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In my continued quest of documenting “99 Things That Bring Me Joy“, the next stop in my journal brings us to childhood activities I don’t want to outgrow. I don’t believe I am experiencing a “Peter Pan syndrome”, but I do still feel very young-at-heart even though I am rapidly approaching my late thirties & my early thirties have come & gone in a blink of an eye. Actually, I’m not really sure how to exactly describe myself. I can relate, get along with, & easily talk to all sorts of generations. I can chat with older adults about 1960s culture, reminisce with my own generation about our carefree youth in the 1980s & the grungey 90s, & when the kids of the next generation spit out slang lingo I can talk to them without checking the Urban Dictionary every 5 minutes.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have built up a lot of my current collections by adding on to things I’ve kept since my youth. Even though I am learing how to let go of items I once thought were sentimental on the basis of decluttering my home, I still keep some of my treasured childhood objects & collectible items. I use some of those items as a starter/base in building my collections. A few of my other childhood collectibles are still able to be used in my arts & crafts projects. (For example, I have a few rubber stamps from the mid-90s that I’m still using in my craft projects today.)
Aside from collectible objects, there are a few childhood activities that I continue to engage in, even as an adult. They’re not really exciting or unique, but they make me happy, no matter what age I am. Let me give you a few examples.
I wrote in an old post about the London Bus LEGO set that I had completed, & within that post I had provided a full list (as of 2017) of all the LEGO sets I owned. I’ve been playing with LEGO building blocks for as long as I can remember. My experience with LEGO blocks began with a simple tub of miscellaneous blocks that my mom bought for me at the Toys ‘R Us store when I was a little kid. There was a long span of my life (meaning my teenage years) where I stopped playing with LEGOs.
Then as an older adult, I started playing with them again, or should I say building sets again. I guess I jumped back on the LEGO bandwagon at the time when it was trendy for adults to go back to doing childhood things, like coloring & painting, in order to relieve stress. (What did they call the trend…”zen coloring for adults”??? LOL!). Now that LEGOs are back in style, & have become trendy for people of all ages, I’ve really thrown myself into building what LEGO calls “creator sets”.
My collecting of these large LEGO sets have really taken over my house to the point where I could easily turn my house into a small toy store. Thank goodness my collecting hasn’t taken over my life so much to the point where I will buy every new collectible set that’s released. I only buy the sets that interest me, but it’s still becoming an overwhelming collection that I hope to one day pass on to my future child. In the meantime, here is an updated list of the LEGO sets I have so far…
If you’ve been following my blog from the beginning, then you know all about my sticker collecting. I mean, I basically won’t shut up about it & write about my sticker collecting in practically every other post. I have been collecting (& using) stickers since I was around 10-years old. I still even have a few of my old stickers from way back when. I won’t go in to too much detail about my boring sticker collecting, just know that I’ve been collecting stickers nearly my entire life.
Do you remember when I introduced my sticker storage box (named Trevor)? Well, he’s overflowing now.
This photo of Trevor taken circa July 2012.
This is Trevor now. He is a super hot mess.
Even my craft washi tape collection got so overwhelming that Pierre spilled out, & we now have his little brother named Jean-Luc.
I’m not an avid coloring book artist these days, but I still color like a kid from time to time using a coloring page app on my tablet. When I was a little kid, I loved coloring in school. I couldn’t freestyle/hand draw to save my life, but I loved coloring. I still can’t draw (barely stick figures & crude symbols), but I still enjoy coloring from time to time.
I remember when I was a teenager & I discovered tracing paper for the first time. I had this beautiful hardcover art book from the artist Mary Engelbreit, who was my favorite artist at the time. I would spend hours in my room, sitting on my bed, painstakingly re-tracing all of my favorite prints from that book. Then I would take my treasured deluxe box of colored pencils & color in all of my traced pages, trying to copy Mary’s artwork. I had so much fun tracing those artworks & getting to color them in at the end.
