#I bought like 6 years ago in a store and I just wanted another one of those and it seemed like the only place the old manufacturer

[icewindandboringhorror]

I love all of these goofy product photos where the water bottle is extremely obviously just photoshopped onto a stock image of someone pretending to hold something or whatever.. very convincing..

#the last one where the water bottle is like nearly the size of the woman's entire leg ghbjbjhh #ALSO I know.. gross.. nasty.. amazon.. I was only looking there because I was trying to find an exact replica of an old water bottle #I bought like 6 years ago in a store and I just wanted another one of those and it seemed like the only place the old manufacturer #still sold was through amazon but.. alas.. I think they just don't make them anymore. so I have abandoned my hunt #I didn't actually buy anything. but I did get distracted clicking through product images for a few of them #it's bizarre how like............... idk.. WHY is this done??? Isn't this offputting to basically ANY potential customer?? or do people #not look at every photo/read the entire page/all product information before buying?? #all of these are from like front page ''top sellers'' or whatever like........... how does this not hurt the brand???? #If the company can't even bother to take a single photo of a real life person using their real life product then... that to me #is kind of red flaggy..?? even if you're an indie start up small business with hardly any funds.. still #A real photo of the product you are selling in a real actual non-photo shopped environment does not seem that inacessible #Maybe it's because everyone does everything on phones now?? So it's harder to see the pictures when they're smaller? #Kind of the same thing with ai art and also hair color photoshops lol.. On my full comptuer screen it is SOOO easy to spot ai art #like IMMEDIATELy from the little tells and ways certain details morph into each other etc. I dont even mean obvious dalle mini stuff but #like the Fancy High Quality Photorealistic AI art is still pretty blatant 98% of the time if you know what to look for. But I still catch #people sharing it a lot like 'omg where can I buy this pair of shoes!! :O <3' .. erm you cannot.. that is the most balatantly fake looking #pair of shoes I have seen in my life hhjbj.. the heels are both different heights. there's a different number of straps on each one. etc. #AND that phase back before colored hair was Mainstream and people would post photos like 'omg going to bring this to the salon!! dream hair #and it's like.. you can LITERALLY see the parts where it's 'colored outside of the lines' and is so clearly just a person with blond hair #that someone drew over with a tint brush or something not even very neatly. etc. etc. ANYWAY.. Maybe with phones it's harder to tell these #things?? To me so much of it is instantly recognizable and it's suprising to me that people either don't notice or don't care and will #interact with it anyway by buying the product or acting like some ai art fake furniture is real or etc. etc. ..hewwoo #Aslo sidenote - I think I've become soo cynical and tired of constantly being advertised to that I literally cannot shop without getting #exhausted. I do not see how marketing is anything but obnoxious and transparent. Every item description having stuff like ''Our company is #commited to bringing you the highest quality water products! we set out with a mission to bring high quality products to people all over #the world and we believe in spreading health and happiness and'' just like SHUT THE HELL UP!! youre a fucking company #you don't ''beleive'' in anything you are here to sell a product. stop trying to talk like you're my bff who cares deeply about my health #or something just tell me the materials and product specifications of your stupid fucking water bottle and move on. Idont need to hear your #whole bullshit spiel about what ~your company stands for~ that is SO much MORE offputting. you make me want to buy the item LESS.. #longing for the type of ads from my 1800s magazines that are just like 'this product is good. please buy it. okay thank you much. bye'

[cherrylovelycherry]

I was enchanted to meet you

pairing. scaramouche x gn!reader cw/genre. angst, falling out of love, break up, lovers to strangers/exes, mention of lies, false words. masterlist!

You and Scara have been dating for 1 year, he also always shows you affection, But all he does is lie.

Scara had a concert with his friends, so you go to watch it. When you saw the concert, Scara playing the guitar while seeing the singer with love eyes, the song: Enchanted

"I was Enchanted to meet you." The singer was singing and she also looked at him

"Please don't be in love with someone else, please don't have somebody waiting on you." 

The night was cold, you cursed yourself for continuing with your fantasy of colors and sparkles in the shape of hearts. It was obvious, you just preferred not to know anything and ignore.

But if you already knew everything, so why did it hurt so much?

You felt like an idiot, falling for his pretty, decorated lies over and over again. It was too much for you.

You tried a lot to hold back the tears, you tried to push the people who were there, in an attempt to get out.

But oh, the music and Scara's voice with the girl, resonated from your ears to your brain. Unconsciously your tears could not hold in your eyes, sliding down your cheeks. Pouring your heart out little by little, you didn't care how many looks the people watching the concert gave you.

It was unfair.

His false promises of "I will be your last love.", when you returned home embarrassed and happy by his confession, now fell into bitter empty words. The worst of all is that you knew it, but you believed, you had a little hope that your stories would come true.

The moment you were finally able to get out of there, you allowed yourself to sob.

It was ridiculous and humiliating, because of all the times he could do that was now, in front of a lot of people?

You returned home, you cursed internally again when you took into account that Scara also lived with you. Your mind had already processed this moment months ago while your heart was just trying to understand it.

You let out a shaky breath, “good things don’t last forever,” you thought.

You left your bag on the couch while you entered the master bedroom, taking out the suitcase where you had stored your things when you moved in with him.

As you were putting your clothes in, without touching the things he had bought you, your phone rang.

The movement of your hands stopped for a brief moment, Your eyes filled with tears again, the song from the concert, your song, forced you to have a hurricane of memories.

The first thing your brain thought to torture you was his confession; "He's your first love..." At that time, you had another love interest but that didn't stop him. "...I'm trying to be the last one."

"No matter what time passes."

Oh, how it hurt you.

Apparently that 'time' was only 6 months.

You sighed and left the suitcase open, heading to the couch and taking out your phone.

“Hello.” you said through tears and a cracking voice.

“Where are you? I didn't see you when the concert ended.” He said with a calm voice as if he had not been the one on stage flirting minutes ago.

“I’m at home.” you whispered.

He went silent, you could hear how he breathed through the phone.

You went quiet as well, as the silence passed, neither of you was the first to speak.

You heard that his breath was quick, something made him uneasy.

“Did something happen?” He asked in a more serious tone than before.

At your lack of response, Scara spoke again.

“…I’m coming over." He said and hung up.

You left your cell phone on the couch while you went back to put away your belongings in the suitcase.

You still wanted to cry but no tears came out of your eyes. Now you were sitting on the couch, with the suitcase on one side, waiting for him.

10 minutes had passed and finally you began to hear his footsteps approaching.

Your heart felt heavy.

He came in, seeing the suitcase on the couch, he looked at you.

"... what are you doing?" His eyes scanned you with concern, they looked into yours with the same concern.

You raised your head, looking at him, your eyes were red and swollen. You let out a sigh and spoke calmly; "I am leaving."

"Y/N—" He tried to start but you spoke first.

"I'm not interested in hearing any explanations or excuses," You said firmly.

He wanted to say something but you put your hand up in the air stopping his words.

"No matter what you say I don't believe you anymore," Your words pierced his heart like it was nothing, even your eyes were dry.

He felt as if he had been punched in the stomach, he finally lowered his gaze to the floor.

"..."

"Why did you go through the trouble of lying to me about loving me when it was so easy for you to fall in love with someone else in front of me on stage?", you thought, but you didn't say.

You got up from the couch, standing in front of him.

"Please, I can explain—"

You silenced him again.

"I know you're interested in someone else, Scara." You said, your voice sounding soft and calm.

You took his hands in yours, wanting to feel the warm touch you longed for from him. "Take good care of yourself from now on." You said, tightening your grip on his hands knowing that the moment you let go, you would never feel that warmth inside you again.

He couldn't speak, he also tightened his grip on your hands, remaining silent.

You surprised yourself by the fact that you were so calm now, without needing to drown in tears. You wanted to think that it was because of your mind, which had already been prepared for this moment, you didn't even mind leaving in the middle of the night, you had called a taxi before anyway.

