So here we are, at Things I Bought That I love 003. I love how I set up this series allowing room for TIBTIL to grow into the triple digits. Honestly, does anyone expect me to get to “Things I Bought That I Love 467?”

I’m not sure I want to hear the answer to that.

There’s a medley of products on the left, but I’m going to start with the Urban Decay Book of Shadows II. For those that don’t know, it’s a makeup box set that comes with the eyeshadow palette you see, two eyeliners, and a sample size of their beloved Eyeshadow Primer Potion. Everyone’s blogged or vlogged about it already, but I’ve had a few questions about my eye makeup, and wanted to share.

It’s a good range of colors. Plenty of neutral brown tones, with a few pops of color for when you want to experiment. The eyeshadow palette slides out of the box, and at first I hated that design (I suppose I still do…) but now I just leave it open, just as you see it. I’m actually at a loss as to how I’ll organize my makeup once I’m through with it, as I now use the original portion of the box as a platform for my other products– and I quite like it like this, aesthetically and practically. I’m inclined to experiment when all these colors are open at my disposal, and it’s a relief not to have a mountain of tiny little eyeshadow pots rolling around.

For the next item, I’m not really sure if this counts as something I bought… It’s more of a something-I-reorganized. I used to keep my makeup brushes loose in a jar, which was fine enough, but I wasted a few seconds moving them around each day so I could see clearly which brush was which.

At Sephora, they sell their makeup brushes by standing them upright in containers filled with little clear plastic beads. I thought that was an awesome way of organizing brushes, only I had no idea where to get those little effing beads. Then I realized that I could just use rice instead, and it looked just as pretty.

This format makes it a lot easier for me to see which brush I need, and adds some structure to the mess that’s usually associated with girls and their hoards of makeup.

Another thing that has made my life so much easier is this earring stand. I had actually never seen one until I visited my friend JH’s new place, and I love it for its functionality. I’m quite fond of it visually as well, though– I like the draping and hanging gold, and the way all the little jewels catch the light. JH bought hers from Korea, but I just got mine off of eBay.com from the seller polybag-monster. $9!!

Bath & Body Works had a “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” special so I went and bought myself some new perfume. I used to be a bit of a douchey snob when it came to perfume. I loved layering Jo Malone fragrances to create personal, signature scents– which is all fine and dandy, but at $80+ a bottle, it borders on absurd. The only person who really cared was me, so once I stopped caring, there was no one left to fuel the habit. In stepped these bad boys. To be honest, I’m mostly hysterical over “Sweet Pea”, but it’s very distinct so I’m glad I have the other scents so that I can take a break. “Sweet Pea” smells like fresh raspberries and candy. Mmmm. I spray my winter scarf with it now and then, so even when it has faded on my skin, I can creepily remember the scent by smelling my scarf. I had to answer for this behavior when I did this in front of my friend SH last week.

Finally, this is something I’m working on. I visited Anthropologie a while back and saw something I’ve been trying to replicate. They filled jars with incense ash, and used the ash to hold the incense. The brilliant part about this is that when the ash falls, it only contributes to the ash that’s holding up the incense stick.

Here is my sad collection so far. I know I could probably buy some sand to get it started, but I can’t find any sand that resembles incense ash.

I thought this process would be a lot quicker than it has been. In actuality, an incense stick provides even less ash than you’d imagine. In a fit of impatience, I tried to fill the jar with several incense sticks and set them all on fire at once. They were on fire, that’s for sure…

After warily watching the smoke spew from the top and the flames lick the sides of the jar a frightening black, I extinguished the sad attempt. It’s for the best, anyways. Burning one incense stick at a time is heady enough. This shall be a labour of love. Or it will be the empty jar in my room filled with a little bit of dirt.

Well, I shall enlighten you! I am providing you all with a demonstration of procrastination!

Which brings me to ITEM 2: Jewelry from Forever 21

There are certain things I like to spend my money on. For example, a good blazer or a classic cocktail dress. But for things like trendy jewelry, I don’t see why it’s necessary to waste all your money. And I am poor.

Honestly, I think Forever 21 is very hit or miss. Some of their stuff looks tacky, and most of their clothing is made out of polyester or something similar. But sometimes, you just want a dress to wear that one time–and if you’re lucky, you can actually find a quality piece. I usually like to look at what the clothes are made of on their site before I buy something.

