Friday, August 31, 2012

Friday Fashion: New Shoes

I hung out with my friend Marie the other day.  We went to all the thrift stores on the Ave, because I needed to find some plain colored sneakers and flats.  I ended up buying patterned sneakers, but they aren't nearly as clashy as my rainbow plaid sneakers.  Also, they're awesome and brand new looking so it's cool.  My rainbow plaid Airwalks somehow have an orange stain on the toe that I cannot get off no matter how hard I try.  Also I have no idea how I got an orange stain on them.  I didn't rub Cheetos all over my shoes or anything.  I also bought some really cool boots.  I saw them last time I was at Crossroads Trading Company, but I didn't buy them.  After not buying them, I repeatedly wished that I had.  They were still there this time, at least two weeks later, so I tried them on and they fit perfectly and I bought them.  We also went to this amazing store that sells vintage and things by local artists, and YOU GUYS, if you're ever in Seattle, you need to go to this store!  It is the best store ever and the owner is the nicest lady.  I might be able to sell some of my own jewelry there, which would be pretty much the coolest thing ever.  The store is called Valley of the Roses Boutique.  I commented to Marie that I loved this one pair of shoes (bright orange heels with orange and white striped bows on the toes) and the owner told me that if I wanted to buy them, she would put them on sale for me.  Talk about customer service!  They were way too small for me though, because I have big feet, so big that G likes to call me Bigfoot.  Anyway, here is the outfit that I wore for thrifting.


This outfit is mostly thrifted/free.

I won the arrow necklace in a blog giveaway, bought the deer necklace for cheap off eBay,
made the earrings, and got the bracelet from the Oregon Coast years ago.


And here are the shoes I bought.



Studded straps are one of my favorite shoe features.
These cost me $15 at Crossroads Trading Company.
They are just like new. I don't think they were actually worn.

These work as neutrals.  Even though they have a print, it's subtle.
I really like the not-quite-glitter not-quite-sequins.
For some reason I was very drawn to shiny shoes that day.
These cost me $10 at Goodwill and they are pretty much brand new.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Product Review: Julep Nail Polish

I am a very lazy person when it comes to doing my nails.  I usually have lots of important stuff to do like looking for a job and making jewelry, so I don't do my nails that often.  I finally took the time to paint my nails the other day after not having them painted for about a month.  I got a really great deal on Julep nail polish quite a few months ago.  Julep nail polish is a brand where you take a quiz and then they tell you which polish box goes best with your results.  The thing is that it's usually really expensive, like more than I like to pay for shoes (keep in mind that I buy my shoes from thrift stores), but one of the bloggers I follow shared a code to get it for super cheap.  I don't remember how cheap because I got it four or more months ago and foolishly didn't write it down.  The polish arrived and there were three shades plus a milk chocolate bar.  It came in really pretty packaging, which of course I didn't photograph.  The chocolate was really tasty.  I didn't use any of the polish until this week.  I received Rachel, Meryl, and a gold glitter shade that I sold at my yard sale.  I used the Meryl shade on my fingernails and Rachel on my toes.  Meryl is a gray shade, a darker gray with a shiny finish.  I really like the color.  It's an interesting change from the usual bright colors I use.  The gray makes me feel more like a rock star, which may sound silly, but I don't care.  The Rachel looks sort of red in the bottle, but when it dries it's sort of a chocolate brown shade with a copper-ish shimmer.  I like it a lot too.  The polish is super fast drying.  My left hand was literally dry by the time I got done painting my right hand.  I usually don't paint my nails because it takes so long to dry and then I mess up my nails by trying to do stuff like type or text too soon.  I can't really comment on how long it lasts without chipping, because I was too lazy to do a top coat to protect it.  It did last for a whole day before chipping, which is better than my normal cheap drug store nail polish.  Here is a photo of Meryl.  I didn't take a photo of Rachel, because there are people with foot fetishes on the internet and I don't want to give them a better reason to be on my blog.


