March « 2014 « ((little fat notebook))

Cleaning ears

laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses，Tags: asian, chinese, cleaning, culture, ears, experiences, grooming, habits, health, pictures

31 March 2014

How do you clean your ears? (Or do you?)

The way I understand it, the Western style is to use Q-tips. This probably happens after a shower when the interior of the ears have been nice and moist for awhile, softening any sort of earwax you might have built up. Some rubbing around catches that stuff and whisks it out. Or something like that… I can’t actually vouch for it since I don’t clean my ears that way. What I’m used to is the Eastern way, which I’m sure Eastern Asians in particular are familiar with, if not our more southern counterparts too.

tools used to clean ears including flashlight, ear scooper, tweezers, and q-tip

Tools of the trade.

Cleaning your ears becomes a bonding event since it requires the assistance of someone else. They take an ear scooper – sometimes metal, sometimes bamboo – and gently make their way down your ear canal as you lay on your side and they shine a light in your ear. Your earlobe gets pulled this way and that to help straighten out your ear canal for easier viewing. When a bit of earwax is targeted, the cleaner gently lowers the ear scooper in, using the little spoon-like curve to try to scoop out the piece. This may take a little gentle scratching around the area to loosen the earwax if you have the dry kind, or quite a few scoops to get the sticky wet kind. Either way, it’s a practice in patience, determination, and trust. Both sides have to remain relatively steady and slowly maneuver to get the earwax. I’ll even incorporate tweezers when a piece can be pinched away from the wall of the ear. It’s a delicate procedure that requires quite a bit of care. After all, you don’t want to cause any bleeding or pain in the dainty skin of the ear canal. You could very well create hearing impairment!

I quite enjoy having my ears cleaned and sometimes I ask for them to get a little bit of scratching even if there’s nothing to clear. Sometimes my ear canals just itch for a little bit of attention. It must be something born of the habit of cleaning my ears that way. It’s a part of the Chinese culture that definitely stayed with me.

Pike’s Peak Rocks geode review

laelene Posted in reviews，Tags: colorado, escape monthly, geodes, nature, pictures, products, projects, reviews, rocks, stones

30 March 2014

I got this super cool “break at home” geode in my January Escape Monthly box and I finally decided to break it open today! It was my reward for cleaning up my room and getting more organized. Nearly all of my boxes upon boxes of stuff have been put into categorized boxes: face, body, bath, food, etc. I even have ones for packaging materials, paper goods, and other random stuff.

plain looking rock that is actually geode

You’d never guess what’s inside based on appearances.

hammer and two screwdrivers used as tools to break apart geode

It took quite a bit of pounding to break this fellow.

geode broken into four large pieces and a pile of small pieces

I wonder of they offer different colors or if all these break your owns are white-ish.

pieces of broken geode arranged on towel

I wish I knew how to break it into two halves! Looks better like this, don’t you think?

It was fun breaking this apart and seeing the beauty within revealed. I would have loved it more if it was a cool color (*ahem* purple), but it’s still a fascinating phenomenon to partake in. For a few dollars, I would totally get another to attempt to break into just two large pieces – I’d go for a strategy of a flat blade going around instead of alternating flat and pointed on a concentrated area like I did this time. I look forward to playing with these pieces and finding a nice way to display them.

Refresh

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: blogging, change, pictures, themes, updates, wordpress

29 March 2014

It’s time for a change again. I decided this morning that I needed to update my blog theme so I could make use of a horizontal menu bar again. While I enjoyed the look of the theme I was using, it wasn’t working the way I want it to anymore. How I manage the blog evolves all the time, and so the look and organization of it gets an overhaul too. The next time I make a change, it’ll probably be to allow dropdown menus, but for now the single menu bar approach will work just fine.

This new look will hopefully make it easier to find my FSOT page and key categories like “how tos” and “reviews.” I also like some of the flourishes, like that super cool tiger image that makes up the comment box and the pretty Japanese kanji sprinkled throughout. I played around with the stylesheet a bit so it’s more customized for me (mainly just made the link color more visible in the post, since it was hard to tell any text was a link before). One of these days I really need to learn CSS so I can be more versatile in my editing. And when I really feel like treating myself, I’m totally getting a custom theme created. One day…

NCLA Nail Wraps review

laelene Posted in reviews，Tags: beauty, nail wraps, nails, pictures, products, reviews

28 March 2014

So I’ve been trying out the nail wraps I got in my Petit Vour March box and I thought I’d share my experience. The design I got is called Aly Still En Vogue. I applied them on Sunday afternoon as instructed: start with clean nails, apply a coat of clear polish, and let dry. Then find a good size for your nail, peel it off, and place the rounded side against cuticle. Stretch the wrap, flatten against nail, and remove all air bubbles. Finally, file off the excess and apply additional coat of clear nail polish.

Here’s how they looked right after application:

As you can see, I wasn’t very good at aligning them on my nails (and I don’t think I was all that great at finding the right size either). I do think I could have stretched the nail wraps to better fit my nails, but at a glance, nobody would notice the slight imperfections in matching my nail size and shape. I thought the colors were great and the design is bold and fun. You definitely can’t achieve a look like this with polish, so it’s quite unique.

Here’s how they look on the strip. There’s one side with a tab that’s supposed to help you, but I found it somewhat difficult to get the strips off the no matter where I tried to peel from. Oftentimes I’d get some of the paper too, which made it challenging. With 26 strips, there is plenty more for another full manicure!

I had it in my head that these guys were supposed to last two weeks without chipping, but a few days in I started to see wear on them. Granted, I had not cleared all the bubbles and they weren’t sticking perfect to my nails, so water must have gotten in as I washed my hands and took a bath over the course of the next few days. I even had to remove one from a nail because so much was starting to come off. At least they’re easy to peel off!

All in all, these were fun to try and very convenient, but still took some skill to apply. I like how you can get all kinds of crazy designs with this type of product, but for the price I think I’ll be sticking with normal nail polish for the most part.

March Madness

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: basketball, bruins, pictures, sports, ucla

27 March 2014

I’m always a fan of my Bruins, and since they’re in the Sweet Sixteen, Panda and I are watching the game. It’s nice to hear familiar cheers and fight songs over the air. I’m not sure when the next time I’ll be back in LA will be, but it’s been many months and any reminder of my alma mater is comforting.

I even put together a random bracket for the Billion Dollar Bracket challenge. As you can see, I’m not doing so well…

Now excuse me while I cheer on my Bruins for Elite Eight status. Go Bruins!

Not so snowy owl

laelene Posted in photo blog, video blog，Tags: animals, birds, owls, pictures, videos

26 March 2014

Yesterday when I left work, I stopped at a red light and looked out my window at the falling snow. That’s when I noticed it:

What a beauty. I mentioned before I love birds of prey and it’s rare that I get to see an owl. Usually it’s a hawk of some sort, so this was super cool. My theory is that it was out enjoying the snow (and probably thought it blended in). I mean, if I was an owl I’d come out and chill on a fence enjoying the snow. I got a chance to snap this shot and shoot a quick video before the light turned green. I then drove home in awe and considered turning around to get another glimpse.

owl in snow from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Barefoot

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: behavior, feet, habits, pictures, shoes, socks

25 March 2014

I hate wearing socks and I generally try to avoid wearing shoes as well. This doesn’t seem to be commonly done though, since I often get comments from people when they see me not wearing socks. Is it such an unusual thing to do?

For a long time, it wasn’t anything that came up since for the most part of the past decade I’ve been living in climates that don’t get very cold. With flip flops and flats as the common footwear, it’s normal to not see people wearing socks. But now that I’m back in a place with a true winter (and quite a snowy one at that!), people seem to really notice when I take off my uggs and have no socks on. They also seem to notice that I walk around barefoot indoors, which I guess is not something you do in the winter? I’m surprised people have actually commented on it, which I presume means it’s something odd enough for them to say something rather than notice it and wonder to themselves. Well, all you wonderers, I do indeed leave the socks at home and off my feet unless absolutely needed.

In fact, the only time I do wear socks is with sneakers. What about you?

