February Favourites ‘21

Can you guys believe it’s March tomorrow? I can’t. February went by really quickly and you know what, I’m not complaining about that. I’m going to be honest, February was a shit month for me and I’m really glad to see the back of it. My mental health was really tested for three weeks solid and there was a time where I was in a really low place. To be honest at the time of writing this (Thursday 25th) I still have a couple of days left of the month to go, so fingers crossed the rest of the month treats me well!

I just want to be honest with you guys. The first week I felt numb and empty and it was mostly PMS related but I started to think about life before lockdown, COVID and my parents. I really miss them. The first thing I’m planning to do when lockdown is over and it’s safe to do so is see my parents. I was also starting to think about how I miss my aunt who passed away in September. I think about her almost daily and yeah. It’s shit.

The second week I can’t talk about too much. My mental health was just bad, I was a nervous wreck and I just couldn’t stop crying some days. Just to get this out there, I’m okay now and these feelings have now passed… Thank fuck.

The third week (well this week really…) things just didn’t seem to go right. Dane was told to self isolate at the end of the second week, we’ve had some issues in the house and we’ve been irritable and miserable as fuck. Thankfully we’re both feeling a lot better now.

I just wanted to get that off of my chest. Just because I appear happy and cheerful on my blog and social media, it doesn’t always mean I am and the same goes to everyone. I’m quite good at putting an act on when the time comes. It’s something I’ve had to do my whole life in regards to my mental health.

I also want to say a massive thanks to the handful of friends who have been there for me this month when things were rough. I miss and love you all. :’)

Besides me feeling like shit, February was also a month where I decided to go on a spending ban. I’d been very spend happy in January and due to it being a long month (payday wise) I was kinda skint. The February spending ban went pretty well… Until shitty week two out of three where I ended up treating myself to some Black Milk Clothing pieces… Oops. 😛 Aside from that, the spending ban went really well and it’s actually inspired others to go on a spending ban with me too! I’m already planning to do it again in March AND people will be joining me for that!

Of course if you’re interested to follow along, or maybe even join yourself I’ll pop the template I’ve created for March above. I’ve been posting daily to weekly updates on my Instagram page (theremightbecoffeeblog) stories. Come and join in!

Anyhoo, enough of me waffling on about spending bans and more, let’s talk about my favourites from February. It may have been a crap month but I loved so much stuff and have been excited to share it with you all!

Beauty

• The Body Shop Strawberry Shower Gel.

I’ve spoken about this shower gel from The Body Shop many times and I really do love it. I tell this story every time I talk about this shower gel, which I’m sure everyone is bored of now. 😛 Basically my mom used to always buy me a bottle of this shower gel whenever we visited The Body Shop (once every few months or so?) so whenever I use it, it reminds me of when I was younger. I had a £5 birthday voucher and I didn’t want to worry I lost it, so bought myself a MASSIVE bottle of the strawberry shower gel. It’s something Dane loves just as much as I do so it works out nicely. I’ve been using it loads this month and not only does it smell amazing, but it has left my skin feeling lovely and soft too. 🙂

So… Now it’s time to talk about the miscellaneous favourites of the month! If there isn’t anything I’ve done I’m not going to mention. I haven’t mentioned a movie this month as I don’t actually think I/we watched one!

Favourite TV Show – Attack on Titan Final Season.

It saddens me to say that we are on the final season of Attack on Titan, it only feels like yesterday that me and Dane were watching it for the first time (we’d travelled to Bristol for a long weekend for our first anniversary)… That was almost seven years ago! I love the show and I for one am sad to see it come to an end. So far this final season has been AMAZING and it’s something me and Dane have either watched Sunday night before bed, or Monday morning before work. I don’t want to say too much due to spoilers but it’s amazing and very “WHAT IS HAPPENING!” Moments throughout. This is because I don’t/haven’t read the manga yet. I plan to in the future. I definitely recommend watching Attack on Titan if you never have and want to!

I just want to add here that I was going to also add another TV show I’m loving right now… But I’m going to wait until next month when it’s due to end. Spoiler, it’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2… 😛

Favourite Book – Remina by Junji Ito.

