I have a bad case of the winter blues! I think Fall and even up to Winter solstice I’m just working my way down to the blues. Mostly I can deal with it by self-medicating with lots of pretzals, cereal, beer, and coffee. Then sometime around early February, I’m a blob of give-up-ness. Uncle! Give me some sunshine! It’s made worse because the only time I see sun is if I’m running late in the morning so instead of enjoying the sun I’m scurrying to my sunless Dilbert-cave. Those advertisements I’m seeing online for Hawaii is looking mighty tempting!
Saigon Cafe
Posted by Leaf on January 23, 2012
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Eh. It was okay but overall, not someplace we’ll probably be going back to anytime soon. I read about this place and how they were known for making an authentic bun bo hue (this thick rice noodle beef soup). SO of course, we ordered that. We also got caramelized catfish with rice, appetizers of these little round steamed rice flour bowls with scallions on top, cooked shrimp paste on sugar cane, and summer rolls. Their appetizers were tasty. The catfish was flavorful but very salty and the Imperial Hue beef soup was fine too. It was reminiscent of pho though. And we added beef tendons expecting these soft melt in your mouth gelatin like morsels but ended up with a few pieces of leather in our soup. After lunch, we went back to the car and discovered I’d been walking around with dental floss in my purse all these years and flossed our teeth! So nothing was awful and nothing was great. It’s just not somewhere I think you should waste your time on.
Mad Men
Posted by Leaf on January 18, 2012
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Move over Mamoun
Posted by Leaf on January 15, 2012
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Two years ago, we ate our way through a weekend in New York City. One of the most memorable places we ate at was Mamoun’s Falafel. I would not shut up about it. Mamoun’s this, Mamoun’s that. You’d think he was my son! It was because of Mamoun that I set my Yelp star rating basis. A 5-star rating is if I would travel to eat there and by traveling, I mean not sleep in my own bed. Ad-Hoc, Kirala, and for these last 2 years, Mamoun’s all were well deserving of 5 stars. Well, I’m happy and sad to say that I have found a new falafel dealer by the name of Max. Max’s Kosher Cafe sells schwarmas and falafel and they are out of this world. We ordered a half falafel and schwarma and learned very quickly what a big mistake that was… just get the whole. Yes – learn from my fail. They will knock your socks off! We were visibly new to this as the guy asking us what toppings we want quickly realized we didn’t know what we were doing and proceeded to put something together himself. He knows what he’s doing because holy cow they were good. We went back and ordered more after quickly polishing off the first batch. I’m sorry I didn’t bring my camera, but we’ll certainly be back. Oh and they’re not opened on Saturday’s (Shabbat Shalom!) so keep that in mind.
Not what it used to be
Posted by Leaf on January 14, 2012
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I just got back from a shopping trip to Ann Taylor. There was a recent article on the Post saying how women in this area LOOooVE Ann Taylor. Well I did love it but this recent trip was disappointing. Their quality has diminished noticeably. The material is of poor quality, like it wouldn’t survive many wears and cleanings, and the clothes appear sloppily slapped together. Just about everything is from China now too. I’m saddened that my go-to place for work clothes is nothing better than an expensive version of Old Navy. Now I’ll really have nothing to wear for work!
Sprinklers
Posted by Leaf on January 13, 2012
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A little past midnight this morning, the fire alarm started blaring. I was in the middle of a nice dream so it felt like I dozed my way out of the building. I remember we briefly discussed bringing the chinchees but not seeing any sign of smoke anywhere, decided it would be too traumatic for them to be stuffed into a sack and hauled about for what appeared to be an ill-timed drill. Yes, we left them and Dirty Hairy to die in a fiery inferno. No, I didn’t bring anything of value out either. I just remember hauling my purse out with a box of tissues and for some reason, made sure to bring my metro card out. Where did I think I was going? To work?
Anyway, when we got out, we thought it was raining. But then when we looked up we saw water trickling down the building, it was the sprinklers. The fire trucks came and when they finally gave us the go ahead to go back in, we learned that our elderly neighbor’s unit had a sprinkler malfunction. Her unit totally flooded and for some reason was unable to get to her door to exit so the fire department had to break down her door and escort her out. Thank goodness no one got hurt, but the sprinklers really went crazy raining down in her unit. Water seeped out everywhere and even down to the unit below. By the time we got back to bed though I could hear people with wet-vacs already cleaning up the hallway. Our poor neighbor must have had quite a shock. She slept in another neighbor’s place for the night.
E.L.F.
Posted by Leaf on January 12, 2012
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The stuff’s all made in China!! No wonder it’s all so cheap! I mean, $5 for a palette of 32 eyeshadows? It’s almost seemingly too good to be true. And indeed it is because it’s from China! I’m envisioning a little girl, too young to be wearing makeup, forced to stand in a windowless factory, not even allowed to talk to her fellow workers, cramming makeup brushes into a case.
Had I known about this China bit, I probably would not have purchased any of their products. I am still impressed with the brushes but again, I’d rather pay a bit more for something not made in China. And I’m just a bit squicked out about putting chemicals on my face that came from China. You just never know what’s really in there. I tested some of the eyeshadows tonight and might have felt some in-my-head phantom tingles. I don’t know. So, this stuff will be fun to play with but I don’t see myself ever purchasing from E.L.F. again. Unless maybe they move their factories to Vietnam, which I hear will be the new China in 30 or so years. We’ll see.
