Update

OK everyone! I'm back!!! I have about 5 videos, maybe more depending on how much time I get, to be posted in the next week. I'm trying to make up for my extreme absence. For a preview of what's coming, look at the projects list to the left! Stay tuned... Oh, and try not to watch them all at once, cause after the semester starts back up, I'll probably be back to 1 a week or so. hee hee.

Well, TTFN!!!

Stuff

OK, so I know I promised the tempura video a while back. I just want you to know, I filmed it, I just haven't had time to edit and post. I will probably be on a bit of a hiatus until the end of finals. I promise I will make up for it after all the hullabaloo is finished... You patience will be rewarded!!!

Take care all!!!

It's my party, and I'll fry if I want to!

Unusual title I know. Well, it's my birthday today, and in celebration, I am going to make a video tutorial on my number 1 requested recipe: Tempura! I'll make it today or tomorrow, but I won't post it till probably the weekend. It's something to look forward to. I'll add the video below once it's uploaded to Youtube. I'll be doing shrimp and vegetable tempura. I should be able to fit it all in one video.

Here are the segments:

How to prep the shrimp
How to make the batter (using batter mix, I prefer it over the old fashioned way, it's a lighter texture)
How to prep veggies
How to cook tempura

And you will all get to see my NEW deep fryer courtesy of my mother-in-law, which I will use to fry the tempura. Hopefully it will work out OK, since I've never used this one before (as I mentioned before, my old one died...)

Well, keep a look out, I'll post it soon!!!

French Manicure

Instead of forking out money for someone to do a mediocre job on my nails (I'm very pikcy...) I prefer to do my own French Manicure. That way, if there are any crooked lines or missing spots, I have only my self to blame. So here is a video on how I do my French Manicure. It also includes a quick snippet on general nail polish tips. Enjoy!!!

My Top 5 Movies

So how excited am I to be tagged on youtube for the first time?!?!? I'm sure you can guess. Anyhow, cocorais has tagged me to do my top 5 movies, and so here it is! Enjoy getting a peek inside my eclectic mind...

Something out of the ordinary - hairstyle

So I was sitting around thinking one afternoon about original hairstyle ideas. Things you don't see everyday. I noticed that the "braid headband" look has been fairly popular lately. I even did it myself after being inspired by pursebuzz. Then I thought, what about a hair headband that's not braided? How would you put that together? And so I came up with the picture at the left.

Wanna do it yourself? Check the video below!!!

See ya!

Tonkatsu - great for winter or summer

I love tonkatsu. It's a Japanese breaded and fried porkchop usually served over rice. If you add an egg omelet and some tempura sauce to it, you've got katsu don. You can eat it in the summer time at room temperature coming out of your bento box. But in the winter, you can eat it fresh out the pan with fresh steamed rice too. Nice and warm for the cold winter months. If you want to make your own tonkatsu, check out the video below!

Fall Back

I'm not a huge fan of cold weather. For those of you who know me, you know that anything below 70 degrees F is getting cold for me. So when fall comes, I brace myself for the winter to come. And for some reason, this year, winter seems to be coming faster than before. Is it global warming? Maybe. Either way, it's been literally freezing temperatures 3 nights out of this week. I've been bundled up with tights, knee-high socks, boots, jeans on top of that, plus a long sleeve shirt topped with a sweater, topped with a jacket, and finally topped with a coat, plus a nice fat scarf. I realize that seems extreme for fall weather, but I get cold easily.

What I can say that I love about fall is good ole Daylight Saving Time! It's time to fall back! And that means I get an extra hour to do whatever on Saturday night (I always set my clock before going to bed Saturday night instead of doing it on Sunday). I've been feeling really slow lately (probably a hibernation reflex, haha) and so I'm hoping that this time change with infuse me with a little more energy. Maybe I'll also have time to finish crocheting my scarf. And who knows, I may get some more videos out!

BTW, I am so excited to find out that I now have 25 subscribers on youtube. How cool is that? Yes, I know it's not much, but it's a start. Who knows? Maybe I'll be a youtube partner in 2009!

So as I look forward to my extra hour on Saturday, I bid you all Adieu for now. Take care all!!!

