How quickly did August go? Too bloody quickly if you ask me! I can’t believe it’s almost September already, as well as August bank holiday. I’ve started my long weekend doing sweet FA, aside from writing this blog post. 😛
This month was an up and down month, with some positives and negatives, so I am semi looking forward to September for many reasons. For a start, it’s my favourite time of year with autumn starting, but we also have some stuff booked too, which we’re excited for! I’m also hopeful that the month will cool down so I can meet up with some online friends for coffee, shopping and maybe yummy Asian food too!
With that, let’s get into my favourites from August!
I can’t tell you guys how long it took me to get this bloody lip oil! I’d heard about it through Instagram and then when watching reviews I was hooked on snagging it myself! I mentioned on my August wish list post how I’d ordered it after it came into stock. Not only was I checking the listing on the Boots website daily for it to come back into stock, but also which stores nearby had it in stock too! On a day out with my dad to Stratford-upon-Avon we popped into a Boots store that stated it was in stock, only for there to be none left, BOO! Finally the lip oil did come back into stock so I ordered one. Since it arrived, I’ve been using is almost daily. It smells like sour cherry sweets, is easy to apply and the conditioning feel lasts for hours! I find it use it at work mostly, as well as when I’m out and about. I’ve definitely become a lip oil fan and plan to try more in the future! ALSO please excuse the dust on the shelf in the photo, it’s cleaning day tomorrow. 😛
Recently I’ve decided I wanted to binge watch Adventure Time again, well, at least the first two seasons as this is how far I got originally. To get the Blu-ray it would have cost me a lot more than I was willing to pay at the time, so instead we decided to get a NOW TV subscription, so now I have until the end of the year/a year to watch all of Adventure Time! I’m currently on season five at the time of writing this post and I’m discovering more about Finn, Jake and the Land of Ooo, which I’m really enjoying! I find myself binge watching it whenever I want something to relax to and watch, including cross stitch, writing for my blog, whilst I work from home, and cooking. If you love animation like I do, and, are yet to watch Adventure Time, please give it a go! My favourite character is Lumpy Space Princess, hence the gif. 😛
Lore Olympus is a web comic series I was into back in 2018 when it first came out, but I stopped reading it after a while due to one reason or another. A couple of weekends ago I found out that Lore Olympus had released omnibus comics of the series! I decided to order it last week in order to read over the weekend and so far I’ve really been loving it! I ordered volumes one and two, with three on pre-order. I’ve read volume one so far, and I’m yet to start reading two. I’m hoping to over the bank holiday weekend as the series is addictive! Lore Olympus is a romance comic of a modernised Greek mythology retelling of the relationship between Persephone and Hades. It definitely has some adult themes, but I honestly love it! I’ve linked the web comic, so if you fancy a read definitely go and check it out! 😀
Game – LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
I decided to pick up the latest LEGO Star Wars game as I had a £10 voucher for Amazon and had had my eye on this since it came out in April. Since buying this me and Dane have been playing it on and off since and it’s been something lovely to play together during weekends off, as well as in the evenings after work. My only gripe with it is how buggy it plays sometimes, which on the first day of playing really pissed us off! Thankfully since then we haven’t noticed it as much, which in turn has made it a lot more fun to play! If you play the original LEGO Star Wars games, then you should definitely get this one! It’s better than ever now and it’s so much fun too, as you get to spend blue bricks and money on upgrading your characters, which is something new to me for LEGO games.
Just a few of my favourite things…
OkieDoodleStitches Pokemon Eevee cross stitch is COMPLETED!
Last month I told you all about my latest cross stitch project, which was Eevee by OkieDoodleStitches. Well, last weekend I finally finished it and it looks so damn cute, as I’m sure you’ll agree from the above photo! This took me a couple of months to complete, but it was so worth it! I found myself getting lost whilst working on this, as well as binge watching a variety of shows (Adventure Time, Inventing Anna, and The Dog Rescuers to name a few!), which in turn has been really helpful for my mental health. I’m planning to pop this in a frame at some point to put up in the house at some point. I’ve already started my next cross stitch project, but I won’t be showing that on my blog for quite some time, as it’s a Christmas present. 🙂
Yuena Art haul.
I decided to place a cheeky enamel pin order with Yuena Art recently as I noticed one of the pins I really wanted was looking to sell out soon, and I didn’t want to worry I’d regret not getting it. The pin design I was after was mainly Yui the Kitsune, but I did love the look of Shino and Diana too! These are all either b-grade or seconds pins, but you wouldn’t know it as the quality of them all is really good! I’m yet to give them a home, but I definitely need to sort through my enamel pin collection(s) again!
August was definitely a month of ordering figures, Nendoroid but also Hobby Max figures for the first time too! I wanted to show off a few I’m really excited about. I don’t feel like I talk about figures and our collecting of them enough on my blog, but it’s something I’d like to do more! First of all, I decided to pre-order the Hobby Max Nana Osaki and Komatsu figures. Nana is probably my favourite manga/anime series so I couldn’t really pass up not ordering these, even though they weren’t cheap, but worth it 100% as they’ll make me so happy to display in our house. Second of all I ordered Marin from My Dress Up Darling, an anime and manga series I’ve really fallen in love with this year! I’m so excited for this Nendoroid to be released! She’ll be going somewhere special as me and Dane love the series together!
So there we have it guys, my favourites from August! I still can’t believe it’s September soon, and before we know it, it’ll be Christmas. :O
What were your favourite things about August? Anything you can relate to from my favourites? Make sure to let me know in the comments!
Until next time, have an amazing rest of your August bank holiday and as always, take care!
I have been so stocked for writing this post on my blog for as long as I can remember… In fact I took a look at my board where I keep all my blog ideas and the idea for this one was set at the start of 2022 on 2nd January. I’ve been waiting and biding my time for Netflix to finally give us a set release date, which they did over a week ago.
With this in mind, I can finally write about Bee and PuppyCat and why you should watch it when it comes to Netflix in a couple of weeks. I’m going to go into some information of when it started, how, the plot, why I love it and more.
I honestly hope you enjoy todays blog post, I seriously love Bee and PuppyCat after discovering it in 2013, it helped me when I was in a really dark place and still helps me to this day when I feel anxious, or low. It’s a happy show and one I recommend to everyone, hence this post today! I’m going to try and hold off sharing any spoilers, I know some websites have, I don’t want to do this. Although Bee and PuppyCat is kind of a known show to a lot of people, it isn’t to others. Spoilers suck, so we won’t be doing those here if I can help it.
So, grab yourself a drink and maybe some snacks as I get into today’s post. 🙂
First things first, what is Bee and PuppyCat all about and who created it?
The creator of Bee and PuppyCat is Natasha Allegri, who also worked on Adventure Time for five seasons! During her time working on Adventure Time, Natasha created Fionna and Cake, the gender-swapped versions of Finn and Jake. Eventually the female duo had their own full episodes of Adventure Time, as well as comics.
The show is about Bee, a young woman who we discover has just been fired from her job. Stuck in the rain, waiting for the lights to allow her to cross, and obviously the shock of losing her job, could it get any worse? Maybe, maybe not? In a very random encounter she meets PuppyCat and takes him home with her. The next day Bee admits to PuppyCat that she’s lost her job, can’t get a new one and has no money, to which he helps Bee through temporary jobs assigned by TempBot. Through their first job together we learn more about them both, but in mysterious ways. The show itself is about following the adorable duo as they go do temporary jobs, get through any obstacles they face in life, meet Bee’s friends and learn even more about the pair as we go.
Now we know the basic plot of the show, I’m going to give you a bit of history behind the show itself!
Bee and PuppyCat launched in August 2013 through a pilot on YouTube, which is pretty much the synopsis I posted earlier, it’s where it all started and damn did it pack a punch! It threw us straight into Bee’s life at a pretty bad time, which is usually the perfect way of shaping a story. Introduce us to the character, throw a situation their way, they spend most of the show/film fixing it, with a conclusion at the end. The pilot didn’t just do that, but they reveal a deep mystery about PuppyCat, and leave us wondering what will happen to Bee too. It was the perfect pilot and after watching it myself and many others wanted more!
A couple of months later in October a Kickstarter campaign was launched with the goal of a tv series coming from it! The original goal of $600,000 was exceeded and to date they are still the 10th most funded video and film project. I wasn’t aware of the Kickstarter until it was too late, otherwise I would have backed it.
Of course, due to how successful the Kickstarter was, the tv series was funded and the first season was released between November 2014 to November 2016. There were ten episodes for the first season with each episode lasting just over six minutes each. Season one follows on from the pilot where we start to learn more about Bee and PuppyCat, as well as Bee’s friends, and what adventures they go on. We learn more about Bee with her likes and dislikes, as well as her mystery.