GUYS I actually read a book! One book, but A book! This is actually a manga that Dane bought for himself that I ended up reading before him. It’s the latest manga from Junji Ito and it was a strange but enjoyable read. It’s about a young woman called Remina whose dad has discovered a planet, which he names after her. The planet isn’t good, shit goes crazy and people start to blame Remina for it, due to their shared name. For those of you who aren’t aware, Junji Ito is described as the “king of horror manga” due to his unique art style. It’s incredibly detailed and beautiful, although creepy all the same. This isn’t a long manga, but a lot of packed in there! I didn’t really like the ending, but I don’t know what else I expected really. This being said it’s amazing and I recommend giving it a read if you’re already a fan of Junji Ito’s work, or a new reader of his work like I am.

Favourite Music – Childish Gambino – Summer Pack.

I recently discovered the track “Summertime Magic” by Childish Gambino through a game and I have fallen in love with it. From that I also discovered “Feels Like Summer” as both songs were on an EP called Summer Pack which I really love. I’ve found myself listening to them whilst working, even whilst writing up this post on and off too. I’ve never really listened to Childish Gambino before but I’ll definitely listen to his work more in the future for sure! I’m not super excited for the summer yet due to everything going on in the UK at the moment with lockdown and COVID, but as and when we can have a fun summer again, these are songs I’ll be playing whilst cooking something on the BBQ and sipping on a cocktail!

Image taken from GIPHY

Favourite Game – Ark.

Ark is a game me and a group of friends have been playing recently after we bought a server and with Dane and a friend of ours both needing to self isolate in February it’s been good for them to have something to do during the day, as well as in the week. I’d never played Ark before so I was feeling a mixture of excitement and anxious of what to expect. All I knew about it was that it’s a survival game surrounding dinosaurs. We’ve been playing it for over a week now and we’re all having an amazing time! 😀 I’ve become the one who looks after the dinosaurs and tidies up around the place. 😛 We have two robot stegosaurus’ which I called Daft and Punk. Yes, I’m a loser. 😛 It’s just such a fun game and I honestly recommend it to everyone who fancies something new to play. Plus, I’m pretty sure it’s free on Xbox too!

Just a few of my favourite things.

• Creating an amigurumi – Animal Crossing Bizkit dog villager.

Not long after the third lockdown began in the UK I decided I would take up a new hobby and that new hobby was going to be amigurumi! I’d been mesmerised by it for quite some time thanks to Instagram and I thought, “Why not give it a go myself?” I’m not going to lie, the first time I gave this a go I was stressed out and anxious that I’d picked up a hobby I couldn’t actually do… My aunt always tried to show me how to crochet when I was younger and I never got the hang of it. Dane was really good and helped me so much with learning how to do some of the basics of amigurumi and if it wasn’t for that, I think I would have given up.

I worked on this project for a couple of days and didn’t go back to it for a few weeks after getting busy. I don’t know what happened but when I picked it back up I just… Got on with it and something that I’d struggled with so much the two weeks prior just came natural to me! I haven’t finished Biskit yet, but I plan to at the start of March. I’ve been a bit too busy lately to pick it up back but I only have a leg and his ears left to do.

Due to the amount of wool I have left I’m actually planning to make another one to either gift to a friend or keep hold of. In the future I would love to do some more projects similar to this including more Animal Crossing dog villagers, Pokemon and maybe even try and find a Puppycat (Bee & Puppycat) and Morgana (Persona 5) design to play with too.

If you’re interested in this design too and fancy giving it a go yourself then make sure to go and check out HanisCrochet! I bought my PDF pattern on her Etsy store and she’s been so lovely and helpful when I’ve gotten stuck or confused with the pattern. I’ll link back to the Biskit pattern here. The next one I plan to buy from her is Cherry so I can make one for Dane, as well as my friend Gabriella. 🙂

• Pikarar photoshoot (read the post all about Pikarar here).

I’m not going to talk too much about this but I LOVED this mini photoshoot that me and Dane did for my Pikarar review! I had loved the mini photoshoot we’d done for my Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon collection post (which you can read here) so I knew I wanted to do another. Our front room is perfect for these photoshoots and I’m not going to lie, 2021 will hopefully bring more!

As you will have noticed on my blog, as well as on my blog social media pages my image has changed to be the one where I’m wearing my yellow Pikachu crane Pikarar t-shirt. I loved how natural the photo came out and I found by wearing something Pokemon and geeky related it’s more related to what my blog is about.

What do you guys think about the photos? 😀

• Food – Pancake day,fFakeaway and Japanese ramen.

February was a month of me cooking some yummy meals and if there is one thing I really love to do, it’s cooking. Towards the start of February we had Shrove Tuesday/pancake day! I always make pancakes for me and Dane when pancake day rolls around and I knew we had to have them with bacon and syrup! They were really yummy and now I’m craving them again. 😛

I’ve cooked a couple of “fakeaway” meals during February including Nandos and this burger meal we did! The burgers are Linda McCartney’s vegetarian pulled pork burgers and they are AMAZING! I cooked up some chilli halloumi to pop on top and on the side, as well as some salt and pepper chips. This was such a lovely dinner and it definitely hit the spot.

Finally earlier this week I made ramen. It’s been BLOODY FREEZING this week in Birmingham and both me and Dane needed something to warm us up, so I decided to cook us ramen. I used Oumph! spiced kebab meat which is vegetarian and it’s okay… But it’s not something I’d pick up often as I find for the price it isn’t worth it. I’m not 100% vegetarian (flexitarian?) but I’m not someone who eats kebabs so I’d rather have this, if that makes sense? 🙂

• Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon.

Pokemon Day was yesterday and can you believe Pokemon has been around officially for 25 years? I feel fucking old… 😛 I mentioned earlier in this post that I had splurged on some Black Milk pieces towards the end of February and pissed my spending ban UP THE WALL! One of the two pieces I picked up is the Pokemon Dreams Snuggle Suit that I’ve had on my wish list since the collection came out in 2020. I’ve been wearing this on and off toward the end of February and it’s so comfortable to wear during games evenings and chilling with Dane. Black Milk Clothing have their Pokemon 2.0 collection coming out TONIGHT (in the UK anyway…) and I’m planning to buy a couple of things from it. I’m eyeing up the Snorlax snuggle suit but… I don’t think I will. One is enough for me me thinks.

So that is everything from my February monthly favourites! As I said before, February was rubbish for me but writing this post I’ve seen some things I really loved and enjoyed this month, which has made me feel a bit better. 🙂

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

Until next time all, take care, keep safe and see you soon!

Pikarar – Review

Guys I’m back after a weekend off and I’m so excited to be sharing with you an independent artist/store that I fell in love with towards the end of 2020!

As regular readers (and followers of my Instagram) will know, I do really love to share independent artists/stores with you all. If anyone needs our support (purchasing wise) right now, it’s these guys! Plus, their designs are so much better. 😉

I discovered Pikarar around October/November 2020 when Yapfrog shared one of Pikarar’s designs over on Instagram. It was a shiba version of K.K. Slider and was ADORABLE! I went over to her store to check out her work straight away and made an order. I also pre-ordered some goodies towards the end of November 2020 for the New Year. I’m already planning to buy from Pikarar again, but I wanted to talk to you guys about my experience (spoiler it was amazing!) as well as share the goodies I picked up. 🙂

I first of all want to mention here that the store isn’t open at the moment, but I have reached out to Pikarar to find out roughly when it’ll be open again. At the time of publishing, I haven’t received an answer in regards.

Pikarar is based in America so I already hear a lot of you in the UK worrying you may not be able to order… I don’t think we have to worry! Granted, I avoided the VAT related issues that began at the start of 2021, but I’m still in the frame of mind that Pikarar will offer to ship to the UK, which is amazing!

I want to get this out there first, shipping was NOT cheap, but it was worth every penny for how bloody quickly everything arrived. Both my orders arrived to me a week after they’d been shipping and as I had tracking with both too I was able to track the process. 🙂 I also didn’t get customs charges either, which was AMAZING! We all hate those, don’t we? I paid $20.00 shipping but personally this was worth every penny to me. 🙂

On the website there is a section where you can preview what will be for sale, but these are view only images. There aren’t any prices at the moment I’m afraid. I can’t 100% remember how much I paid for some of pieces I bought either, which is frustrating so sorry I can’t give exact prices on some of the pieces I picked up. I’ll mention what the rough price is on some items and the actual prices on others.

