Why I've Been MIA

Okay, I am officially a bad blogger.  After the whole Anthro ordeal I sort of stopped checking out a lot of blogs for a few weeks.  I unfortunately didn't post anything new on my end either.  I really want to elaborate on a lot of these topics, but here's a quick update on what's been happening with me.

First off, I got engaged!!! My wonderful boyfriend now fiance proposed last Monday at the Rose Gardens on campus.  I didn't expect it at all, and it honestly hasn't sunk in yet.  We're planning to have the wedding next year, but for now I'll post the one thing every girl probably wants to see, which is the ring!

It's absolutely stunning in person.

He also bought me the most gorgeous pink roses.  They lasted so long! 

If you follow me on Yelp at all, you'll notice that I finally got my shiny Elite '11 badge!  This just goes to show that if you put the effort in, write quality reviews, and interact with other yelper's you can become Elite too!  I went to my first event last night with my fiance, and it was really fun!  We met lots of great people, and I hope I can attend another Elite event soon :)

I've been super busy with graduate school.  Between being a TA, my involvement in two committee's, and my courses, I've been jam packed busy.  I didn't realize how much work being the secretary of the chemistry graduate student society was, and I can definitely handle it, but it was a bit of a wake-up call.  I have to give a presentation on a research article in one of my classes next week, which is a bit scary, but I'm sure it will go fine.

So yeah, I feel really bad that I'm not blogging more.  I do have lots to write about, I just haven't had time to write it all out.  Please bear with me followers!  I promise I'll write more posts!

Mini Happiness Project - Reflection

I will shamefully admit that I did not succeed nearly as well as I wanted to on my mini happiness project.  Let's break it down:

1. Write A Yelp Review Every Day

This actually didn't turn out too bad.  I ended up writing 23 reviews for the month of August, which is 8 away from my goal of 31 reviews.  I can't really beat myself up for that one.  I wrote a few multiples in a day, but the point of the matter is that I worked towards my goal of being Yelp Elite.  I'm not Elite yet, but I'll keep working at it until I get that shiny badge on my profile.

2. Contact A Different Person From My Past Every Day

Fail!  I wrote maybe 2 lengthy facebook messages.  I wrote an email to a girl I've semi kept in contact with since I moved from California.  I wrote a quick message on a few facebook walls.  Not even close to my goal.  I want to work towards fixing old friendships, but I feel like graduate school is the start of a brand new chapter in my life, and that some of my old friendships weren't exactly healthy for me.  I think I can forge many new friendships while maintaining some of my older ones I cherish.  I think I'll still reconnect with older friends, but I don't know if I necessarily have to write a facebook message to everyone.  Besides, a lot of them haven't tried to contact me at all!

3.  Write A Blog Post Every Second Day

Well I was smart on this one knowing that I wouldn't write a post every day.  According to Blogger, I wrote 8 posts in August, which is halfway to my goal.  August was just such a mess of plans and getting orientated in the lab.  I'm not saying it is going to be easier to write more often in September (I mean, it took 6 days to write this post), but I do enjoy updating my blog and I'm really excited I have some followers!  I'll keep working at it readers.  Don't give up on me yet!

4.  Spend Less Than 30 Minutes Wasting Time On The Internet In The Morning

Bingo! I rocked this one.  So many wasted hours were being spent on the internet in the morning, which made me late for everything in the past.  Now that I'm back to set schedules (and 9am classes!), I simply can't be late.  I'm getting better at checking my internet and facebook on my phone in the morning, and then just letting it go and getting ready.  I have unfortunately noticed that I'm on the internet a bit more in the evening, but old habits die hard.  At least I can make it to school early now!

5.  Accomplish One Thing On My To-Do List Every Day

This has mostly involved household chores, so it hasn't been that successful.  At all.  I mean, stuff is getting done at home.  Things are being dealt with, I'm caught up on all of my forms and duties that way, but there's a pile of laundry sitting in the bedroom that hasn't been sorted since Thursday.  That's 4 days of laziness!  I mean, I've had other things to do, but that 10 minutes I need to accomplish that has definitely been there.

