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!

June Wish List ’22

Happy bank holiday weekend! I’m not going to say too much about it, but I just hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. I’m going into a week off with Dane, which I am SO ready for now!

As I said on my monthly favourites, May really did fly by for me and I can’t believe we’re already four days into June! At the time of this post going live, I’ll have been to UK Games Expo yesterday and chilling with my best friend and her boyfriend today. Back in 2019 I did a blog post all about the UK Games Expo, those three years have flown by, honestly!

May was a strange month for me, with the latter of it being absolutely amazing due to My Chemical Romance and finally meeting Emily (Totally Emily) after knowing each other for six/seven years! The start of June is going to be equally as good and I’ve been really looking forward to it for as long as I can remember. Me and Dane haven’t had any time off together like this for a while now, since Christmas in fact so it’s long overdue. We have some stuff planned during it, including a trip to Manchester, as well as spending some much needed chill time together. It’s our nine year anniversary and as we weren’t able to do anything for it last year (we went to Wales in September), we wanted to make sure we did this year. Can you believe we’ll have been together ten years next year? Those years have flown by, it only feels like yesterday that I was meeting Dane for our first date in Birmingham. 🙂

Alongside June being an exciting month of doing lots of fun things with Dane and friends, it’s also an expensive month for me. My car service is due, as well as the tax renewal so that’ll be a lot of money at the start of June for me, but with us going to Manchester, we might spend a lot of money there too!

Last time we went to Manchester in 2019, we did spent quite a bit of money. I don’t know if that’ll happen again, as we appear to be quite good with money since the start of 2022, but who knows! I’m not planning to spend a lot of money, but my mood is if I see something I like and I can’t get online easily, I’ll probably buy? We shall see! I remember in April we went into Birmingham town centre for Dane’s birthday and we bought nothing… Apart from food. xD

That being said overall, this months wish list was incredibly hard to do! Some of the items mentioned are ones I’ve already ordered as I honestly couldn’t think of anything else to add? I keep a list of stuff I’ve pre-ordered and I’ve not got a lot for a while now, which for me is weird? I think it’s mostly Kickstarter items I’m waiting on now. 🙂

I’m hopeful content this month will be a mixture of our Manchester adventures and something kawaii! That aside, I really hope you enjoy this months wish list! 😀

• Loungefly Disney Lady and the Tramp Hat Box Mini Backpack – (link)

This is an item I recently discovered through Double Boxed Toys and I was over the moon! It’s a Box Lunch exclusive Lady and the Tramp backpack, with Lady in her hat box! As regular readers of my blog and friends will know, Lady and the Tramp is my favourite Disney movie so whenever I see merchandise from Disney that I really like, I do end up buying it. This being said, if there is one Loungefly bag theme I don’t own, it’s Lady and the Tramp and the reason for this is due to Loungefly just not bringing out a design I like… Until now! I really love the look of the Lady hat box style and it’s a design I don’t really have currently? I’m definitely toying with getting it in the future, but as this month is an expensive one, I’m going to hold off until I can justify it and purchase through a US seller.

• Anna Marine My Chemical Romance Inspired Prints – The Foundations of Decay and House of Wolves – (link) and (link)

Anna Marine’s MCR inspired prints have been on my radar for quite some time now, and one of the reasons I was put off ordering was due to the size being A4 or A3. Of course, as regular readers will know, I went to see MCR a couple of weeks ago and since then my younger MCR fan girl self has come out of the woodwork, so I’m accumulating some MCR merchandise, especially fan made pieces so I’m supporting smaller businesses. I’ve always wanted the Like Phantoms Forever print, but when Anna Marine opened up her store again last weekend, I opted for The Foundations of Decay and House of Wolves, as these are two prints I adore and really want! I’m so excited for these to arrive already, and I plan on putting them on my plushie cabinet so I can look at them when I settle down for bed, as well as when I’m getting ready in the morning for the day ahead. If I could have it my way, I’d buy all the prints inspired by The Black Parade and do a scatter wall somewhere in the house. Maybe I can do this in the future if we ever buy a bigger house and I can have an office of my own? 😛

• LilPawie Genshin Impact Yae Miko Sakura Fox Stickers – (link) and (link)

First of all, I’ve never played Genshin Impact and I don’t really plan to anytime soon, as it’s not my type of game. This being said, I keep seeing the Yae Miko sakura fox character everywhere and it’s so adorable! So, when LilPawie brought out two sticker designs for the character, I knew I had to add them to my wish list! I love LilPawie’s designs anyway, so seeing them like this is a bonus. I may have to order some of the stickers sometime soon.

• Chubby Collection Cinnamoroll Figure – (link)

Finally we have a figure on my wish list this month. I’ve been seeing this chubby Cinnamoroll making the rounds online recently and I think it’s so adorable! I don’t know whether or not I’d buy it but it’s definitely something I’d get if it was at a good price. We recently sorted out our office and rearranged/decluttered a lot of stuff away so that we could have everything the way we wanted it, so it would be lovely to bring in a Pompompurin and/or Cinnamoroll figure eventually to add into the mix!

So, there we have it, my monthly wish list! I know it was a little scarce this month but honestly my brain is fried for what items I’ve bought/wanted to buy this month as a whole.

Even with visiting the UK Games Expo yesterday, we didn’t buy a whole lot really.

What items do you guys have on your wish lists for June? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and I hope you have a great bank holiday weekend!

