♪ Late new year ★

It feels like an eternity since I last blogged here as I've been super-super busy. I actually lost a few readers during my unannounced hiatus, but oh well. Maybe now is a good time to update?

The New Year: I'm gonna mash together New Years eve-eve, New Years eve, and New Years day.
So it's not my first time in Japan to ring in the New Year, however it was my first time not as a concert hopper "celebrating" with visual-kei bands.
   New Years eve-eve (is that the correct term?) I celebrated with my Japanese Family, however my Partner was celebrating with Work mates - which I wasn't told about until I arrived and he said he was leaving, which gave me no 'preparation' for an anxiety attack. Which left me a little shell shocked, oh if only I could have drank beer. It was fun, but everyone's name escaped me apart from one person, oops. There was a comment about my ring, which at the time my fingers were swollen and she said; "trapped and bound by strong love", which was rather cute.. even if she was mildly drunk.
   New Years Eve I spent the day with a very hungover guy who didn't roll in until 2:00am. We spent the entire day moving furniture into the other room - which was meant to be our bedroom from the start only we stayed in the tatami floored room on a futon since moving in for some unknown reason. Anyway we purchased a kotatsu and Winter here is basically kotatsu season, so cosy and warm!! We (he) managed to stay awake to watch TV and see the New Year in. It was far too cold for me to be outside - even though I insisted I was fine, damn health worries, I wasn't to get 'too cold'. Anyway we opened the doors to listen to the people at the shrines surrounding us ring the bell, it was oddly soothing yet eerie? After I wished my Parents a Happy New Year from Japan we both went to bed.
   New Years Day, SHOPPING. I was surprised to see people going about their daily life as normal? Actually my Partner had to go to work but certain things were possibly happening, and he called in to explain. Yeah I felt like I was dying, so much for insisting I was fine the previous day. We still oddly went shopping, and Japan is famous for it's LUCKY BAGS, which I purchased a couple, so finally, picture spam.

I love this brand "DIG DEEP" I previously purchased a long shirt from them and when I was this as a Lucky "Box" I couldn't resist. I was torn from many other sets, but I only liked one item from them, plus this came with a cute fuzzy room set. It came with 5 pieces and a badge accessory. 

Fuzzy room wear set

2x t-shirts (blue + black)

1x long sweater (grey)

Of course they have random bits of English on them which always amuses me, the grey one reads "BUT HERE" and leaves me asking, "BUT WHERE?"

   My second purchase was this bag, I have so much to carry at the moment that a shoulder bag hurts, and I hate wearing a bag where the strap crosses my chest and simply says: hey, I'm separating your boobs and making them look more noticeable.It came with a hat, not that I wear hats but it's cute and I did actually wear it on one of those QUICK WE HAVE TO GO OUT BUT YOUR HAIR IS AN AFRO moments.

It also has a purse which I have not transferred anything to. It took me 3+ years to change to the one I have now I am that fussy with certain changes. But anyone who has been in Japan long enough to be offered a point card and unknowingly says 'yes' you end up with thousand credit card sized cards overflowing your purse in no time! At the moment my count is: 10 since arrival, 11 if you count a train card, and 15 if you include business cards, it's not even an obsession! 

   During the New Year in Japan, Children are given these little envelopes as presents. It is probably the same as Chinese New Year - hence the Horse. However it's my first time here with a Japanese family keeping me under their wing, so they gave me an envelope too. Isn't it just cute!?

Bonus photo: Yokohama has a Krispy Kreme, this is my attempt at persuading my Family to visit. We only seem to have mini vendors in the UK, unless there are restaurants too, probably in London. Although we never went inside, I'm a fan of Mister Doughnut, yum.

Double Bonus Photo: My drip tried to kill me during my Hospital stay. I had to call (my wonderful) oba-chan nurse to unhook me at 4:00am, the tape was so hard to remove she basically pinned my arm to the bed to rip it off, uncomfortable when there is a needle wedged in your arm. 

Stay tuned for more.........

( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ Merry Christmas!!

To all my lovely blog readers, Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! 

I spent Christmas this year with my Boyfriend, so it is my first time being away from home; family and the UK. So I am not shy to admit, yes it's been emotional, and yes I do miss the Christmas festivities of my UK home. Please excuse any emotional outbursts!

A couple weeks ago we went on a date to Yokohama because there was a Christmas Market - it was as usual German themed but mostly just food stalls which were identical to Oktoberfest. The tree however was magnificent! It's not exactly cold either, I'm pretty sure it's par-level with the UK right now.

