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May 2

Books recommendations

As usual, I hardly post anything on my blog. Why? Cause I am such a bad blogger! I have been reading a lot and it’s not just school books. I did post my birthday gift and this year, I got a Kindle Fire from my guy. I’ve been uploading my school notes, school books, buying more books and borrowing more books from the library. San Antonio Public Library needs to update their ebook list cause other states have more ebooks that I want. Oh come on, Texas might be huge but they are a bit slow in their library ebook collection.

Anyways, my favorite books at this moment are The Fault in Our Stars, Better Than Chocolate and Artist’s Journal Workshop. I can recommend all of these 3 books to everyone. I am also a member of GoodReads.com and you guys can hook me up on that site too. I usually post up the books I’m reading, update my reading status and post up reviews.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars

What is the book about?

Hazel Grace was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the age 12 and she was prepared to die but she survived even though the cancer isn’t gone but she was still alive after 4 years. One day at a Support Group Meeting for the terminally-ill youth, she met Augustus, another cancer survivor and they both became great friends. Hazel introduced Augustus to her favorite book and both of them had a mission to find out what happened to the characters in the book since the book has no ending. They came up with a conclusion that the book ended abruptly cause the main character died. Augustus decided to email the author and find out what happened even after Hazel told him that she never gotten any replies from her letters. The author’s assistant replied to Augustus and after much anticipation, Hazel and Augustus were told that they have to come to Amsterdam if they want to find out. Augustus decided to use his wish to get both him and Hazel to Amsterdam to meet up with the author….

Ok, that’s all I’m saying. You guys have to read to figure out the rest of the book.

Recommendation?

Definitely YES! The ending might be predictable and I do like this book cause it was more realistic ending which also makes me hate it. :’(

4 out of 5 stars

Amazon book link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525478817?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0525478817&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

Better Than Chocolate by Siimon Reynolds

Better Than Chocolate: 50 Proven Ways to Feel Happier

What is the book about?

From the title, you can guess what the book is about. This book is so simple and an easy read for a quick pick up. The illustrations are just so full of vibrancy colors that it brought an instant smile on your face. The book holds easy key to be happy when you’re down and just need an instant burst of happiness and confidence. There are 50 steps which you can do anytime and anywhere and unlike any other self-help books, the 50 steps are really easy and don’t even take 5 minutes to read and do.

Recommendation?

Yes. I actually bought a Kindle copy of this book so I can bring it everywhere I go. That shows how much I love the book.

4 out of 5 stars

Amazon book link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1580086578?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1580086578&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

Artist’s Journal Workshop by Cathy Johnson

Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures

What is the book about?

It is an art workbook but it is for sketchbooks. Most of us keep wanting to keep art journals but never get pass the first page. This book actually helps to pass that first blank page and fill it with ideas or even for professionals who are stuck in their art journal could use this book. There are plenty of visual and examples and lists of tools and tips that one can use from different artists. The book is very inspiring and this book actually was the one who got me to want to start an art journal of my own.

Recommendation?

Yes to everyone who can or cannot draw.

5 out of 5 stars

Amazon book link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1440308683?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1440308683&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

May 2

A mini haul

It has a year since I made a purchase on Beauty Carousel or any Asian shops. I ran out of my Cure Natural Aqua Gel since last October/November and I have been trying to replace it with my Clarisonic, Lush and Olay. Clarisonic is known to give gentle exfoliation cause of the gentle brushing action but honestly, it does nothing for me. I think it is either cause I am using the Delicate brush head or it just works differently for every individual.

I also use Lush Masque; Oatifix, Love Lettuce and Mask of Magnaminty. All of these masques is also a scrub but alas, they just don’t do any justice. I do love Oatifix for the moisturizing benefit, Love Lettuce and Mask of Magnaminty are just too strong and dried out of my skin after second usage. I do like applying masque twice a week when I get a mini breakout during that time of the month but both Love Lettuce and Magnaminty will flake my skin like the Sahara desert.

