I’ve always been a dreamer. Reality is cool…sometimes. But I live for imagination and dreams.

My dreams inspire me to push for things in real life. My imagination reminds me that even when reality sucks more than leeches on a hemophiliac, things will look up eventually.

In other words, having my head in the clouds keeps me from going crazy here on Earth.

So for this Sunday, I’d like you to go on a trip with me. It won’t take up too much of your time. All you have to do is look up. Let’s go off into the clouds since that’s usually where my head is most of the time.

It was a cloudy day this past Thursday, so I snapped a bunch of pictures. I love it when the sky looks like there’s a convention going on for the Care Bears, don’t you? Look how they parked all their cloud cars there! (I wonder if Grumpy’s vehicle got rear-ended and that’s why he’s unhappy.)

In this post, I share more photos I took as well as what I saw in two of the clouds! (Maybe I’m crazy…hehe, but hopefully a good kind of crazy!)

And let me know if you see anything else in the clouds! It’s so much fun – wish I could stare at them all day. But then reality comes knocking on my door with iron knuckles. Bah! Continue reading →

One year ago yesterday, I became a first-time aunt. 🙂

Since he was born, every time I see Berkeley, he keeps getting bigger. It’s amazing how fast babies grow. If adults were like that, we’d be the size of a house in a year! Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, but still!

On Saturday, I went over to my brother and sister-in-law’s house for my nephew’s first birthday celebration with family and friends.

He’s getting mischievous! Hehe, he’ll take his toy, look at you, and then throw it violently onto the ground. Then my sister-in-law would pick it up, hand it to him, and he’d repeat this. Haha, he’s learning physics – for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. 😛

There were so many things I wanted to buy Berkeley, but he was too young for most of what I had in mind. And he has way too many toys as it is, so I ruled that out.

I thought about buying him a Robert Munsch treasury book, but he wouldn’t really get to enjoy it until he’s older.

So I ended up getting him two books that he can enjoy right now or soon enough – Pat the Bunny Sleepy Bunny (a soft rag book) and Dr. Seuss’ Happy Birthday, Baby! (which has flaps to open, a wheel to turn, and other interactive features). I’ve never shopped before for a baby, so this is all new to me. I hope he enjoys them.

And I realized too late that there are two candles on the cake on the Dr. Seuss cover. Oh well!

When he’s older, I plan to get him all the classic children’s books like Love You Forever, Where the Wild Things Are, Goodnight Moon, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Amelia Bedelia, etc.
Continue reading →

I’m not crazy about jewelry like some women are. Yes, it’s pretty to look at, but I’ve never really been interested much in diamond rings or gemstone earrings (probably because my ears aren’t pierced!).

I prefer to dress down in just a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, so expensive jewelry doesn’t really suit my wardrobe. And even when I dress up, I don’t like to look too blingy – maybe I’ll wear just a nice necklace, but that’s it.

Costume jewelry gets me way more excited, and I love how I don’t have to spend a lot of money on it yet it still makes me so happy. Plus I can wear it with any of my casual outfits.

Let me show you more photos of this robot necklace I bought perhaps a year ago. It was less than $12 CAD. What’s really neat about it is that it not only features a working clock (well, until the battery dies), but also a compass! Continue reading →

Welcome to another Smorgasbord Sundays post. This time, I’d like to take you down memory lane.

A few days ago on Twitter, a few of us were tweeting about Girl Talk, this game from back in the 90s that was very popular during sleepovers.

Even though I’m almost 30, believe it or not, I still have this stereotypical game in my closet. Yes, even when I moved out of my parents’ house years ago, I felt the need to lug this game to my new home. Haha, I really have no idea why since it’s not like I play it anymore.

Basically, you spin the wheel and see if you get a truth or dare challenge. If you do it, you collect a certain number of points as indicated below the challenge.

If you don’t do it, you have to put a red circular ‘zit’ sticker on your face. Obviously, if you wind up with too many ‘zits’ on your face, not only do you lose, but you look like a fool, too. Yeah, girls can be so nice, eh?

Along the way, you get to collect fortune cards that ‘tell’ you about your future – Career, Marriage, Children, Special Moments, and Feminist Activism. (Okay, I’m just kidding about that last one. Girl Talk is clearly a game chock full of gender stereotypes. It would’ve been cooler if it actually did have a Feminist Activism fortune card.)

I took lots of photos of this game to help bring back some fond memories (or maybe not so fond if you were the loser with zits). And I’m going to share some funny fortunes that you’ll probably also get a kick out of! 😛

Note: The rest of this post will be dripping with sarcasm. I can’t help it. Continue reading →

Here’s a photo I took of myself a few years ago turning off the lights.

These days, I resort to using traditional things like switches. I know, boooorrrrring! 😛

I’m more a fan of the first and second Karate Kid movies, but I still get a kick out The Next Karate Kid because it’s so cheesy.

I was a fan of Mr. Miyagi because he was humble, could stay calm, definitely kicked ass, and still had a sense of humour.

Can’t believe that the actor who played him (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita) passed away in 2005.

When I was a little kid seeing Karate Kid for the first time, I didn’t have a crush on Daniel LaRusso like most girls probably did. I actually had a crush on Johnny Lawrence, the blond bad boy from the Cobra Kai dojo. He was such a jerk with a bratty voice, and I loved him for it. Go figure…

“Sweep the leg!” – What a classic line.

Which was your favourite Karate Kid movie? Which character did you have a crush on?

(Confused about why there’s a non-beauty-related post on Swatch And Learn? Read all about Smorgasbord Sundays, a new blog feature, here!)