Bento Fun

Here's a video how-to on making those adorably shaped hotdogs and eggs you see in my bento box lunch photos. The use is actually quite intuitive, but there's nothing like a visual demonstration to really be sure of things. After all, bento items typically come with Japanese instructions, so this gets around that. I hope you all enjoy and find time to try this yourself. Several egg molds can be purchased at my favorite online japanese store Ichibankan (link in the links box on the left side bar). Hot dog cutter you'll probably have to find off Ebay until Ichibankan starts carrying them. Alrighty, TTFN!!!

Natural Luscious Waves

This is my take on the ever popular wavy hair look. It consists of super large ringlets that give hair body and bounce without looking overdone. Great casual look for any time of day! Enjoy!

Youtube videos

So I have a TON of video footage (you can see a list on the left hand side). My goal is to fully edit and release at least one video a week. I tend to shoot the videos as I'm getting ready in the mornings or as I'm cooking for dinner, so it doesn't take any extra time to take the footage. What takes time is editing, rendering and uploading. That's why you see my projects list on the left get longer and longer, even though there aren't any new vids. So just be patient, I'll get them out bit by bit. Keep watching the left side bar, so you'll know what to look forward to!

Till next time...

Fall Makeup - TheDaytime Smokey Eye

Like the smokey eye look, but think it's too dramatic for you? Or maybe just too dramatic for daily life? Well, here's an anytime smokey eye to make your own.

Enjoy!

Flower inspired bun

Just wanted to give you a better look of the flower-inspired bun. You can see the five petals that encircle the cute little butterfly. I posted the video for this on Saturday, but you can't see the bun very well in the video, so I thought a photo would be helpful. If you pair this look with curly tendrils in the front, you've got a great formal look as well. Hope you like it!

New Videos

I posted new videos to youtube today. I hope you check them out. Just click the videos link on the top menu bar, or see the youtube bar on the right side of the page. One is a cooking tutorial on how to make the basketball cake featured on my blog a week or so ago. The other two are hair tutorials, one of which was requested from another of my blog features. I hope you enjoy them!

TTFN

How to Suck up to your boss?

Well, I guess a great way to suck up to your boss is to bake him a cake in the shape of his favorite beer for his birthday! Well, actually, I didn't bake it to suck up. I just like baking. And as Wilson says, I'll make any excuse to bake a cake. So here is a cake for my boss that we presented to him as a surprise.

And for the record, I don't condone sucking up in any way. Besides, I'm sure that my boss would rather I have been doing lab work than baking a cake! haha...

But anyhow, it was a fun project. If you want to do it yourself, you'll need some fondant (see my video how-to) and three 6 in round cakes stacked up to make the shape of a drink can. You can decorate the can as anything you want...try root beer, fresca, coke. Whatever you like. Well, anyhow, now that that is over, it's back to work for me!

Product Review: Sally Hansen French Manicure Pen

Everyone loves a nice French Manicure. My husband loves when I do my nails with a French Manicure. He thinks it's sexy and classy. The problem is, it's pretty time consuming if you do it yourself, and it's time consuming AND expensive to have it done by someone else. So what to do? Well, I saw this manicure pen at CVS the other day and decided to try it. I had just spend nearly an hour the night before doing a French Manicure (including drying time) and this pen promised to do it much quicker, so I thought I'd try it.

Overall, I'm disappointed. What ever is in that pen, it's NOT normal nail polish. If you make a mistake and have to clean it off to start fresh, it will not come off completely. It leaves a white residue covering your whole nail. I'm wearing the manicure right now, so I haven't tried cleaning it off after putting the clear topcoat, but I hope it comes off better than the white stuff alone!

It also puts on a VERY thin layer. So thin you can see through it, so it looks like a bad manicure. I had to do 2 coats even though the directions say only one.

I will say this, it's much easier than using a nail polish brush. The way I normally do my French manicure is to first put on the white tips, without worrying about a straight line. Then I go through with nail polish remover and a paint brush, and I shape the white line. It takes a while, but it looks fantastic. In fact, it looks better than the salon kind because it's you doing it, and you care about your nails more than some stranger...

That being said, I wouldn't cast this pen off to the side completely. After all, it makes out to be a great touch up pen when corner crack or flake off. It's also great if you just need a quick manicure that you don't plan to keep for a long time. Other than that, I suggest you invest either the time or money to get a real manicure. (I prefer to invest time cuz I have no money!!! haha) I guess we have to wait a little longer for another new innovation to come along...

Till next time... TTFN!

