2013 - The Year in Review

The cold wind blew. It chilled my spine. Draped in warm and fluffy scarf around the neck I rush to the rescue of the warmth in my office every morning. Sometimes I do some work, other times I attend some boring meetings, fill my note pad with graffiti to save my boredom and sip some warm tea and at times I just stare blankly at the computer before me and pass the day. My days are filled with mundane tasks like these. 

It feels just like yesterday when I opened a blank Microsoft word page and started rambling about the year that was in this post. Since then I expected some grand changes to take place in my life in these past 365 days that will complete tommorrow. 

However, nothing odd and exciting seems to have taken place. I’m just the same old me. I travel the same stretch of road to reach work, see the same set of people every day, have sat in the same old brown/black chair eight hours a day and done the same job for the past three years. I’ve never taken a vacation. In fact my life has been like this; school--->College---->a year of working--->Post Graduate--->working at present. God, seriously I’ve never had a break in my life till now. 

Have I grown wiser? Umnn…I think so…but I’m not sure. Have I grown older? Definitely Yes. Yet life has remained as it is. Nonetheless, I feel blessed in this mundane life of mine. I try to find beauty in these little things and I thank the Gold Almighty for a wonderful life. Even if my life in the year 2013 isn’t exciting, let’s review it in pictures. Yay! 

JANUARY : January saw the first snowfall in Thimphu. I wish for knee-deep snowfall at this time of the year.

FEBRUARY: Finally a place where we can call home could be accomplished. Every morning I wake up to see this gorgeous morning sunrise view from my window.

MARCH:The weather had started to warm up in Thimphu by then, so a stroll in the Centenary Park was the perfect way to bask in the warm sun. The gorgeous snow-capped mountains at the back are breathtakingly beautiful. 

APRIL:The season of hope and renewal, April brought in fresh blooms. I captured this beautiful peach blossoms in Kyichu Lhakhang in Paro. This picture also got a place in a frame on the wall of my house.

MAY: My love for nail paint and nail art must have been at its peak. Like a maniac, I was painting and doing nail art frantically. 

JUNE: I had the opportunity to be a part of the delegate for a visit to the beautiful city of Copenhagen, Denmark in June. Loved every bit of it.

JULY: We went camping. Read the funny story here.

AUGUST: It rained incessantly in August. So it was the time for watching raindrops on the glass of a window and reading in bed. Bliss!

SEPTEMBER: Reading continued. A good deal of time was spent on reading this month which means I also drank a great amount of tea. I read The Fault in Our Stars, The Book Thief and The Kafka on the Shore. I've mentioned many a times about the books here in the blog. You can also find the reviews here.

Via Pinterest (Source unknown)

OCTOBER: My birth month. This letter to my 27 year old self  sums up everything.

NOVEMBER: Mother had her surgery successful. Yet again I contemplated on life in this post. 

DECEMBER: Ushered in the season of holidays and visiting family and friends. On the right is my friend's cute little son. Since selfies are official now, here's a selfie of me wishing you a happy new year 2014. Have a blessed year.

I'm always thankful to the Lord Almighty for this glorious life and a blessed year 2013.

Beauty Favorites

This is the first post ever on beauty on the blog  (wink=^_^), am I nervous? Definitely YES!

I know I can never do beauty blog posts but these products have totally blown me off, so thought they deserve a dedicated post on the blog. I’m so so so in love with these products.

     1) Ponds BB+ Cream

It’s an All-in-one fairness BB cream and is available only in one shade. When Pond’s introduced the BB cream, I was ecstatic after the disappointing Garnier BB cream. Seriously who doesn’t love BB cream ladies? It blends and finishes into the skin as smooth as a silk giving a perfect radiance. And also it can be used as a eye shadow primer for your eye shadow to last longer.

I finished a tube and wanted to purchase another when I got a shock. This product is not available in any shops in Thimphu, can you believe it? I searched high and low :(. Did Pond’s stop manufacturing or is it that it ran out of stock for being too nice?

   

After my good feedback, my cousin went to purchase it earlier but it was sold out but NOW it’s not available. Sad sad.

I wish Thimphu come up with more good cosmetic stores. For an 18g pack it’s priced at Nu.125. 

My rating ~~4.9/5

     2) Maybelline Baby Lips Color

I love this lip balm in Berry Crush. It lasts for quite long compared to other lip balms. The smell is yummy. Compared to Mango Crush and Lolita, Berry Crush gives a light tint leaving the lips moist and supple. It’s my best friend now; I carry it with me all the time.  

Priced at Nu.150, my rating is 5/5.

     3) Vaseline total moisture

Hands up if you love Vaseline products. Who doesn’t? Young, old, kids, all love Vaseline. Ever since I remember, I have always used and loved Vaseline. 

The cocoa glow Vaseline moisture is a 24 hr nourishing lotion for soft and glowing skin for this dry and ugly winter. The skin becomes flaky and that’s when you need this heavenly smelling cocoa butter moisture.

I’m a sucker for good aroma. Believe it or not, I first bought this pack for its nice cocoa fragrance and instantly fell in love with it. It comes at a very reasonable price, Nu. 190 for 300ml. I’m sure it will last me throughout this dry winter.

    4)  Maybelline the Falsies Volume Express

I think I have found my mascara. Remember how I talked about investing in a good mascara in this post.I finally found it, Maybelline the Falsies Volume Express. 

Ever since I started using this, I’ve stopped using eye liner on my upper lash line. Just as the name is, it gives the look of false eyelashes. And yes, the brush (the most important thing) is comfortable to maneuver and gives the perfect clump of mascara as required). 

Priced at Nu. 480, my rating is 4.9/5.

So there you go, my current beauty favorites. Reasonable price and within my budget limit.I will definitely plan on purchasing it again.

What are your beauty favorites? I’d love to hear in the comments below and would love recommendations as well if there are any.  

For the Love of Books - A Bookworm Tag

via

For a bookworm like me what joys could be there to read a book tag post on the lovely Jen’s blog Bows Bangles & Bakes and get inspired right away. So here’s mine:  

 

As a child, my father used to give me a word for the week. I had to remember to spell it correctly at the end of the week. And the award was a candy. :). 

He used to be a strict father then. To remember the right spelling, I used to refer the dictionary, write it down and sometimes memorize the word. In the process, I used to hoard every books and papers available in the house to get the meaning correct as well. 

Naturally, this helped me to develop my love for words which stipulated my love for reading. I remember that as an elementary school kid, I used to borrow lady bird books from the library to read at home. I nurtured this habit and till today, I have my agape love for books, libraries and a good bookshop. 

I have never said this before. I would like to thank my father for nurturing this love for reading in me. I’m indebted to him forever. 

 

I read anywhere, everywhere. I read while eating, while cooking in the kitchen, in the bathroom. I love to be surrounded by books. But the most comfortable place I usually love to read is in the bed under the covers. 

However, my ideal place to read is by the fireplace sipping steaming tea or coffee on a cold day. 

Well, this is quite tricky. Honestly, I’ve never read several books at once except for the school textbooks :P. 

I’m a nostalgic person. When I read, I love to dive into the plot, fall in love with the words, sit quiet for a while and imagine the characters in the book. So if I read several books at once, I may get lost and wouldn’t be able to enjoy the book. 

So for the fear of being lost, I prefer to read one book at a time and enjoy it immensely than be cluttered and confused with several books at once. 

I don’t have one. As long as it’s a book with a good plot and a good language, I love all genres.  

 

I have to say The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Normally I finish reading a book in two-three weeks times given my busy schedule or overnight if the book is truly a page turner and simply unputdownable. I was not able to enjoy the The Fountainhead initially and that’s why I put it away on the shelf. Again, I opened it and gave a second try. After grasping the plot I knew it was a classic book, a book which was written in 1943 and still relevant today in this 21^st century. It took me 6 months to complete the book. After which I watched the movie (1949) also, which was in black and white. My family thought I was crazy. But that’s how I show my loyalty to the book I love. 

I’m a bibliophile. It’s just that I don’t have budget to buy books. Nevertheless, I cut down on my make ups and bought The Book Thief (review here), The Fault in Our Stars (review here) and The Catcher in the Rye. 

 

I feel upset if I go into a bookshop and come without buying a book. So definitely, I love buying books. I have this dream of creating a small library in my home, so I’m working towards it little by little by buying a book a month, sometimes more than two.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, a very light read and of course a naughty book.

So dear readers and book lovers, I tag all of you in this post. Go ahead and show the bookworm in you by doing this post. I enjoyed so much doing this post, hope you will too.

Wishing you a happy weekend! 

To be able to talk to your heart’s content

Like a warm blanket, the sun is streaming through the rooftop covering the balcony in the next building. As I sit in this cold apartment of mine where the sun is completely blocked by the rather monstrous building, I couldn’t help but envy the warm balcony next door. 

The three framed glass windows in my room act perfectly as a well manufactured binocular to look through at the balcony the next door. 

As I sat staring enviously at the warm sunlit balcony, a young man emerges out of the door and sits on the lone chair in the balcony. With a fair complexion, hair as dark as the cold dark night and a well defined cheek bones, he looks strikingly good looking. A loose thread hangs loosely from his gray pajamas displaying his hip bones as and when he raises his arms to shield his eyes from the sun. He picks up a book which has been lying face down on the floor. Ah, it pricks my heart to see the book left lying face down on the floor by this handsome lad. How could he do that to a book? 

It’s a book for goodness sake. Yes, I’m talking about a book. Books deserves a special place, it should never be left open facing down. It is disrespect to the book; it hurts me to see a book left like that. 

I wanted to shout at him. But how could I shout at a stranger? 

Next, I’m completely taken by surprise. He carefully dusts the book and flips the page to where he has kept open. Curiosity gets the better of me. I’m now curious to know which book he is reading. I try to peek at the cover of the page. It’s a paperback book in black color and has some red moon or face shaped image on the cover. There was this sense of familiarity of the book. He’s so immersed in reading that he doesn’t lift the book for me to figure out the book. 

I look at him; wait for him to put down the book but there is no slight hint of it. Looks like I’ve to wait. Ok, it isn’t a big deal for me to wait, after all a guy reading a book is simply attractive. And I don’t want to deny myself the pleasure of looking at attractive things, I thought and waited on. 

After what it seemed like a good twenty and five minutes, he looked up and in the process, closed the book. 

Oh boy, it was Kafka on the Shore. Good Heavens! I have the exact copy. No doubt, I was filled with this sense of familiarity earlier. 

I had earlier written a review on this book here. Again, I say, it’s a gem of a book. 

I had wished so much for a companion to discuss the book. I couldn’t help but think again on the book. This guy must have found it hard to put down the book like me. Did he fall in love with the beautiful and surreal Miss Saki like Kafka Tamura or did he adore the old man Nakata like me? What about Kafka’s mysterious father? I disliked him. Did he too? I wished that part of Kafka when he lived in the library in the far-off small town. 

Are these thoughts running in this guy’s mind too?, I thought. I wish I had known him so that we could have sat together and talked about the book. 

After all;