Goodbye Google Reader!

Hi there everyone.  I just wanted to pop in and let you know, in case you didn't already, that Google Reader is going away tomorrow.  If you follow me through that and still want to be notified when I write new blog posts you need to follow through a different method.  My preferred reader is Bloglovin'.  It puts all of the posts of blogs you follow in one place.  You can categorize blogs in your own categories and one of the features I love is that you can look at similar blogs to any other blogs you enjoy.  If you want to follow me through Bloglovin', go here.  Another method to follow me by is email or feeds.  You can find those methods up in my right sidebar, right below Search.

I have never personally used Feedly, but I checked it out after Martin mentioned it and it looks pretty good.  It also has One-Click Google Reader Import which seems pretty handy.  If you'd like to follow me on there, either do the Google Reader Import or go here.

There are also many other readers you can use.  You can find more in this post by a great blogger lady.

Musings on Imperfection

I painted my jewelry box with nail polish and filled the empty space on the door.  It's an imperfect fleur-de-lis and I like it a lot.

I like things that are imperfect, like blurry photos.

You might remember that post I wrote awhile ago sharing some things that I'm bad at.  You might have read it and wondered why I'm focusing on my weaknesses.  Well the truth is that I'm happy to be imperfect.  I might not dress perfectly (haha, I never dress perfectly) or say the right things at the right time (socially awkward right here!), but I like being imperfect.  How boring would the world be if everyone was perfect?!  Seriously, think about it.  My imperfections are what make me who I am and I like who I am, so I like my imperfections.  Plus it makes me quirky and awesome so what's not to like?

Happenings

I had a fairly lazy, yet eventful and productive weekend.  On Saturday I finished my first custom Etsy order, which was exciting.  I'm already working on my second custom order.  After that I did some more room cleaning/organizing and inventoried my jewelry supplies.  I made enough space in my room for a shelving unit, so my jewelry stuff will be more organized, instead of just all on top of my dresser like it is now.  I haven't bought the shelving unit yet, but I will soon.  Then I went to a gluten free sushi place called Mio Sushi.  It was really good and it was nice to be able to eat anything on the menu (aside from two dishes) without having to ask a million questions first.  Usually at sushi places, I just get nigiri, which is just fish and rice, as opposed to rolls.  So it was nice to be able to eat sushi rolls again, and I also had a lot left over.  I ate some for lunch today.  It was really good sushi and I highly recommend it.  They have locations in Seattle, Vancouver Washington, Camas Washington (which is near my hometown!), Portland Oregon, Bend Oregon, Eugene Oregon, and Changchun China.  I'm not sure if all of the locations are gluten-free but I know that the Greenlake Seattle location I ate at is predominantly gluten-free.

After sushi, I went to the movies and saw This Is the End.  It was a movie that falls into my completely-ridiculous-but-I-love-it category.  It has a star-studded cast and more laughs than you can shake a stick at.  (Sidenote: How did shaking a stick at something ever become a method of quantifying things?!)  This Is the End is basically about celebrities trying to survive the apocalypse.  I don't want to give anything away, since it's still out in theaters.  Besides the big stars, including Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, and James Franco, there are small parts and cameos by lots of other celebrities including, but definitely not limited to, Mindy Kaling, Emma Watson, Rihanna, and Aziz Ansari.  If you enjoyed The Hangover, you'll probably like this movie.  Also for some reason this movie made me have a celebrity crush on Jay Baruchel, so I have my first celebrity crush!  It's weird because I've seen him in a bunch of other movies and felt nothing.  I think it's because I feel like I can relate to him in this movie, the socially awkward one who doesn't know anyone at the party.

And then on Sunday I introduced G to The Office because somehow he's never seen it! (other than maybe two episodes).  He loved it and we marathoned our way through the first season and part of the second.  It's on Netflix.  I didn't want to spoil anything, so I had to be very careful with my response when he said he thought Jim liked Pam, and then again later when he said that Pam likes Jim back, and why is she with that other guy?!  After that I napped and then beat the first two stages of Pandora: Purge of Pride.  (I'll review that game in its own post at some point.  Spoiler alert: I love it!)

