Monday, April 30, 2012

toronto goodies

My trip to Toronto was a lot of fun! My family and I (minus my sister who had too much homework) left at around 8 AM and we arrived at around 1:30 PM. We had a delicious lunch at a restaurant that we usually go to called, "Congee Wong." After lunch, we went shopping and I went on a mini shopping spree.


Goodies purchased from TO.

Here is a picture of all the goodies that I purchased from Toronto. Although they had a lot of stores that sold kawaii, I was disappointed with the selection since a lot of it were fakes. There were tons of fake rilakkuma, totoro and other kawaii character items. Worst of all, they weren't even good fakes, I could tell right away that they weren't the real deal.

But a lot of new shops opened up in the mall that we usually go to and we haven't been to Toronto in a long time so I still managed to spend a good 3 or 4 hours shopping. A lot of Asian makeup stores has opened up, my sister would've loved it. I, on the other hand, am too lazy to learn to apply makeup well so it didn't mean much to me unless it's creams or cleansers.


Kitty/Doggy Hand Cream

So it's not unusual that I bought this! The packaging obviously caught my eye so I went into the store to inquire more information about it and there was a tester and it passed! It didn't leave any stickiness behind. I hate it when creams leave a sticky residue. I bought a Korean brand hand cream and it feels disgusting after you put it on. Plus, it doesn't even work!



There isn't much but you don't need to slather a lot on her hands for it to work either.


Birthday Teddy Bear

This one my parents actually bought me and it was funny because I was planning on buying it and I kind of ruined my own surprise. The store that was selling it had a huge display of these cute little bears. I thought it was super cute and although I'm normally not a fan of these birthday toys, I couldn't resist this cute little bear. But to my dismay, April 27th was all gone! They had a whole bunch of other birthdays still available but mine had been all snatched! I asked one of the saleswoman who worked there and asked if she had anymore of April 27th, she said that she'd go check in the back.

I also happened to run into my dad about 5 seconds later (we had split up) and he asked what I was looking for. I told him the teddy bear, then he asked which date and I told him my birthday. He gave me a look and said,"Already bought it for you." and proceeds to take it out of his shopping bag and gave it me.


So soft too!


There was a store that sold a lot of Shinzi Katoh goods and other unusual items. I was surprised that they had a shop like that since the majority of the mall sold fake kawaii goods, car parts, copied DVDs, and Asian makeup. They had so much Shinzi Katoh! They were reasonably priced too (as far as Shinzi Katoh items go for anyway).


Ugly Duckling Tin Pencil Case

I thought this was really cute but Alex told me that it's super depressing. My brother agreed. They said that every time I need to get my pencil/pen, I have to look at the sad ugly duckling I don't think he's ugly at all!). I told them that it'll remind me to not judge things by their covers. They still insisted that it was depressing.


Inside.


Bottom.


Sheep Earrings.

I also bought a pair of sheep earrings from the same store. I normally get an allergic reaction to the cheaper earrings because of the metal or paint that they use, but I asked the girl and she said that they're titanium so they won't give an allergic reaction. I hope she's right.


Kapibara-san Gashapon

There used to be a lot of gashapon shops in the mall but I guess they weren't doing really well since there was only one left. It was a small one and they toys were ugly! I couldn't even remember what they were but they did have a kapibarasan one :)


Kapibarasan Screen Cleaner.

I usually don't buy collectors' toys or figurines but this one is cute! The figurines are sheep and I had previously bought one of these (but a different collection, I forgot what it was) when I was in Hong Kong 5 years ago.


They're dream sheep. The text on the box didn't make any sense but I'm guessing it's sheep that grant your dreams' wishes or something.


Possible Toys.

This series is the horoscope collection. I like the Taurus and Virgo ones the most. You have a 7:8 chance of getting a white sheep, which are the ones with pictures and a 1:8 chance of getting a black sheep, which are the question marks.


What's Inside?



OMG I GOT THE TAURUS ONE!!!!!!

