Manchester Adventure and Haul

We have officially been back from Manchester for a couple of days now and it was a very much needed break away and enjoyed. The weather was really good for us too, which was greatly appreciated. I can’t believe our week off is finally coming to an end and I’m really sad it couldn’t have lasted a little longer, especially as I’m not feeling 100%. I can’t tell if I have a cold that’s going around or hay fever, or maybe a bit of both! Last night I went to bed at 7pm and was on and off asleep. I’m hopeful I’m back to myself come Monday when I’m back at work. 🙂

Aside from that, I wanted to do a blog post today not only sharing what we got up to during out time in Manchester, but also share with you my haul of the items I picked up during our time there too! I spent a lot of money, more than I’ve spent since probably Christmas and I feel semi guilty for it. That being said, it was also nice to have a treat and buy some things for myself! Alongside sharing what items I picked up, I also want to talk about Tokyo Ramen, Point Blank Shooting, Ohayo Tea, and The Arcade Club in Bury. Both of these places were so much fun and I can’t NOT mention them to you!

This will be a long post, so make sure to grab a drink, hot or cold and I hope you enjoy todays post! I’ll be talking in the order of places we ventured to, with my haul towards the end. 🙂

The first place we really ventured to in Manchester upon arrival was Tokyo Ramen. We were starving and as I’d found this place online weeks prior to heading to Manchester, we decided to go for lunch. It was SO GOOD and I cannot recommend it enough if you have a craving for ramen, or want to try it for the first time. We went for the standard type of ramen with pork cutlet and it was so good, as you can see! We only ate ramen once in Japan, but this is the best ramen I’ve had to date. Tokyo Ramen is in the Northern Quarter, opposite Afflecks.

After this we did some shopping in the Arndale, as well as around the Northern Quarter and headed back to our hotel to check in and have a rest before heading to Point Blank Shooting! For my 30th one of my friends has gifted me a Red Letter Days voucher for a comedy night, but as the past two years have flown, I wasn’t 100% feeling that so decided to pay a little extra to go to Point Blank Shooting instead! It was so much fun and I’m so excited to share it here with you all. You book a booth to go and plays some simulation shooting ranges, with replica guns. Alongside that you will also get a pizza and two cocktails as well! The food was really good and we went for the pepperoni pizza, which was amazing! The flavouring on it was great and I really enjoyed. We also have a few cocktails between us both too including Rock Out With Your Glock Out which Dane chose (sweet, dark fruits with vodka, blackberry, vanilla, apple, lime and cream soda) and Naked Gun which I chose (rhubarb and custard with vanilla vodka, strawberry, apple lemon, rhubarb and egg white). Alongside that we also grabbed a non alcoholic cocktail Zero Your Gun (bubblegum, cranberry, lemon and lemonade), which was so good! The prices of everything was really fair for everything we got and most of all, we got there forty minutes early with the intension of having some slow drinks before our session was booked. However, as our booth was free the staff let us start earlier without charging us extra, which was really lovely of them! We’d definitely go back again in the future, but we’re hopeful a Birmingham Point Blank Shooting will open in the future, as I would love to go with more friends for an evening out!

After this we headed back to the hotel as we were shattered and needed lots of rest. We had a busy day planned the next day! The next day we were up bright and early for breakfast at the hotel and checked out ready for a busy day ahead. We’d planned to have a look around the Arndale, potentially the Northern Quarter again and especially China Town for food!

The Arndale is such a big shopping centre and we got a little lost at times, but by the morning of our second day we had pretty much got our bearings. Some of the shops we ventured to were Damaged Society – has some cool alternative styles, Homesense – we sniffed all the candles, Kenji – amazing for Japan inspired goodies and especially Japanese sweet treats, Levi’s – spent WAY too much money on jeans, Urban Outfitters – I bought a cute planter which I’ll show later, Vans, Victoria’s Secret PINK, and Waterstones.

As it was approaching lunchtime we decided to go for a walk down to Manchester’s Chinatown for some lunch from Wong Wong Bakery and bubble tea and ice cream from Ohayo Tea.

I’ve been so excited to try Ohayo Tea since I discovered it at the end of 2020 through Instagram, so when the time finally came I was beyond excited for it and I don’t think we were the only ones either as there were people queuing outside of the store for at least half an hour! We had a nose at the menu before going in and when the time came, we made out way inside. We’d planned to sit in for some ice cream and bubble tea.

The store itself isn’t huge which I really liked! The only bad thing about Ohayo Tea is the lack of toilets, so if you wanted to stay here to do any work, or meet a friend for a long period of time you’d need to move on if you wanted the toilet. This didn’t affect us really as we must have spent a good hour there!

I’ve looked at the menu LOADS since discovering Ohayo Tea late 2020 so knew vaguely what I wanted drink wise, but ended up changing my mind last minute!

Dane went for their dirty Biscoff drink from the brown sugar series, which contains brown sugar tapioca milk with Biscoff and I went for the matcha tapioca milk from the fresh milk series. I’m a sucker for matcha bubble tea, so knew I had to go with that. I originally was going to have the same as Dane otherwise.

The only thing that the Ohayo Tea menu is missing is more fruit based drinks. I love green apple and cherry bubble teas so it was a shame they had neither of those on offer. They do have fresh fruit teas, just not ones I wanted/fancied.

We both went for one of the sundaes, with us going for the earl grey milk tea Shiba sundae, which was SO GOOD! As you can see from the picture you get the earl grey milk tea ice cream, brown sugar tapioca, wafer sticks and especially a Shiba waffle! You get to pick which flavouring of Shiba waffle you want, we both went for Nutella but you can also pick brown sugar tapioca, red bean or Hong Kong style peanut butter. This was so yummy and it took me an age to finish it, for various reasons. I was too busy enjoying it to scoff it really quickly. I hope next time I get the chance to visit that they have a matcha sundae on offer!

Overall, Ohayo Tea was amazing and it was well the almost two year wait to go! I wish we had one in Birmingham, I think I’d venture there often to enjoy their amazing drinks! We have do have Mee Cha though, that I have loved for ten years now! I did buy myself a couple of goodies in Ohayo Tea, which I’ll show at the end of the post!

Finally after we were done in Manchester we decided to drive over to Bury to finish out little trip. We’d booked to go to The Arcade Club to go an play some arcade games! My amazing Instagram friend Daysei has been telling me all about The Arcade Club for the longest time and I finally twisted Dane’s arm for us to go! He was against it for a while due to the location, but once we looked at the games on offer he got into the idea and we booked it.

You pay a fee per person and with that you can play as many games as you want, for as long as you want. We got there for 4pm and didn’t leave until 9.30pm, almost an hour before it was due to close! You definitely get your monies worth at The Arcade Club!

The Bury store has three floors FILLED with all sorts of games, from all over the world, including Japan, which is what appealed to us the most. The games I’ll be mentioning here are the ones we loved and enjoyed the most, there are all sorts of games to chose from and play, with a full list being on The Arcade Club’s website.

Tank! Tank! Tank! – A Japanese game we’d never heard of where you’re driving a tank and need to kill aliens, or each other if you do battle. The chair actually moves back whenever you shoot to be like an actual tank, which was so much fun! I think this was the first game we played and it was one of the last games we played too. It was so good and we spent a good half an hour playing all the types of games on offer.

Monster Hunter Pungee Race – This was a bizarre game to say the least and one I’m glad we tried for shits and giggles. You have a pig that you need to move around to the sides and up and down to race. It looks like you’re humping the pig, not going to lie! It was a fun game but only needed one play for sure. It reminded me of an arcade game I used to love playing as a kid at the local bowling alley, Final Furlong by Namco. I’d love to see those games at The Arcade Club in the future!

Dark Escape 4D – This was one of our favourite games and we actually played it twice because of that fact! This is a 4D horror shooting game where you not only play the game, but feel it too! You get air blown at you, can chose to play in 3D if you’d like to (otherwise it’s 2D), and the seats rumble and vibrate as well. On top of all that, the guns you hold have heart sensors on as well, which tracks your heart rate and determines your death and more. This game overall was just so much fun purely for the jump scares, whether it be in game or the air and vibrating around the game. We LOVED this and it’s such a shame there isn’t a version of this that could have been brought out on consoles or PC.

South Park pinball game and more – When I was younger I LOVED pinball games and would spend hours on them at a time if there was one available, especially in Fuerteventura. There were loads of pinball games at The Arcade Club and this South Park one really caught my eye. It was fun to play but the Flintstones one was my favourite, as I seemed to do the best on that one! Dane really enjoyed the Mario one.

Dancing Stage EuroMix – An old classic from back in the day! I rarely played the arcade game growing up, but more so my cousins dance mat at home that we connected to her PlayStation! This game throws back so many memories and it was fun to have a go on a couple of songs. I wish I’d played more to be honest but they seemed to constantly have someone playing them already.

Taiko No Tatsujin – This is a game me and Dane love and played a little of whilst we were in Japan! I do have the actual drum for the Switch but we hardly play it… Maybe that should change haha! This is the game we played the most at The Arcade Club, and at one point we waited almost half an hour to jump back onto it as it was pretty busy. It reminded me of our Japan trip all over again and was so much fun. If you’ve never played this before, you really must, it’s such a fun game, whether you play alone or with a friend.

Bishi Bashi Channel – A game Dane had heard of before and was eager to play and as it was pretty much behind Taiko No Tatsujin we jumped onto it not long after our first go on the popular drumming game! This is a fun game where you’re playing lots of little puzzle games, it reminded me of the WarioWare games to be honest with you! Some of the games were challenging, with some being a little more simple. Such a good game, was a shame we didn’t spend more time on it in all honesty!

Time Crisis 2 – An old classic for me and Dane and one I’d always play whenever I spotted it at an arcade! I always used to die before I’d get to the second stage, or just after so never finished it. Thankfully due to all the games being free to play (aka if you die in the game you can always come back!) we both FINALLY got to finish the game and as you can see, we came sixth place! It was so much fun to play and really did give me some nostalgic reels. Apparently The Arcade Club has Time Crisis 3 there too, but we didn’t spot it.

Monkey Mole Panic – I stumbled upon this game as we looked through the old school arcade games. I decided to give it a go as I’m a sucker for a whack a mole game and it was SO GOOD! I played it a couple of times and got to the top of the leader board! I’m gutted I didn’t take a picture.

Puzzle Bobble – An old classic for me as I had it on my Game Boy/Game Boy Color and would spend HOURS playing it, clearly all those hours came to something when I got to play for ages on this arcade machine! It’s made me want to play it all over again on either my GBC or on a Switch version if it exists!

Name unknown – This was a random choice is game to play but I actually really loved it and regretted not playing more! It’s a rhythm based game where you need to time your button pressing right in order to win the level/game. I played a couple of levels and it was just so much fun to do and once you got into the swing of things, you really did start to get a kick from playing it!

Luigi’s Mansion Arcade – We own the third instalment of this game on the Switch and really enjoyed playing it together, so we kind of had to give the arcade version a go! I always wanted to as a kid, but never had anyone to play with, which sounds incredibly sad… This was a lot of fun to play, but the controllers really ached our hands. It was good though and we really enjoyed giving it a go!

The House of the Dead: Scarlett Dawn – This was the last game we played before we headed home and it was so cheesy, but we enjoyed it! As you can see it’s a House of the Dead game, but this one you play as a woman and a man who appear to have been at a party? The game play was like the other House of the Dead games, so pretty straight forward, shoot and kill the undead who are headed your way! We played it for a while before we had enough and decided to call it a day!

Cho Chabudai Gaeshi 2 – Sadly this is a game we weren’t able to play as it seemed to be broken, but what made me sad about it is this was the game that twisted Dane’s arm in us going to The Arcade Club in the first place! He’d always heard about the famous Japanese arcade game about flipping a table, but we weren’t able to go on it. Maybe next time we go to The Arcade Club… Or Japan. 😛

We were so tired when we got home from our Japan adventures, we couldn’t wait to sleep! For the rest of the week so far we’ve not done a lot… Well technically we did all the washing from our trip, and some general chores/errands we’ve had to to do out and about.

So, I know some of you were excited for the haul, so I’ll get to that now before I end this weeks post! Disclaimer, I apologise for how crap the pictures are, I was shattered/sick yesterday so I quickly took photos on my office chair.

Frank Iero T-Shirt.

First of all this t-shirt wasn’t purchased in Manchester, but I did pick it up before going and it arrived the day we came home from Manchester, so I felt like it was worthy showing off! I’ve wanted this t-shirt for years now but just never picked it up, until May pay day! I snagged it off of Amazon as it was a good price and it felt the right time. I cannot wait to wear this now with anything and everything!

Shippon self-watering dog planter.

I can’t remember what store I picked this up from but I remember back in 2019 when we visited Manchester last/for the first time I picked this same dog planter up in that same shop to buy and left it… I decided I needed it this time and cannot wait to get it started! I’m not 100% sure where I want to keep it at the moment as I’m worried I’ll knock it over. I think the kitchen or living room might be a nice place for it for sure. This cost less than £12.