Today, I don’t exactly color in actual paper coloring books with coloring pencils & crayons, but I do have a coloring app on my tablet called Lake Coloring, & whenever the mood strikes or if I’m feeling a little out of sorts, I’ll whip out my tablet (which I have named Richard), & just color away to clear my headspace, with my only worry being which color to choose. I wouldn’t exactly say that this type of coloring is a stress reliever, but it does actually distract me (in a good way) & helps me to temporarily forget about whatever was on my mind to make me feel moody.
I didn’t read comic books & graphic novels when I was very young. However, I remember one of my older female cousins was really into reading Archie Comics. I had another male cousin who loved to collect MAD magazines. He even had the board game that was a spin-off of the comic magazine.
I didn’t really start learing about comic books myself until I became a young teenager & my parents allowed me to walk to the grocery store without a chaperone. I started by reading the cheap 99¢ cents comics at the grocery store. Then when I was old enough to drive, I would spend my after school time hanging out at my local bookstore near the shopping mall. That was the time when I was introduced to the magical world of Japanese manga (graphic novels).
Let me tell you one thing, when I immerse myself in a hobby or something I’m passionate about, I will invest a lot of time & effort (& money) into it. For example, when I started reading Japanese manga (I was more into manga rather than watching anime shows), I would read two or three series at a a time. I was always searching for a new series to dive into, which actually worked out for me because it always took at least a month, sometimes longer, to properly translate one Japanese comic book into English. It’s not easy to translate sound effects, & Japanese subtlety. To show you what I mean, let me insert a photo here.
I found these while cleaning out the storage closet, & miraculously they were NOT moisture damaged or warped!
I am not sure if you can clearly read the titles in this photo or not. I will list all of the titles, so you don’t have to zoom-in & sqint. Just a fair warning, I was really into the magical girl romance genre back in those days. I also dabbled in a little of the fantasy/sci-fi genre, & of course…the traditional romance genre as well.
I haven’t quite gotten back in to reading graphic novels. Well, at least not since I graduated college, but I’m slowly dipping my foot back in to that giant pool, testing out the water again to see if I’m still willing to shell out the mucho dinero for one book every other month. I still do read, though. However, I have slowed down my reading of hardcopy books in favor of e-books on my treasured tablet, Richard. You know, it is kind of sad to say this, but… you know when someone asks the trivia question “what three items would you bring with you to a remote island”? Two of the three items I’d probably bring with me is: 1. Richard, my tablet, & 2. a power source so I may keep Richard charged at all times. (Also, item number three would probably be a hunting knife.)
Well, that pretty much sums up some of my childhood that I’ve carried with me into full adulthood. Some of these things I believe I can still carry with me throughout my childhood & not feel like I’ve outgrown them. I also feel like I can pass down some of these activities with my future offspring. At least I hope so… That’s all I’ve got to say on this subject. Until next time, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
Today it’s raining pretty heavily (& steadily, I might add). It’s a perfect day to sit down with a big cup of coffee & hammer out a blog post. So, guess what I did before I went to Taipei? Well, while Jian was busy looking up all the different places we could stop to have food &/or cocktails, I was busy researching various stationery shops I could visit to grab some supplies for my ever-growing horde of arts & crafts supplies. I love getting stationery & craft supplies whenever I visit Asia. I find them more functional & cuter (& sometimes more affordable) than the stuff you can find in the States.
Man, I think I’ve already talked about this a couple of times before, but it’s so much more affordable to go on a stationery spree in Asia & bring back my haul than to buy all of the same stuff on the internet or at an import stationery shop here in the States. For example, if I want to buy a sheet of stickers, they’re usually marked up $1 to $2 dollars more than if I just wait to go back & visit family back in Asia. As much as I make it seem, I don’t actually travel back to Asia very often. So, I don’t really make big hauls like this that often. I try to keep the things I choose very functional & practical. I tell myself over & over to only choose the things I absolutely need, but sometimes I don’t listen to myself, & I end up purchasing a few frivolous items as well.
