Posts Tagged ‘panda’

365great Day 113: road trips

laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
05 July 2013
0

Learn more about 365great here.

365great challenge day 113: road tripsIt’s such a fun, exhilarating, even romantic concept, isn’t it? Road tripping is super popular with Americans, if only as a fantasy, but plenty do manage to do at least some small ones. Whether you’re driving 3 hours or 3 days, it can be quite the experience to pack up, hop in the car, and hit the open road. Panda and I made a little one for the 4th of July break, trekking up to Pennsylvania to check out Hershey and Gettysburg, with a stop in Harrisburg. It was fun to be alone in the car together, with plenty of time for conversation, sightseeing, and overall bonding. It reminded me of trips I took with my parents as a kid – I’d spend a lot of time reading or looking at the landscape passing by as my parents sang Chinese songs playing on the cassette. We’d make pit stops for gas and food and I’d snuggle in with a blanket and pillow. What fond memories! Road trips are great for that.

Disney World haul

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
02 July 2013
0

Remember when Panda and I stayed at the Hilton Anaheim to earn Disney gift cards? Maybe not, since I only mentioned it in passing. Well, we actually stayed for two visits of 4+ nights, which earned us a $100 gift card each time. With $200 to spend on Disney gear (or tickets, if we had wanted to visit the theme park), we had quite a bit of shopping to do on our trip to Orlando. Totally coincidental that we had a trip to the Disney World region right after earning those gift cards, but it worked out perfectly. 🙂

disney products laid out including beach towels, tshirts, trucker hat, tank tops, scarves, coffee scoop, foot scrub, and golf balls

What $200 can get you at Disney.

We spent hours wandering the stores at Downtown Disney and also making trips out to the outlets to see what those Disney stores had to offer. We ended up with two Walt Disney World beach towels, a ladies tshirt, a trucker hat, a set of 3 Mickey golf balls, two scarves, a men’s tshirt, a men’s Hawaiian shirt, an h2o+ foot scrub, two tank tops, and a coffee scoop. Not bad, eh? We got items from three different stores and managed to find something for everyone – ourselves as well as his parents, my parents, his brother, and my cousin. Pretty proud of our haul!

What would you have gotten with $200 to spend on anything Disney?

disney golf balls, coffee scoop, and h2o+ foot scrub

Closer look at the smaller items.

Engagement celebration

laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: , , , , , , , ,
25 June 2013
1

The week after Panda and I got engaged, he had some business in the area and was staying at the Hilton Anaheim. We had been there previously and got a rather small room that I was disappointed in, so this time he made sure to request a better room earlier on and also mention that we would be celebrating our engagement. I was much happier with the experience the second time around! Take a look for yourself:

view of california adventure and disneyland from hilton anaheim hotel

We actually got a view of Disneyland/California Adventure this time!

corner room at hilton anaheim with windows on two sides

The room was on a corner so we got windows on two sides.

king bed in corner room at hilton anaheim

The room was nice and big unlike the first one we had.

restroom at hilton anaheim

The restroom was on the side of the entrance hallway, facing one of the sides with windows. I liked that plenty of natural light flowed in.

view of anaheim convention center roof from hilton anaheim

Out the side windows you could see the convention center. They had a bunch of chairs up on the roof for an event!

view of tops of palm trees from 9th floor window

It was weird looking down at the tops of the palm trees. I feel like a giant!

tray with congratulations note, bottle of pinot noir, and plate of chocolate-covered strawberries

To congratulate us on our engagement, the hotel sent up this lovely tray!

hot meal breakfast vouchers and cold meal or starbucks vouchers for hilton anaheim with mickey mouse disney gift card

As a bonus, we were upgraded to hot meals for breakfast in addition to the vouchers we could use to get Starbucks. Sweet! Plus, we earned a Disney gift card for staying 4 nights or more.

dusk from hilton anaheim overlooking convention center

Looking out west past the convention center, we could see the sunset turn into dusk.

disneyland fireworks as viewed from hilton anaheim

Every night at 9:30, we could see the fireworks put on by Disneyland. That little glowing thing beneath the fireworks is the castle.

hilton anaheim hot breakfast with fruit, omelet, waffles, orange juice, tea, and more

In the morning, our hot breakfast included various items like omelets, waffles, pancakes, french toast, fruit, crepes, potatoes, sausages, bacon, oatmeal, and more! They also served orange juice and tea or coffee.

Cleaning regimen

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , , , ,
23 June 2013
0

How often do you clean?

I grew up not having chores; my parents were far more concerned about my academic and personal development. So, I got to enjoy a lot of time in my room doing my own thing. I didn’t make my bed (never saw the need) or dust or whatever other chores you might need to do to keep your room spotless. I did help out with general household chores ranging from mowing the lawn to washing dishes, but my room kind of remained my sanctuary. I rarely had to do chores within the room itself.

I now have the habit of cleaning only when I see a need – such as water marks speckling the mirror or visible dust on my shelves. I wash the dishes when they’ve filled up the sink and I do laundry when I’m running out of clothes. I don’t do preventative care or have any sort of set schedule or pattern. Meanwhile, Panda is almost the complete opposite. He regularly cleans when things are still “clean” (by my standards at least) and immediately washes dishes after eating. He does laundry at least once a week regardless of how much has accumulated and vacuums frequently too.

cleaning with hands in blue metal bucket/pail filled with soapy water

Last time I cleaned it was so notable I took a video. 😛


It’s really interesting how different our habits are. I enjoy a slightly messy room because it feels lived in. When things are too neat, it feels unnatural. I’d rather focus my time and efforts on living in my space; he’s willing focus his time and efforts on keeping the space neat and clean. When I do get around to cleaning, it’s usually a bit of an overhaul – a spring cleaning, if you will. I like to save up for one big effort every few weeks/months so I can spend a few hours (or the whole day) working up a sweat and really changing the way things look.

Is either way better? I don’t think so; to me, it’s a matter of preference. If cleaning all the time keeps your home in a state that makes you happy and peaceful, that’s probably what you should do. But if cleaning all the time brings on the stress of constantly thinking about it and worrying about all the chores left to do, then what’s the harm in cleaning less frequently? People have developed such an aversion to germs and things that are “dirty” but if society gets too hygienic, there are plenty of health issues to contend with. So why waste all that effort trying to avoid dust and germs only to get sick anyway? I think we could be a bit less uptight about the whole cleaning thing.

The making of a ring

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , ,
21 June 2013
0

How I designed and created my engagement ring

collage of steps to make engagement ring including selecting center stone, drawing up cad model, trying on the bare ring, and the finished product with gems and polished bandNow that I am officially engaged, I can finally talk about my ring! You see, I knew about it all along because I was the one who got to help create it. Panda and I had discussed getting engaged sometime after he completed grad school – little did I know it would be the very day of his commencement! At the end of 2012, I had started to get interested in rings and decided to start looking to see what I might like. When I found certain things that appealed to me, I’d share them with Panda and he sort of got into it too, also sharing what he found. While he was on the east coast and I was on the west coast, we found ourselves browsing jewelry stores separately and sending each other photos or links.

collage of engagement ring designs from various jewelersWhen he was able to visit for the holidays, we went into a local jeweler’s (Manya Jewelers) together and before I knew it, we were agreeing to design a ring with her. I had not expected to get started so soon, but hey, I pretty much knew what elements I wanted, so why not? We pointed out some designs I liked and what I wanted to be incorporated: a purple center stone, a curved band, a small diamond on the bottom of the ring, a cool side profile (inspired by Vera Wang designs like this side profile), and a marquise shape if possible. We showed Manya a few of the rings that had those traits so she could visualize what I wanted and she got to work!

