2021 Tokyo Central Fukubukuro

On New Years Day, I bought another fukubukuro (lucky bag) from Tokyo Central. This one is strictly beauty products. The back has a photo display of the products inside with a little disclaimer that some products are subject to change. Here's the reveal.

2021 Mitsuwa Fukubukuro

Mitsuwa Martketplace had 2021 fukubukuro available. They offered 3 different types: kids, beauty, and regular. I picked up the regular one. I honestly can't remember the price. I'm guessing it was around $50. Once I opened it, the contents were mainly beauty stuff. I don't mind but what's the point of the beauty fukubukuro ? LOL!

2021 Happy New Year

Happy New Year for those who are still subscribed to this blog. It's been a while. Sometime back in 2020 I guess I tried to blog but then my mac laptop died with all my adobe programs so I lost motivation to blog. I'm currently using a chromebook to start blogging again. I set a goal for myself. If I can keep this up without disappearing for long period of time, I'll buy a laptop or desktop. lolz

New Years Eve

I worked and then left to pick up some chicken and pizza for dinner. Did some osouji (new year cleaning) and went to sleep. I woke up with massive texts from friends and coworkers but then later feel back asleep. Meh. 

New Years Day

I woke up early so I can go to Tokyo Central to pick up some sashimi and ingredients for shabu-shabu. I picked up a $30 beauty fukubukuro (lucky bag). Afterwards, I went to Mitsuwa to see if they had new year decorations in which I picked up another $50 fukubukuro. The reveal will be in the next post. I need to sleep now or else I'll be a zombie at the office. Goodnight. 

NMNL July 2019

Can't believe it's already mid-July. Time goes by fast when you don't want it to. I received this box end of June, took pictures then forgot about it. Ugh typical. I'm going to try and upload the other past boxes. Everything gets delayed when you live in a dark place. My next future place better have more lighting.

About the box
NMNL (No Makeup No Life) is a monthly subscription service that contains 8-9 Japanese and Korean beauty or skincare products. Starting price is $35 per month. It's cheaper if you sign up with a longer plan.

Disclaimer: I'm not sponsored. This comes out of pocket.

Gift from Sayuri

So my best friend Sayuri, who now lives in New York, came back from a recent trip to Japan. She sent me a package containing omiyage (souvenir)!

I actually requested Starbucks Japan tumbler. They release limited items once a year during the Sakura season. I'm so happy she got me one. I already ate the Kit Kats and Hawaiian chocolates lol.

I can't wait to try the beauty products and sip Hojicha Latte in my new tumbler.

Thank you again Sayuri!

What I miss

Being MIA for 4yrs made me realize that I miss blogging. I can't explain the feeling. Maybe the process of documenting something gives me some sort of satisfaction in life. I started blogging way back on Xanga about my life. Well, maybe complaining about it haha. Then it moved towards a positive note of what I did that day, what I bought, etc. I'm highly disappointed in myself for not updating the past years. I should've discussed my new life in Oregon, adopting a cat, being alone. Pretty sure some other events occurred that slipped my mind which only makes it a more valid reason to blog again. It would've been great if my pictures spanning from late 2017 to early 2018 didn't get deleted from iphone update (didn't backup >_<). I'm going off on a tangent... Anyways, this blog is all over the place but at the end of the day, it's my blog. I just want to make memories about anything even if it's a boring topic.

You know what sucks

I was lying in bed and thought hmmm.. let's check the old blog that I've neglected for the past 3yrs. Well, I was upset to see that most of my pictures weren't working from Photobucket. I investigated a little bit and the code they provide as a direct link adds "~original" at the end of each photo. WTF! Why? Now, I'm wondering how long has my blog been looking jank for. Other broken picture links were hosted on a site that I deleted my account on so can't fix those. All I can do is slowly change the code and hopefully move it to google drive in the future. I do miss blogging and being on social media.

NMNL January 2019

This year nmnl announced new changes to their subscription service. They redesigned their booklet, website and box. Their box is now a pretty pink color with cute illustrations on it. They will also be adding Korean beauty products since they were highly requested. I'm not familiar with Korean products but this will be something new to learn since they are known for their skincare routine and cute collabs. The price did increase to provide more and better quality products.

