Best and Worst of 2011

Hey everyone, I am going to be doing a best and worst list of 2011 -- it will include products, foods, moments and anything else I can think of.

Best Skincare/Makeup products of 2011

• Skin79 Super+ Triple Functions BB creams (hot pink, VIP gold)
• Vichy Purete Thermale 3-in-1 Calming Cleansing Solution
• Rimmel Lash Acclerator serum
• Avene Cleanance Anti-Shine regulating Emulsion
• Shiseido Senka Mineral UV Gel SPF50 PA+++

Worst Skincare/Makeup products of 2011

• Maybelline The Falsies Mascara
• Ardell LashTite
• ELF essentials eye primer

Best Food of 2011

• Making home-made Ravioli with my boyfriend (even though it took us like 4 hours)
• Discovering the many uses of Texturized Vegetable Protein (TVP) for vegetarian meals
• All Bran
• Goji berries
• Home-made tomato bread
• making crepes for the first time

Worst Food of 2011

• My 2nd attempt at a sprouted rice salad- blegh, raisins are a no-go
• getting a hair in my dessert at 93 Harbord during winterlicious
• getting a hair in my dessert at my cousin's place (what's with all the hair, peeps?)
• Carob chips (Or anything with Whey in it... it makes me swell up like nobody's business!)

Best moments of 2011

• Realizing that Nursing is my calling in life
• Receiving a watercolour painting from a patient 
• Curling up with Gerald after a bad day... and pretty much all other times I see him
• Being done exams and papers for the term
• The feeling I get after a good session of yoga

Worst moments of 2011

• My bag being stolen from TGH
• Being frustrated with various people for various reasons
• Dealing with many people re: yearbook stuff over the summer
• The odd time here and there when I would feel sad about missing my dad and remembering patients that have passed

Hmm.. I don't really know how else to sum up the year. It had its ups and downs, and I learned much from 2011 about myself and of what I would like to do with my life. I made new friends and I think I've matured even more, if that was possible (It's official: I am now an 80-year old woman trapped in a 24-year old body). I've definitely had to deal with more pressure this year, but I think I still need to learn how to deal with it more effectively without taking it out on others. That will be my goal for this year.

As my 2012 resolution, I will try to control my anger better. That, I think, would do the world some good. 

Loving the holidays and craftiness

I like holidays.

a) I don't have school/work
b) I can sleep in
c) I can eat lots of goodies
d) I can make lots of goodies using my mom's expensive kitchen equipment
e) I usually get a lot of craft-time in

Craft time! I love craft time. I remember spending hours upon hours in my youth doing any craft possible that would require a lot of skill and time to challenge myself. I started out with paper-mache/newspaper stuff, and small sewing projects, then when a cousin had introduced me to Sculpey/Fimo polymer modeling clay it was game over -- I made Pokemon figurines, very convincing Lord of the Rings props, fridge magnets, etc... Let's just say after the Sculpey thing, I identified myself as a "sculptor".

For my brother's wedding, he asked me if I would be able to make a Wall-E and EVE cake topper like one he had seen on Etsy. I said "of course!" because it was just another way I could challenge myself and make something cool that they would be able to keep as a lovely keepsake from their wedding (aside from photos and the bill, of course... haha). So I was working on it tonight, starting with drawing out sketches, pouring over screen captures, re-watching the movie, and drawing out stencils for the shapes needed... and I realize how much I loved doing this "creative work", and how much I've missed it since being so busy with school at University. It makes me plan, think, troubleshoot and solve in a non-stressful kind of way. I'm always expecting more from myself in this respect because I know I can make some pretty good things, I'm not going to lie. I don't mean to sound pompous or like I'm bragging, but when it comes to imitating something, I'm pretty good at making clay replicas.