One thing to mention here is any clothing you buy, Pikarar will send you an apparel care guide, aka how to wash them etc. You need to wash the clothing inside out in cold water. I hate hand washing stuff and with my dermatitis on my hand, it isn’t something I can really “afford” to do. Instead I opt for popping the pieces into my washing machine inside out on a lot heat for a short amount of time and I hang it to dry naturally. You can tumble dry low if you want to, but I don’t personally.

I really hope you enjoy this blog post today guys! Alongside talking about Pikarar’s designs and the pieces I picked up, at the end of the post I’ll also share the website again, as well as their social media. 🙂

• Eevee Crane Sweater – Between $45.00-$55.00.

This was the first piece I popped into my basket! I love Pokemon and I’d seen this item shown over on Pikarar’s Instagram page shortly after discovering them. As many of you know, I love Pokemon and Eevee and the Eeveelutions are one/some of my favourite Pokemon. I couldn’t pass this sweater up in all honesty, the cream brown colour isn’t a colour I have in my wardrobe either so it’s something new!

As you can see from the design, this is a crane machine but instead of plushies it’s full of Eevee’s and they’re all doing different and cute poses. My favourite is the one at the front in my middle who is pushing its whole body against the glass of the crane machine. All the designs are adorable though and whenever I’ve shown me wearing this on camera to friends, as well as photos on Instagram/Twitter people have always commented how cute it is!

I’ll be honest, when it arrived the little white patches where the Eevee’s are smushing their faces, hands and bodies against the glass I thought the little white patches were a flaw in the print. I reached out to Pikarar in regards who was really lovely and understanding of my confusion and explained what it was.

Alongside how cute the design of this sweater is, the sweater itself is so bloody comfortable! It’s super fluffy and soft inside, as well as being really warm. It’s definitely been worn and loved loads since buying it in October/November last year. The sizing is unisex and I went with an L. I can get away with an M no problem but I wanted something really big and baggy which this sizing choice has done perfectly.

• Shiba Crane Sweater – Between $45.00-$55.00.

The shiba crane sweater is actually my favourite out of all the crane designs I own from Pikarar. Shiba’s are adorable and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like the breed. After returning from Japan I’ve kind of fallen in love with the dog breed more and more often now than before if I see a design of the breed I like, I may go for it. This shiba crane sweater included.

It’s the same sort of design idea as the Eevee crane sweater but with shiba dogs on it instead. I actually prefer the shiba design due to some of the poses the dogs are in. They’re very similar to the Eevee’s but there are some minor differences and such. My favourite shiba dog is squished by the drop/win section of the crane game. It’s little face is squashed up against the glass and it looks a little fed up.

I went for this gorgeous baby pink colour for my sweater. Pink isn’t a colour that you’ll see often in my wardrobe, so it’s nice to have some variety. I wear this sweater quite a lot and it’s fast become one I reach into my wardrobe for when I want to wear something warm and comforting.

When I recently went for an eye test at my opticians one of the women who worked there commented how cute this design was and asked me where it was from. I love clothing that can become a conversation starter, especially if people know of the artist whose pieces your wearing, or if they love that animal, character, game, etc.

Like the Eevee crane sweater, the sweater itself is so bloody comfortable! It’s super fluffy and soft inside, as well as being really warm. It’s definitely been worn and loved loads since buying it in October/November last year. The sizing is unisex and I went with an L. I can get away with an M no problem but I wanted something really big and baggy which this sizing choice has done perfectly.

• Shiba Samurai Sticker – Between $2.00-$5.00.

I actually bought this sticker for my boyfriend as since he bought himself a laptop in the summer last year, he’s started to pop stickers on it for fun. I saw this shiba samurai sticker and thought he would love it. I haven’t allowed him to stick it on his laptop yet as I wanted to show it off to you guys first! 🙂

As you can see it’s a black and white sticker of a shiba holding two katana style swords and looking a mixture of cute, serious, and ready to fight! I knew my boyfriend would love something like this. There was also a sweater with the same design on that I contemplated buying him for Christmas, which I didn’t in the end. I’d still like to pick this up for him in the future, or maybe even for myself as it’s such a cool design!