For a few more seconds you continued like this until you released his hands. You inhaled and exhaled, going back to grab your suitcase. "I'll spend forever wondering if you knew, I was enchanted to meet you." You said with a little smile on your face, looking at him one last time and then walking past him, opening the door to your now ex-house, leaving there.

©cherrylovelycherry do not repost, copy, translate, modify

#genshin impact #genshin #genshin angst #genshin fanfic #genshin x reader #genshin impact angst #scaramouche x reader angst #scaramouche #genshin scara #scara x reader #wanderer #scara x you #scara x y/n #scaramouche angst #lovers to strangers #lovers to exes

[godesssiri]

10 Thrifting Tips – Part ? I lost count just check my thrifting tag

1) Make friends with the staff. If you go into a particular thrift store frequently it’s well worth it to get friendly with the staff. Ask them about their day, chat with them about what you’re buying, infodump if you’ve found something exciting and unusual. When the staff get to know you and know what you buy they’ll start pointing out things in the store that have come in since the last time you were there, that fit your interests. They may even start putting things aside for you. Recently I walked into my favorite thrift store and had 2 separate staff members say ‘Oh I’ve got something for you’. Plus having the staff greet you by name and having little inside jokes with them just makes the whole experience more fun.

2) Brita jugs turn up at the thrift store frequently. If tap water in your area is safe but has A Taste, keep an eye out at the thrift store.

3) Coffee making equipment. Capsule coffee makers, the wire racks that hold the capsules, French presses, these all get donated frequently. The occasional espresso machine comes in – and goes out very quickly. Now and then you’ll find pour-over coffee equipment. If you like your bean juice you can get the equipment you need to make fancy bean juice at the thrift store.

4) Handmade pottery mugs. Story time: About 6 or 7 years ago I went into a thrift store and someone had obviously just cleaned out their mug cupboard and donated a pile of handmade pottery. I bought 4 because I thought they were cool, very tactile, nice to hold. This AWOKE something in me. Humans have used handmade pottery for thousands of years and there’s something about holding a handmade mug that sparks a genetic memory of warmth and comfort. Pottery also has much better thermal properties than mass produced ceramic, hot stays hot longer and vice versa with cold. Build up a little collection of handmade pottery mugs from the thrift store, each one has its own personality and it brings joy using them.

5) In the same vein: teaspoons. Build up a collection of fun teaspoons and take joy from using different ones depending on your mood. I have one with an owl on the end and another with a rose, a brass one with a wiggly handle in the shape of a snake, one that has the branding of an airline that now only uses wooden stirrers - probably because people kept pocketing the stainless-steel teaspoons (I always wanted to steal one as a child but never had the nerve). Whenever I need a teaspoon it’s always a little endorphin boost to open the drawer and select the perfect one for today.

6) If you need something to do a specific job, be patient, you will find the perfect thing eventually. I switched to solid shampoo and my old soap dish wasn’t big enough to hold my shampoo bar and my regular soap, so I waited and watched and found the perfect little glass tray that was exactly the right size and fits perfectly on the shelf in my shower. I could have bought a brand new made-for-that-purpose multi soap holder, but it wouldn’t have been as cool looking and when I’m done with it, it wouldn’t necessarily get another life.

7) Gift supplies. Thrift stores often have a selection of unused gift wrap, bags, bows, cards. It’s worth it to sift through what they’ve got and buy any you think you might use – even if you don’t have an immediate use for it. That stuff can get expensive so if you can create a small stash then, when you need it, you won’t have to shell out $$.

8) Look for things that can be made over – or thrift flipped as the DIY content creators like to say. There’s so much satisfaction from looking at something that was plain ugly when you bought it and you’ve turned it into something pretty. It doesn’t need to be a major transformation that requires 5 different power-tools and 100 bucks worth of supplies. It can be as simple as a lick of paint, but every time you look at you will feel good about it.

9) Sometimes it’s worth buying something that’s just really cool and figuring out a use for it later. I bought the coolest little silver plated mustard pot; it has 3 legs and at the top of each leg is a lion head. Do I eat mustard much? No. Did I know what the heck I would use it for? No. I get bad indigestion and keep antacids on hand, I hate how once you tear open the roll, they tend to spill everywhere so I like to put them in something. Guess what holds exactly one roll of antacids? If something is just freaking awesome but you don’t know what you’d use it for, you will find a use (and it will be so much cooler than anything else you might have bought for that purpose).

10) Use the fancy stuff. Don’t ever look at something in a thrift store and think: that’s too fancy, I’ll never use it. If it’s not bought and used it ends up in landfill. Save it from the landfill and use it. Today I bought the most OTT fancy silver pepper shaker to sit next to my stove and hold ground pepper for cooking with, one of my housemates never puts the damn pepper back in the cupboard when he’s finished with it, so now we have this ostentatious silver shaker next to the stove top. One of my dogs can be relied upon to get half of his food on the floor before he hoovers it up, I could have got a plastic mat to feed him on but I had a spare thrifted marble cutting/serving board (I have a problem, I own 3, I have so much trouble resisting them), and another plus - he can’t destroy it like he would a plastic mat. I keep my toothbrush in a crystal bud vase. I decant my micellar water into a bottle shaped like a seahorse. I eat off pretty vintage pink glass plates. Using the fancy stuff from thrift stores both helps you romanticize your own life and it gives these items another life. Do be sensible though, some items made before the early 1970s including glassware and dinnerware contain lead in the decoration so do your due diligence and be safe.

#thrifting #thrift shopping #solarpunk #solarpunk tag #eco home #fuck capitalism #reduce reuse recycle #sustainability

[lifeontoast]

Fairytale of Seattle

Platonic!Alice and Rosalie x reader

SUMMARY: Day 2! A girly shopping trip with Alice and Rosalie - what could go wrong?

Trigger warnings: none, I don’t think.

…

Today was the day. Alice had somehow convinced you and Rosalie to come shopping with her. After much begging and pleading, you had no choice but to give in. Much as you had complained about it, a tiny part of you had been looking forward to it.

Setting off early in the morning, the three of you made your way to Seattle, as Alice said it had ‘the BEST shops!’. You had to take her word for it on that one. You knew next to nothing about all that sort of thing, and Rosalie had to agree. Shopping was very much Alice’s forte, not that she hadn’t tried to change that with you two. The car ride had been very uneventful, but you had requested Christmas songs on the way, and before you knew where you were, you were all yelling the words at the tops of your voices. Even Rosalie had been persuaded to join in.

Several rounds of Step into Christmas and one particularly heartfelt rendition of ABBA’s Happy New Year later, you reached the city, before finally swinging into a parking spot just as you were belting out the final chorus of Christmas Lights. The festivities didn’t stop there; you all but danced down the street, arm in joyful arm. Every shop was totally decked out with every kind of decoration you could possibly imagine. Bells jingling, fake candles flickering, fake snow glittering; it was a magical sight to see. There was real snow on the pavement and on the roads, turning to slush as you walked through it. Thank goodness today wasn’t a sunny day, or else you’d all be sparkling like the snow.

The first shop you wandered into was, of course, a clothes shop. You knew that there’d be no escaping it, with Alice in charge of the trip. You dutifully tried on all the clothes she practically threw at you, and even found a few pieces that you actually liked. Say what you like about Alice, but she has damn good taste. She said that you’d need outfits for several occasions, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve. and that was just for starters. The pair of you decided to humour her and just go along with what she was telling you. Rosalie looked absolutely stunning in a short, sparkly red dress that made her legs look ten miles long and set off her pearly skin perfectly. Alice herself was happily parading around in a white number, that she said was ‘perfect for New Year’s Eve!’

Next, you found yourself in a bookstore, trying to find presents for the rest of the Cullens. Shopping with Alice was like walking in a tornado; you never knew where you’d end up next. You decided on a book on the history of Chicago for Edward, and some medical tome for Carlisle, not that there wasn’t anything about medicine that he didn’t already know. Esme liked her hobbies, so you chose a book on flower-pressing for her. Smiling, you pretended not to look as Alice picked up the book you’d wanted for ages. You paid for all your books, and you all but staggered out of the shop carrying them all in tote bags full to bursting, making you really wish you’d got them last.

