laptop

If you're a uni student and you don't have some sort of portable device, whether it's a laptop, tablet, or one of the new combo devices like the Surface or a yoga-type laptop, life just isn't as easy.

I don't hate laptops, but if there is a day where my primary device is a laptop, it's not in the near future. I love my workstation to death and I would never give it up. That being said, there's a long list of reasons why I have been wanting a laptop. I ended up putting together a custom laptop, since I have my preferences (more-so than the average person, I think). I went with HP mostly because I wanted an AMD processor. I'm not a super tech-savvy person so my preference for AMD is mostly (completely) based off of bias. I bought it through Ebates during Black Friday weekend, so I got a pretty good deal.

I got the HP ENVY 15z-j100 Notebook PC (Energy Star) . The packaging was pretty good, and I got free shipping. There's one small ding on the corner but it's only cosmetic and not very noticeable. 

Here are the specs, if anyone cares:

• Windows 8.1 64
•  AMD Quad-Core A8-5550M Accelerated Processor
•  AMD Radeon HD Graphics
•  15.6-inch diagonal Full HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1920x1080)
•  6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
•  750GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
•  No Additional Office Software
•  Security Software Trial
•  6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
•  No Internal DVD or CD Drive
•  Standard Keyboard
•  HP TrueVision HD Webcam w/ integrated digital mic
•  802.11b/g/n WLAN [1x1]

It doesn't have an optical drive, but that's not a big concern since I'll be using this mostly for school (and I don't even use the optical drive on my main pc that much). 

After Christmas, this, and my ipod, I think it's time to take a break from big spending, haha.

-Mary

Going try to update my blog a little more...maybe it will be a New Years resolution for 2014. It's mostly for my parents benefit (hi mom, don't forget to share this with dad) but also for anyone else that I find it hard to keep up with (everyone) and myself (horrible memory capacity).

Finals week is next week = gross :( right now I'm waiting for the line at subway to get shorter so I can get something to eat (really not in the mood to cook or do grocery shopping). I'm afraid that I'll loose my table if I get up though.

My birthday was last week; unfortunately is had to work. My roommate drew this up on our whiteboard for me. She also took me out to zoopas earlier in the week and let me have some of her cranberry orange bread. 

Birthday flowers from my parents. Apparently they were supposed to be pink...

Birthday selfie haha. Smiling because Black Friday week was finally over !!!

The snow is here... Not very excited about it. 

That's all for now, going to go buy my subway and go through some flash cards for one of my finals now.

Cheers

Mary

EDIT: I'm really loving EXO's new song, Miracles in December. I haven't gotten around to listening to the whole album yet (oops). I personally like the Chinese version better than the Korean (sorry Kyungsoo I love you); I think it's because the Chinese is softer and has a smoother flow. I swear Chen sounds better singing in Chinese.

Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Long time, no post! I've been quite busy with school and work these past couple months. Right now I'm pushing through the last of my midterms (I only have a week break before I have tests again though).

I personally like using Bloglovin to keep track of the blogs I follow because otherwise I have a hard time keeping track of what I've read or not. I know blogger is kind of dying in some aspects; I've heard top bloggers complain about it and I know of some people that left alltogether for Wordpress or Tumblr. I don't necessarily have the same problems as them however, so this suits my needs just fine.

Hope you all are doing well!

-Mary

p.s. If you want me to check out/follow your blog, leave a comment below!

L'oreal Voluminous Extra-Volume Collagen Mascara Review

My current mascara is starting to dry up (who knows how long I've had it...certainly longer than the recommended 3-5 months) so it was time to buy a new one! I watched a few overviews and read a few reviews but didn't find anything particularly helpful as far as which one to buy. Past favorites include the Sexy Curves, Glam'Eyes, and Scandaleyes from Rimmel London. Scandaleyes gave the best volume, but I wanted to try something new (I'm not a fan of how thick the grip portion of the wand is).

