November Favourites ’22

Holy shit guys, we are overdue a blog post, let alone another favourites! I’m wary now that I’ve been M.I.A. for almost a month and I do have my reasons why. I thought I’d write my favourites from November, whilst I also share where I went.

November was a mad month, especially towards the end of it, with some highs and lows to finish it off. First of all, I had Covid. Right at the end of November I tested positive and it sucked. I’m negative now, but I still have a cough (and sometimes head cold symptoms) that I’m just waiting to clear out of my system. Hopefully in time for Christmas…

It was my first time with Covid and I hope the last realistically. Self-isolating was the worst for me as it meant I was trapped in one room (two if you include occasional bathroom trips) relying on Dane to look after me and a crappy airbed for comfort of an evening. I didn’t enjoy it and it really did start to give me really bad mental health issues towards the end. The sickness itself was meh. I had a really bad temperature and all around just didn’t feel great, I just wanted to lie on the sofa or in bed all day, which I mostly did the weekend I found out I had it.

As I’ve been sick both at the end of October and the end of November, I really hope December doesn’t decide to join in too. In 2021 I was really sick at the end of December/start of January and that was vile, a lot worse than Covid, so I’m praying not to be sick like that again ever. 😛

Anyhoo, enough of the bad and onto the highs! As we all know, Pokemon came out mid November and since it released I’ve been playing it on and off, and thoroughly enjoying it, may I add! I’ll speak more about this later in the post. I also went to see Electric Callboy in Nottingham, which was amazing! Again, I’ll speak more about this later on in the post!

With no time like the present, let me get onto all my favourite from November, even with sodding Covid towards the end. 😛

Beauty – Lime Crime Wet Cherry Lip Gloss in Black Cherry.

With my lipstick journey I’ve gone from wearing lipsticks, liquid lipsticks, tints, and of late glosses. This has gone around full circle ever since I was old enough to be gifted make up as a young teenager, and lip gloss has made a come back for me! I find if I just want a bit of colour, lip glosses are great for that, alongside lip tints! I watched a beauty account on Instagram showing off some gorgeous black cherry glosses, so I decided to get myself one! I own one of the Lime Crime wet cherry lip glosses, which I love, so I thought I’d get the black cherry one. Prior to getting sick with Covid I was wearing this on a daily basis, as I just loved how light you could wear the colour, as well as how buildable it can be. I highly recommend the Lime Crime lip glosses if you want a gloss with some good colour, smells yummy and isn’t sticky!

Movie – Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl.

Technically this film classes as December, but I thought I’d mention it for November, because why not! We have been waiting YEARS to watch this movie, and finally we were able to yesterday. We’re big fans of the anime Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, so back in 2019/2020 when we heard about there being a film made of a sequel to the anime, we wanted to watch it. However, it’s only seemingly become available to us in the UK more so recently, and even then it’s only through someone uploading the movie onto YouTube. We watched it and it was such a beautiful film. If you’ve watched the anime and would love to know what happens next, make sure to go and watch the movie too. If you search for it on YouTube, you should find it straight away. I don’t want to link on my blog as realistically it being on YouTube isn’t the best.

Music – Electric Callboy.

So, as I mentioned at the start of the post, towards the end of November me and Dane went to see Electric Callboy in Nottingham. It was by far one of the best gigs I’ve been to in my life to date. I originally said it was in my top 5, but now it’s in my top 3!!! The whole vibe of the show was incredible, everyone was clearly there for a good time and everyone did just that. Each track they played from old and newer stuff got everyone going mad, including us of course! We both had a sore throats after attending the gig as we were both screaming the lyrics, and our bodies ached from dashing and moshing as much as we could. We got decent places to stand too as we started queuing quite early, so we were on the balcony, right at the front, which we loved! We’ve already said we want to go and see them again, as we had such a blast! I’d love to book to go and see them in Europe somewhere, or even London at some point next year, but we’ll see! Another cool thing is you can kind of see us on the photo that they took at the end of the gig! We’re on the left of the photo and I’m holding my bright yellow rain coat… 😛

Game – Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

As I mentioned at the start of the post, we got our copies of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and whilst we haven’t been binge playing them, I have really been enjoying playing Violet! Sword and Shield are both games I’ve enjoyed, but found you could complete the story in a day. However, Scarlet and Violet is, to me, a little overwhelming in the sense there is so much more to do! You have the gyms, titans and star challenges, as well as the usual filling up the Pokedex from catching and breeding, as well as battling with people. There’s A LOT to do in Scarlet and Violet and due to that, I really love it! I’m enjoying playing it as and when I want as well, instead of feeling like I need to pick it up to play most evenings. I wanted to show off the cute pictures I got of me and Fidough on my first day of playing. Fidough is for sure my favourite Pokemon to come out of Scarlet and Violet and I can’t wait to get some Fidough merch from the Pokemon Center due to this!

Just a few of my favourite things…

Lumichee 100% Cotton Batbat Hoodie

Lumichee “Monochrome” Mini Batbat Plush Series 4

Adorabubblesshop Ditto Cookie Candy Wrapper Loop Strap Charm

Adorabubblesshop Ice-Cream Pom Candy Wrapper Loop Strap Charm

Tomodachi Monster Cereal Vol.4 Pins

Black Friday

Did I go spend happy over Black Friday? Yep, I certainly did! If I’m honest I didn’t just shop for me either, I did save quite a lot of money on Dane’s Christmas presents, which was incredibly handy as it meant I could spoil him (and me) more. 😛 Black Friday happened when I was really sick with Covid, and not only did I go spend happy for Dane, but I definitely did for me too as I was feeling sorry for myself. As you can see, I bought quite a few bits and pieces from various places! I decided to get some more goods from Lumichee, Adorabubbleshop, as well as Tomodachi! They all had vouchers for Black Friday, which I just couldn’t pass up! I’ll be looking to write a blog post all about Lumichee in January, as well as showing you guys the volume 4 pins from Tomodachi, as I spoke about them at the start of the year!

Wales trip

I’ve been so excited to talk about our trip to Wales, but due to being so quiet on here this is the first chance I’ve had to really talk about it! At the start of November we went to Wales for a weekend to a shepherds hut on a farm in North Wales. The hut itself was absolutely gorgeous and everything we wanted! We made sure to book it in the autumnal months too so we could make the most of some of the features of the hut, which included underfloor heating, a log fire indoor, a firepit outside, as well as a hot tub! We definitely made the most out of all these features of the hut, even though the weather was raining and vile! We managed to dodge the rain every time we wanted to use the hot tub! Whilst we were in North Wales, we ventured to have a go at clay throwing, where we made a pot and a mug each! We are yet to receive these in the post, but as soon as we do, I’ll make sure to show them you guys!

I really can’t wait to venture on a holiday or short trip with Dane again, I really loved our weekend in Wales.

We made a Christmas advent calendar!

Finally I wanted to quickly show you guys the advent calendar we made this year! This project was ongoing for about a month, and even came with us on our trip to Wales, as we had planned to carry on with it there, but never got around to it. We finally finished it on Saturday and we both love what we have done with it! We kinda wanted it to be like a gingerbread house, but it’s not really become that. It’s definitely become our own unique thing and we love it to death! We’ve hidden some of the images of the doors as these are inspired by rooms in our home, so we’d like to try and keep this private. I also added some stickers from Pikarar as they just look so cute and it seemed the right time to use them! We picked our calendar up from Hobbycraft to decorate and it was so much fun for us to do together. If anything, we’ve said how we want to do more crafting together!

