End of print?

all me old-fashioned, but I love print. I love printed mediums. Especially when they are beautifully designed. There's nothing better than touching something in your hand.

However, since everything is moving towards digital I'm curious how things will be 10 5 years from now. I know my son's generation will be totally different from my generation. I can see it happening already.

Lately I've been seeing eReaders all over the subway. I think I can outnumber them from books. I guess people find them more convenient as you can carry an extensive volume of books in just a small tablet. My co-worker asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to try out an eReader. We had just reviewed them for our magazine you see. I told her no, but then I thought about it and a few days ago I accepted. I've been trying out 2 eReaders so far- Amazon Kindle and the Kobo. Do I like it? I guess... I thought that if I loved it I would go out and purchase one, but I'm not sure if I'm convinced. I tend to read unconventionally. If I haven't read a book for a couple of days I may forget the context of what I'm reading so I'll go back and re-read some of the previous pages. Or sometimes I just like to go back to a certain detail that the author wrote a few chapters back (but I don't know exactly what page it was on). It's hard to do that on an eReader... Maybe you can, but I'm just not adept at it. I still like my hardcover/softcover books. But I'm sure my son will think I'm old-fashioned.

However, these are 2 great eReaders for those of you who are thinking of purchasing one. I know the Kindle is better than the Kobo. I think it has access to a bigger library of books and it's more easier to navigate. However, I LOVE the look of the Kobo. It feels really good in your hands. I'm not sure what finishing they did on the back of the Kobo, but it feels like velvet!

I love anything white. The negative about this one is that people complained that the page turner (the gray button on the bottom right) is a bit clunky. You sometimes press the wrong button so you end up going backwards instead of forward. Also, I find that the page doesn't turn as fast as the Kindle.

The Kindle is a tiny bit bigger than the Kobo. It's really easy to navigate- you use the buttons on the side.

I only had these for a couple of days now so don't use my first impressions to sway your decisions if you are planning to get one.

Never judge a book by its cover?

mmm... it's hard not to when a book cover is this nice.

I'm a sucker for buying books with a nice book cover. I mean, if you're going to buy a book you might as well buy something that you will love to see in your bookshelf, right?

I love how Penguin books commissioned illustrator, Jillian Tamaki to create an embroidered book cover of some of the well-known classics. These books will hit shelves in the fall and I can't wait to get my hands on The Secret Garden. That was one of my favourite books growing up...

Here's a photo of the work-in-progress.

Photos courtesy of Jillian Tamaki

Currently reading...

arma by Cathy Ostlere. Remember my resolutions for this year? Well, I haven't forgotten. I started reading this book a couple of days ago and I'm really impressed with it. It's not written in a typical novel style, but more of a poetic verse style. It's a story set in 1984 when a 15-year old Indian girl travels to India with her father after her mother's suicide in Canada. They go to India to deliver her mother's ashes to their final resting place. However, the day they arrive the Prime Minister of India (true story) is assassinated causing the country to go into chaos. I haven't gotten too far into the story to see what will happen next, but it is a beautiful book. Just this morning while I was reading about her mother's depression leading to her suicide I was struck by how much I could relate to her story. Both my parents were immigrants to Canada in the 80s and I could see how coming to a brand new country could be so lonely and depressing. Lots of people talk about North America as the land of opportunity and a place to go to give a better life to their children, but it's all at a cost. My parents had a good life in Korea. They both had good jobs and lots of family and friends. I'm not sure why they decided to leave that all behind and move to Canada with 3 young children, but they did. Luckily my parents moved to a city where there were lots of other Korean immigrants, but in this story, set in Elsinore... basically in the middle of the prairies, the mother didn't have any friends. I'm not sure if I'm breaking any copyright rules by including an excerpt from the story, but I want to share with you what really brought a tear to my eye:

Taken from page 70-71:

No one in town ever talks to me, Amar (Amar is the husband)

Then you must talk first. Be friendly. It takes time.

Time? We've lived here nine years.

You have to try harder.

Why should I have to be the one to try so hard? Do you know that one day a woman actually reached out and touched my sari? Like I was a bolt of fabric in a store. Such rudeness.

Then wear a dress. Some pants. Leave the sari for home.

Never. Canadian clothes are hideous. They are little better than a scarecrow's. Would you consider not wearing your turban?

That's different.

Oh, yes, Amar: That's different. If you're a man. If you're a Sikh. I'm just a Hindustani woman in this godforsaken place.

You must learn to hold your head high, Leela.

I can't any longer. Their eyes burn through my skin. I feel like I must apologize and I don't even know for what!

Well, then stay home. And never go out again if that pleases you.

I can't live like this, Amar. You must take me home.

There's no money, Leela. The shop needs new tools.

Then just one ticket. Please.

You'd leave your daughter and husband behind?

For a visit, Amar. A few months. That's all.

Stop these selfish thoughts, Leela! Your life is here.

But this isn't life! It's a slow death.

When I read these pages I thought of my mother. I thought of how much she had to suck in her pride to live here. She's worked hard all her life. I know that I couldn't uproot my family and move to a country where I didn't know anyone and didn't speak the language. It's unthinkable to me. Now that I'm a mother I constantly think about how brave my parents were. I could never do what they did. Of course now they love it here and couldn't imagine not living here, but I know how hard it was for them to make this their home.

Great finds

oes anyone else get a high when they buy something exciting? I do.