So, are you sitting down? Do you have time to read this ridiculous post? You might want to grab a comfy chair & something to drink. With my ability to go on & on & on, you’ll probably be here a while.
Let me start this off with Paddington Bear. I’ve loved this little illustrated, Britt-y bear ever since I was a young child. If you’ve seen my Instagram feed, then you’ve probably seen my stuffed Paddington doll. I used to love watching the children’s program on the PBS channel & reading the books. I don’t know the exact story as to how I came to possess this delightful bear, but I believe my brother brought it back as a souvenir for me when he took a trip to London. I’ve always cherished this bear & took gentle care of it. It’s because of this furry Brit that I’ve grown to love orange marmalade & baths. I also love London!
I love collecting postcards. I’ve probably got over 300 that I’ve collected since I was a teenager. These two were kind of one of those frivolous purchases. I know I don’t actually need them, but I couldn’t resist getting them when the graphics on the front include two of my favorite themes: Paddington & London. Each of these postcards cost $1.50 USD, so I didn’t feel to guilty “splurging” on them.
I love writing myself notes & reminders on paper. I find it so much more practical than setting a reminder or calendar alert on my smartphone because for one thing, I tend to neglect regularly checking my phone for notifications. Also, I can’t press the “snooze button” on a paper note. I can tape these notes anywhere they’d be most visible (& hard to ignore), like on my bathroom mirror, or on top of my car keys.
I have a lot of little generic blank notepads & Post-It ™ pads, but what could be cuter than a Paddington Bear themed notepad?? Shinzi Katoh is one of my favorite illustrators, & I love all of his products, but those products are so incredibly expensive to buy where I live. Don’t even get me started on buy this stuff on the internet. The prices are usually double the retail price. This notepad only cost me $3 bucks, & its got lots of pages, so it’s well worth the effort to get it.
Oh my gahhh, what is this hole I’ve dug myself into with these cute-as-cuss hand towels?!?! I think I swore up & down last time that I wouldn’t add to my pile of hand towels, but I was lying (mostly to myself). How do you expect me to resist this cuddly brown bear? And beefeaters? And Union Jack flags? Annnd Paddington’s suitcase filled with jars of delicious marmalade?! Well, this guy came home with me anyway. I love this & cannot wait to use it.
November is calendar & planner/diary/journal season in Asia. Every bookstore &/or stationery shop will have at least two shelves stocked floor-to-ceiling with these guys. I love buying calendars in Asia mostly because of the variety of functionality, sizes, shapes, & themes. Paper calendars are my favorite way to write down important dates & upcoming appointments. It helps keep my life organized in a fun way. Plus, I love decorating them with stickers & my poor attempts at drawing.
The best part about Asian calendars are the large squares in which you can write things down. It really irks me when a calendar page has a large graphic that takes up ¾ of the page & the actual dates are written in small letters at the bottom. I like calendars with larger spaces for you to write things down. This calendar has a quirky theme of polar bears, penguins, & panda bears doing random everyday things. My favorite part of this calendar is how clear & concise the numbers & months are written.
Ok, so this calendar is not exactly mine. I know what I just said about these types of calendars, but this calendar is not for writing down information. This is just a generic calendar that will be placed in a common space in our home, mostly to accommodate my mom. My mom is always occupying our common space, & she’s always grabbing the calendar to look at dates. I always put a calendar every year in this common space for my mom to use. It’s become a fun tradition that I get her a new viewing calendar every year. She likes to wait & see what designs I get each year.
I got this calendar at a new home goods shop that recently opened in Taipei called Niko And… . This shop was so fun to explore. We got there right when they first opened, & it’s such an inviting store. One-third of the store is a craft coffee shop brewing fresh pour-over coffees & espresso drinks with delicious fresh baked pastries. The other third of the store is dedicated to young men’s & women’s fast fashion. The last third of the store was all housewares & miscellaneous goods. That’s where I got this mini calendar. Jian helped me pick this out. He liked the colorful illustrations of everyday objects.