May Favourites ’22

Another month is due to end and with that we of course have our monthly favourites! I can’t believe it’s June in four days time, the year is just flying by and I’m not liking it… But I am sort of liking it because excited things are coming up at the start of June!

May was a weird month for me, it was full of bank holidays, and annual leave which left me wanting more four day weeks at work. As well as that, last week me and Dane went to see My Chemical Romance and let me tell you it was amazing! I haven’t been to a show that big to date. The atmosphere was great and took me back to when I’ve seen them live twice previously, as well as to how I used to be when I was younger. If it wasn’t obvious enough, I was a little emo kid. 😛 I’m going to save more details for later on in my monthly favourites, because it obviously counts!

Aside from that, June is looking to be an exciting month for me and Dane! We have the UK Games Expo coming up with my best friend and her boyfriend and then me and Dane have a week off together for our nine year anniversary, which in itself has flown by! For our anniversary this year we’ve decided to go to Manchester for a few days, which we’re so excited for! Like MCR, I’ll talk more about it later in my monthly favourites, as whilst it hasn’t happened yet, it’s something I’m excited about, so it classes as a favourite… Right?

Me and Dane also finished our first Dungeons & Dragons campaign too, which lasted for three years! We had so much fun playing it and can’t wait to start a new campaign in June/July.

On top of all that I’m going to be bloody skint this month, with MCR, UK Games Expo, Manchester AND my car needing to be taxed and serviced… It’s a good job I have plenty to keep me busy. 😛

Content wise for June I’m hoping to bring you some kawaii AF stuff, as well as some future posts about our Manchester adventures, especially geeky places to shop, fun things to do and good places to eat. I hope yah’ll are excited for it!

Anyhoo, on with the monthly favourites! I really hope you enjoy this months post, I feel like it’s going to be full of me being excited about adventures and MCR. 😛

Favourite Beauty Product – Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask in Berry.

I was planning to write a blog post showing off all the goodies I picked up from YesStyle a couple of months ago, but I decided against it as I thought I’d end up showing off the goodies in monthly favourites posts anyway (which I have!). One of the items I picked up is the Laneige lip sleeping mask in berry, which I have wanted to try for as long as I can remember. It’s recently started to hit the UK beauty stores, so it’s becoming more available to us in the west, however the price for the pot is a bit of a joke… Hence why I turned to YesStyle. From memory I only paid £10 for my lip sleeping mask, whereas here in the UK stores will charge £19 for it. Anyway, I’ve been using it for almost two months now and it’s definitely safe to say I LOVE it! It has definitely made an improvement to my lips, which is great with summer coming around. I don’t just use this at night like it’s known for, I use it in the morning before I start work (if I’m not wearing a lip tint that is), and I apply it before bedtime too. The mask is said to work best overnight as it “dissolves” all the dead skin on your lips, so you wake up with lovely soft lips. A lot of people claim it does what it says, but others claim it’s just Vaseline in a fancy jar, with some colour added to it. As someone who uses Vaseline on a daily basis, this is thicker than Vaseline and really does feel like it’s moisturising more, but that may just be me? To add a little bit of this stuff goes a long way, and due to that, I’ve not really made much of a dent, which is good! To add here, I picked up the Berry scent and it doesn’t really smell or taste like berries to me… But that doesn’t bother me, it would be a plus but yeah, it’s one of them. I’d say if you’re thinking of trying the Laneige lip sleeping mask, go for it, especially if you suffer with dry lips and live for lip balms! If you buy from YesStyle you could always get some of the little “sample” pots too to see what you think of it before buying a bigger jar.

Favourite Film – Jackass 4.5.

This is a recent addition to Netflix and one I was super excited to see! As many regular readers and friends will know, I’m a MASSIVE Jackass fan. I mentioned last month how I’d watched Jackass Forever and that I didn’t love it as much as the previous films they’d made. Jackass 4.5 really did make up for that, I laughed so much and even had to look away a few times in the fear of feeling (or being) sick! It was amazing, I just enjoyed it so much. The amount of times though that both me and Dane said, “Why didn’t they put that in Forever?” was crazy. I need to buy Jackass Forever and 4.5 at some point to add to my collection. If you have Netflix and love Jackass, definitely make sure to check it out! You find out a lot about the new crew members too, which I really liked. I’d love to see them come back and do more now after watching 4.5

Image taken from Empire Online.

Favourite TV Show – Moon Knight.

I’ve been a mixture of excited and nervous/sad to watch Moon Knight, but me and Dane decided to binge watch it one day over the last bank holiday in May and I can honestly say it’s my favourite Marvel TV series to come out to date! There was so much I loved about it, but the thing that made me sad was the fact it’s one of Gaspard Ulliel’s last acting role before he passed away in January. That being said, the show itself was amazing and I need more! The story of Steven/Mark and their role as the Moon Knight, as well as the dark themes and character build up were just incredible! Everyone did an amazing job and honestly, I loved it. Let me say this without spoilers when I say, Steven must be protected at all costs and he’s now up there as one of my favourite Marvel characters alongside Deadpool.

Favourite Music – My Chemical Romance.