So there we have it! A long overdue blog post from me after almost a month and I think it falling around favourites time has worked out quite nicely.

I’d say sorry for being absent but, I’m not going to. This isn’t my job at the end of the day, it’s my hobby and one that just had to take a break whilst I was busy and sick. I do wonder if in the New Year how often I’ll write, in the sense of if I’m too busy, I’m not going to force anything, a choice I’m sure you guys won’t mind. 🙂

So, with that being said – how have you guys been the past month? Have you started your Christmas shopping? Bought any goodies during Black Friday sales? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time all, take care and I hope you’ve all been keeping well. 🙂

October Favourites ’22

Happy Halloween guys! It’s tomorrow, one of my favourite times of year, and unfortunately, I’m not here for it. I bought decorations and never put them up, and I had a pumpkin to carve (thanks to my dad and his pumpkin patch!) but due to have a cold/flu this week, I haven’t even felt up to doing it. I’m gutted. Halloween this year has been a major flop for me for many reasons, which is a shame.

It’s not all doom and gloom in the run up to November though, as me and Dane are now on holiday from work for a week! We’ve been in need of some long time off of work so we’re both looking forward to it.

October really flew by and I can’t believe it’s November in just a few days. I love this time of year due to Halloween and Bonfire Night, but the weather is vile, which is such a shame. I hope during our week off the weather holds off a little, I don’t want to just have a wet week off work. 😦

I’m not going to waffle on anymore, let’s get on with the favourites!

Beauty – Neutrogena Hydro Boost Body Gel Cream.

This is a body cream I’ve been using for quite a while now, couple of months now maybe? Unfortunately I recently discovered that I’m allergic to The Body Shop’s strawberry body yogurt on my legs, so I’ve had to discontinue using that there, and instead I’ve been using the Neutrogena gel cream. I don’t just use this on my legs, sometimes I will use all over as it’s such a quick and easy body gel cream to use! It absorbs quickly, feels light and cooling and smells lovely and fresh too! This is one where a little bit goes a long way too, and I already know I’ll be repurchasing this, especially when it costs less than £5! I also have the spray version too, which I don’t use too often… I need to use it more!

Movie – Various horror including Rec and House of 1000 Corpses.

The past week we’ve spent many evenings watching horror movies through Shudder, a movie subscription service dedicated to horror! We have a seven day free trial and so far we’ve watched quite a few films on there, but the two that stand out to me are Rec and House of 1000 Corpses, the latter being a movie my boyfriend has wanted me to watch since we got together! Rec is always a film I’d heard of due to the remake, but I never actually knew what it was about. Alas I was surprised as I watched it and I thoroughly enjoyed! If you’ve never seen it, you should watch it too, not the remake, the original!

My boyfriend did pre-warn me about House of 1000 Corpses about how “amateur” it is due to it being done by Rob Zombie, who at the time was more known as a musician than director. This was the first film he directed and you can kind of tell, but that’s what is so charming about the film itself! The film is about a group of teenagers who are kidnapped by a family during Halloween. My favourite character (one I’m sure the film is best known for) is Captain Spaulding. He’s fucking hilarious and I can’t get enough of some of the stuff he says, hence the clip above.

TV Show – Chainsaw Man.

I haven’t read the manga, but I was so hyped about the anime for Chainsaw Man releasing a couple of weeks ago! I’ve always heard amazing things about the manga series from my friend Sammie, as well as from members of the Worlds Apart Discord community. We’re on three episodes so far and it’s constantly giving you action and things to get you to the edge of your seat. We follow Denji, a teenage human boy, who is orphaned, and has to hunts devils in order to pay off his families debt. With his pet devil Pochita by his side, he can do what he needs to. However, something bad happens, which changes Denji’s life. I won’t say anymore as I don’t wish to spoil but… I’m loving this series so far and I already can’t wait for the next episode on Tuesday. 😛

Music – PVRIS – “Anywhere But Here” and “Animal”.

Recently PVRIS released two new songs in the form of a short film, where both songs were featured. I really love both of these songs, more so “Anywhere But Here” as I love the lyrics and melody style vibe and sound behind it. I do really like “Animal” as well as it feels the complete opposite to “Anywhere But Here” with harder guitar riffs and more, with the lyrics being a little more edgy too and with a rebel attitude? I remember seeing around the end of October that PVRIS had something new to reveal to fans, so I was excited it would at least be a new song, but the fact we got treated to two?! I can’t remember if I mentioned on my blog previously, but at the start of August I finally bit the bullet and booked to see PVRIS live, and I’m so bloody excited for it! Since I discovered PVRIS in 2019 I’ve been dying to go and see them live. 🙂

Game – PlateUp!

This is a game one of our friends was talking about, which intrigued me. I watched the trailer above and I just knew I had to give it a go! As it’s a game Dane already owned, we opted to play it on the split screen play together with said friend and since then I’ve been itching to play it! This was only yesterday by the way. 😛 So, PlateUp! is about running a restaurant, including cooking in the kitchen, serving the customers, as well as cleaning after them. Pretty much Overcooked, BUT it isn’t as stressful, which is always nice. One thing I especially liked about this game is the fact it’s couch co-op, so you don’t need two copies for you and a someone else to play! It’s up to four players, so maybe even four of you could play at the same time!

Just a few of my favourite things…

A new cross stitch project!

At the start of October I started a new cross stitch project and it’s one I was so anxious about at first, so much so I left it untouched for about a week? Since then I’ve been picking it up every other night and a couple of weeks later it’s looking as it does above. If you can’t tell, this is a Studio Ghibli inspired piece from Spirited Away. It’s Chihiro’s little yellow shoes, surrounded by soot sprites. As we don’t like shoes on in the house, I decided to cross stitch this design for our home to hang up! I’m planning to have it completed before the new Pokemon games come out mid November. The design/pattern is by the same person who I bought my Eevee design/pattern off, which I’ll link here.

New smock dresses.

If there’s one style of dress I’m mad about right now, it’s smock dresses. I can’t get enough of them, honestly! I received a couple recently, one being a pre-order, the other being a bargain find on eBay! I’ll talk about them in the order shown about.

The ghost smock dress is by Lazy Girl Club, which I mentioned recently on my October wish list here. I pre-ordered this dress over a month ago and a few weeks ago, it arrived! I love ghosts, so I knew I couldn’t resist this dress for Halloween, as well as all year around! The only issue I have with it though is it’s far too big for me, which people have commented on. If I don’t wear a harness or belt around the middle, I look like I’m trying to hide a pregnancy, which personally isn’t a look I want. Due to this I’m looking for a harness I can wear with this a lot of the time. I do have a Black Milk Clothing corset style harness that I’m wearing in the above photo, which works so well with it! I’ll probably try and wear this at work one day and see how I get on! If you’d like to get one of your own ghost smock dresses by Lazy Girl Club, or any other of her pieces for that matter, get over to her store ASAP as she’s just reopened it for orders!

The eBay bargain I found is this Lazy Oaf sally dress! I’ve seen this dress pop up on eBay and Vinted on and off, but when someone popped one on eBay for under £40, I couldn’t resist! It was brand new with tags and a complete bargain. I couldn’t wait for it to arrive so I could wear it to work and more. I’ve worn it a few times and it’s definitely too big for me, but it’s fine with a belt around the middle! It’s very cosy and perfect for colder days with a cardigan layered over the top of it. When I wore it to work I got a lot of compliments, which was really nice!

Lumichee goodies.