Products: 5-7 products ↠ Now 8-9
Price: $29.99 ↠ $35

NMNL March 2017

Yes! You read the title correct. I never posted this on social media and since I still have the pictures. I'm going to upload. NMNL is short for No Make No Life. It's a monthly subscription service delivering 5-7 products from Japan. They debuted February 2017 for $29.99 per month then 2019 they added Korean products expanding to 8-10 products for $35 per month.

*Later on this week, I'm going to move this in the correct date range. 

I'm alive LOL part 2

Hello,

Apparently, it has been exactly one year and 3 days since my last post. OMFG.

I had to look at my previous post to see where I left off. The photos below were gathered from my Facebook otherwise I don't remember what happened within the past year.

October 2015
In case you didn't know, the company I got hired from last year was Tokyo Otaku Mode as their Photographer.

 After finally getting a legit full-time office job. I bought my first car. I actually wanted a Honda because I drove one during my college and university years but my parents and I spoke to several dealers and settled for Toyota in Manhattan Beach because they gave a better discount for university grads within two years of graduation date.

November 2015
When Tokyo Otaku Mode hired me, they knew I had a night shift job as a Graphic Designer. I told them that I still needed the extra money to pay student loan and now new car payment. I got their permission to keep my second job because some companies are strict about working other jobs.

Late November, I got a THIRD JOB. Monday-Friday I worked 9-6pm at Tokyo Otaku Mode then afterward worked 7pm-12:30am at Graphic Design job. Saturday & Sunday worked third job selling chestnuts from 8:30a-6:30pm. It would be seasonal until July 2016.

I worked on my birthday. I don't remember what happened. I think I ate cake.

December 2015

Lunch before the new year with TOM members.

My goal/treat for myself was to get all the Liz Lisa fukubukuro. My boyfriend bought me two of the bags as a birthday present and I bought the remaining three. 

January 2016
Went to ALA to take photos of cosplayers.

February 2016

My lucky bags arrived!

March 2016
Every month, we have pizza parties!

Sakura Frappuccino

April 2016
My hair was becoming a hassle and it would take me 40 mins to blow dry. Ain't nobody have time for that when you have three jobs xD

Japan with boyfriend and his family

I brought $3,000USD spending money. We stayed with his mother in Abiko while his father stayed in Shibuya with his family. Even though I had a lot of spending cash, there was not enough luggage space. The post office ended up being closed because of a holiday during our last days so no point buying more clothes :/

May
Company trip to Oregon

June
My name is on TOM box

The perks for working at TOM are the events!

July 2016
Anime Expo

July 2016

TOM told me that they were moving to Oregon. They asked me to move there with them so I went. Goodbye parties.

August 2016

Moved to Oregon. My title would change to Photographer -> Warehouse Leader.

  

Moving was a pain. I couldn't bring all my Liz Lisa haha. I would visit LA every now and then to pick up more items. 

September 2016 to Present day

Oregon is really beautiful. Delicious food and beer. Good public transportation. No sales tax. I would best describe Portland as the modern countryside. The adjustment has been hard. Only because it doesn't offer the things I like. Only one Japanese market called Uwajimaya which is ridiculously expensive because they have no competition. Their makeup section is just sad. I have to resort to grocery shop at Trader Joes instead of Marukai or Nijiya. I have no friends here. No boyfriend (he's in LA). We talk or text every day. All I do is work. The highlights of my weekends are laundry and cleaning my apartment. Lately, I've been going to the office on the weekend to prep for the work week because I'm so bored at home which concludes to why I decided to start my blog again. 

I'm alive LOL

Hello everyone. I'm using my one day off to finally update. I haven't forgotten about this blog or my followers. I've been busy with two jobs working 12-18hrs a day. Why am I working so much? Well after graduating university, I was having a hard time trying to find work. I finally got hired part-time at Tokyo Central / Don Quijote (ドン・キホーテ) as a graphic designer / cashier in May. During this time, boyfriend started complaining I wasn't making enough money which was true. It wasn't enough to support my expensive shopping habits and student loan.

