DECEMBER FAVORITES ♥

Film

The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies

I don’t need to elaborate on this one because I already wrote a whole long blog post on it already! Yay! Click here to read it. :-)

TV Series

Empress Ki

Okay, so ya’ll know that I’m into Asian entertainment.  Old news.  As of late, however, it seems like this is no exception when it comes to TV shows.  I’ve recently taken a liking to Korean drama, and I’ve certainly had to dig through the dirt to find the gems, if you know what I mean.  There are some really great kdramas, and some really bad ones, too. Ha ha.

          Anyway, I’m rambling again.  EMPRESS KI.  What can I say.  Period dramas are my one weakness.  This series is a brilliant combination of drama, action, romance, and comedy.  All rolled up with lovely music, vibrant costumes, and fantastic visual effects into a perfect little package of perfection. ♥  

Makeup

Hard Candy Glamoflauge heavy duty concealer

A huge part of dealing with psoriasis, especially for a young woman, is being able to cope with the physical effects during the healing process.  I don’t think that any product I’ve ever talked about here on my blog has helped with my confidence more than this one.  I’ve used many, many different “heavy duty” concealers and none of have worked as well to cover up the psoriasis patches on my face and neck.

          I use the shade Medium Light, which is technically a shade too light for my skintone, but I like this shade because of its slightly green tinge.  Anyone who deals with redness knows that green cancels out red, so this is a huge plus here.  The consistency is quite thick but smooth and non-drying, and one layer usually takes care of all of my problems.  It also works great for under the eyes and as a eyeshadow/lipcolor base.  Apparently, with a few layers, this concealer is known for being able to even cover up tattoos.

          Each $6-7 tube comes with a free concealer pencil, too.

Product

Etude House Happy Essential Foam Cleanser

Vitamin C version (yellow packaging)

I don’t need to say much about this facial cleanser except that it removes makeup effortlessly, doesn't irritate skin, smells like Fruit Loops (which is basically happiness), and has adorable packaging.  Oh, and it costs less than 5 bucks.  Mm-hmm.

Moment

various

December, being the month of Christmas, never fails to have more than its fair share of remarkable moments.  And these are the moments that I find most difficult to put to words.  Perhaps I am just lazy, which we all know could very well be the case, but I think that it shall suffice to say that the blessings of Christmas are both beautiful and universal and, luckily for us, they’re also annual.  Family and friends; peace, joy, and love; good food; exchanging gifts; movies, music, and magic~ Every year, I look forward to seeing what miracles the Infant Jesus will bring to this world.  We are all very blessed.  Let us be grateful! 

Deo Gratias, again and again~!

NaNoWriMo Prep 2014 + Big Announcement

Hello, everyone!  I apologize for my lack of posts!  School and work have bitten me in the behind and I haven’t had any extra time to devote to my blog. :-( I tried for a while there to keep up with my Monthly Favorites posts, but that was short-lived.  Ha ha ha.  Oh well.

But anyway, I’m back now! :D We’ll see how long I stick around this time. Recently, I’ve decided that I will be participating in National Novel Writing Month again this year.  I skipped last year because of bitter frustrations that I was still experiencing over my 2012 NaNoWriMo project, Fleur Valse.  I think I’m ready to give it another go.

As for my new novel’s storyline, I’m still trying to choose between several options that I’ve come up with.  All of them are fantasy, not surprisingly. :P Some are dystopian, others are…well, not dystopian, ha ha ha.  I’m starting afresh, that’s the only thing I’m certain of.  New world, new characters.  No returning to old, failed projects.  I’m going to try something different and see how it compares to my other attempts.  I think that a huge part of the reason why my past two NaNoWriMo projects have failed is because I’ve tried to write novels that I’ve come up with way beforehand, and the result is that I end up getting incredibly frustrated when things don’t turn out how I intended them to.  One month simply isn’t enough time to write a complex book, especially within the fantasy genre!

Plans?  What plans?  Nope!  I’m not writing out a detailed description of every character, scene, and chapter like I did back in 2012.  I learned the hard way that this sort of planning quickly becomes a to-do list, and nobody likes to do chores.

I’m going to go with the flow.  Take each chapter as it comes.  I’m going to let my words pour forth at their own pace and not worry about the details.  That’s what editing is for!

