valentine's day presents

I know Valentine's Day was almost a month ago but I figured it's better late than never so here's my little baby post about what I received from Alex on lovers' day.

Valentine's Day gifts from Alex

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Grand Opening - Sushiibear's Kawaii Emporium!

Now open for business!

Hey everyone! My shop is finally open  ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆! I've always wanted to be a shop owner and since I love kawaii, I decided to open up an online kawaii shop. I've been selling off my Flickr for about 7 or 8 months now but I decided to take it to the next level, so to speak. This is more of a project to see if it's actually feasible in the long run before I pursue a physical shop and really start investing in it (business plans and all that jazz).

Also, I will admit that some of the items listed are from my personal collection. But like all collectors, you eventually run out of room （。-＿-。）and as hard as it is for me to let go of some of my kawaii goodies, it had to be done. I take very good care of my kawaii and I wouldn't sell them unless they were in excellent condition.

Please have a look and spread the word around!

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christmas presents 2012

Wow, look at me, two posts in a week! That hasn't happened in a while. As promised, here are the Christmas presents I received from my awesome family and friends.

Ta-dah! Christmas presents from 2012.
There's a reason why I took a picture of my whole bed (or almost, my back was pressed against the wall and I still couldn't capture all of it). It will be explained in due time.

Close up.

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mythical arpakassos and sanrio goodies

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! ....20 days later. I'm sorry for disappearing for almost a month, it's the usual excuses, work, CMA, boyfriend etc. But to make up for it, I have an uber kawaii post for you, so hopefully that'll pacify your anger (I'm sorry!).

I ordered a bunch of arpakassos a while ago but kept asking the seller to put them on hold so I could keep adding more to my order (who wants to pay each time for shipping costs?).

Arpakasso herd!! What's inside?

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latest arpakasso + strapya world goodies

I received these goodies in the mail about three weeks ago and with everything that's been going on, I haven't had the time to blog about them yet.

The first order of business is these adorable accessories that I bought for my iPhone. I've had my eye on them since they first came out back in the summer but I was really really really trying to be a big girl and save money. Luckily, Strapya World was having this great coupon code worth 30% off your order and I was saving quite a bit (more than the shipping cost) so I bought them.

Strapya goodies.
Although I have so many iphone cases (too many in fact, trying to sell some of them), I couldn't resist this one. It has these adorable koi fish all around and the fabric is awesome! They also have something that I've been dying to find on a nice case for a long time, CELLPHONE CHARM SLOT!!!!! Finally, I can now put some uber adorable kawaiiness on my phone.

The slot where I can put phone charms.
These two cat plugs are SO ADORABLE! Their official name is Niconico Nekomura. There's an interesting story behind the creation of these little kitty plugs. Otako Nekomura, a mangaka who is obsessed with kittens, posted on Twitter a simple sketch of the cat plugs. A manufacturer found it and decided to make them based on her sketch.

Cute kitty plugs
CINDERELLA STORY!!

Actually, it was more like this but I don't know what it says since I can't read Japanese but you can imagine the gist of it.

There's a bunch of different designs but these two were my favourite. I was thinking about buying the whole set but then thought to myself that I didn't need so many plugs and the other ones were cute but weren't to die for kind of cute.

But there's one that I found hilarious.

LOOK AT HIS BALLS!!!

Priceless.

The next package is an arpakasso package. I haven't really gotten any new arpakassos in a while (except when I was in Japan, which I'll blog about soon, I promise!). It was pretty exciting and this was the package that I was most anxious to get.

It arrived in about a week, so fast! When I ripped open the package, it was like there was an angelic choir singing in the background and the light was shining on the contents. Almost.

Arpakasso goods.
There hasn't been any arpakassos that I've been dying to get lately. I don't like the new Starbucks/cafe series and I didn't like the star tiara-wearing ones either so I haven't been looking for any to buy. To be honest, I think I fell out of the loop when it concerned arpakassos just because they stopped making really cute ones. My favourite series are the cotton candy ones (omg, can't even begin to love those enough) and after that, there hasn't really been anything that I really really wanted. The pirate baby arpakassos were kind of cute but not,"OMG I'm going to diiiiiiiiiiie if I don't have them!" I actually won two of them while I was in Japan just for fun :D

But, when I laid my cute arpakasso deprived eyes on this set, I almost fainted. They're SO CUTE! The series is called Arpakasso Kidz (yup, with a "Z") and the babies have finally grown up, even though they still look like babies, so they can now stand on all fours instead of lying on their stomachs all the time like a seal. They're also each holding a piece of candy, since all kidz like candy! I chose the beige one, who is my always, if not usually, my favourite out of all the baby arpakassos.

Beige Candy Arpakasso Kids. The newest addition to my arpakasso family!

Even though I had already placed my order for my kitten plugs, being a smart buyer, I also bought an arpakasso plug! My first choice was all sold out (boo, but that just proves I have good taste ;))

Picture curtesy of the seller.

Arpakasso plug.
Again, even though I had just placed an order for yet another cellphone case, not only did I buy one but TWO arpakasso cellphone cases! I couldn't resist the kawaii arpakasso iphone case designs. Not only that, I couldn't decide between two of them so I bought both!

Check these two babies out.

I like this one a lot better than the other one.

I'm actually thinking of selling this one...

The back of the box of both cases.
Now I can totally pimp out my iphone with my endless iphone accessories. I can totally arpakasso-ify my iphone if I liked, with my arpakasso case and plugs.

The last item I bought from the arpakasso seller is this tiny little strap. It doesn't look like the usual arpakassos but it's cute nonetheless. The feel of it is pretty cool, really squishy but a little rough at the time.

Itty bitty Arpakasso strap.

Last but not least is the awesome freebies that she included! It's not the arpakassos by Amuse but they're still arpakassos and an adorable Hello Kitty pen. The arpakassos are actually from the same collection as that funny looking pink alpaca plush that I bought.

Everyone loves freebies!

If anyone is interested in buying arpakassos, other than buying from myself, I would highly suggest you buy it from Wendy, the person I bought all these arpakasso goodies from. She's very nice and extremely patient, shipping is really fast (I received mine in a week) and she responds to her e-mails very quickly.

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accumulated kawaii haul (and other things I couldn't resist)

Over the past couple of months, I've accumulated some kawaii purchases and other goodies that I haven't had time to post because of my hectic schedule.

Now, I finally have some time to blog about my latest(ish) purchases! Get ready to have your socks blown off.

Latest plush purchases! Aren't they all cute?
All these plushes have been purchased pretty recently. The oldest ones are at most a month old and the newest one is about a week old....maybe even less.

Caltoy Otter Plush.
This adorable otter was purchased with the parrot and the fluffy sheep. I couldn't resist it, holding its shell like it was presenting a gift to you. The plush is made by Caltoy, who is known to make pretty cute UFO catcher prizes. You can just Google, "Caltoy Plush" and I'm sure there'll be so many kawaii plushies popping up everywhere, your brain will hyperventilate.

This blue sheep is soooo soft! I don't really know the name of the character or anything but I did see it in the UFO arcades while I was in Japan. I even tried to win it once or twice (and failed). On the tag, it says, "Baby Nature," so I guess it's called Baby Nature. If anyone knows the name of this little fluffy cloud sheep, do let me know!

Fluffy Blue Sheep.

I want to squeeeeeeeze you!

Sheep Tag.

Kawaii Little Parrot.
Is this parrot not the cutest parrot of ALL TIME?! LOOK AT HIM!!! I dare you to find another parrot that's cuter. You know why you can't find any? BECAUSE I HAVE THE CUTEST ONE EVER!

Like with the sheep, I'm not sure what's the official name of this character but he's so damn cute! All I know is that it's made by Eikoh. Look at that tuff of hair!

Butt View.
Those of you who read one of my previous posts about my wishlist, you'll remember that a certain Tuxedo Sam plush was on it. I didn't get the one that my sister has been torturing me with all summer (sadly, she did remember to bring it home despite my efforts), but I did find some pretty awesome ones.

Not one but TWO kawaii Tuxedo Sam Plushies!!!

1987 Tuxedo Sam Plush.
I mentioned in my wishlist post that I had won this bid on eBay (a miracle in itself) and I was so giddy and excited for it to arrive. When it finally did, I think on Monday, I almost peed my pants (too much info, I'm sorry). When I finally unraveled this glorious specimen of a plush, it was almost as if the Heavens were shining down on it. It's fur was a gleaming blue, as beautiful as the sky, the white as pure as snow, and the yellow as....daisies (I don't know, what's really yellow?) . But the beak and the ribbon were a little worn but other than it was perfect. I promptly carried it downstairs into the basement with me to play Persona 3.

Old School Tag.

Tuxedo Sam Ready for a Swim!
Aww, look at that! Tuxedo Sam is all set for a day at the pool (although I think he should know how to swim without his inflatable tube...). I found this in Toronto, at the same store that sold the Tuxedo Sam my sister had. I found this little guy a bit pricey but he was really cute and I haven't seen many people with him so I decided to splurge a bit.