DJFKAJFKLDAJFKDSJFKDSJDFLJSAFF IT'S THE TAURUS ONE!!!!! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?! THE STARS MUST BE ALIGNED WITH THE PLANET NEPTUNE AND IT MUST BE THE RIGHT TIME TO BUY THESE DREAM SHEEP!!!!!


In case you didn't know, Taurus is MY sign and it's the one I wanted! I can't believe this! On my first (and only) try too!


MY ACTUAL BIRTH DATE TOO!?

And that's not all, my actual birth day is printed on the bottom of the sheep. WHAT IS THIS?! THIS IS DESTINY! THE SHEEP AND I ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER!


Apparently, it's a game and it came with this paper. I'm not going to use it but here it is just to show you guys. OMG THAT SHEEP AND I ARE SOUL MATES! I DON'T NEED THIS SILLY PAPER GAME TO TELL ME!


Instructions that I'll never use because WE CHOSE EACH OTHER!

Last but not least is Alex's birthday present for me! At the Shinzi Katoh store, I was debating on whether I should buy this adorable tote (since I have a lot of bags, I'm a plush and handbag addict). I left the store without it and decided to think about it. Within an hour, I decided to get it, life is too short! It was then the cherry on top of an awesome day when Alex offered to get it for my birthday (even though it was over our budget, we had decided to get each other small gifts of $10 so that we can get amazing gifts for each other in Asia). He said that he didn't mind going over the budget as long as it made me happy (awwww!).


Shinzi Katoh Doggy Tote.



Front/back.



Bottom.



Yummy curry fish and beef balls.

At some point during the day, my brother got hungry so we went to buy some delicious fish and beef balls. Every time we come to Toronto, my brother feasts on these. I wanted to get escargots too but they ran out. We had ordered much more but Alex and my brother were like vultures and ate a lot of them before I got a chance to take a picture.


Baby Polar Bear.

I didn't buy this little guy in Toronto but he was purchased a few days before we went. I found him in an outlet candy store and there was three of them lined up together. Although all 3 were cute, my eyes were immediately drawn to him. After little deliberation, I decided he was coming home with me. Alex, on the other hand, bought some chocolate almonds.

Friday, April 27, 2012

birthday shopping

Today is my birthday and but my family and I kind of celebrated it yesterday instead. My brother and sister had their lifeguard courses tonight and it doesn't end until 10 PM so my mom decided to have cake last night. But tomorrow, we're going to Toronto to celebrate it "properly." Unfortunately, my sister can't come because she has too much school work, so it still won't feel complete :(


Imagine having a cake like this?

I had a lunch date with my Godparents this afternoon but I went shopping before our lunch with my mom. My mom is really happy that I have a bit more free time now since during the semester, I hardly have time to do anything with her. We like to have lunch together and go shopping every once in a while. Within the past three weeks, we went shopping twice XD.

My mom and I went to look for a new pair shoes for Alex's cousin's wedding. We checked a bunch of shoes stores but none of them had anything interesting. We ended up in BCBG again and sure enough, I found my shoes! I tried on a few pairs of heels that I don't know how to walk in, but in my defense, they made me look great and so much taller! It's always an issue with me since I'm Asian and short. Alex makes fun of me by saying that even with heels, he's much taller than me! But with these shoes, he can't make fun of me so much!





This was the first one I tried on, and it looked alright. I tried to get something that would work with all my other dresses and clothes but it's a bit hard to coordinate all my clothes with these heels. I also didn't like the strap that held onto to your ankle, it didn't feel secure enough, although that could've been a size issue.




Next is this one! I liked this one since there is a bit of gold incorporated with the black heels so it's not as boring as a full black one. This one didn't look good on me at all. Also, the strap that held onto the back of my ankles was really annoying.




This is the one that I chose! I really like this one and it was actually the first one I tried on, but I didn't want to spoil the surprise :). It looked awesome on me and it fit quite nicely. Even though I couldn't walk in them (or any of the other ones), I decided that I should finally get a pair of nice heels. I have one pair of "business" heels that I wear to every business function that go to but they were really cheap and extremely uncomfortable even though I've worn them so many times. I think they're the type of heels that you never really break into them. I also have another pair of heels that I wear to just about every fancy occasion. I like those ones but it's nice to change it up a bit every once in a while.

