Bubble Boba Halloween 2019*

If there is a time of year I love, it’s definitely autumn and in autumn all the cool stuff happens, including Halloween and Bonfire Night.

Halloween is just over a week away now and I’ve already made my plans to chill out at home, playing Luigi’s Mansion 3 with my boyfriend and relax. Not exactly the spookiest evening in the world, but it’ll be amazing nonetheless!

A couple of weekends ago I was kindly invited by both Bubble Boba and Amy over at Writing into the Ether for an evening of Halloween antics and to try the two new limited edition Halloween drinks for 2019!

I’ve been to Bubble Boba for an event in May where we all got the chance to make our own bubble tea drinks, which was so much fun! I was so happy to be invited again for an event and couldn’t wait to try the Halloween drinks that Bubble Boba have brought out for Halloween this year!

I really do love Bubble Boba and whenever I’m in Fargo Village I always make sure to pop in to grab a drink… My two favourites are red velvet cheesecake and matcha milk tea with pudding.

Both myself and my boyfriend Dane were invited to the event, which was amazing! I do love going to food and drink related events with Dane as and when I can, as I love writing about it from a couples point of view. We both love bubble tea too and are always enjoying discovering new places wherever we go.

Alongside me and Dane, both Amy and Lizzie from over at Hello Lizzie Bee were at the event too! It was lovely to see Lizzie as I hadn’t seen her for a while. 🙂 If you love my content in regards to Japan, you’ll definitely love hers!

I was excited to give the Halloween drinks a go, but sadly I was unable to try the one drink due to allergies… However, Dane tried it for me and he loved it so much!

The food and drink gifted during the evening was for reviewing purposes, so all views on this post are my own.

As I mentioned, Bubble Boba have brought out two new drinks for Halloween:

Witches Brew Apple pie milkshake – A creamy Halloween treat with sweet apple pulp, shortbread ashes and cauldron slime.

Jack-O’-Lantern Milk Tea – A tricky tea that fuses pumpkin spice with all the things nice… Can you smell burning?

Witches Brew was a definite hit with everyone, especially Dane who loved it! This is the drink I wasn’t able to try due to allergies but I’m glad he was able to enjoy it. You need to give it a good shake before you drink so that all the sweet apple pulp and shortbread can mix together! Dane described it of being a drink-apble-pie* in a thick milkshake.

*See what we did there? 😛

I tried the Jack-O’-Lantern, which was such an autumnal drink for me! I’m not a massive fan of Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks (or any coffee place for that matter!) so I worried I wasn’t going to enjoy this one. I did really like it though. I personally couldn’t taste the pumpkin… But I don’t know if this is due to the fact I don’t each much pumpkin anyway? This is just such a warming drink though and the smells and flavours from it reminded me of Bonfire Night, standing around the fire to keep warm and watching the fireworks. It really did flood memories back of the first Bonfire Night me and Dane went to in 2017. I loved it and I can’t wait to go out for Bonfire Night this year with him.

You can have your drinks hot or cold, I decided to have the Jack-O’-Lantern warm, after it was recommended to me and with some whip cream on top. It was delicious and a real treat! However, I did find I was struggling to drink it after getting halfway through. It’s a very filling drink and due to how warming it is with the flavours, for me it was a little too much. This being said though, I enjoyed it from start to finish! You could maybe go for a smaller size if you’re similar to me and now a massive spice and pumpkin fan.

Alongside drinks, we were also given some yummy bubble waffles and given the option of adding whatever we wanted to each of them! Dane opted for bubblegum and raspberry sauce and ice cream, whilst I opted for chocolate sauce and matcha powder.

Can never say no to yummy bubble waffles! I couldn’t finish mine so I took it home with me to nibble the next day. 😛

For our time there during the event we were in awe of all the amazing Halloween decorations that Bubble Boba had put up around the store! They really went for it, all whilst leaving the adorable alpaca plushies across the cupboard in the store. I loved that the store went from spooky to cute in seconds. 😛

We were also given some Halloween hats and headpieces to wear too! This was a little bit of fun and I really enjoyed it.

The night came to an end and me and Dane hung around Fargo Village for a little to chill out before we headed home.

I had such an amazing evening and although I’m not going to do much for Halloween this year, it has definitely got me into the Halloween spirit! I’m going to decorate my house on Saturday ready for the spooky week ahead!

If you’re local to Coventry, make sure to go and check out the two Halloween drinks that Bubble Boba have on offer! Which one takes your fancy?

I’ll also link down to their social media pages too, just in case you want to go and check them out and follow them! I know they recently opened up new store in Cardiff University’s student union! If you’re also local to the Coventry or Cardiff stores you can also use Deliveroo or Uber Eats to get your Bubble Boba bubble fixes direct to your door!

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What are you planning to do for Halloween? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you’re having a lovely week so far.

Fuerteventura Favourites

This is going to be like a monthly favourites style post, but instead 2 weeks worth of favourite items and from the island! As well as that it’ll be a mixture of beauty and lifestyle related items that I loved using and enjoying whilst I was away.

I would have included these on my October Favourites post at the start of next month, but I already know for a fact that I’ll have loads of things on that list already and these wouldn’t even get a look in!

A couple of these items have been left in Fuerteventura so due to that I’ve had to use stock images to show off what they are.

Let’s get on with the favourites though, starting with beauty!

Beauty

Image taken from Amazon.co.uk

• Babaria Foot Cream.

My feet really were bad when we were on holiday and they usually are to be perfectly honest due to how dry my skin is as well as how the sea and sand were drying out my feet too. This foot cream said to apply it both day and night, so I applied it before I went to bed and first thing when I woke up. It helped in a short matter of time and I guess I’m just gutted I couldn’t bring it  back with me, especially with how good it worked on my feet! This being said when I was looking for a picture of the product to put on here I delightfully found out that Amazon UK sell this! So I may pick one up when I’ve used my Body Shop Intensive Foot Rescue.

Image taken from Amazon.co.uk

• L’Oreal Hair Expertise Sleek Smooth Intense Shampoo.

