psst...my new blog is hosting a contest

Love the pandacub (now known as frolic) flaunt bobby pins and rings? They're my most popular collection in the shop.

Well, I'm giving away a set of the flaunt bobby pins and a matching ring in your choice of colour in my November weekly giveaway (which means there are lots of other goodies being given away all month!) on my new blog. Go check it out now!

new name, new shop, new blog!

Ok, I know I haven't been blogging for a LONG time, so I'm hoping to start anew and catch up on everything soon.

But first, some exciting news - pandacub has a new name and a new blog! After a lot of deliberation, I've decided to change my Etsy shop name from pandacub to frolic. This has been a decision I've been thinking about for over half a year, so it's finally taking shape.

I did want to keep my old blog posts active, so instead of closing down this blog completely, I'm keeping it open and starting a new one to match my new shop look.

I would love it if you joined me over on my new blog! You can find it at blogfrolic.blogspot.com.

I'll be launching lots of exciting new things to celebrate the new name of the shop, including a new e-newsletter, lots of contests and special discounts and other fun goodies, so head over to the new blog to stay up-to-date!

See you soon!

refocusing my blog

When I first started this blog, it was basically to talk about my Etsy shop and feature some of the things that I was making to sell, but as the blog evolved, I found that I wanted to talk more about other things outside of my Etsy work.

So I'm going to re-focus this blog in the next couple of weeks to reflect more of the personal nature of it. I'll still talk about my Etsy shop once in a while, but it will be only part of what I blog about. I hope you'll keep reading as you get to know a little bit more about me and I hope to get to know you as well!

Stephanie

and there goes march!

*sigh* So much for my resolution to blog more often! I've been so bad about keeping this blog up to date lately. I guess with work and trying to keep my life balanced, I'm trying to spend less time in front of the computer when I get home since I stare at one all day at work.

I'm definitely looking forward to the warmer months - more time to get out and do stuff and take some great photos!

I just wish the spring weather would get here! I'm feeling a little depressed because we're in the midst of a big snowfall and it seems like winter will never go away!

hair combs winging their way to milwaukee

A couple of weeks ago I finished a huge batch of pandacub hair combs and sent them all off to Sparrow Collective in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

I loved the way they came out - and I'm hoping to make another batch soon.

Currently, Sparrow Collective is the only place that you can purchase my haircombs, but if there's enough interest, I may start to offer them in my Etsy shop soon.

deja vu...

My hubby and me were looking forward to watching this year's Heritage Classic. The 2011 NHL Heritage Classic was a scheduled outdoor regular season NHL game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Calgary Flames, played in Calgary this past Sunday.

But it was the Flames' jerseys that really caught my attention.

The Flames jerseys were made especially for the event and was a replica of the jerseys worn by the Calgary Tigers of the 1920s with the Flaming C in place of their logo. But beyond their cool retro look, their jerseys made me automatically think of something else...

Hello Harry Potter and the Gryffindor Quidditch team....

For the record, the Gryffindor lions, I mean, the Calgary Flames, won 4-0 over the Montreal Canadiens. :)

discovering tea: uji no tsuyu green tea with roasted rice

brand: uji no tsuyu

tea type: green tea with roasted rice

brew method: teabag

loose leaf, teabag or other: teabag

colour of brewed tea: light reddish brown

My sister recently dropped off several of these tea bags for me to try out and I was intrigued because of the "roasted rice" mention on the tea bag. It's something I've never seen on tea before, so it would be something totally new for me.

The tea steeps into a nice light brown colour within a few minutes and has a pretty strong aroma, which wasn't typical of green tea. I think it was the roasted rice. It was pretty strong - not sweet or fragrant...almost like a burnt rice smell.

I don't know if the smell turned me off but I didn't enjoy this tea at all. It had a weird taste that I can't really place, but not something I've ever had with the green teas I've tried before.

I left my cup on the coffee table and my husband caught a whiff of the tea and told me that it smelled "horrible" - this coming from another green tea fan. So, I guess this is tea is definitely in the "never again" pile for us!

hi february!

Wow, I can't believe it's already mid-February! I have been very remiss with my blogging for the fast few weeks and I've been feeling awfully guilty.