The first season of Bee and PuppyCat got me through some dark times, as well as some anxious ones. For example, I hate flying so when we flew to and from Japan I was a nervous wreck. On the way there and back I watched Bee and PuppyCat which helped me to relax significantly. The show is definitely some sort of comfort for me and I always watch it when I need it. I wish it would come out on DVD/Blu-ray so I can have a copy all the time to watch, instead of relying on YouTube.
In early 2016 whilst out shopping I discovered that Bee and PuppyCat had a comic book series, which in turn was released in omnibus series, so I decided to pick it up! There are three omnibus volumes altogether and I own them all. The original comic book series ran between May 2014 until April 2016. The stories we see in the tv show compared to the comics is different, with none of the artwork done by Natasha Allegri. I’d love to eventually pick up all the individual comics, but this may not happen for a while… I highly recommend them if you’d like to read some more stories from the adorable duo!
After what felt like forever, in 2018 a trailer came out for season two of Bee and Puppycat, which is called Lazy in Space. We don’t get a lot of detail about Lazy in Space apart from the fact that PuppyCat died and is now alive again. This left me with too many questions, and I’m sure I’m not the only one! PuppyCat died? How and why did this happen? The first episode was showcased in September 2019 at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, but we weren’t given anymore episodes until early 2020 when it leaked online. Although these episodes were removed, many fans downloaded them and reuploaded online. I’ve seen bits and pieces of Lazy in Space and really love how we find out even more about Bee than ever before, as well as finding out some of PuppyCat’s mystery…
Later in 2020 after struggling to find a streaming service to air Bee and PuppyCat on, finally we were given the news that Bee and PuppyCat would come to Netflix in 2022!
Finally a couple of weeks ago Netflix released trailer for Bee & PuppyCat, which will come to Netflix on 6th September 2022! I for one am stupidly excited for it and keep watching the trailer every other day to take in as much as possible before the show starts.
Originally it was stated that season two Lazy in Space would be on Netflix, but judging by the trailer and some clips shown so far, it looks like the pilot and season one will be shown too, so whether we get a quick glimpse of these before jumping into season two is unknown at this point.
I think one of the biggest things I’m excited for with Bee and PuppyCat coming to Netflix is how it will now reach more people, which means I’ll have more people to talk to about it too! It’s a show I hardly speak of with anyone as whenever I ask, “Have you see Bee and PuppyCat?” I get a confused look and asked what it is. So yeah, discussing with people would be amazing!
I’m excited too to see how they recreate the pilot and season one, as the artwork is different, as well as the dialogue too.
Finally, I’m hopeful we get some more official merchandise again! We haven’t had any for years now and I regret not picking any of it up whilst I had the chance. It sells for a lot of money now and that in itself makes me sad. 😦
So, what do you guys think about Bee and PuppyCat? Do you like the look of it if you’ve never heard of it or seen it before? Have you been a fan of the show prior to it coming to Netflix? If so, what are you excited for the most?
I really hope you all enjoyed this weeks post, I’ve been excited to write it for months now so I hope it opens up new people to the amazing show that is Bee and PuppyCat!
Until next time, have an amazing weekend guys and see you soon. 🙂
This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned Amazon Japan on my blog, and I very much doubt it’ll be the last! At the end of July I decided to splurge and place my biggest Amazon Japan order to date, which I was so excited to have arrive.
I decided to grab some items I’ve been after for a long time, as well as some newer items on my radar that I found were a bargain from Amazon Japan. I placed my order on July 23rd and my goodies arrived on July 29th, amazing time frames when you think about it coming all the way from Japan! I was honestly counting down the hours the day everything arrived. I did film a reel over on my Instagram page literally hours after my goods turned up too, which you can watch here.
I’ll briefly share my experience with Amazon Japan before I go into the goodies I’ve bought. As I mentioned before, this is the biggest order I’ve placed through Amazon Japan to date and is also my third order. Goodies are packaged quite quickly after your order is placed and as mentioned, I received my goods just under a week after I placed the order, which is fantastic! My parcel arrived via DHL and cost £17.76 which I personally felt was worth it for how much I ordered. Due to this I find with Amazon Japan the bigger the order, the more you’ll get for the price you pay for shipping too. I don’t think they’ve ever offered any other form of shipping, which is fair enough.
I can’t tell you how long I have been after this model kit, but it feels well over a year for sure. One of my favourite Pokemon is Mew, so whenever I see any form of merchandise I like the look of with it on, I just can’t help myself from picking it up. I’ve never done a model kit and loved the appeal of giving one a go. The reason I’ve not purchased this until now though however is unfortunately due to how much people sell these Pokemon model kits for, especially this one it seems. I paid under £4 for my model kit, but to be honest people sell these for almost £20, which is such a jump. I understand import charges and delivery that people may face getting these model kits to the UK, but yeah. With the price of the item and splitting the overall shipping costs, this would cost me under £10. Of course you can shop with who you wish to, but personally I don’t want to feel “ripped off” by anyone, so would rather purchase directly from Japan. I haven’t made this figure up yet, as I’m sure you can see from the photos, but I’ll definitely do it at some point before the end of the month!
This is another item I’ve been after for quite some time but it appears to be a rarer find in the UK and due to that isn’t exactly cheap! This was the last Animal Crossing amiibo figure I needed, so when I found this one on Amazon Japan for less than £8, I knew I had to buy it! Aside from the Super Smash Bros. Animal Crossing amiibo, I definitely have them all now, which makes me so happy! I only really started to collect them last year, with the majority of them being second hand.
This was one of the items I wanted the most from this Amazon Japan order, as I’ve been after a phone stand for my desk for a while, I just never found one I liked the look of. I discovered that this item existed through someone I follow on Instagram, but wasn’t aware that it was available on Amazon Japan until I had a good look around for it. This phone stand is probably my favourite thing from this haul as it’s really changed how I keep my phone on my desk. If I was to be on a FaceTime call with my mom, I’d try and lean my phone on the desk somewhere, and laid flat whenever it was charging whilst on a call with her. At least with the phone stand now I don’t have to do that anymore, all whilst it looks super cute in the Cinnamoroll shape! 😀
Sanrio Cinnamoroll Stainless Steel Mug with Lid – (link)
Finally we have a Cinnamoroll travel mug I bought, which I’d had my eye on for a while from a UK kawaii store. I only have one takeaway cup I use for work during the week but I wanted another so I wasn’t just constantly using the same one. This one has a handle as you can see, which is really good for if I fancy a mug to drink from when in the office instead of a hot drink flask. The one great thing about this too is how long it keeps your hot drinks hot for too, plus it’s cute. 😛
So there we have it guys, my haul from Amazon Japan!
Which item(s) did you like from what I ordered? Are there any items you’d like to get from Amazon Japan? Make sure to let me know in the comments!
Until next time guys, have a lovely rest of your weekend, stay cool and hydrated!
We’re already a week into August, I can’t believe it! This weekend for me has been really nice and I’m quite grateful, I’ve needed something to cheer me up after how shite July felt. August is full of lots of time off for me and Dane which will be really nice, even if we don’t do much, just having time to relax together will be nice.
For example, Friday I went out with my dad for the day and yesterday me and Dane spent pretty much all day playing LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which is so much fun! After my blog post is live, we’re planning to play this all day again and cook a yummy dinner.
Anyhoo, I’ve ordered some of the bits on my monthly wish list, which I’ll mention when it comes to talking about the item(s) in question. Some of the items I’m waiting to go down in price, and more, but as always I’ll talk about it on each item.
I hope everyone else has had a good start to August! On with this months wish list post!
This is a dress I’ve been after for what feels like forever. I’m waiting for it to go down in price, or appear on Depop/Vinted before I buy. I own on smock dress from Fearless Illustration which is incredibly comfortable! I really do love wearing my smock dresses these days as they’re incredibly comfortable for all seasons and if anything, I’ve been wearing them more and more for work lately. If I was to pick this dress up, I’d wear it for work as well as in general as the design is really simple with the large hearts.