This is the shampoo I always use when I got to Fuerteventura and it really did work wonders for my hair whilst I was there. It made it feel so light and moisturised. I loved it so much I had a search for it when I got home to buy and thankfully I found it in Superdrug! I haven’t used it here yet, but a part of me can’t wait to, as sad as that sounds. I’ve been using sulphate free shampoo for about a year now and it really has improved my hair, I’ll never got back to normal shampoo now!

• Skinnydip X Carmex Cherry Lip Balm.

I picked this lip balm up the day before we went on holiday as whilst I have Vaseline, that doesn’t contain any SPF. I wanted to make sure to pick up one that did so I grabbed this whilst in Superdrug. I love Carmex, especially the cherry flavour and this contains SPF 15 too which is perfect! I used this constantly on holiday, both day and night. I did find however in the day time that this would sting the part above my top lip in the day time, which makes me wonder if it’s due to the sun being really hot and 15 not being a high enough number. I didn’t burn though, so who knows! I’m still using this now we’re back and I still love it just as much!

• Essence Out Of Space Nail Polish in shade Intergalactic Adventure.

I picked up this nail polish the day before we went on holiday and although it’s just a bog standard nail polish but it’s so pretty and for the price it’s a complete bargain! I remember when higher brands such as OPI and Nails Inc brought out polishes like this for five times the price! I painted my nails with it before we went and wore it a couple of times whilst we were there. It was especially lovely to wear when swimming in the pool. I want to pick up more of the shades from the collection!

• Barry M Matte Me Up Metallic Lip Kit in Avant Garde.

This is another product I picked up before the holiday and it was my most worn lipstick throughout the holiday. I only wore it in the evenings of course as this is such a dark colour! It’s not at all a holiday type shade, at least not one you associate with holidays anyway. It’s a dark purple shade and the metallic in it shifts the purple to a slight gold colour. Due to it being part of a kit you also get the lip liner, which is amazing too! I’ll be reviewing this really soon on my blog and I cannot wait! This is a gorgeous shade for autumn and winter, especially teamed up with a mustard jumper or dress.

Games

• Miitopia.

The night before we went on holiday I ended up downloading the demo of this to see if it was worth the fuss it was getting. That and it’s meant to be like Tomodachi Life, which both me and Dane love! I fell in love with the demo and downloaded it as soon as possible! It was ready in time for the day of our flight and I played it loads on the plane, as well as pretty much most mornings and/or evenings in the house. Dane loved the look of it so much that he bought it whilst we was on holiday to play with me. Sadly neither of us have played it since we’ve been back, but I’m sure we’ll pick it up soon.

• Pokemon Silver.

Oh all the nostalgic feels this game brings me! I loved the first gen of Pokemon, but gen two holds more of a place in my heart, so when I heard Nintendo were bringing this out on the 3DS I was beyond excited! I pre-ordered it the day before we went on holiday and downloaded it ready to play the day it came out, two days after we arrived. I played it loads the one day and since then I’ve picked it up once. This is mainly due to playing loads of Miitopia! I’ll be playing it more now as I really want to play it and complete it to the level my original Game Boy Color game was at.

• Persona 4 Golden.

This is a game that I didn’t start playing until the day we came home. We flew with Monarch… Do I need to say anymore? 😛 We were in the airport for 7 hours so I needed something to do! I got my PS Vita out and played this for about an hour and played it for half of the flight home. Since then I’ve picked it up a couple of times to play and I’m really enjoying it! I still haven’t finished Persona 5 though, so I won’t invest loads of time into this until Persona 5 is finished.

Book

• Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella.

If I’ve really enjoyed reading a book in such a long time, it was most definitely this one! I’ve wanted it since Sophie Kinsella released it and it was better than I thought it was going to be. It’s about Audrey and how she suffers with anxiety disorders due to something that happened at school. It’s really well written and clearly researched before writing about. As usual Sophie Kinsella writes her characters so realistic that I want to be their best friends. If you haven’t read it yet and love young adult mental health related novels, please do!

Music

Image taken from https://dainumo.bandcamp.com/album/suited

• Dai Numo – Suited album.

Oh man I LOVE this album so much I can’t even put into words how much I love it to be honest! It was the perfect album to play whilst in the pool, driving around the island and on the flight there and back. My favourite track is One Digit, which is how I discovered Dai Numo in the first place! I’ve linked where to get his album under the picture of it, but I’ll also link where you can listen to his music on Soundcloud here. Other than this album we didn’t really listen to much whilst we were on holiday.

Food & Drink

• Nescafe Frappelatte.

These are a real treat whenever I go to Fuerteventura and I just wish so much that we could get them here! They’re really thick coffee milkshakes that are made in a machine just like a Slush Puppy. They’re not expensive and you can get all sorts of different toppings such as cream, chocolate sauce, ice cream and even a Kit Kat. I wish I’d been naughty and drank more of these whilst we were away, but we had one as a treat whenever we’d been swimming at the beach or out for the day. It’s a lovely treat to have, like a Slush Puppy I guess. 😛

• Fanta/Clipper Fresa.

I don’t quite understand why we don’t have strawberry Fanta in the UK because it’s bloody amazing! I gave Clipper a go too as they did a zero version. I didn’t drink loads of this (I’ve definitely drank more in the past!) but it was so refreshing to drink and incredibly yummy. It was just nice to have on the balcony in the day time and as a drink to pick up and have whilst down at the beach or out on a walk. We really need this in the UK though, only through Five Guys at stupid prices is lame.

• Nutella B-Ready.

These ARE in the UK and they’re fucking beautiful! I didn’t realise we could get these at home, but on the night we arrived we popped to the shops and picked a box up. I popped them in the fridge so that the chocolate inside would go hard and it was really nice done like that. These were a night treat in the day time after going for a swim in the pool and in the evenings if we fancied something sweet! Since we’ve been home we’ve bought a box of them from Asda, but they aren’t exactly cheap. Tesco have them on offer right now so me and Dane intend to buy LOADS! 😛 I’ve been eating them in the mornings before work to give me a little something for the day.

So those are my favourites from Fuerteventura, but in reality everything was my favourite thing there. 😛

Do you always seem to have favourite items when you’re on holiday? If you do what were your favourite items from your last holiday? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and have a lovely weekend!

Currently #5

Since the end of February my life seems to be really busy… I mean REALLY busy! Mixture of work, and personal life. I can’t really go into detail as to why it’s so busy at the moment, but soon I’ll hopefully be able to!

It’s currently my day off work, and I’m going to spend most of it in bed, catching up with my blog, and watching stuff on Netflix… Oh and not forgetting pole fitness later too!

Watching: I’ve watched loads of TV shows lately, but I recently discovered a new one called We Bare Bears. It’s a newish children’s TV show on Cartoon Network, but I only discovered it last Saturday. I watched the whole season one, and so far of season two and I really do love it! I prefer it to Adventure Time at the moment… The humour is great for both kids and adults, which I love. My favourite character is Ice Bear, but I can relate more to Pan Pan.

I’ve also been watching some old favourites I loved during, and after university, such as Mongrels and Him & Her. Currently watching the latter. I used to relate to Him & Her for agggges when I was younger, and I somewhat still do to this day. It’s just an amazing show, and the way it’s filmed in a fly on the wall style makes it feel more personal, which I like about it the most. Sadly this series ended a few years ago, and I am still yet to pick up the DVD’s!

Image taken from We Heart It

Reading: I haven’t been playing many games lately… Well not really anyway. Not because I haven’t wanted to, but purely because I really haven’t had the time! But I have recently picked up my Nana manga again, and I forgot how much I loved it! I’m currently on book 14 out of 21 so I have a while to go yet! I’ve also been reading my Bee & PuppyCat comic book. I’ll probably try and finish my Nana manga series off soon so I can start the Sword Art Online manga fairly soonish.

Image taken from We Heart It

Listening: I haven’t listened to Evanescence for quite a long time, and recently listened to them driving to and from work. I don’t know how I neglected my favourite band for so long, but I’m glad to have listened to their work again! Fallen is still my favourite album ever, and I can’t wait to have it blasting from my car windows in the summer!

Eating: I haven’t really eaten anything special at the moment… I made me and Dane a macaroni cheese last night, with some of the fresh pasta that me and one of my co workers made that morning. It was delicious, and I added turkey ham to it as well! Nommy nom! I also made us some creme brulee… I say made, but I bought them from Sainsbury’s and then shoved them in the oven with some sugar on top. They didn’t have that nice crack on the top, but they were hella delicious! I have done nothing lately but drink tea, and I don’t know why! xD

Wearing: I have been living in Dane’s tartan pajama bottoms lately… They’re just so damn comfortable and baggy and actually, they really compliment my body. Clothes outside of my house wise, I’ve been living in Dane’s Funeral For A Friend hoodie. It’s just so damn comfortable, and I’m glad he hasn’t asked for it back yet… Nearly three years later! I seem to be living in Dane’s clothes instead of my own.

Image taken Jeffree Star Cosmetics Instagram

Wanting: Seeing as I’m on a semi spending ban, I am trying so hard not to buy things. My wanting/wish list is pretty huge at the moment. The one thing I am excited and REALLY want however is the new Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick shade he’s just revealed, Scorpio! It’s a grey purple shade, and exactly what I’ve been after for quite some time! So as soon as that comes out I’ll be ordering myself one. Other than that at the moment I have been lusting after a couple of rain macs from Marks & Spencer. They’re gorgeous bright red ones… But I can’t bring myself to buy one. I need to watch my money. 😦

So those are my currently at the moments! I was going to do a life lately post to have a bit of a catch up, but with not being able to reveal much of what actually HAS been going on at the moment, there wasn’t much point.

I do apologise for being so quiet on my blog lately, as I said at the start of this post I’ve been incredibly busy lately so as soon as I get a day off, or a chance to breathe I use that time to do things I need to do… That sounds mean to my blog but I don’t mean it that way. I don’t make money from my blog. I do from my job!

On that note, what are you currently loving? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and see you soon.

Autumn is Looming…

Image taken from weheartit.com

It’s September, my favourite month of the year, and yet I don’t know why! I think it’s due to years of going back to school, college, and uni, and being able to see a new year as a fresh start to look cool, be confident, do well in my studies, and just sort my life out. Even though I’m no longer in education, I still see September as this fresh start. September means more to me than just that however, it’s also the start of autumn and the best fashion of the year comes about again. Hot drinks out in coffee shops are now no longer an excuse, but a necessity, and soon enough Christmas will catch up to us.

Image taken from weheartit.com

Every blogger and their dog are obsessing and talking about autumn at the moment, and whilst autumn isn’t officially here until the end of the month, it doesn’t hurt to start preparing, and with how the year has been so far it’ll soon fly by!

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Hot Ribena.

This is something I recently discovered when I went away to the Lake District with my boyfriend and our friends. I drank loads of it before we went home and it was such a perfect comfort drink. Since then I have bought a huge bottle of Ribena light and in the mornings before I head to work I make sure to have a cup to warm me up. Mornings really are getting chilly now, something I had kind of forgotten about.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Baggy hoodies.

Preferably a significant others! Since I met him, I’ve had my boyfriends Funeral For A Friend hoodie, it’s one of the nicest hoodies I’ve ever stolen from someone (infact it’s probably the only one!) as it’s so baggy, soft, and comfortable to wear whether you’re going out for the day, popping out to do some errands, or something to wear around the house. As well as that I have my favourite hoodie that I wear, my fox Animal hoodie that I got when I went on holiday in January. I intend to take this hoodie with me again to live in whilst I’m there when it isn’t warm.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Relaxing evenings.

With nights getting shorter, evenings in are some of the best, especially before November and December when all the Christmas parties are around. It’s just nice to stay inside, wrap up warm with a hot drink, and watch movies or play games. My relaxed evenings of choice for this autumn are looking to be playing Minecraft with my boyfriend and our friends, reading, watching South Park, and continuing with my novel.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Shopping for autumn essentials.