Selecting the center stone

four purple sapphire gems resting on finger creases of hand for comparisonThe first order of business was choosing the center stone, which would determine a lot of other details for the ring. I had assumed the only purple gemstone is amethyst, so that’s what I figured we’d get, but then I discovered purple sapphires. I’ve always liked sapphires, but blue is so popular and overdone, plus purple is my favorite color; this combination of the two was just perfect for me. Purple sapphires actually come in a huge range of shades, so Manya got four for me to choose from. She had me put them in between my fingers as shown so I could get a feel for how they’d look against my skin tone. They also came in slightly different cuts, but all square to roundish. Can you guess which one I chose?

Drawing up a CAD model

Once my center stone was chosen, Manya knew the dimensions she could use to build the ring around it. This was all done in CAD with precision. She had measured my ring finger size on a previous visit, so she had all the sizing numbers she needed. I got that fun, funky digital model soon after to show me what it would look like. I could ask for any revisions based on that, but I didn’t need any. The posts in the design are high and extend beyond the actual height of the gems because they are later filed down (see top right of the first image for the CAD drawing). Manya warned me of this ahead of time so I wouldn’t get confused when I saw the drawing!

Making a 3D wax model

I don’t have a picture of this phase, but a wax model of the ring was made to ensure it was the appropriate size and to give us a feel for how the ring would look in real life. It looked like a plastic model, but apparently the wax is pretty delicate so you can’t really handle it. It’s meant to help you visualize the actual ring before they melded it so you can request any extra changes before they get too far into the process.

Molding the ring

bare ring setting with no gems and no polishingOnce the design was approved, the ring band/setting was made. It came very bare and simple as pictured. This was then tried on to ensure it would fit well and that the sizing against my finger looked good. Since it needed to be polished and filed down slightly, it was actually a bit tight and I wasn’t sure I could get it on or off! Luckily, Manya’s a pro with this kind of stuff and had a bottle of Windex ready. She sprayed my finger to make it more slippery and we were able to carefully get the ring on and off without trouble. It was fascinating to see the ring before it was all polished and the stones were set. I kind of liked the raw look of it.

Setting the stones and polishing the ring: final product

engagement ring with purple sapphire

My wonderful engagement ring, complete with purple sapphire center stone, curved band, marquise shape, and…

Every step of the way, things were confirmed, so all that was left after this was to set the gems and polish up the ring! Within a month, we were able to go through the entire process and have the final product in our hands. That’s pretty awesome! It came in an elegant black box, all shiny and wonderful. When I went to pick it up, we did the final step of adding a small diamond to the bottom of the band, as I requested. Of the 5 design elements I wanted, there was only one that we didn’t get around to. I’m pretty happy with that! I love how creative Manya was in making the curve of my band look somewhat like a marquise cut since we couldn’t actually incorporate that shape gem into the ring. All in all, I’m very satisfied and I’ll make sure to get a cool side profile the next time I design a ring. 😉 I love how different it is from every other ring I’ve seen. It’s still obviously an engagement ring, but there are details that are unique to me and my ring.

bottom of ring band with diamond inset

…small diamond on bottom of ring. 😀

Time disconnect

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
12 June 2013
0

“Holy cow, is it really [insert day of week]?!”

This happens to me just about every single day. Call it the life of the self-employed/entrepreneur/stay-at-homer. Every day is mostly the same to me – there is no such thing as a weekday vs. weekend. I work daily, unless I have plans to go do something, so it really doesn’t matter much what day of the week it is. And so it is that I often find myself disconnected with the rest of the world in that way. I don’t hate Mondays nor do I look forward to Fridays the same way a “typical” worker might.

calendar page from the world's most super-amazing 100% awesome cat calendar for 2014

Without a calendar, I’d be lost.


Perhaps I need to build more of a weekly structure, but it doesn’t make sense to take time off when I’m really trying to build something. I’m certainly not wearing myself out and I get plenty of rest and play daily; in fact, you could say I go through an entire week each day: there’s the waking up in the morning and trying to get a rhythm going (Monday), getting back into things (Tuesday), starting to feel an afternoon slump (Wednesday – “Hump Day”), recovering a bit as my day looks like it’s ending (Thursday), and feeling good that I’m nearly done with my day’s work (Friday). Usually my “weekend” is sort of sandwiched in between the other moments, though sometimes it ends up being no more than the time that I sleep.