Smoko Tayto potato planter.

As many regular readers will know, I LOVE Smoko and their products and I honestly cannot get enough of them. It feels like every Christmas Dane will buy me something from them, and even last Christmas he bought me a back pillow and some of the Tayto lights as well! I saw that Urban Outfitters were having a sale and had this cutie on offer, so I decided to order to collect from Urban Outfitters in Manchester. I’ll be blunt, it was a fucking nightmare. The staff were either too busy talking to do any work, or it was arse about face getting the click and collect orders in the first place. It’s put me off doing a click and collect again, I’d rather pay the £3.99 shipping. That being said this planter is very well made and adorable as fuck! I can’t wait to put something in him now, as he’s living on my window shelf. I’m probably going to opt for a fake plant. 😛

Kenji Japanese snacks.

We don’t have a Kenji in Birmingham so when I saw/heard there was one in Manchester I KNEW we had to go! We went in both days we were in Manchester, but on day two we decided to pick up some snacks, including grape and ramune gummy sweets, chocolate wafer taiyaki fish, pocky, collon, ramune drinks and some ice cream wafers. I have to be honest when I say that whilst Kenji is a nice store, I found it a little tacky… It shouted fake Japan to me and whilst I get it, it is technically fake it just felt wrong. There were some cute items in there, but not enough to prompt me to buy.

Levi’s 551z authentic straight jeans.

This was a HUGE purchase for me and I feel so guilty for it. I knew I wanted to pop into Levi’s to try some of the 90’s inspired jeans, but whilst trying them on I discovered they didn’t have the size I wanted, nor did the leg length go as long as I wanted either, which was such a shame. The staff were really helpful though and recommended me the pair I ended up buying. These are men’s jeans, but there’s nothing wrong with that, my first pair of Levi’s were men’s and they did me just fine. These are pretty much what I was looking for. A baggy boyfriend fit with a long leg. These were cheap as I said so I won’t be buying anymore anytime soon, but I’m a sucker for Levi’s. I used to own a pair as a teenager and lived in them, and then my mom bought me a pair in my early twenties and I lived in those too. I plan to do the same with these, especially for how much they cost. Next time I’m after a new pair of jeans I’ll definitely look at Levi’s again, but maybe next time I’ll look at the sale first. 😛

Umbrella image taken from Ohayo Tea Facebook

Ohayo Tea – t-shirt and umbrella.

Finally after we finished out ice creams in Ohayo Tea, I decided to buy some of the merchandise on offer. I decided to go for the t-shirt with their Ohayo tea Manchester design, as well as an umbrella… Because you can never go wrong with the latter. They only had a men’s medium in the t-shirt, and I usually go for large. It fits me fine, but it’s kind of see through, so I think I’ll just opt to wear this one around the house and whilst I’m working from home. The design on the back is gorgeous but the pocket at the front reminds me of a work t-shirt. 😛

The umbrella is strange and I’ve never owned one quite like it before. The handle is a loop shape so not only can you hang it off of tables, but you can loop your shopping onto it as you walk around. I know I’m not wording it very well by the way! I could have taken a picture of it but it’s in the car and I’m in the house. 😛 As well as that the umbrella opens up in a strange way, which again I can’t describe! I used it a little as we walked from Chinatown to the Arndale and it was really good! I’ll be using it more I reckon with some of the crappy weather we’ve had lately.

So, there we have it, my Manchester trip and haul! I told you it was going to be a long post. 😛

Have you ever been to Manchester? If so where did you go, what did you do, eat, see, etc. Tell me all about it! I know for a fact there’s loads of places we have yet to go and explore and I’m looking forward to the next time we venture up there!

Until next time guys, have an amazing rest of your weekend and see you next week!

HUGE Shop Small UK Guide – Christmas 2020

Can you believe there is only 18 days until Christmas? Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? I’m awful this year and I’m not done. I usually have all my gifts bought by now, but alas I still have my parents to buy for.

This year I wanted to do a gift guide, but not my usual one aimed at the geeks, otaku and kawaii fans, beauty, fashion etc etc. I wanted to instead focus on small companies/independent artists/businesses who need our support more than ever due to COVID and it’s affects from lockdowns here in the UK.

First of all, I’m only speaking about the UK as with a Twitter poll a couple of weeks ago, it’s what you as the readers voted for. However at the end of the post I will mention who you can shop small with all over the world too.

I’m going to add all sorts of categories here, not just geek, kawaii, otaku related. I’ll be talking about beauty, home, geek, Japan related, food and more! I want to try and talk about as much as I can, so when you need ideas for Christmas gifts you have lots of choice. I will also mention the last date to order for Christmas too if you’re in the UK. Please bear in mind with the COVID situation and Christmas on the horizon, Royal Main is struggling a little, so if you want to order, order as soon as possible!

Let’s get started! I really hope you guys enjoy this post. 🙂

Image taken from GIPHY

Geeky/Kawaii

Image taken from Jennifairy Illustration

Jennifairy Illustration – Creating cuties to make you smile. Enamel pins, stickers and keychains, all inspired by cute animals, video game characters and more.

Last date to order for Christmas – 14th December. However, if order after this date it could still get there but that can’t be promised. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Jennifairy Illustration is an independent artist/store I have spoken about on my blog since 2017 and I knew they were one of the first places I wanted to speak about today! Jennifairy has a range of products – enamel pins, stickers and keychains. Her style is incredibly cute and kawaii and the designs make me smile whenever I see them, both on her store and in my home. If you know someone who loves cute animals and certain characters from popular video games, then they will love to open a cute design from Jennifairy. Christmas wise you can pick up some gingerbread friends or even a Christmas Pikachu, with a Santa’s hat and a cup of coffee. There are loads of different designs to choose from, there is something for everyone.

Image taken from Littlest Spook Shop

Littlest Spook Shop – We put the Oo in spooky! Cute spooky ghost prints, mugs and other items to choose from!

Last date to order for Christmas – Currently Littlest Spook Shop is looking to close 9th December.

Halloween isn’t just once a year with Littlest Spook Shop. I discovered them around Halloween this year and I love their spooky ghost designs. They’re so damn cute and spoopy and I’m down for that. I regret not ordering some of their Christmas cards this year to be honest, but there’s always next year. If you know someone who celebrates Halloween all year around then a print (or two!) from Littlest Spook Shop may just be for them! Not only do they sell prints but they also sell mugs, tote bags, enamel pins and patches so that spooky friend or family member can show off their love of ghosts and all things spooky all year around! The Always Cosy Club spooky print shouts out to me so much. During the colder months I’m like that little ghosty.

Image taken from FoxLeap

FoxLeap – Kawaii designs inspired by Disney and Japanese characters from films and video games.

Last date to order for Christmas – Not known at time of writing post.

FoxLeap is an independent artist/store I love buying enamel pins from. They’re adorable and there is always something in the store I want to pick up, including the Jiji enamel pin which I may need to order myself as a treat for writing this post. 😛 There is something for everyone when it comes down to FoxLeap including designs inspired by Disney (especially The Lion King series!), Pokemon, Studio Ghibli, Wolf’s Rain, Okami and more. Anyone who loves enamel pins will really love to receive a FoxLeap design and honestly they probably already know of FoxLeap’s existence. Not only do they make and sell enamel pins but they also sell prints, t-shirts, stickers, enamel pin flags, tote bags and more so there is plenty to choose from!

Image taken from NaomiLordArt

NaomiLordArt – A freelance artist who creates adorable prints inspired by animals, magical creatures, witches, Goddesses, Critical Role and more!

Last date to order for Christmas – Orders will be shipped until the shop closes for Christmas on 20th December. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Guys you know me I love kawaii animals, especially foxes and that is something NaomiLordArt does so bloody well! I mean, look at them cute seasonal fox designs! I feel anyone of any age will love a little stocking filler that involves one of the many designs that NaomiLordArt has on offer. Plus if you and your friends are fans of Critical Role, she’s drawn all of the gang and put it onto a print, which you can find here. I feel NaomiLordArt would be perfect as items to gift children, teenagers and anyone who loves prints and stickers. I’ve gifted my best friend goodies from there before that were surrounding Star Wars and Harry Potter. There are also RPG class animal stickers and prints too, so if you play in a D&D group and are taking part in a D&D themed Secret Santa, these would make perfect gifts alongside some dice.

Image taken from GIPHY

Japanese Snacks

Image taken from Something Japanese

Something Japanese – UK based online shop that sells the best things from Japan! Chocolate, Candy, Collectables, Otaku Goodies and much much more.

Last date to order for Christmas – December 21st. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Something Japanese is a store I have bought from for about five years now and they are really good! I especially love to pick up the Japanese snack boxes from them as they’re always an amazing price for how many Japanese sweets and treats you get. I ordered the Halloween one and it was amazing and I’ve ordered the Christmas Japanese Candy Box too. This might make for an amazing gift to someone who loves Japanese sweets and treats and who may also miss Japan or want to visit Japan. COVID has prevented travelling to Japan for a lot of people and I know a lot of my friends who missed out on their trips this year. This would make for a nice treat to open Christmas Day. Something Japanese does sell other items too and separate sweet treats so make sure to check that out too.

Image taken from Tofu Cute

Tofu Cute – A UK kawaii shop that sells all sorts of cute and unique Japanese snacks, plushies, accessories, stationery and other goodies.

Last date to order for Christmas – Not known at time of writing post.

Tofu Cute is a store me and my boyfriend often order our Japanese sweets from as they’re great prices and they always seem to have the goods that Japan get at the same time. Not only do they stock sweets but also drinks as well! We’ve bought many bottles of ramune and Pokemon fizzy drinks from Tofu Cute and they’ve all been enjoyed! Think my favourite thing I’ve ever bought from Tofu Cute are the Melty Kiss chocolates. They’re to die for and would make an amazing gift for someone’s stocking this Christmas. 🙂

Image taken from GIPHY

Home

Image taken from Cushty Co Twitter page

Cushty Co – Handmade home fragrance. Scented soy wax melts beautifully crafted with sprinkles of glitter and careful colouring. Vegan friendly.

Last date to order for Christmas – Monday 14th December – Store will close at 5pm. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Cushty Co are my go to for wax melts and I’ve ended up buying so many this year! Their autumn/Halloween collection being my favourite to date. If you know someone who loves burning candles and wax tarts like me, Cushty Co are a great place to check out. They do LOADS of different scent varieties and three different sizes of wax so the choices are huge. They currently have their Christmas/winter scents in stock and I have all of them! They’re absolutely amazing and if you know someone who loves Christmas and wishes it could be everyday, then some of the Christmas/winter scents will be right up their street. Not only do Cushty Co sell wax tarts, but they also sell room sprays too, which I’m yet to try. If you know someone who loves Lush then they’ll love Unicorn Dreams which smells exactly like Snow Fairy and Nightfall which smells exactly like Twlight.

Image taken from Bubble Baskets UK/Books Baths and Beauty

Bubble Baskets UK/Books Baths and Beauty – Lovingly Custom made 3D printed Bubble Baskets.

Last date to order for Christmas – 17th December if ordering a pink, black or ombré bubble basket. 14th December if ordering a custom colour. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

I recently decided to buy myself a bubble basket from Books Baths and Beauty as I’ve wanted one for over a year now and as my bathroom was redone in the summer, I’ve finally been indulging in bath products and having bath cocktails more. It arrived over the weekend I’ve used it a few times since. It’s really good and if you’re like me and use bubble bars, shower gels and more to create bubbles, then this is for you! They’re made with a 3D printer and are sturdy and amazing! 😀 If you know someone who loves taking baths and using the same products as I do, this will be perfect for helping them create lots of bubbles! Teenagers will love this, as well as mermaids.

Image taken from GIPHY

Beauty

Image taken from The Bath Bae

The Bath Bae  –  Handmade bath treats to make you glow inside and out. Vegan and cruelty free!

Last date to order for Christmas – Monday 21 December at 3pm Royal Mail Tracked 48 or Tuesday 22 December at 3pm Royal Mail Tracked 24. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

I recently made my first order with The Bath Bae and honestly – I have zero regrets. They focus on bath bomb products in various different varieties and scents so there is plenty to choose from! So far I’ve only tried the bath cubes and they are amazing, perfect for anyone of any age. You can pick up bath sparkle, sparkle rocks, bath cubes and bath soak. These would make great stocking fillers for teenagers and anyone who loves a good soak in the bath. My favourite scent from them so far is Oh So Slushie, which reminds me of Tango Ice Blast slushies from the cinema.

Image taken from Happy Melon

Happy Melon – Handmade beauty products made in small batches and packed with cuteness, colour and yummy fragrance. Cruelty free!

Last date to order for Christmas – Restock this Sunday (13/12/2020) and as items sell out quickly, there isn’t really a last date to order for Christmas.

