birthday swap with Ariel

Birthday Swap from Ariel

As promised, here's a kawaii post for you! Ariel and I share the same birthday (April 27th) and we decided to do a birthday swap this year! It was really exciting and tons of fun for me to pick out goodies for her. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the goods I sent her so we'll have to make do with what she sent me.

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birthday swap for Ellie

As I mentioned in my birthday post, I had done a birthday swap with Ellie, a friend who has the same birthday as me. Since I showed you what she got me, it's only fair that I show what I got her!

Birthday Card for Ellie

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25th birthday

Birthday Cake from my family

Saturday, April 27th, was my birthday. Guess how old I turned!!!! The title of this post makes it obvious and it's not a trick question....

I turned 25! I can't believe it. Even a close family friend (who is retired and living the life in Hong Kong, traveling every couple of months), sent me an e-mail starting with, "Good God, you're 25!" Yup, I can hardly believe it myself.

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birthday kawaii (arpakassos & mamegoma)

Ok, so I'm sure you're all sick and tired of staring at my much anticipated wedding post, as excited as you all were at seeing my dress and all the wedding pictures, I'm sure you're sick of it by now. This is going to a super duper disgustingly kawaii post, so brace yourselves ladies and gents (if you don't like kawaii, gtfo. Seriously, why are you here if you don't like kawaii, it's all I blog about).

About three weeks ago, a huge package came for me. I immediately knew what it was, my kawaii birthday package! I had to refrain myself from tearing the wrapping apart like a desperate lady who needs her kawaii fix so that I could take some unboxing pictures (the things I do for you guys ;D).

Giant kawaii package
Unfortunately, it didn't make in on time for my actual birthday. In fact, it was only paid for a day or two before my birthday. But it arrived really quickly, especially since I asked for surface mail but it's entirely possible that my seller shipped it as airmail since she knew it was for my birthday...either way, I paid for it (or rather, my family did).

Squished arpakasso goodness
Look at all those arpakassos squished together! The package was huge, since I ordered a lot of kawaii as my birthday gifts (using the money that my family gave me).

Arpakasso Army!
Here is a group picture of all the arpakassos that I ordered with my birthday money. Aren't they beautiful?

Closer Shot of Upcoming Kawaii.

My First Large Arpakasso Plush!

I had been debating about whether I should get a large arpakasso plush for the longest time (basically since I got one for my sister's Christmas present). I kept telling myself that I didn't need a giant arpakasso(honestly, who needs anything of this but that's besides the point) and that I'd have no where to put it and that money was tight (all very valid reasons). But my sister offered to get it for me for my birthday so all my reasons against getting one flew right out the window and got hit by a snow removal truck.

Strawberry Baby Arpakassos
I had the hardest time deciding which one I wanted, it was between D and C. After consulting my sister, I decided to get C. I normally much prefer the guy arpakassos and than the girl ones because I think they look much cuter. By "guy" I mean the one without eyelashes, I guess guys can have eyelashes but not like mascara lathered eyelashes like some of them have.

Macaroon Arpakassos & Purple Cotton Candy Arpakassos
Here are my larger arpakassos. I love the colours of the newer macaroon arpakassos, they're a lighter pastel colour than the older ones.

Large Arpakasso Pouch
My first arpakasso pouch too! I finally caved and got one of these also. At first, I wasn't able to get this colour since someone has already bought it so I decided to get a pink one but it turns out that Yumi had a second one so life was good. I was surprised at how big this pouch is, it's like..pretty big. I thought that you'd only be able to put a key and maybe change in it but you can put quite a bit more than that (but your arpakasso would be fat). To demonstrate, I put one of my little mamegomas in.

Mamegoma says, "Hi!"

Arpakasso Coin Pouch
This one is small and you can pretty much fit a few keys and loose change.

Has your brain exploded from kawaii overload yet? No? Keep reading!

I also bought a few mamegoma plushes. His new look is too cute to resist. When you combine animals that are fat and round, it pretty much guarantees kawaii. Mamegoma is proof of this.

Fat Mamegoma Plush & Straps

Mamegoma Tower!
These are really tiny beanie plushes and they're really expensive for their size. But as I mentioned, they're just too cute! I had bought every single one except the yellow but Yumi threw it in as a freebie. She said that way, I have the whole group, so nice of her!

Mamegoma Butt Tower

Mamegoma Beanie Straps
These are about double the size of the beanie plushes and they're also filled with beanies. But they're much lighter than the smaller ones.