Yeah I know I didn't do a good job but I don't care.

Overall I give Julep polish 4 stars out of 5.  For the price, you expect a really great polish and that's what you get.  However I would not personally pay for it at full price, not even for the awesome chocolate.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Where to Go Near Seattle: Evergreen State Fair

On Sunday, G took me to the Evergreen State Fair.  It was about an hour away.  It was the perfect day for it, 70 degree temperatures and slightly overcast so I didn't get a sunburn.  We looked at so many cute animals, including bunnies and chickens.  There were these one chickens who looked like they had little feather afros.  Some of them even had their eyes covered by their feather afros.  We also played a carnival game.  We both lost.  It was my first time ever playing a carnival game.  It turns out that they're a lot harder than they look : )  Then we had Philly cheesesteaks and shared an elephant ear with cinnamon sugar.  I didn't take very many pictures, but here are the ones I did take.


This was the most adorable little ball of feathers I have ever seen.

No matter what I did, I couldn't get it to look at the camera.

These two baby bunnies were sleeping with their faces together and it was soooo cute!

Unfortunately my camera refused to focus on the bunnies.
I need to figure out how to change the focus settings.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

How to Add a Pin it Button to all of your Posts

All credit for css goes to http://danialde4.blogspot.com/2012/08/facebook-like-tweet-google-1-buffer-and_24.html.  I just took the Pinterest portion of his share button code.  I am not a css ninja, but this was easy enough for me to do.  Also I know that this works for Blogger, but I am not sure if it is the same for other sites, so someone should try it and let me know.  Thanks : )

Before you edit your HTML, it is a good idea to save your template by clicking Backup/Restore after going to the template (In Blogger, just click Design in the top bar).  Then click Proceed when it asks if you want to edit the HTML.  Next you need to check the box marked "Expand widget templates".  Search for data:post.body
(On a PC, you can search by pushing Ctrl and F.)

Danial says that if you find it three times, use the second one.  I only found it twice, so I used the first one.  After the part that says <data:post.body>, paste

<!-- Pinterest Start -->
<div id='pin-wrapper' style='display: inline; padding-left: 25px;'>
<a class='pin-it-button' count-layout='horizontal' expr:href='&quot;http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=&quot; + data:post.url'>Pin It</a>
<a href='javascript:void(run_pinmarklet())' style='margin-left:-93px; width:43px; height:20px; display:inline-block;'/>
</div>
<script src='http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js' type='text/javascript'/>
<script type='text/javascript'>
function run_pinmarklet() {
    var e=document.createElement(&#39;script&#39;);
    e.setAttribute(&#39;type&#39;,&#39;text/javascript&#39;);
    e.setAttribute(&#39;charset&#39;,&#39;UTF-8&#39;);
    e.setAttribute(&#39;src&#39;,&#39;http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r=&#39; + Math.random()*99999999);
    document.body.appendChild(e);
}
</script> 
<!-- Pinterest End -->

Then click Preview and make sure it worked.  If it did, click Save Changes and then you're done.  It goes onto all of your previously published posts and all of the posts you write in the future.

Check Out My Free Hat



How did I get this amazing hat for free, you ask?  Well I'll tell you.  I searched with Bing and earned Bing Rewards.  For those of you who don't know, Bing is like Google only you can get free stuff.  You get points for all your searches and then you can redeem your points for sweepstakes entries, donations to charities, and free stuff like Redbox rentals and gift cards.  I redeemed my points for an amazon.com $5 gift card and then I shopped and shopped until I found something that cost $5 including shipping.  You can even earn a $5 amazon gift card, add it to your amazon account, earn another one, add it, etc. until you save up for a big purchase.  It's pretty cool.  Everyone should sign up.  Do it now.  It's okay, I'll wait.  If anyone wants to be a copycat, I got the hat here.  Bing Rewards doesn't even know I'm writing this post and these opinions are all my own.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Bacon Sundae and Sweet Potato Fries