The biggest problem I run into with mascaras is that the majority of them focus a lot on lengthening. As you'll see from the pictures below, I don't need any length beyond my natural lashes. I do however, need quite a bit of help in the volume department since my lashes are sparse.

July Haulin'

I'm not going to include any house wear type or kitchen wear that I bought for my apartment because it would take forever to do. Everything shown was purchased sometime in July.

Links are current at time of posting.

Last night,while aimlessly flipping through tv channels, I ended up watching a cooking show. I think it may have been Top Chef, but I'm not sure. One of the chefs made a salad on bruschetta for their appetizer.

For dinner tonight, I made my own [simple] version. Toasted french bread (I haven't totally familiarized myself with my toaster yet, hence the burnt spots) topped with cherry tomatos, cucumber, and mozzarella cooked (sauteed might be the proper term, but I'm neither a chef nor a gourmet) in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, white vinegar (I like the punch), peppercorn, sea salt, and onion powder. I cooked the tomatoes and cucumber while I waited on the bread to toast, adding the cheese and remainder of the dressing last.

It's a bit more vinegar than I should be consuming, but I'll be fine provided I eat fresh for the next few days.

-Mary

My First Threading Experience

A small preface: I've never waxed my face. I've tweezed my brows and chin, but obviously that only removes one hair at a time. My facial hair isn't particularly thick (it's thickest on my chin, but still fairly fine) and is mostly blonde save for my brows and some hairs on my chin. For the past few years I've gotten more and more darker coloured hairs on my chin. I've looked up different methods of hair removal (waxing,threading,threading-like devices such as myspringit,tweezing,dilapitory creams,shaving) to try to find a method that would work for me. 

Waxing was never really an option due to my acne. It fluxuated for a while before getting bad at the end of grade 11. Toward the end of grade 12 I went on Acutane (isotretinoin). My skin was pretty sensitive while on the medication so I stuck with plucking with a tweezer. My older sister uses a dilapitory cream sometimes but I don't feel comfortable putting something that strong onto my face. A nurse from the dermatologists office I went to recommended that I try threading.

June + July Photo Update

I was going through my blog stats this morning and saw the post my EXO Wolf inspired nails had 145 views! I definitely never expected to get that many. 

is this for real? hahha

EXO Wolf Inspired Nails

The MV for EXO's comeback title song, Wolf, finally came out this past week! I know a lot of people have mixed feelings about it, but I like it. The song grows on me each time I listen to it. I originally wanted to do nails featuring something related to each of the songs on the album, but that proved a bit difficult so I opened myself up to other ideas. Below are the finished nails! They ended up taking a good part of the day to do, due to various difficulties and road bumps (water marble nails are not as easy as they look!)

 left hand ; right hand

Some of the nails are a little more obvious than others as far as what they were inspired by, so here is my lengthy (hopefully not too lengthy) explanation for each design.

May OOTD/Ns

Considering the amount of time I spend on tumblr, you would think I would update this blog more often... But anyways, here are a few OOTD (outfit of the day)s from the past month or so. (photos after jump)

Quick update

I've been back in Washington for about three weeks now. Sadly I haven't had too many adventures (yet) but I'm sure I'll get around to doing some fun things before I move. I did get to go see Iron Man 3 and The Great Gastby in theaters last week. Both movies were spectacular and I definitely recommend them. I have plans to go see the second Star Trek movie next week. I think it's going to be a spectacular movie. I'm almost tempted to go see it in IMAX 3D, but the 3D gives me an awful headache and I think the amount of motion in the movie would make it overwhelming.  And while I am glad to be home, I wish I was working because being home all day really isn't that exciting. I think tomorrow I will tackle altering some pants (the flare leg opening desperately needs to go).