Finally, my long awaited Lumichee goodies arrived that I ordered! I can’t remember if I mentioned on my blog, but I placed this order through a courier service as the costs I would have paid through Etsy were a joke! I have no regrets and since the hoodie arrived, I’ve pretty much lived in it. 😛 I went for the mousemoth hoodie, as well as a sakura inspired mousemoth plush. I’m already chomping at the bit to place a second order, but I must be good due to Christmas looming! I don’t want to talk too much about these as I plan to write a blog post about these at some point in November. 🙂

So, there we have it, my favourites for October! Did you find October flew by really quickly?

What were your favourites from October? Anything I’ve mentioned that you’re planning to check out? Also, what plans do you have for Halloween tomorrow and Bonfire Night next week? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and have an amazing (and safe) Halloween and Bonfire Night next week!

Shirayukinikki – Jiji & Lily’s Bakery Glass Tumbler – Review

Today’s post is one I’ve been excited to write about and share with you all for a couple of months now, but as the item(s) I’ll be talking about today only arrived a month ago, I’ve only just had the chance to properly talk about them!

Shirayukinikki is a small business in America that I discovered in the summer through Instagram and specialises in creating lifestyle goodies and more, mostly sponsored by fan art, which is what attracted me to their Instagram page and items initially. I discovered them through their Jiji & Lily’s Bakery glass tumbler, and as someone who likes to drink their iced coffees, soft drinks, and alcohol out of a pretty glass, I kind of knew I wanted to get one (or two) some day.

Shirayukinikki does an assortment of designs, with pretty much all of the glass tumbler designs being fan art. These designs range from Pokemon, Studio Ghibli, Spy x Family, Cardcaptor Sakura, BT21, and more. Not only does Shirayukinikki sell glass tumblers, but also mugs and glass water bottles too!

When it came to placing an order, I sat on it for a while, as due to the cost of shipping from America to the UK, I didn’t feel like one glass was worth it. I contemplated ordering more glasses but left that idea too as I didn’t want to spend more money, you know?

I was sharing my love of the glass tumbler with one of my newest friends (hi Sammie!) and after she eyed up Shirayukinikki’s Instagram page and website too, she fell in love with the Anya Forger glass tumbler! So with that, we placed a shared order together. Finally, we were both getting cute glasses for our drinks!

We ordered our glasses on the 24th July, but they didn’t arrive in the UK until 14th September. We were both aware at the time of a 2-3 week wait when ordering the glasses, but after having a nose on the website three weeks later, we noticed the waiting time differed from previously. It now stated 3-6 weeks which confused us both a little. Since then I have checked both glass listings and they both have different wait times, with Anya Forger having 2-3 weeks, but Jiji & Lily’s Bakery having 3-6 weeks.

We weren’t bothered by the waiting time, as long as got our glasses after 6 weeks, which we pretty much did as 6 weeks later on the 4th September our glasses were shipped! Just be mindful of the waiting times, as like us, they may differ if you order more than one item!

One thing I want to add here is around the 4th September I dropped Shirayukinikki a message on Instagram to ask about an update on our order, as I knew they were due to go on holiday, and quite frankly I didn’t want to wait anymore for an update. Shirayukinikki’s customer service was great and not long after messaging our order was set as shipped and a tracking number supplied!

Prior to ordering our glasses I was wary Shirayukinikki had offered frosted versions too, which I enquired about for if I wanted to order a glass in the future. At the time I was told no, but as I messaged Shirayukinikki anyway about updates to our order, they asked me if I wanted the frosted option still, as Shirayukinikki had remembered me asking previously! It was really lovely that they remembered me asking and I said yes to the frosted option!

Since then the frosted option is now on all glasses, which I think is a good move as with and without a drink in the glass the design is visible, which is good!

Just over a week later and our glasses arrived! I couldn’t wait to get mine out the box to check it out, give it a wash and start using it! I also had a quick look at Sammie’s to make sure it was okay, which it was!

Glasses cost $26 each, roughly £23-£24, which isn’t a bad deal for a reusable glass with your favourite characters on. Plus, you are supporting a small business! I love that Shirayukinikki ships to the UK as there are still some American small business  that don’t ship to the UK or UK shoppers have to purchase through Etsy and get charged more.

Each glass comes with a bamboo lid and a glass straw, although it does state on the listings that they come with plastic straws.

Glasses are recommend to be hand washed, although they are dishwasher and microwave safe it is not recommended as it could cause the image on the glass to slowly fade, get scratched or even bubble. When hand washing use a soft sponge and wash lightly on the design.

Glasses can also be used for hot drinks, which I may have to try at some point with my matcha latte drinks. 🙂

Anyhoo, enough of the product details and such! I’ll show them off below, with links so you can check them out!

Jiji & Lily’s Bakery 16 oz Glass Tumbler – (link)

I LOVE Kiki’s Delivery Service and Jiji is definitely one of my favourite Studio Ghibli characters. Due to the cup mainly focusing on him, Lily and bakery themes I really loved the design for a glass… And maybe a mug eventually. 😛 The images on the glass includes Jiji, Lily, an assortment of baked goods including croissants, bread, etc, the mug with a Jiji doppelganger on and more! I love using my glass for iced coffees, but as the weather gets warmer I am finding myself using it to drink squash, as well as fizzy drinks! Thanks to Sammie she confirmed to me that one glass will hold two cans of fizzy drink! 😀

Washing the glass is really simple and I only wash gently on the outside and inside, as it’s easy to clean!

Anya Forger 16 oz Glass Tumbler – (link)

Sammie was such a good egg and sent me a photo of her Anya glass so I could show it off to you guys today! I’ve also added a picture from Shirayukinikki’s store so you can see some more photos of it too, which show it off in the frosted design. Sammie went for the standard glass (which is no longer available) which I really like! The designs shows up a lot more when there’s a drink in the glass, as you can see from Sammie’s photo. The Anya Forger glass of course has lots of different faces of Anya, as well as a bag of peanuts/peanuts, her chimera doll, and Bond Forger the dog!

Overall I absolutely adore our glasses and since getting it I’ve been using it constantly! If anything, I need to stop using it so much as I’m neglecting my Pokemon Café glass now. 😛

I know both me and Sammie have discussed which glasses and other items Shirayukinikki offers that we’d love to get in the future! Some of mine are as listed below:

Haku, No Face, and Ootori – Sama Frosted 16 oz Glass Tumbler – (link)

Totoro & Friends Frosted 16 oz Glass Tumbler – (link)

I’ll pop Shirayukinikki store and their social media handles below!

Store

Instagram

Twitter

So, what do you guys think of Shirayukinikki? I personally think their creations are absolutely amazing and quite frankly, I can’t wait to own more in the future! The quality of the glasses are amazing and I can see mine lasting a very long time! What do you guys think of Shirayukinikki? Any designs you like in particular? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time guys, have an amazing rest of your weekend and take care!

September Favourites ’22

I can’t quite believe how quickly September flew by. Literally it felt like yesterday it was the first full week of September, so the fact it’s now the second day of October… It’s just mad!

I’m rather excited for October due to Halloween, as well as Bonfire Night looming. It’s also at the end of the month when me and Dane have some time off together to celebrate the colder celebrations of the year and more. Not to mention the excitement of Pokemon Scarlett and Violet coming out next month too! November is an exciting month, but I’ll save chatter about that for next months favourites post. 😉 So yeah, October is a bit of a calm before the storm kind of month for us.