I really need some retail therapy soon, when I’m unsure but after I handed in my dissertation last Wednesday, I had a look around the shops at all the lovely autumn pieces and fashion that is coming out for this year. I gravitated towards a lot of pieces in Primark, and was tempted to buy some bits and pieces, but I left it due to money. I can see me wrapping up in snuggly jumpers, ripped black skinny fit jeans, and of course my new Dr Martens boots.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Ankle boots.

If there is a shoe that was designed for a season, it’s the ankle boot for autumn. Whether it has a heel, a platform, or whatever other quirky design they’re perfect for when the weather is getting colder. My boot of choice this autumn will be my Dr Martens, my new ones to be precise. Back in March my boyfriend was kind enough to buy me the limited edition Adventure Time Jake Dr Martens (post about them here!), but with a catch that I wouldn’t be allowed them until I’d finished my masters… Well now I’ve finished I’ll soon be able to wear these bad boys! Probably this weekend to be exact. I’ll probably wear these loads, especially when the weather is icy outside in winter time. With all the burgundy and mustard shades flying around for autumn, these are sure to fit in.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Comfort food.

I love food, I’ll admit that. I literally see food and eat it. BUT since starting my diet before July I’ve learnt when to say no to certain foods again… Although recently I have been a tad on the naughty side. But with the weather getting colder again, I can’t help but eat that little more and I especially sway towards carbs… A lot of carbs! My favourite autumn food is definitely macaroni cheese. It’s just so warming and gorgeous on a cold evening in front of the TV or a games console. Pizza is also a good one, but I don’t mean takeaway, I mean a massive one you can cook yourself and share. It saves money too, as well as unnecessary calories. Not only is dinner the time for comfort food, but breakfast can be too. My favourite being pancakes with bacon, something I made for me and my boyfriend over the weekend. He had honey with his as we never had any maple syrup and I had mine dry… Because I like my pancakes savory. Another pancake breakfast I want to make this year is blueberry pancakes, with blueberry syrup. I’m not done talking about food yet! Something else I love to eat during autumn is soup, and lots of it! I make my Chinese chicken and sweetcorn soup most weeks in autumn and winter, but I still want to try and make something else. Sweet potato and chicken soup is one I want to try and make soon… I might give it a go this week, see how I get on!

I can probably think of loads more things to talk about in the run up to autumn, but alas I want to save more for when autumn is actually here!

So, how many of my readers are excited for autumn and this month? Maybe you hate the colder weather and months? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time though, take care all and I hope you all had a great weekend.

Hyper Japan 2015 Part 2

Well here it is, part two of Hyper Japan, as well as me showing more of what I bought.

After we had rested up at the hotel we got ourselves ready in some fresh clothes and headed back out. We decided we would get dinner at Hyper Japan as we hadn’t yet properly visited the Eat Japan section and were excited about all the food we would be able to try.

When we arrived we decided to go back into the Game & Anime Park to see if we missed out on anything, which is where we finally got to have a go on the Sword Art Online game, which once again, was awesome.

As well as that there was someone cosplaying as Jolteon, which was amazing considering the position they would need to stand in all day! They got a huge crowd, including us and were having pictures with people too, which of course I did.

We had some time to kill before we could go and pick up the picture we were having drawn of us both so we walked around the other areas again for a while. We had heard that there was a stall set up where people would have a Domo Kun around to take pictures with, something we had wanted to do previously in the day, but had missed. However we didn’t miss the second time and made sure to get in the queue for a picture. The guy who took our pictures took loads and they’re all amazing!

The person in the Domo Kun costume swayed back and forth between us so it looked like he was leaning on us, which is incredibly cute! I love Domo and have a largish plush of him in my room, I just wish I could have a life-sized Domo as a friend… Sad nerd is sad.

I wanted to give some of the bubble tea at Hyper Japan a go so eventually when the stand went quiet, I went to get some. I’m not going to lie, this wasn’t the best bubble tea in the world BUT the tapioca pearls were amazing! Very soft and squishy and definitely some of the nicest ones I’ve had. But although it wasn’t the best, it did the job and was very yummy.

As we had a further look around we found a stall that was writing your names in Japanese, as well as another stall that was making badges with your name on in Japanese. We of course got one of these each, and these are mine. We also found a travel stall that when you filled in a survey you got a free cute eraser, we of course did one each. These little cuties are now in my room.

There was only one (but a very good one) Japanese beauty stall in there that we had visited before leaving to go back to the hotel the first time around, but I forgot to mention it in part one. But I picked up this hair styling tool that is used to curl your hair whilst you dry it. If it works for Japanese hair, then I don’t see why it won’t work for mine! I still need to try it out properly and will do Friday before I’m off down south for a BBQ. I’ll make sure to update how it goes! The one thing that appealed to me the most about this is that it is plastic, not ceramic and therefore won’t do any damage to my hair. It was only £3 which I thought was a bargain!

Finally it was time to go and pick our picture up and I was so excited to see what the artist had done. So when she handed it to us I was really taken back. It’s one of my favourite things from Hyper Japan, London in fact. When we visited Comic Con in Birmingham we had our first manga picture of us together drawn and I loved that, but we did get a lot of comments saying that the drawing of me on it looks nothing like me, which if anything was upsetting. So the fact that with this picture everyone is saying this one actually looks like me, it makes me really happy! The artist just got all our details, including the plait of my hair, my bow necklace, my boyfriends sunglasses, and cap, etc. I’m just so happy with it.

After this we decided to get some food. I’m not going to be positive here, but I’m being honest. The selection of food at Hyper Japan was rubbish. There weren’t many stands and even so there wasn’t much on offer. We ended up having loads of chicken and vegetable gyoza’s, as well as some fried noodles that my boyfriend had as they made me feel a bit ick (I HATE bean sprouts!).

We ventured around taking in anything we may have missed and eventually we were told we needed to leave. Since Hyper Japan one of the sellers there has uploaded a video of the weekend onto YouTube and who is in the video? My boyfriend! It’s at 6:07 and you can see my boyfriend walking past the dancers. We were looking around the stall when they were dancing and it’s here we were told we needed to go, which sucks as we wanted to sort of blend in with whatever fun they were having.