I got this Snoopy calendar for the home office desk where the family PC resides. My family & I are big time Peanuts fans (maybe we’re Snoopy-philes), so I thought this would be cute on our shared workspace. There were a few Snoopy calendar choices, but I chose this one because it looked the least busy, yet still colorful & whimsical. I also went for the large squares style, so we could all write shared family events & appointments if we wanted to. You know, on an unrelated note, I always wanted a beagle dog when I was a kid. I specifically wanted a white one with black ears & a black patch on the rump, but I heard those breeds of beagles don’t exist, so…we don’t have a dog.
I’m trying to learn how to stamp. I go to the arts & crafts store Paper Source, & I get so envious when I see their handmade-by-the-staff greeting card samples. I always wished I could make a greeting card with stamps, but I could never get the stamp pattern/graphic to look straight, or get the letters to match up. Then, while I was browsing the shop Tools to Live By, I saw this stamp printing kit. I grabbed this kit, thinking that I could make a lot of envelope labels. (I don’t like my sloppy handwriting anyway.) I don’t think you can clearly see in my photo, but this kit comes with both sets of Uppercase & Lowercase alphabet letters, as well as numbers & basic punctuation marks. I’m so relieved that this stamp comes with various plates as guides, which make it so much easier to stamp words in a straight line. I can’t wait to use this kit on future correspondence!
This is not quite a stationery related item, but I did get it at the stationery store Plain Stationery & Homeware Café. It looks & feels quite generic & flimsy (being that it’s made of lightweight plastic), but it’s very practical & useful. After all, it is an emergency whistle. I used to have a generic metal coach’s whistle on my keychain that was given to me by my mom, but somehow I lost it. I’ve always thought that it is good to carry a whistle, so that I can signal someone (or make a loud noise/distraction) in case I get in a bad situation. I really like the sleek look of this whistle & how slim it is, so it fits perfectly on my keychain. Also, don’t underestimate this whistle. While it may look flimsy & small, it produces a nice loud sound when used.
I love coffee themed stationery, & Tools to Live By had a ton of them. I tried to only choose the items I thought I would get the most use out of. One of those such items was this octagonal notepad. I love the minimalist design with a simple navy blue graphic on the cover. I especially love the phrase written on the cover, “Great ideas start with coffee”. I tend to agree with that statement, which is probably why I’m slightly addicted to coffee. As I’m writing this blog post, I’ve already started using this notepad. The paper has a nice weight & thickness to it. The sheets are thin, but not too thin that pen ink will bleed through. I tend to jot down a lot of little notes & numbers when I’m sitting at my computer, especially when I’m trying to copy or remember a color code to use on Photoshop. This is a great notepad for just such a use!
Circling back to my blurb about stamping, I got these three miniature stamps. They’re so tiny it’ll probably be hard to see the image once it is stamped, but I’m determined to improve my stamping skills. I got these three stamps at Plain Stationery & Homeware Café, & when I saw them I had so many crafting ideas flowing through my thoughts. One idea I had was to use one of these stamps on the corner of an envelope or card & draw something around it. I still haven’t decided how I’m going to use these stamps yet, but I’m excited to try them out.
Let’s get to the meat of the haul…the stickers. First off, these are three random decals I got from various places (listed in the photo). The first two decals (the holographic decal from United Arrows & Sons & the angry Donald Duck decal from Faith) were free. The round decal with the campfire only cost me $0.75 cents USD, & I got that one at Niko And… . I’ve already started using these stickers & have plastered them all over my belongings. One of these decals I’ve already affixed to my beloved crafting box that I’ve named Trevor. What can I say? I like to put stickers & labels all over my personal objects.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say once again that I’m not particularly fond of flake stickers (a.k.a. individually die cut stickers). They’re often too small & thin, & it’s hard to peel off the backing. However, I found two sets of flake stickers that I thought were too cool to pass up. I have a set of stickers on my phone’s photo editing app that’s of random middle-aged men working out & doing various weird athletic poses. It’s called Middle-Aged Sports Club. Those stickers are so hilarious to use every time I’m editing a photo for Instagram. These flake stickers totally reminded me of those guys on my app. It cracks me up every time I look at them. I also love how each guy has a random name. Even thinking about it now makes me chuckle.
