new tea day. blue lagoon

I'm pretty excited because Davids Tea came out with their Spring Collection for 2014 last week! Knowing how much I love tea, my aunty (being super thoughtful) picked some up for me. I finally have the chance to try them out! Today I'm going to make a cup of Blue Lagoon.

It's an herbal tea which means caffeine free! Though I love my black and oolong teas, I always like keeping a lookout for new herbal teas that I really like. Since I'm fairly caffeine sensitive, I can't drink teas with caffeine at night. Most of the teas I own has caffeine so it's always nice to get a new herbal one to sip on before bed.

This herbal's ingredients are:

• Pineapple
• Blueberry
• Lemongrass
• Elderberry
• Cornflower petals

The steep time is about 4-7 minutes. With herbal teas I often let it steep for longer than the recommended time because I like stronger teas. The good thing about herbal teas is that it's hard to over-steep it. In saying that, beware of over-steeping any tea with hibiscus. Letting them steep for too long can cause it to become very bitter.

I like that this tea is a violet color which makes its name even more fitting. I found that it was extremely refreshing. It's light and fruity with a hint of zest from the lemongrass. I enjoyed it hot but would definitely like to try it iced next time to see the difference.

Cleo came to see if she could help me out. I was able to handle it on my own but it was nice to know she was there for moral support.

board games and karaoke

This weekend was extremely busy. But I do like getting the chance to dress up, put some makeup on, and do my hair every once in a while. I know that I could put in the effort on weekdays too but for me sleep trumps beauty any day.

You can actually tell that my hair is a different color in these pictures which is extremely exciting! I am so glad with my decision to dye it and I think it's a great shade for me. I've been wearing my hair down a lot more cause I've noticed that you can see the red hues a bit better that way. Notice the little braids (or plaits as Jade calls them). She helped with braiding them for me cause I just couldn't get my arms to twist the right way to get it done myself.

I decided on a bit of blue eye shadow with some black liner. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the blue. I feel like it matched great with the blue pants I was wearing but I thought it took away from the blue in my eyes. It didn't make them pop the way other colors can.

My weekend started with Friday night board games and beer.

I love going to nights like these cause I get to try new games and play the old ones that I love.

A few games we played were:

• Cards Against Humanity
• Farkle
• Five Crowns
• Ticket to Ride

One of highlights though was the puppies that were sitting on my lap and helping me play.

The next night I went out for karaoke. It's only the second time I've gone and another great chance to dress up!

I actually sang this time too. I sang Moment of Weakness by Bif Naked. She's one of my favorite female artists and it's one of my favorite songs by her. I feel like a rocked it at least a little bit. Considering how nervous I was I could have definitely done worse.

When I got home each night both Coconut and Waldo were waiting patiently for me to hop into bed with them. Waldo seemed a little more concerned as to my whereabouts than anyone else.

weekend breakfasts. egg wrap

One thing I love about the weekend is having time in the morning to make myself a nice hot breakfast. Today I felt like making something relatively easy but that I wouldn't bother making on a weekday. An egg wrap! Mmm!

Ingredients:

• 1 large sundried tomato wrap
• 1/4 of a green pepper
• 2 thin slices of original style ham
• Small handful of Tex Mex shredded cheese
• Bull' s Eye Barbecue Sauce - Guinness flavored
• 1 large egg

I started by cutting up some green peppers while the fry pan warmed up a bit.

I laid my wrap on a plate. Ready and waiting.

Then I fried some thin slices of ham.

I placed the ham on the wrap and I sprinkled on some shredded cheese. Next I added a little BBQ sauce.

I put the green peppers in the frying pan and stirred them around for a couple minutes to heat up.Then I added my egg and scrambled it until it was cooked. I quickly placed it on top of the cheese so it could melt nicely while it was still hot. And voila! My wrap was complete. It was almost as fun making it as it was eating it!

cat saturday. wake up calls

My cats come to greet me every morning. Sometimes they're already in the room. Most times Cleo is sleeping somewhere near my feet, on the floor next to my bed, or laying long beside me.

Coconut can usually tell that I'm awake before I know it myself. I'll hear him let out a good morning chirp next to my face before he starts purring so loudly he's vibrating my pillow. After hearing the purring Waldo comes sprinting into the room with a little squeak. He'll jump on the bed and lay near me to make sure he's not missing out on any attention.

After a few minutes Dash will slowly walk in. He'll sit and watch what everyone is up to. If I let my hand fall off the bed towards the floor he'll quickly walk over and rub his head into my hand. Since he's not a fan of blankets he doesn't often jump onto my bed. If I move the blankets to the side and he can see that he won't step on it he may jump up. He'll lay down either near my head or my feet depending on the blanket situation.

new hair color. spiced tea

I've only dyed my hair once before. Black. I kept it that way for almost two years. Eventually I got sick of the maintenance and decided I wanted my natural hair color back. Naturally it's a dark blonde or light brown depending on the lighting. Knowing very little about changing hair colors I spoke with my hair dresser for guidance. Black is very hard to change to a lighter color without bleach and damaging your hair. My only solution was to grow it out. I got dark streaks put in to help blend my roots but it looks pretty awful. I chopped my hair off to help it grow out faster.