I have been wanting to try Burger King's bacon sundae ever since I saw the first commercial for it.  I love bacon and I love ice cream, so it sounded really good.  Also sweet and salty is my all time favorite flavor combination.  We finally went to Burger King on Saturday and I got a bacon sundae and sweet potato fries, because Burger King has sweet potato fries now and those are one of my favorite foods ever.  The sweet potato fries box had a game piece on it for the new Family Food promotion.  We had to pick which answer out of three we thought more people would choose for the question "Where would a child get in trouble for saying a bad word?"  Then we scratched off the answer we thought was right (like scratch tickets) and we were right that most people answered school, so we won a free Whopper.  After that I ate some of my sweet potato fries, and HOLY SALT BATMAN!  These fries were seriously oversalted.  Normally sweet potato fries don't need to be salted at all, because they're already so flavorful.  Burger King did not get that memo.  So I dipped some of them in ice cream to tone down the saltiness and that helped a lot.  Sidenote: If you have not yet discovered the joys of dipping french fries in milkshakes, get on that pronto.  I didn't eat very many of the fries.  But we did reheat them and have them with dinner that night and they weren't overly salty anymore, so that was weird but good.


Onto the part you've all been waiting for, unless you're The Management or another vegetarian.  The bacon sundae was glorious.


You can see the little gamepiece that says I'm a winner.

Try not to drool all over your computer.

The ice cream was ordinary and delicious vanilla soft serve.  There was chocolate syrup and caramel sauce.  And the bacon was perfectly cooked, not at all greasy, very crispy.  The flavors mingled perfectly together.  It was so delicious and also so filling that I couldn't quite eat the entire thing.  But seriously, yum.


Something at Burger King that completely blew my mind was that they had a touch screen soda fountain.  It was insane.  You touch what kind of drink you want and then it brings up subcategories!  For example, G wanted Fanta and it let him choose from about 10 different flavors of Fanta.  Are these things elsewhere?  I didn't even know they existed.


Also, once we got home we saw on the back of the receipt that we could fill out a survey about our experience and get a code for a free whopper or free chicken sandwich, so I did that and in the survey I told them the sweet potato fries were too salty.  So much winning happened that day.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Food Friday: Vacation

There are some really great places to eat in Port Townsend.  I forgot to take a picture of my first meal there because it was so delicious looking and smelling that I ate it as soon as it arrived at our table.  The place with the delicious panini was called Jordini's Paninis.  I had the special, which had bacon, turkey, mozzarella, and pesto on it and it was amazing.


This is the cinnamon raisin French toast that I ate at Hudson Point Cafe.
It came with ricotta cream cheese and was all sorts of delicious.

This was the meal at the reception.  The chicken wasn't great but the rest was scrumptious.
The salmon had some sort of berry glaze which was just short of divine.

G got a savory breakfast crepe because he doesn't have my massive sweet tooth.
I had a bite and can attest to the yumminess.  I don't remember what was in it.

This was my breakfast crepe.  It had bananas and walnuts and brown sugar in it.
The brown sugar sort of candied the walnuts.  They use different batter for sweet crepes than they
do for savory ones which really makes a big difference.

We had the delicious crepes at a place right down the street from our hotel.  It was called Water Street Creperie.  They were also a coffee shop and served hard ice cream too.  G and I went there on Saturday for coffee and each got iced mochas, mine with whipped cream and his without.  We went for breakfast there the next day and the guy remembered what G and I drink, even that I like whipped cream and G doesn't.  When he brought out our drinks, he told us he accidentally made the next size up from what we ordered, free of charge.  We knew that he did it on purpose and it was a nice treat for our last day there, and we will definitely visit Water Street Creperie again next time we go to Port Townsend.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Vacation: Souvenirs

First of all, this is totally unrelated to the rest of the post, but I need to share it anyway.  My Twitter account has been suspended and I have no idea why.  I sent a request to have it unsuspended and it said it should fixed within 2-3 days.  So that sucks, and to make matters worse, my first instinct was to tweet about it but i can't. #firstworldproblems


I want to share the souvenirs I got from Port Townsend with you today.  There aren't many but they were all FREE (to me, G bought the one for me because he's the bestest like that).