They had other Sanrio characters that were holding onto inflatable tubes as well. They had Hello Kitty (obviously) and Bad Badtz Maru. I know they have a Keroppi and Dear Daniel one even though they didn't actually have it at the store. I noticed it one time when I was randomly browsing Sanrio's website.

Rio sitting in the jungle.
I had been wanting this plush for a longest time but I was never able to find it for a reasonable price. They had one in a bigger size too but I find it's so much cuter when it's smaller and much more portable too! I bought Rio at Otakuthon at the end of July when I went with Suzy. I almost missed him completely since most of the plush that seller had were all Rilakkuma. Rio was buried underneath all the other kawaii but I'm glad that I decided to riffle through all the plush to see if there was anything else. It obviously paid off in the end! He was the last one too!

Butt View.
The next plush I bought was at Otakuthon as well, from the same vendor. Again, she was the last one and I couldn't resist taking her home with me as well. The character's name is Chou Fleur and it's from San-x. What I find funny is Chou Fleur actually means cauliflower in French.

Une vraie chou fleur (A real califlower).
So uber kawaii.

San-X's version of Chou Fleur.
Here's the actual Chou Fleur that I bought. She looks so cute in that bow and little dress! I figured that she should be with her fellow vegetables. They look like they're having loads of fun together :)

My next batch of goodies is something that I had ordered eons ago and just never got around to taking pictures of. I ordered from the seller but put if off for about a month since I was going to be away in Asia and didn't really have access to the internet. I finally paid her when I got back and received these soon after.

Bag of kawaii.

Arpakasso Makeup Pouches!!!!!!
These two were the most anticipated items from this order. The moment I saw these, I HAD to have them! I couldn't decide which one looked better, pink or blue, so I got both.

I was a little disappointed with them because they're SMALL. I expected them to be the same size as a regular makeup pouch but they're about half of that. I have enough room to push a lip gloss and a small container of cream and it's already bulging a bit. But still a must-have for every arpakasso fan ;)

Kawaii Toys
I'm not a huge fan of toys, I mean I obviously was when I was a kid but now as a collector. However, I do collect Takochus and sometimes I'll buy a cute blind box or small figurine whenever it's kawaiiness is up to my standards. These ones reached my kawaii meter.

Newest Takochu Additions.
These adorable and beautiful octopi are called Takochus. I've been buying these for about a year but they're hard to find. I don't know why I've never done a post about them since I have quite a few of them. I'll make a post with all Takochu collection soon. Anyway, as far as I know, there are many different types of Takochu and their purpose (other than to look cute and pretty) is for you to stack them as high as possible without them toppling over. As I mentioned, they're hard to find and when you do find them, they're pretty expensive. Unfortunately, I didn't see any of them while I was in Japan, or else I would've tried to get a whole bunch.

Apparently, they only way you can actually "buy" Takochu is through a type of game prize machine. But not a UFO catcher, where there's a crane that drops down and tries to grab the goods. Here's a visual to help you understand it better.

Takochu Machine Picture taken from here.
Basically, there's a scooper near the platforms that hold the takochus. You have two choices to make. The first is you're supposed to time to scooper properly so that it'll scoop as many takochus at the bottom as possible. The second choice is for you to decide when to drop the takochus you scooped up onto the higher platform since it'll be moving back and forth. You're trying to push the takochu on the upper platform to the lower platform with the takochu that you've scooped up. Once you get enough takochu to push the ones off the lower platform, it'll fall into the prize hole where you can grab your prize and be on your merry way (or continue to drop a fortune).

Alex and I had played these types of game prize machines before and they're a lot harder to win at than the UFO catcher machines. Usually, you had to spend at least 500 yen (about $6.50-$7) to win anything while you can easily win at a UFO catcher with 100 yen ($1.20) if you know the tricks (which we learned pretty quickly).

Back View.
All takochu have those characters written on their backs with the circle. I guess to show that they're authentic Takochus?

Itty Bitty Furry Kapibarasans.
The first one that I bought of these was actually Regent-kun, the purple one. At the time, it was the only available so I didn't have a choice in choosing which one I wanted. Then, I bought another Kapibarasan (brown one) but it was on a four-leaf clover with a strap. Now, I finally bought the original Kapibarasan and White-san together. They're so soft and they really remind me of my hamster. Minus the smell.

Tiny Furry Turtle.
I couldn't this turtle because it was so small and furry. I mean, look at those eyes, they're so droopy and sad looking. It's just begging to be adopted. Now, he'll have lots of friends with Kapibarasan and his group of buddies as well as the white Sugarbunny in the next picture.