This is a plush I’ve been after a while, in its smaller form, but when I saw they brought out the giant version I had to share it with you all today! I don’t think I’d buy the giant version, not going to lie as I don’t have the room, but look how adorable it is! This looks like an amazing plush for snuggling into after a long day. I’d still love the smaller version though. 😛
YuenaShop Enamel Pins Yui the Kitsune, Shino, and Mythical Witch Diana – (link), (link), and (link)
These are some Animal Crossing fan design enamel pins I’ve ordered, as Yui the Kitsune is one that has been on my wish list on Etsy for as long as I can remember. It was due to sell out from what I could see, so I decided to place an order in case I missed out, but as YuenaShop is based in the United States I wanted to make the shipping costs worth it. I decided to order three enamel pins, Yui, Shino and Diana. Yui is an original character that is inspired by a Kitsune, Shino the deer villager whose outfit reminds me of Demon Slayer and then Diana who is dressed up as a witch! I’m really excited to get them by the end of the month now to display on one of my pin flags!
This is something I’ve ordered earlier today and I’m so excited for it! I’ve been on the hunt for it for a while now, but Boots hasn’t had it in stock. I ventured to a Boots store on Friday to see if they had it still (stated online the store had it in stock) and they’d sold out! Thankfully this morning when I had a nose online they have some back, so I used my Advantage Points to get one! I’m really excited for this to arrive! I find some days I don’t want to wear lip products, but I know if I throw this in my bag on office days I’ll make sure to wear it. 🙂 It’s said to smell really delicious and leave a nice pink tint behind.
Finally we have another plush to mention this month, but this is one of Nana Osaki, one of my favourite manga/anime characters! So, to see someone has created a plush of her has made me so happy! I don’t know if/when I’ll buy this, as it isn’t exactly cheap, but it’s definitely an item I’ll keep eyes peeled on in the future to potentially get. 🙂 I honestly love Nana, so to own a plush of her would be amazing.
So, there we have it, my wish list for August! I like to think there’s been a good variety of goodies mentioned this month! What do you like the look of from my wish list, as well as what’s on your own wish lists? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!
Until next time, take care all and I hope you have a lovely rest of your weekend!
I can’t quite believe how quickly July has flown by, it’s crazy to think it’s August on Monday. After the suffocating few days of heat we had a couple of weeks ago, I am READY for autumn and winter for some colder days, weekend baths and getting cosy in some of my favourite clothes. Who else agrees with me? 😀
I mentioned last month that I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about July and to be honest with you all, July has been a shit month for me. Without going into too much detail, my mental health hasn’t been good and I’m kind of at a bit of a loss at times. This sounds really sad, it isn’t as bad as it sounds, I think it’s just a lot of stuff happening in all different parts of my life and it does suck. I’ll be okay though, I’ve been through worse. 🙂
With the doom and gloom out of the way, I’m semi excited for August! I have a dad and daughter day planned next week, as well as some days off to spend with time Dane and do some dog sitting, which we’re both looking forward to! I really hope August is kinder to my mental health. :’)
Enough of me rambling, on with the monthly favourites!
Beauty – Soap & Glory The Real Zing body wash and body sorbet.
I mentioned in my July wish list last earlier this month how I really wanted to pick up the Soap & Glory The Real Zing body wash and body sorbet. I did end up picking these up just before we had the few days of extreme heat and I’m so glad I did, as the body sorbet really did help cool down my skin. The Real Zing collection smells gorgeous, zingy lemon and lime and if you loved the Sugar Crush range, you’ll definitely love this! The body wash is really creamy and a little goes a long way on my silicone sponge. The scent doesn’t last or stay strong, but it’s great for mornings in the shower when you need to wake up. After using the body wash, I apply the body sorbet, which is definitely a sorbet/gel texture. A little goes a long way and feels lovely and cooling when applying to the skin. The only flaw I have with the body sorbet is the more you rub, it starts to ball up and look like dead skin, which is never a good look! The scent doesn’t last to be honest and I’ve yet to receive a compliment of, “Ooo you smell nice!” like what I get with the Sol de Janeiro goods I use. Alongside that, as The Real Zing contains alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) there is a warning on the packaging for both the body wash and body sorbet of a sunburn alert! AHA may increase skins sensitivity, hence the warning. Typical I bought this and then the heatwave hit us! This being said, I’ve been fine. One thing I’ll say is I don’t know if I’ll buy these again, as although the price was amazing and these leave my skin feeling lovely and soft, I think I’d rather spend more on Sol de Janeiro so the scent lasts longer.
TV Show – Barry, season one-three.
Barry is a TV show that started in 2018 that someone I work with told me about. The someone in question tends to have good taste when it comes to shows, movies, games, etc. So, me and Dane decided to give it a go and we LOVE it! Barry is about Barry, an ex army hitman, who one day moves state for a hitman job and finds out he wants to quit being a hitman to pursue an acting career. This isn’t straight forward for Barry however. If you like the sound of this, make sure to watch the trailer! If you love Dexter and Bill Hader (who stars and created Barry) then you will love this show! We’re almost at the end of season three and can’t wait to see how it ends, especially as season four has been confirmed!
Music – Teardrops – Bring Me The Horizon and Spaceman – Electric Callboy.
Music wise has been a bit “odd” this month for me as I wasn’t really all that fussed about what I was listening to, but a couple of songs that stand out are these. Whenever they came on, I just felt the need to jam out, sing loudly or just bop my head if I was at work. I love rock music like this. 😀
Game – The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse.
This is a game Dane bought many years ago now for us to play together! It’s a (name) which I’ve never played previously, or since picking up The Swords of Ditto: Mormo’s Curse to play with Dane. This is such a cute game, with amazing vintage style music and hours of play. Your character is brought back every 100 years to take on Mormo’s curse, with the sword of Ditto in hand. It’s up to you to bring peace to the land. You’ll keep dying until you reach the end and with cough co-op, you can do it with a friend, like what me and Dane have done. We semi rage quitted this game as we kept dying and coming back, however we recently picked it up during the heatwave to try and see if we could finally finish it. We thought we had… We still have a lot more gameplay and hours to put into this game, but it’ll definitely be worth it in the end! We picked this up on Nintendo Switch and I highly recommend it to others!
Just a few of my favourite things…
OkieDoodleStitches Pokemon Eevee cross stitch.
If there is one thing I really got back into doing during Covid it was cross stitch. It’s a hobby I picked up when I was ten and my mom bought me a Forever Friends cross stitch kit for Christmas. Not going to lie, I still haven’t completed that, but it’s in the bottom of my embroidery box, waiting to be completed! I’m sure I’ll finish it one day… Anyway, it all started with working through some of the patterns from diyCrossing that are Animal Crossing inspired. These have been a lot of fun and I do plan to do more, but I was after Pokemon cross stitch kits/patterns to try next. I went to Etsy and found some cross stitch patterns from artist Sevi Yummy, whose work I adore! OkieDoodleStitches is the one behind bringing Sevi’s work to cross stitch patterns, which I’m so grateful for! I decided to go with the Eevee design as the first and throughout July I’ve been working on it on and off, especially towards the end of July. I don’t think this piece will be finished for another week or so, but I’m so excited to finish it! I’m showing you some of the progress so far, but I would like to write a blog post about it in the future. What do you guys think, should I? 😀
Black Milk Clothing Trash Pandas Dress.
This piece by Black Milk Clothing quickly made it’s way onto my DISO (desperate in search of) dress after I didn’t purchase it months ago. The trash pandas design is by Caley Hicks, an American designer who works with Disney, as well as on her own goods, including this amazing trash pandas design! I’d asked BMC ages ago about making this design a reality and low and behold they did it! I doubt it was because of me, but yeah. 😛 Anyway, I was told by one of my friends that BMC had listed the trash pandas strappy dress as seconds and it was a hell of a lot cheaper than it had been originally, so I had to snag myself a bargain! Raccoons are one of my favourite animals, and I feel like they’re my spirit animal too, so I’m so happy to not only own a piece from BMC that was designed by Caley Hicks, but also with these cuties on! I’m yet to wear this, as I don’t like wearing strappy pieces that show off my arms, plus it’s very low cut… So, as you can see from the image above, I need to layer this with a t-shirt underneath. I’m hopeful I can wear it with a thin jumper in the winter!
Pokemon Center Alolan Vulpix AirPods Pro case.
I mentioned on my July wish list that I was planning to pick up a new AirPod Pro case form the Pokemon Center and I’m so glad I did! I didn’t exactly need a new AirPod case, but the one I was using previously was about a month old and the lid kept coming off, which was incredibly annoying, so I wanted to grab something a little more sturdy. The Alolan Vulpix/Ninetales one isn’t just a massive improvement quality wise, but it’s bloody adorable, as the photos are showing I’m sure! I’ve had so many nice compliments on it, which is always appreciated, and I’m planning to grab a beaded bracelet keychain soon so I can attach it onto the hook of the case. If you’re looking to grab a new AirPod Pro case make sure to check out Meccha Japan for a cute one, as they have a massive range to choose from!
The Folky Fox ghost fox necklace.
The Folky Fox is an amazing artist who creates adorable pieces from polymer clay, including jewellery. I picked up my ghost fox necklace last year around Halloween and have only just started to wear it, as I was anxious I would ruin/break it before. I’m so glad I’ve started to wear it though now as with my mental health no being great, when I’ve worn my necklace it’s really cheered me up as it’s absolutely adorable and includes two of my favourite things. I’d love to look at buying another necklace from The Folky Fox in the future, including the flying fox/bat necklace. If you like the look of the fox ghost necklace and would like to get one of your own, The Folky Fox has pre-orders open at the time of writing this post, so please make sure to go and adopt one. 🙂
I’m an affiliate for oshoppu!
Finally I want to share some exciting news that happened yesterday which is… I become an affiliate for oshoppu! This is amazing news and I’ve been really excited to share it with you guys on my favourites for the month. This is a relatively new store that has come to my attention, which sell Japanese stationary, apparel and kawaii goodies including plushies. I’m hoping to place an order in the near future as I’ve seen a plushie I’d really like to get to add to my collection! If you guys want to check them out, I’ll pop the link here. It’s now on the right hand side of my blog BUT if you do want to make an order, make sure you use code THEREMIGHTBECOFFEEBLOG to save 10% on your orders!
So there we have it guys, my monthly favourites for July!
How was July for you and what did you get up to? Make sure to let me know in the comments, as well as what were some of your favourite things, and if you have anything exciting happening in August. 😀
Until next time, take care guys and have an awesome weekend!
I have been so excited to write this haul post for you guys this week, you can’t believe! I don’t know what it was, but at the end of June I decided to place a massive order from Meccha Japan, as well as a smaller one from Amazon Japan as I was after some goodies in particular. I can’t wait to share them with you all today! My Meccha Japan haul only arrived a few days ago, so I’ve been eagerly waiting to finish off this post, take photos of all the kawaii goods and show them off to you all.
For those of you who aren’t regular readers of my blog, I have written about Meccha Japan before, which was after my first order with them back at the end of 2021, which you can read all about here. As this was my second order with Meccha Japan, I want to share some newer experiences with them, including shipping, combining orders, as well as a slight issue I had with one of my plushies.
I placed both Amazon Japan and Meccha Japan orders on 24th June, with Amazon arriving less than a week later on 29th June, however my Meccha Japan order didn’t arrive until 14th July, which was due to one of my items being a pre-order, as well as me having to change my shipping type.
This was my second order from Amazon Japan and it went as smoothly as always. I’m actually tempted to play another order soon for some cute bits and pieces for my desk at home, but I may need to wait until payday in a few weeks to do this. I’ve eyed up a Cinnamoroll takeaway mug, Cinnamoroll phone stand, Sirotan hand fan and more.
I always highly recommend people to use Amazon Japan if they’re after some goods in particular, as they’re decently priced and whilst the shipping is on the higher level, you can always ship yourself a massive box of goodies to make the shipping worth it later. Also, for the shipping costs your goods do arrive fairly quickly, which is something we all want when buying stuff from Japan.
From Amazon Japan I ordered two of the six Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary plushies I wanted, including Cinnamoroll himself and Mocha.
I mean, who can refuse picking up Cinnamoroll considering the whole collection is based off of him and his 20th Anniversary! I already have a Cinnamoroll plushie, bit I couldn’t resist picking up another one. It’s soft and fluffy and perfect size for adding to plushie cabinets. Of course Cinnamoroll’s little cinnamon roll tail. I’ve always loved Cinnamoroll as alongside Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll was one of the first Sanrio characters I got into, as he released around the time when I got my home computer as a kid. To add here for all of the Cinnamoroll plushies, they all have the tag around their neck that states they’re part of the 20th Anniversary line, which is a nice touch! I debated whether or not to take these off and I’m still unsure. If anything I might take them off, keep them in a zip-lock bag and keep them somewhere safe! Another thing to add here is the tags that are on all the 20th Anniversary plushies. They’re all pretty much the same but inside each plush has their design within, which I think is a really nice touch! I’ll be showing them all on each character when talking about them.
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Mocha growing up as she’s a gorgeous coffee brown colour and mochas were actually my first introduction to coffee, which I now adore, love and start my days drinking! I especially love the little pink flowers that Mocha wears in her fur, and by her ears. Mocha is the leader of the Cinnamoangels and I feel for Mocha too as she really likes Cinnamoroll but I don’t think his feelings are the same for her. This is actually the hardest to find out of the all the 20th Anniversary plushies, so I’m glad I was able to find her for a great price.
Next we have a LOT of goodies to talk about and share from Meccha Japan, which I’ve been so excited to have arrive. They arrived a day earlier than planned, which I was so grateful for as I’d not been having the best day and my mental health was in a really bad place. As soon as I had a moment to calm myself down, I opened my plushies and was met with fluffy, kawaii goodness that gave me the serotonin boost I needed!
To add here, I’d seen the Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary plushies and was toying with whether to buy them all or not, and at the time I’d gone with the latter. However, when Pokemon Center Japan announced they were adding a Phanpy to the Saiko Soda line, I KNEW I had to order that, as well as the Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary plushies. So, I ordered the rest of the Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary plushies I needed, which was four in total. Thanks to Phanpy I now have them all. 😛
I’d like to semi address something here to make anyone else aware of when ordering from Meccha Japan. Phanpy was a pre-order so my items didn’t ship until that has been purchased and added to the order, which is fair enough and Meccha Japan always state when the item is due to be in stock on the item listing, which is always handy to know.
I’m going to sound like I’m having a dig now with my next couple of sentences, so I apologise, but I don’t because yah’ll know I like to be honest here! I had a few gripes with my second order with Meccha Japan, one of them being that airmail is currently available to select as a shipping option, when in actual fact airmail is still unavailable due to what is happening between Russia and Ukraine. So, when I placed my second order I selected airmail as I thought it had now become available again and I’d been hidden under a rock! Shortly after placing the order I realised it wasn’t available and went to the “contact us” section of the website to see if I could change my shipping to DHL. It took me three attempts to get the contact us form to work, which was a massive ball ache! I eventually was able to change to DHL but not until my Phanpy plush had been purchased and my order was ready to be sent.
I do not understand why Meccha Japan have left airmail on and haven’t warned people at the time about how long they may have to wait for their goods to ship. Plus, if they have a lot of customers selecting airmail, surely they’re going to run out of room in their warehouse eventually? Or even face a LOT of backlog when airmail is back? Maybe even some price changes to airmail shipping? It doesn’t make sense to me to leave this option on.
The second thing that bugged me is I wanted to add an item to my pre-existing order, which I had paid for and I was just waiting to pay the extra invoice for the DHL shipping upgrade. They don’t combine orders, so I was told no. I understand this, but if you’re happy to quote and invoice your customers via PayPal so they can change their airmail shipping to DHL shipping, why can’t you do this for another item? I don’t own a business so I’m sure there will be other factors behind it, but I don’t get it… Either way it doesn’t matter too much now as I have that item I wanted ordered and on route, along with an item for Sarah (Raiin Monkey), which I won’t mention here as I’m sure she’ll want to talk about it on her blog! 😀
I wanted to raise these two points on my post so anyone who is new to Meccha Japan knows of these things now and not later like I found out.
Anyhoo, enough of me moaning, on with the kawaii goods!
As mentioned previously, this is the reason why I made the Meccha Japan order in the first place! This has quickly turned into one of my favourite plushies in my collection. Phanpy is one of my favourite Pokemon from gen two (Gold and Silver) and I’ve always wanted a plush of it to add to my collection! I was close to buying the Pokemon Fit plush of it recently, but glad I held off as the Saiko Soda plush is much cuter. The one thing I love especially about this plush is the little shocked sort of expression of it’s mouth. It’s a gorgeous plush and I’m so happy to have it as part of my collection now.
Espresso is a gorgeous cream plush with curly ears and a cute little face! This plush was a little worse for wear when he arrived as one of his ears thread has come a little undone. I think I’ve fixed it now by tightening the string but I’m toying with emailing Meccha Japan about it. It’s a bit of a let down in all honesty but it’s fine. I’ve just got to be extra careful with Espresso! I have to find, I find it so bizarre that he’s called Espresso and is a cream colour, when we all know espresso is dark brown. Unless the colour is from the crema you get when you brew coffee… Who knows! 😛
In Cinnamoroll: The Movie Cappuccino is one of my favourites as he’s a sleepy boy with a massive appetite and some days I can definitely relate to that! Cappuccino is a caramel brown colour with a white mouth, so he clearly resembles a Cappuccino coffee! As he’s represented as being a sleepy he is often drawn and shown with sleepy eyes, so I’m a little torn with how his eyes are on this plush? I like that they’re open as he looks adorable, but at the same time if they’d been closed I may have preferred it a little more? Just to give a bit of diversity amongst the plushies.
Chiffon is such a cute plushie and is one my favourite characters too as she’s a tomboy, something I definitely was growing up! Chiffon is also part of the Cinnamoangels with Mocha. Not going to lie, Chiffon threw me a little when I took her out of her packaging! Her brown ears and and brown tail are a completely different material to her cream body and feel rough and old/worn, if that makes sense? Thankfully they aren’t the latter and were designed that way to give a curly sort of look. It does work, but they don’t feel very nice so I feel like they may have flawed this plushie in that regard? This being said, I do love her, she’s gorgeous!
Finally we have Milk, the baby of the gang and an absolute cutie! I don’t know why but I always thought Milk was a baby of Cinnamoroll’s and one of the Cinnamoangels, but alas this isn’t the case. Milk is labelled as a life size version, so when put next to the other plushies, Milk is actually a little smaller, which is a nice touch. He’s absolutely adorable with his blue dummy, brown curl on his head and again, the size difference isn’t out there but it is a cute touch. With the brown curl on his head, it does make me wonder if he will have a brown mohawk or something when he’s older?
To add here, for those wondering what the item was that I wanted to add to my order, it’s the alolan Vulpix AirPods Pro case that I mentioned on my previous blog post about my July wish list (which you can read here).
So there we have it guys, my collection Japan haul! I know it was pretty much Sanrio/Cinnamoroll goods with one Pokemon item thrown in for good measure. 😛 Although I did have a moan about Meccha Japan, don’t let this put you off. They’re an amazing company and I do really love shopping with them. I placed my third order with them on Monday and it shipped on Thursday! It’s due to arrive in the next couple of days so I’m excited to change up my AirPod Pro case, as well as sent Sarah her goodies!
What did you guys like the look of the most and who is your favourite Pokemon, Sanrio character and Cinnamoroll friend? Any items from Amazon Japan/Meccha Japan you’d like to get? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!
Until next time, take care and stay safe next week with the warmer days hitting the UK!
How are we already into the first week of July? This month is already flying by, it’s crazy. The past week has flown by for me and it has been a mixture of ups and downs, mostly the latter unfortunately. I’m hopeful that things will turn around soon however, as I’d like to try and spend days less mopey and more cheerly, especially as we get some nicer weather too.
June was an expensive month for me with our trip away to Manchester and other things we did, and with me trying to be better than money, I told myself I’d be good in July. Alas, so far I have not been good at all and I’m now banning myself from buying anything else until payday at the end of the month. This month I decided to get back into cross stitch, which wasn’t exactly cheap as I had to buy a lot of thread and some patterns. This being said it’s definitely been worth it as I’m really enjoying doing the pattern I bought and it’s a big one, so it’ll keep me going for quite some time! Plus, as I’m part of diyCrossing’s Patreon, I get access to lots of Animal Crossing themed patterns, so I can always do some of those too!
So, this months wish list will be items I’ve pre-ordered, need to get as staples, and items I’ll be saving to pick up in the future as a monthly treat. I really do need to be good now, I made a lot of big purchases this month. Spending ban has to come back! That being said, I really hope you enjoy this months wish list, the colour palette for it is so pretty!
Pokemon Center Alolan Vulpix AirPods Pro Case – (link)
At the time of writing this post (day before it’s due to go live!), I have literally just discovered this AirPods pro case and I really do want/need it in my life! My AirPods currently have a cheaper ghost case on them, which I do love but it would be nice to mix it up, especially if I can get an official Pokemon one. The Alolan Vulpix and Ninetales designs for this collection is adorable, and it’s actually been quite a while now since a Pokemon collection has come out where I’ve really liked at least one item from it! As there is a little hook on the side of the case too, I’d look to try and find a special keychain/bracelet to wear when I use them to go walking.
This is an item I have preordered from Sugary Carousel as whilst I don’t need anymore plushies, I fell in love with their Puppermint design! I love dogs and as a kid I always loved mint chocolate chip ice cream, so this just felt like a must have purchase for me. I didn’t quite realise how big this plushie is either, but it’s approximately ten to eleven inches tall, which is huge! This won’t ship until December, which I don’t mind, as I’ll class it as an early Christmas/birthday present for me. 😛 Not going to lie, the shipping for this item was so expensive, but it’ll be worth it! The quality of the plush looks really nice and soft.
I discovered Shirayukinikki recently on Instagram and since then I’ve really fallen in love with their pieces, especially their glass tumblers, with the Kiki’s Delivery Service themed one grabbing my attention the most! I’d love to pick this up in the future, but as Shirayukinikki is an American based small businesses, I’m wary the shipping costs will be a lot. This being said, it would make such a cute addition to my home, especially as recently I’ve started to make my own iced coffee, and plan to start having a go at making my own matcha bubble tea!
Soap & Glory The Real Zing Body Wash and Body Sorbet – (link) and (link)
I kind of forgot how much I like the Soap & Glory range as I was using up the Sugar Crush body buttercream recently. Their stuff smells divine and it’s especially perfect for summer due to that. I’ve decided when I’ve used up The Body Shop goods I have currently, I’ll be picking up some stuff from The Real Zing collection, including the body wash and the body sorbet. I gave them a sniff during my short stay in Manchester and really liked how fresh and summery they smelt! Plus, I can imagine them giving me an extra wake up during and after my morning showers before I start the work day in the week. These are currently on offer too, so I may take advantage of them sooner, rather than later.
We started this months wish list with Pokemon and we’re going to finish it with Pokemon too, and to boot they’re both Vulpix themed items too, which I find funny! I love how the Pokemon Center UK website is updating daily pretty much, and I especially love that we’re slowly seeing items land to the UK store that the Japan and American store have had for years! When the Vulpix Seasons collection launched in Japan in 2017 I purchased a few items from it, but regretted not ordering more. Now we can get the playmat in the UK, I’m definitely planning on picking it up in the future for my desk! I love my Eeveelutions one, but it would be nice to change it up every now and then for fun!
So, there you have it guys, the absolutely adorable items from my wish list this month! As I said, I am pretty much on a spending ban the rest of this month now, so any items on this list that I’d like to get eventually will need to wait for payday treats, or even Christmas and birthday, considering they’ll be here before we know it! :O
What do you guys have on your wish lists? Have you discovered some new items through mine? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.
Until next time, take care guys and have an amazing weekend!
I can’t believe we are already on day three of July! June really did fly by due to how much fun me and Dane were clearly having with our week off, Manchester, seeing friends and other stuff. But, at the same time it sort of dragged towards the end of June. I remember mid June having a phone call with my dad and saying, “It’s July next week!” and it was due to me thinking about payday… Oh dear! July wasn’t due for another two weeks at that point.
Speaking of payday, I was SKINT after Manchester in June and I’m already “skint” this month too. I made some big purchases I probably shouldn’t have, as well as recouping all the monies I’ve put on bills and such as well. Due to that, after my payday treats this month, I’m going to be really good with money from now on, especially as me and Dane are hoping to make a big purchase for our home in the near future…
That aside I’m not sure how I’m feeling about July yet. At the time of writing this post I’m miserable as fuck in general. A lot of crap news has come up in the news, as well as personal so right now I’m just going with it. I don’t really have a lot planned for July, aside from meeting up with friends I’ve not seen for years due to Covid, as well as lots of D&D game nights! I’m hopeful my mood will lift as the month goes on however, I don’t want a sad one. :’)
Anyhoo, enough of my woes, on with the favourites!
Beauty – The Body Shop Banana Body Yogurt.
Back in 2018 The Body Shop brought out their banana range and I fell in love with it! They brought out a shower gel, body butter and body yogurt and I bought all three of them of course. I managed to get through a lot of them, but I still have some of the products left brand new, including the body butter and body yogurt. As regular readers will know, I started to use body lotion as my skin was honestly screaming out for it and I feel so much better for it since. It’s come to the time where I need to start using the body yogurt as my stash is growing quite low. I’m sad to because I know I won’t be able to pick it up again anytime soon, but at the same time, it means I can get some new goodies in. Hey, maybe I’ll find another banana body lotion soon? The Body Shop body yogurts are amazing, especially during the warmer months as they’re thin, cooling and still very moisturising. Plus, a little bit of this stuff goes a long way! As strawberry is my favourite scent from The Body Shop, I’m planning to pick up the strawberry one in the near future!