By this time, it was around noon. The next shop you hit was a homeware store, to pick up some new decorations for the Christmas tree and a gingerbread house kit. Even though you couldn’t actually eat it, they were so fun to make. Carlisle could always bring it as a treat for the other workers at the hospital. Sighing, you thought about the long-ago times when you could’ve eaten it. But now was not the time for reflection. You finished quickly there, sporting tinsel feather boas for some extra festive pizzazz. Stopping at LUSH, you bought yourself a bath bomb, along with some other goodies for the girls. More shops, more gifts. It was never-ending in the best way possible.

By 6 o’clock, you had well and truly shopped until you dropped. The car ride back was another karaoke bonanza, featuring Rosalie’s incredible version of All I Want for Christmas is You. You had found that Rosalie had taken a lot of thawing, but once you knew her, she really was a lovely person to be around. Same with Alice, but she was as bubbly as a bath. She had already declared you firm friends on the first day you met. It was times like Christmas when you were really grateful for the Cullens and the warm welcome they had extended to you; having nobody to spend Christmas with was miserable.

Back at the house, the fun continued with a screening of Elf, everyone in the matching pyjamas Alice had somehow managed to sneak into the shopping basket at one point, totally unbeknownst to you. The faces Edward made when he was presented with them were absolutely priceless. It had been a fun day. Maybe you’d let Alice take you shopping again soon. Not too soon, though!

…

Hope you enjoyed :)

#lifeontoast #twilight #alice cullen x reader #alice cullen #rosalie hale #rosalie hale x reader #advent 23

[wario-speedwagon]

Dave and Old Sport Adopt a Kid: Chapter 7

And so I return with another chapter! This one's a bit less chaotic and more so just wholesome and introspective on our child, "Pruny." Full chapter is under the cut, and also some more amazing fanart at the end, too, this time by Fyreon! I hope you enjoy! <3

Chapter 1 Chapter 6

Chapter 7

“Aaand there!” Dave triumphantly declared as he lifted off Pruny’s penultimate shirt until just her new lavender polka dotted pajama top remained. “Feels much better, don’t it?”

The small girl nodded up at the purple man–Dave–who was sitting next to her in the back seat.  It was admittedly easier in some ways to interact with Dave since his voice was so loud she didn’t always have to rely on lipreading as much to understand him. On the other hand, his loud personality was a lot for her, but she didn’t terribly mind. 

She could tell she was ready to fall asleep soon, as she was getting too tired to maintain eye contact anymore, and the man was still chit-chatting away with her, more than she had the energy to keep up with, so she started to tune him out.

Today had been a nonstop roller coaster of many different emotions. She hadn’t experienced so much excitement in a long time. 

…

Probably not since she had to leave her old home… It must have been close to a year ago by now…

She found herself wondering how some of her friends–if she could be so bold as to call them that–were doing…

Her friend Izzy who didn't mind hanging out with her in the orphanage… and the other ones who at least didn’t make her time there worse…

Friends who she left behind… But that’s just how it went there: people came and went all the time there. It’s just that her turn to go wasn’t as… happy as the others’...

Ah well. She really needed to stop bringing that to mind so much when it’s behind her now…

…

So she thought more about her time on the streets instead; about that cool older kid on a nearby street who sometimes shared their makeup, even taught her to hide her skin tone to blend in more. She sometimes saw glimpses of purple shades on the edges of their skin, and unless it was some strange aesthetic technique, she wondered if they were maybe like her under their own makeup. Was that too much to hope for? But Dave showed her she really wasn’t alone.

But that kid… despite wanting to, she never managed to find the words to ask their name. Or even their gender at that, which she’d never been sure about. 

She realized she never got to tell them her name either…

…Or there was that sweet, older man who always offered her one of his bakery goods that he just bought—she was sure that he must have always made sure to buy something extra just for her, and she didn't know why he thought she deserved it.

He'll have to keep her treat for tomorrow. Or maybe for a while… if she doesn’t ever see him again…

Was all of this going to be some permanent change?

…

Truthfully, she hoped so.

…

Nudging herself back awake, she glanced to her left at Dave and noticed he wasn't rambling anymore, but blankly looking ahead in her general direction off in the distance, as if contemplating something. But as she turned to look directly at him, his eyes quickly met hers and a smile returned to his face again as he began to speak again, more softly this time as she lip read:

“Y'know kid, I really hope this all works out for us.”

An indescribable feeling of relief falling over her, she found herself agreeing.

Is this how those other kids felt? The ones who left?

Dave slumped himself back against the car seat, arms crossed. He let out a rather loud yawn, one that brought attention to her own tiredness as she also rested her head against the door window.

“Now what is that tangerine up to, making us wait so long?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack finally exited the closing store with everything he needed–well more specifically, what she needed of course, but it took a hot second to not only find what was needed but to also budget-puzzle what he could manage to afford, what was necessary, what could wait a bit, what he could discreetly slip into a pocket…

He knew this was all probably going overboard for a girl that was only staying no more than a night or two hopefully, but hey, she could use the stuff on her own once she's taken under better care. She was a good kid.

Though Jack didn't care for how his mind was mentally preparing for a long term stay, because it wasn't happening. He just had to find a way to not have her end up back on the streets either.

*sigh*

Finally approaching his car, Jack opened the driver's seat door and threw the bags over into the empty passenger seat. Empty, huh? Evidently no one claimed shotgun. And as he was about to address his guests in the back, Jack promptly ate his words when he noticed the two of them were fast asleep in the back. Frankly Jack was both impressed and glad for a more quiet drive home like he was used to. So he opened the car door carefully and tried not to wake them as he not-so-quietly proceeded to boot up his piece of junk car for home.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the soothing rumbling stopped, Violet woke up to a disorienting sweeping motion, but she was still too tired to bother opening her eyes more than a slit. She knew she was being carried bridal style, and glancing up, the fuzzy purple hued figure towering over her was enough to tell her it was Dave carrying her. She felt the cold night air around her, and then the muffled thud of car doors closing behind them, the movement of Dave walking-

When light started to surround them, she buried her face in Dave's chest to keep sweet darkness as the two men discussed something quietly which she hardly had the energy to begin trying to hear and decipher.

…She then felt herself being let down onto what was probably a sofa? A quick squinted glance confirmed her surroundings to be Jack's living room before she quickly blocked out the harsh light again and buried her face into the couch. Violet was committed to her comfortable act of being asleep, but since being lifted from her sleep in the car, her mind was awake again.

The room suddenly flicked dim as a lamp must have been turned off with only the further kitchen light spilling in, and their muffled voices grew more distant. Violet was finally left with her thoughts, and today gave her much to think about. Suddenly falling in with these two guys: was it even safe? Was it a good idea? Why did they want her? Or, well at least the purple one did, though the orange one seemed nice, except for that knife from the beginning… 

She didn’t know what to make of either of them. She didn't understand them. Who they were, what they're about, or even what kind of people they really are. She'd not been out in the streets for more than a year or so, but even so, she quickly learned the importance of following her gut instinct around new people.

And that's what perplexed her: there was something… genuine about them. Especially the purple one. And he really was purple, without a doubt! She couldn’t help but be interested and perhaps excited just by that alone. Was he really also like her? Maybe that's why she felt at ease around him, just the natural kinship of finally not being alone…

The orange one, though, she could tell from his shoddy job that his orange-ness wasn't natural; definitely makeup. She couldn't think of a reason why someone would go out of his way to color his skin so strangely, especially when she sometimes went out of her way to hide her skin with makeup to look “normal.”

Those men were both a mystery that she admittedly wanted to get to know better… But she was a mystery to them too. They don't even know her actual name; they'd just given her a name when she failed to volunteer her own. Although it was a strange name, she didn't entirely hate it. Pruny… She’d been called worse before, or at least names that felt worse considering the way they said those “nicknames.” This one honestly felt nice, no matter how strange it–or the people using it–were.

One day, though… she hoped that she'd be able to tell them the name Violet.

…That is, if there will be more days for her to keep trying. For now, though, the couch was the comfiest night she'd had in months. She didn’t even notice when the blanket had been placed over her.

(Chapter 8) ->

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FANART! <3

Huge thanks to @fyreonfnaf for this adorable art of Pruny and her first words- er, word!! It's so freakin cute!

And thanks to everyone as always for the continued support!

#Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed <3 #and is that one side character suspiciously similar to a certain character by @an-artist-place-for-extra-art? maaaybe ;) #dayshift at freddy's #dsaf #dayshift at freddys #davesport #dsaf fanfic #dave miller #jack kennedy #dsaf dave #dsaf jack #jack dsaf #dave dsaf

[queenimmadolla]

ooo do you have any recommendations for lip liners? i’ve only ever had one and i lost it lol

Before I recommend, I want to stress the importance of making sure the companies you’re purchasing from are not funding or supporting the genocide taking place this very minute in Gaza by contributing to Israel’s funds. I haven’t purchased a lipliner in like 6 months because I buy a lot at once, so I haven’t checked up to see if these brands have been contributing. Please do your due diligence before supporting any of these big brands. one liner can easily equal one bullet.

nyx USED to be my tried and true, until they “reformulated” their lip liners because my old liner colors are not matching up to the new ones even though they’re the SAME SHADE, but i’m afraid of change so i bought like 22 of the same liners 7 years ago, so i’m good for a few more years. their shades now are still good, but i can’t promise the shade you get will always be the same shade so if you like one, nab a bunch.

colourpop is another favorite of mine, even if they’re stupid fucking liners literally escape the pencil after the first use. they’re so good that i just pick it up and put it back in the pencil lol

tower 28 is quickly climbing the ranks of my fav liners and glosses.

mac used to be one of my favs until i found out they’re not cruelty free (still have a couple of old liners, since they last a good chunk of time, i’m talking years for me)

lime crime lip and charlotte tilbury also have good lip liners but i don’t like to break the bank for them often.

above all, beauty supply stores have like THE best lip liners and they’re ridiculously cheap.

**more recs in the comments** 💋

#$ replies #ask aunt viv

[shuttershocky]

Yknow I really want to think that folks at Hypergryph want to make Good Viddygame in addition to making mad cash off of it but as time goes on its kinda getting harder and harder.

My dude, every damn game developer wants to make a good video game. With all the unnecessary bullshit in the industry you don't really work here unless you really, truly love it and are willing to take much lower pay and horrendous work hours vs jobs with similar skillset needs. No artist dreams of making bad art.

However, as long as the endgoal is increasing company profits, making a good video game free of bullshit also becomes increasingly difficult.

If you're an older gamer who has seen how the industry's changed over the years, you would know that capitalism has ruined so much of what video games once were. Unfinished games releasing with a whole roadmap of DLC planned out and armies of developers crunched to their deaths to keep up with a ridiculous annual release schedule so the flow of money never stops, all of this was unthinkable years ago, and yet was inevitable given the path the industry set out on.

As video games went from niche nerd hobby to a real industry, all the moneymen spotted a goldmine and set up shop. It's not enough that a company turns a profit, it has to turn a profit larger than last year's to show that it's still growing. That's why nobody ever sells a complete, medium budget, single-player package fully polished from start to finish anymore (barring the odd surprise like Hi-Fi Rush), because that only makes money once, while a live service game with paid battlepasses and DLC will keep the money rolling in for years.

Back to Arknights, you can see for yourself just how much this pressure to keep growing profits has affected the game. There used to be no limited units at all, a breath of fresh air in the mobage space, until Nian came to much pushback. HG tried to compromise, made this whole system of a free roll every day and a free ten roll ticket to make the idea of limiteds suck less, but they already broke the dam. Limited units went from once every 6 months to once every 3. Then in the next year they introduced Operator Alters, because every gacha game knows you can sell harder by making a different version of an already popular unit rather than convince people to like a new one. Even the very nature of Alters made an attempt to go from "An alternate take on your favorite characters" to the extremely familiar "Its this character but in a bikini" type of cashgrab. Skin prices also went from 18 prime to 21 once Live2D skins entered the picture, and the originium prime store introduced a one time refresh of the first time purchase bonus, just to try to convince people who have never bought prime before to take advantage of the first bonus.

This is the sad reality all online games must face one way or the other. A company can't just be sustainable, it has to keep growing, and that means constantly looking for the cheapest way to squeeze out more money.

It's only going to get worse for many games unless major changes are made, the industry goes through another disastrous crash, or both.

[justasmallbloginabigklainefandom]

ANYWAY, LONDON. (12th Doctor voice: "What a dump!")

Tuesday

Mum and I left our home at 7:30 (Dutch time) and arrived 12:30 or so (UK time).

We had a lunch reservation at 15:00 at Dishoom in Covent Garden and it was delicious. The restaurant itself was too crowdy, though. Definitely overwhelming. My aunt recommended it, and I paid the bill, as a surprise to my mum. She was so surprised and happy she even told our waiter while beaming.

We walked around Covent Garden and we bought tea at Tesco's for my dad. I also went to the Waterstones there.

We also explored Chinatown and I am in love.

For dinner, we had a small bite at Bao Spot.

Then we went to Picadilly Circus's Waterstones, where I bought In the Lives of Puppets. I love this bookstore.

My mum wanted to check Fortnum & Mason, because my parents bought a tea set around 11 years ago, and she wanted to see if she could add the cake stand, until she saw the price.

Unfortunately, I was up till 6:00 because of my mum's snoring.

Wednesday

So we immediately looked up where we can find a drug store to buy earplugs. I'm conviced Boots and Etos are the same.

Anyway, despite my lack of sleep, I was !!!!! because it was HADESTOWN DAY.

We grabbed something to eat at Pret a Manger and ate it at Leicester Square and I'm just going to say it, Leicester Square is fucking horrible and definitely a tourist trap with the McDonalds and M&M Store and all the souvenir + vape shops. Cannot imagine why someone would willingly go there.

But yeah, we went to the Boots in Covent Garden, since that's what my mum found, not knowing that there was a huge Boots basically next to our hotel. Oops.

After that, we went to South Kensington by tube, but we accidentally took the emergency exit as entrance, so we walked down 190 stairs.

We walked around Kensington and Chelsea and damn, people are rich here.

We bought two expensive slices of cake at the Hummingbird Bakery. Mum thought they were around £3 a slice, but I saw it was over £6 a slice. My mum has 3 cookbooks from this bakery and likes their stuff, so she needed to try it.

We had lunch reservations at 12:30, but my mum was anxious to be late, so we were already there before 12:00, aka when the restaurant was open. So we instead had an overpriced (£3,60) cup of tea at this bakery close to it.

We had lunch at La Mammas or whatever it's called. My mum wanted to go there. It was really neat.

Then we took the bus to Harrods. We didn't really plan on buying anything, but we just wanted to see. My mum loved going by bus. Also, Harrods is terribly confusing. They should give us maps.

We went to the hotel to try the cakes and they were... bad. Well, not bad as in gross, but bad as in incredibly basic bitch and boring. You were unable to taste any of the flavour and it was way too sweet. Basically, it was laughable. (Mum: "Well, for £3, it was worth trying." Me: "... yeah, about that....")

HADESTOWN

HADESTOWN

HAAAAADESTOWN

AKA THE REASON WE WENT ON THIS TRIP IN THE FIRST PLACE

HADESTOWN!!!!!!

Thursday

We checked out Soho and had another breakfast at Pret a Manger. These things are everywhere, huh?

We bought some gifts for my dad and sister at Liberty's.

I, uh, convinced my mum to go to TKTS with me to check if there were cheap matinee tickets, either for Hadestown (yes, again) or Hamilton.

That's how I unexpectedly got Hamilton tickets.

Before that, we stopped by at Chinatown for lunch. I wanted a Chinese crepe. Looks like my Chinese is decent enough, because I ordered in Chinese and the seller immediately spoke back in rapid Chinese. Uhhhh.（ 我：我不明白！！！）

HAMILTON

HAMILTON.

HAMILTON!!!!!