Escape Monthly March: Ireland Box Review

laelene Posted in reviews, subscriptions，Tags: boxes, chocolate truffle, guide book, ireland, irish, pictures, plants, products, remedy cream, reviews, shamrock seeds, shortbread, soda bread mix, subscriptions, tea bags, travel

24 March 2014

Ok, so the March Escape Monthly box had no sheep, but I still loved it. It was very much food focused, which is perfect for me because I can always use more snacks. We eat far more than we use other products, so this helps prevent an overstock of items. I’m sure Panda will be happy about that. 😛

Escape Monthly is just under $40 per box (with code for 20% off your subscription – see end of post) and comes with a variety of food, home, skincare items themed around a city. Each box comes with a Moon Handbooks guide for that region. Boxes are sent monthly with no option to skip. They offer a lovely recurring referral commission program.

(click to enlarge and read full messaging)

Of course, who doesn’t think of green when you think of Ireland (particularly around St. Paddy’s Day?). I was actually surprised at how much green all the products have, giving it a very strong theme feel. I so wish I would have won this vacation… alas, hopefully I’ll win one eventually!

Here’s what came in the box:

Moon Handbooks guide to Living Abroad in Ireland – What a wonderful guide to have for any American looking to spend extended time in this beautiful country. I’ll certainly be keeping it handy for when Panda and I get a chance to go visit. And hey, maybe we’ll even be lucky enough to live there for awhile.

Human+Kind Family Remedy Cream – The fun packaging already sets the right tone. Then when I saw it’s all-natural and made in Ireland, this immediately got more bonus points. This cream is meant for all kinds of skin conditions, ranging from burns and scars to stings and sores. You can even use it for brittle nails! It has a cooling, herbal sort of scent that includes tea tree oil. I certainly feels soothing, but I’m going to have to use it more to see if it actually does anything to reduce irritation.

O’Neills Shamrock Shortbread – Mmm, what rich and buttery shortbread! I love the crunchiness and the sweet aroma. The shamrock shapes are large so there are only four cookies in the box, but each one makes a sufficient snack. This makes for a fantastic bit of Ireland that is just wonderful.

Butlers Mint Truffle – It says milk chocolate truffle on the card, but I actually got the dark chocolate mint. It’s a dark chocolate shell with a soft truffle center and little bits of crispy mint pieces. Yum! Certainly a very luxurious treat that tastes fabulous. Wow – it’s like a super fancy mint patty. I don’t usually even like mint chocolate!

Bewley Gift of the Gab tea – I can smell a strong tea through the plastic baggie inside. I haven’t yet brewed this, but it’s definitely the kind of tea I’d drink on an afternoon as a pick-me-up. If I was a breakfast person, it’d be a fabulous substitute for morning tea. Seems like it’s similar to Earl Grey.

Bewley’s Ground Irish Creme Coffee – Well, I don’t drink coffee so this is all Panda’s. I find it quite unique that the coffee grinds came in a can! I half expected them to be soaking in some creme or something. I’m sure Panda will like having a pot of this coffee – maybe we’ll even wait until his brother’s back so they can enjoy it together.

Hogan’s Brown Irish Soda Bread Mix – I’ve heard of soda bread, but I have no idea what it is exactly. I’m not even sure I’ve ever tried it, but it looks wonderful. As a huge fan of bread, I’m sure this will be much enjoyed (if I can make it well enough). I look forward to trying my baking with this product.

Auld Sod Shamrock Seeds – The bonus product is just precious. Shamrock seeds?! I love it and I can’t wait to get a little pot to plant them in. As soon as the plague of winter weather leaves us for good this year, I’m going to plant these! Think I’ll get any four-leaf ones? 🙂

I thoroughly enjoyed the items in this box. I actually discovered that there are variations and I’m quite happy with mine. The other type I saw had marmalade, soap, and a seaweed bath instead of the guide book, tea, and truffle chocolate. I already have the seaweed bath, own way too many soaps, and probably wouldn’t get around to opening a jar of marmalade for ages. What do you like most in the Ireland Escape Monthly box? If you want to sign up, try one of these codes (not sure which ones are still active): MEXICOESCAPE or YOURESCAPE for 20% off the lifetime of your subscription or GIFTESCAPE for 25% off.

Next up is Mexico next month! How wonderful that we’re getting another international theme. I love it! I expect some wonderfully bright colors and festive flavors.

[This post contains affiliate links. Signing up through them helps support my subscription and I’d be ever so grateful. 🙂 All opinions are my own and I received no compensation for this review. I just purchased this box and wanted to share what I got!]