Movie – Everything Everywhere All at Once.
First things first, this film is amazing and it isn’t what I was expecting at all. The trailer didn’t really do the film justice for me, but at the same time that wasn’t a bad thing either. I knew this was a film Dane wanted to watch and I was happy to give it a go, because why not. The film is about Evelyn, owner of a laundromat with her husband. Her father lives with them and their daughter appears to have moved out. Evelyn has a lot going on, along with accepting her daughters sexuality and girlfriend, her father needing her care, as well as her business being in trouble money wise. Everything Everywhere All at Once is broken up into chapters, like a play, and whilst the film is a little bat shit crazy, it’s done really, really well! I highly recommend checking this out, no matter what genre of movies you prefer, it’s amazing and I get the hype of it being titled film of the year.
As regular readers of my blog will know, I love The Boys. It’s a hilarious show with a unique concept, with the show being created off of a comic book series. We’re not on series three of The Boys and it’s getting darker and more intense with each episode. I don’t want to say too much as I may end up spoiling it for some but lets just say there some hilarious adult humour, some fucked up deaths and stuff I didn’t expect Butcher to do. It’s also now been given the green light for a fourth season, which in turn makes me really happy! The original comic book series is by Garth Ennis who also wrote the comic book series Preacher, another TV Show both me and Dane loved. Both are on Amazon Prime Video, so make sure to go and check them out if you haven’t already!
Music – PVRIS – Use Me.
This is an album I’ve found myself listening to a lot towards the end of June and I honestly can’t stop. I’ve been listening to it when working from home, driving to work, and even in the office when I need to get my earphones in and head down to concentrate. I love all of the songs PVRIS work on and release and whilst Use Me isn’t my favourite album (All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell is my favourite) but it’s a close second to be honest with you. I keep meaning to book tickets to see PVRIS in January 2023, but I feel like each payday, the right time isn’t appearing. 😦
Game – Sniper Elite 5.
This is a game me and Dane randomly started playing together after he started to play it on his own. It’s on Xbox Games Pass, so was “free” for us both to pick up and play together. Sniper Elite 5 is set during World War II and your goal is to try and defeat the Nazi’s taking over parts of Europe. It was such a fun game to play with Dane and the more levels we got through, the better we got! We’ve completed the game now, but we’re planning on buying the DLC very soon so we can play some more of the game together. It didn’t take us long to complete the game, I’d like to say a week but that being said, it was a lot of fun! I’ve been asking Dane if he can find something similar for us to play next.
For my other favourites this month, I wanted to talk about some small businesses I feel deserve to get some new shoppers, or at least some new followers on their social media pages. I read the above post on Instagram by greetings.nerds earlier this week and wanted to take a moment to share some people who I feel deserve to be mentioned. With the changes to the world from Covid and now the current conflict happening in Eastern Europe, the changes are affecting some people drastically, where others just slightly. Small businesses all over are being affected sales wise, and with social media platforms making it harder than ever to reach new customers, they could do with as much support and help as possible. Which is what I have strived to do since 2019 on my blog, and Instagram page. Even if you can’t afford to make a purchase from any of the mentioned small businesses today, please drop them a follow on their social media accounts. They’re all down to Earth, amazing and friendly people. They’re also my friends and I wouldn’t be friends with them if they weren’t any of the points mentioned. 🙂
Cruelty free and SLS free handmade cosmetics, based in Scotland. I’ve been a massive fan of Happy Place Cosmetics since before 2020, but it was only during Covid and lockdowns that I finally bit the bullet and placed my first order! Since then I won’t got anywhere else for my body scrubs AND I’ve become such good friends with the owner too. HPC don’t constantly have stock in, but instead release themed beauty and wax melts boxes for us to buy, with themes including 90’s, horror, pop culture and more! Alongside that HPC will of course release certain stock every now and then. I like the way they release their goods, because it means I can really treat myself to goods! I recently had some new wax melts arrived, with some smelling of Lush Tramp shower gel, an old favourite of mine and the owners! I burnt one yesterday and it smells AMAZING and to boot the scent lasted ages in our office, even after my tea light had gone out. She also included some Calpol scented wax tarts too, which I’m so excited to burn.
Claire is one of my oldest friends and for years I encouraged her to turn her art from a hobbie to a job, which she did a couple of years ago! I’m so proud of where she has come, her work is unique and beautiful and every time she posts something new on Instagram, it really does make me smile. Recently alongside selling art, she’s started to play with clay to create pieces of her original character Bernard. In the near future I am hoping to commission her for a piece myself… 😛 Please make sure to go and check her out and maybe even give her some support over on Ko-fi and maybe buy some goodies from her too!
Quirkory are by far my favourite enamel pin creators. Their work always makes me happy to see and really does brighten my day. I discovered them in 2019 and since then I’ve been supporting their work, as well as befriending them over the years. Currently I’m loving what Quirkory are doing with their Patreon/pin club and Discord communities, their new designs and ideas for the future are kawaii AF and I cannot wait to see more in the future! Plus don’t forget I have a discount code for Quirkory where you can save 10% on purchases with code TMBQUIRKORY.
Worlds Apart is the oldest comic book shop in England and for that fact alone I’m proud to call them my local and favourite comic book shop! I can’t speak for Worlds Apart or other comic book shops but with places like Amazon selling comics and manga online, as well as bigger businesses such as Waterstones too, smaller comic book shops can struggle at times to get custom, especially during Covid! One thing that Worlds Apart did during Covid was open up orders through their Discord, as well as through Instagram, which I used often during lockdowns to get hold of merchandise and manga. I’m a part of the Worlds Apart Discord, which is full of amazing people! I highly recommend if you’re from Birmingham to support Worlds Apart if you can, even if it’s just promoting them online.
So, there we have it guys, my favourites from June! June did really fly by and I’m just wary the rest of the year is going to follow suit, which I don’t want. I mean, I’d love for cooler months to come by so I can start layering my clothes and feeling cosy!
What did you guys love throughout June, and what are you looking forward to in July? Make sure to let me know in the comments!
Until next time, take care all and I hope you have a lovely weekend and great start to July.
If there is one brand from over the pond I have loved for as long as I can remember, it’s TeeTurtle. I’ve known of their t-shirts and designs for over ten years now, as I discovered them around 2011 when Nyan Cat emerged and they created a t-shirt design inspired by it.
Since then I’ve gone on to buy a second-hand Charmander t-shirt from eBay, as well as some t-shirts for me and Dane from UK Games Expo 2019 (you can check out the designs I bought here).
TeeTurtle is a brand that create t-shirts for everyone, whether you play video games, board games/Dungeons & Dragons, love all sorts of animals, and more! They do also work with Disney to create Disney, Star Wars and Marvel designs, as well as Pokemon in the past. However, due to TeeTurtle being an American company, us guys in the UK cannot get access to view any of those designs, which in turn make me sad.
To add by the way, TeeTurtle are the original creator of the reversible plushies, which have now unfortunately been stolen and replicated by knock off brands.
When visiting UK Games Expo 2022 almost a month ago, I knew that TeeTurtle would be there and sort of made it my mission/goal to go and check them out and pick up some t-shirts for both me and Dane.
The stand wasn’t as big as it was back in 2019, which I thought was a shame. I’m also pretty sure in 2019 they had two stands, a small one to sell the games and a bigger one to sell the clothing items. This being said, they still had plenty of amazing designs to choose from and gave you a book to flick through for any designs you wanted to buy. We saw loads we loved, but at first we limited ourselves to two each, like what we did back in 2019. We were given offers last time too of, “buy three get one free”, which we snapped up!
One of the things Dane noticed fairly quickly was that a lot of stock was limited, as TeeTurtle had faced some printing/stock issues prior to coming to UK Games Expo, but that didn’t put me off! They offered to ship the goods for a £5 charge, which I assumed was shipping from within the UK. Alas this was not the case and our order actually shipped from America! More about that later though.
T-shirts were priced at £20 each and as we were offered, “Buy four get one free” we decided to go with it! Dane picked out two designs and I picked out three.
I don’t know why, but I felt like there was a lot more variety at 2019, so I was a tad disappointed about the variety at 2022, but this being said there was plenty for us to choose from and if anything, it’s made me want to place an order from TeeTurtle in the future to grab some more fox designs. All designs that were at UK Games Expo were convention exclusive, however if you look on the website, there are some similar designs to choose from!