So, what have I learned?  Well, one thing I learned is that I lost interest in keeping track of this on Excel really quickly (like August 6th quickly).  I should really write things down in a book, not on the computer.  I have an agenda for such purposes now.  I learned that I really need to work at things, because I get in crappy habits and I don't change them unless they are brought to my attention again, and again, and again.  I also learned that I don't really need to sit on the internet checking websites constantly. 

So, what's next?  Well, for starters, I need to start setting long term goals that are more meaningful.  I really want to be a better, more rounded person, but I have to work at it.  I think the next step is to try to figure out what I want to accomplish by the time I finish my Masters.  I am going to over-haul my Day Zero List completely, and then write it out and keep it where I can see it.  I will blog about that once that happens (which may take over a week!).

I have so many fashion posts in my head, I just need to take pictures and write out posts.  Look forward to more posts soon!

Recent Adventures

I know, I promised I'd post a few days ago about my adventures.  But then I went and had more adventures!

Let's start with some Jenga action.  My boyfriend and I were at a going away party for some friends of ours who are leaving Canada for Australia, and one person at the party brought Jenga.  Jenga is one game I can't pass up.  The guy who brought the game had a record for 31 levels.  Of course, we had to beat that.  During our first 3 attempts, I kept knocking the tower over (which led me to refer to myself as the tumbler).  On our next attempt, we made it to 31 levels, with one block missing.  It was my turn.  I was really worried that I would knock it over again.  Fortunately, I managed to handle it like a champ!  Here is my victory photo:

32 levels of awesome.  Unfortunately, the tower fell over during the next turn.

I also went and saw The Help on Friday.  I'm very thankful I went with some girls, because the movie was such a chick flick.  I think 12 guys were in the theater.  Regardless, the movie was great!  I heard the book was amazing, and women we talked to afterwards said that the movie is definitely on the same level as the book, which is rare!  The actresses were all great, especially Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer.  Bryce Dallas Howard was definitely believable as a villain.  The movie sucked me in, and I am very glad I saw it :)

I also went to the Pacific National Exhibition with my boyfriend over the weekend.  We checked out the Superdogs show, went on a few rides (including the super awesome wooden roller coaster), and indulged in deep fried oreos and deep fried pop tarts.  We could only do a few bites of each, but we mostly did it for the experience.  The oreos were definitely better than the pop tart.  My boyfriend also won me a pink domo from the midway (he popped balloons with darts like a champ!).

On a different note, I got featured on Anthroholic's Reader Outfits!  This was really exciting since I read Kim's blog all the time.  You have to scroll down a bit, but I'm beyond excited to be on there.  I'll have to make another outfit and submit it soon :)

I plan to post more soon, particularly about what I learned from not succeeding at my mini happiness project.  I also want to post more personal fashion!

Goodbye Vacation, Hello Graduate School

Yesterday I started the next stage of my career: graduate school.  I was unbelievably nervous before my first day.  I believe I mentioned this in a previous blog post, but I switched from analytical chemistry to a biochemistry lab where I'll be doing more synthesis and product characterization.  This is completely out of my chemistry comfort zone, but it's something I want to do.  I feel it's a much better fit, at least in terms of my interest and future career goals.  I was mostly worried that I would be completely lost in the lab and have zero idea what was going on.

Luckily for me, my lab group is super nice.  I know all of the theory behind the lab techniques, but I've never done any biology or biochemistry labs.  I'm not really sure why I was so worried.  They don't expect me to know how to do everything.  They are also happy to explain a lot of things, which is good because I'm full of questions.  I know I'm only a few days in, but I can confidently say that I chose the right lab group.

That being said, in terms of my Mini Happiness Project I'm failing.  I missed 3 days of Yelp Reviews, 5 days of blog posts, and 6 days of contacting people I haven't spoken to in awhile.  I've managed to get some things off of my to-do list, but it's mostly cleaning.  The one place where I'm succeeding is getting off the internet quickly in the morning.  I've only been on my computer for 30 minutes twice in the morning this month so far.  The rest of the days I'm able to walk away after 10 or 15 min. 

The best part about this is that I was actually able to fit in Level 3 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred this morning before I went to work.  This never would have happened before.  It felt good to knock out the workout in the morning since I've been slacking the past few days.  On that note, Level 3 is vastly superior to Level 2.  It's much easier on the knees and you really feel the workout afterwards.  I'm especially a fan of all of the jumping.

