Sugar shack 2011

Last March 27, 0n a lovely, bright, yet still cold Sunday morning, my mother, siblings and significant others went out for our annual end of Winter slash beginning of Spring outing: the Sugar shack!

This is the same place we went last year. They renovated it ALL. It's very nice looking, clean and has some kind of fresh feeling to it. I liked it a lot, it was a fun gathering, but if my friends from overseas came to Canada and told me they want to experience a true Canadian sugar shack, I don't think I would take them there.

Not because it's not good, but because it doesn't inspire, true, "good old" sugar shack. Anyway. Let's go on with... pictures!

Outside

Inside

Impatiently waiting for food...

Yay! Food is here!

Potatoes, bacon, sausage, eggs & ham with maple syrup. Yummy~

Sugar pie for dessert!

Then we go back outside...

In the little shack at the back... maple sugar on a stick! (I'm really not sure how they call it in english, in french it's "de la tire".)

Fresh from the ice/snow.

Yum yum~

Machine to heat up the sap of the maples to create sugar and syrup.
That one's an oldie!

This was so random I had to take a picture.
Yes. It's a chair on the ceiling... Not too sure why...

It was good times! I really enjoy going to the sugar shack. Usually the maple sugar season starts in March and ends in mid or end of April, depending on the weather.

When it's time for the maple sugar, the sap from the tree is clear. When the sap becomes white, it means the season's over!


Had you ever heard of sugar shacks?
Have you been to one? Would you like to try it out?

Micabella Mineral Make-up

Beware of long post - Image heavy

I'm not an impulsive buyer. I always give thought before buying something. "Do I REALLY need this?" "What else could I buy with the amount of money spent on this?" "What if I could find the same thing for a cheaper price elsewhere?" ... But last month I splurged and spit out a few bucks for a whole new set/kit of make-up.

Micabella Cosmetics.

Micabella is said to be 100% mineral make-up that it is hypoallergenic, fragrance free, non-comedogenic, and it is long lasting. It is also NOT tested on animals. And apparently it has a high antioxidant level to help protect skin from future damage, premature aging and reduce the appearance of damaged skin.

I heard of Micabella a few years ago, but the kiosk at my mall disappeared before I had a chance to go investigate. A new kiosk has appeared in a different mall, so I stopped buy one random day while I was browsing, what the hell, I had time to waste. The gentleman there was pushy and really bold about the whole thing. But I preferred him over the other girl working there, she didn't seem to give a crap about anything (and she was smoking outside when I walked in... sorry but, uuh no).

I get excited every time I use this make-up now, especially the eye shadows.

Why? Because you can use the eye shadows as: #1- Eye shadow, #2- Eye liner, #3- Lip balm/gloss and #4- Nail polish.

And on top, it doesn't expire (call me dumb, but I had no idea make-up, especially in powder form, expired... you learn something new every day!) and even though the little pots are the same size as the M.A.C. eye shadows, they have 1 extra gram of powder in them.

My little bundle of new found make-up love.

Note: I had a hard time with the lighting, so I took two sets of pictures, with and without flash. Even then, the pictures don't give justice to the colors. They are 10 times prettier when you see them up close and personal in real life.

Foundation and blush.

The foundation is super light. Of course, you feel it when you apply it but just a few seconds later, it felt like I had nothing on my skin, at all. The blush is very concentrated, so I never need lots to give the look I want, which means it'll last for a very long time.

The many eye shadow colors. Love~

I originally got the purple and the light beige/cream color to begin with the foundation and blush. Then I went back two weeks later to get 8 extra colors. Normally these go for 14.50$ on their website, but I got 8 for 80$, 10$ each!

This is the brush I use, when I want to use the shadow as eye liner. I use a flat brush, but there are different ones. One of my friend likes to use an angled brush more, her preference. Dip your brush in water, then into eye shadow and apply. Magic!

First line is the eye shadow used as eye liner. Second "line" is eye shadow applied with a cotton swab. Normally I use a brush for eye shadow, but I found it easier to use cotton swab to show the color on my skin.

I was a little disappointed the green didn't come out as green on eye liner. But the color is GORGEOUS just as eye shadow itself. Especially with hazel/brown eyes.

Same as above, first line on the left is eye liner, then eye shadow. The third and new one is lip balm!

Clear lip balm as displayed. I use a cotton swab every time when I use it. Take a bit of lip balm, then dip in eye shadow and apply. It's FANTASTIC! It's not sticky, barely smells anything and lasts super long! (Well unless you eat or drink something... but I wasn't expecting it to stay on for that.)

From left to right, lip balm, eye shadow, eye liner. The color on the right is pink, like a hot, redish pink. But it's really not THAT read in person.

The color on the right is more creamy than silver. It's the color I wear most, especially for work!