A lot happened in September with (what felt like) events left, right, and centre! I do just want the world to slow down a little to be honest… I’m wary we’re less than 100 days until Christmas and God knows how many until my 33rd birthday… I looked… 96 days…

One thing I’m especially excited for for the rest of the year is how many people I’m meeting who I’ve befriended thanks to the internet and similar interests. This time next week I’ll be meeting up with someone I befriended through a Discord, which I know we’re both excited for! 😀

I’m going to jump straight into the September favourites, as I’m wary I’m going to waffle on! 😛

Beauty – Dove Body Scrub Pomegranate Seeds & Shea Butter and Dove Body Scrub Crushed Macadamia & Rice Milk.

This was a more recent purchase that I got towards the end of September, and in a short space of time it has fast become a favourite! I love a good body scrub, especially foaming ones as I feel like they’re sort of cleaning as they scrub. Anyone else feel like that? Anyway, to be honest I mostly use body scrubs on my underarms and legs before shaving. However, I will use all over too if I feel it’s needed. I picked up two types of the Dove body scrub, Pomegranate Seeds & Shea Butter and Crushed Macadamia & Rice Milk, as at the time of purchasing (and publishing this post) they were buy one get one free from Superdrug. I have wanted to try the Dove body scrubs for a while now, so didn’t see the harm in taking up the offer! These have fast become a staple for sure as they smell really good and leave my skin feeling soft and moisturised after use. They’re not rough in terms of scrubbiness, which is ideal if you have sensitive skin. I had a horrible allergic reaction on my legs to a body scrub recently (name here) so my legs are grateful for the Dove body scrubs, that’s for sure. My only problem with the Dove body scrubs is that we don’t have as much choice as America do. For example, they have the Brown Sugar & Coconut Butter, which I would LOVE to get one day!

Movie – Kalifornia.

I’ll pre-warn you now, the trailer for this film is so cringe and typical of the early 90’s. I remember watching this film with my parents when I was a teenager, and although it’s classed as a horror/thriller, we found so many parts hilarious due to some of the stuff Early would come out with. Kalifornia is about a writer and his photographer girlfriend, who are planning to drive from Kentucky to California, writing and taking photos for his book as they go. Due to the costs of such a trip, they advertise for people to travel with them, with the advertisement being filled by Early and his girlfriend. Prior to leaving and during their trip, things go from weird, to bad. On my dad’s birthday we spoke about the film again, one Dane had never heard of before, so I decided to buy it for us to watch one evening. I think due to the trailer (and the way we sold it to him) Dane didn’t expect much from it, but by the end of the film, he commented how much he enjoyed! I highly recommend if you fancy giving it a watch! It has a big cast with Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, and Michelle Forbes.

TV Show – Bee & PuppyCat.

I’ve been so excited to talk about Bee & PuppyCat this month! As regular readers may have seen, I did talk about the show prior to it’s launch on Netflix at the start of September (which you can read here). I really loved the updated version of season one, however there were some hilarious and memorable moments from the original that I was sad not to see. I can only imagine they were so good previously that recreating them again wasn’t doable… But I don’t know. I won’t spoiler by mentioning what they are, but in the future I might write a blog post of what I thought of the Netflix version. To conclude here, I’m so excited for another season (there better be one!) as well the hype that is now around the show. I’ve always followed the hashtag on Instagram for the show so I always saw people’s posts about it. Since the show came out last month, I’m always seeing and discovering new people through Bee & PuppyCat, which in turn just makes me so happy!

Music – Electric Callboy Tekkno.

Electric Callboy’s new album Tekkno released towards the end of September, which both me and Dane were excited for! We were also meant to go and see the guys play last week but due to one of the singers falling ill, the gig has been postponed, which is a shame, but at the same time it’ll still be an amazing show! 😀 Tekkno is such a fun album and one I’ve been finding myself listening to lots since it came out, with putting it on in the morning on my way to work, whilst I’m working, as well as on my drive home! Electric Callboy are a band everyone should check out at some point, with their sound being a mixture of metal and electronic. We discovered them in 2020 when “Hypa Hypa” came out. Our friend told us about it and since then we’ve both been hooked!

Game – Bear & Breakfast.

I’ll be honest, as the days loomed for this game coming out, I did contemplate whether or not to buy. A review I watched mentioned how repetitive the game is, which wasn’t such an issue for me, but it did kind of put me off. Alongside that, I already have plenty of games to play so I was a bit torn. In the end, I bought it and have played it on and off the past couple of weeks! Bear & Breakfast is a game where you’re a bear and start a chain of bed and breakfasts in your woodland to try and encourage humans back to the forest. It’s a very basic game, but fun nonetheless if you want a game you don’t want to have to think too much about! Sadly the past week I haven’t touched it, as I’ve been working on some last minute cross stitch projects… More about that under other. 😛

Just a few of my favourite things…

Nature Centre, Birmingham.

I went out yesterday with my bestie and our best boys to see some cute animals at the Nature Centre in Birmingham, then lunch at our favourite independent coffee place. It was so lovely and I’m so glad the weather held up for us, as prior to that it has been fucking miserable! I started to really get into the autumnal feels and I honestly can’t wait for more of that. My bestie loves red pandas, so I told her it was time for us to go and see some in Birmingham! We picked the perfect day and time to go as there were hardly any people there, and with some coffees in hand, we walked around the park, in awe of the cute animals in front of us. I think the red panda knew it was the main reason for us going, as it really did do some poses for us. 😛

THIS IS HALLOWEEN, THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

Back in the summer my dad asked me if I could get him some vegetable seed packets. They didn’t have one he was after, so as I joke I decided to pick up some pumpkin seeds for him to try growing. They weren’t cheap, so I paid for them and we had a laugh about it. The above photo is from yesterday. I cannot believe just how well his pumpkins have grown! They look incredible and I’m so proud of him for giving it a go! He did give one to me to grow too, but we didn’t have the luck he did. This photo just gives me so many autumn and Halloween vibes, both of which I’m excited and beyond ready for now!

“Kiki, look it’s me!”

FYI I will be posting a blog post up all about this glass, and shirayukinikki, the store/artist behind it so keep eyes peeled for that this month! Back a couple of months ago me and one of my newer friends decided to go halves on shipping some glasses by shirayukinikki to us. Since this arrived last month, I’ve been using it for iced drinks, alcohol and even just glasses of squash. I really love the Jiji and Lily bakery design behind it and couldn’t resist. Of course if you aren’t aware, the design is inspired by Studio Ghibli film Kiki’s Delivery Service, which you should go and watch if you haven’t before!

Kawaii goods.

Finally, I want to show off some cute items that arrive the past few weeks, because why not!

The first image is of my honey bear gacha by shigematsu_kun that my friend Emily was kind enough to add to her From Japan order for me! I’d seen someone buy the four honey bear gacha and showcase them on an Instagram reel, I knew I needed them! Once Emily sent them to me, I decided to stick them on my desk monitor as I thought it was the perfect home for them! I love when I’m working from home, or sitting at my desk that I can look up and see the four little cuties sat there! My desk is growing more adorable and I love it!

The second image is of my Toast the raccoon plushie by Yencat! I backed it on Kickstarter earlier this year in February, alongside with a plush pouch too. This guy is a CHONK and I love it! It’s a lovely plush for cuddling due to this, but as I already have one mochi plush I use for cuddling, I’m going to purely keep Toast for display purposes. As I may have mentioned before on my blog, raccoons feel like my spirit animal and due to that I do adore them, but this is actually my first raccoon plush! I don’t think I could have chosen a better one, do you? 😛

So, there we have it guys, my favourites from September! It flew by, didn’t it? 😛 I am excited for October though due to more autumnal vibes and Halloween. 😛

What were your favourite things about September? Are you excited for October too? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and enjoy the rest of your weekends. 🙂

July Favourites ’22

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!

