Herrohachi Give Away

Hey there's a Herrohachi giveaway going on and if you enter you get a chance to win a tshirt!




Enter for your chance to win this Live, Love, Laugh, Eat tshirt!

Cute Tees Make My Day, How Bout Yours?

I am a fanatic of cute things, but particularly cute graphic tees. It was a few weeks ago when Bluenotes had their graphic tee sale and I bought some interesting tees that had a bit of an artistic flair to them. I know cute things can be too much sometimes but not when it's mixed in with a bit of bad ass. Kinda like how emily the strange is. She's a cute cartoon character but she's got this attitude and goth thing going on.

So here we go:

All the tees here have these characters written on the back.

This is awesome. See how the balloon string looks stitched into the shirt?

RAR!! This is an inspiration for my upcoming stycki button design : D

Oh and look at that artwork. I love monsters. Can't beat the price. $10 or less.

Here I am. I am well, how bout you out there? I really need a bang cut : /

Got Brown Rice?

So after I started my new healthy lifestyle as of last year, I've come to love brown rice. I also learned that I have certain food allergies such as flaxseed. Flaxseed gives me indescribable pain when I eat it. I realized this when I had a fruit bar that contained this ingredient as well as certain granolas. Must stay away from flaxseed...

Brown rice takes a bit longer to cook - much longer actually. It takes approximately an hour. It's two cups of water for every cup of brown rice. Boil the rice in water in a pot and let it simmer at about medium heat for almost an hour, stirring occasionally. This is to make sure that the rice doesn't burn at the bottom of the pot.

I've also come to love brown rice snacks that taste amazing. Rice chips and crackers for example are delicious. The rice chips taste like Doritos.




I'm currently hooked on the sweet chili rice chips by riceworks. Not to mention, I wouldn't be surprised if riceworks and simplyrice were branded by the same designer.. the designer in me thinks so. I think they're the same company too.

For a healthy snack, give these a try. They usually go on sale at London Drugs : )

Cute Rainboots That Do The Job

As some of you might know, Vancouver city is very well known for rain. But even knowing that myself and having gone through years of dodging puddles and soaking socks, never did I look into investing on a pair of rain boots. Feeling a little foolish here - _-

Well I did try. But I gave up eventually because I always ended up hating the styles I saw. Rain boots were stereotyped as shiny-reflective-bulky-rubber with a very bad smell. Some have ridiculous patterns on them that are way too crazy for me. I prefer to have a modest looking pair of rain boots.

I started looking again this year and even though I saw some really nice waterproof/rain boots from GEOX and Townshoes, I really didn't want to invest so much that I'd end up emptying my wallet. They were very dressy styles though - almost leather looking and could match any wool coat or skinny jeans.

Last week I decided to pop into Army&Navy and to my surprise I found these but in black:

Rampage from Army&Navy - $30

IMO they were the perfect pair of rain boots! That's cause they're black, well fitted and most of all they don't cost me a fortune. They even have little buckles making it look even slightly dressy and they're matte - not shiny. For $30 I was very satisfied knowing that I could keep my socks dry and splash in puddles when running late to work : P

My classmates told me that they looked like Hunter boots. Hunter boots are a more expensive brand of boots that resembled the ones I bought which were branded Rampage. But they're almost identical.

Hunters at Townshoes $100+

Regardless of brand/price, I still kind of like the Rampage ones more because they're matte. But yes I have rain boots now so that makes rainy days a little less discouraging. : ) Get yours at Army&Navy if you're on a budget for rain boots - they have lots of styles.

Back to School - Plaid

I am half excited and half dreading what awaits me when school hits me on September the 8th. So I've decided to post up a photo relevant (somewhat) to back to school. Back to school makes me think of plaid - I think it's cause it's also the trend this year.. been seeing plaid EVERYWHERE. So I decided to keep an eye out for plaid stuff and here's me wearing my plaid shirt dress I got for $5 from Army&Navy. What a steal of a deal eh? A student's gotta do what a student's gotta do! And... photography here by Stephen C.

Top Ten Women's Best Friends

So I decided to make a top ten list of things and products that came in handy for me as a woman. I've included products that I really thought deserved some attention and along with products I've tried out myself. I wanted to post these using my own photos but unfortunately my camera's out of batteries so I stole these off the internet. It's almost like free advertising really.

For every woman it's a different list whether it's skinny jeans, facial masks, or nail polish - it's what matters to you. Here's mine so hope it will inspire you to list yours too!


