Recently I finished reading Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat by Naomi Moriyama.

I got it on ebook since I have a Kobo Vox now. (Who knew that an anti-reading person could be converted by a device?)

It was pretty addictive to read, although I only skimmed the recipe parts.

What I liked about it

There’s a lot of information from different sources and she’s very encouraging that it can be easy to make and eat Japanese food more often. She doesn’t go too much into the ‘exercise routine’ idea of it besides just telling you to walk more often.

She has done good research which may or may not be a biased opinion for the sole purpose of the book. Either way it sounds convincing and professional.

Not only does the book include recipes, but also sample meal plans which include those recipes~!

A wide variety of research, life stories, historical tidbits, interviews, and myths are used to make the book addictive to read.

What really irritated me

The fact that after all that preaching about healthy eating, easy Japanese meals, and drinking more green tea…. She says at the end of the book that she really loves Starbucks coffee better than green tea, and enjoys eating burgers.

Also she stated that Japanese people aren’t concerned with diet because OBVIOUSLY JAPANESE FOOD IS SO HEALTHY…………. um if she has seen any of the 38kg models in Japanese magazines lately she would realize that Japanese people are obsessed with diets, diet pills, and super thin bikini advertisements for girls.

In Japan they are allowed to ask for your photo accompanying  your resume and if you are overweight, they will be less likely to offer you a job.

Over all

It’s a good book, I really enjoyed it. Although really all I can take away from it is:

- Eat more veggies/fruits/fresh food in general

Unfortunately I don’t like fish much and Ariel is allergic…

I’ve been interested in bento for quite some time now though. I had a bento box but it has been lost forever, probably thrown out in the trash at Ariel’s parents place. T______T

I bought him a bento box a couple of years back but its VERY under used. He has the blue one so I decided to order the red one: (photo from Jbox.com, click photo to visit the vendor’s website)

For a while when I was out of school and unemployed, my little sister was in high school still. I made her bento-style lunch for a while until she told me she doesn’t really like eating lunch :/

I used to visit Cooking Cute religiously…it seems that she doesn’t update the website much any more since the birth of her son and work schedule. She’s a great resource for those who need a gluten free diet~!

Honestly I’m still very much a newbie. I hope I will be encouraged to make cute lunches once I receive my new bento in the mail <3

(Please note that I’m not affiliated with Chapters/Indigo/Kobo/Jbox/Jlist companies, The products are NOT sponsored, and purchased with my own funds.)

Last summer I had a pretty pink Olympus camera, but I dropped it in the sand attempting to take sexy bikini pics of myself <_<

Sand got in the lens….. and made it eternally unusable. Ariel then took it upon himself to help me pick out a new camera. He said “No more pink ones” T_____T

In August I ended up with a Sony Cybershot, some 12 megapixel one in red. It was an alright camera, but I never really fell in love with it. I probably charged it about 5 times over a course of 6 months time. When the battery died after last time, I charged it overnight. When I took it the next day the battery was dead.

-_-

Then I realized when I tried to charge it again, that the battery light would come on for 5 sec then not charge any more. Ariel cracked the charger opened and said it smelled burnt and short circuited sigh…

So I obsessed for a while about which camera to get. I just missed my old pink Olympus but they don’t make that one any more.

I found a model that came in purple and decided I’d get that. Until I went to the store and they told me they didn’t have the purple one……

I agonized about it some more and there’s NO CAMERA (in my price range) that I really want. I thought about my colour scheme, which is pink x black and realized after looking at the pretty deco on my old pink camera that I could buy the black one and deco with pink zing zing~

So I went back to the store to get it and this guy helped me out, but he gave me the SILVER model, which I didn’t realize until I got home D=

IMO silver is the WORST colour for a camera………. I don’t know why I just HATE IT. I went back within 3 hrs and exchanged it.

Now my new baby Olympus is home with me <3

Its charging now so I should be in business again by tomorrow morning ^w^

Aahahah there goes all my money so I dunno what I will do for fun to even take pictures of…

It’s hard to believe that only 4 days after the planting of my seeds that I have sprouts~!