As mentioned previously, we paid £20 for each design and £5 for shipping from America. We also bought all t-shirts in a men’s size L, which is probably a little too big for me, but that being said I love my baggy t-shirts!
The t-shirts that TeeTurtle use are amazing quality, which feel really soft when worn and are very comfortable due to that. I highly recommend them to be honest if you want some geeky and cute t-shirts.
Send Noods
This is definitely one of the first designs I picked up as it’s just me all over! I love foxes and I love ramen and noodles, so it was a no brainer really! This is on a navy t-shirt and it works so nicely! This is definitely one I’ll wear whenever me and Dane plan to go for ramen again… Because why not! I’m just going to feel so odd wearing a t-shirt that asks you to send noods. 😛
Pew Pew Kitsune
I love kitsune foxes, they always hold a bit of a soft spot in my heart, mainly due to them being a part of the fox family and a Japanese folklore. Dane actually has a cat version of this design, pew pew included, so it made sense for me to grab this design so we can wear them together when going to games based conventions and such.
Anxious Raccoon
This t-shirt is me all over and I really love it! It’s the first one out of the three I picked up that I decided to wear, just because. I love raccoons, they’re my spirit animal and as I have anxiety, I’m also an anxious soul. When I went to pick my third design Dane literally said to me, “You have to get that one!”, so this is definitely a t-shirt design I’ll wear often, maybe more so at home than out and about. I don’t really want people to ask, “Aww do you have anxiety?” but even do, yes I bloody do! So, maybe this design will be great when going to places I’m nervous of.
Hippity Hoppity Your Soul is My Property (Glow)
This is the first design out of the two Dane picked up that he chose. This design glows in the dark and is now the second glow in the dark TeeTurtle design he has added to his little growing collection. When in the dark, the design will glow to show a skull on the bunny, which I love! It’s right up Dane’s street and such an adorable design to boot. I’m so glad he went for it.
Dragon Master
Finally we have the second design that Dane went for, which just made sense really. Since 2019 Dane has been a dungeon master for D&D games on and off and recently has decided to DM for a game of Vaesen for me, my best friend and her boyfriend. It’s a perfect design for anyone who would like to wear a TeeTurtle design, without it being in your face cute. Dane wore this t-shirt last week and commented about how soft, roomy and great it was!
So, there we have it! Our TeeTurtle haul from UK Games Expo. Delivery wise these were shipped about less than a week after purchasing from the UK Games Expo and from then until now they took just under two weeks to arrive, which I thought was really good! What I especially thought was good was the fact they only charged us £5 for delivery. They could have easily asked for more, so massive thumbs up for TeeTurtle for that!
I really do love TeeTurtle’s designs and would love to own more in the future. Due to this, I thought I’d add a couple of designs below that I’m hoping to pick up in the future, whether it be at another convention, or from their website itself.
I can’t believe we don’t have E3 this year but instead we have IGN Summer of Gaming, which has been just as good in all honesty! Since me and Dane have been together we’ve always tried to catch E3 every year to check out the newest games coming out on consoles and PC and the more years we’ve been together, the more invested we have been with E3. This year with it being taken over by IGN and the Summer of Gaming, everyday since Wednesday 1st June has been jam packed with game news, which has been amazing!
Last year I shared with you all games I was excited for after E3 2021 (which you can read here), so I thought I’d do it all over again this year… Because why not! I hope some of the games I share with you today are ones you’ve not yet heard about and end up liking the sound of getting yourselves.
At the time of writing this post, there hasn’t been a Nintendo Direct, which is making me sad. I think there’s been rumours of one coming later this month, but we shall see! I’m going to be mainly talking about and sharing games from Wholesome Direct, as well as Xbox & Bethesda, as they were two of my favourites this year.
So, sit back grab a hot drink and enjoy this weeks blog post! 😀
When Wholesome Games host their direct, it fast becomes one of my favourite time of year as majority of the games that are announced find their way onto my Steam and Nintendo Switch wish lists very quickly. I love wholesome games where you can sit down and play a relaxing game after a stressful day. I’ve discovered some amazing games the past two years since they started up and I really love them for that. I’ll try not to go into too much detail about all the games below as there’s quite a few to talk about… Twelve in total! 😛
Little Bear Chef – Release date TBH, on Steam and possibility on games consoles.
A game where you play as a tiny bear chef in a regular sized kitchen. Little Bear Chef is a cosy 3D cooking platformer where you play as a tiny bear chef in a regular sized kitchen. It’s all about coming up with creative and funny solutions to cook the recipe at hand.
Little Bear Chef looks adorable and one that I reckon would be so much fun to play! I love cooking and the little honey bottle inspired bear looks adorable to boot! I was hopeful this might be a multiplayer game, but the creators have stated there’s no plan for this in the future. There isn’t a lot I can really say about this right now as there’s no release date and no website either, just a Twitter page. Keep eyes peeled for this one, I reckon it’ll do really well!
LumberJack – Out now on Steam, Nintendo Switch and Xbox.
Jack is a humble Lumbearjack with a simple dream: to return to nature what is hers with the help of his trusty axe and his animal friends. Through real-time physics puzzles, fight destruction with destruction to thwart the sinister plans of up-and-coming industrial giant Evil Works.
I saw the trailer for this and thought it looks really interesting with the smash up style, but not going to lie, I didn’t quite realise it was a puzzles based game, which let me add I’m not the best at sometimes. This game is out now, so if I ever fancy giving something new a go and it’s on sale, I’ll definitely think about picking this up!
You’ve been tasked as caretaker of an abandoned island — as you decorate and rebuild it over time, curious (but adorable!) visitors start to appear… Buy toys and and build structures on an abandoned island to entice curious bun tourists to pay you a visit! Discover, take photos, and even befriend a variety of bunnies that visit based on how you’ve decorated and arranged the island.
This game is RIGHT UP MY STREET and looks adorable! I got a quick glimpse of this on the preview at the start of the Wholesome Direct and was curious what it could be! This would be great as a mobile game as I can play it on the go and during lunch breaks at work. I honestly cannot wait for this game, it reminds me a little of Animal Crossing. 😀
PuffPals: Island Skies is a game about eliciting the nostalgic memories of growing up as a kid; exploring the world and discovering everything for the very first time! From traversing new biomes, meeting new friends, and customizing your very own home, there is no shortage of things to do on these magical floating islands! The cozy, warm, yet adventurous and curious nature of being a kid is something we want our players to embrace when embarking on their journey in PuffPals: Island Skies!
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it on my blog yet, but I actually backed this game on Kickstarter about a month ago now and I’m so excited for it! It was awesome to see it advertised on the Wholesome Direct, but not going to lie, I don’t think they needed to advertise it anymore. The adverts were EVERYWHERE recently with the Kickstarter being live. This being said, I am excited for it. It’s pretty much like Animal Crossing but a little bit different and with Fluffnest‘s original characters. I highly recommend checking it out if you love Animal Crossing.
FALL OF PORCUPINE is a unique story adventure. The collision of work and daily life – an exciting reflection of an unhealthy healthcare-system.
I wasn’t 100% sure about this game at first but since the Wholesome Direct, I’ve watched the trailer quite a few times and really do like the sound of it. Plus the art style of it looks really cute! I’m definitely going to pick this one up at some point.
Dust off your coffee machine and prepare your warmest smile to meet your customers again in the second episode of the much loved coffee brewing and heart-to-heart talking simulator; Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly.
I remember buying Coffee Talk not long after I picked up my Nintendo Switch Lite back in 2019 and I really did enjoy the game, but I forgot to download it onto my Switch, so I’m only just continuing the story since the Wholesome Direct last week! I really love playing Coffee Talk, it’s a relaxing game of talking to your customers in the coffee shop and making them drinks. Nothing much to it other than that! The fact they are bringing a second game out, I must get it! Especially with the slight mystery behind the new characters revealed in the trailer too. 😀
Blend tea and friendship in the flavourful world of Pekoe, a cosy cat-filled tea-making simulator about taking the time for self-care and connecting with what makes you happy. Build relationships, upgrade your teahouse, and discover new recipes as you work towards creating a place you can call home.
Pekoe was announced last year at the Wholesome Direct for 2021, which I mentioned at the end of last years blog post all about E3. I’m so excited to see this coming back for the Wholesome Direct this year and especially as it’s now come with more game footage too! Pekoe is such a cute little game about running a cat teahouse, whilst building a home for yourself and making friends. Perfect game for relaxing to.
Snacko – Out 2022 on both Steam, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 and 5.