One of my favorite Japanese foods is お握り(a.k.a. rice balls). My aunts back in Japan make the best rice balls I’ve ever eaten. They’re able to make the rice so fluffy & delicious. I’ve made rice balls on my own before for my mom’s friends, & I was quite proud of them, especially since they all said they really enjoyed them.
I saw these flake stickers of various rice balls, & I fell in love with them. I’m kind of disappointed that the pickled radishes, though, look like rolls of gold coins. They’re supposed to be lines of sliced pickled radishes (& yes, the radishes are a bright yellow color when they’re pickled). My dad loved pickled radishes, but I don’t particularly like them. However, like my dad, I do enjoy the pickled plum..but only when they’re mixed with rice. Alone, pickled plums can be too sour for my taste, so I like eating them in rice balls to cut down the sour taste. On another note, the steam pots of rice don’t look like what they’re supposed to be unless you really look at them closely. The wooden rice paddles look like deflated khaki balloons. I think my favorite sticker out of the whole set is the rice bowl. I particularly love the raw egg at the top of the rice. It’s so cute!
I’m terrible at keeping promises to myself. I said that I wouldn’t buy any more washi tape, but I ended up getting more. Oh my cuss, I have to tell you something about washi tape. In Taipei, washi tape is so popular. They’re at every bookstore & stationery store. When I visited Eslite Bookstore’s flagship store, there was a whole room on one floor dedicated to only washi tape in various sizes, patterns, & every color imaginable. There’s even tape sizes large enough to be used as gift wrapping paper. I was so overwhelmed at all the varieties of washi tape, & I was determined at the start of my trip to not cave in, but once those happy endorphins start coursing through your body, you can’t help but feel very itchy to grab all the cute things you see & plop them in your shopping basket.
As you may recall, I said earlier that I love coffee related stationery, so when I was atTools to Live By, I picked up these two washi tapes that were exclusively designed by the shop. I thought I might not be able to get these patterns of washi tape anywhere else (online or otherwise), so I snapped them up without even giving it a second thought. When I saw the fruits & veggies washi tape, at first I thought the pattern was rosette flowers with lose leaves. It wasn’t until I actually started using the tape (yes, I’ve already used it) when I finally noticed the pattern. As for the roses with stripes, I just loved the vibrant colors. Most of the washi tapes I have are solid colors with no patterns, so this one seemed like a good choice to round out my selection of paper tapes.
I also hauled a bunch of sticker sheets from various stationery stores all over Taipei. Since I got new calendars I wanted to get stickers I could use on my calendar, like labels & infographics. I like adding sticker details on my calendars to fill up the blank squares, & to make my upcoming appointments look at least somewhat appealing.
As for the two sets of neon animal stickers, I don’t know exactly why I chose them. It’s like the “shiny nickel” effect happening here. When you’re on your way to do something specific, but you see a shiny nickel off on the side & divert your attention to go after the nickel. That’s what happened here. I was looking at one section of the store when these guys came into view. Thus my attention was averted, & I ended up bringing them home with me.
One of my favorite illustrated characters from the San-X brand is the adorable sock-wearing black kitten Kutsusitanyanko. Whenever I see a new set of Kutusitanyanko stickers, I get them. This is probably my favorite set of stickers out of the bunch. In my paper crafting projects, I probably use my Kutusitanyanko stickers the most.
Finally, I got a sheet of Mount Fuji stickers. Every time I see a set of Mt. Fuji stickers, I always waffle on whether to buy them or not. This time, I decided to get a sheet once & for all. When I look at them, I am reminded so much of my dad, who used to hike up the trailways of Mt. Fuji in Japan with his Boy Scout/Eagle Scout troop. My dad was the troop leader of his Eagle Scout troop, & they often hiked up Mt. Fuji & camping around the area. My dad used to tell me lots of stories when I was a kid about his hikes up Mt. Fuji with his troop, & those stories have stayed vividly in my mind even until today. Oh man, I love to hear all of the adventures my dad went on when he was living in Japan.
I love getting birthday cards & random greeting cards in Asia. The varieties are endless, & the designs are much cuter than anything at Hallmark. Plus, they’re sometimes cheaper. Well, I know the pop-up cards are cheaper. Most of the pop-up cards here in the U.S. can cost anywhere between $6 to $10 USD for one. These two pop-up birthday cards I bought in Taipei only cost me $7 USD for both.
Whenever I travel back to Asia (as in Japan), I like to stock up on all sorts of greeting cards & share them with my mom. We have a large family with lots of birthdays throughout the year, & we both have lots of activities on our schedules that might require a nice card for the host(ess). I’ve already used one of the cards from this stack (I used the coffee card to send to a friend). That shows you how often I use greeting cards.
…And here is my pièce de résistance. I always look for new pen styles & ink colors when I go stationery shopping in Asia. I mostly look for styles & colors that are hard to find back at home. For example, 4 years ago (the last time I visited Tokyo), was the first time I saw the Pilot Frixion Ball Gel Ink pens. I bought a few of the pens along with the ink refills. I didn’t see this series of pen in the U.S. until 2 years after I had already bought my pens.
This series of pens that I bought (shown in the photo above), the Zebra Sarasa Gel Ink Clip, is pretty common. You can easily buy them online or at the import stationery shop, & they’re approximately the same price everywhere. However, when I go overseas I try to look for the limited edition colors or sets (like the Kumamon &/or Japanese Culture sets shown in my photo). I saw these pastel colors & could not resist them. I don’t see these colors very often in the stationery shops where I live, so if I see them elsewhere, I will snap them up quickly.
This will probably be the last of the Zebra Sarasa pens that I will buy for a long time. However, I’ll definitely get more ink refills. This series of pen is my favorite, so far, to write with. The pens come in various thicknesses from super thin (0.3mm) to heavy thickness (1.0mm), but the best part is that even if you use the super thin pen, the tip will not scratch or tear the paper. Also the ink does not bleed through, & the gel ink writes smoothly without patchiness or blotchy ink spots.
Well, this pretty much concludes my stationery haul post. That was as long for me to write as it was for you guys to read. I hope I made some sort of sense somehow. I tend to over explain sometimes, & Jian says I use too many examples to explain something simple. Like I’ve mentioned before, if you want to see more photos & get real-time updates on all my travels & adventures, you can follow my Instagram feed. Until then, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
I’ve said in my previous blog post about my trip to Kyoto that there weren’t many opportunities to truly go shopping outside of the touristy stops, but, somehow I was able to amass a small amount of goods, enough to make up a mini haul. I guess. I tried very hard to control my spending during this trip. I made a promise to myself before the trip that I would try to not splurge too much on shopping. Just by reading our travel itinerary, I knew there wouldn’t be much opportunities for me to shop for the things I enjoy anyway. I also made a conscious effort to prove to Jian that I could save money & not always buy, buy, buy. So, I firmly stuck to my goal & only spent approximately half of the money I budgeted for this trip. (I didn’t even spend the entire amount of currency I exchanged.) However, somehow I was still able to scrape together this hodge-podge of goodies. Let’s take a look.
I got this charm, first of all, because I love the illustrated series “The Bear’s School“. Secondly, I wanted to add this charm on to my backpack. Thirdly, it had a letter M charm for my name. Unfortunately, the bear kept coming off. So, I had to wait until I got home to super glue the charm to the loose screw.