Actually only after 2 days some of my plants shot up, but now they’re almost touching the lid~! Ariel freaked out because I put the carton on top of our heater with the lid on. He thought I was trying to boil the water inside until I explained:

IT’S WORKING AS A GREENHOUSE~!!!!

I’m pretty sad because my camera’s charger isn’t working and I just got that camera in August.

So through the power of my cell phone’s craptastic camera:

12/16 pots sprouted so far, but I’m not sure which is which.

I know I planted:

8 Lettuce

4 Mint

4 Wildflowers

But I didn’t mark them and their freshly sprouted leaves all look the same.

Other than the miracle of plant growth I’ve honestly been working around the clock and then crashing from so much school work.I think I slept for like 13 hours last night.

>_<

^O^;

I’m super-excited~!

I planted the seeds today for my first attempt at a balcony garden~!

I’m just having difficulty not being able to connect with nature in the city unless I go to High Park or Rouge Park. Both are a fair distance from where I live. It feels like I have everything I need here in Toronto, except freedom to move and experience the wide open vast world. My spirit still wants the beaches 10 minutes away and the grass on my feet no further than my own back yard. Perhaps one day when I have gained enough success here I can move somewhere with a yard. (I’m too scared of stepping in doggie doo doo in the park….)

This all started when I browsed a discount book store and found a book on urban gardening for $3. I’ve still only skimmed most of the info in it, but the main point is that I can refer to it for reference when I need to. Sometimes books are better than searching the internet for hours on end.

At the moment I’m starting out with three items to see how it goes:

Lettuce

Grand Rapids type is recommended because you can take the leaves from it without taking the whole plant. Perfect for me, since I use only about 4 leaves or so for a salad. The package doesn’t really say what kind of lighting is recommended, so I’m not sure if it will work, but it would be nice to be able to have a literally FRESH salad from my balcony and not waste as much lettuce as I do already by having only two people in my household.

Mint

Herbs are generally supposed to be ‘easy’ to grow. My reading mentioned that mint is a greedy root plant, and once you grow it, you’ll have it forever. My grandma used to have mint that grew in her back yard and we’d always have some tasty mint when we played in her back yard. My grandma passed away in 2001, and I still miss her. It would be nice to have that scent memory of her with me at home.

Wildflower

Where would I be without something that won’t eventually be ‘harvested’? I think wildflowers will be easy to grow and I will get many different varieties. The packet also mentions that its okay to be in partial shade. I’m not really sure if they will need to be pollinated… I guess I can attempt to do that on my own if no bees come to visit my residence.

My investment in this project so far is under $20

- Seeds for x3 plants (3 X $1.89)

- small pots to get the seedlings started ($2.99)

- seedling soil ($4.99)

- watering can ($2.99)

With taxes it came to about $18 CAD

I’m still going to need:

- bigger pots in 2 – 4 weeks

- fertilizer

- new soil

I expect to invest $50 or less for the whole project. We’ll see how it goes once I start shopping around. The great thing is that next year, I will have plenty of supplies to get started again. (If I so choose to try again depending on how it works out)

Wish me luck~~~

I went to Michael’s for the first time, which is a crafting supply store O____o

There was so much awesome stuff for ANYTHING you’d ever want to make. Usually I just like to sew, but I had something specific in mind I wanted to make.

When I think of “crafts” usually I think about all the horribly tacky items that are FUN to make, but not useful to anyone anywhere. It was really neat to look around the store, but mainly I avoided the yarn section and scrap booking.

I’m not really sure why but I just LOATHE scrap booking. (please don’t rip my head off if you happen to like it, maybe I just have no talent for it)

I always see these really pretty designs of hair clips in the Japanese magazine Koakuma Ageha which is pretty much my ideal for beauty, even though I’m often too lazy to do the actual look. I try to do everything nice at least once a week if I can.

This is what it looks like just laid out on my desk.

Me wearing it~!

It’s actually really EASY to make a neat hair clip just like this, but not exactly cheap. I mean, you COULD make it out of less-expensive flowers but then the result wouldn’t be the same. If I narrow down the cost to just one clip, I’d say they cost about $25 to make just one. Like I said, I chose the highest quality flowers I could find.

I don’t really have many followers for my blog so I’m not going to bother posting a tutorial on how to make one.

Wearing it, I feel kind of like I should be going to a wedding or something, but I really love it~!

I’m getting pretty busy with school now, so I’m not sure how much time I’ll have for creating things in the future… ^^;

PS: Sorry for the link-inserts into my pics, I don’t really like to do it, but at the same time this is my project so I don’t want people to steal my pictures and claim them as their own…

I’ve been totally neglecting my blog… my life has been a whirlwind and there’s no chance of it letting up until Friday night, when I will pass out asleep.

Sunday – work schedule got switched on me, putting a real damper on my plans to go out of town in the afternoon, but it worked out.

Monday – appointment with my dentist, shopping ( got some shoes <3 )

Tuesday – early start and appointments x2. I think my orthodontist wants to take my wisdom teeth for fun….. he’s strange.  I also got my hair cut.

Have to be up for around 6AM, so I don’t even know why I’m awake now. I have another work shift an hour after my train gets in, then a class.

Thursday is also a marathon school day. Friday I will make a feeble attempt to catch up on sleep and go to more classes.

gogogoogogo level 100~

T________________T

I received a package the other day from a certain Mouse ;o

But the postal service dropped it at my door (in an apartment building) without even knocking… I was home all day and never noticed until later.

I guess this is weird since I’ve never had a package since moving. I’m used to just receiving the card and taking that to the postal outlet and getting my package then. I guess if you don’t require a signature, it doesn’t really matter what happens to your package as long as they ‘did their part by dropping it to your address’

ANYWAYS!

Sooo I got some yummy awesomeness from Tasmania in the mail, along with a really pink letter, and a few movies. I’ve seen most of them, but its always good to see them again ^O^;

Unfortunately I have school and not a lot of time to watch movies until maybe tomorrow or Sunday, sooo I’ll rave about them later.

The truffles were reallllllly good~! They kind of remind me of the center of lindor chocolates, but better! I’m sitting here feeling like I haven’t eaten in like a week just looking at them O_o

Sorry, either my camera sucks hard core or my photography skills do. I miss my old pink camera….

Ohh anyways this all started when I decided I would send her a late Christmas present… which I didn’t end up mailing until after New Years’ and I think she has yet to receive it, but its the thought that counts right??????

Its weird when I mention her and people usually think

“Oh did you go over to Australia to study?”

“Did she come to Canada to study?”

No.

We met through Deviantart

The easiest way to describe us is as “penpals” to those who would try to say “well how do you know you’re really friends? How do you know she’s not a serial killer or even a GIRL at all???”

…. Kay anyways we’ve talked on Skype with our webcams before, and obviously I have her real address….. and she hasn’t sent me any explosives through the mail soooo I guess that means we’re friends. ^w^;

I’d even go as far to say that I value her friendship above most other people I know in person.

It’s just more difficult to share your deepest feelings with a group of people or even a single person alone in a room. I’m better at expressing myself through words or drawing.

Anyways that’s my fuzzy story…. and I’m sticking to it!

Honestly I didn’t do much with the rest of my winter holiday..mostly vegetated, which was awesome~!

I just finished my first week back at school, and half of my courses seem to be crammed into Thursday.

I go to class Wednesdays 3 – 6 PM (Porfolio Design)

Thursdays 8 – 11 AM (Foundation Materials), 12 – 3 PM (Drawing II, which is now into LIFE DRAWING, oh joy), then 3 – 5 PM (Art Showcase)

Fridays 12 – 3 PM (Design Process), 3 – 6 PM (Foundation Colour)

I don’t really have a favourite class yet, but I will say, as a first timer at life drawing… it makes me feel stressed out. It’s not so much seeing a naked person that I don’t even know just modelling in weird poses… but having to attempt to DRAW that person’s pose in a limited amount of time. I tried listening to music during the session, which seems to improve my experience a bit, but not much.

So far I think this semester will have a lot more IN CLASS work and less homework, which is fine with me. Although I have to spend a lot of money again on materials… sigh.