And besides that I inadvertently made myself (AKA my Etsy shop but I can wear it for shop promotion, plus I haven't listed it for sale yet) a bracelet that matches my toenail polish, so that happened.  I made the bracelet on purpose, but the matching was unplanned.

Nerdish Delight: Holiday in Cambodia

When I was a little kid, I wanted to be an archaeologist when I grew up.  I don't want to be an archaeologist anymore but I do love exploring (although mostly just my own city).  So when I saw the news that a group of archaeologists in Cambodia discovered a 1200 year old city, I was really excited!  One of the news articles called the expedition Indiana Jones-style and while I do love Indiana Jones movies, I think it sounds more like the sort of thing I would read in a Michael Crichton book, like Congo.  (If you haven't read that book, and enjoy science-y murder mysteries, I highly recommend it)  They discovered the city using laser technology developed in the 1960s for measuring clouds.  Lasers!  Seriously, lasers alone nerdishly delight me.  But there's more.  After they detected the outline of the city using Lidar technology (which, using ultraviolet, visible, or near infrared light, pulses lasers to "see" through dense vegetation, in this case jungle), they trekked through the jungle (which was full of live land mines, by the way!).  I'm picturing lots of khaki and machetes.  They also had a guide, who had never been to the lost city either, a one-legged soldier.  Does this not sound like something that would be happening in a book or a movie?!  And then they found the city, and were attacked by cannibals who hadn't seen humans other than their own tribe before.  And then the ancient city was destroyed because of ancient booby traps, obviously.  Oh wait, no that last part with the cannibals and destruction would happen in a movie, but thankfully didn't happen in real life.  In real life, it was pretty anti-climactic.  They just discovered a city, called Mahendraparvata, that hasn't been seen by anyone who is alive now, or anyone who has been alive in the past 1000 years.  That's all.  It also reminds me of Timeline, also by Michael Crichton, which is another book that I highly recommend.  There's quantum physics and time travel in it!

The other really cool thing about this discovery is that the ginormous temple of Angkor Wat, which I've thought was super cool since I was a little kid with archaeologist dreams, is part of the newly rediscovered city of Mahendraparvata.  It's like they just keep on finding more pieces in a puzzle (and I love puzzles!).  First Angkor Wat and then Mahendraparvata.  I have to wonder what they'll find next.  I love urban decay (and I'm not talking about the makeup brand) and I love ruins.  Ruins are really just extreme urban decay, from times when the urban landscape was very different.  My absolute favorite examples are Macchu Picchu (another one I've loved since I was teeny tiny) and Nara Dreamland (a much newer example of urban decay).

Oh and one more thing it reminds me of is the children's movie The Road to El Dorado, where they discover El Dorado, the lost city made of gold.

Occupational Hazards: Why I don't Paint my Nails Anymore

As a jewelry maker, I work with lots of wire and chain and jump rings, and all of these things are like the evil villains that hate nail polish.  When I first started working there in September, I still painted my nails sometimes.  And you guys, I can chip my nail polish ridiculously easily anyway.  If I click my mouse wrong, my nail polish will chip.  It's pretty crazy.  Jewelry making is not the friend of pretty colored nails.  My nail polish would chip the instant I started to make a necklace and only get worse and worse throughout the day.  And I like having pretty nails, but I hate painting them, because drying times force me to just sit and watch a movie or something, and as you may recall, I'm a multitasker.  I was organizing my room yesterday and came across my nail polish.  I have a lot of it, not as much as some people, but for never painting my nails, it's a lot.

But nail polish actually works as a way to personalize jewelry stuff and make it even cuter.  I got a whole bag of broken/mismatched jewelry the other day and I intend to use all sorts of nail polish on it (in a way that looks good, obviously).  And remember that cute jewelry box I thrifted that looks like it's missing something on the door?  Well I think I can do something cool with white nail polish.  So today I'm feeling pretty crafty.  I might even do battle with my sewing machine!  We'll see.

What creative uses do you have for nail polish?

Food Friday: Bucket Listing

I checked an item off of my bucket list!  I ate at a food truck!  Well, technically it was a food cart, but that's as close as I can get to a gluten free food truck (at least in Seattle).

Since I first discovered them, they have gotten a second food cart.  They are called I Love My GFF (GFF stands for gluten free food), and their food is all gluten-free and mostly organic.  It's also super healthy and it tastes amazing!  And it's really affordable.  Each of these bowls cost $9.50 for the 16 oz. size, but they last for two meals because they are so filling.  And if you eat gluten-free food, you know that you really can't beat that price for a delicious and filling meal.  There are two kinds of quinoa bowls on their menu, and chocolate chip cookies.  I bought two of each kind of quinoa bowl after tasting the free samples, because I wanted to have some again later in the week too.  They also gave me a free cookie!  Everything was really yummy.  I preferred the Sunshine Bowl over the Fiesta Bowl, but enjoyed them both enough that I would order them again.  If you're a vegetarian, you can order either of these bowls without chicken.  They both have sprouted quinoa, pumpkin seeds, chicken, red peppers, and green onions.  The Fiesta Bowl is sort of a Mexican style, with black beans, avocado, green onions and their special Fiesta Sauce, as well as the previously mentioned ingredients.  The Sunshine Bowl has more of what I would call a summery flavor, with cannellini beans, carrots, broccoli, and their special Sunshine Sauce, as well as the previously mentioned ingredients.  They both have a great balance of flavors, textures, and colors.  And the cookies are really good too.  They taste just like a great chocolate chip cookie, without any weird texture at all.  I highly recommend this food cart to everyone in Seattle.  G tried it too and also loved it, so much that I gave him one of the Fiesta Bowls, which was his preferred flavor.

All Work and All Play

Makes me a well-balanced person, I guess.  I've been doing a lot of work lately, staying extra at work and then working on my own shop stuff when I get home.  But it's fun work.  I'm making flower crowns for my shop!  So before they're crowns, they're a pretty bouquet in my room.

fake flowers in a vase that I thrifted today for $1!, plus a sneak peek of my art wall

And I got my new game the other day, so that's awesome.  (It's one of the ones that needed funding help, Pandora: Purge of Pride)  The weather was finally nice enough to go hacky sack in the park yesterday, so I did that for almost an hour.  Then I accidentally made new friends who live in my house and one of them made a big dinner for all of us, that I could actually eat :)  (Let's call him The Chef)  It was really tasty.  There was chicken, broccoli with cheese sauce, and potatoes.  And The Chef also commisioned a necklace from me, which is super cool.  Then I hacky sacked with the other friend, who did alright despite not hacky sacking since 8th grade.  (We'll call him The Rollerblader, because he roller blades.)  And then I went to bed, because that was a whole lot of human interaction and it made me sleepy.

And in other notable events, I discovered the wonder that is Desura, and specifically Desura's free games, and downloaded a bunch of them.  So far I have only played (and completed) The Kite.   That game will make you feel feelings.  It is intense.  Seriously.

And I've also discovered that I don't hate documentaries; I just hate boring documentaries.  Now I am that person who says, "Oh, I actually just watched a really interesting documentary about that" during conversations.  Here are some documentaries that I have watched and enjoyed on Netflix recently (with handy dandy links and my ratings, out of 5 stars):

• Happy 3 stars
• Nerdcore Rising (I'm actually watching it right now, so no rating yet, but I love it so far)
• Indie Game: The Movie 5 stars
• Afterlife 4 stars
• The Human Experience 5 stars
• Bomb It 5 stars
• Dive! 4 stars
• Buskers 3 stars
• The Antics Roadshow 3 stars

I also watched two documentaries that are no longer on Netflix, but I still highly recommend them: What the #$*! Do We Know!? and What are Dreams?: Nova.  I give them both 5 stars.