Since I finished my Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple, I decided to look for something else and slightly cheaper. I decided to go with Olay’s Total Effects Anti Blemish Control Cleanser after much research. I wanted to get a cleanser that will help with my acne but most of those cleansers tend to dry out my skin. I just love this cleanser now. It has become my HG cleanser. Review will come soon.

Anyways, my purchases at Beauty Carousel are Cure Natural Aqua Gel, Juju AquaMoist Hyaluronic Moisture Lotion and Juju AquaMoist Pure Hyaluronic 100% Essence. I’ve taken the wrapper off the products before I remembered to take pictures.

My Recent Haul

A quick review though on the products. I still love Cure Natural Aqua Gel cause it still exfoliates better than any exfoliant I ever came without any harsh chemicals. I am also in love with Juju AquaMoist Hyaluronic Moisture Lotion. I am not sure about the essence yet cause I only use it as a night moisturizer. I have only tried the Water Treatment a few times cause it is summer here and slightly humid for it. One thing I can say about the Water Treatment is that I cannot use it on my face. I noticed a few tiny whiteheads on my nose the next day. I did try on my hands and even though it smells funky, it looks well as a light hand moisturizer but I definitely am not loving it. Sorry, but I rather stick to my Ahava Hand Cream and my Lush Tiny Hand Serum.

I will give a better and deeper review after I try them a bit longer. At the moment the only product I would repurchase is the Juju AquaMoisture Hyaluronic Moisture Lotion.

Mar 22

More fun stuff

Another forgotten update and I am sorry. I have been writing more on my private journal. I decided to keep a private journal which I could vent on and I am trying to keep an art journal which I have not even started. Anyways, I turned 31 last month and my guy and his family threw me a co-joined birthday party with his cute 8 year old niece. We’re February babies. I did get great presents from everyone and I love all of them. However, my guy got me a Kindle Fire so I have stop reading on my iPhone Kindle app. It is nice to read on a larger screen. Why not the iPad, you may ask. I mainly just use the Kindle Fire to buy and read books. The most used apps on my Kindle Fire is the Goodreads app and Evernote app. I hardly even use the Pulse app. I am glad my guy didn’t spend over $400 just for me to read books on.

My Kindle Fire - birthday present 2012

My Kindle Fire - birthday present 2012

I have about 100 ebooks on it at the moment and I am sure I will get plenty more.  I do love it and borrowing books at the library is a lot easier now. I went crazy downloading all my library books. I am slightly bugged that not all of the books I want are available as ebooks.

Next, I said that I want to start an art journal. I was reading about it for some time and I got to borrow a book on Amazon called Artist’s Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures by Cathy Johnson. That book is just full of information and inspirations to start on art journaling. I will write a through review on it. I love the book that I might go and purchase a copy.

While I was reading the book, I decided that I do need a watercolor pan. I have acrylics and they’re not the most friendly when it comes to journaling. I figured that I want something fast and not having to fuss over colors. I already found it a pain to keep unscrewing and screwing the acrylic paint tubes. I am never buying Winsor & Newton acrylic anymore! I still have their Galleria series that I still use but that’s it. I might buy their Winsor Blue since I do love that color. I switched to Liquitex recently and their Cobalt Blue and it is just too thin. I don’t know if it is just mine. Anyways, I got myself a Royal & Langnickel 12-colors watercolor pan. I don’t think I wanna spend too much money on it since it is just for my art journal. I might get a watercolor pan from Winsor & Newton or Schmincke if I get better with my watercolor skill.

Royal & Langnickel watercolor pan

I got this watercolor pan on eBay for under $10 and the colors seem to be good enough for newbies like me who is just going to mess around with art journal.

Mar 21

Switzerland

Switzerland by mseilla
Switzerland, a photo by mseilla on Flickr.

A painting I did for David’s clients’ anniversary and housewarming celebration.