Okay, the part of this months favourites I know some of you have been waiting for! At the time of writing this post I am still struggling with some post gig blues and I don’t really know when they’ll go away? I just crave more after last Thursday’s gig and I wish I could go see them again already! First things first, the show was amazing. Gerard dressed up and the band played a lot of popular songs from all their albums to date, including “Helena”, “Teenagers”, “Welcome to the Black Parade”, “Famous Last Words” and of course “I’m Not Okay”. We got to the gig shortly after doors opened, got some merchandise, drinks and headed to our seats. Our seats were shit as they were high up and all the way at the back, even with the screens you couldn’t see fuck all. This being said, I didn’t let it affect my experience of the gig, I was so in my element singing along to the words, watching the screens, the stage and everyone else around me that I was past caring after a while. I almost cried whilst listening to “The Foundations of Decay” due to how proud I am of the band, as well as how happy I am to see them back, as well as almost crying singing “Famous Last Words” and “Welcome to the Black Parade” as they both mean so much to me. MCR are one of the bands that were always there for me when I was struggling with my mental health growing up and especially the day my gran died. I went home to be on my own to grieve and ended up putting on The Black Parade so I had something to occupy my mind. When the song “Disenchanted” came on, I couldn’t stop crying and since that day, it always makes me sad to hear. Alongside all this the show was just incredible! Everyone was so friendly to talk to (when we did) and the atmosphere was one I’ve missed from previously seeing MCR play in 2007 and 2011. I’m just dying to see them again now… Maybe standing tickets next time for shits and giggles or at least closer seats! I was going to write a blog post about the whole day, but I feel like this is enough. 🙂

Image taken from PC Gamer.

Favourite Game – Valheim.

This is a game Dane has been pestering me to play with him for as long as I can remember and finally in May I cracked and bought it, which made him so happy! Valheim is a Viking style game where you need to gather resources, build a base, defeat the enemies nearby and ready yourself to defeat even bigger enemies! We spent a weekend playing it together and I soon got my bearings with how the gameplay worked and was. However, tragedy happened when not only did I lose a lot of my stuff in a tomb (and couldn’t get back!), but then some boars we had captured and bred were all killed by an enemy! We both rage quitted after the latter and didn’t touch it for a week or so… Until one of our friends came to join us one evening to play and since then we’ve been playing it more. She’s really helped us build our base, defeat more/bigger enemies, as well as teach us a lot more about the game as she’s been playing it longer than we have. It’s such a fun little game to play, more so with people than alone and I highly recommend it!

Just a few of my favourite things…

Picking up old games/game completion goal – Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX and Persona 5 Royal.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned on my blog since the start of 2022 how I have started working on completing games I currently own and making note of them on a Twitter thread here. This is something I was inspired to do by my friend Connor, who took part in it last year. I have a lot of games I’ve bought, played for a few hours and then never picked up again. Some games I could sell, whereas others I can’t as I’ve bought on stores/Steam. I decided to start spending less time sitting online window shopping and more time playing the games I love, but have allowed to gather dust!

The first one I want to talk about is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX. This game is a remake of the original Mystery Dungeon games that came out in 2005 on the Game Boy Advance and DS, I still own both of these and loved them to death! The remake DX came out in 2020, just before Animal Crossing: New Horizons so I told myself I would try and complete it before Animal Crossing came out, which didn’t happen. However, what did happen is I got stuck on the second boss (Moltres) and no matter what I did, I just couldn’t get past them, so I ended up resetting the game and starting again. I grinded for ages to make sure I was ready for that boss battle again and last weekend I felt ready to take the boss on! I turned to Dane prior and said, “If I don’t beat this fucking thing, I’m selling the game.” Thankfully it wouldn’t come to that as I beat Moltres, as well as the boss after that too (Articuno), so I look like I’m going to be fine from there! I’m so glad I’ve picked this game up again, it’s making me feel so nostalgic to between 2009-2010 when I picked up both of the original games to play.

Alongside playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX, I’ve also started playing Persona 5 Royal again, which is something I also picked up in March 2020! I hardly played it due to Animal Crossing: New Horizons and only played the first palace and some of the second. I decided to play it over a bank holiday weekend and haven’t looked back since. I genuinely forgot how much I love Persona 5 and the characters behind it, it really means a lot to me as the original game helped me through some dark days. So far I’ve completed the second palace and I’m probably near to beginning the third one from memory. I always recommend Persona 5 to people to play, but these days I often suggest people playing Persona 5 Royal, just because it has more to the story than the original. I’m probably going to focus on completing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX first and then on Persona 5 Royal, depends on my mood I guess. Currently my PS4 is in the living room, which I’d love to move temporarily to my desk in our office so I can play it with Dane in the background as company, but we shall see!

Image taken from UK Games Expo.

June adventures – UK Games Expo and Manchester.

As I mentioned at the start of this post I have lots of exciting things booked in and planned with Dane and some friends at the start of June, which I’m really looking forward to!

