This video seems particularly fitting for our life at the moment. Although I have to admit that I’m the one doing most of the reading and researching…J’s attitude seems to be more along the lines of, “Just tell me what I need to pay for, where I need to be, and how to not hold the baby like a football.”
Circle Lenses are special contact lenses that are designed to make the wearer’s irises appear larger, creating a doe-eyed, anime-like appearance. Many in the western world first became acquainted with them when the NYTimes and The Inquisitr recently ran pieces warning consumers of their potential dangers.
The fact of the matter is, Circle Lenses have been around in Asia for years now and are just as safe as regular contact lenses (provided that you purchase them from a reputable dealer). Just as long as you take care to clean and store them properly, do not wear them for extended periods of time, never wear them past their expiration dates, do not share them with friends, and wear the correct prescription strength (if needed) — which are all precautions you must take with regular contact lenses — they are perfectly safe.
I had dying to try them for a long time before the Times and Inquisitr articles ran, so seeing them in print made me take the leap.
After doing some research on popular brands and reputable dealers, I placed an order for Magic Color Geo Fresh Brown lenses for $15.99 ($19.49 with shipping) from TokioShine, taking care to get my prescription strength correct. They arrived in true Asian fashion, complete with a pink Hello Kitty contact lens case.
Here are my before and after shots, taken with my webcam because I’m not skilled enough to take self-portraits on my DSLR.
Before:
After:
The lenses are pretty comfortable and I didn’t have a problem with them at all. I would say that they seem to be slightly more flimsy (and by that, I mean more thin and flexible) than my regular contacts, but this is expected of all disposable contacts.
You wouldn’t be able to notice that I’m wearing contacts at first glance. However, if you peer at my eyes closely, you can definitely tell. If you want a clear picture of what the Geo Fresh Brown lenses look like, take a look at the first picture here.
My verdict? I personally wouldn’t use them for everyday wear, but I would definitely try them for a night out. I wouldn’t try different colors or crazy patterns because that’s just my personal preference, but they are widely available and I can see the appeal.
Have you, or would you ever try Circle Lenses?
My mother “invented” this dish one night and it has since become one of my favorites to make on lazy summer evenings. The best part? It is so easy that anyone can make it.
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Wash and tear/chop all mushrooms into bite-sized pieces. Throw them into a pan and sautee on medium heat. (You may want to wait a couple of minutes to include the smaller mushrooms, like enoki, so that they don’t become too soggy.)
There is no need to add any oils — the natural juices from the mushrooms will suffice.
As the mushrooms are cooking, prepare to add your beef. I bought these packages of sukiyaki-style beef from our local Asian market. If you don’t have an Asian market nearby, just ask your butcher for the tender part of beef in very thin slices.
Just as the largest pieces of the mushroom are just starting to get soft, throw in the beef. Continue to sautee everything on medium heat.
Again, you do not need to add anything — the natural juices from the beef and the mushrooms will prevent the ingredients from sticking to the pan. If you wish, you can add a tablespoon or two of soy sauce, but it is not necessary.
When the beef becomes brown, you are done! Turn off the heat and transfer onto a serving plate.
Serve the dish with a side of sushi-style soy sauce and wasabi. In other words, mix the soy sauce and wasabi in a small bowl just as you would when eating sushi. Dip the beef and mushroom into the sauce before eating, exactly as you would with sushi.
Total preparation time is about 15 minutes. And I guarantee that the end result is delicious!
Have you watched Inception yet? J and I still discuss the film from time to time and plan on watching it a second time just to catch notice of all the finer points of the movie (as well as additional evidence to support our theories).
For those, like me, who are still pondering the movie, here is a great infographic from deviantART user ~dehahs which beautifully explains the timeline of the story:
Via GeekTyrant.
I’m loving the idea behind these ads for Pilot’s Extra-Fine ballpoint pens!
See Flavorwire for more from this series by Grey Agency of Barcelona.
Via Boing Boing.
I am an appreciator of good design.
I heart blueprints and other similar planning documents/drawings.
Hence, I love these iPhone 4 CAD drawings!
The dimensions of the iPhone 4 are available to the public (download link) as a service to case manufacturers. The designers at Core77 has taken it a step further by overlaying it over actual product photos to create these beautiful CAD drawings.
Thanks for all the hard work — these drawings themselves are works of art!
On our drive back home from Atlantic City, I asked J which 5 celebrities would be on his “freebies list.”
(Just in case you don’t know what a freebies list is, Urban Dictionary defines it as “A list of 5 celebrities who, should the opportunity arise, one is allowed to sleep with without it being considered as cheating by your significant other.”)
J couldn’t think of one right away, so he asked me who is on mine. I could only think of two right away (Jon Hamm and John Krasinski), so we ended up spending a good portion of the trip discussing our lists.
Here is who I ultimately chose (in no particular order):
As you can see, I tend to gravitate toward men with dark features and a streak of bad-boy charm. Ryan Reynolds is the odd one out as he is too clean-cut and a bit too “pretty boy” for my tastes, but his mocking humor (or at least in the characters he plays) won me over.
Here is J’s freebies list, again in no particular order:
J clearly has a thing for voluptuous bombshells. The odd one out would be Sasha Grey (yes, I am well aware that she is an adult film actress), whom J chose “because she’s one of the hottest pornstars right now and every guy I know wants her.”
Obviously our lists are just for fun and we had a good time discussing these celebrities with no jealousy or hostility. We even joked that because we both took so long finalizing our lists, we should print them out, laminate them and carry them in our wallets like Ross did in Friends.
I’m not sure what I would ever do if I ever did run into anyone on my list — I’d probably just clam up and hide. J would most likely try to strike up a conversation with the women on his list, but I know that he would never take it any further.
Do you have a freebies list? Have you shared it openly with your significant other? Who is on your list?
My pregnancy-induced swelling has reached a point where it has become difficult to take off my wedding ring set at the end of the day.
(I’m not sure why, but I’m always fine at the beginning of the day, only to end up with fat stumpy feet and kielbasa-like fingers come nightfall. Can someone shed some light on this?)
I do not always wear my wedding ring set when I am in the house, but I always wear them when I am out. And yes, i wear both my engagement ring and my wedding band. So the very few times that I’ve forgotten to wear my set has left my fingers feeling naked in public. And there’s the self-conscious part of me wanting to not look like a knocked-up teenager.
I have read that some women buy a cheap ring in a larger size to wear during pregnancy for this exact reason.
Have you, or do you know of someone who has gone this route during pregnancy?
After doing some research on the ‘net, I’ve found a sterling silver, cubic zirconia ring that could be a dead ringer for my wedding ring set:
The only difference is that this ring is one ring while my set consists of two rings. (You can see my engagement ring here. My wedding band is the same exact width and style of the band of my engagement ring.)
However, the fact remains that this “placeholder” ring would cost $42. That’s 42 Dollar Menu items right there, y’all!
One part of me says I’m being silly — why should I spend extra money to let the world know that I’m married for what will most likely be (knock on wood) a few short months? Some have suggested that I put my rings on a chain to wear around my neck, but I would be too paranoid about the chain snapping off.
What would you do? Just forgo wearing rings for the last months of the pregnancy? Buy the $42 “placeholder” ring?
Although I thoroughly suck at science, I received a chemistry kit as a present one birthday some twenty years ago and loved it for years on end.
J owned multiple chemistry kits as a child and also has fond memories of mixing strange compounds together and “blowing sh*t up.”
We fully intend on gifting our children with chemistry sets when they reach the proper maturity level, but I have become discouraged at the types of kits that are available at toy stores these days. No actual chemicals? Nothing sharp or breakable? Glass beakers and test tubes that have been replaced by shatter-proof plastic? Nothing that has the potential to create sizzling/smoking/foul-smelling reactions?
Where’s the fun in that?
That’s why I let out a chuckle and a sigh when I saw this cartoon at SMBC over the weekend:
Did anyone else own chemistry sets as a child? Do you miss the old days of being able to play with potentially harmful (but perfectly safe when handled properly) toys without government bans or the fear of the mommy police coming after you?
For what it’s worth, I’m glad to see that there still exist some chemistry kits, like the Thames & Kosmos CHEM C3000, that come relatively close to what we had as children.
Heck YEAH Sephiroth is feared by anyone with a heartbeat!
How does your favorite video game boss compare? And can you believe this chart was sponsored by Term Life Insurance?
Via NeatoGeek.
I like books, gadgets, spicy food, and art. I dislike shopping, hot weather, and the laws of entropy. Although I am a self-proclaimed computer nerd, I still have a love for handbags and makeup... and I am always teetering on high heels. To learn more about me, visit the "About" page.
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