The quality of the sticker is really good too. It has a matte texture and it feels lovely and thick, so you know it’s going to last a long time on whatever you decide to stick it against!

It’s nothing to do with the design but I wanted to mention here that whenever you buy a sticker Pikarar pops it in a cute little envelope, alongside with a thank you care and your apparel care instructions, if you’ve bought any.

• Shiba Good Girls Hoodie – $55.00.

This was one of my pre-order items and one of the items I’d wanted to snag the first time I made an order with Pikarar. I missed out, but I was happy to wait for my pre-order. I went for the mustard yellow/gold colour hoodie and the “Good Girls” slogan on the back and arm of the hoodie. You could also choose black and the “Good Boys” slogan. I don’t have a mustard yellow/gold hoodie and whilst I was anxious to wear this bright a colour, I knew I’d be able to pull it off. Since it arrived last month I’ve worn it quite a few times now. It’s been my go to hoodie for when I want to look and feel cute, but I don’t want to be too warm.

There is a shiba design on the back where it’s wearing a black hoodie and underneath it says, “Good Girls” alongside with “Pikarar”. The shiba looks so cute and happy as it’s smiling and it sort of reminds me of the shiba cafe we visited in Harajuku, Japan last year. The hiragana on the arm reads something along the lines of “good”. I did work out what it said the first couple of times I wore it, but I’ve since forgotten. 😦

This hoodie isn’t as thick as I thought it was going to be, which I first thought was going to be a problem. Thankfully this isn’t the case and it’s actually been a great hoodie to throw on when I want to be warm, but not super toasty. It’ll be a great hoodie to wear for spring, cooler days in summery and autumn and winter days when I want to wear a long sleeved shirt underneath. This hoodie is also a little see through… Which is annoying from someone who wears a lot of dark t-shirts… This being said it could be worse. I picked this up in a size L, as like the unisex sizing for the sweatshirts this is nice and baggy. 🙂

I actually have a defect on the hoodie from where Pikarar has printed the design on the sleeve. There’s a green/black mark near the hiragana which I reported to Pikarar who has been kind enough to offer to send me from free stickers and a discount code when the store opens. At first the offer was for me to send the hoodie back to her and she would send a replacement. That sounded like it was going to cost Pikarar a lot of money, so I suggested a discount instead to make things easier and less faff.

• Pikachu Crane T-Shirt – $25.00.

The final piece I bought and own by Pikarar (so far anyway…) is the Pikachu crane t-shirt. I decided that I needed the other Pokemon crane design in my collection, but I wasn’t quite sure I wanted another sweater. A part of me regrets not getting the sweater, but at the same time I don’t. It’ll be good to have a t-shirt to wear in the warmer summer months.

This t-shirt is also the same colour as the shiba good girls hoodie, so that mustard yellow/gold colour. I wasn’t feel as anxious about wearing such a bright colour with a t-shirt as it can always be styled with a darker pair of jeans or a skirt. This being said I actually really love the colour and both pieces have received lots of compliments during work calls!

The Pikachu design on the t-shirt is really cute and is very similar to the Eevee and shiba designs. Unlike the other designs, I can’t pick one Pikachu that I love and adore more than the others. The Pikachu’s in this design are all so sweet and adorable to look at! The one in the claw about to get won is pretty adorable, but so is the cutie at the front pressed up against the glass. I’ve really loved wearing this design. I picked this up in a size L, as again like both the sweatshirts and hoodie this is a unisex size. I could have gotten away with an M in this, but glad I got the L for that slouchy, comfy fit.

It’s adorable and out of the three this one reminds me of my childhood the most. Hot summer days during the school holidays and miserable rainy weekend days me and my dad would venture to a local town in the countryside where there are loads of arcade games to play! We’d pay the claw games and he’d win me teddy bears. One year he won me a fake TY bear that looked like Harry Potter. I cherished it for years and it’s still in my parents house somewhere. I think that’s the last time he won me anything on the claw games before they got “rigged”. I have to say, when the world starts to go back to normal, I’d love to go there with my dad for a day out together. It would be my treat and we could play arcade games, grab fish and chips and just have a fun day together. 🙂

I would love some other things in this design, including a mouse mat if that’s something Pikarar would look into doing in the future.

