Thrifted Goodies ~ Strawberries, Teddy Bears, and Unicorns

I had to make a hardware store run today, so I figured I'd also stop at the Goodwill nearby. Like most thrift stores, this is a pretty hit or miss shop, although this one in particular has been more miss than hit in my experience. This time, though, I found gem after gem. These gorgeous items seemed to jump out at me as soon as I entered the store! Now that I think about it, this may have been my best haul from this particular Goodwill (Clement St.), which up until now could not compete at all with the one on Fillmore.

Strawberry Teapot ~ $3.49

I almost died when I saw this. The only thing I love more than tea is strawberries, and here the two have combined into one gorgeous piece! Also, for $3.49, this might be the most inexpensive piece of teaware I own. It will make a perfect addition to my next lolita tea party.

Teddy Bear Kitchen Canister ~ $5.49

I've said it before, but the easiest way to get me to buy something is to put a teddy bear on it. I love kitchen canisters, too. (I have a Sear's Merry Mushroom canister set holding dry goods in my cupboard.) I buy a lot of bulk dry goods, so it's always nice to have a sturdy container to store them in. PLUS, TEDDY BEARS.

HUGE Pastel Pink & Lavender Unicorn Plush ~ $2.49

Okay, seriously, this thing is huge. I feel like the $2.49 price tag should have been a mistake, especially since Goodwill stores seem to have this odd tendency to price items by size (often to one's advantage; I got a Yixing teapot for 99 cents at the Fillmore Goodwill.) Anyway, who cares, because a giant pink and lavender unicorn now lives on my couch.

Not pictured: 3 denim mini skirts and a tartan mini skirt originally from Torrid, $5.49 each. The Torrid skirt is too big, but that's an easy fix. I didn't feel like photographing them, so just imagine cute denim skirts that make my ass look amazing.

Spine Health, Skin Health, Soap Shopping

First thing's first: LUSH is having a giveaway! Enter to win a set of 15 new winter products! They are giving away 5 sets a day for 15 days (!) and it's open to anyone with a Twitter account in the US and Canada (you just have to authorize LUSH to send a tweet on your behalf.) Oh, and it asks you to input the name of one of the Winter Warmers gifts. The page that shows them is a little hard to find, so here it is.

In my constant pursuit of natural, holistic treatment options for psoriasis, I've started seeing a chiropractor. I am super privileged to happen to be living with one (the same roommate who does the creature art many of you have admired in our living room) and she's going to be working on me twice a week.

Chiropractic work is recommended in Healing Psoriasis: The Natural Alternative, the book that features the diet I started almost 6 years ago. Because the diet alone healed me so well and so quickly, I never bothered to seek any other treatment. Nowadays, I tend to slack a bit on the diet (and have really, really been enjoying drinking and partying lately), and combined with increased stress, I felt some additional treatment would be beneficial.

I asked her to take a look at my back about a week ago because I was having some lower back pain (most likely brought on by spending 18 hours a day hunched over a computer desk.) Turns out my pelvis was out of alignment, so she snapped me back into place. That seemed to work really well. Within a day or two, the pain was gone, I felt more comfortable walking, and the exhaustion that had been plaguing me for about a month disappeared.

On Monday she began network spinal analysis, which is...basically poking me in the back. I had never heard of this treatment before (it is entirely possible it was mentioned in Dr. Pagano's book, but I'll admit that by the time I got to the chiropractic chapter I was ridiculously high on raw food and had trouble sitting still long enough to read), but I'm certainly open to trying it. It's only been two treatments so far, but I have been feeling immediate effects. I'm taller (!) and I feel more centered. Most of the back and leg pain I had is gone. It's too early to tell if my skin is responding, but it does feel good today. There's no swelling or flaking, and many spots are showing signs of healing.

There are, of course, many factors that affect my skin, but I'm very optimistic. I'm also taking a bunch of herbs and moving towards a healthier diet (I'm eating far less meat than I had been for the past year.) I'm really excited to see how my skin will react to all this! In the meantime, there are still plenty of LUSH products that are great for psoriasis care!

Variety Shop Haul ~ Cheap Socks, Stockings, Make-Up & More!

My roommate has been telling me since I moved in that I need to check out Variety Shop, which she refers to as "The Eyelash Shop". I finally went last week, and she was not exaggerating about how amazing it is!

The store is small, cramped, and dusty, but it's full of surprisingly decent quality socks, make-up, stockings, and other accessories for really, really cheap. Almost everything I bought was under $3. According their Yelp review, the store is famous for carrying NYX cosmetics for cheaper than anywhere else. Read on for photos of my haul and some reviews!

Ribbon Necklace iProduct Design | cuteordeath on Zazzle

I recently decided to start utilizing Zazzle. I have used Cafepress a lot in the past, but I like Zazzle's product line and interface way better. Hopefully I'll be adding more products to my shop soon!

In the meantime, check out these hime-style ribbon necklace designs I made for iPhone and iPad cases!


Ribbon Necklace iPhone 4 Case


Ribbon Necklace iPad Case

I created this design using Inkscape. It took around 8 hours. I like Inkscape (it's a free vector drawing program) but the learning curve is pretty steep, even coming from an Illustrator background. This was a pretty good practise project. ^^

Fuck Yeah New Re-Ment

I was going to open by saying that my current obsession is Re-Ment blind boxes, but truth is I've been obsessed with them for several years, I just couldn't afford them for a long time. I finally can again, so I purchased 5 new boxes from 4 sets this weekend.

Lolita Birthday Party & Ichiban Kan Haul

Birthday lolita purikura!

A lot can change in 3 years...apparently.

I have been working in my chosen field (graphic design/web design) for the past 3 years, but my first job in San Francisco was at the Westfield Mall in Union Square. I very briefly worked at Zara, but after 2 months I was hired at the tea store across the mall: Lupicia Fresh Tea, a high-class tea boutique from Japan.

Halloween Knee Socks!

I've had Halloween on my mind lately, and since Squidboo is currently experiencing a bug and I can't post anything there, I thought I'd showcase some awesome Halloween socks I found over at my new sock haunt, The Joy Of Socks!

Ridiculously Cute Bags from Torrid!

I like Torrid. There aren't a lot of brands out there creating nice, stylish clothes for plus sized girls, and I credit them with teaching me that I could wear more than just a long skirt and t-shirts when I was heavier. I'm too small for most* of their clothes now, but they still carry plenty of cute bags and accessories!

*I can, however, gladly partake of their wide-calf knee-high boots!

Recommended Shopping

If you start your online shopping by clicking these links, you'll be giving me a hand. If you want to join affiliate programs too, check out the bottom two links!

Camera Shopping

I'm in the market for a new digital camera, mainly because my current only is a clunky piece of crap that takes terrible photos and eats AAs like a starving bear. I think the reason I've been so lax about selling stuff online is that trying to take pictures of my items is a ghastly chore that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.