How to Exercise the Easy Way

Dance like no one is watching (and then photograph it?)

Are you one of those super busy people who never has time to exercise?  Let me share my tips for exercising the (sometimes fun) easy way.  First of all, you might not believe me but you do have time to exercise!  Do you drink milk or orange juice?  Lift it up a couple of times with each arm before you put it back in the fridge.  Do you cook?  Dance around the kitchen while you're waiting for your water to boil, or whatever you're cooking.  (even if you're just waiting for the microwave to heat up your food)  Do you do laundry?  Lift up your laundry basket like you're curling a weight, as you're carrying it wherever you have to take it to.  Walking up some stairs?  Walk on your tiptoes, as if you're wearing heels. (It probably doesn't work if you're actually wearing heels though)  Do your brush your teeth?  (I really hope so!)  Repeatedly stand on your tiptoes then back down the whole time you're brushing.

The next part is only for people who are comfortable doing crazy things in public without caring what people think about them.  If you do a lot of walking to and from places, don't just walk, skip, gallop, prance (haha), dance, whatever.  Basically try to remember how you walked with your parents (and probably drove them crazy doing it) as a toddler and do that.  Another great way to exercise is for people who babysit toddlers.  When the toddlers are playing outside or inside or wherever, run around with them and do everything they do (exercise-wise; don't pick your nose or eat worms or anything like that).  Believe me, after about four hours of this, you'll be feeling it.

And when all else fails, dance around the house like a maniac.  Plus it's super fun!

Blog and Shop of the Month: Silly and Adorable

My Blog of the Month for this month is someone who I've been following for probably over a year.  She's a super cool girl, who has lots of mental and physical strength.  She blogs about her life, which includes web design and circus performing.  I love her fashion sense.  One of the things I love about her is that although she has a fairly large blog following she still takes the time to get to know her readers and answer their questions.  If you haven't guessed by now, I'm talking about Sarah from SillyGrrl.  She's one of my favorite bloggers.  She also just released an e-book filled with coding and design tips for bloggers.  She's an all-around super awesome person who you should get to know, if you haven't yet.

I discovered this month's Shop of the Month through Pinterest.  (Have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest?!)  She makes super awesome nerdy products that I love.  The Pac Man purse drew me in and the Zelda purses, Chain Chomp purse, and zombie purse (with blood spatter bow!) kept me there.  And she has 74 sales, which is higher than 50, but I make the rules here and I can break them if I want to!  Jen is the cool lady behind Disturbingly Adorable.  She makes and sells nerdy (and other awesome) purses, pouches, scarves, shirts, jewelry, and underwear.  And fellow Whovians, there's a purse featuring the cutest Dr. Who alien ever!  And besides being amazing, all of the Disturbingly Adorable products are very reasonably priced.  Plus, how great is that name?!  I love it.  Seriously.

So go check out these ladies are their great work, because they're really cool and they do great work.

Where to Eat in Seattle: Vegan Pizza Pi

I've eaten at Vegan Pizza Pi twice now, and both times it's been delicious.  Vegan Pizza Pi is located in the University District of Seattle.  It's conveniently within walking distance of my apartment : )  It is the first American vegan pizzeria, and they've been around for over 9 years, so they know what they're doing.  They have a huge variety of gluten-free options, including some tasty gluten-free appetizers.

The first time I ate there was a few weeks ago, during the University District Street Fair.  My friend and I ordered the Rainy Day pizza on gluten-free crust (gluten-free crust is only available in the small (9 inch) size, but it is more than enough food).  The Rainy Day pizza is pictured above.  It has white garlic sauce, spinach, sundried tomatoes, pineapple, grilled onions, and soy cheese.  The second time I ate there was last Friday, before my movie night.  We got the Garden Fresh pizza on gluten-free crust.  It has marinara sauce, mushrooms, spinach, green peppers, raw onion, and fresh tomatoes.  Both of these pizzas were very tasty (and very healthy!).