Happy Melon is a brand I discovered this year and bought from during their last restock. If you know someone who loves their beauty and bath products and for them to be as colourful as possible, Happy Melon is a good indie brand for this! They have a wide variety of products including bubble bath, lip sugar, perfume oil, bath soak (snuggle soak), sugar scrub and more! One of the bubble baths I own is a Lush Snow Fairy dupe (Sabrina bubble bath) and it’s one of my favourite products to use after a long day. Plus a little goes a long way and this stuff lasts AGES! One of the products I am excited to try soon is the Pop Kei Snuggle Soak, which smells just like Tango Ice Blast slushies! It would work so well with the slushie bath cubes from The Bath Bae. Again this is a great brand for teenagers due to how colourful everything is and maybe even children too due to how colourful and sparkly the bubble baths are.

Image taken from Hex Bomb

Hex Bomb – Divine handmade gothic beauty products for dark sweets hearts. Creator of the first black bath bomb! Cruelty free and vegan!

Last date to order for Christmas – 21st December. If you want to guarantee item(s) to arrive for Christmas order as soon as possible.

Hex Bomb is a brand I have always wanted to try since the Black As Your Soul bath bomb came out. I’m yet to try it still and plan to buy it in the near future! I’ve mentioned some colourful and kawaii beauty indie brands so far, so I wanted to through a gothic, dark brand in there for good measure. I love me a dark bath, it reflects who I am inside and this brand would be perfect for any goth friend or relative out there! Not only do they make bath bombs but Hex Bomb also sell shower gel, soap, scrub, lip balm, perfume oil AND even wax melts for your home. If you aren’t sure what to buy that gothic beauty in your life (because Hex Bomb have a lot of variety!) you could always pick up one of their gift boxes which contains a variety of products. If you want to see a review (or two) of Hex Bomb make sure to go and check out my great blogger friend Raiin Monkey’s blog posts here.

Image taken from GIPHY

Honourable Mentions

Geek/Kawaii – Quirkory – Due to being based in Italy, they didn’t qualify for this shop small post. However, I couldn’t not mention them! They sell enamel pins, stickers and prints inspired by Japanese video games and cute animals.

Geek/Kawaii – Claire Likes To Doodle – The reason I didn’t mention my friend Claire and her store is because she got a post allllll to herself recently! Which I am going to link here. 🙂

Geek/Kawaii – 1 In 100/One In Hundred – A local Brummy like myself, Alex over at 1 In 100 has some amazing designs on her store and you can buy items from clothing, badges, keyrings, stickers, prints, stationary and more. I keep meaning to pick up some of her Japan inspired prints. Check them out here and here.

Geek/Kawaii – Chibi Shibby – May have bought a Christmas present from one of my favourite artists… 😉 Shibby recently reopened her store and has filled it was gorgeous kawaii goodies! There’s also some Christmas related goods in there too.

Geek/Kawaii – Lunaticgumis – Due to being based in Gran Canaria, they didn’t quality for this shop small post. However, I am planning to write about them on my blog very very soon! 😀 They sell stickers as well as amigurumis (Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures). They stock Bee and Puppycat designs WHICH I LOVE!

Geek/Kawaii – Taiyakiblue – This store is joint owned by tattooists senseoftheterrific and tubbybeartattoo. They stock clothing, prints and even some keyrings and pins made out of resin. They’re both inspired by geeky/kawaii themes such as D&D, Studio Ghibli, Dragonball Z, Moomins, Adventure Time and more. I’ve purchased a Christmas present from them and plan to buy prints in the future! I love their style so much.

Bath – Bath Bake Love – No restock until after Christmas where there will be lots of enchanted teasers for the New Year Wonderland and plenty of goodies in January!

AND THERE WE HAVE IT! My HUGE shop small Christmas shopping guide for the UK!

What do you guys think? I wanted to try and cover as much as I could and I like to think I’ve done that quite well. In the future I may pop up with some of these after Christmas, just as good shopping guides throughout the year for birthday’s and more!

Honestly guys, I hope you enjoyed this post today as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’m off work for the week and the first thing I knew I wanted to do was to write this post.

Are there any small shops in the UK that you feel I should know about? Make sure to let me know and I’ll take a look for next time!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you had a lovely weekend. 🙂

Japan Trip – Pompompurin Cafe Harajuku

With all this isolation that we are currently experiencing in the UK, I am remembering daily our amazing Japan trip from January. With this, I am always thinking too about the places we ventured to and how much I love and miss them. The Pompompurin Cafe in Harajuku is one of them.

This was one of my favourite places that me and Dane ventured to, especially for food. I knew for months that I wanted to visit the Pompompurin Cafe as I have been a huge fan of the cute pudding dog since I was 11, so almost 20 years now… WOW!

The cafe is located in Cute Cube Harakuju, which is on the famous Takeshita Street. It was pretty easily to find with signs telling you where to go. You walk up some stairs to get to the cafe and you’re greeted with yellow and brown colours, an adorable entrance to the cafe itself and of course, images and figures of Pompompurin and his little animal friends.

I have to be honest and say the day we spent in Harajuku was… Strange, which is nothing to do with Harajuku. We arrived in Harajuku and I was so damn excited! However, not long after we arrived I suddenly felt light headed and nautious. Shortly after we bought a crepe I was sick and it sucked. This went on around Takeshita street for about an hour. After plenty of walking, sipping on water and visited some cute animals around Harajuku, I was ready to go and get food from the Pompompurin Cafe.

Unlike some themed cafes in Japan, you didn’t need to book a place to get a seat in the Pompompurin Cafe. You just walked in. I would image that if the cafe was busy you may put your name down on a sheet and wait, but we didn’t have a problem as the cafe was quiet. Like any eating/drinking establishment, you go in, tell the staff how many people will be seated and you’re taken to a seat in the establishment. Simple!

Inside the cafe is everything I imaged and more! I had of course read/seen reviews online about the cafe, but being there in the flesh is just so much better to be honest with you. It’s cream yellow and brown, just like Pompompurin himself, with adorable Pompompurin sofas, artwork on the walls, statues and even cute as fuck music playing. The music that was played (all of 2 tracks on a loop may I add!) was so cute and I managed to find one of them on YouTube, which I have linked above. 😀 The music made me so happy and I think Dane rather enjoyed it too. It was really catchy and we for the remainder of the trip in Japan, we caught ourselves humming the tunes. Even 3 months later, I still find myself humming the songs. 😛

The cafe itself was quiet when we got in there and for the duration of our time. There were two women sitting eating when we arrived and when we left there was a couple sat near to us, so it was very quiet… I expected it to be super busy, but as we went to Harajuku on a Monday (which is said to be the quietest day of the week), this may be why. We didn’t mind either way, it meant we got a decent table, a chance to have a good look around the cafe during our time there and take photos.

One thing I regret is not asking the staff is we could sit on one of the adorable Pompompurin sofas that was in the cafe. The couple who came in not long before we left did this. It would have made for a kawaii photo opportunity!

At the time that we visited the cafe there was actually a collaboration event going on. Hello Mandy (a Sanrio character based off of Mandy Sekiguchi) was collaborating, so we got some special place mats, as well as coasters. There were also some special menu items too, but we weren’t too interested in those choices.

The menu choices were really varied and perfect, however, when you look on the website it states which drinks/dishes are exclusive to any of the three cafes – Harajuku, Umeda or Yokohama.

I had previously taken a look on the website before we flew to Japan so I had a vague idea of what I wanted, however when we sat down and were given the menus I was a bit stuck… I ummed for ages about what to choose and thankfully in the end Dane helped me pick what I went for in the end.

We both went for desserts, as the savoury mains just weren’t for us. Whilst I was in Japan I ate a lot of sweet foods, which isn’t like me at all! I have zero regrets of what I chose to eat and I would happily choose it again.

Alongside our desserts we also ordered some drinks. For about a year the Pompompurin Cafe has brought a separate menu in for bubble tea and as we both love drinking bubble tea, we couldn’t really resist not ordering it to drink.

I went for the matcha milk and Dane went for the strawberry milk. These tasted so damn yummy and on top they have cream, which had hundreds and thousands on (sprinkles to anyone outside the UK) as well a kawaii Pompompurin biscuit! The boba was lovely and soft, I enjoyed it so much.

Also a fun Japan fact, whilst bubble tea has been around for years and has been a hit in the UK for almost 10 years now, it’s something that Japan have only recently started to serve there. There were bubble tea stores everywhere, as well as restaurants and cafes serving it in stores too.

As I mentioned before, we ordered desserts for our food as we both had sweet teeth. Dane went for the Pancake Tower and I went for the Glittery Dream Parfait.

With the Pancake Tower Dane chose he could pay an extra 300 yen to get his own little Pompompurin mug, which he decided to do. We got to see what our mug would look like, as one came with his dessert. The Pancake Tower is a stack of pancakes with fruit on the side, some squirty cream and syrup on the Pompompurin mug. Dane said when it comes down to what the dessert was like he said it was really nice, but it was a tad overwhelming due to all of the pancakes having different fillings and flavours. There was also a “tanginess” that he remembers tasting, but he still doesn’t know where it came from. This was something he didn’t like. As I said however, he did really enjoy it but did comment saying he wouldn’t have it again if we ever ventured back to the cafe.

I still cannot believe I chose the Glittery Dream Parfait. Even back home this isn’t something I would gravitate towards… Parfaits aren’t really my thing and if they are, I would usually share it with Dane or a friend. Spoiler – I didn’t finish it! 😛 The parfait was crazy and I don’t think there wasn’t anything NOT sweet in there. I love the mason jar it came in and just wish this was something you could have had the option to buy. I would have totally used it to drink out of now. Inside the parfait there were different layers, I’ll start from the bottom and go up! At the bottom was a strawberry mousse, next a middle layer mixture of cornflakes, strawberries and blueberries, on top of that there was blue yogurt (from memory I think it was vanilla) which tasted amazing and on top of all that there was some amazing fresh cream, sweeties (marshallow, shorbread biscuits, jelly beans and strawberry Pocky. The final touch was the cream and rainbow coloured sugar which was around the rim of the glass. This was such a gorgeous dessert and I’m glad I chose it for that reason alone. This dessert is actually exclusive to the Harajuku cafe, which is why Dane was so encouraging of me to go for it. This parfait was really yummy and I enjoyed it, however, I did get really full halfway through the middle layer of cornflakes and fruit and had to pass onto Dane to try and finish… Which he didn’t as he was so full from his own dessert.

 

We really did take our time whilst at the cafe, not that we ever felt like we needed to rush anyway. At some cafes you only get a certain amount of time, however, that wasn’t the case here which I loved. We made sure to take everything in, relax after a busy day around Harajuku and spend the time we had planning our last week in Japan.

I have to be honest here and say, not just me but Dane too, we both took photos of the bathroom. It was gorgeous. It looked more like a bathroom in someone’s home, rather than in a themed cafe. Even the soap dispenser was Pompompurin, which I now want for my own bathroom haha. Also, I know the focus is bad on the second image, but I couldn’t not include it.

When we were done we made sure to take advantage of how quiet it was and took some photos around the cafe, as well as with the cute statue and HUGE plushie of Pompompurin.

I took so many photos with the plushie and the statue, considering it was quiet and I had the chance to!

Of course, we also took advantage of the gift shop and bought some goodies. I was a little disappointed how “little” the gift shop seemed to be. I didn’t expect it to be huge, don’t get me wrong, but the previous three themed cafes we visited seemed to have a lot more.

Even so, we picked up some cute goodies and even managed to grab some exclusive things too, which I’ll show towards the end of this post.

I paid for our food and goodies, as this was my treat and we ventured home.

So, onto the goodies I picked up for us from the gift shop!

Pompompurin Cafe Plush Keychain – I knew I had to have this little plush keychain… Purely because I wanted an exclusive plush for the cafe, but also because I had already bought two like this from the Pokemon Cafe (which you can read all about here). Pompompurin now sits with my Pikachu and Eevee plush keychains from the Pokemon Cafe, because, why not?

Pompompurin Coin Purse – I saw this cute little purse and knew I had to have it. I know for a fact if I hadn’t picked it up, I would have regretted it. I have this in my backpack and use it for wires/headphones but I do want to change that and use it for other things. I don’t think I want to use it as a coin purse, as I won’t want it to get dirty. We’ll see!

Pompompurin Keychains (Pancakes and Heart) – I picked these up so me and Dane had matching keychains. We don’t use them for that purpose as they’re too nice, but we know when we look at them in our cabinet that they resemble our day together in Harajuku and eating at the Pompompurin Cafe. Dane picked up the one of Pompompurin holding the pancake stack ad I picked the one of him holding a heart. Very cute and also very us.

Pompompurin Cafe Mug – This of course is the mug we paid the extra 300 yen for with Dane’s pancake dessert. We don’t use it, but we keep it in our cabinet with our Pokemon Cafe goods so it’s safe. I don’t think I will ever have the heart to use it, but it makes me so happy to see in the cabinet. I honestly love Pompompurin and have done so for long.

Overall, I fell in love with the Pompompurin Cafe. It was by far one of my favourite things about Harajuku, as to be perfectly honest I was disappointed by what Takeshita Street had to offer. It’s known for it’s quirky fashion, but to me it just looked like stuff you could pick up from eBay or Wish… Hence my disappointment. This is just Takeshita Street though… When you venture away from here and to the rest of Harajuku, you discover some amazing places!

As and when me and Dane venture to Japan again, I already know we will revisit the Pompompurin Cafe, whether it be the Harajuku one, or the other two in Umeda or Yokohama.

What did you guys think of the Pompompurin Cafe in Harajuku? Would you venture there yourself for some yummy food and drinks, as well as kawaii custard puppy goodness? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, stay safe, take care and HAPPY EASTER! 🙂

Japan Trip – Pokemon Cafe

Pokemon Day was just over two weeks ago now (27th February) and as I’ve been back from Japan for a month now… Sad times…

As my first post about my trip to Japan was about the Pokemon Center’s in Tokyo and what I bought, I thought my second post should continue talking about Pokemon! Of course, I can’t not talk about the Pokemon Cafe in Tokyo and my experience there, as well as a haul of what both me and Dane bought from there.

Just a warning this post is going to be a long one… Purely because I want to try and go through as much as I can, including how to book as this is something we had a mini struggle with, as well as anything else that comes to mind in regards to the Pokemon Cafe.

Let’s not chatter anymore, let’s get on with the post!

I knew that if I was going to Japan, I was going to the Pokemon Cafe! There are currently only two in Japan, the newest one in Osaka and the one in Tokyo, which we went to. The Pokemon Cafe’s have only been open a couple of years so it’s still quite a new thing and VERY popular!

First of all, if you want to go to the Pokemon Cafe be ready for a few things:

1. It can be expensive… But this can depend. If you want to try as much as you can on the menu AND buy merchandise as well, this can add up. For both of us it came to 14,600.00 yen (just over £100) but that was for food, drinks AND merchandise and we bought a lot to be honest (as you’ll see in this post).
2. You NEED to book in advance. If you don’t, you probably won’t get in. I’ll be talking about this in this post. Booking isn’t hard but it’s something you’ll have to think about first out of everything.
3. If you aren’t keen on mascots “bothering” you then I don’t know if the Pokemon Cafe will be for you. There’s a performance for quite some time with Chef Pikachu and if you have anxiety, or just don’t like this sort of thing… Then Pokemon Cafe might be one to miss… Or at least just go for a quick drink to experience it. 🙂

I didn’t have any issues and if anything, the Pokemon Cafe was one of my favourite things that me and Dane did during our trip to Japan! It was everything I had hoped it would be and more. I kind of wish we went again but at the same time, the one visit made it much more memorable.

The second thing I want to talk about is how you need to go about booking your place at the Pokemon Cafe.

Booking isn’t hard, but it can be tricky. First of all get onto the right website! You don’t need to go through any third parties in order to book the Pokemon Cafe, you can do this directly through them.

Okay… I decided whilst writing this post that I wasn’t going to type and explain to you all how to book the Pokemon Cafe… Instead I am going to link you all to the video that me and Dane watched when we were booking our reservation.

This video from AforAlyce may be from almost 2 years ago BUT IT IS STILL RELEVANT! We used this when booking ours and it was the best guide out there in all honesty.

Some issues we faced however (which wasn’t AforAlyce’s fault) are below:

• Although Google Translate is handy, it seemed to confuse the website… Especially on the calendar, so make sure to be wary because of this. It also caused some issues in regards to trying to click certain things.
• The maximum of people you can now book is 8! 😀
• At one point you will need to fill in your contact details, you put your name in English AND Hiragana. You can Google your name in Hiragana but we found this a little tricky… Just try your best though!
• Finally the reservations at the Pokemon Cafe GO QUICK as they are released a month in advance. So, make sure to book your reservation(s) when 9am hits in Japan (UK time 12am) or at least as soon as you can! We booked ours as soon as we could in the morning… Think it was about 6am!
• MAKE SURE TO ORDER THE EXCLUSIVE GOODIES IF YOU WANT THEM! YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BUY THESE IN THE CAFE!!!!!

Thanks to the help of a friend (Hi Connor!) he suggested the best seat for us, which is the shared counter table and we were sat right in front of Pikachu, YAY! I was so thankful for Connor’s help with this, honestly this was the best seat in the Pokemon Cafe. 🙂 Just a little plug for Connor, but he runs his own blog all about Japan! 😀 Make sure to go and check it out here!

You sit and wait to be taken to your table at the entrance of the Pokemon Cafe and once your time slot comes up, you are shown to the table/seats you booked! You walk through what feels like a heaven of a cafe… Well, at least if you’re a Pokemon fan! There are displays everywhere, including the plates, cups, bowls and cutlery you use and can buy from the cafe, plushies (some you can buy) and a MASSIVE Snorlax!

There are other displays too, which I knew of before going to the Pokemon Cafe myself, but I didn’t actually go and take a look at them until I was leaving the cafe. This was just due to how quiet the cafe was at this stage… PLUS I wanted to be sat down and start enjoying the cafe!

You’re sat down and you get an iPad to order your menu items from, including drinks. There was so much to choose from! You also have a themed place mat out in front of you, which you flip over to reveal which Pokemon you got!

If you ordered any merchandise whilst booking your place at the Pokemon Center this/these item will be in a brown Pokemon Cafe bag where you’re sitting. I loved this and inside you will find your goodies and even some brown bags for if these are gifts for people back home! I loved this so much and most of all, in the UK you would probably fret and worry if anything was missing due to theft… Not in Japan! I’ll show you what we picked up at the end of the post… 😛

So, when you are ready to order your drinks and food just tap on the iPad, select your desired language and you’re ready to go!

I’ll be honest, it was hard to choose what I wanted for a few reasons – First being price and second being that I didn’t want to not choose something and regret it later. I’m glad I splurged out and got everything that I wanted!

Drinks I went a bit crazy, but it was mostly because I really wanted to try them and I wanted the glass/mug they came in too. I went for the Pokemon Latte iced with glass and the Gengar’s Okay Hikari Smoothie with glass.

Dane just went for the Pokemon Latte Hot with mug. He wasn’t as greedy as me in regards to drinks. 😛

The drinks were one of my favourite things from the Pokemon Cafe menu, with my favourite being the Gengar grape smoothie and of course I needed to take the glass home with me. This drink was a really thick slushie (not smoothie) in the classic grape flavour that Japan loves! If you love Grape Fanta, you will adore this and if anything, it’s better! Dane regretted not getting himself one. For a small glass this lasted ages too, it was the last thing we finished before resting our bellies and paying.

The lattes (both hot and cold) were really good! You get to choose from Pokemon No.001 to No.251. I went for Eevee on my iced latte and Dane went for Growlithe on his hot latte. The mug you get your hot latte in is much different from what you get to take home with you if you decided to buy the mug. The mug you get in the Pokemon Cafe is in the shape of a Pokeball, which was really cool! I’ll be showing you guys at the end of the post the mug we got. The glass I got with my cold latte is the same as the one I got to take home. This is honestly one of my favourite things I purchased during our trip to Japan! I love using it for my favourite cold drinks, it just puts a smile on my face at how cute the glass is.

When you order drinks you also get the chance to win some coasters too, one for each drink you order. So, we got the chance to win three! We won two Grookey coasters and (name). The duplicate Grookey sits in my plushie shelf, whereas the other two we won will be stuck in our Japan trip 2020 scrapbook. FYI – You will always win a coaster. 😉

When it came down to the food choices, we had LOADS of choice, as well as some limited edition dishes. I was only going to go for one dish, but decided to go for two after discussing it with Dane. I don’t regret this at all… Even when I was so stuffed I couldn’t move!

Food wise I went for the Kabigon’s Manpuku nap lunch plate for my main and the Messon’s berry berry fruit sandwich for my dessert.

Dane went for the Eevee well plate with Eevee plate as his main and the Jigglypuff’s Musical Cheesecake for dessert.

I’m honestly so pleased with the main I ordered, which was the Snorlax nap lunch plate. Inside the Snorlax bowl (in his belly) you get rice with veg and prawns, I didn’t eat the prawns but the rice was AMAZING! It was flavoured really nicely and I enjoyed every bite. On the side you had a salad, some star shaped hash browns, pieces of pork (which were so soft and succulent!) and finally a sauce to dip your meat, hash browns, pour over your salad etc. The whole of the Snorlax nap lunch plate was perfect and honestly I couldn’t have been happier with my choice! I really struggled with what I wanted to pick for my main but I’m glad I chose this in the end.

Dane went for the Eevee plate and got to take a plate home, which we’ve now popped up on our fireplace! The plate was adorable in the sense of it was definitely kawaii and a little bit too good to eat… The first thing I noticed was the rice in the shape of Eevee’s head with edible rice paper for the ears and details of the face. I don’t think Dane minded eating Eevee’s face though… 😛 You also get a salad, some spaghetti/noodles, hash browns, chicken, some sauce and something else that he can’t quite remember.

Whilst we were eating out food Chef Pikachu came around to greet us, which was adorable! This little show must have lasted about an hour max, but that’s with Chef Pikachu moving around the whole of the Pokemon Cafe. Basically, you get a little show from Chef Pikachu where he thanks you for coming to the cafe and you thank him for the food! The show was adorable and I filmed loads of it on my phone, which I’m sadly not going to share on my blog (this is more for personal).

Eventually when Pikachu had thanked us he moved to the next area of the Pokemon Cafe, which meant we could continue to eat our food. I’m not going to lie, it would have been hard (and kind of rude!) to carry on eating our food during the show. The show was at a perfect time though and we definitely had the best place in the cafe for it!

After we finished our mains we waited for our desserts to arrive, which didn’t take long to be honest with you! We were sat near the kitchen so we got our food and drinks pretty quick, which was great.

Originally the only dish I was going to order from the Pokemon Cafe was the Sobble dessert and whilst I loved the dessert I ordered, I’m still glad I ordered more! This is a limited edition dish which is actually finishing after this weekend, however, originally it was meant to end towards the end of January when we were due to come back home. They extended it, which is cool! This was such a lovely, light dessert and I enjoyed it so much! It’s a sponge sandwich type thing that is meant to be the shape of Sobble’s head, with cream and blueberries in the middle. Alongside this you had some more blueberries, a pot of blueberry cream and a little bottle of lemon juice. When your poured the lemon juice into the blueberry cream it turned it from a blue colour to purple! Very cool and I loved it so much, it definitely worked perfectly alongside the type of Pokemon Sobble is.

I have to say I love blueberries but due to how full I was from the main I just couldn’t handle it all, so Dane had to help me finish. I really struggled and that is not a bad thing! For how much you pay to sit and eat these amazing dishes in the Pokemon Cafe, you really do get your moneys worth.

Dane’s dessert looked so cute and seemed perfect to have after a big meal, as it also looked light. The Jigglypuff shape of the cheesecake was kawaii and he couldn’t have chosen anything better! This is sadly now discontinued, so I’m glad Dane picked it up before it was gone forever! It’s a berry cheesecake so had a pink tint for Jigglypuff, some biscuits in the shape of musical notes and some cream and berries. As I said, perfect and light after a big meal!

After we had finished eating and had relaxed our full bellies a little, it was time to head to the till and pay. However, before doing that we made sure to take advantage of the photo opportunities around the Pokemon Cafe and have a nose at the merchandise on offer.

There’s a bench you can sit on in the Pokemon Cafe with huge plushies of both Chef and Waitress Pikachu. This is a great place for all the photo opportunities, which we made sure to take advantage of!

We also took some photos around the Pokemon Cafe at all the displays we viewed briefly as we walked through to our table and there were some pretty cool ones in there such as LEGO version of the Snorlax and Mew that is outside of the Pokemon Cafe AND Pokemon Center Tokyo DX (which you can read about here) and various prints from artists, which are also signed. It’s very cool!

 

 

Finally we decided to have a nosey at the merchandises we contemplated picking up. The only I ended up picking up for myself was the Pokemon Cafe red takeaway mug. I’ve wanted it for years, so I knew I wanted to pick it up from the cafe.

When we went to pay we were given the goods we had bought when we ordered our drinks and dishes from the menu, these includes the two glasses (Gengar and iced latte), a Pikachu mug (hot latte) and the Eevee plate from Dane’s main.

I had to add here I was a tad gutted about the mug I received… As Eevee is one of my favourite Pokemon, that’s the one I wanted. However, the staff wouldn’t give me one and said it wasn’t available, so I can only assume it was sold out, which is a shame! There will always be chances to get hold of it from sellers though. 🙂

The service was incredible at the Pokemon Cafe! The staff were all so bubbly and friendly to talk to and the majority of them spoke English too, even when you were trying to/were speaking Japanese, which was really nice.

