Winter Evening Essentials

As someone who grew up in the Seattle area before moving to London for a couple of years, I'm used to long, dreary winters (as well as autumns, springs, sometimes even summers...) Luckily I've left cold winters in my past for the time being, as I'm living in Orange County, but I've not forgotten what it's like to wish to be bedridden for three/four months of the year. I've made a Subblime list with some staples to get you through those cold winter nights. There's even a discount on some delicious, calming tea in the list! Let me know your winter evening essentials in the comments. Hope you're keeping warm or, if you live in my neck of the woods, make sure to get that sunscreen on! 

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Top Ten (Fifteen) Books That Make Me Cry

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, which features (you guessed it!) top ten lists on a given topic each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books that will make you cry. 

I know this isn't a book blog, and this is also a belated post because my internet was down all day, but I haven't had time to start making videos again and I like talking about books so here we go. I'm an easy crier, so I've included...well, a lot more than ten. They're not in order, I just wrote them as I thought of them.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling: Need I say more? The first time I read this, I had so many moments of realisation that it would be the last time I read about Harry Potter's life and that alone brings it onto this list. 
2. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare: Ugly crying during this one. I didn't shed a single tear throughout the entire Mortal Instruments series and the first two books of this one but then during this book there were just a few moments that broke me. And I also cried steadily through the end it. Such a fantastic conclusion. 
3. Before I Die by Jenny Downham: Subtle, beautiful and crushing. As was the film, Now Is Good.
4. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin: I read this book years and years ago and yet it still came to mind immediately. Such a wonderful story that I most definitely cried my way through.
5. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett: A beautiful classic that has me a bit misty eyed at the thought of it.
6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green: I mean. Come on. I'll never forgive John for the ugly tears he made me shed. 
7. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray: These tears are both of despair and also anger because why why why?
8. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: Real and crushing, this story deals with issues that are easy to overlook when writing fantastical elements such as time travel. 
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: Nazi Germany, narrated by death, Marcus Zusak's writing. A recipe for my tears. 
11. Unwind by Neal Shusterman: Painfully sad and raw.
12. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: Such a sad conclusion. 
13. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro: One of the things that brings me to tears with this book is the thought that this could be a reality. 
14. Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys: Josie has such a sad life and when little pieces of it start falling apart, it's all I can do to keep it together. 
15. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness: Simple, but heavy. Short, but unforgettable. This graphic novel type book is absolutely beautiful and depressing.

And now, I'm going to go find a book to cheer myself up from thinking of these beauties. What books have made YOU ugly cry? Or if you're less ridiculously emotional than me, what made you misty eyed? Happy Tuesday, folks. x

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friday finds, no.1

Friday Finds is a meme-type-series that the lovely Annie of sfgirlbythebay. She finds things across the internet and shares them with her readers at the end of a week. I don't think I could do this every week, as I don't spend as much time on the internet as I once did, but I thought it would be nice to do from time to time, so here we go. 

i. my mom actually surprised my roommate and I with a package from Succulents Galore complete with three baby succulents and a pretty little glass pot for them. for those of you who don't have a flower market or nursery nearby, they arrived in fantastic condition and succulents are nearly impossible to kill so perfect for those with a less than green thumb.
ii. the new ikea + artrebels collection, BRÅKIG, needs to be in my room as soon as possible.
iii. the new j.crew colour library video. 

iv. weirdly, this is literally just some marble and resin made to look like an old-fashioned clock that you can feed your charger through and turn into a flip-clock. even more weirdly, I love it. 

v. despite not being able to get beyond the misogyny in the past, no matter how historically accurate, I've been watching a ton of Mad Men recently on netflix.

vi. had to do a double take when I saw steve madden's plato sandals in the orange and blue colours the other day. so gorgeous! 

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Into My Home | Seattle Mug

Seattle mug from Venue Ballard

My mom gave this to me as a Christmas gift and it is so very me. If you didn't know, I have a serious obsession and love for orca whales, as well as my home, Seattle. This adorable, minimalist sketched mug is just really perfect for me and it is also a great size. It is from a local shop in Ballard and apparently the work of this artist in particular, Sarah Woodson, is going to be sold in national stores too, so keep a look out!

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NARS Lipstick in 'Short Circuit'

NARS 'Guy Bourdin - Cinematic' Lipstick (Limited Edition) Short Circuit, $26

This was limited edition, but I think you can still find it. I picked this up on a whim one day while walking through Downtown Disney and meandering into Sephora, as I do. The colour was so bright and gorgeous and the formula wasn't too drying so I had to pick it up. Unfortunately, I've barely worn this since. I'm just not great with lipstick upkeep and I know that, so I rarely reach for anything I have to remember to fix throughout the day or night. However, I do stand by the fact that it is gorgeous and there's something that makes it more unique than other red-orange lipstick shades. Pick it up while you still can if you love shocking coloured lips as much as I do! x

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Wen Cleansing Conditioner

Wen Cleansing Conditioner in 'Fig', $32

After hearing Anna and Claire talk about this product forever, I decided that it may work for my hair. It is supposed to be an all-in-one product that you use in place of shampoo, conditioner and a leave-in conditioner and I picked it up because I have really dry hair that could always use more body. However, I'm sad to say that this didn't work for me. It leaves me hair feeling greasy, no matter how little I use and just doesn't seem to be suited to thin hair, despite the words of the woman at Sephora. I considered taking this back but had already disposed of the box, so oh well. 

I would definitely recommend this for those of you with thick hair, or a lot of hair. It seems to do wonders for the aforementioned Anna and Claire, so maybe it'll work for you! Hope you like it better than me :) x

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Into My Home | Anaheim Flea Market

So during my Disney College Program, I lived right in downtown Anaheim and on 2nd Sunday's, there would be a antique flea market RIGHT outside of my apartment building. On the last Sunday that I would be living there, I set aside time to wander through it and find things for my new apartment. These are the goodies that I found! As you can tell, I have a mild tray obsession. The floral one is amazing and as I'm going for a very mint colour scheme in my new room, it will fit so nicely. I also am in love with crates, which you will see in the future in another piece of furniture...But this one I got to store my records in, as I got a record player last year and have yet to have anything to put my records in! The little table thing was less than $10 and I just thought it looked cool but in retrospect don't really know how it will fit in my room, but we'll see how that goes. Then, of course, my lovely Brazilian hand-painted ceramic Dala horse. It's just so cute and I love it.

By then my arms were full and I had to make the trek to the elevator before work. I've made a few trips to antique fairs since and I'll show you more about that in future blogs and videos (hopefully)! Do you love crawling through antique fairs and markets as much as I do? What are some of your favourite finds?

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