My 22nd birthday~~! o(^_^)o (PART 2)

      

Hey guys! Here is part two about my 22nd birthday celebration.



This entry discusses the awesome and exciting trip I took a the day after my birthday!

My mom, sister, niece, brother and I decided to take a little road trip to visit a mall in Arlington heights!
I'd wanted to bring my panda and friend Brittany along too, but the car was already pretty packed.

I also wanted to meet up with my friend Ari-chan as well, but certain people that I traveled with were so busy doing their own thing that I really sort of rushed through everything.  

Anyhoo, for this trip I decided to go for a summery gyaru look.♥ 

Foundation:  Fashion Fair Foundation + Concealer stick in "Pure Brown" 
Top lashes: Ebay
Bottom lashes: Ebay
Eyeliner: Maybelline New York Eye Studio Lasting drama Gel eyeliner in "Blackest Black" with  Rimmel London Soft Kohl Kajal Eyeliner pencil in "Pure White" (for corners of eyes)

Boater hat: Ebay
Dress: korean store by my job
Shoes: Yumetenbo
Bag: Discovery clothing

Since this was a very hot day I was quite comfortable in this outfit! 

So my brothers and sister visited a shopping mall, but I'm only gonna talk about how we visited Mitsuwa Marketplace on the way back!

Mitsuwa Marketplace is a Japanese grocery store, mall and food court all combined into one building. There is a bakery, bookstore, food store and grocery store all in one. It's pretty amazing actually!

This was actually the highlight of the trip for me since it was my first time going there, as there is no Mitsuwa in my city!

^^I look tall, lol!

One of the first places we stopped at was the Japanese bakery called Pastry House Hippo.
They had the most cutest little pastries inside!

I really should have gotten this panda one for my babe!♥ 

Yummy fruit sandwiches!

Doraemon!!!!

They even had the most adorable Rilakkuma clock inside! (Which I conveniently didn't get a picture of -_-)

I got the most delicious Strawberry cake from the bakery:

Took the picture after I got home :D

What I love about Japanese sweets is how they always just put just enough sugar inside, so that the taste isn't too unbareable. Just perfect! (＾▽＾)



After that we stopped by the food court section to eat!
I got a delicious cappuccino flavor bubble tea:

I really think I am becoming addicted to this beverage. ^o^



My mom ordered a teriyaki Japanese style burger from a place in the food court called Gabutto Burger...and it was SO. GOOD. *drools*

Japanese style burgers are much much different than American style ones as you can see. I'd say the most interesting, and probably tasty part of the burger is the bun, which is actually a slightly sweet rice cake. The meat was actually made of pork instead of beef, which I'm not too fond of....

....nevertheless, I was still pretty upset that I didn't order one. 

I also tried my sister's Salmon croquette which was also good! (And that I also convieniently didn't get a picture of. Grrr!!!! >=/)



Afterwards we shopped about in the grocery section and I also checked out the book store!

What I got in the grocery section:

Picked up some Hi-chew and Hello Kitty fruit candy for Panda and Brittany as well. 

Mmm that melon soda was so good!

One of the best things about the bookstore is that they sold Japanese gyaru magazines!!!
So of course, I had to get one:

I also got a cute rilakkuma marker to go along with it :D

What made it even better is that their prices were WAY cheaper than online!! 
Flipping through EGG was pretty intriging, as one section even spoke about personal sexual adventures and escapades that the readers sent in!! lol 

I also picked up a cute Hello Kitty cell charm there too:

On the way back to Milwaukee, we saw the most beautiful sunset.

Luckily I was able to get some photos of it:

I had an awesome time there, and really enjoyed all the goodies I had. I was pretty sad that I couldn't bring Brittany and Panda along or meet up with Ari-chan. But I definitely plan on going back since it's fairly close!

