Happy Thanksgiving v^_^v!

Heyyyy everyone :) I just wanted to wish those who celebrate Thanksgiving a day of lots of love, cheer, and yummy things to eat.   Use the pics below to whet your appetites (for dessert ^_~) tomorrow!!


Cupcakes Galore: Pumpkin, Corn on the Cobcakes, Pies!, Meal on a tray, Stuffed turkey, and a mini turkey+mashed potatoes ^_^!! Credits: Google - but let me know if you want credits.  The pumpkin ones are Duncan Hines.


An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. ~ Irv Kupcinet


Happy Thanksgiving!

Crap...I'm addicted: Once Upon a Time

I rarely watch American TV series because it's bad enough I have to wait to see ONE episode/week but having to anxiously watch multiple SEASONS just drives me nuts.   For K-dramas, I like how no matter how popular the drama is, the # of episodes are set (at worst, a 2-4 episode extension).   This allows me to start watching after the entire drama has aired, which usually just takes 3-4 months (as opposed to YEARS :P).   The fact that there is no set end date to popular American TV series is just not good for my blood pressure....a curse upon renewing seasons.....




Anyway, the trailer/commercials for the show struck me as a little cheesy so I had no plans on watching this...but I had the misfortune of watching the pilot episode this weekend and NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NOW I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.

Emma Swan’s life has been anything but a fairytale. A 28-year-old bail bondsperson, she’s been taking care of herself since she was abandoned as a baby. But when Henry—the son she gave up 10 years ago—finds her, everything changes. Henry is desperate for his mom’s help and thinks that Emma is actually the long, lost daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Yes, the actual Snow White and Prince Charming. Even stranger, Henry believes that Storybrooke, the sleepy New England town he calls home, is really part of a curse cast by the Evil Queen, freezing fairytale characters in the modern world with no memory of their former selves.

Of course the seen-it-all Emma doesn’t believe a word, but when she gets to Storybrooke, she can’t help sensing that everything’s not quite what it seems. As Henry shows Emma around with the help of his fairytale book, the town, and its inhabitants like Henry’s therapist Archie Hopper and the enigmatic Mr. Gold, seem just strange enough to set off her already suspicious nature. She becomes even more concerned for Henry when she meets his adopted mother, Regina, who he suspects is none other than the Evil Queen herself!

Storybrooke is a place where magic has been forgotten—but is still powerfully close—and happily ever after seems just out of reach. In order to understand where the fairytale world’s former inhabitants came from, and what ultimately led to the Evil Queen’s wrath, you’ll need a glimpse into their previous lives. But it might just turn everything you’ve ever believed about these characters upside-down.

Meanwhile, the epic battle for the future of all worlds, modern and fairytale alike, is about to begin. For good to win, Emma will have to accept her destiny and fight like hell.

Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, two master storytellers behind Lost and Tron: Legacy, invite everyone to brace themselves for a modern fairytale with thrilling twists and hints of darkness, brimming with wonder and filled with the magic of our most beloved stories.

The special effects aren't all that bad and I have a soft spot for Ginnifer Goodwin, who plays a feisty Snow White~  The main character, Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White + Prince Charming, is from House.  She strikes me as a little blase compared to Rumpelstiltskin and The Evil Queen but overall, she plays the uptight, lonely soul pretty well.  Currently, Rumpelstiltskin is my favorite character (mostly because he's a slimy badass eheh), but overall the actors are all playing out their characters very nicely, especially Rumpelstiltskin and TEQ.  The story itself is pretty simple (there was controversy over it being too much like the comic book series, Fables) but there's something mesmerizing about the leaps between the fantasy world and modern day Storybrooke. My favorite part about the series is guessing which people are which fairy tale characters.  We already have Snow White, Prince Charming, Jiminy Cricket, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, etc. but I heard they just cast a Belle and there are a number of characters that remain "mysterious/yet-to-be-categorized."

Like who is Sheriff Graham (I'm guessing the EQ's Huntsman?) and who's Henry supposed to represent?   Where did that fairy tale book come from? If there is a Belle, will their be a Beast?  ahhhh!!! 

Random tangent: OUAT reminds of the rarely updated online comic, No Rest for the Wicked.  It's not finished (and I doubt it ever will be), but check this out if you're bored.  It's a fun little read ;)

This TV series debuted in October and is only 4 episodes in *sigh*  I have watched all the episodes up this point (free streaming episodes+recaps here) and am impatiently waiting for the next one. There are supposed to be 22 episodes total in Season 1 and unfortunately, the ratings are really good + the screenwriters are Lost veterans so I have a bad feeling there are going to be many seasons of this show -_- I'll just die of impatience if they take 6 seasons a la Lost to wrap it up...ughhhh....


Does anyone watch Once Upon A Time?  If yes, what do you think :D?!

Cupcakes Actually + I.M. Loopey

Another food post?!  I might as well become a sweet stuff food blog >< These are from bloody agessss ago.  I mostly wanted to post this because it reminds me of one of my all time fave Christmas movies Love Actually (which I'm sure is the point >_>).

Anyway, Cupcakes Actually is this little cupcake shop aka "cupcakery" >_> in Virginia (Fairfax Corner) that I've been to 2-3x to sample their wares.  Overall, their cupcakes are pretty moist and not over-poweringly sweet, a rather nice change from the sugary sweet sort of cupcakes that predominate the scene.  They swap out their cupcakes weekly so I'm not sure when these particular cupcakes will be up for sampling...but here are a few I snapped pics of:



Banana Split!  Twas a lovely banana nut cupcake, very moist and nutty, filled with banana and topped with a light whipped strawberry frosting.   I'm not huge on bananas especially in smoothies and cupcakes because the banana tends to overpower everything but this one was really nice :)  Very banana split-y without cloying fake sweetness.  If you see this one - give a try!