So most of my prep, so to speak, is comprised of copious amounts of fine coffee and tea along with a few simple writing exercises and brainstorming for ideas.  All of this is to help ease myself back into writing mode.  I’ve been terribly unproductive as of late (as you all know, why am I telling you this), and I want to avoid a reality shock, for lack of a better term.

This brings us to my “Big Announcement.” For the benefit of myself and my peers, I have created a private, online writing community called Writerly, which, if all goes well, will officially launch on November 1^st, 2014.  But another blog post will follow on that~ I hope that it will prove to be successful for its members in receiving feedback and critique from fellow writers, and also (of course) to have fun sharing ideas and inspiration. :-)

Next week, I will post a preview of the site!

That aside, I encourage all of my writer friends to give NaNoWriMo a try.  Come join in on the fun.

And that’s all for today!  Talk to you all soon!

MAY/JUNE FAVORITES ♥

My goodness!  It’s July ALREADY? (*cough* the end of July… *cough*)  The merry month of May flew right by.  But now that I look back, it was quite a busy month indeed.  My mum’s birthday, Mother’s Day, May Crowning, First Communions, end of the school year for me as a teacher, many babysitting jobs—I’ve certainly been a busy bee. 

Aaaand, the allergies.  They came, they saw, and they conquered.  One of the reasons why this post is so ridiculously late.

June went by just as quickly.  With Father’s Day, my birthday, girls’ camp, and my Cali trip, the days have just been flying by!  I can’t keep up, but I’ve been having so much fun that I really can’t complain. *^_^*

Alright, enough idle chitchat!  FAVORITES~

Let’s change things up a bit and start this monthly favorites post off with food.  During May I was a bit obsessed with Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos.  These are…amazing.  I love all kinds of spicy food, but I have an issue with the regular Flamin’ Hot Cheetos because those are just spicy and have no flavor other than spicy.  The jalapeño versions are delicious!  I craved sushi for most of June.  Specifically, the yummy crab tempura rolls from Sushi Island here in Eugene.  Yum.

As for drinks, I’ve been very into milk tea!  It’s sweet and refreshing—perfect for summer.  Seldom has a day gone by when I didn’t fix myself up a glass.  There are many different methods and recipes for making this popular Asian treat, so I’ve done a bit of experimenting until I found one that I liked.  As of right now, this is the one! 

MILK TEA

Ingredients

a pot of strong brewed tea

½ cup sugar

¼ cup water

a can of evaporated milk, chilled

Directions

1.  Brew your tea according to package instructions.  Make it on the strong side.  Cool to room temperature.  You can use any kind of tea you want!  My favorites are Builder’s and matcha.

2.  Make simple syrup: Stir together sugar and water in a small pot and bring to boiling.   Boil for 5 minutes while stirring and then remove from heat.  Let cool to room temperature.  Syrup will thicken slightly.

3.  For one glass of milk tea: Measure about 2 tablespoons (more or less to suit your taste) of simple syrup into a tall glass.  Add 1 cup of the cooled tea.  Add desired amount of chilled milk.

4.  Enjoy~! ^^

Tips

Add strawberry, raspberry, vanilla, or any other drink/coffee syrup in place of the simple syrup to make flavored milk tea.  You can also add tapioca pearls (you can find these at any Asian grocery) to make bubble tea.

I also have a two beauty products to share with ya’ll this month.  The first is a hair product that I’ve been wanting to try for a while now but never got around to purchasing it.  Needless to say, it’s a fantastic product, and I will definitely be repurchasing this one.  Dream Curls Curl-Perfecting Spray by John Frieda.  I’m not a fan of heavy hair products such as creams or mousse, so I was on the market to find something that would enhance my naturally curly hair without weighing it down.  This stuff is perfection.  One of these days I won’t be lazy, and I’ll take some before and after pics to share with you guys. lol

The second product is a hand cream: Vaseline Intensive Care Healthy Hands Essentials Moisturizing Lotion.  Whew, long name.  I had this lying around forever (so long that I’m not even sure if stores still sell it, haha!) and finally decided to start using it about two months ago because I was noticing that my hands were getting quite dry, and my nails were breaking a lot.  I’ve experienced a huge difference with this product.  Because I’m always getting my hands into something and having to wash to them, the lotion hasn’t really helped with my dry hands, but my nails are so much more strong and healthy than they were before.  A product like this is a must-have for people like me who constantly wear nail polish.  Sometimes we forget how much polishes and removers such as acetone strip and expose our nails to damage.  I’ll be buying more of the lotion when I run out!

Song of the month!  Miracles in December [Chinese version] by EXO.  Yes, yes, Christmas in July.  This is a legitimate thing, at least for me.  X’D At this point in the year, I’m already longing for winter and Christmas to be here again.  Don’t mind me.  Hehehe.  Anyway, this gorgeous ballad takes me to the fairy tale land within a snow globe, full of dreams and hopes and memories.

Siiiigh.

But It’s summerrrrrrrr! (obligatory Olaf solo)

Finally, a film favorite for the month of May.  I saw quite a few this time around, so I had to think about it for a second.  Edge of Tomorrow was much better than I expected, and Transformers: Age of Extinction was far worse!  Sorry, Han Geng, your 45 seconds of screen time weren’t enough to redeem such a cheesy, superficial film.

Hands down, my favorite film for May/June is The Amazing Spiderman 2.  Holy guacamole on a toasted flour tortilla.  AS IF CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 DIDN’T GIVE ME ENOUGH MARVEL UNIVERSE FEELS.  I can’t even with this movie.  Nope.  NOPE.  It was, true to its name, amazing, but I will no doubt go crazy as a result of all these awesome superhero movies. ;__;  I sincerely apologize, but I really can’t say anything else about this without writing a dissertation.  I shall spare you that!

And that’s it for May/June! July Favorites soon to follow, LOL!

APRIL FAVORITES ♥

Hello, my sweet music notes!  Alleluia to our risen King!  I hope you all have been having a very holy and blessed Easter season.  Mine has been nothing short of beautiful.

I’m going to be honest: I’ve been so distracted lately that I nearly forgot about writing this blog post.  Now that Lent is over and I’m out of school for the summer, I’ve been overwhelmed with the amount of things that I can do!  Hahaha.  Sorry this post is a bit later than usual!

Anyway—my favorites for the month of April.  Here we go~!

Let us begin with a film, shall we?  Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Omg you guys.  This movie gave me so many feels.  I can’t even begin to articulate.  I’ll begin by saying that it is a great movie and I really enjoyed it.  So much action!  I was literally on the edge of my seat two or three times.  But I’m just a comic book nerd like that.  If you haven’t seen it yet, definitely GO SEE IT.  LIKE SOON.

I can’t really say much about it without spoilers, but wow, the storyline was quite unexpected.  In a good way, mind you.  I just wasn’t expecting it to be so intense and multi-faceted.

Let’s just say that The Winter Soldier makes me very excited—and curious—about the upcoming Marvel Universe films, particularly Avengers: Age of Ultron.

My music feature for this month goes to three-man Korean band Lunafly, composed of members Sam, Teo, and Yun.  The leader, Sam Carter, is half-Korean, half-British, and has a wonderfully clear voice.  He also plays guitar, as does Yun.  Yun is my bias (favorite member) for this group.  He has a lovely personality, and his voice is so warm and versatile.  He plays keyboards for the group.  Teo is on percussion most of the time.  Most of their stuff is vocal and acoustic, which ya’ll know I really like.

Believe it or not, I didn’t find them from listening to k-pop.  I was actually on YouTube looking for new covers of Pink’s Just Give Me a Reason, which is one of my favorite songs to sing. :-)  All three members of Lunafly speak English (Sam, being British, is fluent; Yun and Teo have pretty good pronunciation for a second language!), and they have many American pop (a-pop? lol) covers on their channel.  Their JGMaR is stunning.  I love it!

I have consumed so much food mostly dessert since Easter!  My food favorites for this month are Japanese candy and snacks, which I have been acquiring in packages from my dear friend, and from my local Asian grocery.  Lots of Almond Crush Pocky!  ♥  But my favorite is a new discovery called Chococones by Japanese snack company Meiji.  So yummy and addicting!  I can easily eat a whole box to myself during a single sitting.

I’m also back to my games!  Been playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and I finally made some progress in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD.  I got it as a Christmas gift and have only played it once.  That’s ridiculous.  XD  But my favorite game for the past month is Super Mario 64.  I bought it on the Wii’s Virtual Console.  This game, like many others on the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube, brings back so many fond memories for me.  Things that were tucked away in my heart and mind—brought back to life through a video game controller. 