On meanness

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: behavior, experiences, kindness, meanness, open letter, people

23 March 2014

Dear Universe:

Why must there be unkindness in the world? Why are there those people out there who are so selfish and self-absorbed they see nothing else beyond themselves? Why are there those people out there who seem to revel in the suffering of others? Why are there those people out there who put others beneath them?

I’ve had the misfortune of knowing some unsavory people. Kind of like those “mean girls” you hear about. They’re cliquey and make everyone outside of their group feel unwanted and undesirable. They’ll only be nice to you to get something from you (or trick you into thinking they’d changed, only to pull the rug out from under you). They take pleasure out of making fun of people, or at least that seems to be the only type of humor that actually makes them crack a smile.

Or, alternatively, why is there a bit of a mean streak in so many of us? There have been a couple of guys (and a gal or two) I’ve known throughout my life who have been viewed as a bit of an outcast. People would snicker behind their backs about their awkwardness or their strange choice of dress or whatever. They’d giggle to each other about some joke that he (or she) was the butt of. Few people were true friends to these unfortunate souls who didn’t quite fit in. I’d usually be nice enough to them, but I can’t say I embraced them as friends.

I generally try to be kind to people, but I’ve certainly fallen victim to this trap of ego (or whatever it is). There are people I’ve judged, probably unfairly, based on some trait of theirs that may not have defined them the way I let it. But to be consistently that way? To exclude people at every turn? I just don’t understand people like that. It makes me sad that anyone would find pleasure in feeling superior to so many around them. I try to just ignore it, but it’s hard to when I care so much.

I wish we could all be nicer creatures. Life already provides so many ups and downs; what purpose does making it harder for others serve? Oh right, to boost those people’s self-esteem. Selfish. There are those who would say to let it go, let karma take its course. But you know what? Karma doesn’t always get its timing right. Some people never get that kick in the butt they deserve in their lifetime. Life just isn’t fair.

But I sure wish it could be more so.

So hey, if you’re in a good mood, why don’t you make some more stars align and bring out more harmony? Our species could certainly use it.

Sincerely,

~Mary

Grocery shopping

laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses, stories，Tags: drinks, eating, food, ice cream, panda, pictures, shopping, tea

22 March 2014

This morning I had a massage scheduled at Massage Envy and when I was done, I decided to swing by Whole Foods to see if any of my drinks were on sale. There are a couple of brands of bottled drinks that I like to get there, but only when they’re on sale so I can combine that with the store’s case discount (buy one case, get 10% off). I was happy to find my favorite bottled tea brand, Inko’s, on sale. I immediately grabbed a dozen each of my go-to flavors: blueberry and white peach. Then, as I was checking the price, wondering what the original price was, I noticed the tags said clearance price. Now per my understanding, when something goes on clearance it’s not coming back. Sooo I tracked down someone who worked there to check and was heartbroken to learn that they are discontinuing this brand from their store.

variety of bottled teas on shelf at store, with large gap where inko's tea flavors are

I emptied quite a bit of the shelf.

Apparently they’d been trying to reorder it but couldn’t seem to get them from the company? Well, whatever the case, I was told that what was on the shelves was all they had and there’d be no more. Upon hearing this, I immediately went to get another dozen drinks, clearing them out of the rest of the blueberry and white peach and also getting some honeydew and original to try. The shelf was about half empty by the time I was done. As I pushed my cart out, the bottles jingled and jangled against each other and I was glad that I checked today.

Then after dinner tonight, I had a craving for ice cream. Panda mentioned a deal Giant is having where you can get a free pint of Giant’s own brand of ice cream when you buy a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. It’s their way of having you compare their brand to the brand name (and hopefully adopt their ice cream as your new fav). When we got there, we found that Ben & Jerry’s was on sale, so we decided to both choose our own flavors. We ended up getting 4 pints of ice cream for just $7.18 with tax! Now that’s a pretty sweet deal.

1 2 3 4 5 Next Last

((little fat notebook))

Cleaning ears

Pike’s Peak Rocks geode review

Refresh

NCLA Nail Wraps review

March Madness

Not so snowy owl

Barefoot

Escape Monthly March: Ireland Box Review

On meanness

Grocery shopping

Follow Me! :)

laelene

Categories

Top Posts & Pages

Recent Posts