I desperately wanted to avoid another unwanted hair cut. Instead of jumping in with both feet and randomly picking a color/brand like I did last time, I decided I needed to research my options and what I wanted.

I wanted:

• Something semi-permanent in case I hated it. That way it would fade and be easier to get back to my original color
• Something not too dark so it'll be easier to get back to my original color
• Something relatively maintenance free

After a bunch of research I decided to go with Clairol Natural Instincts because it was reviewed at the best non-permanent hair dye as it didn't fade too much, the color came out similar to the box, and it's ammonia free. Next big decision was the color. I had an idea in my head of what I was looking for. I've always wished that I had red in my hair but I know that would be high maintenance. I decided I'd settle for trying a light auburn color. My shade of choice? Spiced tea. I felt as though it was fitting seeing as how obsessed with tea I am.

With my color decision made and a bubble of excitement in my stomach, I decided that it was the night for me to do it. On my way home from work I stopped at several different stores to find the shade I was looking for. Turns out that spiced tea isn't the easiest shade to find. Luckily their website has a list of stores that carry each shade.

Since Jade always dyes her own hair and is an expert at it, I knew that I'd want her to help me out to make sure it's done right. But turns out she was staying over at her friend's house. She offered to help on the weekend but I knew that if I didn't do it then I'd probably chicken out. To help with the nerves (I have no idea why I was so nervous) I also bought a box of wine.

I took a couple pictures of my hair color before I got started so I could have a reference color if I ever wanted to go back. I honestly did like my natural color but I was looking for a slight change.

I put the dye in. I sipped on some wine while I anxiously waited. And then it was time to rinse. Since my hair was wet it looked pretty much the same as it would have previously. Usually I let me hair air dry and then I may blow dry any leftover dampness. I didn't want to wait that long so I started blow drying. Now to post the results.

Once my hair was dry I went through several different emotions:

• Frustration because I felt like you could barely tell the difference
• Regret because I decided I didn't like it and it made me look pale
• Relieved because when I stepped into the light you could 100% tell the hint of red
• Happy because even though it's a only slight change people like the difference

money hungry kitty goes mew mew

Anyone who comes to my apartment will tell one (or all) of the following things made their visit amazing:

• The overabundance of cats running around and/or sitting on them
• My collection of hundreds of different teas in which I prepared in the style of their choosing
• The fact that my place smells amazing cause of all the candles I usually always have burning
• They got to see me in my natural habitat (surrounded by cats)
• Jade made an appearance
• My coin stealing kitty piggy bank

I remember the first I saw this box at an Asian noodle house. A coworker of mine dared me to put a coin on the fish. Not knowing what to expect I was reluctant to comply. I hesitantly placed the coin down and was pleasantly surprised when a meowing kitty popped up to steal my coin!

Now any time I have anyone new over I show them my thieving kitty. I kindly supply the coins for them to play with so they don't have to pay out of pocket. But I do imagine that I could make a fortune off them!

The instant I start playing with my mewing kitty in a box all the cats swarm around it. I don't know what the kitty is saying in cat language but I imagine it must be something along the lines of:

"Help! I'm trapped in a box!"

After they all settled down from the cries of distress, Dash and Waldo decided to keep close in case another incident arose.

Just the relaxing day I needed.

I decided that I needed a relaxing day today.

So what did I do? I took the day off work and stayed in watching movies and cuddling with Dash. This was exactly what I needed to recharge myself. I'd been feeling really tired lately since it's been a busy last couple of weeks.

After I wore my red heels to work everyone was telling me that they couldn't believe I could wear heels that high. To me they're not high at all because most of my heels have the same heel size.

So to show my coworkers that they are not at all as high as they could be I wore these shoes to work the next day and they definitely got alot of attention. These shoes are not something that I could often as I can't walk too fast in them but they are relatively comfortable for how high they are.

That's one of the things that I love about T.U.K. shoes (T.U.K.). Every single pair is comfortable no matter how high the heel. I've worn them to weddings and was able to wear them the whole night without having my feet start hurting. Another thing I love is their style. They're fun, sexy, and different than standard shoes found in most stores. They're also sold in quite a few stores around town so they're easy to find and you don't have to order them online.

I have small feet (US women's 5) so I always have great difficulties finding cute shoes in my size. It's nice going to the T.U.K. website and actually knowing that I could buy any of those shoes if I wanted to. But I have some self restraint... barely.

So now I'm just sitting on my couch and watching my kitty relax in the sunlight while drinking tea.

Which tea am I drinking you may ask? Today I'm drinking Mulberry Magic. It's a caffeine free herbal tea made with mulberry leafs and macadamia nuts. It may look like swamp water when it's steeped but it has a rather pleasant and smooth taste. It smells heavenly (kinda like Bailey's) and I also wouldn't mind trying it with Bailey's. Plus mulberry leaves have so many wonderful health benefits which include stabilizing blood sugar, and curbing carbohydrate cravings and mood swings. Also it's supposed to add lustre to hair, control perspiration, and clear up skin.

Now how can I not be happy with such a relaxing day?!