I didn’t know Dollarama sold freezies, let alone Warhead flavoured ones! I couldn’t resist trying these out. They come in 4 flavours: watermelon, blue raspberry, apple and black cherry.
Of course they must be chilled a day before you actually eat them. My first reaction to the pops was “hey this isn’t too sour” but then after about 5 seconds you get the note of sour. I wouldn’t say it was “extreme”, it is just the right amount of sour to both tease your tastebuds and make them still edible.
I joined the recent craze of collecting cats on my iPhone via the app Neko Atsume (available for both iOS and Android). The game is entirely in Japanese but it’s self explanatory if you use common sense. There are also plenty of game guides out there that teach you all the secrets.
The game isn’t really one you can keep playing for hours at a time. It’s something you can come back to whenever you want to check on your cats (they won’t die). The premise is to lure wild cats with toys, food and more. There’s a diary that keeps track of all the cats you’ve seen and “photos” you’ve taken of them.
When the cats like you enough they will bring gifts like feathers. In game money is two different kinds of fish. A gold and silver. The gold ones are premium money which you can buy with real money. However, I found it super easy to gain without spending a dime. Money can be used to buy items such as food and toys as well as expand and decorate your house/garden.
So what are you waiting for? Why don’t you start collecting some cats?
I’m an early adopter of social media. I often join everything only to find out that things fall out of trend later. The “new Facebook” pops up every so often and everyone jumps on the ship only to fall overboard a few months later. Then there are the ones that do survive. What do you use? Should we be on all of them? I consciously decided that I don’t need to be.
If you asked me last year, I’d probably tell you that you should be on everything. In fact, I tried to be. It was exhausting. I even stuck on ello for way too long. I used chimed.in until it was dead. I saw the death of digg. I even used the “new Myspace” for longer than anyone else.
I’ve decided to trim a bit of my online fat. I can’t be on everything it is exhausting. I decided to use the platforms that work best for me. I keep trying to make Snapchat work for me, but it just doesn’t make sense in my life. I love Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, WordPress, Tumblr, Flickr and those will be my main platforms for now on. You’ll occasionally see a Periscope (I chose it over Meerkat) or a Vine. Google+ makes an appearance from time to time (I still get a ton of interactions there), but I feel like Google’s (or should I say Alphabet’s) recent changes will put the nail on that coffin soon.
It still looks like I post on many platforms, but most of those can be synced. Focusing on specific platforms now allows me to focus on creating better content and spend less time on my phone/computer and more time living.
I’m continuing my journey to try beers with cool casings and so I bought Underdogs Brewhouse’s All or Nothing Hopfenweise. It has assertive hops but a sweet, citrus-like flavour. This one went down easy but wasn’t shy on the flavour!
Today I read an article about people who were so addicted to the internet they needed to go to rehab for internet addiction. It was an extensive article and by the end of it I started to wonder if I have a type of internet addiction.
4 years ago, I wrote a post where I admitted that I wouldn’t give the internet up for $50 million. I still think that way. In fact, social media has become an increasingly big part of our lives. It’s hard to make any changes unless we decide collectively as a society. It’s now legitimately part of my paid full-time job and a tool that has helped me with opportunities, friends and adventures.
Despite this, I’ve made an effort in the past year to put the phone down whenever I’m with other people (except for the occasionally Instagram with food). I try to not to check feeds when I’m out and enjoy the company around me. I think working with social media as a profession has changed what I do personally in my off hours. I relish the time where I’m occupied with other things. At the same time, I do feel the urge and the obligation to be writing and publishing (at least this blog) every day.
What’s important though is that I know I don’t have a serious addiction and there are two main points that rule out if your internet browsing is problematic:
1) Is it affecting your school work or job?
2) Is the time you are spending on the internet affecting your relationships with people in a negative manner?
3) Does using it/not using it significantly affect your mood?
If you said yes to any or both of these things, you might want to evaluate and control how much time you are spending online.
I finally received my copies of Exploding Kittens aka the most funded Kickstarter thing like ever. It is a game created by Elan Lee, Shane Small and Matthew Inman, who we all know as The Oatmeal.
I contributed more than $30 so I received both the regular and NSFW set (which is actually a great deal). I also received a mini personalized poster.
The regular deck when opened up actually meows and reveals a photo of a cat vomiting rainbows. The NSFW deck is more of a normal box but the cards in sign are legitimately ridiculous.
Can you guess which cards are NSFW?
The instructions are fairly simple. Before you even finish unfolding the instructions they recommend you just watch a video. The object of the game is to not get an exploding kitten. Here’s that video:
See it’s fairly simple and the new greatest game ever.
When I was a kid, I didn’t have much lego. They were expensive so it wasn’t something my parent’s prioritized in buying us. As an adult, I love to build (and collect) things and Lego appeals to all ages. We randomly bought some Lego Simpsons mini figures (I love the Simpsons).
Nash and I ended up with date night Marge and Smithers! But now this has started an addiction and I actually compulsively ordered the Lego Simpsons House on Amazon. I can’t wait to build it. Building things together is an awesome date idea and my order can’t come soon enough!
I love our selection of local beers, especially when they have crazy designs like this Crazy Beard Wild Apple Ale brewed in Ottawa, Ontario.
Despite having apples, Crazy Beard is not a cider, it is a malt barely ale. The sweet apple taste does make it resemble a cider and it goes down super easy. The art might be a bit crazy but it’s super delicious!
It’s not often I blog about going into a store, but I couldn’t resist this one. Japanese store MUJI had opened up last year but I didn’t follow the hype. Plus, they were so popular that they were completely out of stock for the first few months. I finally paid it a visit today because I was looking for a small shelf for my make-up. MUJI was known for having household goods that were affordable.
When I walked in, I was impressed by the “lack of branding”. It’s part of MUJI’s mission statement to not have branding slapped all over their products. They really do focus on being minimal. In the above photo, these tiny squares are actually T-shirts and towels. How a towel can fit in a cube, I do not know.
These lotions and soaps look so plain, it’s almost amazing in our North American branded world. I guess when you really think about it, their lack of branding IS the brand.
There were so many cool (but totally unnecessary things). Take this beautiful CD player you can hang on your wall for example.
My favourite section was the stationery section. They had a wide selection of notebooks, paper, pens and post-it notes shaped as cats. It was all affordable! I dragged myself out of there before I bought everything.
I did end up buying this notebook with recycled paper. The paper actually feels smooth, unlike the newsprinty stuff you get here when notebooks are eco friendly. It was only $2.50
I also purchased this random hexagon shaped pen.
And.. I did find the perfect mini-drawer for my makeup!
Tada!
More trips to Muji are in order soon.
August just started and I think for this month I want to continue the optimistic outlook on life that I strove for in April. My life is sweet right now and I’m happy with how things are. I have had so many adventures and there are still many more to come in the next few weeks.
Tonight, I’m just chilling and having ice cream with the boyfriend! Everything is perfect.
Tiana Feng 