Dancing with fire

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Can you believe this kid is just 12? He’s the local junior champion in Hawaii!

fire dancing part 1 from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

fire dancing part 2 from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

fire dancing part 3 from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Ultimate Summer Day, courtesy PureWow & Pure Leaf

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A little while ago, PureWow held a “pin it to win it” contest on Pinterest, where a random follower who pinned his/her favorite picture of the 10 finalists in the “Ultimate Summer Day” competition would also get to win a set of tea party-ready gear!  I, being the eager gal I am, pinned one that I enjoyed, crossed my fingers, and went on my merry way.  Then one day, I got an email saying that I had won!!  How thrilling.  🙂

collage of crate and barrel products as prize sent by purewow for purewow & pure leaf tea ultimate summer day photo contest

I got a wonderful (and huge) surprise at my door! I quickly set about peeling away the layers of packaging inside…

crate and barrel products included in prize sent by purewow for purewow & pure leaf tea ultimate summer day photo contest

What a great set of items to host an iced tea party with!

Included in the set were 8 goblets (or stemless glasses to be more accurate), a pack of 25 orange striped paper straws, a jumbo ice tray (makes 2-oz cubes!), a tray with handles, two stir rods/muddlers (hehe what a funny name), and my personal favorite – a gorgeous pitcher!  I’m just waiting for the Pure Leaf tea to ship to me and then I can have the ultimate (iced) tea party!  I can hardly wait – I feel like this is straight out of a Home & Garden magazine picture or something.  😛

A day of remembrance

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I can hardly believe it’s been 11 years. I remember how painful it was the first few years, since I had to move away to California not long after the attacks.  I left behind all my friends in New York, though my heart was still out there.  The first two years, I completely decked out in every patriotic thing I had – a Cat in the Hat felt hat, a t-shirt with stars and stripes, even flip flops with the American flag.  Oh, and don’t forget the various pins I had in red, white, and blue (some shaped like flags, some like stars).  I proudly walked around my West Coast high school, never forgetting my old East Coast life.

Over the years, I felt more and more like a Californian and my connection to New York faded slowly.  I think it was about the 6th anniversary that I no longer felt the extreme sadness that I had in years before.  Instead it had evolved to a certain type of solemnness.  And while that day is still burned in my memory (the shock on my math teacher’s face as the principal told her what happened and the time it took for us students to fully grasp what it all meant), a lot of healing has occurred in the time since.  Now I can look back without bursting into tears… though don’t get me wrong, I still feel them welling up.

We are still seeing the consequences of what those terrorists did and hopefully we can finally stop this war and find some peace again.  In the mean time, we should all find some time in our lives to honor all those who sacrificed, especially on this day each year.  Memories may fade and feelings may dull, but let us never forget the lessons of yesteryear.

Fishy staredown

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Wow, I’ve never seen a tank of fish stare at me ever so intently! Did I have food on my face or something?

curious fish from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Hoot no evil

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See no evil, hear no evil, hoot no evil. 😉

set of three white ceramic owls with see no evil hear no evil speak no evil theme

Shopkicking for the sake of free

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eos lip balms in alice in wonderland theme with three flavors: blueberry potion, watermelon wonderland, and sweet vanilla nonsenseWhat would you do for free stuff? I do a whole lot of things! It ranges from driving to certain places to filling out forms to posting content on my social media accounts. One of the things I’ve really focused on lately is Shopkick, which is an app I have that allows me to earn points by going in to certain stores and/or scanning specific items they’re promoting. Through this, I earn points (which they call “kicks”) and then redeem them for stuff!

project 7 gums in fresh mint and peppermint vanillaSo far I’ve only redeemed Target gift cards and I’ve put them to good use. I just bought myself a fun set of eos lip balms – they’re the brand new Alice in Wonderland trio that’s currently only available at Targets. I then went back because I had forgotten to the get the BOGO (buy one get one) offer I’d seen for a new brand of gum: Project 7. And to think, all of that came free to me just for spending some extra time on my phone with the Shopkick app.
I still have over $10 worth of points left and I’m planning on saving up until I can redeem a $25 gift card, which I’ll use buy this awesome bungee chair at Target (when it’s on sale)!  Not a bad deal, eh?  And yes I’d totally drive out to a Target to wander around if they’re offering bonus kicks for showing up that day!

bungee chair in black and teal sold at target

Aerial of Seattle

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view of seattle from plane from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Hibiscus variation

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Such a gorgeous flower that comes in so many colors!

