Black Friday Haul!

Happy Saturday!! Apologies for the late post! Its been a busy day of many errands including putting up the Christmas Tree and decorating.

Black Friday recently just passed. But let’s face it, its more of a weekend event that runs into Cyber Monday nowadays.

Its a perfect time to get a Black Friday Haul post for the weekend. Of course, I’m also very much into online shopping so not a whole lot of this is actually in my possession yet. I probably mentioned in previous haul posts but I’ve been doing an overhaul so buying less books and movies, like physical forms of them and also investing more on games as I’d like to have the content for Game Warp for reviews and such. If you see a huge amount of games, that’s the reason.

Let’s go!

Amazon

• Resident Evil 7
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Playstation 4 games have gotten so expensive that we always need to wait for sales before we pick them up. These two games are two of the most anticipated for us and they had a pretty great deal, especially Resident Evil 7 being only $20CAD. In the quest to catch up frantically with the 2017 titles, this fits our goals perfectly.

Google Play

• The Villainess
• Layton’s Mystery Journey

I’ve been resorting to the Play Store for a lot of more recent rentals as they have like 99 cent rentals every now and again for selected movies. They actually had one for Black Friday and I ended up renting 47 Meters Down. I love shark movies so while there are million other titles I could have picked, its one I’ve been wanting to catch up with. Black Friday also saw some great deals. For games, Layton’s Mystery Journey had a 60% discount. I love the Professor Layton games. I actually own all of them on Nintendo DS and look forward to catching up with the 3DS titles eventually since they seem to be available on mobile also. The latest game is Layton’s Mystery Journey and for those familiar with Nintendo, games tend to be costly so the deal was pretty sweet. To be honest, Play Store might have had some of the more impressive deals this year so I also got a 50% off coupon for a movie and of course, I went for the rare foreign film and got the highly praised The Villainess which I missed at Fantasia because its an opening movie and my pass didn’t grant me entrance so the tickets were sold out super fast as well.

Fanatical

• Last Day of June

Fanatical is the new name for what used to called Bundle Stars and its honestly a great spot to check for discounted games. They even give out free game deals every once in a while. Its older titles but sometimes, there are some cool stuff. Plus, I don’t say no to free games. They had a pretty neat way for Black Friday called Black Friday Flash Deals which they released discounted titles one per hour and each game had 24 hours to be at that price. Of course, my eyes was on the 2017 indie titles so Last Day of June popped up and also was cheaper than the discount on Steam so I had to pick it up. This game is right up my alley. Its really hard to say no.

Indigo Books

• Neil Gaiman Box Set
• Snowflakes & Morning Frost – Poured Glass Candle

The story behind Indigo purchase is actually a little more out of the fact that I went to the actual store to check out their deals and there was so many people and what I wanted ended up being all available online and what I wanted physically there, the buy 2 graphic novels and get the 3rd free, didn’t have the books I was looking for. Plus, they had a better online discount than the actual price for one of them and I know that during the year, that book should drop in price on a sale even more. Being selective, I went home and thought about it and just couldn’t get my mind off the candle which smelled delectable and the fact that I’ve been wanting to check out Neil Gaiman books but never found them at a good price and at $12.50 for 4 books, that’s a pretty awesome deal.

Steam Fall Sale

Finally, we come to the Steam Fall Sale which wasn’t exactly called a Black Friday sale but was centered in that time frame so I batched it in here. Not a ton of new games per se. Trust me when I say that the deals started on Thursday night (I think) and I mulled over it for 2 nights before finalizing the choices. Some of these titles will be featured games on Game Warp and others are just games I’ll review on my own because I’ve heard about it or the premise interests me.

La Buche

The final thing I got was really just a household thing but since I do share about it, I’ll add it on here. We burn wood during the winter to help lower actual heating costs and we just love it however, ever since we’ve moved it, we discovered these ecological logs which burn longer and better for the environment. The company we finally bought the most time with is La Buche (and we’re not sponsored although I wish we were..haha). Its a pretty sweet deal if you are in the Montreal area and burn firewood in the winter. Thought I’d share that in case anyone was interested.

That’s it for the Black Friday Haul!!

While I didn’t think that there were any spectacular deals, the stuff I got came at a pretty awesome price so I didn’t actually spend that much money overall.
What about you? Did you find any sweet deals on Black Friday?

Mini Black Friday Haul!

Retail therapy probably couldn’t come at a better time, am I right?

With NaNoWriMo being in its final few days (last Friday), there is nothing more than incredible stress going on right now. It is a little crazy that Black Friday sales went on even before. Not so weird for Amazon because its always been Black Friday week but other stores are also doing that. Its a little unbelievable. Or maybe its a statements about the spending power of the society in general. A little too deep for a shopping haul chat? Yeah..maybe.

I do most of my Black Friday (and Boxing Day) sale online when I can, mostly because I fear one day, I’m going to get killed. Luckily, I go on a very relaxed after work event instead of say, the literal doorcrasher crowds and even so, Canada doesn’t seem to go as crazy. Not sure why. Regardless, this year, I had one goal in mind as just one big expense and its why this year is not so much buying smaller items than I usually would. Plus, I’m trying to declutter my house so I have stagnated buying books, have bought very little new physical movies (mostly everything is via Netflix or renting from Play Store) and video games are more through Playstation Store and Steam.

Amazon

Although first in line here, I’m actually still waiting for one more item from my order to arrive. The first two items came in and its a new card game for party night with friends. I’ve always wanted to try out Exploding Kittens so I’m pretty excited for the next hangout. Compared to previous years, and if you know me, even though I said I wouldn’t get movies this year, I actually ended up getting two movies. There’s this one up there called Hidden that I’ve been wanting to get and waiting for the price to go down. The next is Pitch Perfect 2 which I’m waiting to arrive.

Steam Sale

Add on an extra purchase of the full version of Geometry Dash and The Black Watchmen: Season 2 and Mother Russia DLC.

Does that mean these will be on Game Warp soon? Not necessarily. Eventually would probably be more like it.  I just haven’t been able to play PC games until recently so I’m taking advantage of that. Plus, I’m by the computer more than having to move down to the Playstation to stream, I sometimes like the recording on PC part of life. I’ve had my eyes on these few games for a while. Plus, they were on the most cost efficient end.

Right before the Steam sale ended, I decided to cave in and get Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition also. Seeing as I had caved for one, I did think about just getting the close runner-up, Seasons After Fall, which are from the same developers but decided against it. If I had more money, SuperHot might be on there as well. Regardless, I’m happy with these choices and can’t wait to give them a go.

Dynamite Clothing

I’m not sure about everyone else but I have the hardest time to find pants. At this point, most of my pants, especially for work are almost about to just rip apart. It is a serious constant fear I have so whenever there’s a sale, I try to get a pair. The reason for this post going up later is also because I was waiting for the order to arrive and kind of take a picture of it. It fits really well. I wasn’t expecting it to be high waist but I don’t really mind. To fill up the order to get free shipping, I got a discounted candle. Why Dynamite is selling all this funky stuff is above me but hey, it smells pretty awesome!

Google Play

Playstation Store

Aside from these games, thanks to a sponsorship from my husband, he also picked up Mad Max and Assassin’s Creed Unity (I think). I believe he also picked up the physical copy of Battlefield 1 which I’m sure I’ll give it a go because I was uber busy when we had the beta and only he got the chance to give it a go and I only looked at the captured footage on Twitch.

 NCIX
(before Black Friday)

The big purchase for this time is a new video/graphics card. I’m not so technical that I know all this. Regardless, I had some awesome friends that helped me out on deciding to get this and seeing if my computer was compatibility and could support it. It’s been a huge restriction on my part, growing in Game Warp, to not also have access to PC games as a lot of cool indie games are first distributed on Steam. It isn’t anything special or like super high class gamer gear but for what I’m doing now, its a good step forward.

Aside from these, it was just some more Christmas decor and batteries for said decorations, which will as usual be in a separate post during Holiday month! That is something to look forward to soon. Shopping and NaNoWriMo wrap-up  along with the general chores is what has been keeping me busy. I am slowly progressing on the holiday decorations.

Pinterest Therapy #2!

Let’s have some fun, ok?

I’ve been in desperate need of some Pinterest Therapy and honestly, it gets me through my day just a little bit more.  If I can try out half of these things this year, I’d be pretty pleased with myself 😉

I kept my little rant at the end of the post to just clear some stuff off my chest so its up to you if you want to read it or not.

Here you go! These little things have kept me sane in the past 2 weeks or so.

1) Spring Sangria 

Tea usually is my relaxant and thats why I usually have two thermos that I take to the office with me.  But when I’m at home, nearing the weekend, having a glass of alcohol usually helps. I love Sangria.  I love the normal red sangria during the summer and the white Autumn Sangria. I recently saw this Spring Sangria.  I know spring is kind of almost gone but this looks pretty awesome.

Whats your favorite cocktail?

2) Live in the Moment

That was this week’s goal.  For the most part, I’ve been able to remind myself to breathe and to focus on the goals every single day leading to the final result. One of my coworkers did get a good laugh when I sat upright and said breathe out loud and then inhaled and exhaled in the middle of the day.  At least its not only relaxing for me but entertaining for others, right? 😉 In short, this is where I remember what my boyfriend tells me: take things in steps and don’t look at the entire mountain. No correlation but I get what he means.

3) DIY Bug Off Candle/Mosquito Control Plants

DIY Bug Off Candle

I never thought I’d say this but gardening has been my little escape.  Stressful as it is that I’m trying to get everything done, its also a pretty fun experience. Right now, I bought some torches and citronella oil for the yard but I’m looking at how to have some more natural mosquito repellents.  Because of the pool, its like I became a buffet when I step out at night. And let me get something straight: I’m nobody’s buffet. So first choice was this: Bug off candles with lots of herbs and whatnot.

4) Stress vs. passion

Technically I can work for something I don’t care about but if I find something that makes me care about it, then I may not love it but I won’t hate it.  Is that still called stress? I don’t know.  Either way, the dream is to one day do what I’m passionate about. Thats the goal, right? But then, who doesn’t have that dream.  I sometimes think I lean towards my realistic side more than my dreamer side.  Its being able to take that leap of faith but reading that makes me want to go home and either watch a movie or play the piano or bake a cake.  Happy thoughts 🙂

5) RAISED GARDENS/CONTAINER GARDENING

Yeah, more about the garden.  Thats what happens when you buy a house (my mom told me that).  I’m really into this container gardening business.  This is just a raised garden and I’m serious when I tell you, I hope my boyfriend reads this and builds this for me.  That looks so awesome! Would be perfect for what I need. And from what I understood, the previous owners left us a bunch of wood in the storage area.  Maybe it could be used for my benefit. Well, if the garden has stuff, its not just mine now, is it?

6) True Friends

It always makes me a loner when I say this but I don’t have a lot of friends but I have true friends and strong friendships.  I know they are there for me and for some them, sometimes they know exactly when to reach out to me and same for me to them.  And that thought makes me grateful and happy every single day.

7) Butterfly Sanctuary

Noted, Disney! I love flowers and butterflies so its a future goal for my garden 🙂 Think about how awesome that would be! You have birds and squirrels visits you? Well, I have butterflies 😉 Just kidding! Its also pretty awesome that this festival exists and one day I want to go check it out.

8) Regrowing plants from scraps

Yesterday, I went to eat with my friends and I realized that the joy that comes with gardening comes a lot in the challenge of seeing your success when something sprouts.  So my next little project is regrowing from food scraps like the tops of pineapples and try my hand at some ginger or garlic and maybe some bok choy.

9) The Beauty of Silence

Yup, Chinese has a saying that one hand can’t clap out loud.  Pretty much if you don’t reciprocate, it won’t escalate to an argument.  But of course, some people will just get frustrated and be even more furious.  I don’t know.  Either way, there are times I just choose to answer with silence just simply because there are no more words to say and I refuse to continue going in circles. I’ve moved on, why haven’t you? Thats all I want to know.

10) What does it take to be strong?

Totally true. Which is why after this craziness, I’m taking off some time to calm my body and think up some wonderful alternative to how I’m treating life itself.  I’ll be walking away from the nonsense hopefully but at this point I’m not even sure if its with my head held high.  I’m just too tired 😉

A Little Extra Rant Before I Go…

You know that feeling that you’ve done all you can to make things better and ease the situation and yet, its never enough. I use kind words and soft phrases and they use rude blunt disrespectful replies. There are no second chances, there are no mistakes. Suddenly, I realized that the prerequisite in taking care of this client is to be perfect.  I can’t even try to be perfect because its not enough.  I’m sorry, I’m done with this.  I’m not perfect and I’ve accepted that.  I’ve tried my best to better my flaws and I’ve done all I could but if the client can’t let go of the little things, then I’m also done with it.

I don’t need someone like that to diminish my self-worth or to disrespect me. I’ve sat here and pondered how to make this work because I don’t want to give up, especially not leave my boss in a bad position.

Finally!

This Pinterest therapy helped me out! And now, off to work I go for some lovely overtime.

Have a great weekend, my lovelies! 🙂