After this we decided to go and claim our free pina colada’s from Malibu and they were delicious! It was pina colada day on the 10th July so we decided to take advantage of the free drinks.

When we were walking away from the O2, I took advantage of getting plenty of pictures of how gorgeous it looked at night. We got our train and then the DLR back to the hotel and had a lovely bath together and went to bed. We were shattered and it’s safe to say our legs were killing us the next day. Even though we went out for more adventures!

Before I wrap up this post I’m going to just talk about the negatives since Hyper Japan, as over on their Facebook page there has been nothing but people moaning about this years event. Saying it was too big, it was too public, the food range was awful, people kept getting lost, the list goes on.

I agree with some of the things that people say, the first one being that cosplayer’s were on show to the public which is true. If I was in that position I would feel incredibly anxious. Another being about the food and drink selection being rubbish, which it was in all honestly. My friend who has been for years even told me herself that side was rubbish. I was very disappointed. Another complaint was that the staff that Hyper Japan had hired were rude, which they were! At one point towards the end we bought a beer to share but we had to stay in the Eat Japan section to drink it, although people were drinking beer in the section we wanted to go into, which was extremely annoying. You would ask them questions and they would snap at you, which wasn’t nice at all.

Somethings that people are complaining about that I don’t agree with is how much room there was to walk, I didn’t honestly mind the walk and neither did my boyfriend. We put this down to how crowded and horrible Comic Con Birmingham was in November. I also don’t agree with the rantings about queuing either, we never had to queue much and if we did it wasn’t for long to be honest.

Either way, we loved Hyper Japan and I would love to go again for the Christmas Market in November, but it depends on money. We didn’t spend as much in Hyper Japan as we thought we would which is good, but I think that’s down to the fact there wasn’t really MUCH on offer for us to buy.

I recommend it, especially if you’ve never been like I never had. It’s definitely a different experience and I recommend any Japan  lover to do it at some point.

Have you ever been to Hyper Japan? What did you think? If you haven’t been before, would you like to? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time though, take care all and I hope you enjoyed my Hyper Japan two-part post.

Things I Plan to do in London

Image taken from weheartit.com

London is literally three sleeps away and I’m a mixture of excited and nervous for many reasons.

Excited because I’ve only been to London once, and that was just to go and protest about the student fees going up… So nothing special. I’ve wanted to go to London since I was a teenager and alas, I never got to go. So now I’m finally getting the chance! I just hope it’s worth the wait.

I’m nervous due to my anxiety. London isn’t exactly pictured as a gorgeous, peaceful place, and due to that I’m worried about all sorts. Getting pick pocketed is my main one and this is something I just can’t stop worrying about. I’m sure I’ll be fine though when I’m there.

However, for the three days we’re there me and my boyfriend have a lot planned and I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll get it all done whilst we’re there! I thought I would make a post to tell you all where we’re going, eating, drinking, etc. Of course when I’m back I’ll be trying to review places we visited whilst there.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Hyper Japan.

This is our main reason for going to London. We wanted to go in 2013 and 2014 but due to money and late planning we never got to attend either. This year we made sure to plan, plan, plan and we’re so excited to finally be going to Hyper Japan. Leading up to it we have been watching YouTube videos of what to expect, how big it’ll be, shops, etc. This is the place we’re probably going to spend most of our money and as we’re there all day on Saturday we’re going to be shattered afterwards.

We’ll probably eat loads of food too, although a little birdy told me that if you wait until an hour or two before Hyper Japan is due to finish, you can get all the food dirt cheap, which me and my boyfriend intend to try and do!As you can see from the dates this is running from Friday until Sunday. We’ll be there Saturday though as it is the only day to be running the event all day. This is something I will definitely be writing about when I’m back from London, and I hope to get loads of pictures too.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• West End – A Book of Mormon.

So we’re off to see a musical and one my boyfriend has wanted to watch for months. He’s been on and on at me about it for ages and at first I wasn’t keen on the idea as I’m not a fan of musicals. I put this down to the yearly musical we had to perform at school. Maybe down to Disney too… I don’t know. BUT when he showed me a trailer for this and informed me it was by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the guys behind South Park I was all for it! I love South Park and I especially love what Stone and Parker do. They’re hilarious guys.

This will be nice for us to go and watch together after a romantic dinner. Afterwards we may go for drinks, but nothing too heavy as Hyper Japan is the day after. If my boyfriend ends up loving the musical (which I’m sure he will!) then come the next pay-day I’ll be buying him the musical on CD or on iTunes so he can play it in his car whilst he’s working.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Museums – Natural History Museum and Science Museum.

We love going to things like this and there’s nothing better than geeking out and acting like a kid in a place it’s deemed acceptable. We’ll probably spend one morning/afternoon in one on Friday and then do the same again on Sunday. I’m more excited about the Science Museum rather than the Natural History Museum as I love anything you like this and will just have loads of fun in there. I’d probably want to go there on Sunday to round-up our last day in London with plenty of fun and geekyness. We shall see though how it all plans out.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Food and Drink.

We plan on trying to stick to our diets and eat well and be good, but at the same time we do want to have the odd treat here and there. I am rather excited about discovering some amazing places to eat and drink in London. We did just that with one place in Bristol and I hope to find something that will be similar to it. We haven’t really researched anywhere as London is so huge, so we’ll probably just look when we get there and see how we get on.

We also want to go and have some drinks Saturday night after Hyper Japan in a cocktail bar, possibly themed. This is something else we really need to look into and is something I will probably do the night before we head down to London. There are many food and drink bloggers out there so I’m sure I will find somewhere for us to go in no time!

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Shopping.

One thing we really want to do whilst in London is go shopping. Not anywhere that we can go to in Birmingham or Coventry, but shops that are only accessible to in London. One of these shops being the Lush Oxford Street store. I love Lush and really do want to have a good look in the huge store for what I could pick up. There will be a wish list post for this on my blog tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for that! As well as that we want to visit the Forbidden Planet there too as it’s meant to be huge and one of the best ones to visit, although I’ve heard otherwise from some people too. I would love to visit Camden for shopping as I was always told I would love it. We shall see though. Shopping wise I probably won’t be looking around many places as we have everything here that we need anyway.

So that’s our plan for London! I’m still rather excited for it and before I know it it’ll be time to go. I’m going to try my best to plan posts to be up on my blog whilst I’m in London, but if I don’t do this however I do apologise in advance.

Have you been to London before? Or do you live in London? If you have any places you would recommend then please do let me know!

Until next time, take care all.

Smoothie Sunday – Iced Green Tea Latte

I’m back again this week to bring you another smoothie recipe… Well not a smoothie, but you get what I mean!

Yes, I am still on a health kick and this week it’s been going pretty well… Although I was a little naughty on Thursday and yesterday… But it doesn’t hurt to have a couple of treats.

I went to an Asian supermarket with my boyfriend yesterday in the search of some green tea matcha powder that wouldn’t cause my bank account to explode. Sadly some big brands have got onto the green tea hype and manufactured their own, slapping an over £10 price label onto it. This is frustrating and annoying as I have been drinking green tea for years, before people started drinking it because it’s “fashionable”.

I had heard that Asian supermarkets sell it cheap however, so that’s why we went to see for ourselves. I left with two different brands and it cost me under £10… £7-£8 to be exact. I tried both yesterday, one warm and one cold and they were amazing!

Shop around in some Asian supermarkets like I did before settling on an expensive brand. Teapigs are the number one culprit for ripping people off! Holland & Barret sell some of this too so watch your wallet if you go there. Yes, you want to be healthy, but you don’t want to poor as well. When I was talking to the shop assistant in the supermarket about how much places charge for green tea he couldn’t believe it! “It’s not even worth that much money! It’s just tea!” Damn right!

So, I decided to document the cold version and let you know how you can create your own iced green tea latte at home! Starbucks are known for making this in America, but we haven’t (as of yet) got this in the UK Starbucks stores.

Calories wise this contains 100-200 calories, although when I worked it out on My Fitness Pal it came to 139 calories, which I think is really good! Especially if you fancy a treat.

Ingredients:

1 sachet of green tea powder mixed with some hot water. I did this in a mug and then poured it into the blender. Or you can leave this out to cool down and pop in the fridge for another hour.

Half a cup of milk. I used semi-skimmed but you can use whatever you want.

5-10 ice cubes just to make sure it cools down if you pour it straight into the blender when hot.

If you want it to be a little sweeter drizzle some honey, but I didn’t feel the need to do this.

Then pour into your favourite glass with some more ice and enjoy! I used my Starbucks cup, as you can see.

I really like this as a way to cool down in the summer, as well as something to have alongside my lunch.

And that’s it! It’s such an easy drink to make and it tastes amazing too.

Will you be giving this recipe a go? Please let me know if you do in the comments! If you can think of any yummy smoothies you like, let me know the recipe and I may be able to give them a go.

Until next time, take care all!

Smoothie Sunday – Blueberry & Raspberry

This is definitely a new weekly addition to my blog and it’s something I hope to keep up for quite a while.

I decided last week that I really need to eat healthier as I feel like I’ve gained so much weight lately and I want to change it before it gets too out of hand. So the first thing I wanted to change was what I eat in the morning for breakfast and lunch in the afternoon.

One thing I thought would be great to start having is smoothies, something I have always wanted to have but never had the time for it. However, my household recently got a Ninja blender and it is the fastest and best blender I have ever used. When I move out I’ll definitely be picking one up for my own home.

My only problem with smoothies is that I might not be able to make a hell of a lot due to allergies to certain (well most) fruits, which sucks. But I shall try my hardest to come up with some awesome recipes!

In the future I might even give some soup recipes a go.

So I thought I would give the smoothie making a go and my first recipe, which is blueberry and raspberry.

This smoothie is super easy to make and roughly contains about 200-300 calories, which is great. Perfect to make in the evening to have for breakfast or lunch on the go.

Ingredients:

1 cup full of raspberries and blueberries (so half of each, or more of whichever you prefer).

2-3 tablespoons of low fat Greek yogurt. I used honey but you can use plain if you wish. You can also use low fat natural yoghurt too.

Half a cup of milk. I used semi-skimmed but you can use whatever you want.

A drizzle of honey for sweetness. This is totally up to you though.

And that’s it! I personally use frozen fruit as I find it lasts a lot longer than fresh fruit and it means I don’t need to add any ice cubes as it’s already cold. I don’t care if frozen fruit is bad for you etc, this is ideal for me and saves me a hell of a lot of money. Of course you can use fresh fruit for this recipe.

Will you be giving this recipe a go? Please let me know if you do in the comments! If you can think of any yummy smoothies you like, let me know the recipe and I may be able to give them a go!

Until next time, take care all!

Autumn Is Here!

Image taken from weheartit.com

Yes it is officially here! As of today autumn 2014 is upon us and I intend to make the most of it this year and as I do every year, I’m going to write a post about it too.

This year I’m getting my boyfriend to contribute in a few things that he likes about autumn too, just to make it a little different this year.

AND I know everyone usually posts the same things as one another on these types of posts but… Whatever I’m going to do it anyway! 😛

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Hot drinks.

You can’t go wrong with meeting up with loved ones and friends to have a good catch up over your favourite hot autumn drink. Over the weekend I tried Starbucks pumpkin spiced latte and I didn’t actually think I would enjoy it, it turns out I love it! I’m not a fan of chai latte like some due to how spicy and cinnamon it tastes so I imagined that PSL would be the same, oh how wrong I was! It is somewhat sickly but with some whipped cream and cinnamon sprinkles it makes it somewhat less sickly. I can definitely see why people love that drink for autumn and winter! Alongside that I love to have their peppermint mocha, but that’s also more of a winter drink for Christmas. Another drink I love to have over the autumn season is Costa’s hot spiced apple. If you’ve never tried it then do but if you aren’t a fan of sickly drinks then ask for a lot less than they put in, they usually fill it quite high. I asked my boyfriend what his favourite how drink was for autumn and he said, “Hot Ribena.” It’s a good choice as now I want one!

