On Lush

So, it's been a while.
But we're not gonna talk about that right now. Right now, we're gonna talk about Lush.
I am 100% a Lush-a-holic. I want to buy all the things. The ladies at my local store know who I am. I know who they are. I'm pretty sure it's true love.
Reasons why I love Lush:

1. Their products do what they say they'll do. 
2. They recycle their pots (and will give you a free face mask if you bring in 5 empties) and are big on keeping everything cruelty free, and on using fresh and healthy ingredients. 
3. The people that work there are encouraged to try all of the stuff out, so they can help you find what will work best for your skin/hair.
4. Their bath bombs. 

Now, sadly, Lush is ... a tad more expensive in the States than in New Zealand (which is definitely a first) and the closest one to me is about a 30 minute drive, so I'm going to have to wean myself off of their products and stick to a few favorites.
These are those favorites.

 For Moisturizer: Celestial

I was always scared of moisturizer, because I assumed it was only for people with dry skin. WRONG! This moisturizer has calmed my skin down so much and has lasted me a year so far. It's light, sinks in quickly and smells great.

For Lips: Mint Julips Lip Scrub 

 While I was in New Zealand, I realized the reason I never liked the look of lipstick was because my lips weren't smooth. And no amount of super moisture rich chap stick could make them look nice. THEN! I discovered Mint Julips and glory be, using this once every other week keeps my lips smooth and pretty. Plus, it tastes and smells AMAZING. 

For Teeth: Atomic Toothy Tabs

 This took me a bit to get used to, but I am IN LOVE with this. It's Chai flavored toothpaste that doesn't come in a horribly non-recyclable/non-decomposing/forever in the dump toothpaste tube and it cleans my teeth. Plus, I don't have to be careful about what food or drinks I have for breakfast after brushing my teeth. No nasty flavor combos, just clean chai scented teeth.

For Face Masks: Brazened Honey

Cheating a bit with this one because I only recently bought it, but OH. MY. GOD. This is the smoothest and nicest my skin has felt since ... ever. It smells AMAZING and doesn't leave any residue and I just adore it. I will definitely buy this for as long as it's in stores.

For Face Wash: Ocean Salt

I generally only use this in the shower because it's a bit messy, but it is the best face wash I've ever used. This is probably my 5th pot of Ocean Salt and I will probably continue to use it until I die. The salt in it feels great - I love how clean my face feels after using it. Plus, this shit smells like a margarita.  

On Food in Wellington

(this post comes to because my lovely/beautiful/smart friend Kelsey was nice and suggested it. I'm kind of sort of in a writing rut and needed some blerg post ideas)

For a lot of my time in Wellington, I've been on the mostly not fun side of poor, and haven't been able to really go out and eat in Wellington. The food here is great and varied and ...also kind of expensive. Don't get me wrong, if you look hard enough you can find cheap places, but the food is never as good. But now that I have a worthy of a capitol J Job, I can actually afford to go out and try that one place that I've walked by every day for the last 6 months but have been too low on money to comfortably swing paying 15$ for lunch. Man, is it great. I can treat myself without looking back in regret at those 15$ I no longer have. Why is this post all about money? Stop it, Kate. Talk about food.

Food culture in New Zealand took a bit to get used to. Because 80% of what we eat is imported (be it culturally or actually imported) a lot of it is expensive. I think that's sort of what drives the importance of food in New Zealand.
IT TOOK A LOT TO GET THIS FOOD TO THESE TINY ISLANDS SO YOU WILL CHERISH IT AND APPRECIATE IT AND THAT WILL BE 8$ FOR THAT AVOCADO, PLEASE. (I'm not joking, buying fruit and veg at supermarkets is just STUPID in this country. Luckily there are farmers' markets on the weekends so you just have to stock up then)

Here are some of my favorite foods from the last few months:

Steak and Chips at The Fisherman's Table

 Ham, Avocado and Brie sandwich and a lemon bitters cake from Arobake

 Butter Chicken and Naan from Mughlai Indian Takeaways

 Mini-Carrot Cake and Mini-Red Velvet Cake from Arobake

Palmiers and Brioche from Le Moulin Bakery

 Peanut Piston Burger and Kumara (sweet potato) Chips from Burger Fuel

Scorch-O-Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong at Scorch-O-Rama

Man, am I gonna miss New Zealand food. 