First we have UK Games Expo the first weekend of June, which is a board game convention in Birmingham. Me and Dane went in 2019 and spent WAY too much money (which you can read about here), but we had an amazing time and always said we’d go again, but of course Covid happened… That being said we’ve finally plucked up the courage to go again this year. Due to my anxiety of Covid still, I do still wear masks in shops, as well as around the office at work, so I’m not 100% sure if I’ll wear my mask or not at the convention yet… I’m worried it’ll be really warm and I could maybe die from the heat haha! We’ll see how it goes though! There’s going to be some amazing vendors there from years before that I’m excited to purchase from and support again, plus I’m hopeful we can all play lots of board games and have fun! I’m so happy my best friend recently got into board games, because it means we can all venture to cafes and play games more! Me and Dane got into board games before Covid and then Covid happened… And we couldn’t play board games with many people. 😦

Then as I mentioned before, for our nine year anniversary we decided to go to Manchester as we’ve booked to go to Point Blank Shooting with a voucher I was gifted for my 30th. Point Blank Shooting is a simulation shooting range and bar, offering food and drinks whilst you play on the shooting simulation games! We plan to go and have a day of shopping in Manchester and then head to Point Blank Shooting, finishing up at some themed bars on the way to our hotel. The next day we plan to have some breakfast, more shopping, a big lunch and then heading to Bury for The Arcade Club! My friend Daysei is always telling me how much fun it is there and after showing Dane how many floors of arcade games they are, we booked it in to do! I’m honestly so excited for our gaming and shopping days away for our anniversary, it’s going to be so much fun.

I’m hoping to write Manchester guides and reviews of places we go to, so keep eyes peeled for those!

My Chemical Romance merchandise.

I mentioned earlier about how I went to see MCR last Thursday, well of course I had to grab some merchandise as well and man I bagged a few bits, one which has been semi sought after since. I want to state now, none of these are for sale. xD I also want to state, I apologise for how shit the photo is!

I decided to grab both the tour t-shirts, as well as the Boy Zone t-shirt as well. I couldn’t decide which tour t-shirt I wanted as they were both cool in their own ways. I’m so glad I picked up both after trying them on as they’re so comfortable! All of the t-shirts are in a men’s size large and I could have probably gotten away with a medium, but I like my t-shirts baggy!

The tour t-shirts have the tour dates on the back for their shows between 16th May until 18th June which is always a good t-shirt to have. On the front of the short sleeved is an updated version of the bloody bride and groom from the Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge album, which I just had to get for that alone! On the front of the long sleeved there are some skulls and bones, as well as “Decay” written backwards. I LOVE the long sleeved t-shirt the most and already can’t wait to wear it. I’m really into my long sleeved band t-shirts lately to wear with joggers, skirts and trousers for a relaxed look.

Finally the Boy Zone t-shirt that everyone has gone mad for! I knew I had to pick this up and even though I probably won’t wear it out and about, I’ll definitely live in it at home on lazy days. It was designed by Kerin Cunningham with support from Gerard Way. It honestly reminds me of my early teens where I would always buy the music magazines that was full of bands, love quizzes and more. I honestly love it so much!

So, there we have it guys, all of my favourites from May! I honestly can’t believe we’ll be going into June in less than a week now, it’s really flown by. The whole year is, Christmas is just 6 months away now… How crazy is that?!

What were your favourites from May? Did you go and see My Chemical Romance in May too? If you did tell me all about your feelings, thoughts, etc! I’m eager to hear everyone’s stories and experiences. 🙂

Until next time all, take care and have an amazing weekend!

Goodbye 2020!

Image taken from Pinterest

I can’t quite believe a whole year has flew past us as we prepare to go into 2021… Sorry but 2020 was a big year for me for so many reasons but of course it wasn’t a great year either…

2020 was the year I entered the 30-35 tick box and I don’t feel ready to turn 31 next week. :S It was also the year me and Dane travelled to Japan for the first time. It was amazing and I’m so glad we were able to go before COVID started to manifest. I remember my dad messaging me our second week into the trip and saying, “There’s a virus called coronavirus going around Japan. Be careful!” and us shrugging it off. Oh how times have changed, eh?

Going back to that trip, it was amazing and I have clutched onto the memories we made and photos we took to get me through 2020 when I felt rubbish. I’m really hoping 2021 will be better COVID wise as I would love to return back to Japan in 2022, maybe even 2023 if that’s the case.

Image taken from GIPHY

Me and Dane have already said we’d like to go around March/April time to see the cherry blossoms, travel around more (Kyoto, Nara, Osaka and Hiroshima) and especially go for Dane’s birthday this time around. We’ve also discussed going for Christmas/New Year at some point too as that would be lovely. We could eat KFC, stay at a private onsen for a few days and again, travel around and have the perfect kawaii/otaku Christmas… But we don’t know when this will be. It’s just an idea.

I wanted to briefly do a bit of a chat about how 2020 was for me overall (including my favourites), mention how December has been and of course talk about 2021 and what I’m looking forward to so far.

I need to get this off of my chest out of the way because it’s still semi ongoing and it’s pissed me off something awful.

I mentioned back in September 2019 on a post (8 Games I’m Excited To Play) about being excited for a game I’d backed on Kickstarter called Calico. The game released 15th December 2020 and was announced on the Nintendo Indie World Showcase. As someone who had backed the game I was pretty meh to discover that people who HADN’T backed the Kickstarter had access to the game before we did and may I add, for less monies… Just felt like a bit of a punch to the stomach. I’m on the Discord channel and started hearing nothing but bug complaints/feedback from people who had been playing the game. Turns out not much testing had been done… Not good! I waited a week for my game code on the Switch, but no sign and I was given excuses of, “we’re new to this, wasn’t aware how long it would take.” etc. Then North American codes were being sent to people in the EU, which of course wouldn’t work. It was just a bit of a shit show to be blunt. I asked for my money back on Sunday, which has been processed and I’m waiting for. I can’t be arsed to play Calico now. It sounds like a rushed out mess and I just don’t want to support a game like that. I’ve heard nothing but complaints from friends about it who have played. I’m happy to have supported the game and help it come to life, but I’m not happy to wait and constantly feel mugged off. The developers have now advised for UK backers to ask for refunds so they can go and buy it themselves on the eShop.