Feb 3

The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure

The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure by Rachel Friedman

The Good Girl’s Guide to Getting Lost: A Memoir of Three Continents, Two Friends, and One Unexpected Adventure by Rachel Friedman

I was sick for a couple to a few weeks and all I have was my iPhone and books and the library. I found out that I can borrowed ebooks from the local library here so I went to a frantic looking for titles and putting them on hold. I just didn’t expect all of them to come at once since I wasn’t the first one of the queue.

I saw this book and decided to borrow it and of course, it came with the rest of the other books I borrowed. I downloaded them and they’re now safe in my Kindle. I love travel and memoir books. They’re usually so fun to read.

What is the book about?

Rachel Friedman decided to travel the world once she found out that her musical talent ain’t enough to pursue in a professional future. She decided to travel out on her own to find herself and figure out what she wants to do in the future. She arrived in Ireland with no experience on backpacking or traveling on her own. She met a few people and she shared an apartment with 3 other backpackers. She went home after 4 months in Ireland and finished her college and ended up going back to backpacking in Australia after her backpacker friend told her to come over. She spent in Australia for a few months and both her and friend made plans to meet one another in South America and backpack there. Rachel tested herself a bit and grew up a bit and brave on the world. She was dreading going home and having to live the life that everyone else she knows wants her to start.

Recommendation?

Only if you have never travel or backpack or wants to read about other backpacker’s experience. It’s pretty much what you expect from a backpacker and if you’re a backpacker, you might not want to read it.

3 out of 5 stars

Book link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/038534337X/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_g14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=07MDCYXCZ07DAJJA51G7&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Jan 27

Scarlet Fever

I’ve been sick for almost a month now and it’s all because I am too scared to go to the doctor and finally when I broke out into never going away rash all over me, I decided it is time to go to the doctor. We looked up regarding the rashes and after David’s mom said it looks like measles, David finally got me to the doctor.

We finally got the rashes confirmed and found out that it is actually Scarlet Fever. I had no clue what it was but it’s mostly a thing young children get. On the good note, it’s nothing fatal but on the other side of the note, it also means my rash will only go away in about 2-3 weeks. The earliest is on the 6th day but I already pass the 6th day and yea, the rash is still there. The weirdest point of this fever is that I only itch when the sun sets. My palms itch like crazy and my feet and knees are just screaming with itch glory. I haven’t been sleeping well for the past few days and even the hydroxyzine isn’t helping much. I kept on slathering Shea Moisture’s Baby Healing lotion all over and to be honest, it felt good for awhile cause there is chamomile in the lotion. I don’t think my skin has ever been this moisturized and soft especially my legs.

I do noticed that my rash is slowly fading away and I don’t itch as bad but I do itch at night. I hate waking up David cause of it. I felt bad cause every time I am sick, he is the one who don’t get to sleep. I want the rashes to go away by tomorrow and then we can go out on Sunday.

Lotions I used to relieve itch: (on the sidenote, all 4 products does the job of relieving my itch)

1) Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturizing Lotion *most recommended cause it is unscented

2) Shea Moisture’s Baby Healing Lotion *recommended cause it’s the most natural out of the other 3

3) Caladryl Calamine Plus Itch Reliever *recommended cause it’s the classic way to relieve that itch

4) Aveeno Calamine & Pramoxine HCI Anti-Itch Cream *can’t really recommend this since the other 3 did a better job

Out of all 4, I say Caladryl gives the most cooling effect but after 10 minutes, I feel the need to itch again. I prefer the Shea Moisture and I say Aveeno lotion does the thing for itch too just like the Shea Moisture without any scent.

Jan 20

Birds

Here’s a snapshot of the bird I’m trying out with Illustrator. I am going to choose one and improve on it.

Vector bird

Sketches of bird in Illustrator

Jan 16

Dribbble invite?

I got to know about Dribbble through my ex. He was the one who passed me the website and told me it might be something useful for me. I found out that it is invite only so I dismissed it and totally forgot about it. Then someone mentioned about Dribbble and I remembered hey, I was wondering if they are open for public and of course, no such luck. I usually hate invitations cause it means that people are selling invites at ridiculous prices or that there are a long queue that don’t seem to be moving at all. That seems to be the case with SocialScope. Heh!

