I think the first time I came across persimmons was somewhere in southern China. My mom loves these fruits and for the longest time I got them confused with tomatoes. You see, in Chinese we call them a term that also happens to be the casual way we refer to tomatoes – my mom happens to be obsessed with both, so whenever she referred to them I thought she just meant tomatoes. Little did I know about this fascinating fruit until years later. I enjoy them at various stages of ripeness, from the crisp and slightly drying flesh to the super sweet and mushy flesh. They’re a wonderfully tasty food with a hint of spice or something I can’t quite place. Totally fascinating and yummy, which makes them great.
Posts Tagged ‘pictures’
365great Day 204: persimmons
04
October
2013
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Exhausted sleep
laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: behavior, experiences, pictures, sleeping
04
October
2013
Are you ever so exhausted you lay down on the bed, fully-clothed with the lights on (maybe even the TV blaring) and pass out?
I don’t know what it was about this week, but I am worn out! I totally collapsed into bed even as Panda was trying to drag me out to shower for the night. I mean, I was even sleeping with my mouth open. Sometimes you just need to shut down… and I’m feeling a lot better now, though still weak. It’s crazy! I hope the weekend will offer me the recovery I need. So for tonight, you get this lovely picture of my purely worn out sleeping self.
365great Day 203: 30-day challenges
laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: 365great, challenges, improvement, personal, pictures
03
October
2013
I’ve been doing a couple of monthly challenges as each month passes by and it’s been cool seeing all that happens within that time frame. Most recently I’ve stuck to photo challenges, with themes I’ve been choosing myself, but I think I’ll attempt more ambitious ones aimed at changing behavior, like walking half an hour every day or taking time to read at night. I did manage to do 30 days of using my Juice Beauty products awhile back and I definitely saw improvement in my skin from that. I’m taking on some other challenges that are less frequent, like cooking at least 3 days out of the month and applying a face mask at least once a week. All of these are a great way to systematically change habits and behavior patterns. It’s a nice way to tackle self-improvement goals!
Photo A Day Challenge September 2013
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: photo a day, photo challenge, pictures
03
October
2013
Yikes, what happened to September?! With work keeping me busy, it kind of just flew by. Here’s the roundup of my #upandout theme. October shall be the month of #footseyeview! Whether looking down at what my feet are on or in, or even where they may be propped up, it’ll definitely be a different type of look from always looking up and/or out.
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- Excellent view from our hotel window. So nice to revisit York. 🙂 {Sutro filter} 9.1.13
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- Magnificent castle on the hill. {Lo-Fi filter} 9.2.13
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- What a lovely coast line out the window. {Lo-Fi filter} 9.3.13
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- Silhouette of a landmark. {Kelvin filter} 9.4.13
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- Endless sea of clouds. {Hefe filter} 9.5.13
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- Our condo almost has walls! {Sierra filter} 9.6.13
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- Staring contest with deer. {Valencia filter} 9.7.13
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- Been years since I did a drive thru car wash. {Sutro filter} 9.8.13
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- View from my new office! {Kelvin filter} 9.9.13
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- Outside my door standing up. {Valencia filter} 9.10.13
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- The building next door is really coming together fast. {Nashville filter} 9.11.13
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- All grown up and time to come out. {Hefe filter} 9.12.13
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- Yay, commuting home after my first week. {Sutro filter} 9.13.13
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- Took some time to enjoy my moonroof today. {Kelvin filter} 9.14.13
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- Looking out longingly. {Hudson filter} 9.15.13
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- Always seem to be emergency personnel out here. {X-Pro II filter} 9.16.13
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- Driving straight into the blinding sun. {#nofilter} 9.17.13
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- Out with the old and in with the new. {#nofilter} #ios7 9.18.13
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- Happy mid-autumn festival, moon. {Hudson filter} 9.19.13
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- Exhausted tonight staring at the ceiling. {Brannan filter} 9.20.13
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- Green Festival time! {Rise filter} 9.21.13
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- Sometimes, you gotta stop and take a moment. {Mayfair filter} 9.22.13
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- Flying on in. {Sutro filter} 9.23.13
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- Can you spot the swinging monkey? {Sierra filter} 9.24.13
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- I park in the middle of a lot and the bird decided this is where it will make its mark. Greaaat. {Mayfair filter} 9.25.13
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- License plate read Batman. {Earlybird filter} 9.26.13
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- Anniversary dinner! Chicken in the egg. {X-Pro II filter} 9.27.13
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- All you need is a window for a fabulous cat nap. {Walden filter} 9.28.13
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- Most excellent weekend weather. {Mayfair filter} 9.29.13
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- Hi future office building! Looking forward to the move. 🙂 {Sutro filter} 9.30.13
365great Day 202: The Homegrown Collective
laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: 365great, boxes, eco-friendly, green, household, pictures, products, subscriptions
02
October
2013
I just got my second Homegrown Collective greenbox yesterday and I cannot wait to do an unboxing video and get pictures. Once again, I just love the theme and all the cool products they helped put together. It’s exciting having mini projects that aren’t too hard or time-consuming, but can make a good impact in how you do things at home. There’s really no easier way to start greening your household, with everything from skincare to snacks provided for you. I also really enjoy the materials that projects come with, like mason jars and muslin bags. I will most certainly be reusing them! The Homegrown Collective is a fantastic subscription box service that is a great blend of going green and DIY – so much fun!
