Cath Kidston Goodies!

I think all in all, I have been ordering some 4 times from Cath Kidston this last few months. Always have been really pleased with my purchases so I thought of doing a more throughout review of their services, at least when it comes to Canadian buyers - no clue whether if it is any better or worse from somewhere else...I only know that lucky english get the shipping for free for purchases over 50 pounds.

Up so far I know that their bags, the ones that are "plastified" are actually really well made and practical, with strong handles and pockets. While I like open bags (with no zippers), they also have a very large variety of bags that actually zip up. Also, while I am way too into flower patterns, they also have very lovely dot patterns in colors that can usually match up pretty much all clothes and shoes for those who care about that. 

I was really disappointed, however, with their iPhone 4 phone case. While they have long lasting material for their bags and goodies, the painted pattern on the iPhone case I bought from them chipped super easily (am I am someone who takes really good care of my things, so usually they last very long). It cost some 20 pounds too, so yeah. I was quite disappointed. When it comes for iPhone cases, I would rather strongly recommend ithrough.com, they have much more choice, much cheaper, and the case I bought from them still looks brand new and I have been quite rough on it (I think it is the remain of bitterness from my Cath Kidston case that made me be so mean with it... anyways...).

Another last thing about Cath Kidston, that needs to be remembered is that on top of paying delivery fees, one needs to pay for customs, and the price goes up proportionally with the price of the stuff you buy. My best advice when shopping on this website, is then to look through all the stuff and get the most you can for the cheapest price. Never forget that the price is in pound too... makes a difference on the wallet when one does not keep that in mind ^____^ 

A good point however is the speed of delivery. For example, I ordered my stuff last Friday, and did not expect to get it so soon but I had it delivered by UPS at my place on Tuesday night. Best keep in mind the custom fees are to be paid by credit cards upon receiving the parcel.

For my birthday my mother wanted to give me bags to put up my needle work and equipment but did not find anything that pretty, so she had me order stuff from Cath Kidston. As I knew I'd have to pay customs, I decided to get other stuff I wanted as well. I really had to refrain from buying more stuff ha ha, they have a nice new collection of day bags that have a very nice white and pink floral pattern that I really liked. In the end, I got three thing: a pink two fold toiletry bag (in case I would receive it before I leave for Japan... see, I still hoped I'd get it before I leave, see my trust in the delivery system....); a needle and craft box and a knitting material bag. I must admit that the latter, I had expected to be longer. That is the thing, they don't have the size in cm on the website, so you can only guess the size of things through the name and description they give of it. However, I found out that the bag will be perfect for me when I go knitting out of my house, like in coffee shops and the like, which is wonderful.

I already started to put away all my things in the new bags I bought. Having a complete day off work is nice sometimes. I had a lot of fun cleaning the things around me. I want to get a facial mask tonight, I hope I'll take the time to: people never really take enough time for themselves... I try not to be one of them. Going to Japan for two weeks is one of my steps toward it!

Lens Review and random goodies

The other day I read my friend's review on CandyLens when it comes to order circle lenses online and it convinced me to try getting some. I thus ordered from them some pink lenses. I had previously bought pink lenses, but had been a bit disappointed in the result in my eyes: while the lenses were confortable and of good quality, the color was really inappropriate to my facial features and skin color. The problem was that the outer circle was black. Black was contrasting way too much with the pink inside, and the pale color of my skin. Thus every time I'd wear them I'd have to put on extra make up and eyeliner to make sure the contrast was not too sharp. 

Initially I did not intend on getting pink lenses - since I remembered my previous bad choice - but browsing through the website I found one that did not seem to have a black circle around it. To be honest, I basically gambled: I buy it, if like it, good, if I don't, whatever. The picture on the website was not really clear either, and had some green shades inside, which I was not sure would look nice. 

I surely am really happy I bought those lenses, since they actually look very nice! I never got the chance to take good pictures where the color of the lenses turns out nicely, but I'll try to upload one later on in March...

The packaging was super cute, and they gave e a cute postcard as a thank <3

I wore them once for now, and I really like the feel of them, not irritating fir the eye, and I have very sensitive eyes.

Knowing they were going to give out free case for the lenses I was really looking forward to getting mine, and I was really happy I got the frog ones :) being pink lenses, I was afraid they'd end up giving me the pink pig, which was the one I loked least. Me picky? Never :)

I did not get to take a better picture than this one, being on my way to work when I took it so I apologize for the bad quality of the picture. However, I like the natural feel the color has mixed with my natural brown eye color. 

Being my birthday last Monday, I received some belated gifts from a girl I work with :) As I am going to Japan this weekend, she found it funny to get me a very old edition of a book about Tokyo at night, in a rare edition from a special bookstore here. She is the kind of person who always look in random stores and finds really unusual stuff, so I was really happy of the gift :) But more than that isn't the card she gave me just lovely? It almost matches perfectly my bedroom wallpaper :3

and lastly, but not the least, She got me some amazing chocolate. It is a dark chocolate with whole nuts stuck to it, and at the back, a mixture of caramel and ground nuts: BLISS. Oh how is it possible to love chocolate so much... she knows me well :)

the Moon that embraces the Sun Ep. 20

I started watching this drama a couple of weeks ago and I love it <3 It's got the same male actor as Dream High that I liked (so cute) and I really like the mood of the story, and the costumes make me dream.

I just can never get enough of traditional Korean costumes and silks. And I love the silk blankets. And the hair accessories. And the magic. And the legends, and traditions.

I recommend this drama, since, while it does have some very sad parts, on the whole it is not a drama that makes you cry all the time, which is rare for traditional dramas

So here I am ha ha ha. I have been trying to find online some of the hair accessories they have in the TV show, like the jade sticks that they use to hold their braids together, but never found any...

Two weeks ago I ordered some shoes and hair accessories however :3 aren't they precious? I got them today as I was coming back from my driving class (still not doing very good when it comes to that if you wonder, but eh? I am trying hard). I was surprised because I did not expect it before next month (on the website they asked for a 'date you wish to receive the package" and I wrote something like March 15, as I won't be there for the next few weeks. Happy I got to see them before I left :)

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I mentioned the photoshoot I had with my friend last week, and I just got the pictures that they took back then. I will not upload them all, obviously, as there are too many, but here are some of my favorite. There are no modification on those, I kept them as they were - for the class, my friend did not have the right to add any modification on the shots, nor crop any of them, as the exercice was to play with the light and different lighting techniques.

 

I actually doubt they kept the shots with mister the frog, but I dunno, they were actually on of my favorites. 

this one I really liked it. I am very sad it ended up being blurred. So f"""k this, I put it up anyways, the hell with the fact it is blurred. I still love it :)

Candle shots!!! I mentioned how I like the warmth of the candlelight, and I still feel the same. I love the effect, and I love the warmth (as in, it was warm being my the candles...).

Birthday and Valentine's Day

Funny how I always hated the fact that my birthday was right before Valentines day, and now I am making a blog with both of them as a title. the reason I never liked Valentines' Day at all was mostly because, as a kid, I would often get those cheap chocolate they sell for valentines' day as birthday present: I hate cheap chocolate. At least, if they could get me good quality ones, I would not mind so much... 

Later on, I hated Valentines' day because people would not come up for my birthday since they had a date the next day. Three years ago I hated Valentine's day because the guy I liked called me on my birthday to help him choose flowers and gifts for his girfriend for Valentines' day... and I went. So yeah, I had two Valentines' day with a guy in my life. The first one, I was the one who bought flowers and made something special (was a good valentines' day on the whole, even if it sounds bitter here), the second, the weather was like -10000000 degrees, so we were freezing the whole time.

Anyways... this was my introduction...

The other day my friend had to do a photoshoot for an art class of hers, and I was her model :P she had to take 5 different shots with different lighting. It took us an afternoon, but a couple of nice pictures seem to have come out of the lot. I especially like the shots taken with candlelight. It looks so warm - especially as I know that the local we used to do the shoot had actually no heating, and we were literally freezing during the entire time... so yup, candlelight was sweet, I got close to the fire for a while. Anyways, I took two pictures with my iPhone while waiting between shots, you can see on the first picture, one of the light spot they used in the mirror. 

It was my birthday this Monday 13th, and my family and I had a dinner together, along with YJ oppa who came from Montreal to spend my birthday together <3 That was so sweet of him. We had especially cold and humid weather those days (including a -30 the day right before he arrived) and some 3 feet of snow piled up so he got a good glimpse of Rouyn-Noranda winter. Too bad today was so warm (around 1 degree) everything is pretty much melting away. Sad Sad Truth of the global warming. Winter is fucked up. Gets warm and cold all over the season.

Anyways, for my birthday thus, I got two cakes! YJ oppa brought me one, and my sister and her baby kid made me one. Both were chocolate cakes. I love chocolate <3 The cake my sister made was a princess' dress with frills and flowers. So pretty!!! <3

Finally, yesterday, a Tuesday, Valentine's Day, was crazy at work. We were running like crazy all evening for there were so many customers! It felt just like a very busy Saturday! We had a special lover's menu, a four service including a box of homemade chocolates and a beautiful rose for the lady. I really loved the setting of the restaurant with hearts and couples everywhere. While I couldn't care less about my own love affairs - being alone is such a bliss right now - I love looking at others being all stupidly in love: especially when there are hearts chocolates and flowers everywhere!

Had fun on the restaurant board....

Red roses look so gorgeous: I love the reflection of the heart shaped candle on the table

D gave me a flower bouquet for my birthday as well <3 It's
really really pretty :) I like the look of all the flowers together. 

I went to La Ressourcerie with my mother today while practicing driving, and I found a glass with strawberries and strawberry flowers! Oh how I love strawberries <3 Thing is, I love the glass also because it reminds me of the japanese manga/anime/movie NaNa. I love this anime. I love the second movie too :) (the first was not as good)