Sometime in July, my co-worker brought me to this place called Oko Cafe. My co-worker went here everyday for drinks so he knew the workers and owner. Co-worker introduced me to the owner Sammi. She thought I was cute and was asking if I was looking for more work. "I'm like as a matter of fact I am." I filled out an application and she noticed I majored in Graphic Design. She said her husband was looking for help to create posters, flyers and food menu etc. I was hired on the spot. Lucky day. So from then on I've been working those crazy long hours. Once my paychecks were getting bigger, I started buying Liz Lisa every week (I know, I'm crazy). I had enough money to pay for my spending habits. One paycheck went to Liz Lisa/Ayumi Hamasaki/misc goods and the other paycheck went to food and student loans (mostly loan). I lost weight in the process. I just didn't have the time to eat anymore plus I didn't want to spend money on food. Lately my dad was being lazy with making dinner so there wouldn't be leftovers for me when I get back home at 1am which made me pissed so I went the cheap route. Survive on one onigiri a day sometimes I ate cup noodle if I had enough energy coming home from work.

Meeting Beth
We've been online friends since forever back when Xanga was the shit 12 years ago? HAHA. She came to LA with her husband and two kids. I had a blast hanging out with her over the weekend. I remember it being considered weird to have online friends. Now it's a common thing. Some of my closest friends were originally online.

She bought me this lovely hamster!

The month of August was torture. I worked 8am-2:30pm then 3:30pm-3:30am for special 3 day weekend event. I felt dead everyday. I drank 5 cans of redbull to keep myself awake. Tokyo Central was going through renovation so I ended up doing construction work with the rest of the staff. I put up wallpaper, cut and laminated over 5000+ designs. Oh yeah also little janitorial work like scrubbing tile, cleaning men & womens restrooms everyday. BLEH.

This pretty summed up my current situation back in August

September came along. I wasn't getting much graphic design work for Tokyo Central. They mainly wanted me as cashier cause we were busy with the store's soft opening. Oko still had me doing graphic design every week so I was content with them.

Before I knew it, it was already October. It was time to start looking for a new daytime job, preferably full-time in my field of study. Submitted my updated resume to companies, went to a few job interviews and FINALLY landed a full-time job. After hearing the good news, I quickly submitted my two weeks. I will mention my job on my facebook later this week. I start this thursday October 15. I'm nervous and jumping for joy at the same time.

July 2015 Haul

I'm really behind on posts. This should've been posted earlier in July. Oh well. I haven't bought makeup in a while so decided to purchase some makeup at my local Japanese supermarket. I'll do some what of in-depth review on them separately.

Pictures taken with my iphone5s using Camera360 app

[Review] Vassen Rainbow Eyes Brownish Hazel

It's been over half a year since I bought circle lenses. I'm due for new ones. I wanted to get brown ones specifically for work so something natural-ish.

[Review] Charming Kiss No. 1 Glamorous Lady & No. 7 Innocent Doll

Downtown Disney with Kelly

On June 28th, I hung out with Kelly (instagram). We met at a gyaru event back in 2011 then worked  together for Swankiss at Anime Expo in 2014. We decided to hangout at Downtown Disney cause it's a good middle point from our locations. The weather was extremely hot that day. I didn't expect it to be 90+ degree weather. We were melting. We kept cool chatting in World of Disney store as we waited to be seated for lunch at La Brea bakery. She brought her sister, Nicole, and her sister's bf, Yuuzo (I hope I'm spelling it right) along and I brought my friend Kevin and Sho.

Japan Trip 2015: Day 5 Naritasan Shinshoji Temple & Liz Lisa Shibuya 109

On Saturday, May 24, Sho, his mother and I traveled to Naritasan Shinshoji Temple. From where I was staying, it was a 40minute train ride. I almost threw up on the train because I kept coughing so much to point I couldn't breathe. Once we got off the train and started walking around the area, the cough calmed down and I was able to enjoy the rest of the day.








I drew the excellent luck fortune


Sho unfortunately drew the bad luck fortune

Afterwards we had lunch. Narita is known for their fresh Unagi/Eel so we ordered it :)


Passed by this chopstick store on the main road to Narita so I decided to look inside.


I bought this cute pink chopstick and had my name engraved on it for free.


Since it was 2nd to the last day of our trip, I had to get Japanese soft cream. Bought Mixed Berry for 300yen


We headed home and took a 2hr nap. We left Abiko at 6:30pm to travel to Shibuya. The train ride was over 2hrs O_O.



109 was near closing time. I had no time to check out the other stores so rushed to Liz Lisa store to buy last minute items. The store was empty something I never seen before hahaha.




I bought the Liz Lisa x My Melody 40th anniversay in Shibuya 109 collab jumper skirt and blouse. I noticed they had the rose sandals in pink so I immediately bought it.




Afterwards took the subway to Shinjuku to watch a movie.