However, I have had a really busy time at work, plus our furnace broke down so we didn't have heat or hot water for several days (brrrrr!).

Anyhow, I'm hoping to catch up on my blogging now that things are a little more settled.

In the meantime, check out the fun groceries my hubby picked up recently! It's like we're back in my childhood!

discovering tea: tea oh Sencha Ceremony green tea

brand: tea oh

tea type: Sencha Ceremony green tea

brew method: glass teapot with infuser

loose leaf, teabag or other: loose leaf

colour of brewed tea: medium green/brown

I recently got a great deal for tea at Tea Oh, an online tea retailer based here in Ontario, so I ordered a bunch of different loose leaf teas. I had wanted to start brewing more green teas using loose leaf, but it's hard to give up the convenience of teabags!

I haven't tried any of them yet, so I'm going to start brewing them up soon. The first on the list is this green tea, which was amazing!


The tea is a little more orange in colour than I had expected from a green tea but it's very clear and light.

I steeped the tea for about 5 minutes in my cute little single-serving teapot with built-in ceramic infuser. The tea has a lovely jasmine tea smell to it that was very promising. The tea is light in taste and doesn't leave any after taste or tartness on the tongue. It's one of the lighter green teas that I've tried and I really like it. It's definitely a tea that I could drink every day without getting tired of it.

hair combs at sparrow collective

A few months ago I created a new line of hair combs for my pandacub accessory line.

They came out really cute and adorable and then I shipped the whole batch to the lovely gals at Sparrow Collective in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Yes, that's right. Sparrow Collective is the only place on the planet that you can buy pandacub hair combs! :)


I had taken photos of the hair combs before I shipped them off, but for some reason, I can't find the photos anywhere, but luckily, Sparrow Collective posted some of them on their Facebook page.

Enjoy!

discovering tea: tassimo twinings green tea

brand: twinings

tea type: green tea

brew method: tassimo system

colour of brewed tea: medium green/brown

I was surprised at how dark the Twinings green tea came out of the Tassimo system, but since it's brewed using their "bar code" system I knew that the proper amount of water was being used.

This tea has a medium-strong green tea flavour, with no bitterness or tartness. It's relatively smooth, with no "tannic" leaf aftertaste nor is there a change to the flavour on the tongue. It's unassuming, mild and is a great "quick" green tea.

This is also an ideal green tea for those that aren't used to drinking green tea and want to try it out. To me, it's about average in everything and so there won't be any extra taste surprises to the new green tea drinker.

For those that drink green tea quite often and prefer something more suited to their own developed tastes, this tea will be a little boring, but it's the only green tea current in the Tassimo line-up, so it's a good T-disc to have handy.

ugh...

*sigh* Funny, I don't feel a year wiser...!

So, today is my birthday and I'm feeling kind of down. I'm crossing the line from "low 30s" to "mid 30s" and I feel like my life is still in limbo. Part of the time, I'm still asking myself, "What do I want to be when I grow up?"

Ok, ok, focus on the positive - it's just another day, right? And it's the start of a new year, so lots of new adventures and memories to come and I'm adamant that this year is going to be full of fun and good times!

Time to blow out the candles and make a wish! :)

photo a day aka project365

I never realized how hard it was for me to actually take a new photo a day. I guess it's because almost all of my days are the same, basic routine - wake up, go to work, sit at my desk, go home, make dinner, relax with hubby and then go to bed. Not the most exciting schedule, I know.

But, on the other hand, it's really challenging my creativity since I have to come up with a semi-interesting photo every day - and it hasn't even been a month yet! :)

Anyhow, I've updated my Flickr account, sc_wanderlust, with my first batch of daily photos, including a little commentary on each shot.

Would love to see some of your comments on my photos! And don't forget to add me as a Flick contact so I can take a look at your photos as well!

the great tea discovery

Lately, I've been trying to shift my daily caffeine intake from coffee to tea, with a focus on green teas.

There are a lot of claimed health benefits to drinking tea, and I love the taste of good green tea (we drank a lot of it when we were in Tokyo a few months ago!). So I've stocked up on several types of tea, both bagged and loose leaf, and I'm going to be trying them all and trying to find some favourites.