Aside from the 32 eyeshadow palette and the 11-piece brush set, I also got:
A Kabuki face brush – It’s so soft! Much much softer than the current one I have from Target (probably also made in China), and of course softer than paint brushes. Anyway, this one feels like a chinchilla. Ok maybe not that soft. But close. In fact, all their brushes feel like bunnies. They’re great. I washed them all and not a single hair fell out.
Eye Transformer – This is a set of 4 light colored eyeshadows which they recommend you use with your existing eyeshadows to create new colors. I guess if you have a very dark color that you want to lighten, you could blend it together. I see this more as just a set of 4 pale colored eyeshadows you can use alone, as a highlighter, or blended – like any other eyeshadow really. Kinda’ gimmicky, but it gimmicked it’s way into my makeup pouch.
Shimmering Facial Whip – This is the same thing as the Body Shop’s Radiant Highlighter, for which I paid $7. Though I haven’t tried it, I’m expecting it to be equally as useful, which is to say, not very much. Still, it’s worth the buck to satisfy my curiosity.
Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter – How many highlighters do I need?! Well, I got it for the concealer half. These bags and dark circles under my eyes aren’t going to just hide themselves are they? The packaging says the highlighter can be used as an eyeshadow primer too.
Eyelid Primer – I don’t know what the difference is between an Eyelid and Eyeshadow Primer. Other than $2. I’ve read it’s just as effective as the fancy pants Urban Decay and Too Faced primers. Minus points for the unsanitary wand instead of the squeeze tube packaging but hey, for a buck, can’t complain.
Mineral Infused Mascara – $3
Lengthening & Defining Mascara – $1 *shrug* they were cheap. I got em.
Such a tease
Posted by Leaf on January 9, 2012
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This weekend, we got almost 70 degree weather! The sun was out, people were in t-shirts and shorts. I almost thought this was a sign of a mild winter. So I headed out to work this morning in my lighter winter jacket and decided to leave my hat and gloves home. And when I leave to go home, it’s snowing.
The Body Shop
Posted by Leaf on January 9, 2012
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These dang dong after X-mas sales are too tempting for me to resist sometimes. My latest purchase was a 50% off everything sale from The Body Shop. I think that’s as good as it gets there and I’ve been eyeing their makeup for at least at year, if not longer. So, I figured, since it was all 50% off, I was going to get everything I’ve been wanting to try and then some.
Radiant Highlighter – This wasn’t one of the things I’ve been wanting to try. I got it because everyone raved about it in the reviews. I had no idea what a highlighter is but reviewers said, apply it on your cheeks, nose, and maybe below your eyebrows. It’s supposed to give you a dewy glow. I’ve tried it twice this past weekend and haven’t noticed anything. So I’m starting to think women who obsess over makeup are losing their minds. Me included. I’m putting stuff on my face that’s supposed to make me look good but I can’t even tell the difference. And yet I continue to do it. On the plus side, it’s very easy to apply and doesn’t feel like I have anything on. It doesn’t look like I have anything on either. I wouldn’t get it again.
All in One Face Base – Gosh I haven’t used a makeup compact since I was in college. It takes me back to the days when I was interviewing for jobs and practiced applying makeup with my Cover Girl compact. I felt so grown up. This is the product I’ve been waiting for a year or so to try. I have no idea why I waited so long. I guess I have so many other items I’ve been trying. Bare Escentuals, Boots No. 7 and Neutrogena Mineral Sheers for example.
Baked-to-Last Blush – Not sure why I love buying blushes, but I do. I have 5 or 30 blushes and bronzers and I use them only occasionally. Now blush does give the healthy glow effect more than whatever highlighter. For my sallow skin, it works wonders, maybe that’s why I keep buying them. Then again, buying is just one critical step shy of it actually making a difference with how my face looks. I haven’t tried this one yet, but again, the rave reviews…
Eyeshadow Blender Brush – Half my makeup brushes are paintbrushes I got from Michaels. They work fine but honestly, I could’ve gotten a better deal and probably better quality at E.L.F. Still, I wanted to try this Body Shop model, which is supposed to be particularly versatile. We’ll see.
Shimmer Cubes Palette 07 – I had maybe 3 or so various Body Shop eyeshadows in mind before whittling it down to this one palette of four shades of color. On the one hand, I’m starting to think I ought to stick to matte colors for a more mature look. On the other hand (everytime I use this figure of speech, it reminds me of economists), I like sparkles and shimmer so eh, this is as young as I’m ever going to be. Shimmer me up! Again, I haven’t tried it, but the colors do look pretty and the 4 colors come in individual cubes.
The rest are just body washes and an eye makeup remover. I’m sure they’re wonderful and all but I probably just absentmindedly got them because of the half off sale. I seem to have gotten on a bit of a binge on eye makeup removers. I have 5 or so various brands and they’re all great. Basically, I can’t tell one from another in terms of effectiveness. Women, again, raved about this Body Shop one so I’m trying it.
Gaming
Posted by Leaf on January 8, 2012
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When the weather outside is frightful, we like to stay in and play games. The latest one we bought this week was San Juan.
We played it a little in Taiwan and because this one can be a two to four player game, we decided it was good to have for just the two of us. Also, it’s basically a card game so it’s very compact and portable. I even played a four player round myself once. It’s quite a simple game to pick up and much faster than something like Settlers of Catan. It’s a neat little game we enjoy muy mucho!
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