Okay, enough text.  Let's end on a fashion note.  I'm hooked on these Talula Bustier's from Aritzia.  I now own it in 4 colors: black, white, purple, and bright pink.  They're excellent for wearing when I go out at night, and for $30 the price is definitely right. 

Mini Happiness Project

Have you read the Happiness Project?  I found it at the library a few days ago in the "Fast Read" section (which basically means you have one week to read it without fines).  I've always wanted to check it out since it's practically everywhere in bookstores.  It also has mixed reviews on Amazon, so I was curious to say the least.  I finally started reading it yesterday and I'm already 100 pages in. 

One of the mantra's I've gotten from the book so far is that you can accomplish a lot by doing a small amount of a task every day.  I spend so much time mindlessly clicking from blog to blog (or facebook) that the days just rush by.  I feel like I use "I just didn't have enough time" as an excuse far too often.  If I didn't waste so much time on my computer, I could get tons of things done!  I could read all of those books collecting dust on my shelf.  I could spend more time with my boyfriend.  My to-do list wouldn't sit there stagnating. 

I mean, look at me now.  I came onto the computer to write a blog post and send a friend a facebook message, and I've been on here over an hour!  I probably couldn't even tell you all of the websites I visited.  I only know how long I've been on here because I wrote a tweet at 9:45pm. 

So I sat here and thought about what I want to accomplish for August.  I know I'm starting my Master's, which is a huge deal.  But I have to have more goals for myself.  I wrote on my blog on Thursday that I wanted to work towards becoming Yelp Elite.  That's not going to happen if I don't keep writing reviews.  I also want to reconnect with some old friends.  I'm always jealous that my boyfriend has stayed in contact with lots of his high school and university friends, and all I can say is that I'm friends with mine on Facebook.  Third, I want to write more posts for this blog.  I only have 9 posts to show for July, and only 5 for June!  This is unacceptable.  Every day I think about things I can write about, and then it never happens. 

I know that these three things all involve spending time on the computer.  I don't think spending time on the computer is harmful for say.  What is harmful is that I waste so much of my day aimlessly going to websites (especially when I wake up in the morning!).  I get notifications on my phone, do I really need to physically check facebook and twitter so often?  I barely tweet!  Do I really need to check blogs so often?  The posts will still be there at 10pm if I don't read them in the morning.  I can't even imagine how much time I'd save if I just didn't waste so much time in the mornings. 

It's time to make a change.  Here is a list of 5 things I would like to accomplish in August for my mini Happiness Project:

1.  Write a Yelp review every day.
2.  Contact a different person from my past every day.
3.  Write a blog post every second day.
4.  Spend less than 30 minutes on unimportant things on the internet every morning.
5.  Accomplish one thing on my to-do list every day.

Will this be difficult?  Of course!  It's not supposed to be easy.  I don't expect to accomplish all of these goals.  I just want to try.  There's many more things I want to work on, but these are things that are "easier" to change. 


I know there are so many more pressing issues out there.  I know that the blog posts and the yelp reviews won't really change anything outside of my internet life, and my life won't be negatively affected if I never wrote a post or review again.  This project is intended to improve my confidence.  I hope that by the end of the month I'll be more confident in myself and not feel self conscious about what I post.  I have to stop being afraid that people will think I'm dumb or unattractive.  Even if one person thinks I should never write again, I have to believe that someone else doesn't feel the same way.

Let's see how this goes.

Random Musings

I feel like I've been wasting so much time on the internet the past few weeks and accomplishing nothing.  I kind of just scan blogs, check facebook and twitter (even though I rarely post anything), and read celebrity gossip websites.  I've started writing some yelp reviews, with hopes that maybe one day I'll become elite.  I'm not sure if the amount of reviews I have so far deserves elite status, but it would be really cool!  A few of my friends are elite but I don't want to be all like "help me become elite!"

The problem with not working the entire month is that my mind has just been wandering like crazy.  Absolute crazy.  I'm also not making money so I'm finding it hard to justify spending money on myself.  Plus there are purchases I can't avoid like my $81 bus pass for August and a birthday gift I still have to get for my dad (I have until August 4th!).  I found him a father's day gift already (he is getting a late combined gift due to the Canada Post strike) but my first idea for a birthday gift fell through so now I'm stumped. 