Former big city kitties Momo and Mikan are starting a new life on a seemingly deserted island. Unravel its mysteries while you rebuild a community, farm, fish, and explore the island and beyond! Lift a curse and revitalized a ruined island in Snacko, where former big city kitties Momo and Mikan are starting a new life! Grow crops, raise fluffy cows, go fishing, exploring, customize and decorate as you please, and much, much more in this farming cat-venture.
This is actually a game I backed on Kickstarter a while ago now and whenever I hear news about it in anyway shape and form, I get so excited about it! I’m also part of the Discord so I’m constantly hearing updates form the developers. Snacko reminds me of Animal Crossing but with cats! I’m definitely swaying towards getting my copy on the Nintendo Switch, I love playing PC games, sure, but I love how easy it is to move around to play you Switch. I’m literally counting down the days now for Snacko to announce when this will release!
Super Mini Mart is a cosy take on the management genre with a charming 3D aesthetic and an endearing cast of characters. Stock, supervise, and manage store activities in a laid-back environment, befriending locals and turning those one-off bargain hunters into life-long loyal customers!
I love games like this one so when I saw the trailer for it at the end of the Wholesome Direct, I knew I’d want to get it! I used to work in retail and I’d never go back to it, but alas I’m happy to play a game all about looking after a shop. Ironic, huh? 😛 I hope this comes out on Nintendo Switch too, as I’d really love to give it a go on there rather than Steam.
Be a wholesome ghost matchmaker and grow relationships between the mansion’s residents! Gift items to brighten their lives, set them up on dates, and watch their love bloom! What romances will you create?
This game is adorable and one I may not pick up straight away, but maybe when it’s on offer or I fancy something new to play? I love kawaii ghosts and that’s exactly what these ghosts are! You need to match match people up in a house and become a ghost cupid!
Bloom is a real-time narrative-driven social sim about starting up a flower shop made exclusively for Playdate. Tend to Midori’s garden while texting friends and family as she starts a new chapter of her life. The game takes place over many real-life days.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen the trailer for Bloom and it semi breaks my heart. I really love the look of this game, but unfortunately it’s currently only available to buy and play on Playdate, a new handheld console. Set in Japan you play as a young woman who has moved to create her own flower shop. It just looks like such a cute game, I’d honestly look at buying a Playdate to play this!
Now that I’ve mentioned the games I liked from the Wholesome Direct, I’m going to talk about Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. This was one Dane watched before me but we spoke about it as I watched it. It was a good showcase to say the least, much better than PlayStation/Sony, let me put it that way… I’ll be talking about five games in total!
Redfall – 2023 on PC and Xbox.
The quaint island town of Redfall, Massachusetts, is under siege by a legion of vampires who have blocked out the sun and cut the island off from the outside world. Trapped with a handful of survivors against diabolical enemies threatening to bleed the town dry, choose your hero from a diverse roster, grouping up with others to create the perfect team of vampire slayers.
This was the first game to be shown during the showcase and I really liked the look of it from the get go. It reminds me of a mixture of Borderlands and Left 4 Dead, which are both two of my favourite games to play with Dane and friends! Not only is this a co-op game, but it’s also open world, both sound like so much fun! This isn’t due to come out until 2023, but as it’ll be on Xbox Game Pass, both me and Dane will get this for “free” from day one to play together!
ARK 2 – 2023 on PC and Xbox.
Starring Vin Diesel (Fast Franchise) as Santiago and Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) as his daughter Meeka. Survive the past. Tame the future. Awakened on a primal world filled with dinosaurs & humans struggling for dominance, you must team-up with legendary heroes to confront dark forces. Saddle up, & join the definitive next-gen survival experience with ARK 2!
During Covid, me Dane and some friends decided to start playing ARK and we played it for months! It was so much fun to jump on and play altogether each evening and it’s something I do miss. We’re all excited for ARK 2 to come out and as it’s on Xbox Games Pass, I’m pretty sure we’ll all download it to play all over again, but this time it looks like we’ll have a story to play with it too!
As Dusk Falls – July 19th 2022 on PC and Xbox
As Dusk Falls is an original interactive drama. Join friends or play alone, making choices that impact characters’ lives in this uncompromising story of betrayal, sacrifice, and resilience.
I love these types of games and always give them a go at some point or another! I’d love to play this with Dane as you can play with friends! It reminds me a little bit of a mixture between Life is Strange and one of the Quantic Dream games. It was commented on that it was made like a UK drama? I don’t personally see that, but I may when I play it myself? This will also be on Xbox Games Pass, so I’ll try it out for sure.
Diablo IV – 2023 on Xbox and PlayStation 5.
The endless battle between the High Heavens and the Burning Hells rages on as chaos threatens to consume Sanctuary. With ceaseless demons to slaughter, countless Abilities to master, nightmarish Dungeons, and Legendary loot, this vast, open world brings the promise of adventure and devastation. Survive and conquer darkness – or succumb to the shadows.
As Dane is a huge Diablo fan, I knew he would want this game and that I would be “dragged” in to play it with him, which is fine. I started to watch the cinematic trailer and didn’t realise it was Diablo IV at the time, so when it announced it was, I KNEW I would want to play it! I really love the necromancer class, it looks so badass and awesome! I think me and Dane are playing to try and binge play the other Diablo games before this one comes out.
Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden – 2023 on PC and Xbox.
When I heard about this I was super excited! As regular readers of my blog will know, I LOVE Persona 5 and I’m currently on and off playing Persona 5 Royal. I do also own Persona 4 Golden, but I’ve gotten stuck and plan to reply at some point on Steam. However, with Persona 4 Golden AND Persona 3 Portable coming to Xbox Games Pass, I’ll be playing them both on Xbox in the future for sure! The latter was only available on PlayStation Vita and I wasn’t able to get a copy, so this makes me so happy! Of course, I would have loved these to come to PlayStation, but meh.
Finally I want to share a couple of other games I’ve heard about! I’ll mention when talking about each of these where they were announced. 🙂
Build and manage your own personal zoo in the pixel marvel RPG Game, Super Zoo Story. Construct your park, care for your animals, and ensure the happiness of both critters and humans alike. Maybe even find that special someone while building the zoo of your dreams!
Dane actually showed me this game which I really like the look of! It’s apparently heavily inspired by Stardew Valley, which I’m not a massive fan of… Purely because I just don’t get the hype around it, which in turn surprises everyone. This being said I really love the look of Super Zoo Story and I discovered whilst researching for this post that it’s got a Kickstarter coming soon, which I’ll link here. Make sure to go and check it out if you love building/managing games. I really hope this will come out on Switch, but Steam is fine too. 😀
OBVIOUSLY I have to share Pokemon announcements here! I know I mentioned a while ago on here about how excited I am for the new Pokemon game, Scarlet and Violet and I already have both pre-ordered with Gamersheek for me and Dane. They’ve announced more details about the game, which, if you’re a Pokemon fan you’ll have seen already I’m sure. 😛 I’m really excited for it and contemplating booking the day off work so I can just play it as soon as it arrives! 😛 I need to talk to Dane about whether or not he fancies us booking off the day to binge play this gen like we did with the last gen. At the time of writing this post there are supposedly leaks from the new games… I’m going to have a nose into those later. I’m never fussed about seeing leaks myself, if anything it gets me more hyped for the game. xD
Roots of Pacha allows you to build, harvest crops, make friends with animals and help grow your village in single-player or co-op mode. This trailer for Roots of Pacha gameplay shows off some new elements you can experience while playing.
Another game similar sounding to Super Zoo Story, we have Roots of Pacha which looks like such a chill and cool game to play! I especially love that this has co-op mode so it means me and Dane can play together if we wanted to! I’m going to look into this sooner rather than later as this looks to be launching sooner rather than later. I didn’t know that this was a Kickstarter game until researching for this post too.
Choo-Choo Charles is a survival horror, open world, shooter game. Navigate an island in an old train, upgrade it over time, and use it to fight an evil sentient train that terrorizes your home. Charles is hungry; don’t be his next meal.
This is actually one of the first games I saw to be announced from the IGN Summer of Gaming and it’s one I’m not 100% sure about. The concept of it sounds fucking hilarious and one I’d love to try, but at the same time it sounds so scary and I don’t know if I’d like it? I think Dane was interested in this game too, so if there’s a chance to play co-op I can see us both playing this at some point for shits and giggles!
So, there we have it guys, all the games (so far anyway…) that I’ve really loved the look of from IGN Summer of Gaming!
What games have taken your fancy so far? Have you discovered any new ones from this blog post today? Make sure to let me know in the comments below! I’m especially excited for a lot of new games to add to my library!
Until next time guys, take care and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.
There Might Be Coffee 