Ipad Mini Case- Composition Book from Portenzo

my ipad mini case

I purchased an Ipad mini a month ago and I could not find any cute cases for it.  All the cases I could find are nothing special and the cute one's were not for the mini.  I surfed around Gmarket and still couldn't find anything the amazed me.  I stumbled upon Dodo cases which are cases that look like books and then with further research I chose to buy a Portenzo case.  Portenzo and Dodo both make similar ipad cases but I found out that Portenzo's cases were sturdier so I chose them.  It took a while for it to ship as each case was custom made.  I chose the composition book.  I really love my case.  It is a little heavier due to the fact that they use wood for the case holster but it looks so pretty the extra weight doesn't matter.  I do recommend this case.  I got mine with the extra: intellistand and the camera opening which did cost a little more but it makes the usage so much more convenient.  Shipping to Canada was also quite pricey.  The case itself was $69.95USD and then cost more with the added features. When you close the book, the ipad locks.  Very beautiful design and I am very happy with my purchase. :)
Link: http://shop.portenzo.com/

Pictures!

unwrapping my case

teaches you how to remove the ipad from the case

closed-front

back

opened with intellistand from front

opened with intellistand from back

close up of the wood case

camera hole- usually hidden by strap

Happy shopping!

-Carmen

December 2012 Gmarket Purchase

Sorry I haven't been on blogging for a while.  I have been quite busy for the last few months.  I can't believe it is already March 2013!

I had ordered my Gmarket stuff back in December 2012 but had only gotten it recently, early February 2013 as there was one item that was holding back my whole order.  I had emailed and requested them to cancel my one item and they were initially helpful but soon disappeared.   My Korean friend had to help me contact them on the Korean site to cancel that one item so they can release my order.  Anywho, back to my purchase.  I was super happy when I got my stuff, the delay had been so long that I had forgotten what I had bought!  Everything was a nice surprise and everything was so awesome!

I bought a large black purse.  I currently use it as my everyday purse.  It's fairly large and the material is very soft.  It feels like soft leather, but of course it is not leather.  I love the tag detailing of  the purse.  It is very sturdy and I would buy from this seller again. :)  It came with a cross body strap as well.
It was about $40.00CAD
Link: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=261260041

front of bag

with cross body strap attached

back of bag

close up of tag

A second bag I bought was this almond brown coloured purse.  I like the colour and the details of the pockets and stitching.  Again, the material of the bag is nice and soft.  Both bags are super sturdy and feels expensive.  Something strange about this bag, it also came with a cross body strap but there is no where to hook the strap onto..puzzling.  Well, it can still be worn as a purse so the cross body strap is technically not essential for me.  This bag was about $23.00CAD.
Link: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=235121326

front of bag

mystery cross body strap- no where to attach!

back of bag

I picked up a green safari jacket.  I wanted one for a while but didn't find the right one here in Vancouver.  The only possible one that I had my eyes on was this one at Aritzia and it costs $120.00CAD.  I couldn't justify spending $120.00 on that as it's not even a warm jacket...I shopped around on Gmarket and found one for $40.00CAD, woot woot!  When I opened it, it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be..it was padded and thicker than what I thought I would be getting.  I assumed it was going to be one of those wind breaker material jackets...thin...but it wasn't!  Awesome!  I can actually wear it now during our cold rainy weather..and so I do! 
Link http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=153571520

quilted padding- warm!

this is relatively the colour of the jacket..perhaps a bit more green.  Sorry, my room's lighting sucks.

with hood on

I bought a few long sleeve graphic tees and they are all nice quality.  First up is a green Long sleeve shirt with pictures of a model.  It's long enough to cover my bum when I want to wear leggings.  It is actually fairly hard to find long shirts here in Vancouver.  I tried for months to find inexpensive long shirts but couldn't find any.  I wasn't willing to pay $20.00+ for a cotton tee so I turned to Gmarket.  It seems like Korea, Japan, China and Hong Kong like to make shirts that are long....that's good because I like wearing leggings and I find it uncomfortable if my shirt is not long enough to cover the front and back.  Leggings are not quite pants and I find it awkward when I see some ladies wear them as pants.  Nothing super special about the 3 long sleeve tee shirts, they are just regular cotton tees. ;)  This green one was $13.00CAD.
Link: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=166290085

Next is my long sleeve white tee with skull with mustache.  This was about $9.00CAD.  It pops under my green jacket because of the skull guy's red beanie.  The words under him are quite cute, it says "mustache nice, good good very good". Haha..cute
Link: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=236444334

Third shirt is a black long sleeve tee shirt with contrast words.  It was the same price as the skull shirt, about $9.00CAD.I bought this at the same place as the mustache tee.

Lastly I wanted to buy a ring that doesn't turn my finger green but didn't want to spend too much.  I ended up finding a simple sterling silver heart shaped ring.  So far so good, no green finger!  This was about $3.00CAD

Link http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=185258196

Happy shopping guys!  I have 2 more orders from Gmarket coming shortly.  More reviews again shortly! :D

-Carmen

Holika Holika Baby Silky Foot One Shot Peeling foot mask

Warning!! This post has unpleasant pictures of shedding skin on the feet.  Please leave this post if you do not want to gag at those unpleasant photos.