FRISK is Jian & my all-time favorite brand of mints. The original FRISK mints are smaller than Altoids Minis, so they are so easy to freshen your breath, or provide a hint of sugarless sweetness. Ever since we first discovered FRISK back in 2010, we were instantly hooked, & ended up buying every single flavor we could find. We’ve tried looking for these mints at our local Japanese grocery stores, but the stores either don’t carry them, OR they only carry one single flavor & mark them at double the Japanese retail price. So, whenever we go back to Japan, we buy a shitload of them to stock up on these delicious mints. On this last trip, I ended up finding new flavors & variations on the mints (they now come in the NOW Mints series.)
Originally, I had brought a small blue hand towel on this trip, but I lost it on the Shinkansen (darn you, shallow pocket!). So, I had to replace my hand towel with this one. I don’t particularly like the color purple, but at least this hand towel had rabbits on it, aaannnd…it was the best looking design out of the meager selection at the shop.
I love Japanese mythology & folklore. (Example: the Japanese comic XxxHolic.) My favorite Japanese folklore figure is this fox (a.k.a. Kitsune in Japanese). When I saw this coin pouch, I had to grab it right away. First of all, in the U.S., these silicone pouches are expensive. If I had gotten this back home, I would’ve paid double the amount I paid in Kyoto. Second, I’ve always wanted to get a POCHI brand silicone pouch, but I could never find a design I liked. This pouch now sits snugly in my car’s glove compartment as a coin purse for parking meter change.
I bought this Hikonyan hand towel at the Lake Biwa Hotel gift shop. I thought this cat mascot was so cool, & I love the color yellow. Plus, I wanted to add this to my new hand towel collection. It wasn’t until later that I found out this mascot was created in 2007 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Hikone Castle in the city of Hikone. The samurai helmet on the cat mascot resembles the real helmet currently in the Hikone Castle museum.
I’m not as big of a fan of capsule toys now as I was in my twenties. I used to buy all sorts of random blind box toys & capsule (a.k.a. gachapon) toys, no matter what the character was, when I was in my early twenties. Now, I’m trying not to hoard too much small junk items. However, I couldn’t resist putting my coin into the machine one last time, & turning that oversized knob, listening to the sound of the plastic ball drop down the chute. What else could I do to pass the time waiting for the scenic train in Arashiyama? Most of the capsule toys were train themed, & this Gudetama series caught my attention. I ended up getting a light-up keychain, which I’m debating whether I should put on my backpack or not.
Of course everyone knows Studio Ghibli is basically the PIXAR of Japan. Hayao Miyazaki is pretty much revered as an artist god in Japan. One of my favorite animated films from Studio Ghibli is Howl’s Moving Castle. My favorite character from this film is a little smart-mouthed flame of fire named Calcifer. He adds wonderful humor in to a mostly melancholic storyline. I got this postcard, 1. to add to my 300+ postcard collection, & 2. to commemorate my favorite Ghibli character.
At first, I was going to give these Howl’s Moving Castle washi tapes to a friend of mine, who is a huge Studio Ghibli fan, as a gift. However, I ended up keeping it for myself. I couldn’t help myself. Also, I’m thinking of using these washi tapes in my 2016 Christmas cards. So, they won’t be collecting dust after all.
I have a beautiful pastel blue summer yukata at home. I was so lucky to have gotten an inexpensive set from UNIQLO eight years ago, which came with a matching obi sash & a pouch purse. However, I never got any hair accessories to match my yukata. So on this trip, I decided that I would once & for all get some proper hair accessories so that finally & properly wear my complete yukata outfit. I saw these cute hair pins & picked them up straight away. I’ve already started wearing them with my everyday street clothes as well.
My mom thought the hair pins were too small to match my yukata at home. So, she convinced me to get these hair sticks as well. These metal hair sticks are meant to help you hold your hair in place when you make a bun or twist hair style. For all of my purist love of Sanrio, I got the limited edition Little Twin Stars hair stick. My mom pushed me to get the rose hair sticks after seeing my cousin Amber wearing hers. The double sticks are meant for a more elaborate hairstyle, & the chain in the middle is meant to drape across your hair. And, because I bought two hair accessories, the cloth pouch was a free gift with purchase.