On Being Raised With Musicals

I like to think that, amongst a few other things like love and understanding, I was brought up on Ego Waffles and Musicals. And incredibly lucky to have done so. Few people get to grow up with an awesome family like mine. And I'm not just saying that because I know my parents read my blog (hi guys), but the more I see of how my friends grew up the more I know how great I had it. Few people get to grow up in the States and with 2 parents who both had jobs and were open minded and encouraging and big into Family and the arts. Seriously, who could ask for more?

Growing up surrounded my musicals has shaped a lot of my adult life. I've learnt so many life lessons from musicals.

•  Anything can be turned into a song. (all musicals)
• Kissing strangers in the wood is a bad idea. (Into the Woods)
• Any time anyone accidentally says a line from a musical I start singing (much to Kaitlyn's frustration).
• it's better to be loved by a few than liked by many ([Title of Show])
• Just because people sing along with you at meetings doesn't mean they'll be there for you when shit is going down (Les Mis)
• If I can accept that some people are green and some people are little puppets, I can accept any other idiosyncrazies you throw at me. (Wicked and Avenue Q)
• Don't only be friends with couples because life isn't company. (Company)
• Don't let the haters get bring you down (Wicked and [Title of Show])
• Even thought it's easy to get caught up in the act, you don't have to share in everyone else's delusions (A Chorus Line)
• Understanding how important the arts are and accepting that everyone's a little bit different. (again, all musicals)

In college, I got very confused when hardly anyone understood the Musical Theater jokes I was making or why I was constantly breaking into song. Didn't everyone else grow up knowing all the words to songs written by men in the 70s and 80s? No? Cool.  The relationship I have with my family is not a typical one - not only do I love my family, I like them. They're pretty groovy people, and I'm lucky enough to have realized that and try to appreciate them as much as I can.

SAP WARNING AHEAD: A big part of my Growing Up has been the realization that not everyone's parents taught their kids acceptance like mine did. It might've been going to college in Oklahoma, but I was incredibly surprised by the amount of casual racism that seemed to be engrained into the kids in my classes. I grew up knowing that no matter what I did, I would always have 3 people that would love me and care about me. And that it was ok to be different and not to judge anyone else because they were. No amount of poor decision making or weird neurosis would change that. A lot of people I know don't have that and it makes me so incredibly sad that there aren't more parents out there like mine. That's not to say my parents are perfect: my dad makes some terrrrrrrible dad jokes and my mom really likes Lyle Lovett's music. Gross.
I know a lot of people that are afaid to turn into their parents, but I'm really glad that I'm so much like mine.

On Reading (#3)

Round 3 of book reviews:

The Truth by Terry Pratchett
Would Recommend If: you like books, stories about the news, or Terry Pratchett.
I'll admit it: I am addicted to reading discworld books. They're clever and hilarious and I love how the world has developed over the series and ... GAH IT'S JUST SO GREAT. The Truth is no exception - you get a glimpse of a side of Ankh-Morpork that we don't often see (pre-industrial revolution, at least), and a glimpse into what the rest of the city is like outside the University and the City Watch (which will always and forever be my favorite books, with Tiffany Aching and the Moist Von Lipwig coming in distant 2nd and 3rd). Realizing now that this won't make much sense if you haven't read any discworld books. You should read some.