   Speaking of trees, it's not super common at all in Japan for households to own a Christmas Tree and thus some weird anxiety developed. It was quickly solved and we found a tree, after I refused several times; one for feeling guilty, and two -- we don't have space for a 5 foot + tree!!

   We found an adorable Disney Mickey Mouse themed tree at Toys R Us, although I am not a super big fan of that Mouse, it was perfect non the less, (wow I sound so ungrateful). 

   We also purchased some silver and purple tinsel and once decorated at home I placed Stitch at the top! He fits perfectly, size and colour. 

Christmas Cards from Home!

I eventually received my "surprise" Christmas parcel after WEEKS of it being sent from the UK. It had been stuck in Shanghai customs for some time and my Parents had been informed and asked to contact me, which lead to MORE complications. My Parents shipped with ParcelForce, who EVENTUALLY responded to me the same day I received my parcel to say; 'We got your e-mail and are sorry about your parcel being delayed. Please contact_____' TYPICAL? Thankfully before all this my Mother contacted them via phone with my details, which were then exchanged over to Japanese FedEx -- as a result, my Boyfriend had to respond because the e-mails were all in Japanese. BUT they were so quick at responding.  

The parcel is definately worth it. I also FINALLY got my cheki camera back. I dumbly forgot it which is strange for me, it never used to leave my bag. 

So much FOOD and CHOCOLATE and CALORIES. Yes there is a tub of gravy, I was sent two and WOW I think my Boyfriend was more happy to see a tub of gravy than he was the entire box!! When living abroad you do slowly start to miss such things that they do eventually become a luxury treat if - and if - you can find them. Cadbury does exist, in small and expensive quantities. Teabags obviously are easy to come across, but you cannot say no to a familiar British brand! Fact.

I also received mince pies, truth be told; I don't enjoy mince pies THAT much, but of course once you are in a land where things like mince pies (apparently) don't exist, you are going to end up craving it -- no doubt!! Of course they were a bit battered in transit but they taste just as sweet and sickly as I remember. Good! It was my Boyfriends first taste and he was surprised at the flavours as a lot of people expect a MINCE pie to be MEAT. No!

My Father keeps sending me photos of my Cat (even though this one is old) I can't resist decorating the photos I receive. WEH I do miss my Cat so much however. Next year I will celebrate with my Family again as a promise. It also saves me from cooking, but I enjoyed it with the help and support of my Boyfriend. We hosted a Christmas Eve party which I had to produce 'English Food' which weren't actually THAT English? But everyone enjoyed the food and no one died in the process - cooking and eating. So it has actually been a wonderful Christmas 2013. I look forward to 2014. Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!

Kamakura + Enoshima Cave

Last Sunday I was taken on a 'surprise' date to the beach. Surprisingly, the weather was nice and being a thick skinned Brit I was confused at the amount of well wrapped up people in Winter clothing complaining it was cold. Well; it wasn't cold enough to stop the surfers. I love Yokohama, it reminds me often of Cornwall in the UK and it's Surfer theme. Yokohama has both Surfer and a Hawaiian take, (in the right areas).

It was my first time being at the coastline of Japan, so we wanted to make the most of it. After a few hours driving through a really nice town we arrived at Kamakura. Parked up the car and went on our way, well not so soon, I was stopped by Children screaming which made me look back to the car park. I saw two cats, and two boys; both with sticks. I'm not sure if it's the fact I'm some "scary foreigner", or the fact I shouted at them - I couldn't stop myself!!
(_ _|||) But they quickly evaded the scene like guilty little buggers and one cat remained.

Assuming she was a she, she was really tame and instantly approached us which made me wonder if the young boys used the same technique? Either way I got to stroke a cat before she happily went on her way to watch the people fishing close by.

We went on a boat ride to visit Enoshima Caves, which I swear was a mental test since I HATE open waters, I HATE boats like the one we traveled on and I just wanted to cry the entire journey.
My Partner is fully aware of my phobia of open waters - especially the ocean, but did nothing but record the journey and my (possibly) constipated and scared face full of dread and fear. To make matters worse, I was in charge of keeping all our belongings and my instant mindset was to panic and to clutch my bag till my knuckles turned white. (T A T)

Enoshima is a small island, aprox. 4km which we walked from one end to the next - including small touristy things like visiting the ACTUAL caves which was really fun and thankfully some of the signs were in English so it was educational too.
It was REALLY warm - despite this being the 1st of December, I really have not adjusted to this climate yet.

View from inside the caves.