Since I don’t watch TV or read the newspaper, the only way I can really stay in tune is based off whether Panda is home or not, but I’ve been staying with my mom more and she works from home too…  but hey, is it really that important that I always know what day it is? I could just check my phone’s calendar and in the long run, it doesn’t affect me much, so I’m perfectly fine forgetting the days sometimes. What about you? Would it drive you crazy if you didn’t have a distinct weekday and weekend? Or do you meander through the weeks and months without a strong sense of time like me?

Sleeping ways

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , ,
02 June 2013
0

How do you like to sleep?

I’m a pretty wacky sleeper. I usually start on my back and have my legs splayed every which way, then throughout the night I toss and turn to either side, legs swinging along with my torso. I also have a tendency to kick the blanket off my legs – they like to “breathe.” Usually the only part of me that needs the blanket is my tummy. The rest could be with blanket thrown off at any point. Only in the colder months do I calm down a bit and keep all but one leg, foot, knee covered.

I tend to take up a lot of room too, with my legs bent out to either side or my arms out or above my head. And since I move a lot I tend to need a pretty wide area to move about. I never stay on my sides for long because of the pressure on my hips. About two years ago I suddenly couldn’t lean on my right side anymore because it was so uncomfortable on my hip. Things have eased up since then but it’s still pretty uncomfortable for me.

Meanwhile, Panda likes the blanket tucked in tight, especially under his chin (I can’t stand that). He will often sleep with his arms up over head but rarely out to the sides. He also rolls to either side, but doesn’t quite flail like me. He does tend to take up a lot of blanket though!

My cat Missy? She’s a belly-up, arms up, waist twisted kind of sleeper. 😉

cat sleeping belly up with arms outstretched

The Wanderlust Tag

laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
26 May 2013
0

Some background (feel free to skip if you’re a busy busy person!)…

The other day, I got a text from a friend (Maven) who suggested I check out Wonderly. When I went, I found they were interviewing Miss Glamorazzi who is apparently something of a YouTube star. In her interview, she mentioned her favorite YouTuber is essiebutton… and that’s how I got to this point. You see, one of the videos that essiebutton posted was the Wanderlust Tag that’s going around YouTube. It was started by amandamuse and I’ve seen some videos popping up with that tag now. Personally, it was something I really liked thinking about and talking about, so I decided to take a risk and film myself in the video. So far all my YouTube videos have been unboxings where I show it from my perspective. I mean, do you really need to look at me as I show you products? I hope not cuz that’s my style. Howeverrr for the tag videos, it would be strange to not talk to the camera and to ease into it, I decided to do it at night when the lighting is more forgiving. My skin is in a horrible state right now and I feel no need to document that.

Ok now the real meat of it:

I liked making the video and discussing the answers with Panda so much that I’m gonna blog about it. After all, I’m a blogger at heart, merely testing the waters of vlogging for now. You can watch the video if you’d like; this time around I will discuss the answers in relation to Panda’s and how our answers may differ (or not!).

picture and shiny seal of visa to study in uk

Big smiles!

1. What’s your most treasured passport stamp?
My answer: It’s actually a visa sticker, which I got so I could go study abroad in the UK my third year of college. That was a wonderful experience and look at how happy I was in the photo!
His answer: Uhh, he doesn’t have one yet! So it will have to be the one he gets when we go to the UK later this year. 🙂 Hopefully we’ll rack up some more soon enough.

2. Can you recite your passport # from memory if asked?
My answer: The first three digits of my old one, but I just got a new one a few weeks ago so definitely no. At one point I could since I was filling it out a lot, but nowadays it’s a distant memory.
His answer: No (I mean, he hasn’t had to use it so…). But he’s probably the type to memorize it before going on a trip abroad, just in case. We shall see when he leaves the country for the first time later this year!

sitting in first class seat of plane with headphones on

If first class was cheaper I’d do it all the time.