Finally I want to show you guys all the goodies we came away with from the Pokemon Cafe, because I know you all love that sort of thing! 😛

First of all I’ll show the goodies we got when we made our reservations. Again, these are exclusive and can only be purchased when reserving your place at the Pokemon Cafe!

Pokémon Cafe Mascot Chef Pikachu – This little plush keychain plus is adorable and it really is a special item for me and Dane. Of course it is Chef Pikachu, the same one (well obvs not EXACTLY the same) that comes around in the cafe and greets you all. This is a mascot plush, so one you would typically keep on your bag and such, but instead we have popped this little guy in our plushie cabinet/case in our bedroom.

Pokémon Mascot Cafe Eevee – Honestly I love this Eevee so much! As many of you MUST know by now, I love Eevee, so when I first saw this little waitress/waiter Eevee I knew we had to order one! I wish this plush was in a bigger size in all honesty. It has the little red cap that the staff wear in the Pokemon Cafe. Like Chef Pikachu, this one is also in our plushie cabinet/case.

Pokémon Cafe Clear File 3 Piece Set (Reservation Bonus 2) – We knew we wanted to get some files for our trip in Japan, as a lot of places we ventured to (aka cafes) have the place mats that you fold/roll up and take home, so we wanted some files that we could do that with. We never actually used these, or any of the other files that we bought for this purpose. Even so these files will be handy for D&D BUT, I have started to wonder if you could frame these and hang them up like prints! These would especially look great around the house and in the kitchen. I have to add, the first file is by far my favourite! The mascots from the Pokemon Cafe are adorable. 🙂

Now onto the items we bought when ordering our food, as well as after when we were paying for our meal/goods. I also want to mention how aside from the Eevee plate, everything we bought below was packaged in sturdy Pokemon Cafe boxes, so we didn’t have to worry too much about bringing everything back… Although I did wrap the glasses and mug up in newspaper just to be sure. 🙂

Gengar Glass – I knew I needed this glass, it just looks really cool! BUT I didn’t quite know what to expect when I saw it out of the box and without the grape smoothie in! It’s a tinted purple glass, with the Gengar face we all know and lo… Are frightened of. 😛 It also has the Pokemon Center logo at the bottom of the glass too. I haven’t used this glass since we got home and if anything we have decided to keep it safe in our cabinet, alongside some of the other goodies we picked up in Japan, including the Pikachu mug we picked up in the Pokemon Cafe too.

Pokemon Cafe Glass – This is one of the few kitchen related items I grabbed from the Pokemon Cafe that I ACTUALLY use. 😛 I love my Pokemon Cafe glass and although I do get so anxious when I use it, I love it so much and it really does make me smile to use. It’s such a gorgeous design and I can’t really describe what the glass is like over than it shouts the Pokemon Cafe at you! On one side you have the Pokemon Cafe logo and a few various images of Chef Pikachu and Waitress Pikachu doing things in the cafe. 🙂 It’s perfect and just reminds me of the cafe whenever I look at it and use it.

Pikachu Mug – This was one of the things that Dane got and you could either choose between the Eevee or Pikachu mug. As I mentioned earlier, we wanted the Eevee mug but wasn’t available for us, so the Pikachu one came home with us and you know what? I actually really love the Pikachu mug! It’s so cute and well made to be honest with you. The handle is Pikachu’s tail, whilst the mug itself has a cute image of the happy Pikachu we have all grown up with over the years. It also has the Pokemon Center logo on the other side of the mug. It’s a lovely bright yellow colour which will really stand out in the cupboard where you keep your mugs!

Eevee Plate – This is the plate Dane got with his meal, of course he got a brand new plate, not the one he ate off of. 😛 This is a sturdy plastic plate in the shape of Eevee’s head and of course has an image of Eevee’s face on the plate too! It’s incredibly cute and I really love it! We weren’t 100% sure what we were going to do with it when we got home and we toyed with many ideas, eventually we decided to display it on our fireplace with one of my Eeveelutions prints and some figures. I love it so much and it really does brighten up our fireplace a litte.

Pokémon Cafe Red Logo Mug – Ever since the Pokemon Cafe opened in 2018 I have been eyeing up this red travel mug… I’ve nearly bought it from sellers on a couple of occasions but left it because I kept saying to myself, “Nat, you’ll be going yourself soon enough to get one yourself.” Two years later and I went and got! I’m so glad I picked this up as the quality is amazing! The lid feels really secure when you pop it on the top and not only can you drink hot drinks from this, but there’s space for a straw in the top too for cold drinks! I use this all the time for work if I fancy a coffee on my way, as well as if I want to grab a coffee as I’m heading to my desk for the day. I always get lovely compliments on it too. The pattern on the mug is similar to the one on the Pokemon Cafe glass I bought, with the Pokemon Cafe logo and some words.

So, would I recommend going to the Pokemon Cafe? Excuse my language but FUCK YES! If you are going to Japan and happen to be in Tokyo or Osaka (or both places for that matter!) then I would highly recommend to book yourself a reservation to the Pokemon Cafe before you go! Of course if you aren’t a fan of Pokemon, this may not be for you but honestly if you are, or at least were as a kid this will definitely bring back some nostalgia for you.

It was up there as one of my favourite places to go, as well as eat at whilst we were in Japan and I already know as and when I venture to Japan again, I’ll definitely book a reservation for the Pokemon Cafe for a second time. It was worth every penny and I was so happy during my time there.

What do you guys think of the Pokemon Cafe? Would you love to go? Go over to the website and tell me what you would order from the menu! Have you been to the Pokemon Cafe before? Let me know in the comments with which one you visited and what you had to eat.

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

Life Lately – 2020 So Far

Guys I have not written a life lately post since June 2019 – how crazy is that?! I’ve clearly been living too busy a life to even update you guys with anything, haha!

However, for February I thought one was necessary on my blog because for pretty much all of January (and hence 2020 so far) I’ve been pretty quiet, which many of you will know the reasons for.

I was in Japan! I didn’t state exactly when I was going, but from the 12th January until the 26th January I was in Tokyo, Japan for a very much overdue trip with Dane.

Since we got together in 2013 we have dreamed of going to Japan and finally that dream became a reality. I don’t want to talk too much about that here as I would like to talk about it over various posts on my blog. I will go into some minor details here though.

It was amazing and although we watch anime/read manga and know quite a bit about Japanese culture, we definitely weren’t prepared for what a culture shock we were in for. We LOVED Japan and we honestly cannot wait to plan our next trip there (probably 2022 now…).

We travelled to various places around Tokyo including Shinjuku (which is where we stayed), Shibuya, Harajuku, Hakone (which is an hour outside of Shinjuku), Ikebukuro, Akihabara, Chiyoda City, Toshima City, Nakano City and more!

My favourite place to go to was a mixture of Shinjuku, Shibuya and Akihabara for various reasons.

Akihabara was FULL of otaku, kawaii, geeky goods – which were right up our street. We loved it so much there that we went again for a second trip!

Shinjuku (as I mentioned) was where we stayed for our trip and it was definitely the best place to pick! Just a short 5-10 minute walk away was everything you could want and more, including places to eat, shop, play games and even catch trains from that went everywhere we wanted to go. It was perfect and I’ll definitely stay there again in the future.

Shibuya was the best for shopping, as well as walking around. It’s home to the famous Shibuya crossing, as well as the Hachi statue that sits right by the train station. Shopping there was incredible and I regret not going back for a second visit.

One place in particular was good, but also disappointing at the same time, which was Harajuku. I imagined it to be this lively, colourful eating and shopping haven that I would lap up! Sadly at the start of the day in Harajuku I was really poorly and ended up being sick. I quickly recovered and me and Dane were able to get on with what we set out to do for the day, which was mostly visiting animal cafes! Harajuku (to me anyway) wasn’t full of the lively and colourful places I’d imagined. Eating there was amazing and I regret not being able to eat more, but shopping was a bit of a let down. It seemed to be a mixture of copy and paste of Wego and (what seemed like) colourful fashion you could buy on eBay.

The only reason I would venture there again is to go back to the Pompompurin Cafe, which was one of my favourite places to eat at during our time in Japan! I’ll be talking about this on a separate blog post, so keep eyes peeled for that! 😀

The food in Japan was amazing and I miss it already. 7-eleven was so convenient for food, especially breakfast and the range of choice was incredible! The hot food was probably the best for me and I wish I’d eaten a lot more of it.

As a savoury eater, I ate so much sweet stuff because it was EVERYWHERE and it was amazing. I miss it so badly… I just wish we could at least have crepes here that are as good as the ones in Japan.

Enough of Japan for now – I’ll save all the in depth information for the blog post(s) about it.

I wanted to touch base on some other things here, including my blog and personal life.

Some news I want to share, which I am SUPER EXCITED FOR is that I am going to see My Chemical Romance in June!!! 😀 Booking tickets to go and see them was a nightmare and I haven’t felt so anxious about buying something since we booked our holiday to Japan.

I tried to book both the Saturday and Sunday show whilst out in Japan and due to the crap pocket WiFi we had, this just wasn’t doable. I sat in a cafe for an hour trying to book the Saturday show with zero luck. Then as we were walking around Tokyo I attempted to book the Sunday show, with less luck than before. I was gutted. Absolutely gutted. I got over it however by the time we got back to the UK.

THEN my friend Claire (Claire Likes To Doodle – who you can read about here) told me about a third show they had announced for Thursday. I knew I had to get on that as soon as I could. I saved the booking section on Ticketmaster on my phone and made sure to be ready to book. The morning came and a stressful 30 minutes later, tickets were booked and paid for and I WAS IN! YES, YES, YESSSSS!

I am beyond excited to see My Chemical Romance again after almost 10 years (I last saw them in 2011) and I already know loads of memories will come back to that show and the previous show I saw them at (Black Parade UK tour back in 2007).

I’ll be going with my boyfriend, who isn’t actually a massive My Chemical Romance fan, but is coming with so I’m not going alone. I don’t have any friends who can come in the week, or at all (due to also not being fans), so he’s doing me a favour. 🙂 I’m paying for his ticket, which is fine with me… Because he’ll be buying our dinner haha!

So yes, I am will be listening to loads of My Chemical Romance in the run up to the show in June and maybe bringing back my emo self from back in the day… 😛

At the start of January and just before my holiday I turned 30… Yes I am old and I don’t care! I had a lovely day with Dane, who took me out to an animal park and in the evening we went out for a meal with my parents. Japan was the biggest celebration in a way. 😛

Dane bought me my blue Pandora ring for my 30th, which I love so much!

I didn’t do my yearly “what I got for my birthday” post and the reason for this is because I didn’t really want to… I just wasn’t feeling it. I’m more than happy to share what I received on this post but other than that… I just didn’t want to.

This leads onto my next point about life lately for me, which includes a massive thing about There Might Be Coffee. I know I posted a while ago how I wanted to just stick to posting on my blog once a week. Sometimes it might be more, especially if I’ve been inspired to write and want to get something out there. However, I have recently felt like my blog isn’t as “big a deal” to me as it used to be years before and it’s Dane who has made me think why.

When I started my blog I was out of work and bored. I loved my blog as a place to talk and be myself. Then I got my job and since then until 2017 I was unhappy in work. I used my blog as a place to escape and talk about things I love and share these things with people. These days I’m pretty content in my life. I’ve got a job I love, Dane, my lovely home, I’ve just been to Japan and my mental health is the best it has ever been in 20 years! Life is pretty good right now and to be able to type that is amazing. If someone had of told me 4 years ago that I would be in this position now, I wouldn’t believe them.

Don’t worry guys. This isn’t the end of my blog – far from it! It’s just the beginning of me being able to realise what I want to do and how I want to do it. I want to venture more and more into topics I am mad about, especially Japan and now I’ve been I can talk about it more than ever before.

I also want to talk about more things I know and love and I STILL want to bring you guys enamel pin posts, as well as Nendoroid figures collecting and geeky home decor.

I would also love to venture into IGTV over on my blog Instagram account (theremightbecoffeeblog) as I have always wanted to do YouTube, but I don’t want to deal with editing and arsehole trolls. IGTV I feel would be a little bit more manageable.

So, my blog will be going through some “changes” but nothing too drastic. Just less posts a week, more Japan/kawaii/otaku content and less gifted content.

I noticed last year that at one point my blog was COVERED in gifted *** posts and although I loved it at the time (because companies wanted to work with me) I look back and shake my head. That isn’t me. It especially wasn’t me to work with so many different people.

This has taught me a few things. I LOVE working with food companies. I love food and I love talking and sharing good food places, so when I get to work with places I want to shout about, it makes me happy. What I don’t love however is working with loads of people and constantly having gifted posts, instead of posts I want to get up about geeky stuff.