Wigo Flat Iron Review

At Ulta right now, they have a great deal on the Wigo ceramic and tourmaline titanium flat iron. Retail is apparently $110, but the Ulta exclusive design is selling in stores and online for $29.99. At first I was skeptical that such a cheap iron could work, but I have a Wigo 1 inch curling iron that works GREAT, so I thought, why not try it. After all, there is a 60-day return policy. All I can say is, I am so glad I tried it. I actually bought the Zoe first ($39.99 Ulta exclusive), but it was a terrible iron. So I exchanged it for this, AND got $10 back. There is also a 20% off coupon currently available online and in stores, and there is a promo for free shipping on $25 orders.

On to the review: (I will post a video review soon as well, with a comparison demo with my Hot Tools Ceramic flat iron).

Heat: This baby goes up to 430 degrees F. That's hot! Great for coarse or hard to curl hair. My hair is actually very fine, but it doesn't curl well, so I have to use the highest settings on ALL my hair tools. Just remember to use a heat protectant! The cool tip stays fairly cool, unless you've been using the iron for an extended period of time.

Smoothing: As you will see in the video, the iron does a good job of smoothing. In the video, I took a chunk of hair that was a bit too big for a 1 in iron, but after running over it twice, it was super smooth and shiny. (you can see the shininess in the vid)

Curling: This is tricky, but it does work. I found that it works best if you curl down the shaft, then before releasing, wrap all the warm hair around the barrel, then let go. You get cute ribbon curls that way. (I do it in the vid if you can't visualize what I'm saying)

Weight: It's a super light weight appliance. After all, it's made from titanium.

Feel: It's a nice, small gadget. It's not too big for even smaller hands. The other great thing is IT DOESN'T SNAG AT ALL!!! It runs smoothly through the hair without ANY tugging or pulling. I know with other irons, the complaint is that hair gets caught in seams and whatnot. That is not the case with this iron. It's a great design.

Well, that's all I can say. All that's left is to show you the demo, which I will add below. Also, above is a pic of a hairstyle I did using only the flat iron. I flat ironed the top and curled the bottom.

Supercool Birthday Cake for my hubby

It's my husband's birthday is in a few minutes, but today I held a surprise party for him. Yesterday, I worked for nearly 4 hours baking him the cake you see here. It's a basketball hitting the backboard and going into the hoop. Keep in mind 4 hours includes coming up with the means to get the effects I was looking for and also mixing and baking. I think it turned out well. Instead of saying "HAPPY 28th BIRTHDAY" though, I decided "MVP 28 years" would be cuter. I also bought him a plastic trophy from party city that said MVP. It was really fun to make, and he really seemed to like it. The cake itself is red velvet, and the icing is homemade cream cheese icing. I also made the fondant that covers the cake. I will post a how-to video of marshmallow fondant (much tastier than traditional fondant) and how to assemble this SUPERFANTABULOUS basketball cake. Unfortunately, it will be a while before I get it out because I have about 4 tutorials worth of footage on my camera, and ZERO time to edit it. I hope you can all "hang tight" for now. You can see my upcoming projects in the list at the top of the left column of this blog. That'll give you and idea of what's coming up. See ya!

Organization tips

I have A LOT of hair stuff. From curling sprays to shine serums, volumizing mouse to heat guarding liquids, headbands to tiny claw clips, and a lot in between. So when you're fixing your hair in the morning, and you need to make things quick, how do you rummage through all that stuff? Simple answer: keep organized. "But they don't have anything on the market for stuff like that" you may say. No problem, just think outside the box. Here's what I did. I went to Target and I found one of those over-the-door shoe organizers and I converted it into a hair supply organizer in the bathroom, and a scarf and belt organizer in the bedroom. Take a look:

I've been using this method for over 8 years now, and it's never failed to help me find what I need, when I need it. Hopefully it'll help you!

Trend Alert and Fashion Find

A big Fall 2008 makeup trend is red lips. It got me to thinking, I'm not a big fan of dark lipstick. Especially since it rubs off onto everything so easily. I realize that there are lip stains available on the market, but they are typically offered by high end makeup companies. I don't know about you, but I am not super rich... or even rich...haha...So I got to thinking. Remember when you were little, and you used to take your red cherry Popsicle and smooth it on your lips and pretend you were wearing lipstick? And remember how it would stay for hours? All that stuff is is food coloring right? So I figured, why not try plain food coloring as a lip stain. Now that's how to be trendy on a budget right? So I tried it, and what you see is what I got:

It lasted for several hours, which I found impressive. I did have to water down the coloring a bit to keep from looking like I was a vampire. In addition, red lips seem to simply accentuate the fact that my skin is so pale, so I felt toning it down worked much more to my advantage. Anyhow, I thought it was a neat trick that could help ladies out there who don't want to fork up the moola for high end lip stains.