I wouldn't say I'm addicted to shopping, but my heart races when I find something good. But the weird thing is I always find something great when I'm not looking for anything specific to buy. Today I stepped out at lunch time to do a few errands. I had to get another tube of my favourite mascara and a birthday card for my younger sister. First I went to Indigo to pick up a pretty

birthday card. I'm very picky with cards. It takes me a long time to pick one. I know it's something that you read once and throw out (well, I don't!), but I still want to make sure the card reflects who I am. I finally settled on a card by Papyrus. It's a little more expensive, but so beautiful. I'm sure my younger sister will appreciate it. So I thought I was done with Indigo, but as I was walking towards the cash a book caught my eye. It was a wedding DIY craft book. I'm married and so are my sisters, but I couldn't resist peeking inside. I love anything to do with crafts and the front cover was so beautiful. There were so many craft ideas and I realized that they could be tweaked so that it wasn't wedding centered. I just had to get it.

So my next stop was Sephora. I've been currently using my holy grail mascara, Makeup Forever's Smoky Lash mascara, but my tube dried out. I wanted to pick up another tube. But, when I walked in I saw the Hello Kitty Collection for Sephora. Now, I'm not a huge Hello Kitty fan, but when I first saw the press release I just fell in love. I wasn't a fan of MAC's Hello Kitty collection because I thought the packaging was not very pretty. But this one was so true to Hello Kitty's original style. I was eyeing the hand held mirror because my previous mirror broke. I was debating whether to get the Lioele Princess Mirror in Baby Pink, but I decided I liked this one better. Plus, it was even more stunning in person. It was huge too and surprisingly light! The downfall was that it was pricey ($46CAD) and left visible fingerprints. However, it was too pretty to pass up. I've been also looking for a small compact mirror to carry with me. The Hello Kitty collection had one, but I found it really hard to open. The hinge was not very flexible. I decided to get the eyeshadow and lipgloss compact instead. The packaging was uber cute too. I could use that as my mirror when I'm traveling now.

I'm now going to post pictures of all the things that I got today. Plus, a freebie at the end!

Isn't the birthday card so pretty? I didn't know it was a birthday card because the outside had a pig, but the message inside said it was a birthday card.

Here's a close-up. The little swirls are all shiny copper. I hate cards that have glitter because it gets all over my fingers then on my face, but this one had none :-)

A simple message inside.

"A wish to you for a sweet, carefree lighter-than-air day! Happy Birthday"

This was the book that I fell in love with. It's called Handmade Weddings by Eunice Moyle, Sabrina Moyle, and Shana Faust. What do you know, Shana Faust is the former Deputy Style Editor of Martha Stewart Weddings. Figures!

I just love the paper-wrapped favors. I'm thinking I could wrap soaps in personalized wrapping. It would look amazing! Can't wait to try this.

Here's another great idea. I'm known as the girl that wraps presents nicely. Last Saturday I went to a baby shower and everyone guessed what my present was because of my wrapping.

Just gorge! Beautiful photography.

So here's what I went to Sephora for- my Smoky Lash.

Packaging is not that exciting, but this is an amazing product. Goes on super black and dries quickly. It also make my lashes look super volumized and loooong.

Here are the 2 Hello Kitty products I picked up. I'm on the waiting list for the brush set.

This is the Say Hello Eyeshadow and Lipgloss Palette

Even the expiration date jar has a bow!

Isn't the compact so cute?! This is how I imagined Hello Kitty cosmetics to be packaged.

It was hard to see the detail of the compact in my last photo so I'm holding it up against my grey wall. The lid of the compact has an iridescence to it.

The Say Hello palette has the purple colours. The other one had more neutral colours. This one swatched better so I got this one. Plus, I have so many neutral palettes.

The 2 colours on the right (top and bottom) have shimmers, but they aren't chunky. The 2 left ones look like a satin finish.

I'm not sure if the lip glosses are of high quality. They look really sheer, but it's good to have in case of an emergency. The white, pink (bottom left) and plum (bottom right) have glitter and the mauve one (top right) doesn't. I didn't swatch them in the store. I was more into the packaging more than anything...

This is a pretty thick palette. 3/4 of an inch?

Here's the back.

This is my prized possession- the hand held mirror. This is the box it came in.

The backside has Hello Kitty's face. So cute! I know it looks heavy, but it's really light. That's great because I use my hand held mirror a lot when I'm putting on makeup. I don't want my hands/arms to be tired.

Another view. Don't you love how her bow isn't flat? It has facets so that it sparkles.

Here's the actual mirror. I wish the mirror was more round than oval because I feel like I don't see the entire length of my face, but I'm nitpicking here.

And now for my freebie!

At work, I get a lot of free stuff. Mainly beauty products, but sometimes non-beauty related stuff. Today I was by the freebie shelf to get some chocolates (we have a stash of junk food there for the late nights) and I saw this beautiful tea pot and tea cup set.

I've been looking for a teapot because I got a pretty loose leaf tea and teaball set for Christmas from David's Tea. This teapot looks vintage and I can't believe nobody snatched it up yet!

Here's the tea pot and tea cup separated. I'll feel so elegant when I'm enjoying my afternoon tea...

Coincidence?

I received my book orders from Amazon last Thursday. I happened to get the new Blueprint on the same day.
I was admiring Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing book and happened to look through the new Blueprint at the same time. What do I come across? A feature on Lotta Jansdotter's home in Blueprint! Weird.
The funny thing is this happened to me on the last issue too. I had been admiring and reading the Purl Bee blog and she was featured in the last Blueprint.
Coincidence? I think not!
Here is the other book I purchased on Amazon, Sew U by Wendy Mullin with Eviana Hartman: