Sunday, October 2, 2011

Primacy [Book]

 A super big thanks to Mr. J.E. Fishman for sending me his newest book, Primacy. I have a soft spot for primates. Anyways, this looks like a fantastic read and I can't wait to get started.

* An autographed bookplate. The number 1 means hardcover, 0 for e-book. The second number is the printing number. This means I have the 49th book! I feel very special.

Highlights

Hello Readers,

Happy October! Yeah, I know I'm the world's worst blogger "evar" because I don't blog regularly. My excuse is that life is meant to be lived off the internet. Anyways, here's a recap of some of the stuff I've been up to!
  • Week "1": I went to school, work, and GlobalFest. I earned an A in my Human Sexuality class, and an A+ in Grief and Loss. Yay! I'll post GlobalFest photos soon!

  • Week "2": I worked 46 hours that week and it was hard on my personal life, as well as gym routine.   
  • Week "3": A lot of things happened this week (X2), but I will only focus on the positive events.   
  • I attended the annual Pride Parade with the Social Work Student Association (SWSA), and it was super awesome. 
*My social work lovelies and their families. I'm in pink. 

  • At the Pride Parade I met Mayor Nenish, and we made it on to Reddit. (Thanks Ryan for notifying me!) Click on those links to check me out! 
*This is the last photo of my long hair.  I said goodbye to my locks shortly after the march.  I'm loving my short hair and I'll post photos soon.
  • Week "4": Sunday I had a dinner and Wine Night at Laura and Jen's house.  Thanks ladies for everything! 
  • On Monday I watched an advance screening of Drive (2011). Thanks Alliance for the tickets!

Drive by Nicolas Winding Refn is a film pack full of action, crime, and drama. Ryan Gosling (please, call me!) is truly a dynamic actor.   Even though the movie was unpredictable and exciting, like a roller-coaster, I personally would not recommend the film to anyone. I think the scorpion theme was a too blatantly obvious, but that's not why I dislike the film.   I was very, very nauseous after the movie. I was sick during the explicitly violent scenes, which contained a lot of excessive blood.  I would have appreciated the film much more if there was less violence and blood.
  • Week "5+": From mid-September to late September I've been attending a lot of meetings and workshops. There's so much to do and so little time that my nightstand has a BIG pile of magazines (see below) and books, and my desk is cluttered with lots of paper. 






  • On the 24th I had my blood drawn, which I don't mind at all. I dislike it when my median cubital veins play hide-and-seek with laboratory scientists and nurses. This requires them to wiggle the needle around my arms trying to find the vein, which results in pain and bruising. Haha, I now have two big bruises on my forearms.  Very sexy.
Take care and stay warm!

-Margaret

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Jessaloup's Song [Book]

A big thanks to Hester Velmans for sending me an autographed copy of Jessaloup's Song. It looks like a fantastic read.  I look forward to reading it to my students soon! Thanks again!

Ahhh! The whale drawing is soooo cute!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Cute Overload

My Monchichi key chain and owl necklace I ordered from the "interwebz" finally arrived. It's been over a month since I ordered from the site and now it's here! Yay!

The Monchichi key chain I gave to my mother which she absolutely adores. She loves Monchichi. 

The necklace was a gift for myself. I think the necklace is fantastic in every way. Haha, in case you're wondering the answer is the necklace has yet to turn my neck green. Ohhhh, funny coincidence I saw the exact same necklace at a store in Chinook and it cost triple the price! Crazy! Finally my frugal ways and Bargain Hunting pays off!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Lucky #3: Third Batch of Fish

This summer has been has been extremely difficult for me to keep my fish and snails alive. I've been buying a batch of fish every two and a half weeks, and this is my third batch of fish that I've bought. 

My first batch of 10 comet fish all but one died. Then I bought a second batch of 10 comet fish which killed the lone fish from the first batch. =(

In the second batch all but one fish died...sooooo, being the social person and an aquarium enthusiasts that I am I was eager to keep at least two fish alive, I bought a third batch of fish. 

In the third batch I bought 10 comet fish and 6 twin-tailed fish. Haha, now I'm only left with one twin-tailed fish, Mr. P.

You might remember earlier this summer I bought three snails...now I'm only left with one.  Mr. Snail is now in the hospital tank in my room because he was nearly sucked into the water filtering system. He's never been the same since the incident. My brother and I thought he was dead on multiple occasions but Mr. Snail was just very introverted. 

So there you have it. Even fish keeping is a difficult and costly hobby. However, I think being an aquarium enthusiast is well worth my time, money and energy.

Monday, September 5, 2011

LUSH Cosmetics: Love Lettuce [Fresh Face Mask] Review

Hey Readers!

I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. I've been totally swamped, stressed and insomniac such that I have been breaking out and I think my hair is thinning too! Ahhh! From this post onwards I'm gonna slow down the pace of things and not over exhaust myself.  One of my destressing regimens is using LUSH cosmetics. Today I picked up Love Lettuce at LUSH.



 * Top view
 *Inside
*Bottom


 The Claims for Love Lettuce
"Balancing face mask for normal to oily skin. Love Lettuce is a mask that gives as it takes away. On the taking away side, you've got fuller's earth and kaolin, which are clays to dig deep and extract dirt. Then you have ground almonds and almond shells which you massage in to exfoliate away old skin cells and smooth your skin. On the giving side you have a decoction of agar agar seaweed with lots of lovely minerals to be absorbed into your skin, plus moisturising almond oil and balancing lavender to control oils. All fair in love and lettuce. Keep chilled to make sure it lasts as long as possible."
My Experience
  • Price: $6.95 for 60g
  • Ingredients: Agar Agar Gel (Gelidium cartilagineum), Kaolin, Honey, Fullers Earth, Glycerine, Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), Ground Almond Shells (Prunus dulcis), Ground Almonds (Prunus dulcis), Lavender Oil (Lavandula angustifolia), Chlorophyllin (CI 75810), *Geraniol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume
  • Scent: A light earthy lavender and sweet almond. 
  • Texture: A smooth, thick and consistent paste. I found the texture of Love Lettuce was not as abrasive or thick as Mask of Magnaminty.
  • Lifespan: Fresh face masks have very short life spans that is two weeks and they must be refrigerated. I can get about eight to ten uses from these Lush masks. 
  • Pros: A refreshingly cool, gentle exfoliating and hydrating face mask designed to for people with normal to oily skin.  I can feel the mask deep cleaning and tightening my pores. After I washed the mask off and moisturized the bumps and red blotches on my face seemed to calmed down and my skin feeling clean, smooth and soft. 
  • Cons: I personally enjoy wearing face masks for greater than 15  minutes. I was quite disappointed how fast Love Lettuce dried which was under five minutes.  Also the mask started to flaked off my face at the seven minute mark and caused a big mess around my house, since I was getting my chores done. At that point I had to wash the mask off. 
  • Removing Love Lettuce: I used warm water and washed off sections of the product off my face. I moved my fingers in circular motions for a deep exfoliation experience.
  • Bottom line: Love Lettuce is an okay face mask but I won't be repurchasing this product.  I would recommend people to check out A Crash Course in Skincare, which is still by far my favorite LUSH mask.
  • Grade: 7.4/10
Thanks for reading!

The Slayer Chronicles: First Kill [Book]


Thanks Penguin Canada for sending me an advance copy of  The Slayer Chronicles: First Kill. I can't wait to read it.


The Grief of Others [Book]


Thank you Penguin Canada for sending me a copy of  The Grief of Others.  I look forward to reading it!