Here's a video how-to:




Another thing I wanted to share: I found the cutest mary jane shoes. They are super comfy, made of soft leather (or faux leather more likely) and best of all, they were CHEAP!!!

I found them at Walmart for $9 exactly! I know some people are principally against Walmart, but if you're not, what a great deal! There were other colors besides black. I wanted the beautiful deep red ones, but alas, there were none in my size. There was also a yellow pair, a purple pair, a light turquoise, silver, and brown. If you are looking for comfy flats at an affordable price, I suggest you make your way to the nearest Walmart. I think I'm gonna search around other Walmarts to see if I can find a yellow, turquoise and red pair. I've always wanted a cute pair of yellow or turquoise flats, and I just want any pair of red shoes...I crave color in my rather boring wardrobe. But enough complaining. Till next time...

Hair care tips

So there was something that I just thought about while surfing youtube. I realized that sometimes people review shampoos and conditioners after using it exclusively for around a month. Then they say that after a while, their hair became weighed down and icky. Well, that's because each shampoo on the market leaves behind it's own characteristic residue. If you use it repeatedly for a long period of time, you are simply piling on that same residue and packing on layers of it. Eventually, your hair gets weighed down by it, and it starts to feel icky too. That's why it's best to alternate shampoo and conditioner each time you wash your hair. I never use the same shampoo and conditioner two washes in a row. I have about 5 different sets of shampoo and conditioner that I alternate through. That way, when I use shampoo A today, it will leave behind residue A. Then the next time I wash my hair, I use shampoo B, which will wash away residue A, but leave behind residue B. That way, the same residue never has a chance to build up on my hair.

Also, hair care experts and stylists recommend going as long as you can without washing your hair. This is obviously a different time frame for different people. It's also activity dependent. Someone sitting in an air conditioned room all day every day can go longer without washing their hair than someone who plays tennis for a living. This is also different for different hair lengths. Shorter hair can take more washings because being shorter allows it to have a better distribution of natural oils. For longer hair, even if the scalp is oily, your ends may be super dry.

If you do have an oily scalp with dry ends, I suggest you try shampooing only the scalp and conditioning only the ends, and maybe used watered down conditioner for your scalp. That should help even out your hair's condition.

Anyhow, I'm off for now. Till next time...

Reports, take-homes, and homework

Wow, so I've at least finished working on all my assignments. The first draft of my progress report is completed. I've also finished the first draft of my take home exam. I think I'm done with my population genetics homework. Now all I have to do is wait for feedback. My Molecular Evolution professor says that he'll look over our take home tests this weekend and hand them back for correction on Monday. We have several days to try and get things right. We can turn it in and get feedback as many times as we want until the official due date...That is so bad for a perfectionist like me...I'll keep wracking my brain about it until the very end. And now I'm waiting for feedback from my lab mates on my report. Hopefully, I won't have to change much. My brain is completely fried from all the school work I've been doing. Maybe I can actually get some lab work done tomorrow... Well, I'm gonna go recuperate from my brain frying week, and try not to think about the corrections to come... TTFN!

New Hairstyle

So I created a cute new hairstyle today. I was trying to do something else, but I really liked how this turned out. It incorporates two of this fall's hair trends: braids and blunt bangs (fringe). I'll try to find time for a tutorial, though you may be able to figure it out by just looking at it:















Basically, you do a french braid from the left side of the head to the bottom right, then tie off the end, twist it under, and pull it through the braid. Pin it in place with some bobby pins and you're done! (I styled the bangs by flat ironing them and brushing them into place.)

Tamagoyaki

Alright. A BIG request that I get is for tamago. So I've finally put together a tutorial on how to make tamagoyaki, the kind of eggs that you see at the sushi bars. There will be more cooking tutorials to come, so keep checking in, or follow this blog to get updates.

Here, you see me make the traditional version, with a rectangular pan. You can use a regular circular pan, but it won't quite look the same.