These were free souvenirs that I picked up on the beach. 
 
I'm making some of them into jewelry for my shop.  Have you guys noticed that my shop is getting more eco friendly? Because it is.  The main reason for this is that reusing old things and using items that I find doesn't cost me extra money.

G bought me this purse
I needed a purse that looked business-y (AKA professional) when I'm trying to find a job and going to job interviews and whatnot.  By the way, I had a job interview yesterday! I'm supposed to hear back by the end of the week if I got it. The purse shop was right across from our hotel and it was called The Bag Shop.  These people are pretty much creative geniuses at store naming. They were having the best sale I have ever seen in my
entire life anywhere. If I remember correctly, it was no bag on the first floor costs any more than $30, regardless of the price on the tag. Some of these purses cost over $100! That's a serious discount. I think mine cost $17. It's genuine imitation leather and really sturdy and well-made. It's a crossbody bag and it's the color of a Hershey's chocolate bar, so what's not to love?! I really like how the texture almost looks like bows.  And I love that it zips shut and also has a flap for double security from pickpockets.


In conclusion, I found some really cool souvenirs and G is fantastically wonderful.  If you ever go to Port Townsend, you should definitely check out The Bag Shop.  They also sell wallets, luggage, and duffel bags, not just purses.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

I'm Still Loved

I received my third Liebster Award today.  This time it was from The Cozy Pink Cottage.  Thank you for the award and for liking my blog : )  I am a rebel who likes to break the rules for blog awards so the only part I'm doing is answering the questions.  I'm not making up new ones or anything.  As far as passing the award on to other deserving people, if you want one, take it.




The Questions:

1. What was the last book you read? Hideaway by Dean Koontz; It was so good, as most Dean Koontz books are.
2. If you could travel anywhere in the world money not being an issue, where would you go?  Finland; they have a huge metal (music) festival and a really cool art festival that I want to go to at some point in my life; It's on my bucket list.

3.What is the most exotic thing you have eaten? probably frog legs

4.What's your favorite drink at Starbucks? I never go to Starbucks because it costs money which I do not have, so I don't know.  If they have chai lattes, then it's that.

5.Summer/ Fall/ Winter/ Spring?  Spring or Fall; I'm not a fan of extreme temperatures.

6.What do you love most about blogging? all of the people I get to know who I would never have "met" otherwise

7.Who is your favorite artist? Painter, Photographer etc..  Wirrow

8.Three words that best describe you? creative, hard-working, quirky

9.If you could start all over in life, Would you change anything? No, because the decisions I have made have led me to be where I am now, and while I may not be in the best place in my life right now, I wouldn't change it for anything.

10.Coke or Pepsi? neither; I rarely drink soda but if I do it's root beer, cream soda, or orange soda

11.Whats the one beauty product you can't live without? chapstick, because my lips get really chapped; fun fact: G calls lipstick, lip gloss, and chapstick "wax" and he doesn't like them but I wear them anyway because I'm a girl and that is my right.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Vacation: Buildings

I adore the look of old buildings.  Port Townsend had some old buildings in really pretty colors and some other buildings I also took photos of.





I loved blurry photos before Instagram.


I love this color scheme.




I wish that I could have gotten a picture of the rest of this building.  It was like a castle on a hill.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Cutest Thing

There is a guy staying at G's mom's house until he moves into the UW dorm tomorrow.  His uncle is a family friend of G's mom.  G and I met him yesterday and we had dinner with him and G's mom.  G found out that they have a lot in common: they are both half white and half Asian, they both love cars, and they both love almost every single food except tomatoes.  G and I got teriyaki today and we dropped off some for the guy, A, and G walked in first and said to A, "Hello, little brother I never had."  It was soooo adorable. 



I reacted to it like most people react to this video.

A is basically G's mini me, except A is a good 5 inches taller than G.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Friday Fashion: What to Wear When You're Being Attacked by a Dalek

When we went to the EMP, my favorite exhibit was the Icons of Science Fiction exhibit.  And my favorite part of the science fiction exhibit was that they had a Dalek!  For those of you who don't watch Doctor Who, a Dalek is one of the many bad guys from that show.  So I present to you What to Wear when Being Attacked by a Dalek.


There are times in life where you will be happily minding your own business.
Then you might turn a corner and be confronted by a Dalek.


As any Doctor's companion knows, it is important to look stylish at all times.
I accomplished this by wearing my new (to me) thrifted blazer over a ruffled blouse,
with black skinny jeans with studded pockets and blue floral printed flats.
Smile uneasily when you notice the Dalek so it thinks you aren't afraid.

Make a resolved face.  (Not pictured: Scream "No one is going to die today!"
Defeat the Dalek with the perfect combination of biting wit, expert cunning, and a little bit of luck.
Hope that you're a main character so you'll survive.  After defeating the Dalek, celebrate with a snack of fish fingers and custard.)

Also not pictured: my shoes.


So that's how I got attacked by a Dalek, but then defeated it and lived to see the rest of the exibits, all while stylishly dressed.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Vacation: Wedding

The whole point of the vacation was to go to G's best friend's 20s themed wedding so here are the wedding pictures. Unfortunately the only pictures of G and I in our 20s clothes are still on G's mom's camera.  The wedding was so much fun.  It was on a really hot day in a shady park right next to the beach.  After the ceremony we all walked down the beach to the reception hall.  There was one girl on the beach who had been sunbathing topless and was very surprised and embarassed when we all walked past.  She sat there with her arms crossed over her chest, turning redder and redder with embarassment.  It was kind of hilarious.  Then there was good food and dancing.  I got a lot of really good pictures of the ceremony but since the happy couple is currently honeymooning in Hawaii and I can't get their permission, I'm only posting pictures where you can't see their faces.






Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Vacation: Party Crashing

The water was really low when we were in Port Townsend so we were able to walk all the way out on this rocky strip.  (I'm sure there's a name for this type of formation but can't think of what it is.)  There were a bunch of seagulls chilling on the rock across from us, so naturally I waded across and crashed their bird party.  No birds were harmed in the shooting of these photos. Also I got a terrible sunburn that day.  Some people would call that karma.


These birds have no idea what's about to happen.

Consider this bird party crashed.

See those faces? These are what you call angry birds.

My painful sunburned feet

Monday, August 13, 2012

Vacation: The Hotel

I went to Port Townsend, Washington with G and his mom for G's best friend's wedding for the first weekend of August.  We took a ferry over and stayed in this really pretty historic hotel, called the Palace Hotel.  I would definitely not recommend staying in this hotel in the summer, especially not on the third floor where we did, because there is no air conditioning.  There is a ceiling fan and a standing fan, but they are not enough to combat the sweltering temperatures.  Also there isn't an elevator, so every time we went back to the room, even after long days of walking around all day sightseeing, we had to climb three flight of very steep stairs.  I think this hotel would be a great place to stay in the spring or fall though.  Here are the pictures I took.


view from the window

pretty dried white roses and antique furniture

the bathroom mirror was pretty and oval and gilded and I forgot to take a picture of it,
but apparently I remembered to take a picture of my reflection in it

stained glass on the ceiling; fun fact: I love to photograph stuff on ceilings that most people don't even notice

the hallway

pretty artwork in a fancy frame

the floor below; I'm afraid of heights so I took this by holding my camera out over the railing and not looking down

just one of the three flights of stairs we had to climb to get to our room