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.

Pepper Lunch

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pepper lunch beef with rice, corn, and egg on sizzling platter

Delicious meal you mix yourself!

eBay success

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listing of deckmyphone's fuchsia-colored iphone 4 case on ebay siteA few days ago, I decided to try to sell my iPhone cases (currently listed at DeckMyPhone) on eBay.  After all, the new iPhone is supposed to be coming out in a few weeks and before we know it, the iPhone 4/4S model will become obsolete.  Granted, there should be a nice secondary market of people purchasing iPhone 4/4S’s once the price of those drop in light of the newer model coming out.  Still, I’d like to be able to move my product as much as possible so I can then focus on getting some iPhone 5 cases to sell.

To my delight, I got a bid on the very first day AND have since sold three at the “Buy It Now” price!  Who knew that people were so eager to get a case that they’d pay over twice as much to get it ASAP.  I happily obliged and sent out their covers the day they were ordered.  I was even more pleased when I discovered how easy it is to ship with eBay, printing labels at home for packages that I can arrange for pickup if I want.  It’s like the entire Stamps.com service, but integrated so I don’t need to pay for the membership.

So far it’s been a great experience selling on eBay and I think I might start listing other random items that I have for sale.  Who knows what people might want to buy.  🙂  As for the iPhone 4 cases, I hope that this streak continues!  You can check out my listings in my personal account and my business account.  Feel free to start bidding!  😛

Digital insect

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Doesn’t the way it moves remind you of an old-school video game?

funky bug from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

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