Wow, so deep, Ashley.

‘Til next month, peeps.  ^_^

MARCH FAVORITES ♥

Spring has sprung!  I must say that I love winter, but I’m ready for some sunshine in my life.

To celebrate the turn-of-season, let me round up my favorites for this past month of MARCH.

Since we’re in the middle of Lent, I haven’t been listening to any new music, watching any movies, or playing any video games, and I’ve already mentioned what I’ve been reading in my last two posts, so I’ll skip all four of those categories this time around.

My makeup favorite for March is the e.l.f. Geometric 150 Eyeshadow Palette, which I received from mum as a surprise gift.  I am quite impressed with this palette!  I looked it up on the company website and it retails for a mere $15.  For this price, I was amazed at the pigmentation and blendability of these shadows.  I will say that the staying power isn’t the greatest, but just be sure to use an eyeshadow primer and you’ll be good to go.  :)  My favorite colors on this palette so far are the shimmery neutrals and the matte blues.

Now that my hair is finally almost two-feet in length, I’ve been looking into the proper care for my long, thick, very wavy tresses.  I’ve acquired a number of products to help combat dryness, breakage, and fallout, and for the overall health of my hair and scalp.  One product in particular has certainly made a big difference: Ogx (previously Organix) Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum.  I apply two pumps of this product to my hair after towel-drying, and it actually does keep my hair looking softer and shinier!  I’m in love this stuff; I will definitely be repurchasing it.

First place in the food category this month is ginger.  Ginger tea, ginger candy, slices of ginger in stir-fries.  It’s so spicy and yummy!  And good for you, too.  ^_^  Health benefits include, but are not limited to: digestive relief (ginger tea is good to drink if you have a tummy ache), anti-inflammatory, defense against some types of cancer, and it’s a good immune system boost.  I’ve also heard that it helps fight skin irritations.  Yay!

The next item on my list is something that I’ve wanted to purchase since New Year’s, but just never got around to it.  I consider myself to be a pretty organized person, I mean, my desk is nothing short of organized chaos, but I do like to keep a schedule of sorts on my phone, and I have a calendar on the wall near my desk for keeping track of important events.  Call me old-fashioned, nerdy, whatever—but I went ahead and bought an engagement planner from Peter Pauper Press.

Look at this little book.  Look at it.  It’s so beautiful!  The colors are vibrant with gold embossing, the pages are thick with a clean layout and simple design, and the 5” x 7” size is perfect to stick in my purse when I’m going out.  And here’s the best part: I paid about $6 for this high quality planner on Amazon (and since I have Prime, I paid no shipping fees).  Talk about a steal!  I couldn’t be happier about it.

…And that’s all, folks!  Hope you enjoyed reading this post.  ‘Til next month!

Oregon Asian Celebration 2014 Photos

I know, I know, I’m so behind with my blog posts again! ;__; I don’t have the time nor the energy (finals week…yeah) to write a full-length post on this year’s Asian Celebration (February 15th-16th), but I just wanted to share with you all the photographs that I took at the event, along with some brief comments.

On a side note...I've got lots of great blog posts coming soon!  My Crater Lake experience & road trip journal, The Writerly Life #2, February Favorites, reviews, and more!  Stay tuned.  *^o^*

Enjoy~!

My love for Asian street fashion has added quite a bit of leopard to my wardrobe!  Here are my new high top sneakers and the manicure I wore to the event.

DragonVine's booth.  So much anime, Ghibli, and Sanrio! ♥

Just about the cutest Hello Kitty iPhone case I've ever seen, and a funny book I found. (Dr. Haha Lung? What?? lol)

My good friend Tim performs as part of a demonstration 

with his fellow members of the U. S. Tae Kwon Do College.

 Left: As I waited for a calligrapher to finish writing my name in Chinese, I listened to this man perform a LotR tune on a traditional Japanese instrument.

Right: Naruto ran into Kirby, and things went horribly, horribly wrong.

Left: South Korea represent!

Right: Raspberry Bubble Tea. ♥

Yum!  My latest foodie addiction.

I didn't have a whole lot of money to spend this time around, but here are my spoils. :-)