I also think my running shoes are wearing out.  Today when I was running my right foot started hurting.  A lot.  When my endurance crapped out and I walked the last kilometer home, my foot stopped hurting.  I hope that it is pain from shoes and not my actual foot.  Another note about my run today: I couldn't figure out why everything was so quiet, and then I realized I forgot my iPod shuffle at home!  I tried to keep going but it's amazing how much of an impact music has on your workout, so I had to come home, grab the iPod, and continue my run. 

My iPod shuffle and headphones my boyfriend bought me.

I realized today that I haven't actually posted a picture of myself in an outfit from my actual closet in awhile.  Here is the H&M dress I am wearing today.  This dress is easily 2 years old.  Funny story about it.  I originally tried on this dress in a smaller size, and I got stuck in it!  I didn't know what to do so I grabbed my purse and walked out into the store to try and find my boyfriend and his roommate at the time and had to announce "I'm stuck in this dress, can you please come to the change room to help me?" It was quite embarrassing. Needless to say, I bought the next size up. 

Sorry this picture is a bit blurry.

I know I'm late with this, but hearing about Amy Winehouse's death made me upset. When I was going through a really rough time a few years back, I bought her "Back to Black" album.  I identified with a few of the songs on the album, particularly the title track.  In fact, I quoted some lyrics on my facebook status.  I was subtle like that.  Anyways, it is a magnificent album.  It's such a shame she died so young, but she was clearly troubled.  May she rest in peace. 

Every Shoe Has A Story

When it comes to writing blog posts, I feel I've been lacking inspiration lately.  Not one to abandon posting entirely, I decided to go through my iPhoto library to see if anything jumped out at me.  Fortunately, my shoe collection did.  Before I moved, I took a picture of each pair of shoes I have in my closet that I only wear on special occasions.  I've amassed a nice little collection over the years, so as a test to myself I am going to write about why I bought each pair. 
 
Burberry Platform Wedge Shoes:

I bought these on a break from the first chemistry conference I ever went to.  I was looking for a nice summer shoe that I could wear with a dress or a skirt.  Unfortunately these shoes are absolutely painful!  I wore them for one day of the conference and within an hour I had to hobble over to a store to buy bandaids for all of my blisters.  I haven't worn these shoes since, which is a shame because they're really nice.

Le Chateau Black Heels:

These were purchased for a New Year's Eve party in my hometown.  I found out last minute the party was formal, not casual, and Le Chateau was the only place that was open and had a nice stock of dresses and shoes.  I hardly wear the dress anymore, but I wear these shoes to the bar or club every so often.  If you look at the right shoe, a piece of the silver is missing.  These shoes have been around, but they're super comfortable.

Ugg Boots

I love Ugg Boots.  I love them so much that I have two pairs, one short and one tall.  I ordered both from the Victoria's Secret catalog.  I practically lived in these during my undergraduate because where I went to university it would get down to -40°C in the winter (once it even got down to -50°C) so warm boots were necessary.  I can't wear these when the temperature is above 0°C because my feet get too warm.  I'll never understand how girls wear these in 30°C heat. 


Stuart Weitzman Cachet Satin Black Heels:

These shoes were on sale at Holt Renfrew a few years ago.  I was hanging out with my friend and I made him drive me there so that I could pick these up.  These are my go-to black high heel shoes.  I wore these to the wedding I attended recently, conferences, and many, many other events.  They're wearing out, and sometimes they still give me blisters, but I like them too much to stop wearing them.


Coach Harmony Heels:

These are my break-up shoes from about 3 years ago.  Break-ups are never fun, even if you do the breaking up, so I was a bit down and decided to go to Holt Renfrew to buy myself something nice.  I ended up going with these shoes.  They're comfortable, but they slip off really easily.  


J. Crew Estella Grosgrain Espadrilles:

These are summer shoes that my mom bought me, but I haven't worn them yet.  What a shame.


