Lately

Unfortunately I haven't had time to write ANY of the blog posts I've been meaning to, so I thought I'd tell you what I've been doing instead:

• Reading Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Now, my general reading habits include reading all new books twice, so I can get a proper feel of the characters and an understanding of the plot. I haven't done a second reading of Graceling yet, but I'd have to say I sort of agree with my boyfriend's summation of it (I borrow it off him): the story ends before the book does. It's a little... odd. It kind of sets itself up for a sequel, but at the same time it... doesn't.

• Reading Changes by Jim Butcher. Oh em gee, cliffhanger/weirdness at the end of THAT book. I somewhat freaked out because I saw this comic before I read the book. Fortunately, a friend of mine had already bought it, so I didn't have to spend loads of money on express post to get it through eBay. It has probably the most twists in any one book of the Dresden files series. I'm really anxious for the next book, I've no idea where Jim's taking Harry after this!

• Buying and wearing lots of Mode Cosmetics Nail Enamel. I picked up a bottle of this stuff in a local hair/beauty store, not expecting much as it was only $2.45 (that's Australian dollars). I got Party Crasher, which is a beautiful medium purple colour, and WOW. The stuff went on beautifully (they have a long, skinny brush which surprised me, but I quickly got used to it), dried so fast and was totally perfect in two coats. Then it lasted FIVE DAYS. This is five days of work and uni, carrying lots of stuff, doing dishes and typing and other handsy things. It didn't chip. By day five there was a teeny bit of tip-wear; I actually only removed the polish because I wanted to put some red on for a party I was going to. After a fantastic experience with ridiculously cheap polish, (and becoming addicted to Vibrant Point of View's blog which is doing a spotlight on Mode) I went out and bought a whole heap more: Party Girl (shimmery jungle green), Totally Hot (a light, bright red), Diamante (a greeny-gold glitter), So Parisian (white), High Fashion (a shimmery navy-blue), Blackjack (black, duh), Ooh Baby (a soft, peachy-pastel pink) and VIP (a creamy gray). They are better-wearing and faster drying than my $12 Bloom nail polishes! Oh and P.S. - Vibrant Point of View is having a give-away of Mode nail enamels, just head on over to her blog, become a follwer and send her an e-mail if you want to enter!)

• Embarking on a 'get-fit' trip. If I try to tell myself I'm 'going to' do excercise for a certain time, at a certain time every day, it doesn't work. So I've been grabbing it where I can for the last three days - jogging/power-walking around the city on Saturday running errands, ten minutes on the cross-trainer at home on Sunday evening, and today (Monday) I decided to walk the half-hour to the train station instead of waiting for my bus. My shoulders are a little sore from all my books, but apart from that I'm feeling pretty good.  

• Searching for my crimp beads. I have two gorgeous glass spiral beads (I should try and photograph them, they're really gorgeous) and I found my black plastic-coated beading wire. I really want to make a necklace but I've misplaced my crimp beads which are necessary for this kind of project! I think this  is a sign that I need to re-organise my jewelry supplies... I just did my make-up after I got my nice-sized order from Fyrinnae :)  

• Raiding the university library for Emily Dickinson-related books. I'm doing an essay on her. If you haven't read any of her poetry, I reccommend it. She's quite unique, both in writing style and her imagery. My (current) favourite poem by her is "I'm Nobody". Rather, that's what it starts with, she didn't give any of her poems titles. They were numbered in rough chronological order when they were published posthumously. Also, be careful of which edition you are reading - the first publication was very heavily editied to fit with the popular poetic conventions of the time, and isn't the 'true' Dickinson spirit.

My Concrete Minerals Electric Eye Primer review is coming up soon. I wanted to take 'beginning-of-the-day' and 'end-of-the-day' pictures to show it worked as well, but I'm having trouble finding time to do that. Just means that when I do finally get around to it, I'll have made up my mind very definitely on whether or not I like it!