It’s just so poor and clearly rushed out. I was really excited for this game and especially when they announced it as coming out a few weeks back. Dane was away with work and with the game coming out I thought, “Awesome, something to keep me going until he’s back home!” which of course wasn’t the case.

If you’re thinking about getting Calico, get it on Steam if you can. The console versions are full of bugs (I think some may have been fixed?) and from what has been said it can take a while to get them fixed. Or just wait a while for it to go down in price, as I’m sure any bugs will have been amended by then too. I’m not saying don’t support the game, but be wary of the bugs…

I’m sorry if that above has come off as bitchy but I was so frustrated for those two weeks that I just had to be honest with you guys on my experience. I’ve got two other games backed via Kickstarter and from the start I’ve definitely had a better experience with them, so I have very high hopes for how the games will be when they release. 🙂

Now that little rant is out of the way, I thought I would mention some stuff I have loved this year!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Okay, who DIDN’T love this game in 2020? For some it was a sort of lifeline during the start of COVID, I know it was for me. I don’t play it daily now, but when I do pick it up it just relaxes me straight away and it’s also a game I love playing with my friends online. The Toy Day event on Christmas Eve was so lovely and started to get me in the Christmas spirit. I know a lot of people who ended up buying a Switch/Switch Lite due to the need to play Animal Crossing on it, I even helped two of my friends get a Switch/Switch Lite of their own so they could play!

The Mandalorian – I’ve honestly loved this series in 2020 and it’s actually one me and Dane binge watched over the Christmas period. I couldn’t get into it last year, especially with our Japan trip coming up so we just… Didn’t get into it. Season 2 is AMAZING though and I was all there for it. I highly recommend watching The Mandalorian even if you aren’t a huge Star Wars fan, as it’s just good all around show that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Plus some of my favourite Star Wars characters make appearances in season 2, which made me so happy!

PVRIS Use Me (Deluxe) – Use Me released this year and I had been excited for this album since it was announced. I discovered PVRIS when I started my job in April 2019 and I have since fallen in love. This album is one I’ve found myself listening to time and time again, whether I’m out and about driving/walking or working in the house. I’ve found myself dancing in the kitchen whilst making a cup of coffee, that’s just how much I love it. My top three tracks from the album are – “Gimme a Minute”, “Stay Gold” and “Loveless”. They’re all such amazing songs, with “Stay Gold” being my favourite on the album… And the one I danced to in the kitchen whilst grabbing coffee. 😛

Lyonsleaf Calendula and Marshmallow Balm – This balm has to be mentioned here because it really has helped with my hand in 2020. My eczema/dermatitis is still ongoing and hasn’t improved at all and I’m still waiting to see a specialist. Since about August I’ve been using this balm and it really does help with the dryness and cracking and since using it religiously, my hands haven’t cracked and bled for as long as I can remember. I’ll be continuing to use this for as long as I can as it really does help. 🙂

Aveeno – I’m just going to add Aveeno as a whole, as this is another product that has really changed my life since purchasing it, in so many ways! I use the intense body lotions on my hands, which has really helped recently and I even bought the shower cream to see if that would help too. It smells delicious and makes my body feel lovely and soft. I highly recommend Aveeno in general, let alone if you have really dry skin like myself.

There are a few things in 2021 that I’m excited to have come up!

31st Birthday – This is actually a week from today and yeah it’s scary how quickly it’s come around! I think for the day I’m going to bake some red velvet cupcakes, play with my new resin molds and get a takeaway. At the time of writing this post, Birmingham has actually gone into tier 4 and I’m gutted. Good job I’d planned to do something at home, eh?

Eight Year Anniversary – I can’t believe me and Dane have been together eight years in 2021… It’s really flew by and I hope we can do something for it in 2021. For our seven year anniversary we went for a drive around the countryside and grabbed a Japanese takeaway on our way home. Who knows what we’ll do this year, but I’m sure it’ll be good. 🙂

My Chemical Romance in June – That’s if COVID doesn’t come along and cause it to be postponed/rescheduled like it was this year.

Potential planning for Japan trip #2 – This would be amazing to do! I really hope it can be done towards the end of 2021…

Maybe a puppy(?) – We were really close to getting a dog in 2020 but due to the issues we faced with adopting we gave up and said we would wait and either try to adopt again (although doubtful…) or get a puppy in 2021. If we go for the latter, I already have a breeder in mind that we want to go with… We shall see what happens. Getting a pet is a big thing and we need to make sure we’re ready and able to do it.

Speaking of 2021, I also  wanted to mention what posts I am hoping to bring to you guys in 2021, these are just some ideas of what I have swirling around my head. This isn’t definite, as it never is but it’s ideas I would like to get down on my blog eventually. At the moment it’s mostly independent stores I’ve discovered/known about for years and bought from! There are a lot of USA based independent stores mentioned here as due to the changes in the UK with VAT, a lot of them have stated they aren’t able to sell to the UK anymore, so I went all out!

Quirkory – I’ll be writing a review of the Mostari Mystery Pack, as well as the Animal Crossing Gimme my Joycon 2 enamel pins I’ve pre-ordered. They won’t arrive until January/February.