As I embark on this little journey of Tea Discovery, I'll share my thoughts on each type of tea with you. I'd also love to hear about any teas that you really love so that I can give them a try as well!

A little basic information about Tea (a lot of this information is from Wikipedia):

Tea can refer to:

- the agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of various cultivars and sub-varieties of the Camellia sinensis plant, processed and cured using various methods

- the aromatic beverage prepared from the cured leaves by combination with hot or boiling water

- the common name for the Camellia sinensis plant itself

When I talk about tea, I'll probably mostly be referring to the drink.

After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world.

There are at least 6 varieties of tea: white, yellow, green, oolong, black, and post-fermented teas. The ones most commonly found on the market are white, green, oolong, and black.

The term "herbal tea" usually refers to an infusion or tisane of leaves, flowers, fruit, herbs or other plant material that contains no Camellia sinensis.

The health benfits of tea have been examined ever since the first infusions of Camellia sinensis about 4,700 years ago in China. Possible beneficial health effects of tea consumption have been suggested and supported by some studies, but others have found no beneficial effects. The vast majority of studies have been of green tea; however, some studies have been made of the other types of tea derived from Camellia sinensis, such as white, oolong, and black tea. Green tea has been claimed to be helpful for atherosclerosis, LDL cholesterol, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, liver disease, weight loss, neurodegenerative diseases, and even halitosis.

Whether or not green tea does or doesn't have the benefits these medical studies claim, I still want to drink more of it, and hope you'll find my trials interesting and informative! If you want to check out all the different teas I've tried, just click on the Category "discovering teas" at the end of this post, or in the Category list on the right hand side-bar.

happy new year!

I'm very excited to ring in 2011 - it's a new year, which means new adventures and experiences!

I want to wish all my friends, family, readers and pandacub customers a wonderful end of 2010 and a great start to 2011.

I'm not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions, because it always seems that they're more of a joke to everyone, so I'm just going to make a list of things to look forward to, including:

1. new pandacub products: I took my pandacub Etsy shop offline in December so that I could relax and focus on my family and friends. When I come back online in later in January, there will be old favourites, some new products and some other changes to the shop.

2. new contests: I already have a big contest planned for pandacub for January, plus I'm also going to be running some really cool contests on my other (beauty) blog, Cinnamon Kitten.

3. a new goal: For the past two years, one of my personal goals was to read 50 books in a year. I failed two years in a row (haha), although I did come close this year, ending the year with a whopping total of 44. This year, I'm going to try something new - I'm going to take a photo a day and post in on my Flickr site. It will be interesting since it means I'll be documenting my life for a year, plus I think it will be fun to see what photos I come up with on those "regular" days, when my routine is pretty boring (go to work, come home, sleep, LOL).

4. lose some weight: ok, ok, this is very much like a typical New Year's Resolution, and so, yes, I'm guilty of falling into the cliche of making one of these, but seriously, I want to lose 10 pounds in the next 3 months (is that unrealistic?)

5. some other personal goals:

- focus more on my career

- buy a house

- grow both my blogs

- spend more time with family and friends

What are some of your goals for 2011?

p.s. if anyone wants to join me in the "photo a day" goal, send me your Flickr link - I'd love to check out your daily photos too!

celebrating...

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you're spending the holidays with your loved ones!

where did December go?

Wow, I can't believe that December (and 2010) is almost over! I've been really bad with keeping up with my blogging this past month, but work and the holidays have been taking their toll on my time management skills! LOL

I do promise to try to blog more regularly in the new year.

In the meantime, I hope you're all enjoying the holiday season and spending some time to relax with friends and family!

50 books in 2010 - update 7

Eeek! WIth only 9 days to then end of 2010, I'm SO close to my goal to read 50 books this year...and yet, I know that with the holiday season in full swing, I'm very likely NOT going to finish...but I'm very happy with the amount I have been able to accomplish this year!

