Over the weekend, I went to Allan Gardens. Here are some photos of flowers:
Waterfront Walks
After the duck, we went for a walk around the Toronto waterfront.
Here’s a photo of a bunch of colourful canoes and the duck butt in the background.
We ended up with a trip to the Toronto Music Garden, which had a lot of beautiful flowers and displays:
All photos taken with the FUJIx100T
Woke Up At Sunrise to Get Ducky
Today I woke up before sunrise to see the giant duck. While it may seem random to celebrate Canada’s birthday with a giant rubber duck, this thing has brought joy to all types of people all weekend. Maybe that’s the point.
While I wanted to capture the colours of the rising sun, I also wanted to watch the stillness of the morning before tens of thousands of people descended on the waterfront a few hours later.
Here are some photos with no or very little people:
photos taken with the fujifilm x100T
Extended Canada weekend
Relaxing lots this weekend before I move on Tuesday! I am going to visit the duck in the early AM so off to early bed.
Happy Canada Day!
It’s Canada Day long weekend. While Canada’s 150th birthday should acknowledge the past suffering of Indigenous peoples, there are still things I’m grateful for all the privilege I have experienced in being born here.
I’m relatively free to look how I want, studied what I wanted, marry who I want to. I can blog about what I want, a freedom of speech that doesn’t happen in China where my parents were born.
I think we can celebrate Canada as a country and the freedom it allows many, but also continue listening to our Indigenous neighbours.
Solitary Wandering
I find solace in wandering alone. Today I had the day off and I spent a lot of it walking around town without many specific aims.
I love falling in love with Toronto all over again, specifically my west-end neighbourhood. I like supporting local businesses instead of chains when possible. Today I discovered a local fruit & veggie mart where I picked up a few things and my total was like $2. I also sat in a local café, had a coffee and contemplated life. The other day I ordered a delicious banh mi from a small snack shop for $3.50 and brought it for lunch.
There’s so much you can find if you look close enough at your neighbourhood.
I Wear Makeup For Me
I saw this article the other day and I thought it was hilarious:
I could relate to the joke article. People always like to tell me I look more beautiful without make-up. I’m fine with my face without makeup, but I also fuckin’ love makeup too.
I find it empowering because I can decide what I want to look like. I could be a goth one day, a sparkly pixie the next, or a grown up woman going to an adult party.
A lipstick can make you feel powerful. A vixen red, a cute pink, a daring brown. It’s not just the colour that does it, it’s the fact that I decided.
I love eyeshadows because it’s like painting my face. I could have rainbow lids, smokey eye, but I choose it.
Makeup to me isn’t about what anybody else tells me I look best in. It’s the power of the colour I want to feel at the moment.
Etude House Sunprise Sunscreen
I learned when I was 26 or 27 that I had PLME. I don’t know if I always had it, but I didn’t show symptoms until my late 20s. Sunscreen is suddenly super important in summer. I don’t want my face to flare up, nor do I want my arms to be continuously itchy!
For my face, I’ve been using a lot of Korean BB creams, but I recently picked up this Étude House Sunprise online. Korean/asian sunscreens tend to be better than American ones because they protect from both UVA/UVB rays and are continuously updated. Here in America, the sunscreen technology takes a long time to be approved. The land of the 10 step skin-care routine has to have their sunscreen down!
I liked the sun screen. It went on very smoothly and disappeared. There’s a tiny bit of a white sheen, but I figure that’s what helps reflect the sun. When I used it on my face, it made my bb cream super smooth. I liked that it was not greasy and absorbed right away. Bonus: It has a light lime smell as opposed to a generic sunscreen smell.
If you’re into Asian sunscreens, I’d love to know your recommendations.
New Pokemon Gym Update
I love the new Pokemon gym update. They now function as Pokéstops, have a new battle and reward system. In addition, this new thing called “raids” happen at them occasionally.
I’m more motivated to play the game actively again and to go on more walks. Time to go catch ’em all.
Pikachu x Tonymoly Eyeshadow
I finally found some Pokémon x Tonymoly stuff at my local Korean grocery store (in the cosmetics section). I couldn’t resist this Pikachu eyeshadow.
The shadows are sparkly neutral browns. It’ll definitely be a frequently used palette as neutral colours are great for work and pretty much any occasion.
Here’s a quick photo with a blend of the first and third colour. The colours are very smooth and decent quality. I wasn’t expecting much more than the packaging but Tonymoly never disappoints!
Tiana Feng 