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Burgundy and mustard.

Burgundy has always been my go to colour for autumn and last year wine bottle green also came into it, however this year I am in love with mustard! I’ve already bought myself two mustard coloured jumpers and I intend to buy myself a mustard coloured dress next… Talk about obsessed! These two shades symbolise autumn to a tee for me and you can dress them both up with navy and grey shades perfectly and of course black, but black goes with everything.

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Jumpers and cardigans.

No one can resist a soft and snuggly jumper or cardigan and I am one of those people for sure! I love when the middle of September is here because we start to see all the shops stocking loads of snuggly jumpers and thick cardigans for us to buy and wear! As I mentioned above I’ve already bought myself some jumpers ready for the colder weather, as well as that I’ve also bought myself a new cardigan, which I’m already living in! I love big snuggly jumpers that you can hide your hands inside and snuggle up in whilst out and about! I don’t know why but I’ve really wanted turtle neck jumpers this year and so far I’ve bought one… I don’t know if I’ll buy anymore. We shall see!

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Yankee Candles.

Who doesn’t like Yankee Candles? If you don’t GET OUT! No I joke! I love scented candles but as the years have gone by Yankee Candles seem to be the number 1 choice for me now and I don’t really burn anything else… Unless I wish to burn it for less than 4 hours. I have four Yankee Candles, Sweet Strawberry, Berrylicious, Christmas Cookie and Red Velvet. Red Velvet is my favourite for autumn but as this candle is discontinued I don’t have the heart to burn it! As soon as I spot a large jar of it, I shall buy! But for now I’m saving my candle. My boyfriend is currently burning a candle from Village Candles in the scent Brownie Delight. It smells just like chocolate brownies and is so yummy! I need to write-up a Yankee Candle wish list for autumn soon…

Image taken from weheartit.com

• Crisp autumn leaves.

I love leaves in autumn, they’re so dried up and crunchy and sound amazing as you walk through them. Don’t you think so? I love wearing my Chelsea boots or Dr Martens whilst walking through the leaves, it just makes everything seem so lush and nostalgic to when you were a child. Not only does it make me feel great walking through the leaves but the photographer inside me does somersaults of joy as soon as the trees begin to turn those gorgeous red, brown and yellow that we all love and enjoy seeing. I really can’t wait to get my photography on this year!

I think I’m all autumn’d out now! I asked my boyfriend about what things he liked about autumn and he said, “I like how it shows that winter will soon be here, that’s my favourite season.” he also said, “As it starts to get colder it means I can start wearing my beanies again.” Which he practically lives in if the weather isn’t too warm! He’s a snowboarder so winter will always be his favourite season.

But autumn is mine and I’m glad it’ll be around for a while!

Do you like autumn? What do you like about it? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

Until next time, take care all and go out and start enjoying the autumn season.

Mee-Cha Bubble Tea & Frozen Yogurt, Birmingham – Review

Image taken from mee-cha.com

A few weeks ago Mee-Cha advertised on their Facebook page that they wanted bloggers to write a review about their lovely bubble tea and frozen yogurt store. As I’m a huge fan of their bubble tea already I dropped them a message to ask if they wished for me to write a review and I think it’s pretty obvious what their answer was.

So I am here to tell you why you need to pop to Mee-Cha the next time you go to The Bullring!

I’ve briefly mentioned Mee-Cha in the past but I wanted to dedicate a whole post to them as quite frankly they deserve it.

A paradise for your taste buds in the heart of Bullring, Mee-Cha is an oasis for cool, refreshing drinks and delicious 100% fat-free frozen yoghurt’s, complete with a range of fruity toppings and yummy sauces. Create and tailor your very own mix of revitalising flavours and experience a great new concept of refreshments.
Think Refreshments… Think Mee-Cha…

Mee-Cha was started in 2011-2012 and their original name was actually Moo-Cha, which they changed after the start of this year. It is a bubble tea and frozen yogurt stall that is in The Bullring in Birmingham and it’s an amazing place to go if you want something different to drink whilst on the go or for a yummy frozen treat when its hot outiside. But what makes Mee-Cha different to any other food stall in The Bullring? Well, I’ll tell you!

Image taken from mee-cha.com

First let me tell you about Bubble Tea!

Bubble tea was first created in the 1980’s in Taiwan! But it is only recently that it has gone global and now can be found in pretty much every city! It has quite a few combinations of names around the world including pearl tea, boba tea, boba nai cha and zhen zhu nai cha! It’s becoming an extremely popular craze – so popular that in Germany even McDonalds sells bubble tea.

Mee-Cha’s fruity drinks are fat-free and completely refreshing, which means you are having a guilt-free treat! As well as that their tapioca pearls are freshly and constantly cooked throughout the day and have a chewy caramel texture and if you don’t believe me then you’ll see them boiling for yourself when you get there!

When I first tried bubble tea I was alarmed by the odd sensation I got whilst drinking it, due to what the squishy balls (tapioca pearls or popping bubbles) feel and taste like when they come up the straw in the drink. With tapioca pearls they’re squishy and taste like a coffee/chocolate flavour, whilst the popping bubbles can come in all sorts of flavours, usually fruity. My favourite are strawberry. When these enter your mouth they usually pop and when they burst they release the flavour that you chose.

As well as these, you can also get jellies which in my opinion aren’t to my liking but that’s sort of each to your own style opinion. I can’t really say much on these other than them not being like proper jelly at all but more of a solid version of jelly and very chewy. They aren’t to my liking, but they might be to you.

Bubble Tea is something everyone needs to try at least once and everyone I have introduced it to has loved it!

Image taken from mee-cha.com

At Mee-Cha you can get all sorts of flavours to create all sorts of yummy combinations, just take a look at the menu above.

When you arrive at the stall you will be asked 4 different things to complete you bubble tea order, which flavour you would like, which tea you would like, which style of drink you would like, and finally which toppings you would like. With bubble coffee however you would of course skip the part of the order where you would pick tea, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same procedure and it’s as easy as that!

I won’t lie, the process of ordering from Mee-Cha can be a little overwhelming, I mean look at that menu! My friends as well as my boyfriend still get a little flustered whenever I go there with them and I often take over the order for them so that they don’t get too worried that they order the wrong thing. However the staff as Mee-Cha are all really lovely and if you’re confused about what something is don’t feel too shy to ask, they won’t bite and will answer your question(s) no problem.

Image taken from mee-cha.com

Here are the four simple steps you’ll undergo to make your yummy drink!

Step One – Choose your flavour:

You can choose from 3 types of drink bubble tea, bubble coffee or bubble slush.

With bubble tea there are two styles of drink to choose from, milky or fruity and with them both you have 11 choices each! Although these are called bubble tea, you do get to choose if you have these with or without tea, but more on that in step two.

Bubble coffee gives you 11 choices of drink too and of course contains coffee, these are a great alternative to a Starbucks frappuccino!

Bubble slush also has 11 choices of flavour and don’t come with any toppings, although you can add them if you do so wish. These are great on hot days to cool you down, a great alternative to a Slush Puppy and probably better for you as well.

Step Two – Choose your tea:

With bubble tea you will be asked which tea you would like in your drink, green tea, black tea or no tea. I guess this all depends on your own tastes really! I like to mix it up depending on which drink I have. I often go for green tea with lighter coloured drinks and black tea with darker coloured drinks. I can’t say I have yet bought a drink from Mee-Cha and not had any tea in it! If you aren’t a fan of tea but would like it in your drink, let a member of staff know and they won’t put in too much for you and vice versa if you love tea and would like extra!

Step Three – Choose your style:

There are five styles to choose from, hot, warm, cold, with ice or even slush (costs 50p extra). When I’m cold in the winter months I often go for warm as it goes really nice with the milky bubble tea and bubble coffee. Cold is usually the best choice though and even slush when it’s boiling outside and you want a healthy alternative to a Slush Puppy.

Finally Step Four – Choose your toppings:

Image taken from mee-cha.com

You have four choices of toppings for your drink, tapioca pearls, popping bubbles, jellies or even red bean. I can’t say I have ever tried red bean in a bubble drink but I have in sweets from Yo Sushi and they aren’t my cup of tea! However tapioca pearls are really good in milky drinks, especially if they’re warm as they go super gooey and chewy, yum!

Image taken from mee-cha.com

Popping bubbles are always what I go for and you can get lychee, mango, strawberry (my favourite), passionfruit, cherry (another favourite), and yoghurt (another favourite).

Image taken from mee-cha.com

You can get jellies too which when they go up the straw taste of the flavour you pick but personally they aren’t for me, although I am inclined to try them out again soon. They have a sort of gooey sweetie like texture which kind of makes me cringe but otherwise they taste really nice. Don’t be put off by my fussiness! The flavours you can get for these are lychee, pineapple, mango, green apple (these are the ones I tried), strawberry, and aloe vera.

Then you pay for your drink, watch the process of it being made and then you can enjoy!

To give you an example of how the process or ordering works out I’m going to give you a couple of examples of some of my favourite drinks to order from the menu. I wish I had of had something like this, or someone who had ordered bubble tea before to guide me through the ordering process, as I was a bit anxious when I ordered my first drink. But as I said before the staff were lovely and helped me order a drink that is now down as one of my favourites!

Bubble tea option 1:

Milky green tea latte (matcha), with black tea, warm, and with yoghurt popping bubbles.

Bubble tea option 2:

Fruity green apple, with green tea, cold, and with strawberry or cherry popping bubbles.

Bubble coffee:

Coconut, cold, and with tapioca pearls.

Image taken from mee-cha.com

If however you aren’t in the mood for a bubble tea Mee-Cha also offers frozen yoghurt and let me tell you if I fancy a treat I opt for going there and I’ll tell you why!

When I first visited Mee-Cha back at the start of 2012 I bought one of their frozen yoghurt’s and it was amazing. For just under £3.00 I picked up the smallest tub of ice cream and got to have as many toppings on it as my greedy gut desired.

Unlike the process of bubble tea, ordering yourself a frozen yoghurt is pretty straight forward and only really requires 2 or 3 steps.

Step One – Which flavour?

You can choose between original and vanilla.

Step Two – Which size and do you want toppings?

You can choose mini, small, medium, large or even a fruit parfait. You also get the choice of whether or not you would like toppings. This only applies to mini, small, medium and large and costs an extra 80p on all of them apart from large, which costs a £1.00 extra.

Image taken from mee-cha.com

Step Three – Pick your toppings!

As you can see from the above image you have loads of choice and you know what? You can STILL have as many as you do so wish! I think that’s amazing to be honest considering most places will only let you have 3 and charge you for each additional topping.

Image taken from mee-cha.com

Like most places these days Mee-Cha offer a loyalty card and I of course have one… I’ve probably been through 5 of these already to be honest and I recommend them to everyone who visits Mee-Cha! After 10 stamps you will earn yourself a free bubble tea or a small frozen yoghurt, which is great of course. You of course earn a stamp every time you buy a drink or a frozen yoghurt. These are free to pick up and each one you use up you just start a fresh one.

Some other great things that Mee-Cha do (“Wait!” I hear you ask, “There’s more?”) is their promotions and discounts! They offer 10% to students with NUS cards as well as staff who work at The Bullring in Birmingham. Not bad eh?!

Image taken from mee-cha.com

At the moment they have an awesome deal on where you buy 1 get one half price from 22/09/14 – 25/09/14 and from 29/09/14 – 02/10/14!

Over the past 2 years Mee-Cha have grown into a successful little bubble tea stall and I really hope for the future that they open their own shop as I think that would be amazing!

Here are all the links you may wish to check out from Mee-Cha

Official website

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

So! Will you be going to pay them a visit next time you’re in The Bullring? I know I’ll be heading there at some point this week!

Make sure to let me know that you’ve been and if you go to the store with a recommendation from my blog, please make sure to mention it! The staff at Mee-Cha are such amazing people and work really hard to give their customers yummy drinks and yoghurt.

Until next time, take care all and I hope you all have a great week.