Oh! And I forgot to show what gifts I got for my birthday as well:

Gorgeous purse my panda bought me!:

Little Twin Stars notepad as gift from Sanrio.com:

Make-up goodies from my sister and niece!
Poetica fragrance by Kat Von D
Sephora lipgloss in 'Delicacy'
Sally Hansen Color Quick nail pen in 'Green Chrome'
Sally Hansen Color Quick nail pen in 'Pink Chrome':



BIIIG strawberry pillow from my mom!:

And a pretty pretty pink package from Brittany!!!:

This even included Harajuku Lover's 'Love' perfume, which smells amazing! And the girl on the bottle is wearing the cutest lolita dress! Extremely happy ^O^

Thanks again to those reading who got me gifts! I love them all and I couldn't be more thankful. ^_^

So that was that! A pretty awesome way to ring in 22 years if you ask me!
I'll have more updates soooon!! Thanks for reading♥ 

Tea party planning + mini snack haul!~~

 

 

Hey guys, just thought I'd tell you all about the tea party I'm planning to host my first tea party pretty soon!
I've always thought of tea parties as something girly and sociable, and good for even adults to enjoy as well...and with my love for tea, sweets and all things feminine it seemed like the perfect idea!
  

Since it'll be my first time baking a cake by scratch, I'm going to present it to my little nieces first to see how it turns out. I've already bought decorations, cooking materials and invitations for it as well: 
 
My mom bought me this awesome book with great tips on hosting one and what type of things to serve, which was extremely helpful!  

I've also got the entire menu planned out. As for the type of tea I will serve:
Earl Grey Tea
Lipton Tea (for those who like something more traditional ) 

And for the food menu:
Japanese style spongecake with strawberries, whipped cream and vanilla custard
Honey cupcakes
Cookies
Small bite size sandwiches

The party will be held in the beginning of July, and if this one goes well maybe I'll host another one for older girls as well!

I am extremely excited about this, I can barely hold it in! I just hope that the spongecake turns out perfectly, and not too heavy or dry.

When I went to the mall in my town I also visited a cupcake place that inspired me even more to make this a pretty and pink tea party. ♥ 
The place is called Sweets By Bernadette, and it's owned by an older black woman. I mention this because it's so rare to find good black owned businesses in my town, and I was so happy when I found out!: 

The decor inside of the shop was so pretty!! I nearly died from the overdose of cuteness. 

 
 

I couldn't resist so I got a small cupcake parfait...buttery yellow cake with caramel drizzle and whipped cream. 
 
Ugghh such horribly dry skin! >__<
It was pretty delectable. 

I also wanted to tell you all about my mini snack haul that I did a few weeks ago!

Now as you all know, Japanese snacks and candy is like....methamphetamine to me. o.O
So with the combination of Ebay, World Market and the Anime store in my city, I ended up acquiring these goodies: 
Gotta have my Sailor Moon and Yotsuba&!   
 
Hello Kitty marshmallows filled with strawberry jelly from World Market! Who could even think to resist?

Panda bear also did a little haul himself as well. He bought a huge bag of chewy grape candy that he let me taste: 

I found it so cute that it was shaped like a heart! ♥ 
 
And did I mention it was also filled with an incredible amount of juicy wonderful-ness?   

The Kabaya Pudding chocolates were perfection as well:

 

The package said that they taste the best when chilled, and they were so right! 

 


But I think my most favorite were probably my Rilakkuma Hot Cake flavored Kit Kats that I got from ebay. For those who don't know, pancakes are often referred to as Hot cakes as well.   (´ω｀★)

These are pancake flavored since pancakes are Rilakkuma's favorite thing to eat.  ♥ 
 

These were so pricey, but my panda bear went half on them with me because he's a sweetheart. Even still, they were super delicious and extremely worth every cent! Even the packaging was cute and adorable: 
 
 
I kinda didn't want to tthrow it away. *o*

The seller on ebay even sent a nice hand written letter along with the box as well! It was such a kind touch, and this happens often with various sellers on ebay which I love so much.  
 

The box came with 12 kitkats all together, so me and panda divided them in half.
The wrapper was just...asjmdnflfk!!! ♥ 
 

Japanese kitkats are interesting, because they come in a ton of different flavors which is what draws me to them (unlike america which only has chocolate and white chocolate...BORING!)

The flavors are pretty much always accurate, and these tasted EXACTLY like pancakes! 

I must admit, I was soooo tempted to buy another box but I had to use self control since they were ridiculously priced. All in all, I'm happy I bought them and happy they tasted so good.   

Do any of you all have any favorite Japanese snacks/treats?   (◕‿◕✿)