Oct
13th

70 months! ♥

Oct
10th

StyleQuotient.ca – Started by the fabulous Sunny Shum and Paul Melo, who knew Vancouver was so stylish? This is one of my favorite fashion blogs.

BeeCreative.ca – Office-monkey by day and ninja by night, Kym’s blog is awesome, Kym is even more awesome and makes the coolest t-shirts. Got mirk?

BunnieBar.com – Self-described “newbie” blogger but it didn’t seem like it when I first stumbled onto her blog. Everyone has a hidden BUNNY in them.

LifeOfPi.ca – There’s not too many insightful male bloggers who blog about everything from finance to the disgusting muffin tops and old Nammer moms in skin-tight clothing plaguing our city. Definitely a must-read.

KrystalAtWork.com – “Give Me Back my 5 Bucks” is a personal finance blog of a woman who was $17,000 in debt and managed to bring the number down to zero in less than a year. Impressive, much?

Oct
7th

• Chromeglass in Show Coral. Ultra shiny, ultra luscious shade of peach with beautiful pink undertones, smells great and not sticky at all yet it’s thick and plumps your lips. This is my HG lipgloss that I’ll seriously die without it and unfortunately it’s DISCONTINUED so when I run out (have 3 left), I’m going to die. Need to find a dup, FAST!
• Fluidline in Blacktrack. I use this gel liner everyday and it’s better than any eyeliner I’ve ever used. This stuff doesn’t budge at all, lasts the entire day and one pot lasts forever. Great investment.
• MAC217 Brush. If I had to throw away all my brushes except for one, I’d keep the 217. This brush makes blending eye shadows so much fun.
• Satin Taupe Eyeshadow is the sexiest eye shadow color ever! It’s rich, lustrous, super-pigmented and great for creating the perfect smokey eye.
• Sandy B Lipstick is a peachy-pink shade with a lovely gold shimmer and my favorite lipstick. I’ve gone through 3 tubes this year… only because I keep on losing them (but I’ll keep on buying a new one because I love it so much).

What are your top 5 MAC picks?

[via @Kailyn]

Oct
6th

Don’t know where I found this but it’s been sitting in my drafts for over a year! I know most of you don’t care but I do.

What author do you own the most books by?
I’m not sure because I try to own all the books written by authors I like but the winner is between Terry Brooks, Stephen King or Dean Koontz. Can’t count because some of the books are in the back of my shelf and it’s too hard to dig them out.

What book do you own the most copies of?
It’s not actually a novel but I do own 3 copies of a wedding coffee-table book that I ordered by accident. Don’t ask.

What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Everyone knows I’m madly in love with Legolas from Lord of the Rings— only the Orlando Bloom version of him in the movies with the long and luscious white hair that I wished I had. Orlando is only good as an elf though. I don’t like him nor his characters in the rest of his movies.

What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding children’s picture books)?
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China— I discovered this book on my English reading list in high school and have read it so many times I can’t even keep count. I love historic books especially on Chinese history and the Cultural Revolution.

What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
I don’t remember a favorite book but I had MANY favorite series and Fear Street, The Babysitter’s Club and The Saddle Club topped the list. I wished R.L. Stine would write an adult version of Fear Street… I was obsessed with them.

What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
Twilight. I think I would’ve enjoyed it more if it was so over-hyped (and if the characters weren’t so annoying).

What is the best book you’ve read in the last year?
This is soo hard but I’ll have to say The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett). I think this is one of those books that people thought was way over-hyped because it was in Oprah’s book club but I LOVED it. It reminded me of a Korean drama because the good guys would win, then the bad guys and then it would happen over and over again— lots and lots of drama and suspense which is totally my thing. It was 1000 pages long but Follett’s writing style is very simple which made it to be a quick read. It may not be the best book to you, but the epic-ness of it is just the thing for me.

If you could force everyone to read one book, what would it be?
Children of the Dust (Louise Lawrence).

What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
The Godspeaker Trilogy (Karen Miller): Empress,The Riven Kingdom and Hammer of God.

Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
Omigosh I’ve had so many! The cutest one involved Merry and Pippin (hobbits from The Lord of the Rings). I actually wrote it down the morning after:

We were in a club and someone’s shoes broke (?!) so we were standing around deciding what to do. Then these two little guys jump out and was like “we’ll save you!” Then we were like, “Hey you’re Merry and Pippin from Lord of the Rings!!. And they replied, “oh we are!” Then I looked to the left and on the wall were all these pictures and documents on them saying they use to be conjoined twins.

Hardback, trade paperback or mass market paperback?
I don’t have a preference because books are books but I like to pick up multiple editions of my favorite books. I prefer reading softcover but hardcovers look great on my bookshelf.

Amazon or brick-and-mortar?
If I can wait and I know what books I want, I’ll go to a bookstore any chance I get. If not, I order online (which is a lot more dangerous because I tend to mass-order).

Bookmark or dog-ear?
I’ll kill you if you dog-ear any of my books.

Alphabetize by author, or alphabetize by title, or random?
I don’t alphabetize but I group my books by author …until I lost control of my shelf.

Keep, throw away, or sell?
Who in the world would throw away their books?! Crazy assholes. I always keep my books.

Short story or novel?
I don’t read short stories because I like super long novels. I don’t want my stories to end!

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?
Depends what I’m in the mood for. I’m not a total book snob so I’ll read anything… but dark and stormy night sounds more intense.

Buy or borrow?
Buy. It makes me sad when I don’t own a book I’m reading.