1. The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper, finished January 13

2. The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser, finished February 7

3. Lamb by Christopher Moore, finished February 12

4. The Man Who Ate the World by Jay Rayner, finished February 20

5. There Will be Dragons by John Ringo, finished February 26

6. The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory, finished March 2

7. Emerald Sea by John Ringo, finished March 3

8. In a Time of Darkness by John Ringo, finished March 3

9. Against the Tide by John Ringo, finished March 9

10. East of the Sun, West of the Moon, by John Ringo, finished March 15

11. Daughter of York by Anne Easter Smith, finished March 15

12. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, finished March 16

13. Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie, finished March 18

14. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte, finished March 18

15. Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, finished March 24

16. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, finished April 1

17. The Sixth Wife by Suzannah Dunn, finished April 11

18. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory, finished April 27

19. Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist, finished May 10

20. The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy, finished May 24

21. Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, finished June 5

22. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld, finished June 10

23. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, finished June 15

24. The Queen's Sorrow by Suzannah Dunn, finished June 21

25. Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay, finished July 3

26. The Shadow of the Pomegranate by Jean Plaidy, finished July 25

27. The King's Grey Mare by Rosemary H. Jarman, finished August 13

28. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, finished August 24

29. Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurst, finished September 2

30. Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurst, finished September 18

31. Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurst, finished September 22

32. The Queen's Captive by Barbara Kyle, finished September 23

33. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, finished October 10

34. The Twylight Tower by Karen Harper, finished October 15

35. The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, finished October 26

36. The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory, finished November 2

37. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, finished November 6

38. The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle, finished November 10

39. Crocodile on the Sandback by Elizabeth Peters, finished November 26

40. Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay, finished November 30

41. The Thorne Maze by Karen Harper, finished December 6

42. The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith, finished December 14

43. The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn by Robin Maxwell, finished December 21

50 books in 2010 - update 6

Here's how I'm doing so far in my goal to read 50 books this year...

With only one more month to go, I'm going to have to do a LOT of reading in this last month to make my goal of reading 50 books! And as it's the holiday season, and that means a really busy time of year, it's going to be tough, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

1. The Last Boleyn by Karen Harper, finished January 13

2. The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser, finished February 7

3. Lamb by Christopher Moore, finished February 12

4. The Man Who Ate the World by Jay Rayner, finished February 20

5. There Will be Dragons by John Ringo, finished February 26

6. The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory, finished March 2

7. Emerald Sea by John Ringo, finished March 3

8. In a Time of Darkness by John Ringo, finished March 3

9. Against the Tide by John Ringo, finished March 9

10. East of the Sun, West of the Moon, by John Ringo, finished March 15

11. Daughter of York by Anne Easter Smith, finished March 15

12. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, finished March 16

13. Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie, finished March 18

14. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte, finished March 18

15. Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, finished March 24

16. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, finished April 1

17. The Sixth Wife by Suzannah Dunn, finished April 11

18. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory, finished April 27

19. Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist, finished May 10

20. The Lady in the Tower by Jean Plaidy, finished May 24

21. Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, finished June 5

22. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld, finished June 10

23. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, finished June 15

24. The Queen's Sorrow by Suzannah Dunn, finished June 21

25. Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay, finished July 3

26. The Shadow of the Pomegranate by Jean Plaidy, finished July 25

27. The King's Grey Mare by Rosemary H. Jarman, finished August 13

28. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, finished August 24

29. Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurst, finished September 2

30. Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurst, finished September 18

31. Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist & Janny Wurst, finished September 22

32. The Queen's Captive by Barbara Kyle, finished September 23

33. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, finished October 10

34. The Twylight Tower by Karen Harper, finished October 15

35. The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory, finished October 26

36. The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory, finished November 2

37. A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, finished November 6

38. The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle, finished November 10

39. Crocodile on the Sandback by Elizabeth Peters, finished November 26

Currently reading:

- The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George

- Great Harry by Carolly Erickson

- The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten

big plans for the weekend

Since I'll be closing the shop for a little while starting December 1 (read more about that here) I've decided to hold a really big sale this weekend to coincide with the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.

I'll be marking down lots of items in my shop - this will be the biggest sale pandacub has ever had, so I hope you'll come check it out.

Also, if join my Facebook pandacub fan page you'll get information on how to save 10% off your entire order (and yes, this will be valid for this weekend's sale too!)

On top of all this, I'm thinking of holding a big scavenger hunt in my shop through Twitter, during which you can win lots of cool pandacub goodies - stay tuned on the blog and Facebook page for more info on that!