After a long-long walk, and a halfway point for beer and a magic act we headed back to the car and stopped off halfway to pick sea shells on the beach. (Which I still need to clean, oops) Then we headed home; well I assumed so, but we stopped off at Toys R US to buy a Christmas Tree!!! Super happy, even if it is tiny-small-what. My Partner favoured purple over the traditional green and red decorations, so we got some purple tinsel to keep him satisfied.

☆ November in a Nutshell.

Well, it is ALMOST December, so I'm going to round up November as a whole. It also prevents me leaving the apartment; and trust me, I do not wanna go outside in this weather. Hot and windy? UGGH. However I've not been outside in a few days now, totally a hermit!

Mt Fuji in the distance during sunset.

   I am finally settled into our new home. Albeit a few things I am nitpicking at like storage boxes, and I avoid one room here like the plague, which I am basically leaving it up to my partner to rearrange. Men and their gizmos!! For someone who suffers from OCD it's rather difficult setting a new 'routine' with someone who just... likes to destroy any order I have created. (_ _ ||)
 
We celebrated D's Birthday a few weeks ago, actually D is the 'last' of the Birthdays this year - in Japan - because my Father's is next. So I hope to send him something back home on time! There was a large-ish earthquake during the celebrations, and everyone seemed keen to see my reaction. I'm strangely never phased?

   My Partner and I have been congratulated endlessly over the month, and finally was the end of my visa application which had been granted! (*^ω^*) It was difficult, but not impossible? I will write a more detailed blog about the entire application etc soon!

Disney GOAL!! Christmas Stitch!

   After finding out Yokohama has a Disney Store I pretty much demanded we went to find it. Traffic was insane for a Sunday which always seems to be deemed a holiday. I'm glad we have a car now.. even if I have to put up with One Direction. (￣□￣;) But the shopping center is full of Christmas spirit which I love! We visited a couple "Import Stores" as there is a current mission to find... gravy? We ended up with chocolate and C-R-I-S-P-S. It's (unwisely) agreed we learn British English and not American English, thus it's crisps not chips.

   We also went out one evening and I was introduced to a couple more Friends and I was actually the youngest in the group. ( ´艸｀) We ate okonomiyaki which was my first time eating it and then we went to karaoke which was horrible because due to health reasons (another topic) I can't drink, so while EVERYONE else was drunk I was just so quiet and timidly on the verge of an anxiety attack.

I post photos often to my Instagram, however my account is currently private.

My ID: PINPIKO

★ DIY Memo Board！

Being left home unattended, I often get 'itchy paws' and my creativity ideas/thoughts just seem to spew out uncontrollably. I had seen this DIY task before and since I had the free time I thought I would take the challenge in my own way!

( ´θ｀)ノ What I used:

♪ Memo board; cork is recommended.
♪ Decorative tape. I used two types of tape.
♪ Ribbon!
I also used:
♪ Black felt.
♪ Glue & Pins.

(*‘ω‘ *) Total cost:
★ 735 円
-- all items were purchased from 105円 shops making this a really cheap but creative craft.

 

First have a nice dedicated working area, usually a floor is best or large table depending on the size of your memo board. I first taped around the edges of the frame using a patterned masking tape. Any kind of tape will work obviously depending on your theme even electrical wire tape will work! 

It is such an easy and simple task! So easy that anyone can do it. At this point I had a blank edge which bugged me and my OCD ways - so off to the store I went again and purchased another tape with a similar theme and some black felt. 

I had some minor issues with purchasing glue - who knew it would have been THAT difficult? I settled for wood glue, considering cork and wood are similar. (´;ω;｀) RIGHT? Actually most of the products had pictograms of what the glue can be used on. Shoes. Plates. Car. Bike. MEMO BOARD?

(I forgot to rotate the picture, but) I finished the sides of the frame with ease and started to cut the felt to size. Yay! Using felt isn't actually necessary, many people leave the cork for show. 

 

FINALLY; attach your chosen ribbon in whatever pattern you like. A lot of guides wrap the ribbon around the board and pin it that way but I cut the ribbon to size and then pinned them down. I used the remaining ribbon for the hanger, which isn't strong enough so my next mission is to find a sewing kit and sew the knot in place. 

Bad point alert!! (╯⊙ A ⊙╰ ) The pins were too long for the board and as a result ended up sticking out the other side. Having thought the felt would help pad it out more and prevent this. I'm going to attempt to hammer/bend the pins around so it avoids damaging the wall when I go to hang it.

And there you have it!! A easy and simple creative task that anyone can do. If it wasn't for the second trip to the store (and the glue drying) this is easily accomplished within 30 minutes.