Lunaticgumis – I’m planning to talk about the Puppycat Amigurumi, stickers and enamel pin I picked up a month or so ago. I wanted to talk about the goodies I picked up before Christmas but I just didn’t have time, sadly.

Pikarar – I only discovered Pikarar in October/November time and I’m already in love with their designs and items! I’ve so far made two orders, one being a pre-order for after Christmas. When my pre-order arrives, I’ll be showing you all what I bought! It’s mostly clothes. 😛

SleepingWolvesArt – Review where I’ll be talking about some notebooks (which have arrived) and enamel pins (literally just ordered) I’ve bought.

Sugar Bunny Shop – It’s still on it’s way to me but I ordered the Doki Fox sweater I’ve wanted for MONTHS.

So there is a sneak peak of what I will be sharing in the future on my blog! Of course I will talk about other things in between, but until the weeks/months come I won’t know 100% what may come up to discuss. As always I’ll have my monthly favourites and wish list too.

I can’t quite believe 2021 is just around the corner and we’re entering it with practically in lockdown, which sucks. Whatever though, it isn’t going to affect me much in regards to work, or my social life. I’ll just miss not being able to be closer to some form of “normality”.

I’m not feeling glum about 2021 and if anything I’m hoping to grow some of my hobbies, as well as see some of my friends again who I haven’t seen for ages.

What are you excited for in 2021? Is there any specific content you would like to see more of on my blog in the New Year? Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Until next time all, Happy New Year for tomorrow/Friday and I hope you’re all safe. 🙂

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. 😛

January Favourites ’20

Guys we are officially into 2020 now and I can’t believe it’s already February! January flew by for me due to being in Japan for 2 weeks but even so, still can’t believe how quick the month went by!

I know for a lot of people however January was very slow… 😛

January’s favourites are going to be a bit odd due to being away in Japan, but at the same time they’re going to be good, I know they are! I’m not changing how I write my favourites at all. I’ll still be sharing 5 beauty related products I have been loving as well as my favourite TV show(s), movie(s), book(s), music and game(s). 🙂

I hope the start of 2020 has been great for you guys, my readers and I hope it hasn’t been rough at all.

On with the favourites!

• Japanese Character Bath Bombs.

Whilst I was in Japan I used quite a few of the character bath bombs they had for sale in the shops. They didn’t cost much (Between £2-£4 depending on the character and store) and were really nice to have handy in the hotel room if we’d had a long day of walking and needed a soak. Dane actually used and had more baths than me, which was a massive shock! We’ve brought loads of these back to the UK with us, as we loved them so much. They often come with the characters inside that is on the cover. For example I picked up a shiba dog bath bomb and hence got a little white shiba dog inside, so cute! These weren’t bad for the price and one bath bomb was definitely enough to feel pampered. I felt soft and smooth after using one of these in the bath. I honestly recommend them if you’re in Japan! I feel like they’re better than Lush to be honest with you… 😉

• Etude House Dear Darling Water Gel Tint in shade RD302 Dracula Red.

I bought this lip tint whilst I was out in Japan and I honestly regret not buying more! It’s a gorgeous dark red shade I have had my eye on for years! It wasn’t expensive either, which was even better. Aside from my Laneige lip bar, this lip tint (review here) was my go to lip product the duration of my holiday! It’s really easy to apply and a little bit of this product goes a long way. I mostly like to use it to give a bitten look to my lips, which wasn’t easy to do with this lip tint at first, but the more I have done it, the easier it has gotten. I will be writing a review on this lip tint, as it’s too good not to share on my blog!

• L’Occitane Zesty Lime Hand Cream.

I haven’t used this hand cream for quite some time, which is mostly down to using up other hand creams first! This is a gorgeous thick hand cream that smells of limes, yummy!  I remember stocking up on loads of these during my MA in 2015 so I have a lot to use up! I decided to take one with me to Japan to use during the day and it really was a treat to use in the mornings before we ventured out for the day, as well as whilst we were out and about. I’ve stopped using it since we got home, but this really did help my hands when they were feeling dry and sore. I was recently diagnosed with having a form of dermatitis on my hand, which kept flaring up during the trip. This hand cream really did help it on bad days, alongside my dermatitis creams.

• Tepika Hand Sanitiser.

I know this is a strange one to add this month to my favourites but I just need to mention it for so many reasons! First of all look at the packaging… It has a cute little happy raccoon on it! Due to this me and Dane called this the “happy raccoon” whenever we wanted to use it. Aside from the cute raccoon on the front, this was also really good because it didn’t smell overly alcoholic, was gentle on my eczema skin and the packaging was handy for how you get the product out… I feel like that last part didn’t make sense! Either way this stuff is amazing and I honestly need to try and figure out a way to ship some over to the UK!!!

• Marc Jacobs Decadence EDP.

This is a perfume I keep reaching for at the moment and it’s the one I took with me to Japan too. The scent is perfect for any time of year and any occasion. My brother bought it for me quite a while ago now and it was so funny how this perfume came to be my gift. Just before Christmas in 2015 I went to Fuerteventura with my dad for a few weeks. This perfume was quite new so I decided to give it a try and see what I thought of it. I loved it and was close to buying it… But instead me and my dad went to a bar for some drinks. Just as we sat down with drinks my brother called my dad and said, “I’ve given mom Nat’s Christmas present.” Fast forward to Christmas Day… My brother bought me Decadence… Which I had nearly bought! How crazy is that?! So yeah, this is one of my favourite perfumes and I always wear it when I fancy something unique and different. I also love the bottle is comes in, which is in the shape of a handbag, strap included… 😛

So now my beauty favourites are done, time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month!

Favourite TV Show – Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer.

I actually watched this documentary towards the end of December but thought it was worth a mention as I really enjoyed watching it. What you think is a documentary about a cat killer, actually turns out to be a human murder. I remember Dane telling me about the murder not long after we got together, so when we discovered what the documentary was about, we were even more interested whilst watching it! This documentary is very triggering in various ways and upsetting due to that. I love watching stuff like this, so I really enjoyed it. Definitely go and watch on Netflix if you can!

Favourite Movie – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

I watched this film on the flight home from Japan and it was really good! I don’t recall if me and Dane wanted to go and watch it in the cinema when it came out here, but either way we got to both watch it for free! It’s about an actor and his stuntman, as well as some other characters throughout. It’s all based around true events, as well as fictional characters. Whilst it’s a great film, I did start to wonder halfway through, “Where’s this going? What’s the point?”. This was quickly answered however, in such an amazing way! I honestly recommend you watch this film if you get the chance to! It’s not the best from Quentin Tarantino, but it’s still decent. 🙂

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Book – …

I didn’t read anything as I was on holiday… This was not a holiday where I could lounge around and read… I swear I am going to start reading more now I’m back from Japan. I have so much manga to catch up on. I need to make a monthly list of which series/volumes I plan to read!!!

Favourite Album – My Chemical Romance – “Welcome to the Black Parade”.

With the announcement of My Chemical Romance coming to the UK for 3 dates in June, I have been listening to them loads both during my time in Japan as well as when I got back home. I tried to order tickets to the first 2 shows My Chemical Romance announced, but was unsuccessful, which sucked. I was definitely in a sulk about this… UNTIL my friend Claire brought it to my attention that they had announced a third show! I managed to get tickets which I was SO HAPPY ABOUT!!! That day I did nothing but listen to My Chemical Romance during my shift at work. It was bliss and I loved every moment of it. 😛 I’m so excited for June now, I’ll be going with Dane too and it’ll also be the third time seeing them live… YAY!

Image taken from Polygon.com

Favourite Game – Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX.

I know this game is only a demo at the moment but I have been LOVING it so much! I played both of the original Mysery Dungeon games this one is based off of and I was beyond excited to give the demo at go. I played a little of it on my way to Japan on the plane, but I played more of it on my way home whilst we waited to board out flight, as well as on the plane. It looks amazing and plays really well. I’ve already pre ordered the game and cannot wait for it to arrive! I’m going to finally be kept busy on my Switch again in March and I am beyond excited for that!

So my first favourites post of 2020 is complete! I cannot believe it is already the start of February. Can you guys believe how quickly 2020 is going by already?!

How was the first month of 2020 for you guys? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below, as well as what your favourites were this month!

Until next time all, take care and have an amazing weekend. 🙂

September Favourites ’19

Image taken from GIPHY

How are we now in October? My favourite month whizzed by so damn quickly and I didn’t get much chance to see or enjoy it. I did really love September though, it was a month of going out and doing things, as well as staying in and spending time with Dane, which I’ve really loved.

September was also a bit meh and I received some crappy news, including the Japanese language course I enrolled to being cancelled last minute (I got my money back FYI), I found out I can’t get anything to help with my anxiety on flights and I found out I have the first potential signs of cavities in my teeth. People who know me know how much I love my teeth. I’m using some special toothpaste now that may help to reverse this and I really hope it does.

So yeah… September wasn’t the best, sadly. 😦

I’m glad we’re in October now as I’m excited for so many things this month! Halloween, the Pokemon Center having a pop up shop in London, a week off with Dane and even some days off to relax. It’ll be a lovely month to chill and start enjoying autumn.

Anyhoo, enough of me rambling, here are my favourites from September!

• Philosophy Amazing Grace Eau de Toilette.

I love this EDT so much from Philosophy and I’ve owned it for what feels like forever! My mom gifted me this whilst I still lived at home as she received it in a set and didn’t want to use it herself. It’s a gorgeous soft scent and isn’t like anything else I own. I use this daily for work as it’s my go to right now, but once a week I’ll change it up for something else. It’s just perfect and the scent isn’t too strong either so if I don’t want anything heavy, this perfect.

• LISTERINE® Total Care Mouthwash.

Since my dentist breaking the news about my teeth that I mentioned earlier, I was recommended to mouthwash after meals, which I do after every meal right now. If I don’t, I used chewing gum instead. I bought some little miniature bottles so that I could carry these around, take to work and even think about taking on holiday in the future. I also have some Colgate mouthwash too, but I love the LISTERINE one more! I plan to pick up a big bottle of this in the future and I can fill up the little bottles. This mouthwash really does leave my mouth feeling clean and fresh, which I love! The Colgate one doesn’t do that.

• Burt’s Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream.

I’ve owned this since the start of 2019, as I planned to use it loads to help my cuticles go lovely and soft. However, it was only from the start of September that I began to use it properly! When I cut my nails and paint them, I decide to use it all over my hands, as well as my cuticles to help my eczema. It’s been really bad lately with the change of weather but the cuticle cream really is helping. 🙂 It smells gorgeous too!