Jimmy Choo Nova Patent Leather Slingbacks:

These were a present from my dad for graduating with my chemistry degree (with first class honors).  He promised them to me before I started my degree and held true to his word.  I only wore them for my grad but they were very comfortable and didn't give me any blisters.  I need to stop being afraid to wear them and start enjoying them more.

Jimmy Choo Lantern d'Orsay Pump:

I actually won these in a contest at Holt Renfrew!  My mom was browsing the cosmetics counters and taking a long time, so I decided to enter a few draws.  About 3 months later I got the best voice mail message I've received in years, saying I won a pair (with a value up to $699).  I had to order these in from a different store because apparently size 8's are very popular, but they're gorgeous and all mine.


Tory Burch Reva Flats:

My latest purchase.  I blogged about wanting to buy these shoes earlier.  I haven't worn these out yet, but I've worn them around the house and they are quite comfy.  Much love for the Tory Burch flats :)

In other news, my picture was included on Anthroholic's Blogiversary Bash post.  Talk about awesome!

Personal Update

I feel really bad that I haven't had much time to write new posts for my blog, even though I haven't started graduate school yet.  Somehow my days are becoming filled even though it feels I haven't done anything worth mentioning.  Plus it doesn't help that every day I've had to spend an hour on the phone dealing with something, whether it's my cell phone provider charging me for 4 GB of data in one day that I didn't use, a broken phone jack (which is getting repaired as I type this), or problems filling out form after form after form.  I never moved anywhere where I had to reset up everything, so the amount of work that went into setting up my life again was unexpectedly time consuming.  I'm finally at the end of my to-do list, all I have to do is finish writing a report on work I did at my previous job in June (I realize now I should have done this one first, but it just got pushed to the back burner).

One thing I've been enjoying is being able to get back in exercise and running after a 3 week hiatus.  The building I live in has a small cardio gym with an elliptical, stairmaster, and all of the weights you could ever want.  I also live close to the seawall, which has encouraged me to get back into running.  Yesterday I broke my personal record and ran 8.34 km (or 5.18 mi) straight.  I tried out the Lululemon Turbo Run Shorts I blogged about last week and they worked wonderfully.  My ultimate goal is being able to run a 10 km race, and now I think that I can actually accomplish that by next year. 

Another thing I am excited about is having a library card again.  When I lived in California, I lived near a store called Half Price Books that sold tons of books for less than $3 each, so I ended up buying a lot of books instead of borrowing them.  I found out I live relatively close to a branch of the Vancouver Public Library, so I got a library card and placed a bunch of style books on hold that I've been wanting to check out for awhile, such as Lauren Conrad's "Style" and Whitney Port's "True Whit".  I also put "The Four Hour Body" on hold, mostly because I am intrigued by what he has to say and Dr. Oz didn't say the entire book was garbage.  I also put "The Hunger Games" on hold, but I'm hold position 139 so I'll probably get that next year.

As a final note, here is a picture of my absolutely wonderful boyfriend and myself at the wedding we attended almost two weeks ago.  Enjoy!

Wedding!

I love weddings.  I've only been to a few, but every time I've gone to one I've enjoyed the experiences.  It is nice to see families and friends reunited in celebration of two people falling in love.  The wedding of my boyfriend's sister and her now husband was a wonderful experience.

Here is the outfit I ended up wearing:

Dress: Anthropologie Beau Ideal Dress
Cardigan: J. Crew Jackie Cardigan
Necklace: Tiffany Heart Key Charm
Watch: Gucci
Shoes (can't be seen): Stuart Weitzman Cachet Heels in Satin Black (seen in photo below)

These shoes are super old and broken in, which is why I wore them.  They still hurt after wearing them for hours.

Here is the absolutely stunning bride and groom:

It was sunny when it needed to be, and then it became cloudy not even 20 minutes after the ceremony.

Here is the awesome teacup cake and cupcake spread.  They had this honey cinnamon cupcake there that was AMAZING.

As a joke at the wedding, some of my boyfriends/brides family made some hats that were inspired by Princess Eugenie's and Princess Beatrice's worn at the Royal Wedding.  I couldn't help myself and decided to try them on:

All in all, it was a wonderful wedding.  I ended up scoring a teapot and two teacups from the centerpieces since they were going to be donated to Goodwill.  I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but I will love them just the same.  I also ended up going to a nightclub after the ceremony.  I'm pretty sure it was one of the few times an Anthropologie dress has stepped foot in a nightclub.  Hopefully I will be able to attend more weddings in the future!