That’s everything I picked up from Pikarar though! I’m really excited for when she opens her store again to potentially grab a few more pieces and maybe even snag some goodies for my boyfriend for his birthday in April!

Overall I’m so happy with everything I’ve bought from Pikarar so far! Her designs are so unique and adorable. I just want to snuggle and squish all the cute animals she draws. I’m really excited to see what she comes out with next. I know she recently announced she’s creating a sticker Patreon soon so if you’re interested make sure to follow her on Instagram.

The same goes for when Pikarar announces when she will be opening her store. Following her on Instagram for updates in regards is the best place to be. 🙂

I’m going to pop Pikarar’s links down below for you, including their store as well as social media.

Store

Instagram

Twitter

Twitch

For Fans By Fans (Store)

What do you guys think of Pikarar and her unique shiba and Pokemon designs? Make sure to let me know in the comments below, plus what you would buy from her store?

Until next time guys, stay safe and take care.

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 – Past, Present and Future

I really love this photo! Shall I add it to my “about me” section? P.S. I love Instagram filters! 😛

For my post this week I thought I would do a life lately post and have a catch up about stuff that’s been happening since my last life lately in July (which you can read here). So, go and grab yourself a hot drink because this post is going to be lonnnnng!

I’m going to get this out there straight away and say that since September life has been a bit shit… But thankfully it hasn’t affected me too badly…

September is my favourite month of the year as many know, but this year it was one of the worst. My aunt unexpectedly passed away and I’m still torn about it. October was her funeral and as I’ve been so busy with work throughout October and this month I’ve not really had time to think about it all… Which isn’t a bad thing but I’ve just been so busy.

Due to everything happening one after the other, I am mentally drained. I had a day off work yesterday and it was much needed. I spent the morning doing nothing and catching up on Twitch streams, cleaned my bathroom in the afternoon and ordered a takeaway in the evening. It was a very good day and I loved it so much.

I was bloody knackered this day… Busy work day!

Anyhoo, I don’t want to talk about how shit the past three months has been too much here, but I did want to be honest. I just want to continue to be there for my mom and try and look forward to Christmas as it’ll definitely be a hard year for me, but especially for my mom. I want to try and spoil her as much as possible, especially when her birthday comes around after mine in January too.

Alongside that we’ve also had a second lockdown in the UK, which is set to finish in less than two weeks. To be honest the second lockdown hasn’t affected me. I’m still working from home so I’ve been fine workwise and as miserable as it sounds, second lockdown has been an excuse for me to stay at home and not have to worry about having energy after a busy day to socialise.

COVID and lockdowns has fucked with my head however. I’m happy to stay at home and not hang out with people and be social. I like staying in my house and when both me and Dane have a week off work in December, we intend to do that for pretty much all of it. We’re going to be working on the house and doing things we’ve meant to do the past four years of owning our home.

COVID and lockdown may have fucked with my head, but it has made me realise how much I love my home, but also how much work we still need to do. We’ve neglected it because of being social bunnies since 2016 and I’m done with it. I have certain friends I really fucking miss and can’t wait to see when things go back to “normal” but that’s about it.

I don’t give a fuck if I’m miserable. 😛 Has anyone else had the same happen to them that has happened to me? Aka turning into a hermit. 😛

One of the many pretty baths I’ve taken lately. This one was so damn pretty due to the purple and blue swirling into one another.

I’m getting into the festive spirit a little now in the run up to December. I’m halfway through my Christmas shopping and I’ve already pre-ordered my Christmas food ready for the big day. I won’t be putting my tree up until the 1st December, I can’t stand putting it up early as I find it takes the magic of Christmas away. It comes down just before New Years Eve so we don’t have to worry about putting it down and away before we return to work for a New Year. A lot of people think this is miserable… I think due to being in a home that didn’t really put a tree up this is just something that has passed onto me somewhat.

Speaking of Christmas and the New Year I have so many exciting things I want to talk and share in regards to my blog! 😀

I decided almost a month ago that I would do a MASSIVE post at the start of December about shopping small in the UK. I’ve never done this before in the sense of all stores to be mentioned will be small so I’m REALLY excited for it! With 2020 and lockdown due to COVID, I feel I have shopped smaller more than ever and I love being able to share them with others on my Instagram (theremightbecoffeeblog) so I want to do the same here on my blog too.