And then after we show, we immediately had to take the train from Victoria back to Leicester Square, because we had dinner reservations at 胖胖 Hotpot. I really, REALLY wanted to try hotpot and we chose this one, because back in China, people used to call me 胖胖. It was absolutely delicious, although one of the soups was waaaaay too spicy for us.

I didn't want to go to bed, so we strolled around Picadilly Circus a bit more.

Friday

Our last day :(

We decided to have breakfast at Picadilly Circus's Waterstones. It was neat. Afterwards, I explored the store again and decided to, uh, read all the new content in Alice Oseman's new reprints of the books. They all have new covers, drawn by her, and new stuff. I don't feel like buying all of them again for that, even though the covers truly are amazing, so I decided to read them there on the spot.

Radio Silence's new content was the least interesting. I'm sorry, Alice.

The interview in Solitaire was cool and I liked the new tibit about Lucas.

Loveless and IWBFT had a whole new section of story. Loveless had the moment before Pip and Rooney's first kiss. I loved Pip's "I'm too fucking gay for this." I think I loved the IWBFT one more, partially because I love IWBFT more, but I loved reading the dynamic between Rowan and Lister and reading their POVs. (And shout-out to Rowan acknowledging that people see Lister as the most attractive one, since he's the white one.)

Nick & Charlie had a new story altogether about Nick's first day at uni and I also really liked that one.

Yes. I just used this post about my trip to London for these reviews.

We walked around Covent Garden again, but now in the area that was off-limits for cars and I admired Ted Baker bags. I really like these things, but I never really wanted to buy one, because I'm not going to use them. Maybe in sale. One day.

We had lunch at Bun House in Chinatown. We ordered three bao buns and wonton soup and holy shit, sorry Dishoom and Mammas, this was the best lunch of the trip.

My mum already wanted to go to St. Pancras (again, she's anxious about being late), even though it was 15:00 and the train left at 19:30. I was like "uh no", so we went to Trafalgar Square, since that was close by and therefore "safe" to go to without having to rush back.

If there were another matinee, I, uh, would've tried to go there, but alas.

On our way to Trafalgar Square, we stumbled across the Royal Watercolour Society which held a lil exhibition showcasing miniature models of two architects. A hidden gem, to be honest.

We sat at Trafalgar Square for a while and man, the queue for the National Gallery was insane. I also spotted a Waterstones so off we went. Look, I have been looking for a hardback copy of Gentleman's Guide for a long time, okay? I wanted to try again, but again, no luck.

Then around 16:30 we went to St. Pancras. There, we had tea at Le Pain Quotidien while we waited for an hour before the line opened and yes, around 19:30, we left. We arrived in Brussels at 22:30 (Dutch time) and my dad picked us up and we drove home.

#lb 2024 #me doing the actual blogging thing #in bulletpoint form

[spooniechef]

Lasagne (1-2 spoons)

Another one that serves well for both your “batch cooking” needs and your “stick it in the oven for awhile without doing much else to it” needs is lasagne. I like lasagne but had never made it myself; gluten-free ready-meal lasagne exists but is too expensive, so I gave it up for awhile after discovering the gluten intolerance issue. Still, I was interested enough in trying to make my own that I asked for a baking dish for Christmas a couple of years ago, and is part of why I started getting into the concept of batch cooking to help save spoons in the first place. Lasagne’s hearty, has all the food groups you need, and keeps well in the freezer, so it seemed like a good way to start.

I’m going to start with some notes, because there’s a couple of different ways to approach lasagne sauces. You can just buy the stuff in jars, but while I recommend that for the white sauce (bechamel sauce is a pain in the ass), the red sauce in jars is never quite as good. So here’s a rough approximation of my recipe for bolognaise sauce, since it’s going to be a key component here.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 packet ground beef (not too fatty, but not too lean either)

1 large onion, chopped

Spices to taste (I generally use paprika, chilli powder, celery salt, garlic pepper, and seasoned salt)

1/2 zucchini (or courgette if you live on my side of the Atlantic), quartered

1 packet button mushrooms, sliced

1 can / packet passatta (if you can’t find passatta, just get a can of chopped tomatoes and use a blender / hand mixer to get the right consistency)

2 tablespoons tomato puree

3-6 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon steak sauce (A1 works best, but any barbecue sauce will do)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon tabasco sauce

1 beef stock cube

Pepper, basil, oregano, sage, thyme to taste

Quick note on the herbs - I'm generally talking about fresh herbs in those situations. Another thing I did when I got my diagnosis was start an herb garden on my balcony and windowsills. I highly recommend it for the dedicated foodie - even those of us with limited spoons. I’ll go into why in another entry, and show just what can be accomplished with limited spoons and a north-facing apartment in a country famous for being overcast a lot. But for those who don’t have an herb garden, use about a half-teaspoon each of dried or a tablespoon or so of the mixed Italian herb blends you can buy and that should be fine.

Here’s what you do:

Spice the meat to taste; in a large, deep frying pan, cook the meat and onion until the beef is mostly browned and the onions are transparent

Add garlic, mushrooms and zucchini; heat for 1-2 minutes

Add everything else; stir thoroughly so everything is fully mixed

If you have one, put a lid on the pan; let simmer on medium-low heat for at least 20 minutes

The stock cube gives the sauce a nice bit of earthy richness, and the various sauces give it a bit of depth and kick - all of it acting as a complement to the beef. If you’re a vegetarian, just leave out the beef and the beef stock cube and use the entire courgette and another packet of button mushrooms.

This is good as a batch-cooking staple because it keeps well, freezes well, and can be used either just as a standalone pasta sauce, as the sauce for a pasta bake, or as the red sauce for a lasagne. Because it keeps so well, you don’t even have to decide on which right away. But for the sake of the rest of this post, lasagne.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 can white sauce (otherwise known as bechamel; if you want to make it yourself, you’re a braver person than I am)

Red sauce (see above, or use your own variation, or just a jar of the store-bought stuff in a pinch)

Little bit of oil or butter

1 packet lasagne sheets

1 packet cheese (cheddar or mozarella) to top

This becomes a one-spoon recipe if your red and white sauces are pre-made, one way or the other. It’s a two-spoon recipe if you’re making bolognaise for it fresh on the day. I figure trying to make your own white sauce would bring it up to three spoons, which is why I don’t advise it.

Here’s what you do:

Preheat oven to about 355F (180C, 160C fan assist, gas mark 4)

Grease your baking dish on all sides and along the bottom (this will stop things sticking to the baking dish and make serving and cleaning easier)

Coat the bottom of the baking dish with a layer of the red sauce; cover with a layer of lasagne sheets; spread a layer of white sauce over that

Keep alternating red / noodle / white for about three layers (that should see you to the end of the jar of white sauce); make sure that the top layer is completely covered by the white sauce

Top the entire thing with a layer of cheese

Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is bubbling and lightly browned

Just one note this time, and it’s about the same as the one I gave about the chicken broccoli pasta bake - if you’re using dairy-free cheese, you probably won’t get the same bubbling and browning as you would with regular cheese. You should still take it out of the oven at about the 45 minute mark.

So there you go - two recipes for the (nonexistent) price of one - pasta sauce and lasagne. Depending on your preferred portion size, the lasagne should make 4-6 servings, and again, it keeps well and freezes well, so it’s good even if you only have yourself to cook for.

#The Spoonie Chef #recipes #meals #pasta

[ya-zz]

Hiya hello! Just wanted to ask a couple VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS!

Food first:

Do you eat sweet pickles?

Have you ever had a big mac from McDonald's?

Have you ever had tacos?

Chilli fries?

What's your favourite kind of ice cream? 👀

Do you like milkshakes?

Okay now random ones I thought of!

Do you like cats? (Very very important question here)

Do you have any favourite shows? Or genre of show? (Personally a huge fan of teen shows and murder mysteries!)

Do you like hot sauce?

Have you ever had a goldfish?