Anyway, so I'm about 30% done Wall-E's parts (there are a lot of details in his little robot character). Yay! I  have a picture but it's on my camera and I can't be bothered to upload it right now... (I've used about 1/2 of a yellow block just for the outer shell of Wall-E's body). I was at Michael's craft store today buying more Sculpey because I was out of the colours I needed, and I was kind of shocked at how expensive this stuff is! I still have the metallic Sculpey my cousin gave me like when I was 12 (eep 12 years ago!) so I don't have to buy this stuff that often, but man, at up to $4 each, that's insane! I decided to cop out and buy some "Craftsmart" brand of polymer clay for $2.29 each, and I have to say, it's not bad. I like that it is softer than Sculpey III, which makes it easier to handle and less hard on the hands (muscles get tired!), and while the colour range is somewhat limited, the colours are vibrant and nice. I also like that the Craftsmart polymer clay is very smooth in texture -- I found that certain Metallic Sculpey III colours were kind of flakey and wouldn't hold together well. I haven't baked it yet, so that's an entirely different story that I'll have to update on later.

I always feel good about myself when I can use my talents to help someone... what better way than to help my brother with his wedding?! There's a little more pressure than usual (self-imposed) just because it IS for my brother's wedding and there will be photos of the cake, most likely, and then any flaws will be photographed and preserved forever... O_o... gotta make it pretty darn well near perfect.

Gadgets and fasting

I picked up my new laptop yesterday! I quite like it. I'm probably most impressed with the keyboard, as it is one of those chiclet keyboards, so it's got a really nice tactile feel to it, and I don't feel like my fingers are pressing other keys, like with the regular laptop keyboard. The battery life is AMAZING on this thing, and I was able to transfer most of my stuff and re-install most of the important programs... I need to uninstall Office 2010 and install 2007 because I don't have the serial key for 2010. Boo! Oh well. The one teensy drawback on this machine is that it doesn't come with an optical drive -- so in order to install Office 2007, I need to buy a portable optical drive. >.< Then again, this is like the one time I'll be needing it, so I guess I can't complain...

As the title of this post suggests, yes, fasting! I don't normally engage in this, but I was feeling kind of bloated for the last week likely from the combination of eating badly (I was eating a lot of refined/processed stuff and carb-laden stuff) and not exercising because I had papers to write. So yesterday I did a fast for most of the day, drinking only fresh-pressed carrot juice from my Breville Juicer. I had dinner with my mom and she made fish and veggies, so it was perfect. I'm actually finding that I'm really enjoying fish, and prefer it over beef, pork, or chicken. Fish actually is easier to digest than beef, pork, and chicken too, so it's better for you.

DONE DONE DONE!!!

I finished all the essays that needed to be completed and stood between me and freedom -- my main motivating factor that allowed me to punch out an entire essay in 1 night? My computer is ready for pick up and I want to get it tomorrow. Hahahaha.

So I'm officially freed from the shackles that U of T had over my life.. for a little while anyway. YAY!

Not My Cup of Tea

Not My Cup of Tea

LOL...

This Sandwich is dedicated to you, dad

I do love sandwiches dearly... there's something about them that brings about fond childhood memories. My dad would always make my lunch as a child, and I actually remember having the same kind of sandwich for 4 years until I finally grew tired of it (Mock chicken loaf and margarine, in case you're wondering). Whenever my mom made my sandwiches for a change, you could taste the love in them (or maybe it was mayonnaise...) and how she carefully layered each condiment into the sandwich (Not that my dad didn't make them with love... he was just busy making 4 lunches in the morning). I think that since my father passed away, I have missed the sandwiches that he used to make, and I would like to make this post dedicated to him.

New Computer

I just bought a new computer today! My Dell Inspiron 1525 has been giving me problems lately, and I feel like it's slowly threatening to blow up and stop working sometime soon. I bought this computer in Aug 2008, which wasn't that long ago... but already it's had to be serviced because of some malfunctioning fans, and reformatted a good 3 times (and has given me the blue screen of death a few times since then). So.. it's time.

Of course, whenever I need tech help, I turn to my brothers, who claim "Looking at computers makes [them] happy". One of my brothers recommended the ASUS U31SD-XA1, on sale for $599.99 at NCIX (sale ends today).

