters, except for Jared Padalecki (Dean Forester – the jock) and Matt Czuchry (Logan Huntzberger – the rich kid).
Of course, I can’t call myself a fan if I didn’t own all 7 seasons of it on DVD! (If you don’t already own the DVDs, you should pick them up. I’ve seen them go on sale often for even just $19.99 CAD per season! I do feel that this is a show that doesn’t lose its charm even if you watch it again and again.)
In this Smorgasbord Sundays post, I’ll tell you what I thought of a few of the characters. Continue reading
Some people find The One in high school. Others take years to find their soulmate. Some will keep searching. Some will give up. (And people like me will write a paragraph full of short sentences.)
Yesterday I saw the romantic drama, Like Crazy, directed byĀ Drake Doremus andĀ starring Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin. It won theĀ Sundance Film Festival Sinner for Best Picture (Grand Jury Prize).
Going into the theater, I thought that I’d appreciate Like Crazy because, from the movie trailer, it looked like it was going to be a slow-paced, bipolar, bittersweet kind of love story that makes you introspective.
I feel like so many romantic movies these days tend to be too staged, cheesy, and predictable,Ā which is why films like this get my attention. I enjoy plots that don’t follow a formulaic development. Not every conflict has a resolution. It’s fun to play What If.
In this Smorgasbord Sundays post, I’ll share my thoughts on Like Crazy. Don’t worry – there won’t be any major spoilers to ruin anything if you haven’t seen the movie yet!
Guess who went to IMATS yesterday? Yours truly!
Some of you already knew that I went to the International Make-up Artist Trade Show held at the Toronto Congress Centre. (It’s my second time going to IMATS. Last year was my first time.)
It was a lot of fun, and I was so exhausted when I got home! (My wallet was a little exhausted, too, but I didn’t put a dent in it as badly as last year, so that’s good.) But I had to work on this post for you! š
For those of you who are hearing about IMATS for the first time, let me break it down for you.
Anyone can attend IMATS – you don’t have to be a make-up artist. You just have to pay for your ticket. IMATS is set up like a pavilion with numerous booths (1 brand per booth). If you’re Canadian, think of it like the CNE’s shopping pavilion, except everything you can buy is cosmetics-related.
Not only can you find incredible deals on a lot of brands under a single roof, but they also have seminars scheduled throughout the day to help you hone your skills and student competitions so you can marvel at current talent.
In this post, I’ll give you a brief run-down of what I saw. And, of course, I’ll also show you the small things I bought. I’ll also share some photos I took while I was there. I thought that I’d take more, but I really wanted to experience IMATS, and sometimes being a ‘photographer’ can get in the way of truly relishing the moment.