My feet were a little rough and I knew from another blogger that there are these feet masks which help shed a layer of skin thus revealing baby soft feet.  I went on Gmarket and found that Holika Holika has that feet mask so I ordered 2.  It is called Baby Silky Foot One Shot Peeling foot mask.  I bought one for me and one for my bf.  When my order arrived, my bf did not want to participate in this feet peeling fiasco.  I asked my mom if she would like to do this and she also declined.  They were both reluctant to shed their skin..I think they think it is freaky! LOL.  I asked one of my close friend if she wanted to try since she also loves to try new things and she accepted. :D

I highly recommend this type of "spa/feet masks"  They totally work, your feet will shed on the 4th day and by the 7th day, your feet will be super soft!  I don't recommend doing this too often, but once half a year or so, depending on the condition of your feet, isn't bad at all!

This Baby Silky Foot One Shot Peeling comes with 2 baggies for your feet and the miracle feet peeling serum.  You put your feet into the bags, pour the serum in, tie the bag and soak them for 1.5 hours.  After soaking, you could clearly see a line on where the soak ended on my feet.  After soaking there is no change at all to the softness of your skin.   It is roughly day 4 when you see the peeling!  At that point you can peel your feet OR you can soak them in warm water and then use a wash cloth and slough off the dead skin OR leave it to do its thing.  It was so amazing to see it had peeled, it was mind blowing when I attempted to peel it because it didn't hurt but my brain was telling me "OH GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? IT SHOULD HURT!" but it didn't.  I ended up soaking my feet and then sloughing it off with a wash cloth because peeling is not recommended plus is got tiresome.  It was about $7.00CAD per box of 1.
Link to buy on Gmarket: http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=223560162

Pictures of the process:
Before the feet mask, note the heels and the roughness

the sole of my foot is hard from all the walking, especially walking in sand

bags for your feet

excuse my dry legs

tie the baggy so the liquid doesn't spill

tada~

excuse my nails but look at the define line on my leg from where the soak started and ended!!

4th day peeling!  It was peeling on it's own...right foot

left foot!

 After the whole process on the 7th day! Baby smooth skin!!

with scrubbing it was super soft!!

a bit more peeling to go but baby soft feet!

Happy shopping guys!

-Carmen

Remedies for Sore Throat and Cough- What did and didn't work for me

I have been pretty sick the last month and I suffered from a sore throat and I could not stop coughing.  I tried a variety of things to stop my coughing but not a lot of things worked.  Some were much more effective and some were a waste of time.  I want to share this information for those who may be experiencing the same bug as me!  It sucked to be sick for that long and I hope everyone that is still sick gets well soon!  Now onto my post of what worked and didn't work for me...

What did not work well

1. Cough medication:  I had the over the counter stuff as well as the prescription version.  Of course not together but either way, they did not suppress my cough.
2. Nin Jiom Herbal Candy Original:  I was certain this stuff works but it did nothing.  It was just like candy and had no health benefits nor prevented/suppressed any cough.  Booooo
3. Yu Ja Cha (유자차) (柚子茶): this stuff was delicious but it didn't do anything for my sore throat or cough. I think it is because it was the store bought version which was probably more sweet and delicious rather than helpful for my sore throat and cough. -___-

What worked well

1. Marshmallow for sore throat-  I am not sure why this worked but it did!  I was googling on things that can help my sore throat as coughing had made my throat raw.  People recommended marshmallows and I had some on hand and tried it and BAM it worked!  After the 2nd marshmallow, swallowing was not painful!
2. Monk fruit (罗汉果) Luo Han Guo for sore throat and cough- This was recommended by my friends.  You can buy the dried fruit from any Chinese herbal store and it is less than $1.00CAD per fruit.  My friend had told me to cut it in half and then dilute in water and drink.  It totally worked!  It was not the best tasting drink but it magically stopped my cough and my throat wasn't hurting as much.  The problem was, once I stopped drinking it for a bit, I would cough again.
3. Ginger and honey for sore throat-  Another friend recommended this and basically you slice some ginger and put a tablespoon of honey in hot water and steep. You can also boil the ginger in water and then add honey and drink. 
4. Lemon and honey for sore throat- My mom told me to drink this.  You slice lemon and put a tablespoon of honey in the cup and dilute with hot water.  The lemon kills bacteria and the honey soothes the throat.
5. Halls cough candy for cough-  This only works temporarily!  If I stopped eating it, I would spam cough like crazy.  I only had these when I was out in public where I didn't want to cough too much and scare people.
6. Cold/Flu Medication for sore throat, cough and good sleep-  I took Nyquil and it knocked me out thus no coughing and no pain of feeling the sore throat.
7. Gargling salt water for sore throat-  This method kills bacterial in your throat thus stopping the spread of germs.  I read that if done in the beginning when symptoms first appeared, you can totally avoid the sore throat from getting worse.
8. Humidifier for cough- Dry air made me cough, it was irritating to the throat.  My bf bought me a humidifier and it helped me sleep. The moist warm air was soothing to my throat.

 Take care everyone, stay warm and healthy!

-Carmen