I have never stopped loving the Berenstain Bears

This is really not my typical blogging material. But…

Dark told me on Monday that Jan Berenstain, co-author of the Berenstain Bears, had died. It didn’t really register until last night, when I started looking it up for myself. Then I realized the Berenstain Bears had been a large piece of my childhood.

I love reading; I always have. I remember the Berenstain Bears from when I first encountered them in the first grade. I remember a corner of the classroom where we had a bookshelf with books we could read when we had free time. I went to the library to try to read as many different Berenstain Bears books as I could. The thing I loved most about the Berenstain Bears was that it was all so “relate-able”: I could see how it was wrong for Brother Bear and Sister Bear to misbehave, I could see Mama and Papa Bear’s struggles. At the end of every story, there was always a lesson to learn.

Rantings against the ravings of Burt’s Bees lip balms

This stuff.

   

Oh, how I hate this stuff.

I know how everyone else loves Burt’s Bees lip balms. I had first learned of it back in elementary school, when a friend of mine had the balm in the cute little tin. I wanted one for myself: I liked the packaging and it was natural – it HAD to be good. And I keep hearing everyone ever since then rave about how great it is, how moisturizing, how it’s one of their favourite lip balms.

Miko’s Monday: When we first met

I don’t know how old scrawny little Miko was when I’d first met her. But she was all eyes, with little else other than the tiny pricks at the end of her paws:

Interesting fact: Apparently all kittens are born with blue eyes – most of their eyes change colour as they mature. Miko’s have long since turned green.

My newest obsession augments my current one: All about the “Canadian Birchboxes”

So we have established that I have ridiculous impulses to buy and try lots of products. I have now found monthly boxes of goodies that serve only to augment my shopping obsession.

Recently, I learned of the existence of Birchbox, a company that sends you 4-5 deluxe beauty samples every month for $10 USD, free shipping included. This was exciting, as I love deluxe samples (they’re in such cute little packaging!) because it lets you try enough of a product without committing to a full-sized (and full-priced) product. But like most good things in North America, they only ship within the US. So off I went, seeing if there are any Canadian versions of Birchbox.

After digging around, I found 4 “Canadian Birchboxes”:

           

…and then I proceeded to dissect each one. Be forewarned: this is going to be lengthy.

Strawberry ice cream cake and an old Ranma 1/2 drawing

I can barely recall the last time I had been to my friend Ian’s home. I remember an apartment with a balcony, I think. I remember a lot of the boys huddled around the TV playing some console (but that’s pretty typical at any get-together of ours). I don’t remember the layout too well, nor even how many of us were there. What I do remember that his mom made us food. And it was very, very good. I am 110% sure I kept eating even after I was full to bursting, just because it tasted so good.

So I had always known Ian’s mom was a great cook. But today he put up a picture on Facebook of an ice cream cake his mother had made for the first time, from scratch. I was duly impressed by the creativity and presentation and I really wanted to share it:

Versatile Blogger Award

I opened my email today to find that I had been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award! Thank you, Saoirse Alainn, for bringing a smile to my face and making my day all the brighter

But I had no idea what this Award entailed. Even after I read about the VBA on WordPress, it still didn’t really answer my questions. So naturally, I spent a lot of time trying to Google what it is, what it means, and what I’m supposed to do with it.

What is a BB cream?

BB cream has been around for quite a while now, and a lot of people are more familiar with it, especially since it started to move its way into the American market. I first learned of it last year and did all this research already (I’m too thorough for my own good), but since I’m planning on doing some BB cream reviews soon, I figured I’d better have this up beforehand just in case.

BB cream stands for blemish balm cream. It was originally a dermatologist-prescribed ointment intended for laser skin surgery patients. Formulated in Germany with soothing, healing, and skin-regenerative properties, South Korean actresses soon picked them up for use and the Korean market saw a great potential, modifying it to be an all-around beauty product.

A few of the Asian brand BB creams shown here: Missha, Skin79, L’egere, Hanskin, Skinfood. Available in select Canadian Asian stores and via online shopping and international shipping.

Yummies galore! Soup, chicken, pasta, and cookies

Back at the end of August, some of our friends helped Dark move in to his place for the year. We’re talking spending the day driving a rented truck up and down the city and toiling with heavy furniture. Dark wanted to thank his friends by making them a homemade dinner. Somehow, the dinner for 3 helpers snowballed into including roommates as well as other friends in the group, turning into a huge dinner party for 10. Not including time used for cleaning and getting groceries, Dark and I spent 5 hours in the kitchen yesterday churning out food. On the menu: cauliflower cheese soup, roast chicken, pasta with shrimp and sausage, and Nutella cookies.

Cauliflower cheese soup. We made enough for 10 people and we still had leftovers.

Cauliflower cheese soup recipe:

Another Sephora haul?! Too Faced and Buxom

I just couldn’t resist. I have no self control

Just got this in the mail yesterday (since it’s past midnight now). Last week had been really rough, and this was supposed to be my Valentine’s Day present to myself. Alright fine, that’s an excuse. It really was just because these were much too tempting not to get:

1. Too Faced Natural Flirt Makeup Collection – online only
2. Buxom Flirt Alert – A Stunning Sultry Eye Duo

I need a Japanese cookie recipe translator, please!

Recently, my friend Tai had been working in Hong Kong for 8 months. He picked up a gift for me because he knew I had a cat, and this had caught his eye:

Kitty-shaped cookie cutters! They are super cute and I couldn’t stop fawning over them throughout the two hours after he’d given them to me.