Fat Mamegomas All Trying To Squeeze In.

So that's what I got for my birthday this year. It was the first time in a long time that I didn't ask for clothes or anything useful. Teehee.

I'm also selling some of my arpakassos and other kawaii here. Some of have been sold and they'll have a "Gone" note on them. But if you're interested in anything, feel free to comment on my flickr (if you have flickr) or just leave a comment on my blog with your contact info! And please, serious buyers only :)

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nemuneko invasion

I forgot to show Alex's mom's gift. She had bought me a beautiful Matt & Nat wallet. I found it on my side of Alex's bed when I went upstairs to look for something. Alex told me that I wasn't allowed to open it until she had come home so that she can see my expression. Except she didn't come home until well past 10 PM that night and Alex was already knocked out after being heavily medicated while I was close to being knocked out due to fatigue.

Matt & Nat were established in Montreal and they specialize in "vegan" leather. They're considered a pretty high end brand in the Montreal and New York areas. Other than that, I've never really seen it for sale anywhere else. I used to be obsessed with their products 5 or 6 years ago when I first purchased my "adult" wallet. I was fresh out of high school and was shopping with friend. We both saw the wallets and fell in love, luckily she fell in love with the white one and I, the black one. It was about $50 and for a broke fresh out of high school student, that was a lot of money. But I got a lot of usage (and compliments) out of it and I still have it today, even though I never use it anymore.

I love the ribbons!

Ta-dah!

Inside.
I love wallets that have a lot of card slips and when they're arranged so nicely. My first Matt & Nat one was like that, so was my Lacoste one that followed, and now my Michael Kors one is like that too (although the best one would have to be my Lacoste, it was so easy to find the cards I wanted).

Back.

The wallet was made with 21 recycled bottles. They're very environmentally focused.

Good Luck Coin his mom put in the wallet. She told me that it was bad luck to gift a wallet without a coin in it.

I received my huge order of Nemunekos earlier this week. I had decided to stop buying kawaii things but felt bad cancelling on the seller because she was so sweet and she gave me really good discounts (plus it was a big order). So against my better judgement, I ended up buying it. I did the same thing with two other sellers, omg I'm going to be drowning in kawaii AND I'm going to Japan. Judas Priest, help me.

Tons of Nemunekos!!!

Big Furry Pepper & Grey.
LOOK AT THESE TWO!!! They're so cute and fluffy that I had to get them. And instead of being smart and trying to save my money, I bought both! My money woes were forgotten when I saw these two and I couldn't stop TOUCHING them (in an appropriate way, get your mind out of the gutter!). They're so soft, it's like...a pile of soft bunnies.

Stacked (soft) fatties.

Nemunekos with LEGS.
These ones have legs! Look at that those litte stubby legs! I bet you they can't run very fast though, but it beats me how they're still so fat. If anything, they should be thinner than the ones without legs since they can at least move, instead of remaining stationary like the legless ones.

Flower Power Quadripedal Nemunekos.

LEGS!

Maybe they're mutant Nemunekos or something, or they're the next generation of nemunekos. Evolution at it's best, evolving from sliding around to having legs. The quadripedal ones stack a lot easier too. It must be evolution.

Smaller Nemunekos.
These ones are much smaller than the other ones. They're keychains and cellphone charms.

Double Kitty Nemunekos.
I think I might've ordered similar ones from Kawaii Pile but they're larger. At least they better be for the price I paid for them. You know you have a problem when you can't remember which kawaii you buy and end up with doubles. I seriously think I need to go to an KA meeting or something. The outsider (scarf) was a gift for purchasing the whole but he seems to be right at home with the other ones! He may not have another kitty sitting on his head but he's got a rocking red scarf.

Cellphone Nemuneko Charms!
These are really cute, and I believe they're one of the rarer ones since Furyu hardly makes cellphone charm-sized goodies. My favourite is the black one.

Freebies!
The seller was sweet enough to give me some awesome freebies! She knew that I was going to buy a Kireizukin Seikatu plush from her but I decided at the last minute not to (trying to save money, give me a bit of credit for that!) so she just gave me to me!

Kireizukin Seikatu & Kiiroitoris.

Adopt Us!
Last but not least, I now have too many Nemunekos. This happens to me all the time, whenever I fall in love with a kawaii character, I go crazy with buying the plush and end up with more than what I know what to do with, so I have to part with some of them. All of these are up for adoptions! If interested, leave me a comment with your contact info!

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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.

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