My mom and I had lunch with my Godparents at Scarolie's, an amazing Italian restaurant near the mall that we went to. I've been to this restaurant several and each time, I always get a new type of pasta and each time, it doesn't disappoint! Even their salads looked amazing! I shared the Giovanni Pappadelle with my mom, which had sundried tomatoes, shallots, Italian bacon (I forgot the real name of it), portebello mushrooms, white wine...and something else. It was delicious! I didn't take a picture of it though :(.



That was pretty much my day, pretty uneventful but I still really enjoyed myself. I wanted to take a picture of my new shoes and some of my kawaii but when I got home, it was already getting dark (the weather is crap again and I had some errands to run). I'm going to give Obi a brushing now since he hasn't been brushed in a few days. I feel a little bad doing it, since he hates to be brushed and he always makes a fuss whenever you try to brush him, but the little pain in the ass always ends up falling asleep as you're brushing him! I think he just likes to make a big deal out of nothings, the little drama llama.


Don't brush me!

Sunday, April 22, 2012

nemunekos everywhere

As promised, here are some of the kawaii that I received at the end of my semester and during my exams. I decided to start with all the Nemunekos that arrived because everyone likes nemunekos. The first two nemunekos I received about 3 weeks ago. They're two large ones that I ordered off eBay back in January, JANUARY! It took them over 2 months to arrive and I was freaking out because I thought they had gotten lost in the mail. They were being delivered from Singapore by surface mail, but still, TWO MONTHS! But the important thing is they finally arrived.


Ta-da! Aren't they precious?

The gianormous fatso in mine and the fuzzy white one is my sister's. We were so happy and really excited that they finally arrived. We were extremely pleased with them but I wouldn't say it was worth the wait since it's TWO months! I'd say one month is most I'd be willing to wait for it, especially since Paypal only has a 45 day dispute policy, where you can open a dispute with the seller within 45 days of the transaction.


Nemuneko tails, I like the stubby one better but the furry one's design is nicer. If only they could be combined.



Both kitties wanted to fish for some sushi, but they failed.


Next, are the smaller ones that I received about a week ago. I couldn't even enjoy them when they arrived since I had to study for my finals but I did get to see just how adorable they were before throwing them on my desk to resume studying.


A pile of baby nemunekos

Each one has a little rodent attached to them...like a tumour. Although it's extremely cute, I don't know why they attached a rodent to the side of each nemuneko since you can't detach it (unless you cut it off) or pull it to reveal a string. It's just...there. But each rodent is different for each nemuneko and there are two varieties; a mouse and a hamster.


Sorry for the ugly picture, the weather's crappy outside so it's hard to get proper lighting.



A nicer picture of the four smaller nemunekos



Full grey and calico nemunekos



Front full grey


Side full grey

For some reason, it's only the full grey that has a hamster. Every other nemuneko has a mouse attached to them. Maybe this one has a particular appetite for hamsters? I hope not! The poor hamsters ;__________; The poor mice too! ;______________________; I just hope it's their preference in friends! Not that they should limit their friends based on the type of rodent, that'd be rodent...ism?


Front calico



Side calico

I have an extra nemuneko calico for sale is anyone is interested! Leave a comment with your contact information for more details :)


White with grey ears and black nemunekos



Front grey with white ears



Side white with grey ears

I really like this one, I think it's my favourite out of all four. The black mouse is really cute too! I think a close second would be the full grey but the hamster isn't as cute as the mouse, which is what kind of diminished it to second place XD.


Front black



Side black

Again, I really like the white mouse on this one. The mouse is just so adorable!


All together, piled high

Here they all are, piled on top of each other. I always thought that the nemunekos were flat and that it'd be easy to stack them on top of one another but it turns out, they're not flat at all. They're kind of convexed, so they're a little pointy at the bottom.

Finally, here's a behind the scenes picture of the photoshoot. It wouldn't be complete without Obi lurking in the background! Excuse the messiness, I had put all the nemunekos in that bag to bring them to living room and to prevent Obi from stealing one when I wasn't looking.