Collective Japan Haul

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.

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Cinnamoroll Plush – (link)

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.

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Mocha Plush – (link)

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!

Pokemon Saiko Soda Phanpy Plush – (link)

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.

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Espresso Plush – (link)

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! 😛

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Cappuccino Plush – (link)

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.

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Chiffon Plush – (link)

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!

Cinnamoroll 20th Anniversary Milk Plush – (link)

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!

June Favourites ’22

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.

Image taken from Giphy

TV Show – The Boys Season Three.

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.

Just a few of my favourite things…

Image from greetings.nerds

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. 🙂

Happy Place Cosmetics

Store, Instagram, TikTok.

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 Likes To Doodle

Website, Shop, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.

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

Shop, Pin Club, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

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, Birmingham

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

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.

Dr Martens x Lazy Oaf Buckle Boot

First things first, Happy belated Easter everyone! Last weekend with the bank holiday was so busy for me that I unfortunately didn’t have time to do much with my blog. Regardless of how busy Easter was, I had a lovely one that was filled with yummy food, shopping, birthday celebrations and more.

Anyhoo… I know you probably didn’t sign up for fashion based posts, but bear with me… Ten years ago when my journey with There Might Be Coffee began it was pretty much all about beauty and fashion. I was obsessed with both and I wanted to shout out about it to the world! Granted, I still love my beauty stuff, but fashion has been hit and miss the past ten years. Before I got with Dane I was all over it, but after me and Dane got together I definitely relaxed with it a little and the past two years with Covid, the way I dressed really changed, and not in a good way. Due to being stuck at home due to lockdown I lived in joggers, leggings, t-shirts, sweaters and hoodies, and some days my pyjamas. 2022 is the year of me really identifying how I’d like to dress, both for my age as well as my aesthetic. I know for a fact I’m not the only one who got a kick up the arse from lockdown fashion “to sort myself out”…

I think I mentioned all of this on my blog post about Tallulah’s Threads, but before Covid I practically lived in mom jeans and sweaters/t-shirts. I can’t remember the last time I reached for my mom jeans as these days I just prefer dresses, both for comfort and for how bloody cute they are, especially smock dresses.

Alongside buying loads of staple pieces for work and personal (mostly dresses to be fair), I recently decided to buy myself a pair of Dr Martens boots I’d been eyeing up for quite some time. I wanted to share them with you today as not only do I feel like I snagged a bargain, but I also want to share my Dr Martens tips with you all… Aka a guide of not coming away with broken feet. 😛

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about my Dr Martens purchases on my blog and I’m sure it won’t be the last! You can read about my first pair of Dr Martens boots here and my Adventure Time Dr Martens here too.

So, just a little about these boots. They were a 2019 collaboration between Dr Martens and Lazy Oaf, which is kind of obvious from the name of the post. There were a few different styles brought out in this collection, including sandals, creepers and especially the buckle boots I’ll be sharing today.

From memory I do recall seeing these released/discussed at the time but didn’t really think much about them. I had booked my trip to Japan and was trying to save as much money as possible for that. However, I did see quite a few people I follow on Instagram get them and the more they posted about them, the more I wanted a pair myself. Again, due to the Japan trip I didn’t look or buy myself a pair.

Just before we booked our Japan trip I did buy a pair of Dr Martens boots I’d had my eye on for a while… Which I’m now selling after only wearing once! They’re heavy to wear due to a steel toe and yeah, I regret buying them. I hope they go to a good home soon.

During lockdowns between 2020 and 2021 I did look at the buckle boots again, but never really thought much about them. The sole is thicker than what I’m used to with Dr Martens and the idea of it put me off. This being said, I stupidly bought some platform trainers… Which have since been sold as I never wore them…

To add here by the way, I’ve always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Lazy Oaf. I’ve always loved their quirky pieces, especially the Boring rainbow cardigan (which I own), as well as the pastel version of it (which I want), but I’ve always really hated some of the pieces they bring out, and don’t even get me started on the prices! I feel like Lazy Oaf is a great brand, but it often feels like influencers on Instagram or YouTubers purchase or are sent the goods, do reviews of them and haul videos (which is great!), but as soon as us “norms” go onto the website to buy stuff it’s often sold out or stupidly priced.

Aside from that, I do have some Lazy Oaf pieces I’ve obtained second hand through Depop, Vinted and eBay. Only one of my Lazy Oaf pieces was brand new, but even then I bought it through Depop. I don’t think I can afford Lazy Oaf new to be honest with you… 😛

Some second hand buying advise (that your probably didn’t ask for), for anyone who is after Lazy Oaf pieces on a budget, or just wants to do their bit buying second hand, I definitely recommend Depop, Vinted and eBay for sure! Look daily and don’t pay more than you would brand new. I recently found a Lazy Oaf grail and paid an amazing price for it second hand. I’ll share it in my April favourites next week!

Aside from that, let’s talk about the boots. I could be here all day talking about my Lazy Oaf finds and purchases over the years. If this is a blog post you would be interested in in the future, please let me know in the comments.

As I’ve already mentioned, these boots have a double sole, something I’m not used to, but that being said it’s not really noticeable when wearing the boots. I was expecting them to be really heavy, but alas they aren’t, which I’m grateful for.

The boots themselves are black, with pink heart motifs on the tongue, as well as on the back of the boot.

As you can tell by the name of these boots, they are a buckle boot, with the buckle shape being a silver heart, alongside with a silver zip in front of the tongue and behind the buckle.

Although these have the traditional Dr Martens boot staples of the yellow stitching and yellow and black tag at the back, without them, these boots could easily be mistaken for another brand. They don’t shout Dr Martens boots to me, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I love the Dr Martens and combat boot look, it’s always something I wanted as a teenager and the day I got my first pair of combat boots (some cheap ones from a market), I was thrilled! I lived in them until they were too painful to wear. That’s when I bought my first pair of Dr Martens and I’ve never looked back.

If there is one thing I have always somewhat disliked about Dr Martens is the laces. Sometimes it feels like the laces can take an age to do up and then I also worry I haven’t tightened them enough. I think this is due to years of living in slip on Vans.

With the buckle boots, it’s one thing I really I love about them as there’s no laces in sight to worry about! Just a zip and a buckle! I really love the look of the Devon boots for that reason alone… Alongside the fact they’re pretty AND have plenty of colours to choose from. I really want the dark purple pair Dr Martens recently announced.

Comfort wise I wanted to share my experience of wearing these so far. It’s not been too bad, thankfully. They were practically new when I bought them so I was wary my feet may end up being ripped to shreds. I’ve always had my tips and tricks to avoid sore feet when wearing new Dr Martens boots but I wanted to look for some more, just in case there had been some newer ones spoken of and shared. Alas, ankle protectors from Amazon was making the rounds, so I decided to buy some.

I’ve tried them once so far and my experience isn’t great. I wore them out to run some errands with Dane and decided to pop them on over tights. First of all, when I was attempting to put my boots on with the ankle protectors, they kept moving as I was putting my foot into the boot. This meant I had to dig my finger in after my foot was in the boot to move them around how I needed them. It was a painful exercise, but doable. It’s a good job we weren’t in a hurry, let me put it that way.

Then when we went out and we were walking around, the ankle protectors quickly slipped from around my ankles down to the bottom of my foot, which wasn’t great. We went for coffee and I attempted to move the ankle protectors back to where they should have been, but it proved to be too much effort. We’d almost finished what we needed to do anyway, so I risked the potential of cut up ankles. Thankfully however, this didn’t happen and my feet were safe!

