Geek Living: not collecting nonsense

Still saving up for the couch. Currently after three weeks, I'm only at $115 of actual cash out of $350 earmarked for the purchase. That it is so little after so long is really no fault but my own. 


AKA I'm too lazy to visit an ATM and withdraw money in which to set aside. 


Which means the money sits in my account as I slowly drain it with expensive food purchases to satiate the fact that I never bring enough food to eat at school.



And the longer I wait, the harder it is becoming for my itchy fingers not to buy a totally useless accessory for a piece of furniture I don't have yet.

Like this cute throw pillow. For a couch I don't own yet.

CraftSquatch is pretty awesome too...

Nevermind the wonderful, beautiful junk I can find at any Salvation Army, Goodwill or Value Village in my area. I am currently holding back from going for fear of coming home with something I can't place.

Bad enough I have a small collection of plushies, including my much beloved Marshtomp in a corner collecting dust in a corner of my home because - again - I have no place to put them, and the bed is a little small for them to make it a permanent residence.

Nevermind my collection of hockey and Lord of the Rings figurines that I haven't even had the courage to bring from my parent's home with me because I don't have anywhere for them to go.

Anyway I counted up all the "necessary" items I need to comfortably furnish and fashion my home based on what IKEA has to offer. (Granted, I found similar items for cheaper elsewhere, such as Walmart, but presently that is neither here nor there until I get past the "couch buying" stage)

All told, I'm looking at spending $1350 dollars. And that's just furniture.

But let's just work on buying that couch first...


Also... Sorry. No style post this week.

Mostly because my attire has been intentionally boring this week and the one cute outfit I wore (this past Saturday) I didn't really get a good solid picture of. And given I'll be spending the next four days mired in work alongside j-school, therefore leaving me in a constant state of "work appropriate attire" generally means my outfits will stay pretty boring.

Stylize: heat warning wear

So the weather outside is frightful.

As in frightfully hot and humid.

33 degrees celsius outside in what feels like 80% humidity. My wood tile floors in my home is still sticky from the fun of the weather.

For some reason though, it still didn't compel the city to issue an extreme heat warning...

Still, I couldn't go out in complete beach gear. My j-school is still crazy air-conditioned, therefore, some coverage and warmth are often necessary in order to not turn into an ice cube while in class. Very distracting.

Today was a bit of an "Woodland elf" feel. I may have failed in giving my hair a more natural "tussle" suitable for extended forest travel, but otherwise I did stick to the greens, browns and greys typical of your so-called Mirkwood elf.

I failed a little bit in this shot, in that you can't see the deep green shorts from Bluenotes I got a few weeks back that I'm wearing beneath the vest and white t-shirt. But at least the shoes are visible in this one.

I got these boots online from Aldo back in November and spent my winter addicted to them. They don't get as much wear as they should now because it's warm but I decided to throw them out today because they're comfy and worked with the outfit.

The fabulous grey vest was second-hand from the sister. The white t-shirt was bought in fall from the Gap (back when I worked as a retail slave) and the earrings are from Ardenes. I'm not even sure where those socks came from, and the necklace has been worn previously before.

Geek Living: lunchbox living

So I'm working every day this weekend. 

Not only does this mean I revert to the t-shirt, sweater and jeans uniform in order to not to freeze at my workplace - during a fabulous weekend to boot - but it also means that, along with five days worth of school - I often have to eat at the workplace and/or school. Which means one of two things. Either I drop the money to pay for a meal, or I bring my own food.

I've struggled a bit with the latter option, honestly. Going to school at 8AM and coming home at 11PM some days certainly doesn't help the "save money, bring your own lunch" movement in my life. But I also know that  I can drop on average 10 to 15 dollars on a meal when I opt for the quick and easy solution. Over five days, that's a lot of money wasted.

So on Friday I found this pretty cute new website. It's called Easy Lunchboxes where people post their lunch box ideas. And there's some pretty great ideas in there too. And I made a decision.

First of all, I need one of those divided sandwich containers. Seriously. I went to Longo's after work today to find some and couldn't locate one at all. It was very discouraging but I'll have to commence my search elsewhere then.