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
Would Recommend If: same as above, except replace news with witches and theater.
I really wasn't kidding, I'm trying to read all of the discworld books. After completely skipping the Witches books first time around, I'm diving in with Wyrd Sisters. Which is basically any Shakespeare play told from the perspective of the witches. Loved this, and loved learning more about Lancre.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Would Recommend If: you like time travel but don't like science fiction.
To be completely honest, I was disappointed by this book. It had so much promise - but did not deliver. I wish there had been much more time travel things and much less existential crisis things. The main character is a Time Travel Technician. HOW COOL IS THAT? But we barely see him do his job before he loses his mind and we're forced to go with him. I barely made it all the way though this book.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
Would Recommend If: you liked the Mortal Instruments series? I don't know. Maybe if you kinda liked Twilight but didn't really?
I don't know why I keep on subjecting myself to poorly executed YA paranormal romance series, but I do. The idea for this book was AWESOME: magic that turns you good or evil on your 16th birthday and all of it set in the deep south. And this book stays nicely away from a lot of YA romance tropes: has a male narrator, no love triangle, everything isn't magically 100% OK at the end of the book. But ... I don't know what it was that made me so frustrated with this book. It might've been the pacing or the fact that it is verrrry obvious that whoever wrote the book has never lived in the south and doesn't know a whole lot about how people talk/act. I bought the 2nd in the series, so I'll probably try reading it, but I really don't have much hope for it.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Would Recommend If: I have no idea, really. This book is not something I'd normally read, so I don't have a whole lot to compare it with.
This book was really interesting and a bit out of my comfort zone. I don't normally read World War II mysteries, but my mom enjoyed it and suggested I read it, so I did. I liked the structure of the book and I liked where she took it - not where I thought it was going to go, but a more realistic idea of what happened to people who lived in London during the Blitz. War torn London has always been fascinating to me and this book has re-piqued my interest. I'll definitely be reading more of this sort of book, and I'd probably pick up another book by Morton.

On Rain

Ah, Wellington. Windy Welly, Wet Welly, Winter Welly.
If the last few weeks can tell me anything is that any and all nicknames that Wellington has are well-earned. We hardly saw the sun last week (17-23rd June) and had one of the worst storms the country has seen in 40 years. I don't know if the country's just showing off for Kaitlyn and I (since we've been here we've had: the hottest and driest summer in 60 years, the worst storm in 40 years, etc) but I don't really apprecaite it, to be honest. I don't want to get blown away when I'm walking home from work. And it's not so much that I mind the rain, but rain for 3 weeks straight is ... not fun. And it isn't even real rain. It's more like someone constantly blowing raspberries right into your face.
 But there's not a lot I can do other that bundle up and try to make the best out of the crappy weather: make lots of warm, hearty food and take lots of pictures of the trees outside our kitchen window.

On Learning To Cook

When I started this blog in April, I didn't think it would end up being 90% about me dragging myself into the adult world; but that's just what my life, upon examination, has turned out to be.
As a part of my Great Kiwi Adventure Into Adulthood, I am teaching myself how to cook. Well, Kaitlyn is forcing me to learn how to cook because getting fast food or take away every night is "bad for you" and "a waste of money" or that consuming my body weight in sodium is "not a good idea" PAH! GROWN UP NONSENSE, I SAY. MCDONALD'S FOR DINNER EVERY DAY, IT'S THE AMERICAN WAY.
Up until this year, I knew how to confidently make 3 things:

1. pasta
2. sandwiches
3. scrambled eggs

I balked at the idea of cooking anything with meat - mostly out of fear of under cooking said meet and dying a horrible undercooked meat death, and a little bit out of fear of burning my apartment down because I don't know how to cook with oil (that happened, luckily one of my roommates was home and knew what to do with a pan that was on fire).
Fun side note: that very same apartment burnt down less than a year after I moved out

And it's easy to get into the habit of going out to get most of your meals, skipping the grocery store and heading straight for that tasty Indian place that's just down the street from our flat... But no! Going to the grocery store and farmers market on the weekends has turned into a staple for us, and has really helped me realize how impractical my eating habits were.
That's not to say that Kaitlyn and I never eat out, we rarely do (because food in wellington is pricey and we generally have stuff to make at home) - but it's a treat, rather than a common occurrence.

Actually paying attention to what I'm consuming has made me 100% sure that I am lactose intolerant - a fact I have blatantly ignored for the last few years because, really, ice cream is so dang tasty. And curbing my dairy and sodium intake (along with having to walk everywhere) has helped me get to a healthier weight than I was at when I left the states in August.

I wouldn't say I'm at the point where I look forward to cooking - it still makes me anxious, sometimes. But I like knowing that I can look after myself and I know some recipes and how to poach chicken and defrost meat and make casseroles and thicken dairy based sauces and (some would say most importantly) not to leave oil on a hot pan unattended.
Learning, y'all!