I really like Sanrio's Sugarbunnies and it's a shame that they don't make more products of them in North America. They're pretty popular in Asia, at least more popular than here. When I was in Tokyo, they had Sugarbunnies toys at McDonald's as part of the Happy Meal for crying out loud (and being a total idiot, I didn't buy any. What the hell was I thinking!? But in my defense, they weren't that cute, just lame looking rubber keychains).

Now I know there's two main Sugarbunnies, the white and the brown one, Shirousa and Kurousa. Shirousa is the white one and Kurousa is the brown one. I think Kurousa is MUCH cuter than Shirousa even though he looks sad all the time. I guess his sadness just makes him cuter.

Hands up if you think Kurousa is cuter.

Shirousa from Sugarbunnies.
I had actually wanted to buy Kurousa if they had it but obviously they didn't so I settled for the next best buy, which is Shirousa. Would've been awesome if they had the other one though. I've been trying to get a cute Kurousa plush for the longest time but they're always so expensive since you can pretty only get them in Japan. Darn you Japan!

White-san Toy Figurine.
I was surprised at how big this figurine turned out to be actually. I expected to be really tiny, more like re-ment size. But it's a good thing that it was bigger than I expected since it's more value for my money, hahaha! I had thought that I also bought the Kapibarasan one too but I guess I didn't since it wasn't in the package. I'm thinking about getting Kapibarasan too but it's not worth it for me to buy the figurine and pay for shipping and there isn't anything else that I want at the moment.

I love the Rilakkuma Sweets collection, it's the only collections by Rilakkuma that I adore. I think the designs are really nice and I like sweets, so what can I say? I don't usually buy memo pads either since I can hardly bring myself to write on them but these were too pretty to pass up.

Rilakkuma Sweets Memo Pads.
I obviously had to get this, just because it's fat Mamegoma. How can you not like fat Mamegoma? He's FAT AND ROUND! I bought both of the pads available and they just keep extending! They also include mamegoma-shaped erasers (which I will probably never use and cherish forever).

Fat Mamegoma Memo Pad 1.

Fat Mamegoma Pad 2.

I had seen other kawaii lovers have Hannari Tofu plushes that were in a container. I've always wondered where they found it and if it's rare or something since I hardly see anyone have it. I was lucky enough to spot this and was able to get it. Unfortunately, the container was a little cracked and broken when it arrived. I'm not sure it arrived like that or if it was the result of something of mine putting too much pressure on it. But you can't tell unless you really look closely and it's on the side of the container anyway.

Hannari Tofu Chilling in the Fridge.

Korean Makeup Goodies, Holika Holika.
Lastly, I also purchased two makeup items from a Korean brand called Holika Holika in Toronto. I have no clue about makeup (that's my sister's department) so please be patient with me if I get every thing wrong about makeup. All I know is you apply it to various parts of your face.

Holika Holikda Purchases.

Samples.
They also gave us some samples when we made the purchase. The wine mask should be interesting.

Oil Queen Cotton Pact.
Let me be honest, the main reason I bought this is because it's cute. It also functions as a mirror so at least there's something that I know how to use. According to the salesgirl, I'm supposed to pat some of the powder on my face after I'm done doing my makeup so that it'll stay on my face. Is she right? Makeup lovers, enlighten me, because knowledge is power.

Pig Nose Clear.
I have a serious blackhead problem. It's not as bad as it used to be when I was in my teens but it's still noticeable and it drives me INSANE! It's also really gross and I've tried so many blackhead treatments (like the ones that remove the blackheads, they work but they keep coming back, what the hell!?) and I'm hoping that this one will work.

I'm supposed to rub this on my nose and then rinse it off, as per the salesgirl. This better work or else I'm going to drive back to Toronto and yell at her for getting my hopes up in thinking that this'll cure my blackhead problems.

The cream is actually really smooth and easy to apply though and my nose feels really smooth after I rinse the cream off.

In totally unrelated news, I started kickboxing again on Wednesday after 4 months of not working out. IT WAS TORTURE! It didn't help that my teacher totally changed the workout and we're basically doing the P90X. All my muscles are sore and I can barely stand up straight since my core feels like it really doesn't want to straighten out. It wasn't bad on Thursday, I was a little sore but today, I woke up and I could barely get out of bed. Seriously.

It's like my body had a delayed reaction. Whenever I sit down or lie down, I have a really hard time getting up because everything hurts. I can only hope that it'll get better tomorrow (and not worst).

My body's initial reaction to getting into shape again.

Now.
Only Phil knows how much it hurts.

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