Liquid Eyeliner - I've learned how to use this product over the years. I still remember when I first started I kept poking my eyes out and tearing up so badly. Well, that was only the pencil liner. Eventually I got more comfortable using the pencil but I didn't like the fact that it smudged all over my lids when I accidentally rubbed them. I tried liquid and it was just a hassle at first because I didn't know how much to apply and how to control the pen/brush. But with a bit of practice the liquid eyeliner became my favorite - particularly Prestige's waterproof liquid liner. When you wash it it doesn't run or smear, but rather it comes off in clumps making it much easier to remove.


Eyelash Curler - My favorite eyelash curler of all time is the Shu Uemura. It's quite the popular eyelash curler but once you try it I think you'll know why. It has good control - it doesn't feel like the handle will move beyond where it's supposed to move when you press on it. It also gets most of your lashes even the short ones. I don't have much eyelashes so this helps a lot. Of course mascara must be used before and after the crimping. Although crimping lashes after mascara application can make the lashes more brittle and break off.

Concealer - So, who else has eye bags? I cannot get rid of my eye bags so sometimes I just need to fake it with some concealer. It covers up well depending on the brand and type. I've tried a few both the stick and the liquid. They both have their goods and bads so I think it is preference and how it's used as well. When I use liquid concealer I find that it leaves a smoother surface when I apply powder on top. Stick concealers are usually more chunky so applying powder over it doesn't allow it to look as smooth. Sometimes I apply a lighter coat of powder or even bronzer on top of my concealer if I'm using the stick.
Fake Eyelashes - I haven't learned how to put these on yet but I love how they look in photos. It totally magnifies the size and depth of your eyes.

Tweezy/Epilator - Hairy arms, legs, armpits, face, etc. If you don't have time to wax or thread, Tweezy does the job. I bought a Tweezy which is like a cheaper version of the Epilator. It runs on batteries but works well even though I've pinched my skin with it a couple of times. It's faster than tweezing each hair one by one of course. The Tweezy has pinchers that spin on a wheel and grabs onto your hair pulling them out.



Strap Perfect Concealer Clip - When you don't want to pay the extra money to get a racerback bra and you want to wear your racerback tanks, I recommend these clips. The one I have is called Strap Perfect but there are other ones out there. You apply it to the back of your bra straps and it transforms your normal bra to a racerback bra just by pulling in the bra straps. See the pic for what I mean. I bought a pack at London Drugs for $10. The pack contains 6 clips in three colors: black, nude, clear.


Seamless Liners - These are absolutely perfect to wear with ballet flats. Sometimes your feet feel a bit naked without socks so liners help. To conceal the liners try an ultra low fit.


Heel Protectors - For heels that don't fit you or fit a bit loose, wear heel protectors to keep your feet from sliding in and out. I haven't used mine yet but I cross my fingers that it will solve the problem of my small feet wearing heels.



Skort - Now this is something that I don't see very often or if I see it I might not notice it. It's technically a skirt that's really a pair of shorts underneath. It's sewn together actually. I think it's an awesome idea. I currently own one pair and it's nice to have something like this so that you don't have to be too conscious sitting cross legged cause you know you have shorts underneath your skirt.

Forever 21 Side Zipper Leggings

Tights/Leggings - These are awesome whether they are footless or not. They come in various patterns and can be worn with boots or ballet flats or casuals. They come in different sheerness as well and are flexible in how they can be worn.

Treasures in Gastown

Genuine leather coin purse with wrist strap and keyring

Sometimes I think it's awesome how taking a stroll in certain places you end up discovering little things that make your day.

Last week after work my fiance took me to this small little stand that had little coin purses for sale. This stand was managed by a little Asian woman named Wendy. Wendy was petite and cute and what made her even more cute was the way she talked. She had a little lady's voice and she was very sweet sounding. It turns out that Wendy managed that stand of coin purses all by herself. Every now and then on a sunny day she'd wheel her little table down Gastown and set it up somewhere around Abbott and Water Street. Apparently she used to come down by bike but not ever since it got stolen.

I looked through her collection of coin purses - they were all unique, mainly animals. There were shapes of frogs heads and elephants, cats, pandas, cows, pigs, fish and even butterflies. I bought a butterfly one from her after standing there for a few minutes trying to make up my mind. They're made of genuine leather and they are more cute than I can describe them. The photo doesn't really show off the natural look of the coin purse but it's actually handmade and hand dyed.

They're $12 each and two for $22. Come look for her on a sunny day. She's usually there from 12:30pm to 5pm ish. Has anyone else ever seen this stand in Gastown? It's one of Gastown's hidden treasures I must say.