I’ll definitely given the ankle protectors another go, but this time I’ll pop socks over tights and see how it works. Or maybe even wear the ankle protectors underneath my tights/socks and see how I get on.

My tried and tested method for the past ten years however has been simple. Thick socks, wide plasters/bandage tape on the ankle (and any other part of you foot you may experience rubbing) and a day out to really break them in! My first pair of Dr Martens I wore to Stratford-upon-Avon for the day. I wore plasters and took some with me just to be safe. I don’t remember experience too much discomfort, but I remember the soles of my feet being sore from new boots and lots of walking.

This hasn’t always been the same story with my Adventure Time Dr Martens however, which do really hurt my feet at the best of times. These are boots I really need to break in though, hence the slight discomfort each time I wear them. I’ve also worn these to Stratford-upon-Avon for a day and did come away with sore feet. Ouch.

I wanted to mention my experiences with my other pairs of Dr Martens boots, as last time I wore my buckle boots I did just this and I was in a bit of trouble. I wore tights, my thick Dr Martens socks over the top and risked not wearing the ankle protectors, or plasters. Due to how thick my socks were, the boots felt tight and unfortunately my ankles did start to rub. I only walked to the shops and back, but I was in a bit of trouble! Me and Dane were going into town for the day and I had planned to wear my boots into town to break them in, alas, this didn’t happen and I took them off and wore my Vans instead.

I think a couple of brisk walks to the shops (ten minute walk) and back may help to break these in.

I don’t think I’ve spoken about it yet, but you’re probably wondering how I came to find these boots from almost three years ago? Let me share!

So, my Instagram friend Daysei is a terrible influence when it comes to clothing (sorry Daysei, but you know it’s true :P) and as I know she loves Dr Martens, I mentioned to her in passing how I’d love the Lazy Oaf buckle boots. I wasn’t aware, but more so recently, Dr Martens shoe sizes have been really off and the size you expect to fit could be too big, or too small. This has happened in specific styles and then at random. I’m always a size seven in my Dr Martens, so I started to look at websites such as Depop, eBay, Vinted, and even Dr Martens Facebook groups to try and find the Lazy Oaf boots I wanted. I had no luck for ages, and when I did sizes were too big or too small, shit quality, but mainly people asking stupid prices.

Eventually I came across a listing on eBay where the seller was selling them as worn once for £150, so I went for it and I’ve not looked back! At one point I almost bought a size eight which I would have regretted so bloody much, especially as they were more expensive too.

My only complaint with the boots I bought is the one buckle is very damaged… This damage wasn’t shown on the photos and I only realised it after a few days of owning them. That being said, I’m not too fussed as they’ll get worn and enjoyed so eventually they’ll show wear and tear regardless.

If there’s one thing I really want to do with these boots it’s give them a good polish and some much needed TLC! They did come in amazing condition, but all my Dr Martens boots need some care to the leather. I should have really picked up some goodies in the Dr Martens store last week, but I just didn’t. I think I’ll do a bulk order of goodies next week.

I’m honestly so excited to have a pair of Dr Martens I can just throw and zip on for days out with Dane and friends, I’ve just been so anxious about wearing them due to a mixture of the soles height and the fear of coming home to sore feet. I’m hopeful I’ll be okay though after a couple more wears out and about.

What do you guys think about the boots I picked up? Are you a Dr Martens and/or Lazy Oaf fan? Make sure to let me know in the comments below!

Until next time guys, have a lovely weekend!

April Wish List ’22

I know I say it every month, but how are we already into April? Especially the first proper week of April too! Before we know it, it’ll be May and I’ll be repeating myself all over again. 😛

I’m not going to lie, I really did struggle with my wish list this month due to just not feeling like there’s a fat lot I want to buy? I’m still trying to be really good with money and with Dane’s birthday next week, I’ve been focusing on spending any monies I have like that, on him. That being said, I did manage to get some items to talk about this month with a mixture of pre-orders, items I hope to buy at the end of the month, as well as a special item I’d really love and will speak about at the end… 😛

Anyhoo, no time like the present, let’s get on with the wish list!

• Totally Emily Designs Stickers – (link) and (link)

The first item I’d like to talk about on my wish list is my friend Emily’s sticker store, Totally Emily Designs. Currently she’s only stocking glossy stickers and sticker sheets, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she has more ideas for the future! This being said, I definitely have some stickers from her I’d love to get to decorate my water bottle, but especially Magikarp at the moment! It’s such a cute design and would work perfectly on my water bottle for sure! 😀 Also to add here, Emily isn’t just a friend but she’s also a blogger like me! Make sure to go and check out her blog Totally Emily.

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons Friend Doll Vol.3 – (link)

First and foremost, I pre-ordered these back at the end of November 2021 and the past four months since then have really flown! You know when you order something you find yourself saying, “Urgh that’s going to take an age to wait for!” and then before you know it, the item is due! 😛 Edit, that being said literally 24 hours before this post was due to go live, I was told these won’t be out until May now… 😦 Anyhoo, I’m super excited for volume 3 of the Animal Crossing friend dolls to arrive, especially as they’re the cutest volume yet! However, I’m not looking forward to finding out how much it’s going to cost to ship the cuties to me! If you weren’t aware, currently Japan has suspended Airmail due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, which is fair. This being said, surface mail is still available, which is the cheapest but also the worst! You’ll be waiting up to three months for your goodies to arrive. Thankfully there is the DHL/FedEx option, so I’ll definitely be going for this and this is where my original however came in. I’m just hopeful it isn’t going to cost me a bomb! This being said, I’m so bloody excited for these to arrive! Goldie and Judy are definitely my favourites.

• My Dress-Up Darling Vol 5 Manga – (link)

As regular readers will know, My Dress-Up Darling has really grown on me (you can read how and why here) and I really adore it as both a manga and anime. I pre-ordered volumes five and six a month ago and according to where I pre-ordered, volume five is due out at the end of the month, which I’m really excited for! I feel like I can’t get enough of this since the anime’s first season concluded at the end of March. I’m waiting for all the dubbed episode to release so I can binge watch them all. xD Sad? Yes? Do I care? Not really.

• Nooks Needles Co Animal Crossing Vesta T-Shirt – (link)

This is something I’m planning to treat myself to as soon as April payday comes around at the end of the month. I own one piece by Nooks Needles Co already, my Cookie sweater and I adore it! I own an Animal Crossing stitched t-shirt by another designer and wear it to work often as it isn’t obvious it’s Animal Crossing. Due to this, I’d love to get another! This time, I’d like to get a navy t-shirt with Vesta the sheep villager on the left hand side. Vesta is one of my favourite villagers, even though I don’t shout about it! She was the first sheep villager I met and personally I love her. I never invited her to my New Horizons island as Dane had her on his, so instead, Eunice (also a sheep villager) came to live on my island instead. This all said, I really wanted to pick up the t-shirt sooner, but I’d rather spend that monies on Dane. I can wait. 🙂

• Nintendo Switch Sports – (link)

Okay, raise your hand if you loved Wii Sports… Most of you probably did, didn’t you? I know I did, especially the bowling game. I was obsessed with it growing up and when I met Dane and found out his family owned a Wii, I was ecstatic! Years have passed since I last played it (not going to lie haha) and finally we’re getting the same game (pretty much…) for the Switch! I’m going to pre-order it soon ready for the end of the month when it launches. My dad always loved the bowling game too, and only over Christmas did he ask if we could put it on to play. Now we can easily with it being on the Switch, which in itself makes me happy.