Things you'll need:
a pan (buy one here)
oil for the pan (with optional brush)
4 eggs
mixing bowl
1 Tbls. mirin: sweet rice wine
~1/4 tsp salt
~ 1 tsp soy sauce (amount depends on your taste)
1/2 cup water
dashi stock (called hondashi, see picture on right)

The great thing about tamagoyaki is that you can add ingredients between the layers to make omelets. Below is one of my bento boxes with a spinach tamagoyaki:


Doesn't that make you hungry? Well, I hope you give this recipe a try. Check out the video, and if you need assistance, there's a chat box on the right side of this blog! Till next time: TTFN!

Bright Eyes: How to look like you rested well, even if you didn't

So, sometimes we just don't get enough sleep. Maybe we were up studying, maybe updating our blog, maybe partying, maybe you just couldn't sleep. Everyone has their reasons. So you wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and realize you look terrible. You also just remembered that today you're supposed to meet with your boss, or you have class with that cute guy, or you're meeting your boyfriend's parents. First impression is everything. Well, here is a makeup look that will brighten the eye area without looking over-the-top. This is not a dramatic look. You can make it dramatic if you add more makeup, but as it's presented here, it's meant to look natural.

OK, so first off, always begin with a good skin care regimen. You need a clean slate. Since you're waking up in the morning, you should have already washed you face last night, but you need to wash it in the morning too. A freshly washed face will have a fresher appearance. I use Exuviance products. I love them. A skin care regimen should include the following:

• Cleanser: I have an antibacterial cleanser that I use at night to kill any bacteria that may infect my pores while I sleep. I have a gentle, almost lotion-like cleanser for the morning to add extra moisture to my skin to give it a supple feel. When cleansing, start with WARM water, not HOT. The warm water will open your pores and allow the cleanser to do it's job. After rinsing off your cleanser, make a final rinse in cool water. This will close your pores back up and closed pores create a smoother skin surface.
  

• Toner: This adds moisture to your face underneath the moisturizer and tones the skin. For best results, apply it while your face is still damp from towel blotting to hold in more moisture.

• Moisturizer: Again, you should have 2: one for night and one for day. The daytime should have SPF protection. The nightime one should have plenty of restorative elements like amino acids, polyhydroxy acids, etc.

• Eye Cream: Regular moisturizre is too heavy for the delicate area under your eyes. I use an uplifting formula to help reduce puffiness and wrinkles.

• I have a few other skin care items that I use only occasionally: blemish medication, anti-wrinkle serum, a peel-off mask to exfoliate and a bionic tonice to awaken the skin.

Now that that's established, the next step is foundation. Foundation will even out the skin tone and give your skin a velvety-smooth appearance. All my makeup is mineral makeup from either Bare Minerals or Everyday Minerals. Use what you prefer. Apply foundation all over the face.

I then take a mixture of a lighter foundation (one shade lighter than my real foundation) and mix it with a highlighting powder and apply it under the eyes. This really brightens that area up. I don't make it a habit of buying two shades of foundation, however, Everyday Minerals offers free samples of their makeup, so I ordered a sample size of a lighter foundation, since I won't use it that much.

Now for blush. For a flushed, rested look, I use a nice rosy color with just a little light-carrying shimmer. This will also lighten the face. Apply to the apples of your cheeks and blend out. You'll begin to see a healthy glow.

The eyes are the most important part of this look. It's the first thing people notice. Eyes are the window to the soul. To brighten up the eyes and make them look wide open, I use a white eye shadow and apply it to the wet of the eye on the lower lid. Do this carefully! Eyes are delicate. You could use eyeliner, but I like the effect of the powder because some of it will fall between the lashes and make a glow under and behind the bottom lashes that adds a little more reflection. I also like to highlight the brow bones. The lid color can be anything you want.

I then apply a finishing powder to set everything in place and give it that flawless look. Do this before applying mascara. Otherwise, you'll end up with white dust stuck to your lashes.

Apply mascara. I use black. Start at the base of the lashes and wiggle left and right as you move to the tip of the lashes. Cover the bottom lashes well. The more pronounced your bottom lashes are, the more wide-eyed you will look.

Lastly, apply some lip gloss in a natural color and your good to go!

Enjoy your refreshed look! My philosophy is "fake it till you feel it!"

How to fake a bob

This video was a request from a friend of mine. I know that sometimes I just want a different look, and so I'm often tempted to cut my hair. But then I don't want to go through the pain of growing back out. With the help of Johnny Lavoy from Ford Models, I've found out how to get the best of both worlds! Enjoy!!!