So, I have decided to distance myself away from that. I just don’t want it anymore. I want to work with more independent artists whose work I love and want to shout out about! If I can work with the artists, amazing. If I can’t then whatever – I’ll still shout about their work! An example of this will be an independent company I’ll be reviewing this month called Quirkory. I discovered them back in August last year and since then I have been hooked on them and their designs… Make sure to keep eyes peeled for that post!

I’m also toying with what to do with my newsletter now we’re into 2020. I had 3 newsletters out (September-November) and I honestly feel like it was a massive flop. Hardly anyone subscribed to it and hence hardly anyone read it. Which is actually saddening. I’d decided to have the newsletter talk about what was due to come to my blog throughout the month, as well as a general chit chatter that I don’t really bring to my blog as much.

I’m thinking of doing something four times a year on the first day of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. I’d possibly look to trying to work with companies to bring competitions too but even so… I don’t know if my heart is in it for my newsletter anymore. Any thoughts on this would be great. I know some of the readers/subscribers of my newsletter have been so lovely! But if your heart isn’t in it… You know?

Other than that, I can’t think of anything else to share really! 2020 is the year that I start to live my life and do things I wouldn’t have thought to before. I already have the itch to go back to Japan and plan to get our 2021/22 trip planned this year.

I also want to go to Amsterdam for mine and Dane’s 7 year anniversary. Only for a weekend, but it’s a place I have always wanted to go. As soon as I feel comfortable and ready, I’m going to book it for us both! Maybe as a surprise trip for Dane? 😛 We shall see.

Do you guys have anything to share from your lives lately? If so please let me know in the comments below! 😀 I love hearing about how things are going for people, good and bad. I’m always happy to listen if any of my readers who needs help and support. You can always reach out to me via a DM on Twitter (maybeecoffee) or Instagram (theremightbecoffeeblog).

Until next time guys, I hope you’re having a lovely weekend so far and enjoyed my ranty blog post. 😛

Pokemon Center London – My Experience & Haul

This is a post I am writing literally 3 hours after I have arrived back home from our short trip to London… I am tired, unsure of what to do with myself right now and kinda poor. 😛 If you haven’t gathered from the title, I went to the Pokemon Center in London with Dane and we bought some stuff… A lot of stuff as a matter of fact.

I wanted to talk about my experience of the Pokemon Center in London here on my blog, because not only have I been excited for this pop up store to come to the UK (as mentioned in my October wish list here as well as on my October Newsletter) but I am also a MASSIVE Pokemon fan and have been since 1999 when the first generation games  came out in the UK.

So when I heard that we would be getting a Pokemon Center here in the UK, I knew I had to go… However there has been some ups and downs with this since it opened on the 18th October, which is over a week ago now. It shuts on the 15th November, when the new Sword and Shield games come out.

I went yesterday on the 28th October and I’m going to tell you all about it, including the good, the bad and the annoying. I’ll also be showing you what both me and my boyfriend Dane bought too… Because I just HAVE to show you all the awesome goodies we bought!

As you know as my reader(s) I’m from Birmingham and the Pokemon Center is in London. That’s either a 2 hour train or car journey to London for me. We did at first book a hotel and plan to leave early on the Monday to go and start queuing for the Pokemon Center at 5am… This plan didn’t wash with both me and my boyfriend though. We felt it was a waste of a hotel payment when we weren’t even sleeping in the room we’d paid for for long. So we cancelled our hotel, got our money back and decided to drive down early on the Monday morning.

We toyed with the idea of going stupidly early and semi stupidly early in the morning. Eventually we opted to arrive in London for 5am to begin queuing. We both woke up at 2am to get ready and at 3am we left to make our way down to London. It was a lovely quiet drive and we spoke about all sorts on the way down, including what we planned to buy, whether or not we would go upstairs to play the demo of Pokemon Sword and Shield as well as other things.

Before we knew it we arrived! We parked in the Westfield shopping centre and made our way through the quiet and empty shopping centre to join the queue. As we got closer to the queue people were bring brought inside by the security, which was good! It wasn’t exactly warm outside! Not long after we joined the end of the queue we were also led indoors into the warm, which I was grateful for! We joined the queue and sat down to make ourselves comfortable, we were due a lonnnnng wait!

Food and drink wise we made sure to take plenty with us to keep us going for the wait. We took Red Bull and Lucozade, some sweets and we even cooked some pizzas for us to have for lunch… Which we ate half of for breakfast and the rest for dinner in the evening! It was so odd, but that pizza was so yummy yesterday morning. 😛 Some of the restaurants and cafes open at 8am, but I did see some people leave the queue and later came back with McDonald’s breakfast.

We were waiting by Love Coffee, which I toyed with going to for coffee when it opened at 8am. We didn’t bother in the end however, as I was feeling really dehydrated and caffeine wasn’t something I was all that arsed about… Which is a shock for me!

Toilets were close by to where we were queuing all of the day and there was also some drinks vending machines too and were contactless payments, which was handy! I never carry cash. 😦 Security were amazing and if you don’t happen to be queuing as close to a toilet as we were, they’ll allow you to go and do your business and rejoin the queue when you return. Just make sure there is someone around to hold your space, or at least someone nearby who will remember you!

Entertainment… This is something you will definitely need to think about, especially depending if you’re on your own. No matter what time you join the queue, you will need to take some form of entertainment with you so that you don’t die of boredom! We didn’t take our Nintendo Switch in the end as I know Dane was worried about us being outside with it… What a shame we didn’t take it though as we were inside straight after we started queuing. I saw a lot of people playing their Switches together, as well as alone. We only took our phones for entertainment, which didn’t bother me too much, but I could tell that Dane was really bored!

If you don’t take a handheld games console with you, at least take a book and a battery pack for your phone! My phone didn’t go down to 10% until after we had left the Pokemon Center, which was good! But I know Dane’s ran low not long before we headed into the Pokemon Center.

Whether you’re going alone or not, both me and Dane regretted not taking earphones/headphones with us to tone out people talking and to kill some time as well… I made sure to connect to the free WiFi in Westfield as I didn’t want to eat into my data. I just regret it so much… It would have killed a lot of time as I could have binged YouTube videos and listening to podcasts.

I can’t think of anything else here in regards to what to plan for with waiting times… If you have any questions, just ask!

Something that annoyed me at this point of queuing was the amount of people who were taking up LOADS of space, when others (including us) were confined to hardly any space. If me and Dane both sat down next to each other we were practically on top of one another! A couple next to us had more than enough room to move over and give us more space, but the guy next to them wouldn’t move over. Behind that guy there were two guys and a girl who took up so much space. So much so, the guys were both lying down with their heads next to each other. It really pissed me off and they weren’t the only people don’t this. Security should have really nipped this in the bud, but didn’t, which pissed me off. I’ve posted the photo to show you guys what it was like. I’ve blanked out their faces but if you’re reading this who did this, shame on you.

Another thing that annoyed me was hearing people gossiping about stuff to do with the Pokemon Center that just wasn’t accurate or true. I could hear them telling people who hadn’t yet been (I have a feeling the person in question had been maybe once or twice) and what they were saying felt very scaremongering to me. I won’t mention what was being said as I don’t want to openly out someone, but it was frustrating me. I didn’t want to hear it, but I couldn’t help it. It was at this point I regretted not having some earphones/headphones on me… I don’t mean to sound nasty but I just want to be honest. I understand people sharing experiences or things they have read from the official Pokemon Center Twitter page, but to gossip about facts that are not true, is downright annoying…

A lot of people have mentioned online of how they have made friends with people in the queue, but sadly we just didn’t do this… We were tired, bored and hardly spoke to one another. Plus the people around us just didn’t seem that sociable.

Eventually around 8.15am we were moved forward and stood up for the remainder of out wait before entering the Pokemon Center. Security will keep you as bunched up as possible and don’t like you sitting at this point as it can take up more room! This was fine, but I was shattered. We were standing for 3 hours before we entered the Pokemon Center. I appreciated the sit down in the coffee shop we ventured to after.

Obviously we weren’t here at 8.15am! This was us at 11.15am.

Security were amazing! They were friendly to talk to, any questions you wanted to ask they were happy with answering and they made sure that people weren’t pushing in!

There were a couple of incidents where people either thought the queue started where we were and needed to be redirected and a few times people blatantly tried to push in. One guy was “on his phone” and stood at the end of the queue. Security asked him to move and leave and he was pretending to be on his phone, he blatantly wasn’t! He eventually got moved, but he clearly knew what he was doing was wrong.

Another great example of the security was how someone wasn’t feeling very well in the queue and they seemed to be having a panic attack. I think they were dehydrated and hungry, plus anxious so they were taken out of the queue to be sat and calmed down by security. Not long after we entered the store, I saw them in there. It was good to see they had perked up and been able to enter the store after queuing!

Please excuse my fat, tired, anxious face! 😛

Eventually after six and a half hours later we entered the store! We were greeted by happy staff at the front of the store, which was lovely! The store is tiny… Smaller than I thought it was going to be! It was really busy too, which was a shame because it meant I couldn’t “enjoy” the aesthetic of it as much as I had planned to.

For all the time we waited outside of the Pokemon Center, we realistically only spent 30-45 minutes in there. Crazy, right?

Wait… What is that pink thing on the back?

Mmm let’s look closer at that pink thing…

Would you look at that! It’s a lonely Ditto. 😛 Honestly if it wasn’t for the fact both me and Dane had picked up our 5 items each, I would have grabbed this forever alone Ditto. 😛

Look… He’s still there. 😦 😛

You go into the store and on the right you have the tills and on the left you have a section the Detective Pikachu merchandise and the new Galar starters. Still on the left you also have a mixture of the Galar starters again and some London exclusive merchandise.

We made sure to grab a London Pikachu plushie each! We kept one and we also bought one for a YouTube friend Found on Film, which I sent off today for her. FYI she paid for the Pikachu as well as the postage costs and I didn’t charge any extra for doing this for her. Yes, I am annoyed at people buying and selling stuff on eBay, but I don’t mind when people help out others.

Then you can go through a tunnel style part of the store to go to the back of the shop. On the left there was loads of Nintendo Switch stock for sale, including the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite consoles, games and accessories for the Switch and Switch Lite. Next to that was a section FULL of various plushies, especially the cute Eeeveelution plushies! I toyed with the idea of picking up a Vulpix plush, but left it. I can always pick one up when I go to Japan if I really want one.

All along the right hand side were Pokemon Trading Card related merchandise and London exclusive clothing merchandise. I knew I wanted both of the London exclusive hoodies (one has a zip and one has a pullover) and when I went over to both of the hoodies in their sections there weren’t many sizes left! I made sure to grab XL’s in both and shoved them in my basket! I’m definitely not an XL in unisex, but I wanted to make sure that both of these fit me as I’d heard things about the sizes come up small. Plus, if Dane wants to wear the zip hoodie, he can, as it fits him too! 😀

Dane also picked himself up one of the white Pikachu pocket t-shirts too, which he quickly grabbed a bigger size in due to the sizing issues. I’m glad he picked that t-shirt up for himself!

Sadly I did not get ANY photos of this part of the shop, apart from me standing in front of the photo at the back. This was just due to how manic this part of the shop was… The only images I got were of the Eeveelution plushies. 😦

Then for the rest of our time in the shop we made sure to relax a little (we grabbed the bits we really wanted first) and have a nose around the shop. We ventured back over to the London exclusive items and picked up a poster, some stickers and I found some of the London socks thrown on top of the Galar starter merchandise, which I gave to Dane. The socks had actually sold out so we were VERY lucky to have found these!

We finally went over to the Detective Pikachu merchandise to have a nose at what they had. As regular and older readers will know, back in May this year I bought the lifesize Detective Pikachu plushie from Pokemon Center Japan (which you can see and read about here) through YY Kawaii and I still to this day love it! They were selling this plushie at the Pokemon Center in London, but it had sold out by the time I got into the store. However, they did have the smaller versions. I picked one of them up and instantly fell in love with it. It looked so happy with it’s face and it really did make me smile. I put it into my basket and Dane even picked himself up a little key chain version too! Now we have a big happy Detective Pikachu plush family! 😛

That was it! We were happy with all our purchases and headed to the till.

In regards to stock levels, when the queue closes for the day and any other updates in regards to the Pokemon Center, their Twitter page PokemonPopUp is the best place to go for updates! I constantly watched it whilst I was in the queue after the store opened at 10am for updates of what had sold out as we queued. For example I did toy with the idea of picking up the fleece blanket they were selling, but this sold out before we went in… Which I was gutted about! This being said, I’ll live. 😛

We decided to go upstairs to have a go at the Pokemon Sword and Shield demo, as whilst we’ve pre-ordered both the games I fancied having a look upstairs, take some photos and of course give them demo a go on a Nintendo Switch Lite. I’ve actually ordered myself the limited edition one for Pokemon Sword and Shield which I’m excited about! So, I wanted to have a go on a Switch Lite to see what it was like.