[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!]
iOS 7 review
02
October
2013
I’ve been running iOS 7 for about two weeks now and it’s been quite a change. Overall I really enjoy it, but there are definitely some issues that need to be worked out and new things to get adjusted to. Here are some of the highlights:
Geotargeting with the radius of your choice! Anywhere from 328 to 7.92 million feet, haha. I wished for this back when iOS 5 came out and now I have it!
New, more gentle and pleasant ringtones.
Liking the new graphics – simpler, cleaner, brighter.
New organization of photos into collections, more useful multitasking view with easy swipe to close, and better view of Safari tabs. All nice changes, but take some getting used to!
The Control Panel makes it easy to get to useful features. Finally, convenient access!
I like knowing when sunrise and sunset are.
Being able to block callers will be helpful.
If you pull to the left on the text messages, you can see the time of each, thank goodness.
It’s great to be able to correct Siri’s pronunciation.
The compass now offers a hidden feature: inclinometer! Now you can figure out what perfectly balanced is.
And a few things that aren’t so great:
For some reason the new keyboard is different enough to make my typing worse.
The apps keep having to reload when I move between them. I thought they were supposed to work in the background…
The screen fades too fast and I never tap it in time. Of course when I tried to get a screenshot of it fading I got the full brightness instead, but you get the point.
Have you updated to iOS 7? What do you think? Or what’s keeping you from making the change?
365great Day 201: PayPal
laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: 365great, pictures, services, technology
01
October
2013
When it comes to transferring money between friends, collecting sales revenue, or even printing shipping labels at a discount, PayPal’s got you covered. I started off using it to occasionally buy things online so I wouldn’t have to share my credit card info. I then found it to be really handy when I wanted to move money to someone else (or even between my own bank accounts) at no charge. As I began to sell things online, it became the source for collecting payments. I don’t have to worry about charging credit cards or doing any currency conversions; it’s all part of their services. The fees they get out of it aren’t too bad especially considering the value they provide me. More recently I’ve found it’s the perfect way to take advantage of better USPS shipping rates without having to get an account with Stamps.com. I pay for and print my labels right within their interface! PayPal’s been great not only personally, but for my small side business too.
Oh government shutdown
laelene Posted in lifestyle glimpses, stories，Tags: experiences, government, panda, pictures, work
01
October
2013
Well, they did it. Congress actually threw us over the cliff this time. Over the past few years, I’d hear about another fiscal cliff and Panda would joke about getting furloughed. Now we’re on Day 1 of the government shutdown and after a few hours in the morning to wrap things up for the indefinite future, he came home from work to wait it out.
So eager to talk about the shutdown that they didn’t spell-check Capitol Hill.
We’re in a really good position, with ample savings and my income to get us through. So many others are nowhere near as fortunate and it’s just absurd that this in-fighting from our own government is affecting all these lives. I’m just glad that we don’t live paycheck to paycheck, but even so I do hope this doesn’t last long. We’re trying to save up for the new condo after all! In the short term, Panda gets to enjoy some quiet time off and a taste of what life for me was like the past year. I tried to recruit him to help me at work, but instead he’s getting things done like chores and a dentist appointment. Alas, a girl can wish right? So long as the shutdown doesn’t extend for too many weeks, we’ll just take it like an unexpected vacation (for him). There are even a bunch of restaurants offering discounts or free items for federal employees. Maybe he can go enjoy those!
It’s so sad that today is Yosemite’s anniversary and people can’t even go enjoy it. I feel bad for all the tourists who are around the nation, wanting to enjoy parks and museums and zoos… but getting shut out. I’m looking to the supposed leaders of our country to find a compromise soon.
365great Day 200: loofahs
laelene Posted in 365great，Tags: 365great, beauty, cleaning, eco-friendly, green, health, home, kitchen, nature, pictures, plants, products
30
September
2013
I love loofahs. If you don’t decide to eat them you can just let them dry out and boom, you’ve got yourself a wonderful exfoliating sponge. Not only can you wash your skin with it, it makes for a perfect sponge to clean dishes with. So take your pick on how you choose to use it and then when you’re done just bury it in the ground! A beautifully natural tool for bath and kitchen that will compost away and create no waste when it’s time to get a new one. You can even save the seeds from them to plant yourself for a never-ending supply. Now that’s a great thing.
365great Day 199: flowers
29
September
2013
I’m a fan of many types of plants, but flowers are a surefire way to enhance a space so just about anyone would like it. They add color and sometimes fragrance to enliven an area. It’s no wonder you find them along streets, on tabletops, and adorning windowsills. Look at how they spruce up the front of this building! While many women enjoy a bouquet of these beauties, I find them to be useless in that form so I’d much rather get a live plant in a pot. That way I can enjoy the flowers year after year (assuming I can keep them alive). Flowers come in so many gorgeous shapes, sizes, and colors that you’re sure to find one that appeals to you. My personal favorite is the orchid, though anything purple or blue is perfect too. Whatever your preference, flowers are a great way brighten your day.