I asked you on Twitter what you wanted to see, UK, USA, Europe or everywhere. You mostly voted for me to focus on shopping small in the UK, so that’s what I’ll be doing. I’ll have categories such as beauty, home, kawaii/geek, enamel pins, etc. Are there any categories you would like to see in particular that I haven’t mentioned?

I’ll be looking to research for this MASSIVE post very soon (maybe even after this post is live!) so I can get it out for (drumroll?) 5th December, which is in a couple of weeks! If you also know of any UK stores I should mention, please let me know!

I quickly want to interrupt what I’m talking about to show you these AMAZING Black Milk Clothing x Pokemon leggings I found for a total bargain on Depop! Someone sold them brand new with tags for £40. I snapped them up and I have zero regrets. I’m going to wear these religiously during my week off work. 😛

Alongside that blog post idea for Christmas, I have also decided in 2021 to make a slight change to my blog… and when I say change I mean my monthly posts in particular. I have toyed with this thought the past few months and after reaching out to you guys again on Twitter you all had the same thought as me.

With my monthly favourites posts I am going to move away from mentioning my five favourite beauty items and just mention one or two. I’m planning to share TV shows, movies, music and games I have loved that month, but I’ll only talk about books if I’ve actually read any. I love reading manga, but I’ve not ready any for a while. I’m going to change that in 2021 but I don’t see the point in having books on my monthly favourites if I’m not reading any each month… It’s just pointless.

I’ll be adding some new categories such as – favourite piece of clothing, favourite candle/scent and anything else that comes to mind to be honest with you! It will be random each month me thinks depending on how that month has been like etc.

I didn’t know whether to lump  my monthly favourites and my wish list together so I have more room for content each month but I don’t know… I worry a post will be far too long then, so I am swaying towards keeping them separated. What do you guys think? I do love my monthly wish list posts! 😀

Please take another amazing bath photo! If there is a brand I have fallen in love with this year it’s Bake Bath Love. They’ll be getting a mention in my Christmas Shop Small UK post.

In 2020 I haven’t work with as many people as I usually do with gifted posts, but at the same time we obviously know why this is the case! However, I am hoping in 2021 to work with more people, but we shall see! I’m not fussed if I don’t of course. 🙂

One more thing I want to share with you today is something that I ordered at the start of November as a payday treat for myself. As many know, I love Bee & Puppycat and have done since I discovered it back in 2013 but 2020 has been the year I’m finally buying some merchandise (fan made mostly) from the show.

I finally decided to treat myself to an amigurumi (Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed yarn creatures) of Puppycat, as well as some stickers. He’s by Lunaticgumis and I love him so much! He arrived today and he’s been very much loved already. He’s now on my plushie shelf next to the Puppycat polymer clay keyring that I commissioned from MelonDesignsByEllen. However, I think I will be doing a massive talk about these on a separate post in December. 🙂

That’s basically everything I wanted to catch up with here though… I have some exciting posts coming up in December, which may even end up going through to January too including:

Black Milk Clothing x Animal Crossing – I am beyond excited for all this stuff to arrive… I say all, it’s just three items. It’ll be similar to the one I wrote about the Pokemon goodies, which you can read here for the time being.

Pikarar – This is going to be a huge haul and one I need to share with you all! It’ll include Pokemon and shiba inu clothing! 😀

I’m sure there will be more but those two stand out for me at the moment so I wanted to get them mentioned here. 🙂

Told you I loved them Instagram filters… 😉

I’m not going to ramble anymore guys! What do you think of the small adjustments I’m thinking of doing to my blog in 2021? Make sure to let me know what you think in the comments.

Is there anything else you would like to see more or less of on here? I’d like to hear what you think. In 2021 I want to mostly continue what I’ve done this year, aka one post a week and write about what the hell I want to! 😀

Aside from letting me know what you think, how have you all been doing? How are you dealing with COVID? Are you loving lockdown hating lockdown? Let me know everything. 🙂

Until next time though guys, stay safe, take care and I’ll see you soon!