LadyWe

We’ve stumbled upon something new: Inglot Cosmetics. As the friendly sales associate pointed out, Inglot is the MAC makeup of Europe. They offer a wide range of color palettes in everything cosmetic class from nail polishes to eye shadows. We loved the fact that they offer something called the “Freedom System” in which you can select the color palettes of your choice. In a world of customization, this is something we’ve been lacking in cosmetics. Imagine this – an eyebrow trio with colors you will actually wear. You simply choose the platelet, then select the color squares you would like to fill the platelet. In a world of self-serve yogurt shops, build-a-bear type toy stores and customized social network sites, this is very exciting in the cosmetic world. For the ordinary consumer, having a store in which you can play, try on, and cater to your preference is a win. Inglot has many items, which one would think would be overwhelming, but in fact, is exciting since one has endless possibilities of color combinations.

Freedom System Palette for 5 Color plates

Some of the many color squares to choose from

Customize to include your favorite colors

They also offer out of the ordinary eyelashes. We thought the eyelashes were super fun and although we would never wear these often, they are one of a kind and can be great to wear out to a party. Shop Inglot here or visit them in their U.S. locations in New York and California.

Store Layout at Newport Beach's Fashion Island location in California

It’s not every day that we find someone with whom we hang on every word, but this is the power that Sarah Kay has.  This performing poet has been sharing spoken word acts since she was 14.  At the age of 22, Kay now teaches poetry and self-expression across the United States.

If we could share one video with the future daughters of America, it would be her performance  featured on TEDTalks.

“If I should have a daughter…“Instead of “Mom”, she’s gonna call me “Point B.” Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I’m going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say “Oh, I know that like the back of my hand.”

Long Beach, 2nd street location

If you find yourself stranded in the hustle and bustle of the L.A. county area, you should take the time to indulge in a nice, fluffy, and sweet cupcake. Yes, cupcake. We know the cupcake business is now a competitive one and we have seen the rise of the almighty cupcake shops. We’ve stood in line at famous cupcake shops in New York (Magnolia’s Cupcakes, to be precise) and have been seeking a shop just as delicious to enjoy on the west coast. We can proudly say that we’ve found that cupcake shop we are proud to share with all our friends and make us wish it was us who was as talented as the owner to open up shop. We are talking about Frosted Cupcakery, you can find this charming shop in one of our favorite foodie spots in Long Beach, 2nd street! Recently, while waiting for our table to be called at the Crêperie Café (which we will go into detail in another blog entry), we decided to start of with dessert.

hi-top cupcakes from Frosted Cupcakery

Holiday Cupcakes

We were impressed by the flavors offered and decided to narrow it down to 3 of their “hi-top” cupcakes which are mini cupcake sandwiches. We had a spread of: chocolate with Nutella buttercream frosting, red velvet with cream cheese frosting & royal white with salted carmel buttercream. Each mini cupcake sold for $1.45, regular size cupcakes are $2.95 each. The employees are very helpful and pleasant, they even offer free candles and mini message picks. These were some of the best cupcakes we’ve had. They were moist and sweet and had a wide selection of flavors to choose from. Not to mention, they also offer milk and delicious hot chocolate (with sprinkles!) to help wash down your cupcake. There is seating area, so you can relax and enjoy your treat and people watch. Make sure you visit Frosted Cupcakery if you happen to be near one and share with us your experience and favorite flavors!

Our friends surprised us for our birthday by lighting some candles at the Frosted Cupcakery

With 2011 almost behind us, it is time to start looking ahead.  During 2011, the BBC posted a list of 100 classic novels and stated that of the 100, most people have  read 6 of them.  This number intrigued and stuck with us.

This LadyWe blogger has of December 29, 20011 read 11 of the 100 (in bold below).  Better than the average 6, but still not the number this blogger would like to be at.

To be be able to finish all 100 books in one year, that means reading roughly 8 books a month.  While we wish we had enough time to accomplish that task, we know it is better to set realistic goals.  That being said, by 2013, we hope to have 50 more books added to this list.

Here’s to 2012 and making use of our library cards!

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – (4 of 7…not too bad…)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchel
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo