Corset Story Review

A few months back I ordered a few corsets from Corset Story.  The engineer and tomboy in me debated how to write this review since showing the product is key with a clothing review.  It is really hard to take a picture of yourself in decorative corset without looking ultra-feminfied. I'd like to note to any future/current employers I don't dress like this on daily basis. Normally polos and jeans are my main stays...

I took advantage of their seemingly never-ending 3 for 2 sale.  I bought 3 steel boned corsets for $145.00 shipping included, I prefer steel boned corsets as they keep their shape better and if you're a plus size gal I really think they're the best type.

defective corset T_T

They came super-fast, in about a week from London with standard shipping.  I wonder if they came from the Long Beach warehouse though Corset Story (CS) says on returns go there.  The corsets are beautiful and I set to trying them on, all with tying a not just a little tight.  The long brocade broke, well the boning crack when I sat down. I was sad. The others were completely fine.  So then I had to email CS about the issue. I think there may have been a little confusion on the  issue. I felt the boning before and felt it was defective (that 1 in 1000 type). The boning didn't poke at my skin, so I was thinking I was just going to have to keep the broken corset and try and fix it.   It took about 2 weeks to clear all the confusion up but in the end they sent me a brand new corset. I didn't even have to waste my money shipping the broken one back. So yes now I have 2 corsets of the exact style, one of which is broken.  I ended up being able to fix it so it one poke through to my skin and so I plan on wearing that one when I'm going out and about and the correct one for formal occasions as I had planned for this particular corset.

16" silver and black,

The quality is very good for the money, especially with the sale.  The three corsets I purchased have 3 distinct shapes. So far I've been wearing the silver and black the most.   The one I bought as my "might as well" turned out to be my favourite, the oriental design one. It's beige and pink and gives a very 1950's style figure, near my natural bone structure.  The 18" red brocade is more like my actual shape and it's long for me (5'3" or 162cm) I have a long torso so I wouldn't reccomend it for most short ladies.  I'm going to have to get some longer lacing for this. They use the same length lacing for the corsets it seems and this could've definitely used some more.

15" Oriental Design.

Overall I'd say Corset Story is great quality at such an affordable price, so you should definitely check it out! http://www.corset-story.com/

Apple Dumplings Classic Version

It had been a long time since I had apple dumplings. There a southern child hood treat of mine.  I had a relative once who made them at every family gathering in Charlotte. That was in the  90's and the Hungry Jack brand had a version of Cinnamon Biscuits that made this recipe ridiculous easily. Honestly all you need was to season the apples and use the reserve liquid on top of the dumplings.  That was the version I'm used to so I embed my biscuits with cinamon and it makes a difference.  I call this the classic version since I have another version that I use crescent roll dough with.  You can also find this recipe on my account at Recipefy

Picture courtesy of Pilsbury website

Prep. Time ĺ 20 min
Cook Time ĺ 35 min
Level ĺ Easy


Ingredients for 8 dumplings
1(16.3-oz.) can PillsburyŠ Grands!Š Refrigerated Buttermilk Biscuits
8teaspoons butter or margarine
4small to medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and halved
3/4cup brown sugar
3/4cup water
1/2cup butter or margarine, melted
1teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon (separated)
3 tsp ground ginger (separated)
juice of 2 lemons


1. Heat oven to 350°F.
Lightly grease 13x9-inch glass baking dish.
Juice of 1 lemon over apple halves
Sprinkle apple halves with 1 tsp of ginger and 1 tbsp of cinnamon
Stir to coat evenly
2. Split Biscuit in half (so you have 2 circular pieces
Lightly powder each biscuit with a bit of cinamon
Flatten biscuits with rolling pin. (or with your hands as one stretches pizza crust.
Place 1/4 teaspoon butter in the core area of each apple half.  Wrap each biscuit around 1 apple half. Place seam side down in greased baking dish.
Combine sugar, water,remaining ginger cinnamon, ginger melted butter and vanilla; pour over dumplings.
Bake uncovered at 350ƒF. for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and apples are t

Tea at the Biltmore

I contemplated for weeks what to get the ladies in my family for Christmas. Finally it hit me. We decided to spend a few days after Christmas in Asheville, North Carolina which is one of my favourite places in the world. It's so serene and ecletic full of natural beauty, high class, and  eclecticism. I decided to give them a tea at the inn on the Biltmore Estate. It was so lovely!  One amusing note was the simple fact it was a tea. My sister-aunt,  thinking it would be light tea was planning on order something for afters but we had a plenty.  We each got our choice of teas ( I had the mayan chocolate truffle) it was decadent and wonderful. A savoury plate, a champagne cocktail, and ginormous tray of sweet delights.  The Inn was lovely as always.  I hope that one day this will become an annual tradition of ours.

You can check it out on the mixbook I made for the occasion

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2012 Resolutions

After much contemplation, it was hard because I give myself a 3 resolution limit.

1. Get a full time permanent position in the engineering/energy efficiency/ renewable/etc. field
2. Learn to knit a pair of thigh high socks
3. Pass the October EIT exam

2011 Resolutions How did I do?

Blogging is a powerful tool. Normally aside from the obvious(lose weight) I forget my resolutions but having them up in the cloud makes it hard to forget. Around this time last year I posted

1. Get a full time job, constantly updating hirejasmine.com, refining my CAD skills, networking and going to any job fair I can within a 50 mile radius. updates on Wednesday Well I decided to join a Americorps again so I do in fact work full time and I worked as lab assistant at Laney College. Not exactly the pay I desired but hey at least it keeps a roof over my head some food on the table and help me keep goal number 4.
2. Get out of the plus-sizes, reduce alcohol and sugar consumption, exercise 60 minutes a day 3-5 times a week. Avoid synthetic foods. updates on Monday. Well I'm still a plus size gal. But I did lose 15lbs this year. The quest continues.  I did better diet-wise.  HFCS is but a memory. I contemplate getting rid of artificial colours but for the time being I will just try to eat more healthfully. 
3. update the blog more. By updating on my year resolutions on a weekly basis. Well I posted 17 more posts this year vs. last.  making progress.
4. Stay in California, by completing goal 1 Done!  And can you believe that now I am highly considering moving back to the Deep South especially North Carolina

I haven't firmed on my 2012 resolutions yet. I'm contemplating just making it simple.  My goal is to have guidelines down by the 5th.

2011 in Review

2011 in review on Prezi