• Pokemon Center Mareep Poké Plush – 45 In. – (link)

Okay, so this is the item I said I would save for the end to speak about! I would really love the life-size Mareep from the Pokemon Center, and now we have the UK one to buy from, I’ve got even more chance than ever to make this dream come true! However, it is over £400… Which is a lot of money! I’ve decided that I’m going to save up for it over the next couple of months and get it at some point in the near future. In all fariness, I may save up for it, only to change my mind later on, but at least I’ll have some extra savings, I guess?

So, there we have it guys, my wish list for this month! I know it wasn’t anything special and if anything, it was probably incredibly underwhelming, but it is what it is and I enjoyed writing the post.

What do you guys have on your wish lists this month? Anything nice you’ve treated yourself to this month? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all, take care and I hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

January Favourites ’22

Can you believe it’s almost the end of January already?! 2022 is already flying by and I don’t like it. 😛 I know I always say this every month, but I know I’m not the only one!

January for me was crap to say the least as both me and Dane were really sick for the first week of it with chest infections (thankfully not Covid!) and without going into too much detail, my mental health has been really bad. I’m hoping it’ll improve moving forward…

I think another thing that sucked was due to us being sick on my birthday, I didn’t exactly have the best day. Memorable, yes, but crap. 😛 I know we’ll be making up for that at some point soon, which I’m really excited about. What though, I don’t know.

That being said January wasn’t all bad! Money wise I did pretty good considering how long people wait for payday in office jobs (six whole weeks!). I came into 2022 with the attitude of, “Spend less and sell more!” after doing really well with selling old stuff I no longer want on Vinted. If you’re interested in what I’m selling please ask for my store link, I won’t post it publicly on my blog. I’m finally going to clear out a lot of my old clothes from my old room, which is WELL overdue seeing as I moved out almost six years ago. xD

I’m hoping for February to be a better month, mainly health wise but also money wise too. Me and Dane have set a lot of home improvement goals for 2022 and I hope to get started on a lot of them this month, including a LOT of spring cleaning!

I don’t know why but I’m incredibly excited for spring this year. Maybe because of nicer weather and baby animals? 😛

Are you looking forward to anything in February? Make sure to let me know.

Anyhoo, on with the monthly favourites!!!

Favourite Beauty Product – Happy Place Cosmetics Bougie Body Scrub.

If there is one product I cannot live without in my bath/shower it’s the Happy Place Cosmetics body scrubs. They are the best I have ever used and smell amazing to boot! Black Friday they brought out some amazing deals, including body scrubs being on offer, so I bought a bunch of them to keep me going for a while, including Bougie. Bougie is a dupe of Lush Yog Nog, which is one of my favourite scents, from both brands! The HPC body scrubs foam up when you add a little bit of water, so not only do you feel nice and scrubbed after use, but clean too! I especially love to give my whole body a good scrub once to twice a week, depending. Mostly however I love using my body scrub on my legs before shaving. My legs were getting really dry at one point and even with a good moisture, they just seemed dry and itchy. Since using the scrub on them before shaving that dry and itchy feeling has gone and I’m so relieved. I need to do a review of HPC in the future, as not only do they create amazing things for your bath and shower, but for your home too with the wax tarts!

Favourite Film – Ron’s Gone Wrong.

Unfortunately I don’t have any “massive” films to shout about watching. Me and Dane are too anxious to go to the cinema so we’ve not been able to watch anything new lately. However, over Christmas we did binge watch a lot of films on Disney+ and Ron’s Gone Wrong was one of them. I’d been itching to watch this film for a while as not only had I seen it spoken about online, but I’d watched the trailer with Dane and found it adorable, which is exactly what it was. Ron’s Gone Wrong is about a new robot (B-bot) that children are using to find friends they’ll have in common and more. It’s basically a phone but disguised as a toy robot for kids. Barney is the only kid in school without a B-bot and it shows how much it affects him and even when Barney does get one, there’s something wrong with it. I won’t talk too much about the plot in case of spoilers, but I highly recommend checking it out, it’s got a really good message to it for younger and even older people about how much technology can affect us forget about what’s actually around us. I had a little cry at the end too. :’)

Favourite TV Show/Anime – Attack on Titan Final Season.

I’ve really been itching to talk about this this month and before I do, do not worry! There won’t be any spoilers shared here. A massive one came up on the latest episode (23/01) and DAMN I’m so glad we watched it. I’d have hated to see spoilers the next day. Anyhoo… Attack on Titan means a lot to me for various reasons and due to that I’m really sad to see it coming to an end to be honest. It’s one of the first (if not the first) anime me and Dane really got into together. We discovered Attack on Titan back in June 2014 when we went to Bristol for our first anniversary. Dane had heard loads about it and decided to buy some of the manga volumes in Forbidden Planet, as well as find the first episode online for us to watch. Dane fell in love with it, as did I and before we knew it, he’d bought all the manga there was on offer at the time and we found the first season to watch online too. I still remember getting to the last episode of season one and saying to Dane, “Next episode!” with him replying, “That’s it, we need to wit for the next season now.” This was almost ten years ago… How crazy is that? It’s amazing and sad at the same time that we’re now on the final season! It’s kind of the end of an era for a lot of people, including me and Dane. So far though, the final season is amazing! I’m still leaving each episode screaming at the screen saying, “WHAT? What’s happening?”. xD

Favourite Music – PVRIS Shuffle and Bring Me The Horizon – Kingslayer (feat. BABYMETAL).

I don’t know why (well I do, because I love them) but lately I’ve been listening to PVRIS so much. I think it’s because when I’ve been in the office for work, or been working on my own stuff at home, I’ve found that they’re my go to choice when I just need to concentrate and get on with things. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before on my blog, but PVRIS are actually doing a tour in the UK in May which I REALLY want to go to, but I don’t know if I can justify it with Covid and such? Purely because I’m seeing My Chemical Romance a week or two after and I’d be gutted if I came out of the PVRIS gig with Covid and couldn’t then see MCR… So yeah. That sucks at the moment! I’m still not writing it out because you never know, but yeah…

I also wanted to share with you a song I discovered around Christmas/New Year that Dane showed me. It’s by Bring Me The Horizon but features BABYMETAL, it’s amazing and I fucking love it! It’s really catchy, can be danced to as well as sang along to as well as it has a mixture of screaming and singing. I’m not a massive Bring Me The Horizon fan (not so much the music…) but I do love BABYMETAL. It’s just a perfect song to me and you should give it a listen.

Image taken from Amazon

Favourite Book – The Sad Ghost Club Volume Two.

Guys I actually did some reading in January! Can you believe it? 😛 I LOVE The Sad Ghost Club and as soon as I heard that the second book was coming out, I knew I had to get it. I pre-ordered as soon as it could be and it arrived on my birthday. As I mentioned at the start of the post, both me and Dane were really sick at the start of January, which sucked. This also meant I didn’t get to do anything for my birthday, apart from cuddle up on the sofa and cuddle with Dane. This being said, I did also read The Sad Ghost Club Volume 2 and I really loved it. I won’t say too much so it doesn’t ruin it for other people, but it really did touch upon people’s anxieties even more, which I loved. I could relate to Socks and it really tore on my heart strings. If you love The Sad Ghost Club on Instagram or any other social media, then you need to pick up the books to read. They’re so wholesome and make me smile when I feel down. I can’t wait for the next instalment!