3. Preferred method of travel; planes, trains or automobiles?
My answer: Trains are a ton of fun! When I was kid, the ones in China gave out super fun little keychain toys – it was a 3D puzzle that formed a sphere. I loved that thing! And I enjoy being able to get up as I want and enjoy the landscape flying by. I certainly don’t mind planes as long as I get a window seat, but they’re not that exciting anymore.
His answer: Planes for the service (well he’s like a gold or platinum member so he gets spoiled and often gets upgraded to first class free – of course he’d like that!) or a car for the views. He’s never really experienced trains (only short-distance ones) so maybe he’d like that. We’ll see after he rides some more in the UK, but I’d really like to take him on an overnight ride sometime.

4. Top 3 travel items?
My answer: Camera (total photo addict – I’d love a DSLR soon), jacket or blanket (gotta stay warm! and we’re both sensitive to the cold), and toiletries (gotta stay clean right?). I’m totally cool with traveling light since I’m going places to see the places, not to bring all my stuff with me. However, I might need to bring a large suitcase to carry all the things I acquire while on the road…
His answer: Headphones (so he can be in his own little world), jacket (also to stay warm), and phone (to stay connected).

5. Hostel or hotel?
My answer: Hostel if I’m traveling alone, since it’s such a great way to meet people and share experiences with fellow travelers. Hotel if I’m with family or friends, since we’ll probably just stick to ourselves and we can split the cost.
His answer: Hotel! He’s like a gold member with a hotel chain so there are perks plus you earn points. Oh, and he’s never stayed at a hostel.

6. Are you a repeat visitor or do you explore new places?
waikiki beach sand and palm treesMy answer: New places! I am all about new, new, new and trying to hit up as many places as possible while I can. Then when I’m older I know which places offer the experiences I’m looking for in my next vacation, whether it’s beautiful scenery or a lively atmosphere or tons of history.
His answer: Repeat visitor to Hawaii! Well, we haven’t yet returned since his first visit last summer, but it looks like we’ll be going there every other year (last year he got to choose our vacation destination and next year is his turn again). I’ll try to convince him to go to a different island/region each time so it’s not toooo repetitive for me.

7. Do you read up on your destination (culture,history,safety) or do you wing it?
My answer: A little bit, just so I know what attractions I might want to visit/explore, but otherwise I rely on my basic knowledge of the place.
His answer: He not only reads up on it, he actually contacts the local tourist office and requests more material! Lol, what a dork. 🙂

8. Favorite travel website?
My answer: Gogobot, because there are awesome people on it helping you plan your trips and give advice, plus there are reviews and guides and trip planning tools. I love the vibe on there and I actually get to meet local Gogoboters through events!
His answer: TripAdvisor (or TripAdvisory as he calls it, hehe). There is a lot of useful information that he likes to arm himself with ahead of time.

9. Where would you recommend a friend to visit?
thai temple in bangkokMy answer: Bangkok, Thailand. It’s a beautiful country and Bangkok is a city offering a ton to see and do. You can do a day trip out to the Tiger Temple and float on a river raft and ride an elephant and learn about historical battles or you can stay in the city and go shopping at Chatuchak Market and the Night Market and enjoy the best pad thai cooked outside and get pampered at spas.
His answer: Waikiki Beach, Hawaii. We went there last summer and he had so much fun he wants to keep going back, so naturally he’d recommend it to anyone! It’s a great tropical paradise where you can get away from your normal routine and feel like you’ve gone to another country, but not have to deal with currency exchanges and roaming charges and language barriers.

10. You’re leaving tomorrow, money is no object, where are you going?
My answer: EVERYWHERE! I’d pick up and start going to every single country and city I was ever interested in (bringing Panda with me, of course) and then I’d hop on a shuttle to go into orbit around the earth and enjoy weightlessness and spectacular views.
His answer: London, since we’re already planned for it and he has a good idea of what there is to see, where we can stay, and what we can do. In other words, much of the prep work is done so he doesn’t have to worry about cramming it all in in one night before leaving!