I'm still here!

Hello readers,

I wrote a post well over a week ago mentioning that I am moving to Vancouver from the San Francisco area of California. Well, I officially arrived back in Canada on July 1st (how patriotic for Canada Day) and am almost settled in my new place. The drive was long (2 days of driving) but my boyfriend and I made it in one piece. We are getting Internet tomorrow, so I will be able to write regular posts again. I have already made a trip to the Lululemon Lab and will write a much better blog post when I am not writing on my iPad in a coffee shop. A more interesting post with pictures is on its way!

Martina

I Have Exciting News!

My life has been a whirlwind of exciting news at the moment.  First, my boyfriend has found a great job in Vancouver!  Second, it starts at the beginning of July, so that means we will be moving back to Canada at the end of the month, which is much sooner than we thought.  This has made the past few days a whirlwind of giving 30 days notice to everyone, planning the move, and looking for places in Vancouver.  I have also requested an early start for my master's. 

Coupled with all of this excitement, I am leaving for Montreal tomorrow morning for the Canadian Society for Chemistry conference.  I will be sure to document my conference outfits throughout the week, since that is my most popular blog post by far.  I'm really looking forward to meeting up with friends and old colleagues, and visiting a city (and province) I've never been to before.

I also got my hair cut today for the first time in six months.  I've been keeping my hair long for at least 2 years, and I decided to get it cut shorter because my hair is abnormally thick and takes forever to dry.  It also gets that annoying curl near the bottom that I'm not a fan of.

Hair length before.

New haircut!

I'm really happy with the result.  It's too short to wear in a ponytail right now, but I'm going to be rocking headbands and flat ironed hair anyways for the next week, so it's really not a big deal.

Hopefully I'll get back to blogging regularly after this trip! 

Happy Easter!

Today was a special day for two reasons.  It is Easter Sunday and it is also my boyfriend's birthday.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I decided to make my boyfriend bread pudding for breakfast.  Here is the recipe I used:

Cinnamon Swirl Breakfast Bread Pudding (found in Cosmopolitan magazine)

4 eggs
1½ cups milk
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ loaf day-old bread, cut into cubes
¼ cup pecans, chopped
Nonstick cooking spray
Maple syrup
In a large bowl, whisk eggs and milk. Add the brown sugar, vanilla extract, and cinnamon, and whisk until all the ingredients are completely incorporated. Stir the bread and pecans into the egg mixture. Coat an 8-inch-by-8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Pour in the bread pudding, and cover with foil. Let sit in the refrigerator at least one hour and up to overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the bread pudding, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake an additional 10 minutes, until the pudding is browned. Serve hot with maple syrup. 

I mixed the pudding last night, and baked it this morning.

Bread pudding before baking:

Bread pudding after baking:

The pudding turned out very well, and was great with syrup.  I would highly recommend this recipe since it is both simple and yummy.

For another Easter activity, we decided to color Easter eggs using a $2 kit we found at Safeway.  Here is the finished result:

We also decided to make Skittles Vodka.  Using this recipe, we made Strawberry and Lime vodka, as seen below:

Strawberry Skittles Vodka

Lime Skittles Vodka

The great thing about this recipe is that you can still taste the skittles, but the vodka isn't overly sweet.  We will definitely make this again.

Overall, I had a very good Easter.  I am a little bit disappointed that I was unable to find Cadbury Mini Eggs where I live (I eat way too many every Easter) but there is always next year!

Science overload

On Friday the facility I work at decided that they should schedule four different research seminars on the same day.  Learning about science is fun and all (I have a degree in it after all), but after all of those seminars my brain was fried and this is what I ended up drawing:

One hour's worth of doodles.

As you can see, my drawings are very creative.  I'm particularly a fan of the dinosaur and the paintbrush.

Tomorrow morning I will attempt to make Cinnamon Swirl Breakfast Bread Pudding for my boyfriend's birthday.  If it turns out decent, I will be sure to post the recipe with pictures.