Anyways, today I decided to look around and found out there are apps for Dribbble and that I don’t need to be a member to use the app. I downloaded a free app called Swish on to my phone and sure enough, I don’t need an account. It is great to view and get inspiration from the beautiful designs. I got on my laptop and found out that I could actually sign up as a spectator so I decided to do so and signed up as a Prospect too to get drafted. It will be nice to be drafted. With all the work I have to do, I am going to use Dribbble as a source of inspiration and my learning curve too.

I do sincerely wish that someone who has an extra invite will throw one at me. I will forever be grateful.

Jan 16

Spring

My first hand dabbling in vector illustration. I never did illustrations in Illustrator before so this is something new for me. I always been doing everything in Photoshop and Sketchbook Pro.

Birds in Spring

Made from Illustrator CS4

Jan 10

Sick Week

I started my year with accidentally drinking an infected bottle of Propel. It’s not the Propel’s fault. It was mine. I thought the bottle of Propel belonged to me but yeah, I was wrong. I was officially sick by Monday morning. Lesson learned; always label drinking bottle. I was not spared by the evil sore throat. I wasn’t spared by the evil fever. David gave me a few stuff to take for it and now, I’m left with a stuffed nose and endless coughing and weird voice. My temperature has been up and down but I think I’m good. I’m not totally 100% as usual but I have to get better before Monday. I don’t need to go to the doctor!

What have I been doing since I’m stuck in bed? I actually been kinda productive. I managed to figure out how to send documents to the Kindle and also figure out that I have to convert the documents to .azw in order to use the other features such as annotation. I was super happy about that. I can now finally write notes on all the documents.

Second thing I did was to delete my Facebook account and I don’t mean deactivate, I mean delete it permanently. I think it’s best not to have it. It causes too much drama and I really hate that. Some might call it impulsive but I really don’t find the use of it except texting my cousins which I could use on my email and Whatsapp. Therefore, it has to go.

That’s all the update I have for this week. Oh yea, also I have been reading a book called French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle. I am half way through the book on my Kindle and I really do like the book. It makes me feel like I am really there. I will post about it next week or during the weekend when I am all better.

Jan 5

Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America

Firoozeh Dumas's Funny in Farsi

Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America by Firoozeh Dumas

Over the holidays I received my bestfriend’s wishlist and while I was going through it, a book caught my eye. I love everything Middle-Eastern; from the food to the fabrics to the beautiful places. Actually 2 books caught my eye and both of them are written by Firoozeh Dumas. Her first book is Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of an Iranian American, at Home and Aboard. I got onto my local library website and search for her books. I was super lucky to find the Kindle copies available at the library. I have to put the second book on hold since someone is ahead of me.

I was so happy to get hold of the first book that it didn’t take me long to go ahead and start reading. Bear in mind that I have tons of school projects and work projects that I have to do and finish by next Monday.

What’s the book about?

Firoozeh Dumas and family moved to United States when she was 7 years old. The only person who knows about the states was her dad but it got the family suspicious when the locals have no clue what her dad was saying to them. Firoozeh became her mom’s translator everywhere her mom dragged her to every day. She also told the story about her dad’s obsession with bowling and how he got on the Bowling for Dollars gameshow. The author also shared about her experiences at camp and how she lost her family at Disneyland and even her wedding day.

The author’s stories are so funny that I just can’t stop laughing and had to keep reading. Hands down, I have not laugh so much from a book. The author also showed us how great it is to have a family that are so close to each other and knowing that they care and would do anything for you without any complaints.

Recommendation?

Yes and I’ll give it 3 stars out of 5. I might even get a copy of it myself.

Book link: http://www.amazon.com/Funny-Farsi-Growing-Iranian-America/dp/0812968379/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325809960&sr=8-1

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