Anime Hair

So, I was watching one of reiberry's youtube videos, and she has this adorable hairstyle. I decided I wanted to try it, but I couldn't figure out how to make the buns big enough with such a small amount of hair. So I was searching pursebuzz's youtube videos and found a tutorial. I think it turned out really cute. Too bad I missed out on this years anime convention. It was this past weekend. Maybe I'll get brave enough to wear it too school. I think it turned out well.

For those of you who don't know who Reiberry is, she has alot of great tutorials and tips on the web. I have a link to her blog. Pursebuzz is the same, great hairstyles and great makeup tips. Check them out!

Artist's Log

I am a HUGE lover of Prismacolor. One thing I say to anyone who's serious about doing art, even if it's only for personal pleasure, buy the good stuff! And Prismacolor qualifies as "the good stuff."

I've had the 120 set of the think art pencils for years, since high school. I love them! I even have 12 discontinued colors, plus the 24 newly released colors. That's alot of pencils, and they are a dream to use. However, one problem I always had was doing detail. The thick art pencils have very soft leads, which makes them great for blending, but not so great when your looking for a point. So, I heard that these Verithin pencils are just the compliment to your set. So I ordered some from Cheap Joe's Art Supply online. After they arrived, I sat down to use them. I took the black pencil and sharpened it to a point and attempted to do some detail work. Well, my honest opinion is that I'd rather repeatedly sharpen the soft ones again and again than use the verithins. Maybe I'm just not used to them, but they don't flow well for me. I'll keep trying and hopefully I'll get the hang of it. Here's the pic that I drew:

Winter's coming. Protect your face from dry cold (and dry heat indoors)

I purchased (from Ichiban Kan), a facial mask of royal jelly a while back. It's called the Sana Ho-Jun-Ki Essence Facial Mask. So what you do is wash your face. Then take the pouch with a cloth mask in it covered in royal jelly, and open it very carefully, otherwise you'll spill royal jelly. You then place the mask on your face, and leave it on for 10-20 mins. I like to lie down during this time. The coolness of the mask is very relaxing. After you remove the mask, you put on toner and moisturizer and eye cream, as should be your skin care routine.


The first time I tried this mask, I didn't like it. My face felt like it was always sweaty, but that was the humid summer. Now, as the air is cooling, skin needs an extra pick me up. The great thing about this mask is that you feel the benefits for days. Even after multiple washings (day and night) the skin still feels supple, smooth, and well moisturized. It really feels alot like a baby's face.

For those who don't know, royal jelly is fed to the bees that are meant to become queens. Other bee larva eat it too, but larva destined to become queen are fed royal jelly exclusivley. Now, why in the world do I want bee food on my face? Well, it contains tons of amino acids, fatty acids, and water. All the things the skin loves to soak up to maintain a healthy glow. I encourage you to try this product for yourself. Especially if you have dry skin.

cooking quick

So I got back from the lab at 9:30 this evening, and I was hungry. So here's a tip to all of you who need/want to cook, but don't have time for long elaborate meals: Being a Filipino household, RICE is a huge part of our diet. So, we always have cooked rice laying around in the fridge. Fried rice is one of the fastest, yummiest, and semi-healthy foods you can cook. How to make it quick though? Well, at my favorite online store www.ichibankanusa.com, they sell Nagatanien fried rice mixes: Shrimp (shown below), crab, salmon, etc. They have super easy instructions, and if you just add some frozen mixed veggies, you'll have dinner in 10 minutes, and enough to pack for lunch the next day! And it tastes great too!

Intro

Hello. So I've decided to follow the rest of my generation and start a blog. Why? Well, I often get questions from friends and family, and it dawned on me: Why not share my experiences with others? I know I've benefited from other people's wisdom. Maybe someone will benefit from mine. So what kind of knowledge am I talking about? Well, for instance: "Colleen, your lunches are so cute! How do you make those bear-shaped eggs? They are too cute!" or "How did you do that hairstyle?" or "How did you make that rice ball?" or "How did you do your makeup?" and other such stuff. Hence the name of the blog: Realm of Random Ramblings. I'll talk about anything, or maybe nothing. And why "REALM" you say? Well, it has to do with my current last name, and my maiden name, both of which relate to royalty. No, I'm not royalty, but the origins of my two last names are royal...so anyhow. I guess the first thing I will do is fulfill my friend Tracy's request on "How did you do your hair? It's driving me crazy!!!" So, that'll be up on Youtube and linked here as soon as I do it. Alright then, I guess that's it for now...TTFN!