I had a particularly artsy/good-vibes mood the other day so I decided to tackle some side-walk chalk! Below is the result. I'm really proud of the flower; I think it turned out quite well considering I'm not well-practiced in drawing or the like. The flower was drawn from a reference photo on my phone. The peace sign  collage also was, but it's more of a vague interpretation since I had limited colours and couldn't be very detailed.

While I was out shopping the other week (mostly window shopping for house wares), I picked up a new comforter from IKEA's As-Is section. I got a queen-sized duvet and down-alternative comforter for $30+tax! Considering the comforter itself retails for $80, I think it's a pretty good deal.

the "top" side is a nice floral print while the reverse is a subtle blue and white pinstripe. Instead of having button snap closure, it has three ties which gives it a cozy vibe.

Also really exciting news!! (well at least to me it's exciting) If you know me, then you probably know that I love kpop (korean pop music)! It's not really limited to pop persay, since I like k-indie and k-hiphop as well. Anyways, one of my favorite bands, EXO, has finally released comeback teaser photos! Wow it's been 426+ days, way to get the most out of your debut song. So far it seems like a cuter, school-themed concept than their um, very flashy over-the-top debut concept. 

Happy weekend!

♡Mary

Blast from the past

My mom has been working on organizing and updating photobooks this week (she has up to 1997 done... haha) and I've been helping her with putting photo corners down on the pages. I thought I'd share a few of my favorite "baby" pictures since I haven't posted in so long.

Lovely winter we're having this spring...

It was snowing rather heavily earlier, but I've just looked and it has turned to rain. I don't mind it, really (except I left most of my winter stuff in Washington after Christmas) but I'm supposed to go to Monticello tomorrow for a class and I'd really rather not be outside in the rain for a couple hours.

I had two photos here originally but something happened to them hmm

Today; I'd say there were 2 or 3 inches before it started raining...

The weather has been all over the place recently. I think today is the third or fourth time it's snowed this spring... I feel like when it finally warms up (for real), I'll be back in Washington.    s i g h


I've been listening to music while updating my blog and this song by BlockB's* Taeil came on. I knew he was a good singer, but wow I had no idea he was this good! The lyrics are sad so just focus on his singing ha ha.

-Mary

*BlockB is a korean "k-pop" band consisting of seven male members. They're mostly known for their hiphop/rap sound. They're one of my favorite groups because of their talent and personalities.

✿ National Cherry Blossom Festival ✿

Last Saturday (March 30th) I had the opportunity to go up to Washington DC (wow, twice in a semester!) with my university to go to the National Cherry Blossom Festival. I was fortunate to have GREAT weather! It was sunny and definitely over 60F. There was a light breeze, so I had to keep my jacket on until after lunch. The day I went also happened to be the day of the Kite Festival, which apparently is the only day you can fly a kite in DC. I missed some good shots with lots of kites, but I like the one I got.

I like how the filters made the sky look. The kite colours are a little too intense, though.

Spring Break

I went up to Maryland with my parents to see my one of my brothers and his family for the week. I was supposed to meet up with some university friends and head up to New York City for a few days at the end of the week, but that fell through due to various reasons.

On our way up to Maryland, we stopped at Mt. Vernon.  We got there too late to do much besides walking the grounds. It's such a large estate, but to think it's only a small fraction of what it was when George Washington lived there.

such a nice house

Strung Up

I have a predisposition to not liking concerts. Regardless of the amount of time I've spent practicing, I never feel prepared. Then there is the inconvenience of time (I'm a routine person) and that lurking feeling that if something can go wrong, it will. I feel that when something goes wrong, it's never something small.

This time, there's a bit of back history to this mishap. Back in January, I ordered a new set of strings for my viola since it was [well] past time that I change them. I changed my strings out the first week of February and only expected to have to deal with slipping pegs (is this a viola thing?) and breaking the strings in. I was pleased that they adjusted quickly, but quite upset when my Jarger A broke after 5 days. Because it was right before rehearsal, I put the old A string (also Jarger) back on.