And voila! Magic! (Or I like to think so...)

To use as lip gloss, Micabella sells a clear lip gloss just as there is the balm. And for the nail polish, you can use your every day clear nail polish. Take note though, that the crystals and minerals from the shadow will likely end up in your bottle when you dip the brush back into the bottle.

I'm totally in love with this make-up. The eye shadow lasts a little longer than M.A.C., but it of course fades over time. I usually apply about two layers of shadow and find it's enough. For a bolder look, apply more, and for something lighter, apply less, obviously.

What do you guys think?

Have you heard or tried Micabella before?
Would you purchase it?

Help Japan... with socks!

Many people I know, who share their love of Japan with me, have sent money to disaster relief companies across the world to help Japan. While I think this is very generous of them, I have been having a small battle within myself on weither to send money or not.


I could spare 10$ but I worry. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, donating money can rarely ever be a bad thing, it's good actually. But more I read, the more it seems as though relief organizations are “over funded”, it's like they have more money than they know what to do with. Surely, with everyone donating around the world, even just in America itself, they would have plenty.



Tofugu explains this well. While he has donated himself, he too, feels that there should be and are better ways to help Japan than giving money to the organization. For us, overseas, on the other side of the planet, it's hard to help. Honestly, I just want to book a ticket, fly to Japan and volunteer into helping those who have to go through all the hardship. But this is not a possibility for me right now.



So instead, I will be sending socks to Japan!





Jason Kelly has started a project to get socks and letters of hope to those in the affected areas of the earthquake and tsunami. He is close enough that he can go off to deliver the goods himself, but far enough that he can still receive mail and still be safe in this time of crisis.


I think this is a brilliant idea and I will be participating in this project. I will be dropping by the store today on my way back from work, buy a few packages of socks. I'm hopping to find brightly colored ones, because bright colors cheer me up.


If you're interested, check out Jason Kelly's website, it explains everything clearly and gives you all the details if you wish to participate in this project. His website is here: HelpJapan

I think I will also be writing a letter or two, to be given at random to the survivors.

I don't know for you, but it would give me hope and cheer me up, if I received a letter and socks from someone I didn't know, from across the world. Just shows how much people care in times like these.


What do you think of this project? Good idea? Bad idea? Have you donated money? Do you think you will participate in Socks for Japan?

I Left My Heart In Tokyo

I haven't been shopping much lately because I'm going out of town for 3 days in a week, and I want to shop lots when I'm over there.

But here are a few recent gets...

Love Ring

My "love ring". I'd been searching a ring to wear on my right index finger, but couldn't really find anything that appealed to me all that much. I found this one 2 weeks ago in an Avon catalog that a friend of mine had brought home from work. I just HAD to get it, it's perfect, I love it.

Cuban shell bracelet

My sister traveled to Cayo Coco in Cuba for a week, two weeks ago and she brought this back for me. I told her I just wanted an ankle bracelet, I didn't really care what it looked like. I love anklets for the summer and since it's approaching soon I'm on the hunt for new ones (my previous ones have all changed colors or broke). This bracelet is made out of real shells and has a specially designed cord that makes it so you can wear it around your wrist or your ankle since it's re-sizable.

Tear drop swarovski pendant

This isn't recent, I received this pendant as a gift from my Valentine on V-day. I forgot to take a picture of it and put it in my February update. So here it is~ I love swarovski and he knows, so of course I was reaaally happy when he gave me the little blue box. I already have one swarovski necklace, it's a small, pink heart with a butterfly. I think I'm starting a collection...

Garage T-shirt

T-shirt I got on sale for 10$ at Garage clothing store. I stopped shopping there a while back because I found it was too young for me now, but sometimes they have good sales on t-shirt and one can never have too many. This one stood out of all the other ones cause of it's color. I found it looked good with my skin tone.

I left my heart in Tokyo T-shirt

This one I couldn't leave the store without it. Especially since it was ONLY 5$ !!! Can you believe it? I don't think I've ever purchased a piece of clothing so cheap. Plus the statement on the t-shirt itself is true, and could not be more true. I traveled to Japan back in 2009. I was in Tokyo for 2 weeks. I loved it there, I want to go back, I will go back. Part of me said there when I left. Fun fact. My belly button is pierced, has been since I was 16. While I was in Japan, I was wearing a belly ring that my mother had bought me a few months prior to our trip. It was just a simple silver one, with a rhinestone and a clear crystal heart hanging at the bottom. Did you take a guess yet? Yep. I woke up one morning and the little crystal heart was gone. Poof! Disappeared! We looked all over the room and couldn't find it. I LITERALLY left my heart in Tokyo. :)


Which of these is your favorite?
Do you have a special item from another country?
What's your most precious gift from a loved one?