Image taken from PokeCommunity Daily

Favourite Game – Pokemon Shining Pearl.

I was actually going to mention Pokemon: Legend Arceus today BUT it only came out yesterday so seems a bit premature to mention it so quickly. I’ve found myself picking up Shining Pearl quite a bit over January. Mainly because I REALLY wanted to try and get the main bulk of the story completed before Legend Arceus came out. I did in fact do this, but now I’ve opened the national dex and need to bloody complete that! 😛 This being said, Shining Pearl has been so nice and relaxing to play, especially when I wasn’t feeling very well and had the energy to do something more than binge watch Netflix and TV shows on Channel 4. I forgot how long the gen four games are, but I’m not complaining as it’s much better when you compare to Sword and Shield. I did mention it in November when the gen four remakes came out, BUT I did in fact buy Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond, as I expected Dane to play with me. As he isn’t doing such a thing and I’d like to 100% complete Shining Pearl, I will eventually play Brilliant Diamond on his switch so I can swap exclusives and such. Is that sad? Yeah, but whatever. 😛

Another thing I wanted to mention here that’s game related is, I’ve decided to create a games completion thread over on my Twitter, which you can find here! My friend Connor did this in 2021 and he really inspired me to do it myself. At the moment I only really have one game on there, but I’m sure that list will grow! I really want to work my way through some of my games this year. I’m sick of buying new when I have half completed ones gathering dust.

Just a few of my favourite things…

Pingki Buddy plush.

I don’t want to talk tooooo much about this plush as in April I’ll be talking in depth about all of the penguin friends that Pingki has created. However, I couldn’t not talk about my Buddy plush today as it’s so bloody cute! If you haven’t already recognised Buddy, he’s heavily inspired by a certain jock penguin from Animal Crossing… 😛 I pre-ordered this cutie from Pingki back in September 2021 and eagerly waited almost four months for him to arrive! It’s such an adorable plush, a nice size for cuddling and especially perfect for taking lots of photos of, as you can see above. 😛 Just an FYI, Buddy is currently sold out and I’m unsure when he’ll be back up for pre-order since the April pre-orders are all booked up!

In the December pre-orders I also pre-ordered the rest of the penguin gang and I’m already counting down the months until April when they’re due to start being shipped to their new homes! We have Baby, Bestie, Slushie and Brainfreeze. I wasn’t planning on getting them all due to lack of space, but I’ve decided to keep them on the back of our sofa as they’ll look really cute and like they’re watching TV with us… Which any Animal Crossing fan wants, right?

Loungefly Sanrio kawaii wallet.

At the start of January I snagged one of my Loungefly grails and for a fucking bargain too! If you don’t know what I mean when I say a grail, it means an item that you’re after that’s hard to find and rare, expensive or both. I feel like this wallet came out between 2020 and 2021, but don’t quote me on that. I just remember it coming out and really wanting the wallet, as well as the matching backpack too (which is also on my grail list!). I found this wallet on Vinted for a steal and decided to treat myself to it straight away. A couple of days later it arrived and I adore it! It was brand new with tags and under £25. I feel like the person who sold it to me knew the value and didn’t want to be a twat about selling it for a stupidly high price? I do have one flaw with this wallet though and that’s it made me feel a little anxious about keeping my bank card and ID in the usual places, so they’re elsewhere. I thought I’d mention this as I know this wallet style is a popular one that Loungefly make, so if you’re looking to buy this style of wallet from them, please bear this in mind! In the future I’m semi hoping to snag the backpack for a bargain too! 😛

Baking – Salted caramel and salted caramel shortbread.

As me and Dane had some stuff to use up in the house, as well as friends to see I decided to not only make salted caramel, but also to make salted caramel shortbread too! Both were a success and it’s made me realise just how much I do love baking! I mean, I know I love baking but you know what I mean. 😛

I’ve made the caramel shortbread before and don’t recall it being a bit hit with everyone, but this time when I made it, Dane and our friends loved it! It made me so happy to hear everyone’s praise and it’s just made me want to bake more and more! Maybe 2022 will be the year I do lots of baking? Watch this space. I absolutely adore baking, it’s a big passion of mine but at the same time I hate it because then I have to find people to eat it all, or me and Dane scoff all the yummy goods. 😛

I’m going to pop the videos about of the recipes I used as they’re really simple, easy to follow and highly recommended!

Fluffy cardigan.

One of my birthday presents from my mom this year was a fluffy cardigan and I fucking love it. So much so I wore it everyday for a week before washing… Grim yes but true. For Christmas my mom bought me and Dane loads of winter warmers such as a fluffy hot water bottle, teddy bear bedding and a gorgeous cream fluffy throw. Her gifts have really been appreciated to say the least, especially when we were poorly. Due to all these warm goodies and the gas prices going up, I suggested to Dane that we make the most of her gifts and turn the heating off in the day, which he agreed. Since then those winter warmers have been getting some use!

My mom had seen this fluffy cardigan on QVC and decided to order us both one and she gave it to me a couple of weeks ago. It’s so soft and fluffy, baggy, has a MASSIVE hood and is just perfect to throw on when you’re feeling chilly or want something comforting. I’ve practically lived in it! Dane jokily wore it the once whilst I was cooking dinner so I snapped a photo on my phone and sent it to my mom. To my surprise she ordered another one, so me and Dane could have one each! That’s my mom all over, bless her.

I am rather excited for us to get another so I can rotate wear them and always have one to live in when it’s chilly!

Image take from GIPHY

Being sick, boo.

Finally I’m going to talk a bit more about what a shit start to the year I had, and Dane for that matter! Right at the end of 2021 me and Dane started to feel under the weather and we put it down to being a cold, but that soon turned out to be a chest infection, which was evidently worse for me than it was for Dane. I came into 2022 with conjunctivitis in both eyes, a horrible cough and sore throat and no to mention no fucking sleep due to the previous two illnesses. It was vile and no matter what me and Dane did to try and shift it, nothing would. It seemed at one point like it was getting worse! Most of our days in the first week of January were spent on our sofa binge watching anything and everything we could on Netflix and All 4.

Of course I can hear you asking, “It wasn’t Covid then?” Nope, thankfully, but trying to find out if it was or not was a fucking pain in the arse! We’d both booked PCR tests on the Monday to find out if we had it, only for them to arrive on the Thursday. Post was very delayed due to the weird bank holidays we’d had at the start of the year, as well as both the Royal Mail and NHS struggling due to rising Covid rates. We’d tried to book to go to a test centre but had no luck, however, one sleepless night we were awake around 3am and managed to book drive thru tests in on the Wednesday. Thursday morning, we found out we were Covid free, as well as see our PCR tests arrive. They’ve been kept somewhere safe for potential future use.

Alongside all that with us being sick, not only did I not get to do fuck all for my own birthday, but I didn’t get to do anything for mom’s either and it really broke my heart. We didn’t get to do anything last year due to Covid and this year I was sick. My mom’s birthday is the day after mine so we do always try and go for a meal, whether it be her day or mine. We’ll go and do something in February no doubt, but it just felt really shit this year and it’s definitely not put me in the best of moods this month due to that.

During me being sick I lost my voice, which was incredibly uncomfortable and annoying. My voice still breaks every now and then and I’m worried whatever was wrong with me is still present in my system. I’m definitely hopeful that February will not contain any sicknesses of any kind. 😛

So, there we have it guys my January favourites! I really missed not writing this style of post since December when I wrote about my November favourites, but it’s definitely good to be back!

What were some of your favourites from January? Make sure to let me know in the comments.

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