As you can see, we take very different approaches towards traveling. If Panda could have his way, he’d get tons of information from the tourist office and read up on it, we’d fly first class to our destination, get a nice rental car, stay at a classy hotel, check out a few places of interest, but mostly hang out and relax at the hotel enjoying free food at the executive lounge, relaxing and playing by/in the pool, and enjoying some delicious dinners at local restaurants. Meanwhile, I’d be the pack up and go randomly as opportunity strikes, fly economy, then take various forms of public transportation to a decently-located hostel or hotel (depending on the price/availability), spend all day out and about exploring the city and surrounds, grab whatever street food we can find, and jam pack as many experiences as possible. We’ve found a pretty happy medium where I get enough exploration and he gets enough relaxation, so I think our travel styles are actually pretty compatible.

The LDR

laelene Posted in general blog, relationships，Tags: , , , , , ,
25 May 2013
2

I came across some bloggers who are in long distance relationships, writing about the challenges of it. It got me thinking about my own LDR.

sitting on plane in window seat at night with earbuds in ears

We spend a lot of time flying back and forth.

Usually it’s not in my conscious mind that I’m actually in a long distance relationship. Perhaps I’ve just been doing it for so long? The way my life is now, well, it’s all pretty normal to me (but it’s certainly not what I want long-term). Panda and I are coming on 5 years and at least half of that time has been apart, whether just a city or two away or an entirely different side of the world. Just months into our relationship, I decided to take an opportunity to work in Singapore. I was gone for about half a year and it was hard. Our relationship was actually fine the whole time – we got to chat on Skype and write long emails to each other to share our days. The strain was more in other aspects of my life, brought on in part due to the fact that I missed him so much. When I came back, we had some precious months together.

About a year later, he had moved home after graduating college and was preparing to start his working life. For another half a year or so, I only got to see him fleetingly whenever I could visit him at his house on weekends or days off work. And then, since March of 2011, he has been living out on the east coast. At first, I got to see him about one week a month. As that first year was ending, I was seeing him less and less (not as much travel for work) so I made a bold decision to quit my job and try out entrepreneurial endeavors. This gave me a chance to stay with him more frequently – a few months out of the year – and that’s where we’re at now.

I’m on the cusp of my next change: finding a job in his area so I can move there. Is it possible that our long distance days might finally be over? I dare not believe it yet. Not until I’ve secured a job and moved in and settled for a bit. It’s one of those dreams that has been following me for quite some time now and I’m really looking forward to making it come true. It’s been a long time coming and I want nothing more than a nice little home life with my beau. Oh, and I guess I want a house too. 😉

I think the greatest challenge in my LDR is the communication. It’s a lot harder when the sound quality on phone calls and video calls aren’t always that great (and things lag). It’s also hard trying to type it all since you often miss tone and true meaning. Panda and I will sit on Skype for hours at a time, both of us going about our days but being able to check in visually when we want, so we can feel like we’re almost in the same space. My favorite time with him is really the simple stuff in life – being able to sit next to each other as we do our own work, being able to go grocery shopping together, being able to take a stroll outside together… many plans have been put on hold just because we are not cohabiting and cannot do them just yet. Within the next year I plan on putting our LDR to rest! I’m sure it will pop up again over the years, but hopefully it will be less often (and certainly a minority of our time).

Are you in a long distance relationship too? What challenges do you find and how do you cope?

On My Mind, episode 6

laelene Posted in on my mind，Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
23 May 2013
3

Linking up with Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for “Thursday Thoughts” aka On My Mind.

a~ I can’t believe this is my 6th one already! Where did the time go? I’ve been bumming around lately because I’m hoping my first choice in future employment pans out and I’m not that motivated to apply for other jobs just yet, plus I haven’t watched my shows since early February so I’m catching up now that all the seasons seem to be ending. I’m slowly transitioning back to working more and resting less.

b~ On the box front, I have a lot going on! I got into the Influenster Spring Voxbox (yay!) and hopefully I qualify for the summer one as well. I sprang for the May Ipsy bag and while I liked the overall value and items in the bag, I’m looking to trade two items. I’m going to cancel the subscription and wait for June spoilers before deciding if I want to get it again. I got that free Bulu box that I mentioned and I’ve suspended my subscription for now. I liked the box but I didn’t love it, so I’m reluctant to spend money on it when they’re more on the healthy scale than I’m interested in. I also received my first Conscious Box and it was packed full of goodness! Gonna take me some time to get through everything. And finally, I got Panda to get me a Treatsie box subscription because I’m a sucker for treats. Call it a very early birthday present.

c~ Every now and then I get my contacts out of place in my eye and it hurts for a bit, but then I get it back in place. Awhile back, my contact kept creating discomfort in my eye so I took it out and put it back in after washing it down with solution. Still, it didn’t feel right and the next time I took it out I discovered this:

torn/ripped contact lens

Torn contact lens. Ouch!

d~ It has been many long months since I heard from BzzAgent and I was pretty sad they weren’t including me in campaigns even though my BzzScore is pretty high. Then FINALLY I got an email from them and I am IN for the Dr. Scholl’s massaging gel insoles! Pretty excited about that since I’ve always wanted to try them but kind of never got around to figuring out which one I should get. I’m going to put them to the test on my next vacation, where I expect a whole lot of walking. My feet always hurt after standing all day and a massaging gel sounds amazing.

small brown stone owl sculpture and owl face watch

Some of the owl things I’ve gotten.


e~ Is it just me or are owls cute on/as almost any product? I mean, I love them as jewelry and decorations and sculptures and designs and even oil warmers. Something about their round, pudgy bodies and those giant eyes melt my heart. If I could find an owl bag, owl blanket, or gosh even an owl metronome, I’d probably get it. I was pretty tempted to get a felt iPad case made to look like an owl, but I don’t use cases for my iPad so I resisted. I’m that much more likely to get something if there’s an owl involved! I feel similarly about pandas and cats.

f~ I’ve made it a habit of keeping a lot of my skincare and beauty products upside-down lately. Everything from toners to shampoo to nail polish. A lot of these products tend to settle and I don’t like having to shake them up each time, so by keeping them on their heads, I don’t usually have to shake them. And for very thick things like lotion, I don’t have to struggle (as much) to get it to come out. I wonder if they have some sort of adjustable rack that I can use for this purpose?

g~ I’m obsessed with marinated mushrooms!! It was about 10 years ago that Costco stopped carrying the ones they had in their stores and I’ve been checking the pickled goods aisle ever since. In the years since, I managed to find them in the salad bar at Ralph’s a couple times, but it is very expensive to buy them by the salad bar’s weight pricing! Then I happened upon a new brand at Costco out east when I was visiting Panda a few months ago and I was joyous. I took home two jars that day and devoured them. We got some more jars and I happy ate them until I had to come back to SoCal. Unfortunately my local Costco does not carry it. I then had Panda bring me more when he came to visit. A few weeks ago he reported that there were only two more boxes of it left in the store, so I had him help me buy an entire box (8 jars). Gotta stock up in case Costco stops selling them! Yes, I am that in love with these suckers.

h~ When I got a bar of Mrs. Meyers soap in my Yuzen box many months ago, I was pretty excited to try this brand I’d been curious about. Once I started using the soap I found that the smell was too clean for my taste. I was sad and put it aside while trying to figure out what to do with it. Then I had to do some cleaning and I decided to use that soap since it was handy and seemed to cut through grease really well. I’m glad I did! For some reason, using it to clean with is perfectly fine, but using it to wash myself with feels weird. Maybe it’s a psychological thing? I associate that refreshing smell with cleaning but what I use on my body I want to feel more like I’m beautifying. Totally random, but just goes to show that you may not like something for certain reasons at first, but those very reasons can make it great for something else.

What are your random thoughts these days?

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