 Here are the specs:

• Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• Display: 13.3-inch LED-backlit HD display (1366 x 768)
• Processor: 2nd generation Intel Core i3-2310M processor (2.1GHz)
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 520M 1GB GDDR3 VRAM
• WLAN: 802.11 b/g/n (@ 2.4GHz)
• LAN: 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
• Memory: 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, 2 x SODIMM Sockets (up to 8GB)
• Storage: 500GB 5400RPM hard drive
• Camera: 0.3 megapixel
• Speakers: Stereo speakers with EAX 5.0 sound
• Microphone: Digital Array Microphone
• Card Reader: 3-in-1 card reader (MMC/SD/MS)
• Input / Output:1 x Mic-in, 1 x Headphone-out, 1 x VGA port/Mini D-Sub 15-pin for external monitor, 3 x USB 2.0 ports, 1 x USB 3.0 port, 1 x Gigabit LAN, 1 x HDMI
• Battery: 8 cell
• Dimensions: 12.9 x 9.2 x1–inches (W x D x H)
• Weight: 4lbs (with 8 cell battery)
• Color: Silver

What I'm really excited about is the battery life -- it's supposed to last about 10 hours! I can't even disconnect my current Dell for more than 2 minutes without it dying, so anything will be better than what I currently have. The processor will be faster than mine (which means games will run nicely...) and it'll have a bigger HD.

I don't think this laptop comes with an optical drive, but that's ok, whatever, I barely even use mine. I only really need it if I had to re-install Windows or something, so I'll probably get an external cd rom for when I REALLY need it.

So.. yes. That will be exciting. I am hoping it will be ready for pick up by Friday or at the latest, Monday... then I can start transferring files and stuff so my computer is school-ready by January.

UGGHHH WHY AM I STILL IN SCHOOL

Every so often I revisit a question that plagues my existence: why did I go back to school when I'd already earned a BSc? I love Kinesiology and deeply valued my learning experience at the University of Waterloo, so why did I continue to pursue a BScN at the a href="http://utoronto.ca">University of Toronto? The question usually comes up around exam time.

I'm going to use this time to reflect (UGH Nursing papers! what have you done to meeee?) on why I chose nursing in the first place and what it means to me. This will only speak to my reasons for going into nursing and are probably not generalizable to my peers, so keep that in mind. I will first recap on a particular memory that makes me laugh now everytime I think about it.

Aaaahhhh....

[music] Kevin Lien - Daphne loves Durby cover, Starving to be safe [drink] hot chocolate [mood] relaxed

So I wrote my 50% final -- I think it went fine, considering all things (i.e. my lack of motivation to study). I found the multiple choice quite easy, and majority of the short answer fine. I even felt that I did fine with the quantitative and qualitative research critiques -- the only question is how the TAs will feel when they're marking! haha. No seriously. Sometimes they are inconsistent (lack of internal consistency affecting reliability of grading???) , so it can be frustrating at times. But I feel like I was writing the whole time, so that usually means something.

I made the most amazing sandwich when I got home -- well, actually, I saw this comic first (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-sandwich-makes-you-its-bitch-in-11.html), which made me crave a sandwich. I went to fridge, lo and behold, I have no sandwich ingredients. So, I went to the grocery store. Anyway, I was inspired to make this sandwich from the food blogs of Choosing Raw and a recipe I recall from Natalia Rose's book (Raw Food Detox Diet). Instead of meat, it utilizes sliced Portabello mushrooms that have been marinated in some kind of seasoning and then cooked to soften. I topped it with swiss cheese, slices of tomato, lettuce, and mayonnaise on the bread, and it was heaven! Here's my recipe:

Portabello Sandwich
 same recipe can be used to make Portabello burgers -- simply use whole mushrooms instead of sliced.

Ahaha

I don't even care anymore that's how relaxed I am. I think I'll be regretting this tmrw morning

Studying procrastination

So I have a final tomorrow for NUR430, also known as nursing research, and I've been studying here and there but mostly spent my day focusing on anything but studying! What I've done today:

• bought a makeup eyeshadow palette and primer from coastal scents (88 warm palette, shadow worx)

• bought eyelash glue from onedollareyelashes.com

• spent much time reading and watching food blogs

• taken a nap ...

As you can see I'm quite distracted! But... time to crack down I guess...

Now on my phone!

I just downloaded the blogger app to my Android smartphone :) I have the Samsung Google nexus s with wind mobile.

Now I can blog more!! Yaaayyyy