One of my favourite parts of the Pokemon Center was actually the photo wall they had upstairs! You could pick up and hold one of the Pokemon that is going to be a part of the new generation and I decided to grab Grookey for my photo. This is the Pokemon I’m planning to choose right now for my starter! I have to be honest (and vain) and say how much I love the photos that Dane took of me here! I’m not as keen on the photo from downstairs in the Pokemon Center and same can be said for the one outside too. I don’t know why… I guess I look a mixture of tired, anxious and stressed due to the waiting and then how busy it was inside the Pokemon Center. Upstairs where the demos were taking place was lovely and chilled, which I enjoyed. 🙂

The demo was fun, for the 10 minutes it lasted for. You were playing through one of the gym puzzles before you go and play the gym leader. I never got to finish battling the gym leader, but Dane did. We both loved it and enjoyed playing it on the Switch Lite! I plan to talk about the Switch Lite on my blog when it arrives next week (maybe the week after) by the way. 🙂

Once you’ve started to go upstairs by the way, you will not be allowed to go back into the Pokemon Center… You’ll be told this as you’re about to go upstairs so make sure you’re happy with everything you’ve done before going to play the demo.

Then when we had finished the demo we headed downstairs for one more photo of the Pikachu in the window and headed to a coffee shop for a sit down, something to eat and drink and chilled with my favourite independent artists Chibi Shibby (check out her store here!).

Shibby kindly picked up the umbrella for me from the Pokemon Center when she visited the weekend it opened! Due to how busy it was I started to get anxious that I wouldn’t end up going. Not only that, but I also worried that when we did go, the umbrella (which at the time was the thing I wanted the most!) would be sold out too. It wasn’t when we went, but we couldn’t see it anywhere!

We sat and chilled with Shibby for a bit and before we know it, we were all ready to head off home. Two hours later we got home at 3.30pm. We were shattered for the rest of the evening, ate our leftover pizza from the morning and I even filmed a video of a live haul and feelings about the Pokemon Center on my Instagram page.

FINALLY I am going to show you the goodies I picked up, the prices and why I picked things up. You know, the usual stuff I say when I write a haul post. 😛

• London City Pikachu Umbrella – £29.00

This umbrella is really hefty and it feels like a “professional” one, if that makes sense? It’s an automatic spring umbrella too, so when you push the button on the handle the umbrella opens up. It’s a navy umbrella with a Pokemon Center London logo and Pikachu on, but it’s inside the umbrella where the magic happens! Inside it’s grey with all the different London Pikachu poses, as well as some UK related things a Pokemon inspired red postbox, a lamp post, green bushes, clouds and even an Eevee. I am beyond excited to use this umbrella, but also anxious as hell because if this breaks, I will cry! xD As I mentioned in the post, Chibi Shibby was kind enough to pick this up for me (of course I paid her for it).

• London City Pikachu Scene Poster – £10.00

This wasn’t something neither me nor Dane contemplated picking up but when I saw it on show in the store, I just knew I had to get it. It was shown to the public a week or so before the store opened, which I fell in love with! I know a lot of people thought it wasn’t anything special, but honestly I did really like it. Granted, they could have done more but in my mind if they had of done more it would have looked too much and then people would have complained about that. You know? So yeah, the print made me happy! This will eventually be put into a frame and put on the wall somewhere in our house! I would have taken this out of the tube to show you all, but I want to keep it in there until we decide to take it out and frame. Dane picked this up in the store.

• London City Pikachu Socks – £12.00

As I mentioned this was something I saw on the starter plushies and I grabbed them quickly for Dane! I would have loved to pick these up myself, but I feel like I had picked up enough stuff and I knew Dane would really like and get some use out of these. More so than I would have, for sure. I’m glad we managed to grab these considering they had been sold out. 😛 These socks feel really quite thick and they’re also really long, which is awesome! I know for a fact Dane will wear these in the summer with shorts. 😛 Dane picked these up in the store.

• London Pikachu Hiding T-Shirt – £24.00

This was originally a t-shirt I wanted to pick up, but left it as I wasn’t all that arsed considering I wanted the hoodies more. I was really happy when I turned around and saw that Dane had picked this up! I had read loads of people saying to pick up a size larger in the clothing as it seemed to come up smaller, which Dane did for this t-shirt. It fits him perfectly, but one issue we both have with it, is that it’s rather see through… This isn’t a problem, Dane can always wear something underneath it. 🙂 This t-shirt is really cool and I’m glad he picked it up for that alone! The London Pikachu is hiding in a little pocket on the front. I love t-shirts with these pocket designs. 🙂 Dane picked this up in the store.

• Detective Pikachu Plush Key Chain – £12.00

This little key chain version of the Detective Pikachu plush is adorable! Dane plans to keep it in his card, which I think is such a cute idea! A part of me was tempted to do this myself, but I don’t think I will do currently with my car. This is so soft and very small! They had loads of these left for sale, which isn’t a surprise. This would be cute to keep on an ita bag or a backpack, as it has this little clip so you wouldn’t need to worry about it falling off. 🙂 Dane picked this up in the store.

• Detective Pikachu Plush – £20.00

I cannot tell you how bloody happy this plush has made me. As I am writing this post I am currently every now and then looking over at it, as it is peering out of the top of the bag with all the goodies in from the Pokemon Center. I cuddled with this a little last night as me and Dane chilled out in bed and I really enjoyed it. I sound like such a kid, but sometimes things like that really do make you feel like a kid again. I just love it’s little face. It just looks so perfect and happy! I definitely have the perfect plushie here out of the bunch… 😛 I have to add here, I loved Sooty as a kid and not going to lie, I still love watching it now for the nostalgia and this plush sort of reminds me of Sooty due to the yellow colour and it’s cute little face. I think that’s one of the reasons it has made me so happy haha! I picked this up in the store.

• London City Pikachu Poke Plush – £20.00

Of course I had to pick this plush up… I’d have been crazy if I hadn’t. These sold out not long after we left the Pokemon Center (including the demo section upstairs) and I’m glad we were able to grab one. These were in pretty good stock when we grabbed ours, but this was something I wanted to make sure we grabbed first! I do not have a clue where I’m going to keep this little guy, but at the moment I am contemplating my manga cupboard, if not my cabinet that is full of Pokemon Center plushies from Japan. I love this plush, he’s got so much detailing to him and he’s just perfect! He has a bowler hat on, a Psyduck style umbrella, a tie that is covered in Poke balls and all around is pudgy and cute! He was well worth the £20 I paid. 😛 I picked this up in the store.

• London City Pikachu Stickers (4 Stickers) – £6.50

This was a random purchase and was a toss up between these and the greetings cards. I feel like if I’d have bought the greetings cards, I would have never used them… However with the stickers I’m planning on making a little scrapbook for our Japan trip, so I would like to stick loads of cute stickers I am accumulating together right now onto a scrapbook cover… OR do the same with a notebook for myself! I’m also planning on sending one of these stickers to someone in a Christmas card. 🙂 I picked this up in the store.

• London City Pikachu Crest Hooded Sweatshirt – £65.00

This was something I REALLY wanted as I’d seen photos of it and it just looked really comfortable, different and it’s limited edition… Why wouldn’t I want it! I’m not a small girl and usually when I buy hoodies I pick them up in a L… A man’s L more often than not. I can rarely pick up clothing from the Pokemon Center’s in Japan due to the sizing, as Asian sizes are usually a lot smaller than ours are here in the UK. So getting genuine Pokemon Center clothes is rare for me (I say this but I do own one Flareon tee…) so I knew I wanted this. I grabbed an XL to make sure it was lovely and baggy and damn it is!

It’s a dark grey zip up hoodie, so this will be perfect if I’m popping out for a while and just want to throw something on quick. It’ll be perfect for work too whenever I have dress down days and in the summer when I want something light to wear on the way to and from work. On the back there is a gold photo of the London Pikachu, with the year 2019 and London. There is even Mew and Mewtwo on the back too, which I didn’t notice until just now! The hood also has all the London Pikachu designs in, which is amazing! Finally on the left side of the chest is a Pokeball logo. I cannot wait to rock this this week. It wasn’t cheap by the way, I know but this is limited and worth every fucking penny to me! As this is an XL Dane can wear it too. 🙂 I picked this up in the store.

• London Sweatshirt Black – £55.00

This is the final item on this list and it wasn’t a sweatshirt I wanted originally, but the more people I saw sharing it and talking about it, the more I wanted it. I’m so pleased I picked this up and especially glad that I grabbed an XL in this too, although I feel like an XXL would have been better. This fits perfectly with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath, but I would have wanted it a teeny bit baggier… There is so much detail on this sweatshirt and for that I love it!

This is a black pull over hoodie, but it’s being called a sweatshirt with some yellow detailing in places. On the front on the left hand side there is a London Pikachu in a sitting position, which is adorable! This design hasn’t been on much merchandise alone, so I’m glad they did it on this sweatshirt. Below the pocket on the right hand side there is the coordinates of the Pokemon Center in London! Which is amazing! This store will never be there again (unless the petition actually works and Nintendo keep it permanently!) and it makes me feel cool to wear something like this. It’s just an awesome idea and I love it. It’s the main thing I loved about the sweatshirt. Then on the back there is a yellow Poke ball stitched on the left shoulder, which I didn’t notice until I tried the sweatshirt on and Dane pointed it out to me. I honestly love this and can’t wait to rock it during the colder seasons and especially in Japan! I picked this up in the store.

I want to make a disclaimer here, I am in no way showing off how much I bought and how much I spent… I mean let’s face it, why would I show off how fucking skint I am now?! I saved up for the Pokemon Center as I planned to spend a lot of money and I have zero regrets. I am a massive Pokemon fan… No matter what and it’s not like it’s everyday that we get a Pokemon Center here in the UK!

I wanted to show prices so that if people were/are planning to go to the Pokemon Center themselves, at least they/you could see the prices for items. 🙂

That was everything I bought anyhoo and now it’s time to wrap up this VERY long post…

So, what did I think of the Pokemon Center London? I have so many feelings about it that I will list below:

• I loved the Pokemon Center London, even with all the queuing. I waited 6 and a half hours, people have waited a lot longer than I have so I cannot complain. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t love queuing but before I knew it, we were going in!
• I hated how busy it was inside. Some people were rushing around and grabbing what they wanted, whilst others were relaxed and taking their time. I was actually one of the people rushing to grab what they wanted, as I was worried I had travelled all that way to find all the stuff I wanted was out of stock. I didn’t want that worry!
• I HATED how much anxiety I had in the run up to going, as well as moments before entered the store and even when I was in there.
• BUT I loved the relief of when I got the goodies I wanted the most (two hoodies and London Pikachu).
• If anything the thing I have hated the most from the Pokemon Center London is how selfish people have been. I’m not going to go into detail on my post but this store opening has really brought out how people can be.

This being said, I loved it. The child deep down inside of me was really excited for the pop-up store and I’m so pleased that both me and Dane went and we had a lovely time. 🙂

Would I go again? No. Not at all. Honestly I don’t need to. I don’t even think I would go with a friend because I honestly can’t be arsed to queue again. 😛

If you are looking to head to the pop-up store yourself then I will pop all the information down below for you, as there is plenty to take in! 😛

The store is open from Friday 18th October until Friday 15th November 2019.

Opening times are – Monday – Saturday 10am – 6pm and Sunday 12pm – 6pm.

You’ll find Pokemon Center London at Westfield London, located at Ariel Way, Shepherd’s Bush, London, W12 7GF in the United Kingdom. The store will be fully accessible for guests of all abilities, and an elevator will be available for travel between floors. Taken from Pokemon website

Pokemon Center London Twitter – Make sure to read this for all the updates! They update it daily including when the store opens, when queuing ends, which products have sold out for the day and even have FAQ’s on there too.

So, are any of my readers planning to make a trip to the Pokemon Center London before it closes, or have you been already? Make sure to let me know in the comments below, including how crazy I am! 😛

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

Japan Series – Where We Plan To Go

Hello and welcome to the second post of the Japan Series! I posted last month on my blog the exciting news about how me and Dane are FINALLY going to Japan in 2020. It still hasn’t sunk in, but almost daily we are talking about it and where we want to go, whether it be to visit, shop, eat and drink.

We are constantly asking people and researching. I thought I would share with my gorgeous readers where we are planning to go and why!