I prefer shopping online because everything’s laid out nicely. Forever 21 bugs me the way H&M does; there’s oceans and oceans of messy clothing and I really don’t want to sort through it all to find one thing. I don’t think shopping online is too hard once you’ve figured out your body type, and play it safe with cuts that you know look decent on you. Size charts are your friend!

All of this jewelry was cheap. Almost everything was around $5, and the pieces look rad IMHO. (I can’t say this about their clothing though. Some of it really does just look $5–although in F21′s defense, I got a short black dress from them once for a wedding that I’m really fond of).

After spending a productive weekend writing two essays, I thought I’d write about something a little more carefree than Eurocentrism or a child burdened with an inferiority complex. There’s actually been a bit of a Battle of the Sexes, in regards to my blog: The girls want more shopping, the guys want more of the serious business. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, I am not so clever as to pick a specific angle to write my blog from–a logical strategy for success. Instead, my blog will be a variety of pithy little nothings with the occasional depressing (thought provoking?) entry like my last one.

I’ll start with something gender neutral, as the posts that will follow today are going to be a little more related to the gals.

I was actually going to do a post about Fast Dinners a little while back. A lot of us are under stress right now, but we’ve still got to feed ourselves. So, I was going to post these lovely, express meals. I was gonna grab a few recipes from my beloved Nigella Lawson, and take my friend SM’s delicious home made Asian noodle soup idea. I was gonna say how quick and easy it was to make a gourmet scallop & spaghetti squash dinner. I was going to preach and say how we can cook something a little more sophisticated that’s quick–other than KD or pasta and sauce from a jar. But alas, I too have fallen.

This brings me to ITEM 1: Lean Cuisine  Frozen Dinners

This all started when I ate a whole Dr. Oetker pizza by myself for dinner one day. And then the next. And then the next. Not wanting to continue on with this atrocious behavior (because I easily could for at least a month), I bought a box of Lean Cuisine Cheese Cannelloni on a whim. Instead of consuming 1,000 calories for dinner, it was a petite 240 with 5g of fat.

Now I know what you’re thinking. First of all, frozen dinners are gross.

As my friend LBK commented on my Facebook:

omg ingrid you just turned 35 sitting on your couch with you cat watching re-runs of gossip girl thinking about how nice it would be to get married. Stop eating frozen dinners now!

They’re small and pasty and often quite questionable looking. Looking? I meant tasting, as well. Second of all, I don’t know about you guys, but I have a bit of a complex when it comes to buying things that say “Diet” or “Lean”. I feel like one of those obsessive people when I do. But this is different:

Doesn’t that look awesome? OKAY OKAY IT LOOKS A LITTLE VISCERAL. Stay with me!!!

This was honestly so delicious that I went home with 6 boxes tonight (there’s a $2.99 special at Metro). I’m no cheese cannelloni expert, so maybe it’s just something that’s hard to mess up. But this was filling, rich, flavorful, and the noodles weren’t dry/stiff/thin. Plus there’s no preservatives. Now nothing’s going to beat a homecooked meal, but this is a really nice (relatively) healthy alternative.

Better? No? What about this:

…I CAN’T MAKE A FROZEN DINNER LOOK DELICIOUS, OKAY? I promise though, this is unlike any frozen dinner I’ve ever had. In fact, I’d probably be just like you right now, wondering why on earth I’m writing a blog entry about a frozen dinner– if it wasn’t for the fact that I now know how amazing this is. And their lasagna is kickass too. I’ve had quite a few frozen lasagnas before, and they’ve never been good. It’s always Regret City after one of those. But what we’ve got here is legendary lasagna. Once again, Lean Cuisine is pulling out their quality noodles– not thin, dry, etc etc. No powdery bits of ground beef, no decrepit remains of frozen vegetables.

It is honestly a hearty, tasty, no-effort healthyish meal.

Another thing– I get full. Those of you who know me well know that this never happens. I am always eating. But I honestly CANNOT eat after one of these. Like, for example, I just finished my dinner. I really want to eat a Rolo popsicle. But I CAN’T. It’s absurd. They must put an appetite suppressant in these or something. Is that how they keep their customers lean?

I’m totally gonna force myself to eat that Rolo popsicle anyways, though.

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November 18, 2009: Chicken Alfredo is lame.