Have you ever read one of my writings? 👀

Not a question but just wanted to say you're awesome and I wanted to make each column have 6 \(^-^)/

-The cousin ❤️

“A couple of important questions” proceeds to ask twelve hahah

I love question time, let’s fuckin go-

1: the only time I eat pickles is relevant to the next question

2: yes, I have. One of my go to meals when the wraps aren’t appealing to me

3: my family used to do taco night each month before we all got busy so yes!

4: also yes!

5: my Nan made this toffee ice cream once two years ago for my bday that I loved so much that I asked her to make another batch- store bought tho would be cookie dough

6: banana milkshake all the way

7: I adore cats, but we can’t have any as we’ve got three dogs

8: Law and Order SVU is my go to. 7 times rewatched from the start… I got real bored at uni don’t ask-

9: I have to be in the right mood for hot sauce- usually me and my brother add it to our pasta sauce when it’s not “spicy enough”

10: no fish unfortunately. I can barely look after a plant

11: I have! 👀

12: and thank you!

Whao that was fun~ I love doing things like this 💜 thanks for the questions lovely!

#askyazz

[gar-trek]

OKAY TO BE REAL THO.... my spirk journy:

When I first started watching star trek, i did not know spirk existed... HONEST!!!! i was like 13 and i wasnt really active in any star trek fanspaces... just existing in pure bliss and enjoying the show for what it was.... den... as i kept existing through life i was peripherally away of spirk but i never even had one thought about it and if i did that thought was probably like "oh thats kinda weird and funny" THEN... a year before i started my tumblr account, i went to an antique store and found a star trek zine. It was not a spirk story, just a little bit gay. this was during my first year of college when i had yet to make any friends. I found that zine and showed it to some aquantences who thought it was pretty funny, and we all spend an afternoon reading it together, laughing, and speculating if it was supposed to be gay (it was not k/s, but it was still a little gay)... one of those people turned out to be my now very close friend austin (HI AUSTIN) and perhaps this moment shared between us helped our beautiful friendship grow. Either way this was one of my best memories from my shortly lived pre-covid college experience... this made me associate good feelings with star trek zines, and when i went on ebay to check out more i was extremly amused to find that a lot of them were kirk and spock... this is what me and my friends had joked about with the first zine... but for realsies this time... SO i went on ebay and bought some authentic K/S zines and this coincided with me making my tumblr blog.... in January of 2021 i began yet another rewatch of tos... and i was enjoying it so much.. but i wanted someone to talk to about it!!! so i joined tumblr,,, ALSO since i was intrested in zines, RIGHT before i started my tumblr account i looked it up and found that people on tumblr were STILL making spirk zines, which i had become obsessed with, SO I SIGNED UP TO CONTRIBUTE MY ART TO A SPIRK ZINE.. which i did and it was physically printed like 6 months later. anyway i made my first post on january 15th... and by januery 18th... i had reblogged my first spirk post.. then that same day i posted this... as i struggled to come to terms with the fact i shipped spirk

then on febuary 7th... i made a spirk post that got 1.5 K notes... my first taste of spirk clout...I would say my main spirk era lasted untill i started watching tng, which i did in may of 2021. In may i also made a post that likened spirkies to johnlockers, and although i did not say anything negative about spirk shippers, but if i was compairing them to johnlockers i must have been growing wearing. i must also note that during this period, i used to get a lot of random anons that were just like "i love your blog! your content is so funny!" or whatever... and this was like kind of a regualr theing. this really did stop when i started posting about tng more and probably started acting a lot more mean and now i just get anons asking me if i have a gas leak in my house.. just saying. I enjoyed a summer of tng content, and slowly started to realize that i could like a trek that wasnt tos... THEN .. by septerber.. i made my first negative spirk post... a disturbing trend that would be repeated

i was very wearing about saying something negative about spirk, as i knew a lot of my followers and friends LOVED spirk.. but it has began to really grate my nerves. then it was all down hill from there!! anyway, i wont lie. i used to get the spirk feels man. i even read a couple fanfics man!! drew some fan art!!!! idk. i moved on to greener pastures. i used to say sappy things about spirk!!! i think that... me ... shipping spirk and liking that a lot is very much tied to online schooling and a time in my life when i was feeling very isolated from genuine friends. I'm not trying to say like spirk was a trauma response or anything, but its just weird how different my life was a year and a half ago, like much more different then it should have been. it was just like me and spirk against the world back then.... actually like right now writing this post im having a revelation that im probably so soured on spirk because it reminds me of a time in my life when i was a lot less happy then i am right now.. ISNT THAT WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!!! the parellels im drawing.. wow i never thought of it like this before.. okay mind blown. good night everyone

#btw it wasnt that bad a year and a half ago. #i had just stopped talking to my best friend and i wasnt close with austin yet and i didnt have my discord friends #but now me and my old friend are on good terms and our relationship is better then before and me and austin are best friends forever and my #discord friends are awesome and im back in school #and i got rid of all the bts posters in my room

[maryellencarter]

okay SO!

* i went out for to get my metformin from the pharmacy.

* i went to back my car out and the oil pan made a horrible scraping noise on the concrete thing at the front of the parking spot, and the car handled kinda funny.

* i stopped the car and got out and looked at the tires. (my aunt, who used to be a truck driver, tried to teach me to do things like kicking the tires and checking the oil *before* i get in the car, but between my mobility issues and my memory issues, i don't.)

* the left front tire was extremely flat.

* all of the tire stores are closed.

* i went to get my spare tire out of the trunk.

* my car, as we know, has no trunk lid because it was destroyed by a pickup truck that deliberately rear ended me four years ago.

* people like to use my trunk as a trash can.

* after digging through the various chunks of railroad ties, landscaping rocks, a disintegrated box of gluten-free mac and cheese, and the box from somebody's science fair volcano project, i reached my spare tire.

* my car jack and lug wrench are supposed to be stored underneath my spare tire.

* they are not there.

* somebody must have stolen them at some point. because i have no trunk lid and people think my car is a dumpster full of free shit.

* did i mention that when i was driving to the mechanic to get my battery replaced the other day, i noticed one of my rear doors had been left open? people just raid my damn car. at all times. i don't lock it because i honestly fear if i did they would smash the windows just to emphasize their right to root around in it like a dumpster.

* no, i don't have the credit score to get a loan on a new one. that's what i was going to do after they cancelled my student loans. except the republicans have decided that none of us get to have nice things.

* anyway! so i get out my spare tire, and i go to summon roadside assistance, because the one useful thing i inherited from my family that i still have is usaa eligibility.

* i let roadside assistance know that my spare seems pretty underinflated. not a problem! the gentleman has an air compressor in his car for just such an occasion.

* the gentleman from roadside assistance arrives. he observes that my spare tire looks very worn. i am aware of this, but the tire shop is literally down on the corner, so i have been hoping it will be okay.

* the gentleman tells me that apparently there is a federal law where tires older than 10 years are not street legal. because the materials can age and fatigue and cause blowouts. this makes sense.

* i have no idea how old my spare is. it was in there when i bought the car.

* i have a creeping memory that my regular tires were almost bald when i bought the car.

* i ask the gentleman to show me how to tell the age of a tire, because i always want to learn stuff like this anyway.

* the gentleman points out a long serial number on the sidewall of the tire. the last four digits, he says, will tell us the age. the first two digits are for the week and the last two for the year.

* there are only three digits after the last hyphen.

* the final digit is a 6.

* my car is a 1996 chevy.

* ...

* i ask a question, very slowly and politely, with a sense of mounting disbelief.

* the gentleman from roadside assistance confirms that, yes, i have the original spare tire that came with my car in fucking 1996.

* the gentleman adds that he was born in 1997.

* my spare tire is older than the professional i asked to change it for me.

* the gentleman politely declines to attempt to use my spare tire. besides being illegal, it would probably explode in his face if he attempted to inflate it. this is completely fair.

* instead, he has slightly overinflated my flat tire (having found the issue, which was a screw in the tread), so that hopefully it will still have some air in it when i go to take it down the block to the tire shop first thing in the morning.

* if it doesn't have enough air in the morning, i can summon yet another roadside assistance person to reinflate it then.

* did i mention that if i miss more than an hour of work tomorrow i lose over $270 (before tax) of holiday pay?

* did i mention i haven't been able to even wake up in time for work pretty much all week?

* gonna be an exciting morning.

[erraticscientist]

Had another one of my appointments yesterday, honestly feel like the NHS has really stepped up it’s game when it comes to weight problems and how people are effected by it.

My mum suffers from weight issues too and she spent most of her life being told by asshole doctors “you’re just fat, eat less and move more”. But that’s not how it works, well, it is, but people who suffer from drastic weight issues, cannot sustain the level of exercise that is needed to live healthily. There are two times in my life where I came close to a healthy weight, and in order to do it, i was unemployed, I was walking anywhere from 6 to 10 miles a day, and limited myself to 1000 calories daily. Now that wasn’t sustainable, but not because I was pushing myself to the limit, I felt fine, I was incredibly fit. But sooner or later I would have had to get a job again, I ended up going to uni AND moving house as a result, these regular life things stopped me from dedication 2-4 hours a day to workouts. Additionally, even if your life is perfect for that kinda commitment, injury, or age, sooner or later the workouts will stop, and you body from an evolutionary standpoint wants to get back to your highest weight because 100,000 years ago, being fat was great because it was stored energy you could survive on.

But the doctor yesterday, highlighted that it’s not my fault, bad eating habits, activity level, it’s all a minor issue, weight problems to the higher degree is 65-70% genetic. Even if I grew up eating nothing but salads and water, my body wants to save all of it and that’s just how I’m made.. he also highlighted to me that so far, my body is coping extremely well with the extra weight, every blood level (besides fatty liver disease) is well within normal levels, I’m very healthy as far as morbidly obese people go 😂 and he has said he’s not worried about the fatty liver because that goes away with weight loss. Based on our conversations yesterday and looking at my data, he said that 6 months on the programme, jumping the hoops and ticking the boxes and he has absolutely no problem green lighting me for bariatric surgery. I’m ready for the permanent solution. There is still work for me to do, my eating habits aren’t great and they still need to improve to make sure the surgery is effective.

I bought myself some new wireless earphones yesterday, and I’m just giving my breakfast time to go down before I go on my first walk in probably… a year? Crazy.

#personal #weight loss #struggle #dietician #fitness #healthy lifestyle #nutrition #wellbeing

[mylovetyrantkoalabear]

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Plato's Closet South Coast

3.3

(209)

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3.3

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NGA T. HOANG

Local Guide·26 reviews·283 photos

11 hours ago

NEW

THE 70% IS FOR CUSTOMERS, 30% MINUS

SELLERS 100% PROFITS PLATO'S CLOSET-

MY COACH 10 ITEMS UNBRANDED NEVER

LouLou Adora

Local Guide·4 reviews·24 photos

a week ago

NEW

Very poor customer service, these girls have never been trained in retail basics and it’s very sad to see. They act like high school students at their first job, and while that lack of care and training may not be their fault, it certainly … More

1

Areli Alvarado

4 reviews

a month ago

Nice to shop there but not to sell, I’m a reseller on poshmark and I have bags of clothes I want to sell to them so I call to ask what kind of clothes they looking for they say pants, T-shirts, long skirts, sweaters and I even ask for what … More

2

EvMarie Salas

6 reviews·1 photo

2 months ago

Cute clothes. Double check for security tags they forget to take off. Also check for holes and rips on clothes you're gunna pay brand new store prices for. Manager on 11/10/23 at 4:30pm was extremely unhelpful in fixing an issue that their employees caused. Customer service was terrible.

2

Max Dennison

2 reviews

4 months ago

i walked in with two bags FULL of branded stuff, like ripcurl, billabong, reef, levis, etc. they took ONE SHIRT for 2$. i also happened to noticed on their “preferred brands” list was shein. insanity. i heard buffalo exchage was better definitely try there instead, i wish i did.

3

Rory Campbell

2 reviews

5 months ago

This place is a joke. I took my wife’s and I’s clothes, 1 giant box completely full AND 2 full trash bags. I don’t think they even went through it all because I got a message saying it was done about 40 minutes after dropping it off and I … More

7

AA Lopez

5 reviews

6 months ago

Went in there twice and had good quality new clothes to sell. It’s really not worth your time if they say it will take 20 minutes to look but in reality they take 5 minutes to look at your clothes. They ended up taking nothing and it’s just … More

8

Marina Winters

10 reviews

7 months ago

Went there recently to sell a big bag of new with tags to excellent condition clothes. And out of whole bag they only took 3 items and paid me a measly 23.00. I could not believe it one of the items was a coach bag. So most of the clothes … More

4

Radiance

3 reviews

a week ago

NEW

All they want is for you to turn in your Lululemons, they will rarely accept anything else....however they only sell F21 and cheap brands.

2

alia

28 reviews·11 photos

6 months ago

Brought a bag full of clothing and they took nothing. I made sure that I was bringing in the popular name brands that they are purchasing, and the brands stated on their website. … More

3

Natalya Frankln

7 reviews

a month ago

I was treated poorly in a degrading manner by one of the employees, who was obviously not trained to work with people.

2

cheryl Squires

4 reviews·17 photos

a year ago

I just had my first and last experience with this company and I am not that only one there was another lady there with designer items still in the boxes, they bought nothing!! They said I would receive a text message when they were done … More

14

Em Guerrero

1 review

a year ago

Don't come here, it is a WASTE OF TIME. They don't buy anything, and if they do (which will give you the slightest hope of a decent deal), they give you little to nothing than what your items were worth. I was given $10 for heels and … More

7

Alicia Hardiman

17 reviews·1 photo

a year ago

I went in to sell some new like clothes about 30 pieces. They decided to buy two items, when I asked why only these two? The girl told me “we have too much inventory”.....I looked in my boxes because I received a text so fast! 10 mins they … More

10

Monique E

Local Guide·219 reviews·15 photos

5 years ago

Came in with new forever 21 clothes about 2 bags all clean with tags on. They said my clothes were old and not in style. They only offered to buy like two things. I wouldn’t usually care but the employees were very rude and spent most of … More

11

Karen Itzel

1 review

4 years ago

My mom and I bought 3 huge bags of clothes to sell & the worker said it would take 25-30 minutes to complete the process. Not even 10 minutes later & we already get notified that it’s complete. It seems to me that they didn’t look throughly … More

7

Keziah Montes

1 review

2 years ago

Do not go to sell brand new high end clothes!!! Will not get your moneys worth! I went over to sell some of my clothes and was disappointed that they gave me a few bucks for my brand new pair of levis that were originally around 100 bucks. … More

7

Chelsea Bishop

1 review

3 years ago

They told me they wouldn’t buy from me because I brought my clothes in white trash bags and not “reusable” bags. For “health reasons” they say. Then wouldn’t it make more sense to use a disposable trash bag and not a reusable one? They have … More

10

Plato's Closet South Coast (Owner)

3 years ago

Chelsea, thank you for your visit and feedback. Our store has taken COVID safety precautions very seriously for the sake of our guests and for our team members. Since we were closed for two months, we would really like to be able to continue to stay in business. We really do need inventory so we are sincerely sorry about our inconvenient COVID guidelines & regret that you were unable to bring your items in open containers. We are just trying to do the right thing to continue offering great product to our guests, cash to our sellers, and jobs to our valued staff. Thank you again for your feedback. Kim

Courtney Solano

Local Guide·34 reviews·8 photos

5 years ago

I'm from out of town ( North Bay) and decided to give this place a try despite the bad reviews. I did not try to sell any clothes, my experience was just a shopper. The reasons for 1 star... … More

7

Haitham Bawab

83 reviews·4 photos

3 weeks ago

NEW

Very bad they will never buy anything from you.

1

Melissa Gallegos

Local Guide·38 reviews·60 photos

4 years ago

Bad customer service, rude staff, ruined experience. If you'd like to visit a Plato's with a much better staff and customer service, visit the Huntington Beach location on Goldenwest and Bolsa instead! I've always loved coming to Plato's … More

7

[revealingtoomuch]

Christmas Letter 2023

Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he? — Clarence, It’s A Wonderful Life

It has been a year of failure. It has been a year of joy.

Mikayla and I have a fake Christmas tree that technically I’ve had longer than we’ve known each other. I bought it when I was single and living alone, from a store that no longer exists called K-Mart. It was a pre-lit tree, with a few strands of bright, colored lights strapped to its fake branches, and when I first took it out of the box, I was impressed by how real it looked.

Well, maybe not real, but good. The lights were bright, the branches were full, and sure, it was probably no replacement for a real tree (which are beautiful but a lot more work, and over the years, money), but it was mine and it made me merrier to take it out at the beginning of the season, decorate it, and have it up in my living room.

The tree is probably ten years old now, and showing its age. It’ll probably be time to replace it soon. The pre-strung lights on the tree burned out years ago and we had to cut off the strands. The branches look a little less full each year because every time we set it up or take it down, those little fake needles shed off onto the floor, our clothes, the dogs.

Throughout the season, though, we’ve kept our front curtains open as much as we can, to let the light from the tree shine out in the neighborhood. I hope it has given someone joy, as they’ve passed in front of our house. Maybe someone’s looked up, in the darkness, and been grateful for its light.

They wouldn’t be able to tell from outside that the branches have seen better days, or that these aren’t the original lights.

They only see the light.

As I sit and write this letter, I can see Melody over the top of my monitor. She’s asleep, mostly, in that way that only dogs can seem to be. If I move anything more than my fingers to type, her eyes flick open as if to ask “Is it time?”

She’s waiting for her walk.

Melody has a few favorite things in the world, and every day I’m grateful that I’m one of them. Even more than me though, and probably even more than supper time, is her walks. She gets one every day that I’m able, and if it’s on a day I’m working, it’s usually quite early.

We try to be out the door by 6:30 if I can manage it, because there will be fewer people, and maybe more importantly, fewer people driving. That way, Melody can sniff the things she needs to sniff (Editor’s Note: everything), and pee on the things she needs to pee on (Editor’s Note: again, everything), and we can get our exercise in relative peace.

But on days where we wait for Mikayla and Maisy, who like to sleep in, like the weekends and the holidays, Melody can get pretty antsy. For now, she’s sleeping, mostly, but if it gets to be another hour, or the unspeakable possibility of even more, she’ll start to get the wiggles. She’ll start to pace. She’ll cry and look out the window and not so subtly try to wake Mikayla up and start the process all over again.

Because her walks are supposed to happen first thing. It is, to her, an incontrovertible truth. She eats, she gets ten or fifteen minutes for it to settle, then it’s time to patrol the neighborhood. If she doesn’t keep it safe, who will?

She doesn’t understand things like it being very dark, or very cold. She doesn’t know that when it’s icy, she most likely will pull me over and that if she does, it could hurt me. She doesn’t know that if we go for a walk in the rain (which she’d love), she’d end up having to get a bath (which she’d hate).

She only knows walks, and when they’re supposed to happen.

It’s one of the things that makes this season so hard for me. It is the worst possible time for giving Melody what she wants. It is often so cold and so dark that just bundling up to go outside is a five minute process that, that early in the morning, I really don’t want to go through.

But Melody knows walks, and when they’re supposed to happen, so every morning it’s safe, I put on my layers, and my reflective gear, and we walk.

Does she know why I do it, I sometimes wonder. Does she know why I get up so early, and bundle up so tight against the cold, and why I pull her so quickly out of the way at even the slightest sign that a passing car may not have seen us? Does she know why I try to give her this, every day I can, even on the days that I might not feel like it?

Does she know that it’s love? I wonder that, too. I care for her, I feed her, I keep her safe, I cuddle her when she wants cuddles and let her walk away when she’d rather be left alone. Does she know that’s love?

And also, do you?

When I stream on days where I feel like I’d rather just curl up on the couch, do you know that’s love, too? When I try to read every message in chat, and engage with everything everyone says, do you know? When I try to give you the games that you want to see and the jokes that you want to hear, and more of this and less of that, and treat it like a job but not make it feel like a job, and not giving up even under a thousand different technical issues sometimes all at once, and refusing to abandon this thing that we’ve built together, even on the days that it feels like I am failing — failing myself, failing you, failing everyone who’s believed in me or supported this dream — do you know?

When I try to show you that your voice matters, your thoughts and feelings matter, you matter, even on the days when I’m struggling to believe that about myself, do you know that’s love?

I look at the Christmas tree again, another year older, a little worse for wear. But I don’t see that right now. Sitting here, in the glow of it, I only see how it shines. It isn’t its job to worry how many people it reaches out to in the darkness. It only needs to share its light.

And let it be with me, too.

If I have reached even one of you, if I have shown even one single person that even in the darkest of nights, even in the coldest, hardest days, that there is still light, then let that be enough.

Merry Christmas, Michael

#christmas #holiday #christmas letters #xmas #festive #happy holidays #holidays

[lilolilyr]

List five things that make you happy, then put this in the ask box of the last ten people who reblogged something from you. Spread the positivity!! (And obviously no pressure if you don't want to.)

Oh, i can’t believe I only now get around to answering this one, I love the 5 things ask! (got this one 6. Dezember 2022 o.O just over a year ago!)

Thanks so much for this ask, and thanks for the ‘no pressure’ addition too, some of those chain mails can be so pushy :D but for this, I come prepared! A while ago I started writing some down for this specific ask meme, both because it’s a nice thing to write it down when there’s something making you happy, and so the answers to this would have some variety :D

- Using the ginger from store bought (veggie)sushi boxes to make ginger tea aka gollum juice! Idk, it just fills me with such joy every time <3 I used to always throw out the ginger bc I don't like to eat it, and that's just wasteful, so I just didn't buy sushi boxes much, and then when I got into liking ginger tea, the whole ginger I'd buy is just too much for me to use, and not fresh ginger tea just doesn't taste right... but now that I thought of doing this, I get my sushi boxes and my tea and it's amazing! (from Sept 27)

- Wearing long skirts. I never used to - I think I was stuck on the image of them being stuffy and uncool, and I still remember reading one children's/teen book where the protagonist makes fun of the goodie two shoes girls in their plaid skirts... well, anyway, about a year ago or two, I was at a yard sale with my little sister, just looking around, she was looking for some necklaces and shirts I think while I wasn't really searching for anything for myself so I was just looking for her, when I saw this dark striped pleated skirt, and first when I tried it on I still wasn't sure about it but it was like 3€ so I took it anyway... and I haven't looked back since! I got another one in pink and beige at a store, and my favourite vintage green and gold patterned one on eBay, and two layered flowy ones in black and in white on holiday in Belgium last summer, and they're all so nice and swishy and I enjoy the aesthetic of long skirts immensely! There's also the added benefit of them not adding to my chronic pain - I basically just wore hotpants or harem trousers the years before bc I had finally figured out that wearing jeans made my legs ache a Lot (not necessarily while wearing it but also afterwards which is why I hadn't known before, only after not wearing them for a while and then trying some on again I noticed the difference) & maybe child me telling my parents that everything but pyjama pants were 'uncomfortable' and I wanted to wear them to primary school was onto sth lmao Anyway, so I had already found trousers that don't hurt me so the skirts didn't exactly change that, but I also like how they look and feel! (27.9.23)

- Lutschbonbons (it says this without any comment 29.11.21 xD I wonder what sweets I had been eating?)

- Doing crossword puzzles with my mom (9.5.2020 - jeez how long ago did I start writing these down and not use them? xD anyway I still love doing that! We meet weekly on a videocall)

- and right now: the sweet sweet relief of using the biteaway heat burn thingy to cure the itchiness of mosquito bites xD goddamn beasts are everywhere but They’ve Got No Power Here I have a mosquitonet and if one gets me while I’m not there I have my wonderful biteaway thanks again for that @lavendelhummel the thing’s a lifesaver!

#panicatthesocialmedia #Lilo clears out her inbox #5 things #chainmail #ask the blogger #answered #panicatthesocialmediamain #not f #non anon #mine #personal #dec’23 #08.12.23 #memory #family #likemyblog81223