New or used?
I like new books but I’ll buy used books too… I love being in a used bookstore.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendations, or browse?
All! I browse Amazon and Good Reads, read reviews and ask around for recommendations (the best books are usually recommendations). I also love picking up random books because you’ll never know what you’ll find.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?
I read a lot so a mixture of both is good. Tidy endings can get boring so you need some cliffhangers once in a while.

Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?
ALL DAY READING! I carry a book with me everywhere “just-in-case.” Sometimes when I do forget to bring a book with me, I always end up wishing I had one because I ended up in a boring situation.

Stand-alone or series?
I read both but I love trilogies, series and long epic tales. They do get tiring but I never want them to end especially if they are full of action and intriguing characters.

Favorite series?
The Lord of the Rings,The Lives of the Mayfair Witches (The Witching Hour, Lasher,Taltos) and Terry Brook’s Shannara series.

Favorite children’s book?
The Secret Garden and The Last Unicorn.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?
Trapdoor to Heaven. Found it in a used bookstore for 50 cents. Have you heard of it?

What are you reading right now?
Have a lot of books on hold and none I’m currently reading but I just finished Namah’s Kiss
yesterday. Loved it so much so my next goal is to buy and read all of Jacqueline Carey’s books especially Kushiel’s Legacy. Soo excited!

What are you reading next?
Not sure yet but I might finish The Fionavar Tapestry.

What is your favorite novel of all time— your desert island book?
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (first book in The Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy).

Favorite poem?
How Do I Love Thee? (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Favorite work of nonfiction?
I love biographies… my favorite is this one on Madame Chiang Kai-shek.

Favorite book to recommend to an 11-year-old?
Winter of Fire. This was my first official “favorite book.”

Favorite writers?
J.R.R. Tolkien and Philippa Gregory.

Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Stephenie Meyers… only because some dared to compare her to J.K. Rowling. I did enjoy The Host though because of the aliens.

Do you ever smell books?
Who doesn’t smell books? Wait, does that make me retarded if I do?

Have you already thought about writing a book?
I’ve written two books. About the Backstreet Boys. In elementary school. All my friends did too for a class assignment and Howie was murdered in all of them. Hyukhyukhyuk.

What do you think about books in several volumes?
My favorite.

Do you like to re-read?
I love re-reading books. Fantasy, mystery and action books books are hard to re-read but everything else is good.

Favorite book to re-read?
Definitely The Witching Hour— I can’t get enough of the Mayfairs’ scandalous history. Harry Potter is also a good series to re-read because no matter how good it was, I ALWAYS forget what happens in the last couple books which is a good thing though because then I have an excuse to read it again …and again and again.

What about meeting or not with the authors of the books you’ve liked?
The closest I’ve ever been to a famous person was Anne Rice and it wasn’t even in person. I think I died 5 times the day she commented on my blog.

Do you like to talk about the books you read?
YES … to a lot of people’s dismay. Not too many people understand my love for books.

Something you read, hard to confess?
I don’t think I’m reading anything now that I’m embarrassed about but if I was still reading chick lit now like I did years ago then it would go here. Chick lit would be alright if only the characters in ALL of them weren’t so fucking annoying.

Best places to read?
On my bed with pillows propped up and a giant cup of my favorite super bitter Chinese tea…. and some cookies. Eating and reading at the same time is extremely satisfying and not to mention, two of my favorite activities.

The ideal book would be…
My ideal book would be a continuation of The Lord of the Rings. I want to know where everyone ended up in detail (and in another EPIC tale), not just in an appendix.

What’s the first book you just fell in love with ?
I always thought it was His Dark Materials trilogy but now that I think of it, I think it was Winter of Fire. It was on my classroom shelf in elementary and I was always tempted to steal it, but being the goody two-shoes chicken-shit that I was, I never did.

Oct
2nd

OH. EM. GEE.

I KNOW WHY PEOPLE HATE VEGGIES!!!

Well, I may not be exactly right but I’ll bet it’s part of the problem.

I grew up pigging out on mouth-watering Chinese food and every meal always had one or more side dishes of deliciously-cooked vegetables (spinach, bok choy, cabbage, bean sprouts, etc.). They were cooked in rich sauces, steamed with simple ingredients like ginger or served with sauces like oyster sauce on the side. They were always good! I don’t think I’ve ever hated eating veggies in my life. All my [Asian] friends love veggies too… sometimes we even get into dramatic conversations when trying to decide what type of “choy” (spinach) to order with our meal.

On the otherhand, from people I know and from watching TV/movies of “white” families eating, all they seem to eat are very bland and boring looking vegetables (eg. steamed, unseasoned). Sure, steamed veggies are definitely a lot more healthy than ones covered in sauces but that’s not the way to turn kids into veggie lovers. Besides, there are ways to make things delicious and healthy at the same time, so parents: think twice before bitching at your kids for not eating their veggies! You may think it’s healthy but you’re ruining their relationship with veggies… FOR LIFE. LIFE!!

Thanks to my parents for not forcing bland vegetables down my throat when I was little, I now LOVE them; steamed, raw, roasted, baked… you name it and I’ll eat it.

Just because I’m practically drooling right now, my favorites are steamed asparagus and broccoli, raw cauliflower and celery, cabbage with bean thread noodles and ginger, baby bok-choy steamed with garlic and my grandma’s ong choy. Today I even discovered a newfound love for red peppers… I use to avoid the red/yellow ones and only eat the green ones. Don’t ask.

But anyway, I don’t want to stereotype and generalize a whole group of people but that’s just one thing I noticed (on TV… BLAME THE MEDIA!!!). I know white people know how to cook good vegetable dishes too and I know Asians who despises them.

Do you hate vegetables? Why?