Second of all, looking at all those yummy pictures, I realized finger foods are a hundred times easier for me to deal with. I'm not a big eater, but I'm a notorious snacker. Ergo, I don't eat a lot all at once, but over time. So stick to stuff like sandwiches cut in quarters, veggie sticks, small pieces of fruit, etc.

So here's my attempts at making a boxed lunch for Sunday at work (I made one for Saturday, but of course I ate it all. Plus, it was pretty similar to what I have here)

A roast beef and mustard sandwich on white, carrots and cucumbers and cherries on the side. It's not nearly as appetizing as it could be, but I really love how colourful it looks with the red, orange, green and yellow.

I'm going to be trying to maintain this finger food phenom for myself and see how long I can go before I grow bored of doing it. Hopefully by then I'll get interested in another weird lunch making trend and go for that.

Geek Living: seeking the perfect couch

About six months ago I got my very first own apartment as part of me going to graduate j-school.

It's a small bachelor pad, but I love the space. It's very inspirational in terms of decorating.

It's still even now a work in progress. As I left home with only a bed and a desk (I didn't even have a desk chair) I've had to slowly add to it bit by bit with the money I earn at my jobs.

Currently, it's not bad. I was loaned a bookshelf and a television (an old CRT but very functional) while adding other small essentials. to make my space comfortably livable and lovable.

Currently though, there remains one fatal issue (well more than one really, but this is my greatest issue).

I lack a couch.

As a result I end up doing a lot of work - that being homework, reading and stuff off the laptop - from my bed. Because working from a laptop on my office chair isn't terribly comfortable for me, while the two wooden chairs I have on the side for my dining table is even worse.

That needs to be rectified.

And right now, I'm leaning towards this couch.

It's a KLIPPAN from IKEA in turquoise. Looks familiar? Because it's the same couch that's owned by Penny from my current big television sitcom obsession The Big Bang Theory.

I can help but love the look. The colour is so striking when placed against my mostly black furniture (by choice I picked black though) it matches the walls of my washroom and it's so cute.

Comfort would be an issue as I have yet to sit on it or try it out in store but in all honesty, I think I'm in love...

Stylize: feeling the asian nerd vibe

I don't get to dress like this too often.

This is because most days I have to go to work. And they either require me to wear a uniform or else I dress in business casual to keep from freezing to death due to the nature of the work.

But on my off-days, when j-school is pretty much the only thing I have to worry about, I tend to be more open to being a little more creative with my otherwise staid wardrobe.

Today's outfit is what I describe as me channeling my "asian nerd" vibe. I go through different vibes most morning (depending on how lazy I am feeling) and this one was one I actually dreamt about the night before.

It is, as one friend described it for me, a very "Korean/Japanese"-esque outfit.

The whole thing worked for me because while it was a warm summer-y day, it wasn't so warm that I didn't feel grateful for having the socks for a bit of extra coverage. The sweater too became pretty essential because the classroom we used was actually very, very cold.

The skirt and necklace was thrifted and a very lucky find I made at Value Village. The sweater I got second-hand from my sister. The graphic t-shirt is something I bought from Forever21 two years ago, while the socks are something I purchased from Ardene around the same time (but don't wear too often due to its unique style).


The hat, a purchase I made a few weeks ago at H&M I threw on because I liked it, and as I showered that morning my hair was a bit of a mess because of how it dried (all over the place)

Geek Media : the hobbit production video #7

As a complete fantasy nerd, to say that I didn't watch the newest production video for THE HOBBIT movie a million times since it was released on June 6th would be considered a giant travesty. After all, this is the FIRST production video since March 2nd, a long 3 months ago!


Well... I didn't. <.<


Reason? Work and school. 


...


And the Stanley Cup Final. And the Calder Cup Final.


And I'm not even a fan of the LA Kings OR the New Jersey Devils. 


I know, I am currently failing miserably at maintaining my geek cred. I should half-consider turning in my badge and accept the fact that as much of a geek I may be in some areas, I certainly fall short in the "should not be interested in sports" part of the necessary criteria.


My excuse; I can't help it. I'm a true-blue Canadian. I bleed hockey.


Anyway, here's the latest production video. Remember, THE HOBBIT books are required reading.

THE HOBBIT: Part 1 Trailer: