Chins

Today, I had a rather unpleasant experience at my local Sephora inside JCPenney. So unpleasant it inspired me to send them an email, and I now await their (hopefully very conciliatory) response. I'll write a post about it once it's been resolved one way or the other, but suffice it to say, it made me grouchy. Fortunately, my bad mood did not last long, as I immediately headed north to pick up my new pets: two chinchillas!

I'm still not sure which is which, at least in pictures. Hutch is slightly smaller,
as the males tend to be, and Lou Lou's ears are proportionally larger. But I can't
tell which is which here! Maybe in a few days.

They're about 5 years old, and their former owner is moving and no longer had the time for them. For some reason, she decided I would be a good owner (I mean, I will be, I'm just not sure what made her think so, too), so after getting Lou-Lou spayed, they are now mine! And they are SO CUTE. And SO SOFT. It is amazing. Hutch was originally part of a pair (Starsky and Hutch, natch), but Starsky died young, so Lou Lou was purchased to be his friend.

I May Be Sad, But These Dogs Are Happy Enough for Everyone

It's down to the last 2 weeks of school, and to say I am woefully behind is a massive, massive understatement. I've been dealing with a resurgence of PTSD, contributing to the whole massively behind thing (and the whole "I don't want to do anything except stare at a wall" thing), but none of that matters when I look at this picture:

via Buzzfeed, from a slideshow full of happy-making photos

AAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm caught between squealing with glee and laughing maniacally. It's a great place to be.

Now I must go conduct a corpus study in a language I don't yet speak. Oh God. Just think of the doggies, Amy, think of the doggies...

Do you have any favorite cute pictures/slideshows/videos? 

Sunday Summary

Happy Easter! We don't really celebrate 'round these parts, though when I was growing up we always had a big Easter egg hunt (I insisted that we evenly divide the loot after, even though I always got the most, mostly because I didn't want to risk not getting my fair share!). My brother and his girlfriend were going to come down for dinner, but apparently decided they were too busy––they're moving into a new apartment, so I guess that's understandable. So it's just me, my mom, my grandparents, and my aunt, and a whole lotta ham. Yum!

Instead of posting links from the past week, I thought I should change it up and share some of my favorite bunny pictures. Enjoy!

Clapping bunny!

Flying bunny!

Pancake bunny!

Actual name, Oolong. Check out his Wikipedia page here.

 The bunny I befriended in Sweden:

He visited me while I was sleeping...

And hippity hopped all around

And foraged for food

While showing off his wicked hair.

I hope your day has bunnies and chocolate :-)

I have slayed (that is *fine*, spellcheck, stop trying to make "slain/slew" happen!) the dragon...

And am done with finals! I'm headed to New York today, and cannot wait to see everyone! Now, if I could just get out of the whole flying there process, that'd be great...

Today (okay, technically, yesterday; using deictic temporal adverbs is very challenging when writing after midnight but before one has gone to bed) it snowed 8 inches of wet, heavy snow. This is extremely weird. Eugene rarely gets that much snow, and never this late in the year. It really screwed up the finals schedule at the university, since the roads were a mess (not just because we don't know how to handle snowstorms, but also because it was icy and slick, and oh right a bunch of trees fell, see the picture below) and campus was closed until 1:00. I don't envy those who had to venture in to take a final, or those who had to rearrange the finals schedule!

I took this with my phone at 8 this morning when I was mostly asleep. That's my parrot. I've had it ever since I can remember. It's wooden, just in case that doesn't show. Don't worry, I wouldn't hide a pet parrot from you. There'd be pictures of him/her (a real pet would be worthy of gendered pronouns) all over this blog.

A different angle. See that tree in the background? That's fallen all over the place? Yeah, that was loud. Mom says it was rotten which is what made it split like that.

Cherry Culture NYX Haul (plus pictures of adorable animals)

Happy Black Friday! I hope you all were able to take advantage of some of the awesome sales going on in the beautysphere this weekend (check my Twitter feed for specifics!); I placed an order with theBalm for timeBalm concealer and Cabana Boy blush at 40% off plus free shipping, and am very tempted to get a few things from Inglot during their 15% off plus free shipping sale, but have so far managed to abstain, since I have too many eyeshadows already!

I went to the mall today, not to shop (that would be suicidal), but to get color-matched in various foundations at the department store, which happily ended with me carting off 3 sample portions of MAC Matchmaster, Estee Lauder Double Wear, and Lancome Teint Idole Fresh Wear (each in the lightest shade, surprise surprise). You can look forward to reviews on those in the next few weeks.

I also finally received my Cherry Culture order today, 2 weeks after I ordered it. Painfully long turnaround time, but I'm super pleased to have it now! I was also very pleased to see that they wrapped my nail polishes in 3 layers of bubble wrap, and they all arrived in perfect condition.

I got a Black Label Lipstick in Socialite, Advanced Salon Formula nail polishes in Maroon and Gold Glitter (super creative names, guys; leftmost and rightmost polish, respectively), Girls nail polish in Carnival (middle polish), and Eyeshadow Base in Skin Tone. I'll have reviews and swatches of everything up as I get around to testing them! I'm thinking Gold Glitter over Maroon would be perfect for a holiday manicure...

Ramblings and Pictures of Bunnies, Sorbet, and a Wallaby (not all at once, unfortunately)

It took forever for summer to arrive this year: mid-July was the first weather that could be considered "summery".  We all figured (or, perhaps more accurately, merely hoped) that it would mean that fall would take its time getting here.  No such luck :-(  It's been rainy off-and-on for the past few days, and it looks to continue for the foreseeable future.  Fingers crossed for an Indian summer in mid- or late-October!  I'm not ready to wear my rain jacket all the time (though it is cute, and it was only $18!  Yes, I purchased an item of clothing new, what the heck).  This means, in part, that I have less motivation to do bloggery stuff, because all I want to do is sit inside drinking tea and reading a novel (still The Brothers Karamazov), and the lack of sunshine makes taking good swatch pictures veeeeery challenging.  I do have a few things to review over the next couple of weeks, and I'll have a bunch of stuff after the Sephora Friends & Family sale (I. am. so. excited!), but, as I'm sure you've noticed, the blog has definitely slowed down!  As recompense, here are some pictures of animals, and one of food:

A wallaby!!  At a pet store where I got mealworms for "the boys" (as my mother calls Bandit and Tim, the sugar gliders; yes, I will work on getting you a video of both of them)

Bunny 1: she was cleaning herself by licking her paws and then rubbing them over her face/ears.  It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen, and I was literally hopping with excitement in the store (fortunately, no one else was there to see)

Bunny 2!  Very sedately nomming on greens.

Chocolate sorbet from Provisions by Marché.  That scoop was $1, and it was so rich and decadent that I couldn't even finish it.  Amazing, right?!

So how are things in your world?  Is the weather fallish for you yet?  Do you welcome the changing weather, or wish summer would hang around longer?

Store Makeup and Skincare Return Policy Guide (with a surprise at the end!)

As a pseudo-blogger (and person with bad skin), I occasionally find myself buying products I'm not sure will work for me (see: cleanser fiascos).  It's always awesome when stores let me return stuff I don't like, but it's hard to keep track of what different stores' policies are.  So, for my own benefit, and hopefully yours as well, I decided to write this post outlining the return policies of several chains.  I hope you find it informative, and that it can help make your purchasing decisions a little less stressful!

Boscia Oil-Free Daily Hydration SPF 15

It's been surprisingly sunny and beautiful here recently, a trend that is supposed to continue for at least the next week, which means I've gotten to enjoy some time out in the sunshine (with sunscreen, of course!).  I've been wearing the Boscia sample I got with the Sephora Sun Safety kit as my daily moisturizer for the past several days, and feel comfortable giving my opinion of it.