Image taken from Ghibli Museum website

• Ghibli Museum

This is a place I have wanted to visit ever since I heard about many years ago. I LOVE Studio Ghibli so much and alongside Elfen Lied it’s what actually got me into anime in the first place! I have fond memories of my dad and me watching Spirited Away one day after school during a rain storm outside. Years later I bought it on DVD and not long after me and Dane got together, I took the DVD to his house so we could watch it. I even want a tattoo of Haku on my bicep! It’s just a film I adore to the bottom of my heart. The museum apparently isn’t mind blowing, but I don’t care. I still plan to go! You have to book tickets a month in advance, so Dane has daily reminders a month before we’re off to Japan to book the tickets so we don’t miss out! I plan (if I’m allowed to do so!) to take loads of photos of the museum and possibly spend a little bit too much money in the gift shop. 😛

Image taken from teamLab Borderless website

Image taken from teamLab Planets website

• teamLab Borderless and teamLab Planets

These gorgeous light museums are somewhere I have wanted to visit for quite some time now and I am so excited to finally have the chance to go when we visit Japan. I’m not a massive museum or art exhibition person… I can at times find them quite boring, but these interactive light installations look amazing. You can download an app to use alongside the experience, which I really like the look and sound of. You need to book in advance and from memory it said two months, so myself and Dane will be keeping our eyes peeled for when we can book!

Image taken from Sanrio Puroland website

• Sanrio Puroland

This is a place I’ve ummed about for ages because I really want to go, but I don’t know if I love Sanrio enough to… In the end however, I would really love to go! It looks like it’s a good day out to go and explore, see a couple of shows (maybe) and just go around the area. Of course there’s lots of shopping to be done throughout too. I say I don’t love Sanrio, but I do have a lot of memories with Sanrio. I remember back when I was coming towards the end of primary school and in my first couple of years of secondary school, I adored Sanrio and couldn’t get enough of it! I fell in love with Chococat, Cinnamoroll (alongside his friends Azuki, Milk, Chiffon, Espresso, Mocha and Cappuccino) who came out in the early 00’s and especially Pompompurin! The most recent character Aggretsuko is amazing and I adore her so much. The more I write and think about it, the more I really would like to go to Puroland whilst we’re in Japan!

• Nara Park to feed the deers!

This is somewhere in Japan I REALLY want to go to but I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not… Basically Nara Park is located in Nara, which is nearly 4 and a half hours away by train… Unless we get up really early and go to Nara for a day… I don’t know if we’ll be able to go or not. In Nara Park you can feed the deer that live there. They bow their heads for food and as a reward, you feed them. Both me and Dane love animals, so it’s something we would both love to do whilst we’re out there. I feel like Dane will sort it so we can go, but I’m worried it won’t be able to happen… We shall see! 🙂

Image taken from Kyoto Animation website

• Kyoto Animation

This isn’t somewhere me and Dane thought about going before the tragic arson attack that happened at Kyoto Animation on the morning of 18th July 2019. We LOVE loads of anime that has been released by Kyoto Animation such as K-ON!, Nichijo, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions, A Silent Voice, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and Violet Evergarden. It broke out hearts when we heard about what had happened to the studio and it still to this day upsets me. It hurts even more that the director of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid died in the attack of Kyoto Animation. This is by far one of my favourite anime and manga series to date and I know they had just started to work on a second season too. I want to go and pay my respects to be honest and I’m hoping that when we’re out in Japan, Kyoto Animation will have begun to rebuild and me and Dane will be able to see how it’s forming and growing again.

Image taken from Tokyo Skytree website

• Tokyo Skytree

This is somewhere I really do want to go to in Japan… However I am also shit scared. I’m not a massive fan of heights in all honesty and I especially hate using lifts. Of course, both of these need to be used when it comes to visiting the Tokyo Skytree. This being said I know Dane really wants to go and visit this whilst we’re in Japan and to be honest with you, I would hate to come back from our trip and think, “I wish we had gone and done it now.” So yes, I will suck it in and go! If anything whilst I will be scared, I know I’ll also love it!

Honestly guys, I could go on for hours about all the places in Japan that me and Dane plan to visit, but I could be here for ages and would definitely bore you all! 😛 These are the main places we plan to go and would love to go whilst we’re in Japan.

Our holiday STILL hasn’t sunk in for me and honestly, it won’t until we’re boarding the plane and I’m beginning to have a mini panic attack!

What do you think to the places both me and Dane would like to visit in Japan? Make sure to let us know in the comments and hey! Even suggest any if you’ve visited Japan yourselves!

Next time I plan to talk about food and drinks places we plan to visit, including cafes! 😀

Until next time, take care all and I hope you have a lovely weekend.

 

Elodie the Unicorn Ramen Bowl

I don’t quite know why I’m writing this post/sort of review today as it’s just so random, but at the same time it’s something I really want to share with you guys for so many reasons! Of course, I’ll go into those as the post goes on.

I don’t mean to call this a review throughout the post either, but what else can it be?

I’ve been lusting after the Elodie the Unicorn Ramen Bowl for about a year now, which I discovered through Smoko’s Kickstarter campaign for the Elodie the Unicorn Humidifier. I nearly ordered this through Kickstarter which would have come with the humidifier, the mug and of course the ramen bowl. I didn’t due to how expensive it was and was gutted I’d missed the opportunity to getting some cute unicorn pieces for the house.

Smoko is an American company, so at the time you could order their Elodie products but shipping and import would have cost a bomb! So I left it… Then recently on Firebox they started releasing some of Smoko’s Elodie goodies, including the ramen bowl.

I’ve mentioned it a couple of times on my blog in the past when talking about my monthly wish lists, which you can read here and here.

Me and Dane had been in the house over a year when I discovered the Elodie goods on Firebox’s website and I pleaded with him to let me order the ramen bowl. It was pretty expensive at the time, £24.99 and for a bowl we both found it was expensive. I added it to my Christmas and birthday lists and I still didn’t receive it.

I noticed recently that the bowl was on offer and when I first looked it was down to £20.99, which I thought was a bargain… But again Dane was honest and said, “Nat where are we going to keep it? It’s not cheap either for a bowl.”

He was right, it wasn’t cheap and we didn’t have room for it, so I left it.

A couple of weeks ago I looked again on the website, just randomly to see what new Elodie goods Firebox may have added to the store, I discovered that the ramen bowl was EVEN CHEAPER than previously at £14.99!

I decided not to chance it a third time and put an order through! When you shop with Firebox for your first time you can receive a £5 voucher, which I put towards the ramen bowl. It practically paid for my postage, which sadly isn’t the cheapest in the world but it was definitely worth the money to ensure that my bowl arrived in one piece.

I didn’t have to wait long before my ramen bowl was on its way to me and on my doorstep, it literally arrived the day after I ordered, I was amazed and so happy.

I got home from work and I couldn’t wait to open it. The box that it comes in is cute in itself! Is it sad that I can’t bear to throw it away?! I’m not going to to be honest, I’m going to use it to keep my food in at work. 😛

The bowl itself is gorgeous and to be honest not what I imagined it to look like. It’s also lighter in weight than I thought it was going to be, which is incredibly handy when taking the bowl in and out of the cupboard.

This is technically two bowls, but to cook the noodles you need to use both bowls, one as the bowl itself and one as the lid.

So how it works is you pop your ramen noodle packet and any flavouring sachets into the bowl and pour boiling water over. Give it a max of 15-30 minutes and voila! The noodles will have grown twice their size and be ready to eat!

It claims it’s big enough to fit your ramen noodles in without breaking them, I don’t know if it’s due to the brand of noodles I used but sadly I had to break mine in half to get them into the bowl. I used proper Japanese ramen by the way. 😉

They melt in your mouth when eating them and this bowl will already make my life easier when I’m in a hurry or I’m tired after work. After cooking the noodles you could of course transfer the noodles to the other bowl so that two of you could share them… But of course I just want to scoff all the yummy ramen noodles myself! 😛

So, was this bowl worth the money? Oh hell yes! If anything I’m glad I waited a year to buy it for £10 less than the original asking price.

Dane was indecisive about this bowl but not only does it look adorable, it actually does an amazing job! Now Dane wants a ramen bowl himself, which I’m trying so hard to find for him! Otherwise I’ll have to buy another Elodie the Unicorn ramen bowl for him to match mine. 😛

If you like the look of this ramen bowl and want to get one for yourself, then make sure to use my code down below to bag yourself a £5 code!

https://www.firebox.com/r/natalee-e9e09e

ALSO! The Elodie the Unicorn goods are only available at Firebox for us UK shoppers, so you won’t be able to find those goods anywhere else! If you like the look of the Elodie the Unicorn goods then I’ll pop a link down below to both the Smoko and Firebox websites!

Smoko

Firebox

What do you think of my adorable ramen bowl? Would you buy one? Let me know in the comments down below!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you had a lovely weekend!

Currently #2

I know it hasn’t been too long since the last currently list (just over two weeks to be exact!) but I felt the need to do another one, as I have currently been doing, and loving so much stuff! All whilst working a lot… Which is the reason I’ve been so quiet on my blog lately.

Watching: I’ve been watching Jackass again lately. Every time I re-watch it I am once again reminded how much I love that damn show, but at the same time I forgot just how much I miss Ryan Dunn. As well as Jackass me and my boyfriend recently downloaded the Crunchy Roll app, and we are in love with it! It’s an app like Netflix that allows you to watch anime, as well as Japanese drama, and regular readers will know how much I love all things Japan (apart from octopus balls… Ew) so this app was a definite must have for us. Thanks to the app I was able to finally watch Himouto! Umaru-chan, something I have wanted to watch for AGES! It’s an anime about a high school girl who outside of her house and in school appears to be perfect, in every way. However as soon as she goes home, she turns into a lazy, gaming nerd. That is legit me… Apart from the perfect in every way… That isn’t me. 😛 BUT it is such an amazing anime and I am already a huge fan. I recommend anime fans to check it out ASAP. I’ve linked a video above with the introduction to the show. I don’t want to link anything that will ruin the show for anyone.

Image taken from weheartit.com

Playing: There’s one game I’ve been playing loads this month and that’s Lego: The Hobbit game. I had neglected it for a while until recently when I decided it was time to finish it… I’m not even halfway through it… DOH! I loved The Hobbit films, and although a lot of people disliked them, they were my favourite out of the Lord of The Rings series… Please don’t hate me LoTR’s fans! Alongside that me and my boyfriend finished Life is Strange, after the last episode came out last week. I’ve loved that game so much, and I really want to play it from start to finish soon. The story was amazing, and the way it ended was incredibly sad and not at all predictable like most games, movies, books, etc are these days. I recommend Life is Strange if you like gaming, especially games like Heavy Rain, and Beyond Two Souls where you need to choose how the story ends.

Listening: I honestly haven’t listened to much different from I usually do… I usually listen to Bloodhound Gang of late, but alas this hasn’t been the case the past couple of weeks. On my drive to work and back I’ve had my iPod on shuffle, but this being said a certain band has stuck out lately, and I’ve listened to them quite a bit not just in my car, but also in my boyfriends car. I grew up listened to Limp Bizkit’s album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (gosh, what a mouthful!) so whenever I listen to it now it takes me back to when I first started to discover nu metal/rap metal and how much I loved it. To name a few of my favourite songs from the album would have to be, “My Way” (which is my favourite Limp Bizkit song tbh…), “Livin’ It Up”, and “Getcha Groove On” (which I have linked above in a YouTube video as it’s my favourite song from the album).

Image taken from weheartit.com

Eating: I’ve been eating so much Japanese food lately, it’s crazy. With the new Grand Central opening in Birmingham, and also a new Yo! Sushi opening up in there too, me and my boyfriend thought we would treat ourselves to Japanese food there. Only to do the same again the weekend after, but at a Japanese restaurant in Coventry called Chi Bar. My friend also wanted to visit the new Yo! Sushi, so I went again, and like before we also went to the Chi Bar that same weekend too! It sounds really bad eating so much Japanese food, diet wise, but oh my it was so worth it! I’m such a fan for the sumo bowls at Yo! Sushi, as well as any flavour gyoza. Yummy!

Image taken from weheartit.com

Wearing: I’ve still been wearing my Dr Martens boots loads, but sadly they have been giving my feet a bit of trouble so they’ve been retired for a few weeks to allow my feet a much-needed break. Instead I have been rocking my Star Wars Vans again, a pair of shoes that I have been loving all of 2015 so far, and I know this will continue. They’re so perfect and easy to wear, with any outfit really. I really want to pick up another pair, just incase my current ones fall apart or anything worse! I do however have some new Vans, which I will be showing off on Friday!

Image taken from Jeffree Star Cosmetics official Instagram page

Wanting: Honestly there isn’t all that much I am lusting after at the moment… Which comes as a shock to me to be perfectly honest. 😛 If there is one thing I really want right now, it is one of the Christmas shades from Jeffree Star Cosmetics, this one of course being Hoe Hoe Hoe. It is a beautiful dark red shade, with pink shimmer running throughout. I haven’t seen anyone else do this with a liquid lipstick, and not to mention it is very beautiful! I’ll be ordering one as soon as they are put live on Cocktail Cosmetics website!

What things are you currently into? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below. I apologise that I have been so quiet lately, I am now working full-time at work again so I am trying my best to try and juggle work and my blog. It’ll all be okay! ^_^

Until next time all, take care and I hope all my readers are having a lovely week so far.