Then there’s the fact that we need to have portfolios ready by the end of February, and makes me suddenly freaked out and wishing I didn’t waste my winter holiday doing nothing, when I could have been working on that. SIGH~!

I’ll probably post about more interesting stuff with actual pics some time tomorrow, if I feel like it. ^O^;

This year is almost over T______T

But it was a great year! Much much better than 2010 that’s for sure.

Things that were the BEST: 

- Getting accepted to college again

- Having more adventures in Toronto (lol)

- Having a great summer break with my sisters!

- Moving in with my boyfriend <3

- Attending college again and making lots of great new friends!!!!

- Passing all my courses so far ^O^;

- Sleeping lots over the Christmas break and giving and receiving so many wonderful gifts!

Things that sucked hardcore: 

- Having to give up my own room at my house and my roommates </3

- Adjusting to living with my BF

- Losing a best friend

Sooo as you can see, 2011 was really good so far. I’m planning to make 2012 even better! But we’ll see.

I’m hoping to stay home in the evening on NYE. I’m not sure if anyone will be coming over to my place or not, doubt it though.

Today I’m going to dim sum with a friend, its only my second time, but last time we had a couple more people, hoping it will still be fun~!

Both of my Christmases were really neat for different reasons!

First, Christmas with my mom!

We didn’t have a traditional TURKEY DINNER, but all of our favourites that my mom never cooks for us any more. I made the cheese cubed tray and the veggie platter. What can I say, it’s my bread and butter, literally~!

Apparently most of the pictures I took are crappy from this day. This is the first year I went above $10 for each gift lol… so everyone got something nice!

These are the gifts I received, minus the stuff from Ariel. Yes that is PINK toilet paper you see there, and kleenex with flowers printed onto the tissue!!! I know, that may not excite most people but for me it’s AMAZINGGG!!!!

Ariel got me another Hello Kitty plush (I can always use moreee) a silly card, and a pair of earrings!!! Yea I totally just pulled the pic from Facebook cause I don’t have many pix of myself.

Then a lot of sleeping went on in between my Christmases… well and movie marathons >_<

One evening I rented Mr. Pauper’s Penguins (which was cute but the storyline was very weak), then Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen was on TV, and after that Memoirs of a Geisha…

I think I’ve watched enough trash TV for an entire lifetime now!

The next time I really even remember there being a day was Boxing Day, because we had Christmas with my dad on that day!

We just had some snacks and treats, talked. The usual… Then PRESENTS!!!

My dad got me the wine glasses I was looking at in October hahahhaha yess!!! He also got me earrings, but they were broken, so we had to go return them before my train the next day.

I was worried because someone mentioned that my dad got seasons 1 and 2 of The Muppet Show…….. and I had got him the first season T_____T Before he told me he only had #3, turned out he still just had #3 so I was SAFE!!! I was e-mailing my sister back and forth before Christmas trying to figure out what everyone was getting him, cause I saw a book, but if others were getting him books I didn’t want him to get ONLY BOOKS for Christmas. We watched a couple of episodes and the HAIR on the female guests is HILARIOUS!!!

And now this is stuck in my head eternally…

Hope you enjoy it too LOL…

Its weird to go back to the place I grew up after so many years. One of my sisters doesn’t even come because she feels like a kid again when she’s there. I feel it a bit, but only because I’m thinking of dumb stuff that happened in the past when I lived there. Mainly high school crap that I don’t really want to think about. There was only 1 evening where my younger sister didn’t hang out with me late at night and I started thinking about all the crap and how in many ways I still feel a bit shackled to that aspect of my past. I need to learn to go to bed early so I’m not left alone with my own thoughts too much.

It was a green Christmas this year, but as soon as I was waiting for my train back to Toronto, the rain turned to snow…. and the snow greeted me in Toronto. It was both craptastic and magical all at the same time. I’m actually still on vacation, I only have a shift on Saturday for NYE and then who knows how much I will be working in the new year? Anyways I don’t have classes until January 11th, so I still have a fair amount of time to relax~!