If you are gluten-free, don't order any of the fake meats, because they are gluten-based.  You can also build your own pizza from a huge list of ingredients, so you're sure to find something you like.  So if you're vegan or gluten-free or you just want to try something different, I highly recommend Vegan Pizza Pi.

Introducing the New Ocean Avenue Collection from Warby Parker

 Warby Parker contacted me and asked if I would like to help them introduce their newest collection of eyewear, just in time for Summer, and I said that I would love to help.  For those of you who aren't familiar with Warby Parker, let me tell you a little bit about them.  They sell stylish sunglasses and eyeglasses online starting at $95 a pair, with free shipping and free returns.  But the thing that really sets them apart from other online glasses sites is that for every pair of glasses you buy, they'll give a pair of glasses to someone who needs them.  It's a really great program that makes a big difference.  And if you have ever gone without your glasses, you know how much better you feel when you wear them.

I have never personally ordered glasses from Warby Parker, because they don't sell bifocals, but I have heard good things about them from my friends.  Another cool thing about Warby Parker is that they have a Home Try-On program, so you can pick 5 pairs for them to send you and then try them on and figure out what you like best for five days.  It's a lot better than the Virtual Try-On features that many glasses websites have, because you'll never know exactly what your glasses will look like on your face until you actually put them on your face.

Now that you know a little bit about Warby Parker, allow me to introduce their new collection, Ocean Avenue.  This collection is inspired by New York City in the 1970s and 1980s, and they're perfect for long days spent on the boardwalk in the summer sun (if you're lucky enough to live near a boardwalk).

If I didn't need to wear bifocals, I would order one of these frames.

So if you're looking for some new glasses or shades, check out Warby Parker's new Ocean Avenue collection.  If you buy a pair, you'll not only get a stylish new addition to your look, but you'll give a pair to someone in need.  Plus you can try them on before you buy them, which is pretty cool.

Happening Lately

I had a movie night on Friday with my friend who I hadn't been able to hang out with for over a year.  It was tons of fun.  We stopped and got gluten-free pizza and gluten-free pita bread with spinach artichoke dip.  The pita bread tasted better without the dip.  I would eat it all by itself.  The dip was waaaaay too garlicy.  We watched a super old movie called Clan of the Cave Bear and also Whip It.  Then I stayed the night at her house and we went to Goodwill in the morning.  I found a great floral print fedora and the orange Converse (although not actually Converse brand but they look like them) that I have been searching thrift stores for for three years! Score :)  Also on Friday my hula hoop arrived in the mail.  I bought weighted hula hoop on eBay and it came in segments that I had to connect to put it together.  Putting it together was a workout all in itself!  I hula hooped outside while reading my book on Saturday.

my newest hat

Then on Sunday I went to see The Hangover 3, complete with snuck in snacks.  The snacks cost $5 at Safeway and would have cost $20 or more at the theater.  The Hangover 3 was hilarious.  I loved it and laughed almost the whole time.  If you liked the first two, you will like it.  Ignore the negative reviews.  And if you see it, make sure that you stay for the extra part after the end credits start to roll.  It's hilarious and you do not want to miss it.  Trust me.  After the movie I went to Joann Fabrics and finally completed my Buttonquest.  I don't think I shared, but I got a custom Etsy order for three button necklaces with different colored buttons.  (my first custom Etsy order!!!)  I could only find a black button online, but had no luck finding a green one or a purple one.  I tried three or four stores unsuccessfully, then finally found them at Joann Fabrics, which was a huge relief.  I have almost completed all three necklaces now.  I just have to wait for the charms I ordered to arrive in the mail.  Then I went and bought a plastic laundry hamper because I have a fabric one from when I first started college and it's beginning to fall apart.

the two completed custom necklaces

So I've been pretty busy enjoying life and the lovely summery weather.  I hope your weekends were wonderful too.