Yuzen July 2012 edition

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Wow, another month is upon us and I think it’s high time I shared what exactly came in that first Yuzen box that I was so thrilled about.  I must say, it set the bar high and really got me pumped for what’s to come, month after month.  Luckily, they definitely didn’t disappoint with their second one in August and I’m confident that the upcoming September box will impress me yet again.  Not only did I get quality products that look good, smell good, and make me feel good, I can feel safe using them knowing that they’ve been vetted for environmental & health factors.

Yuzen is $26 per month and comes with around 5 or 6 eco-friendly beauty, skincare, food/snacks, and home products. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. Sometimes there’s a waitlist to get the subscription. They do not offer a referral program.

Click on the pictures for the full sizes so you can enjoy all the details of each product!  You can even zoom in to read all the messaging.

collage of lotus wei energy mists included in the july 2012 yuzen box - three scents: infinite love, joy juice, and quiet mindLotus Wei Energy Mists – Joy Juice, Infinite Love & Quiet Mind:  These lovely scents were first to entice my senses.  There were three of the six variations, with each meant for encouraging a different kind of energy.  Joy Juice is tangy and bright (how do they manage to make a scent smell “bright” right? Yet somehow that’s exactly what it is).  I’m guessing that the citrus elements are what make it that way.  Infinite Love is sweet and warming with various rose elements.  Meanwhile, Quiet mind is fresh and gentle with a certain kind of herb-y fragrance.  Each is definitely fittingly named for its purpose.  Interestingly enough, I actually prefer to mix the scents rather than use them individually to enhance a certain element.

collage of kopali organics mulberries included in the july 2012 yuzen boxKopali Organics – Mulberry:  I tried these as soon as I was done taking pictures of all the products in the box (boy, it’s tiring work!).  They’re soft and chewy, with a little bit of crispness from the seeds.  They kind of reminded me of something I can’t quite place… they’re sweet and tangy with a little bit of an aftertaste/feel.  You know that slight itchiness you get in your throat sometimes?  Yeah, that’s what happened to me.  Overall I liked them, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy them.  Definitely a nice little sweet snack to pop in your mouth in lieu of something more sugary like candy.

collage of primavera revitalizing face scrub included in the july 2012 yuzen box with couponPrimaveraRevitalizing Face Scrub:  To start with, this bottle looks and feels great!  I love it when it’s pleasing just to pick up an item.  Plus, I was really drawn to the interesting cap it has – very unique design that I appreciate.  The scrub makes use of jojoba wax beads, whatever that means (they feel wonderful).  The beads are a nice tiny size and very smooth; I don’t feel like my skin is being sanded away.

collage of teatulia teas included in the july 2012 yuzen box - lemongrass and white tea flavorsTeatuliaLemongrass & White Tea:  I am a huge tea fan, so I definitely appreciated getting to try a new brand that’s so ec0-friendly to boot!  I LOVE the fact that the bag and pyramid pouch that the tea come in are compostable, which means I can bury everything the tea came in.  The lemongrass flavor was just fragrant enough without being too grassy and the white tea flavor was a nice tea that you could brew a little darker or lighter to preference.  Both went down smooth and were well-put together.  Plus, the silky pyramid bags are totally fun.  Also good that they don’t use those bleached strings, which I hear leave a LOT of waste in landfills (more than you’d ever imagine a little bit of string could cause).

collage of people towels handtowel in bee sweet design included in the july 2012 yuzen boxPeopleTowelsBee Sweet:  Ah this is SO adorable!!  I love it, and as you can see in the top right of the collage, I actually have two of these already from my days with Opportunity Green.  There are so many places you can keep a little hand/face towel handy though, so I could always use an extra.  Plus with this cute messaging, it brings a smile to my face every time.

collage of himalasalt himalayan pink salt included in the july 2012 yuzen boxHimalaSalt – Fine Grain Shaker:  I’m a sucker for things that come in mini and I this falls under that category!  I really enjoy the smaller size salt shaker and for the longest time I didn’t want to open it and ruin it.  When it came time, I used a chopstick to poke it in and tasted it raw… I’d call it “earthy” (in addition to salty of course).  Compared to idoized salt, this is more pure and you can taste the grounded element in it.

And finally, if you’re interested in reading the message from Ted & Jen and the info they included about each product, click on this image and zoom in.

collage of introduction message and information sheet included in the july 2012 yuzen box

 

Jack the rabbit

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What a cute little white tail!

white-tailed bunny from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

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