• Tangle Teezer Aqua Splash.

I picked this up towards the end of September and it’s by far one of the best things I have bought in 2019! I love the Tangle Teezer brushes and discovered them last year and since then I am so grateful that I finally gave them a go. I decided I wanted to give the wet version a go, but I wanted to try and pick up the old version as it looked good. Since buying this drying my hair after washing it has already become so much easier! When I brush my hair in the shower after washing, I feel like I’m brushing away loads of excess water, as well as smoothing is ready to be brushed and dried after. It really is a pleasure to use! I picked mine up from TK Maxx for £7.99, which I thought was a decent price.

• Yankee Candle Snowflake Cookie.

This was a brand new candle at the start of September, one that Dane had bought me years before and that I have only just started to burn! I love burning candles, especially during the colder months so when September started, I knew I had to start getting my candles going again! I decided to start burning Snowflake Cookie as it was one of the few large Yankee Candle jars that just appealed to me. Christmas scents from Yankee Candle are my favourite, so I make sure to burn them all year around!

So now my beauty favourites are done, time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month!

Image taken from Seventeen.com

Favourite TV Show – 13 Reasons Why Season 3.

I binge watched this at the end of the month (mostly as I worked through my October newsletter, this post and even my October wish list post) and I LOVED it so much. I worried that this would make me think, “Oh God they’ve ruined it even more!” after how bad season 2 was. To be fair, nothing could top season 1… So when season 2 came out I wasn’t expecting much. It felt like they were constantly bashing Hannah and it was boring. However, season 3 has really brought it back and I loved it! I don’t want to talk too much about it in case of spoilers, but something has happened to Bryce and everyone is trying to find out what and how, all whilst trying to keep their shit together. It’s crazy! The show (as it does) covers a lot of serious topics that are good to be spoken about and it’s good. If you’re yet to watch season 3, then get to it! If you’ve never watched 13 Reasons Why then I recommend it, but be careful if you have mental health issues like I do. Season 1 was good, but some of the topics were upsetting, especially as suicide is a massive factor.

Image taken from GIPHY

 

Favourite Movie – Detective Pikachu.

I know this was mentioned on my monthly favourites back in May but I have to mention it again 4 months later as this film is now out and I made sure to pre-order it ready for when it came out. The day it came out me and Dane played games instead of watching, but the day after I cooked us a yummy dinner and we sat down to watch the movie as we chilled out. It was just as good as I remember it being in the cinema and we even watched all the extras too, which were decent but sadly not as good as I feel they could have been. I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t feel that extras and behind the scenes stuff on DVD’s/Blu-rays are as good as they used to be…

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Book – Erm…

Yeah I didn’t read throughout September. Which sucks to be fair. I read so much in August and then September came and I read sweet FA. I either didn’t have time due to busy, or I didn’t want to as I was playing games instead. I’m terrible for reading manga these days and due to that I do feel sad. I still have Elfen Lied to start reading again, as well as catching up with Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and Himouto! Umaru-chan. I know I’ll catch up with reading… I honestly will! I’d take manga to work but I like to play Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and do blog work on my break.

 

Favourite Album – My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade.

I loved this album back in the day when it came out and I remember buying it from HMV as I had some gift vouchers I needed to use. I loved it and listened to it all the time… Even if my friends at the time hated it. I made some friends through this band, one of them who is now my best friend. One of the best live performances I’ve seen was MCR when they toured for this album. They played the set in the order of the album, it was amazing and I adored it. I’ve started using Spotify at work so I have my music on that I want to listen to, without annoying YouTube adverts coming up every 5 minutes. So I decided to add loads of my favourite albums, including this one. This album just has so many memories behind it and I love it.

Image taken from GIPHY

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Borderlands 3 and Untitled Goose Game.

I couldn’t just mention one of the other of these games this month. Both deserved a spot on here!

First of all, I LOVE the gif I chose to use for Borderlands 3 because these two characters (Zane and Amara) are the two that me and Dane play when we play together. The day the game came out, me and Dane both booked it off so we could play together and relax. It was awesome! The whole weekend we pretty much played this game nonstop! This has got to be the first time I have played a first person shooter game without dying constantly (like seriously every 5 minutes!) and rage quitting. I love this game, it’s hilarious and fun to play with people. I’ve not been playing it much the past week as I’ve been busy chilling out, or playing other games instead. I never played the previous 2 Borderlands games but that doesn’t matter anyway! Honestly, go and pick this game up. 🙂

I wrote in September how excited I was for certain games to come out (which you can read here), with Untitled Goose Game being number one on that list, as it was coming out the soonest. I got home from work and downloaded it to play. Everyone was mad for this game when it came out and so was I! Both me and Dane played this game together and it was absolutely hilarious to play! We still have some bonus stuff to do, even after “completing” the game, which is proving to be so much fun. Honestly, if you own a Nintendo Switch or a Steam account, definitely download and play. Some people said to me that they don’t see what’s the point of this game before it came out. Those people clearly don’t know how to open their minds to new things. 😛

So those are all my favourites for September! September did indeed go by in a blur and I can’t believe we’re in October now. Before we know it, it’ll be December and Christmas will be upon us. It’s crazy!

How were your September’s for you? What were your favourites throughout the month and overall how was it? Please let me know in the comments down below.

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