Actually Dipped Chocolate (yes...it's the actual name). Ooohhh I could not resist getting this one!  It was a rich chocolate cupcake with whipped frosting that was dipped in milk chocolate ^^  I liked the concept of this cupcake a lot ahah and it was pretty yummy too. Recommended :)


Red velvet, Strawberry, Peanut Butter, Flourless Chocolate

I was impressed by Banana Split and the chocolate dipped cupcake enough to go back a couple weeks latter and picked up another batch :)

Simply Red - a typical red velvet with cream cheese frosting.  Topped with a chocolate heart.  It was ok but nothing to write home about. Boring imho.

Strawberry - very subtle light strawberry flavor.  Tasted pretty "natural" :) I don't particularly remember what the frosting was like but it's hard to go wrong with strawberry ahah

Peanut Butter - hot damn! I don't even LIKE peanut butter (I don't think I picked this one) and this one was STELLAR.  I don't remember what the cupcake bread part tasted like but that peanut butter frosting was amazing -- light, sweet and distinctly peanut buttery!  If you ever see this in Cupcakes Actually, you gotta try it!  I think it was filled with grape jam and the gummy bear is grape flavored too :)  The fact I still remember how much I liked this one even after all this time says something~



Flourless Chocolate - uh...I don't remember...it doesn't stand out in my mind at all so maybe it wasn't that good eheh

In real life news:
Man this week was exhausting O_O  I must be getting old or something, but I just don't have the energy to do anything but snooze and watch TV during the week....and during the weekends, I just sleep (more).  However - I actually recorded a video today zomg! It's been so long ;_;  Hopefully... it will be up before another 6 months pass ahah

In other random news, I was reading Dramabeans today (one of my all time favorite sites; many an hour has been killed reading the recaps...) and I saw this on their Take Care Us, Captain preview stills: 



Korea has got to start asking some native English speakers to edit their shit -__________-   It's even worse seeing HOW MANY Westerners there are in the background >_> Surely someone there speaks fluent English!!  But then again...I.M. Loopey?  Charles V. Bombastic?  Seems like an inside joke of an English speaker to me...one who doesn't know how to spell 'sanfrancisco' or capitalize letters *sigh*

Sale: Target Boots & Slippers - BOGO 50%

Hey peeps, I haven't done a Sales post in awhile (not that it means I haven't been shopping, unfortunately) - so I thought I'd quickly pop this up for all you peeps who were interested in the Women's Cyril Bootie Slippers (the furry boots) I reviewed in my shamelessly long Target shoe post last week.  They're not on sale for $18.50 anymore (aka back up to $22) but it's still a good deal if you pick up another pair of boots or slippers with it :)  Perhaps  the Womens' Chandra Suede Scuff Slipper? They are super comfy!

I'm not positive when the sale ends however...  Anyway, shipping is free for $50+ and *cue Ebates spiel* don't forget to use the 3% cashback on Ebates:



New members have a choice of a $10 gift card and Target is one of them.  This is my referral link (thank you!) and Ebates.com straight for the anti-referrals ;)

Swap with Steph (aka ssushoo)!

Cutest packaging ever!

Awhile back *cough*July*cough*, Steph and I decided to do a swap. Steph and I met via YouTube (I swear I have not forgotten the existence of my poor channel ;_;) and she's a design student in Canada who does some great kpop tutorials.  My particular favorites are the kpop DUDE inspired tuts she does, partly because she does a great job and partly because I think it's hilariously indicative of how much awesome makeup guys in kpop wear ;)

Steph has already made a post+video (sigh...I'm sorry for the lack of video Steph...I'm such a fail) but here is my long delayed post.



I love international packages.... it's a weakness....

In a nutshell, Steph was going to Hong Kong and offered to pick up some goodies there while I, in the US, offered to send some US goods to her (Canada).  After waiting for several weeks her package arrived and just check out the loot :O!!



Green tea and Blueberry flavored Pocky = yummm. No icing yet very distinct flavors!

yeahhhhhhh~ I've tried most of these already and am ever-so-slowly prepping up the review posts.   The Blue Mask is a legit Boscia Black Mask dupe btw - it's great ^_^   And the deluge of masks, my god I love it!   And I love sweets almost as much as I love sheet masks :) Unforuntely, I ate most of them too quickly and forgot to take pictures along the way.  It didn't help that a certain brother filched some of them when I wasn't looking -_____-




Remember these candies?! From another Stephanie (of Julu Jewelry) coincidentally~




I didn't know there was a coffee version - it's basically a chewy coffee candy covered with coffee grounds. Mad good.




I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be covered with matcha powder ^^;; but I think its international journey and hot weather made the powder dissolve or something.  It was still as yummy as I remember tho :}




This is remarkably artistic looking picture O_o Though thank the lord I never have to take another SAT again ^_^  This was a nice, chewy green tea caramel if I remember correctly.  I would love to find this instores somewhere, I think this one was my favorite!




I don't remember what this one tasted like ><

Interestingly, of all the things Steph sent me, the thing I use the most is this:



Why so cuteeeeeee?


CUTE MINI MENTOS STAPLER!  It's like the size of my thumb and ever so adorable~

Speaking of, Steph also sent me a roll of Coca Cola flavored Mentos, which I have never seen in the US.  Unfortunately, I don't like carbonated drinks to begin with (they make my ears feel weird ><) so I'm being biased when I say...I didn't like the flavor very much >< BUT these Mentos actually fizz in your mouth so I am guess that these are pretty damn true to flavor Mentos O_o

And that is all for now~



Thanks again Steph ^_^!!




ssushoo