This is a close-up of the Little Twin Stars hair accessory. The metal stick is silver, but the charm is gold-plated. The two stars on the charm are separate & will dangle separately.
This is a close-up of the rose hair accessory. There is a single rose on each hair stick & the chain is dotted with gold stars & plastic gems in various colors.
Oh my gohhhhhd! I love ice cream. I truly do. I also love collecting random things, like hand towels. When I saw this ice cream patterned hand towel at the book store, I couldn’t resist getting it. Although the picture doesn’t show it, the back of the towel is a soft coffee brown color, to match the color of the ice cream cones. Needless to say, when I got back to my hotel room, I quickly washed it with lots of soap & used it immediately.
Ok, so I promised myself after my trip to Hong Kong that I would no longer clutter up my crafting supplies with even more washi tape, but how could you turn your back on these incredibly adorable mini tapes?! I mean, they even come with a mini tape dispenser. I’ve seen various widths of washi tapes before, from skinny stripes to extra wide gift wrap size, but I’ve never seen these teeny-tiny mini ones before. Of course I plan on using them, but I pretty much got them for their kitschy novelty factor.
Whenever I go to Japan, I always try to stock up on as many greeting cards as I can. For some reason, the greeting cards from Japan are just so much cuter, stylish, & more innovative than the ones from the U.S.. On this trip, I wasn’t able to find very many that I like. However, I was able to get the pop-up Snoopy birthday card that I’ve been wanting to get for over a year, & I didn’t want to go through the hassle of using an overseas buying service just to get a couple of inexpensive birthday cards. I also picked out a few generic beer themed blank cards that I can use for the birthdays of my male friends, who incidentally love to drink craft beer.
I am automatically drawn to anything that relates to the title of my blog, which means just about anything rabbit or fox related will go straight into my hands. I saw these two decals at LoFT, & I had to get them even though they were a little expensive ($6USD each). I immediately gravitated towards these decals, not only because of my sticker obsession, or because of the animals they represent, but because these illustrations look quite realistic & not overly-cartoonish. It’s hard to find rabbit &/or fox illustrations/products that don’t look overly-exaggerated or childish/cartoonish. Until now, I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going to stick these decals.
No matter where I am or where I go, I am always going to find stickers. LoFT had sooo many delicious stickers. I couldn’t decide which ones I truly wanted. My old self would’ve just bought them all without even giving it a second thought, but my new self was really trying to pair down to the designs I thought I’d use the most in my crafts. List: 1. fireworks bursts, 2. pastel & metallic sweets, 3. hot air balloons & blimps, 4. pastel & metallic bows, 5. pastel & metallic candy, 6. pastel & metallic gemstones, 7. pastel & metallic flags, 8. pastel & metallic hearts, 9. black, white & gold arrows for calendars/planners, 10. neon pink & gold calendar/planner word stickers, 11. pastel calendar/planner word stickers.
When I was in Hong Kong, I bought my mom a ton of drugstore beauty products by the brand Curél. In the U.S., we only get the body lotions & hand creams. In Asia, they get the full lineup of skin care products. I got one of these lip creams (a.k.a. chapsticks) as a free gift with purchase in Hong Kong. I loved this product so much that my mom ended up gifting me another one from the drugstore near our hotel in Kyoto. I love this lip cream because it doesn’t have a plastic or purfume-y smell/aftertaste, & it applies smoothly…not sticky or thick like American Chapstick, Carmex, or EOS.
Well, that’s pretty much the end of my list. I’m genuinely surprised that I didn’t pick up any pens (or other writing products) on this trip. My pen box Leroy is getting pretty full already. I don’t think I have room for much more in that box, unless I upgrade to an even bigger storage box, which Jian would be very unhappy about. Otherwise, I can’t wait to use all of these new things that I got. Until then, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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