It Started with a Journal

So after all the drama and controversy (on my LJ if not RL), I ended up going to the Indian dinner after all. LOL. Long story short, K. got a sitter (without ANY prompting from me, I was not reluctant or passive aggressive at all in any of my talks with her about it) so I got to go. I'm really glad I didn't say anything to her now, even though I totally understand why so many people thought I should, because I would have created strife for nothing! I mean, I suppose there's still the fact that she asked me to do it in the first place, which I agree wasn't cool, but I also understood that at the time, she felt that she had no other choice, and she does a lot of cool stuff for me. (Like, say, the Billy Elliot musical!)

Case in point: She was at the farmer's market and one of the vendors was selling their special apple cider balsamic vinegar, which they age for 7 years. It's only sold once a year. She picked up a bottle for me. It is SO RIDICULOUSLY GOOD. It doesn't taste like any vinegar I've ever had. It's so apple-y and flavorful it's almost like a syrup, except it's also got the tang of balsamic vinegar. Delicious.

Currently ropo and I are still homeless in Chicago, lol. I won't start to panic until about a week from now. At the moment I'm still trying to get the best deals on Priceline/Hotwire. I've gotten many awesome suggestions for food places. :D They're in LJ and email, so I'm going to consolidate and have this be my easy reference post.

( Grub in Chicago! )

I introduced K. to The Mortal Instruments series (she liked it) and she in turn introduced it to C., who loved it. Now C. is asking me for more recommendations and I find myself hard pressed to come up with any. I mean... I guess there aren't as many of those types of novels as I thought (she's already read The Hunger Games and Twilight) -- at least, good ones. I don't want to recommend really typical teen lit that has no other plot than the teen angst (like Meg Cabot or Elizabeth Scott). I'll mention A Song of Ice & Fire but I'm not sure that's what she's looking for. She's looking for books like The Mortal Instruments, and to my surprise I don't think there are any others of its ilk that I'd recommend.

I have a new shopping weakness: HauteLook. They sell really high-end designer stuff at steeply discounted prices, but you can't see what the deals are unless you're a member (it's free to join). Every day there's a different set of items/designers on sale that day (about a dozen), from makeup to clothes to rugs to vacation spots. As I said, it's all very high end and discounted. The other day I picked up a couple pairs of designer jeans, just because I couldn't resist! >< It's a brand I've heard of -- Not Your Daughter's Jeans -- but don't know how they actually look on me. This is the danger of HauteLook!! A few weeks ago I also ordered some makeup by Rock & Republic, and I have to say I LOVE it. Really good makeup and the packaging is awesome. I could never justify buying this stuff full price.

I hate Valentine's Day. I'm sorry if you're someone who enjoys it. If you are, I'm sure my hating it won't make it any less enjoyable for you. I've never liked it. When I'm single, it's like it exists just to make me feel bad about myself. When I'm with someone, it's filled with pressure and weirdness and, well, fakeness. It's just so fake, and makes people stress out for a completely made-up reason. So yeah, if I had my druthers Valentine's Day would be replaced by something that has more meaning and merit. Like... Flag Day.

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Books! I've been doing a lot of reading, which isn't super impressive considering 1 of them is a book I've been reading for months, and the others are teen lit. Still, it's more reading than I've done in a long, long time.

First of all, I finished The Magicians. I was really underwhelmed. It was basically Harry Potter meets the Chronicles of Narnia, but with a protagonist who basically wasn't likable. I mean, I didn't exactly dislike him, but he was so sullen and unhappy all the time that I basically never rooted for him. I think there's supposed to be a sequel of some kind; I really cannot imagine wanting to get back in his head again. He almost never enjoys himself, so how can I? I also just found the book really random and pointless.

I've been reading a bunch of books by Elizabeth Scott. The most notable of these, and the reason I heard of her in the first place, is a book called Living Dead Girl. It is seriously intense. It's about a girl who was abducted at the age of 10 by a pedophile. She's now 15 and he wants her to help him find and train her replacement. It is an amazing, amazing book, but very hard to read at times.

That book is an almost total departure from the rest of Elizabeth Scott's work. Her other books are very well written, but *mostly* lighthearted teen lit. They're not intentionally comedic books like The Princess Diaries or the Georgia Nicolson series -- they're not that kind of lighthearted. They deal primarily with teenage relationships -- especially female friendships, parents, and romance. The problems are pretty typical (but very authentically portrayed), but I've been very impressed by how she manages to keep things fairly fresh from book to book, with themes/characters/situations being unique to each book.

The books I've read, in order of preference:

- Perfect You
- The Unwritten Rule
- Bloom
- Something, Maybe
- Love You, Miss You, Hate You

There are a few other books of hers that I've gotten from the library that I haven't read yet. Her books are easy reads -- I can read two in an evening. :D

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Those of you who wear makeup and who have problems with eye makeup fading as the day goes on... I have a miracle product to share with you: Too Faced Shadow Insurance. If you use a bit of it on your lids, your eye makeup will last ALL DAY LONG. My eye makeup (even when just using eyeliner) usually starts to fade by midday. If I'm lucky, it fades at an equal rate from eye to eye, layer to layer. Otherwise it starts to look really weird and bad. With TFSI on, at the end of the day it looks pretty much the way it did at the beginning of the day (and if I didn't tend to touch my eye area so much, it probably would look exactly the same). Seriously, it's awesome stuff.

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I really wish I were great with video tools. I have this idea for a fanvid that I would loooooove to see.

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It's official, Being Human is not for me. I finished the first season and nothing about it made me interested enough to go on. I so don't understand how it is as popular as it is. All I have to say is that if it had beaten Misfits for the 2010 BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series, it would have been a CRIME. But that didn't happen, so the world continues to revolve.