Happy Holidays!!!

Oh man..where do I even begin? I don't think I've ever taken such a long break from my blog before so this is a first! Near the end of November/early December, I was busy with assignments and finals, and then after that, my manager wanted me to work...so...I kind of neglected this place. >__<"

I've also been abusing retail therapy by buying lots of things online..orz....including quite a few lolita things I managed to get a few months ago (arghh the wait is killing me...not unlike waiting for a new doll to arrive!!) I will probably blog about those when they arrive, I've received other packages too but overall nothing too exciting. I did buy a BL manga series called Hana wo Mizu Shiro (which means something along the lines of "only the flower knows"??)

Usually I don't buy manga (aside from at conventions) because I don't read Japanese but after reading this in English online I found it on CDJapan and bought it. Their service was great as usual and after 3 weeks (I chose SAL) they arrived. The art is super pretty, especially the color pages and covers. My mom actually flipped through them because I had them lying on my desk...and apparently she couldn't tell that it was featuring male/male romance..phew lol. o_o

I also went out to eat at a new place called V2 Ramen Izakaya, close to Pacific Mall. I think it is fairly new because the location used to be a sushi place called Umi Sushi. They didn't have a lot of things on their menu, in fact all the photos you see on their Yelp page are from their menu, so you get what you see. I ordered the BBQ eel over rice in stone pot, and it was sizzling hot--the perfect way to warm up on a cold winter night. They also had ramen of course which my grandma tried and she said the broth was quite tasty! The noodles looked kind of unusual though...I might try it next time. :) They also have a lot of small dishes and we tried two of them, the mixed mushrooms baked with cheese and the fried tofu with BBQ eel, and they were both pretty good. They had takoyaki too but I didn't try it this time, so this could be a decent place to go for takoyaki uptown.

Aside from eating I've been catching up on shows. I finished watching the popular Korean drama Heirs. If you are a fan of Boys Over Flowers (which I loved) you will definitely like this one!! Lee Min Ho stars in it too, along with Park Shin Hye from You're Beautiful and Heartstrings. It started losing its pace near the end and I guess I was expecting a more dramatic ending...but overall a good drama with an amazing cast (lots of pairings/romances aside from the main one) so I found it very entertaining to watch, despite it being 20 episodes long.




One random night I was killing time while sewing (ahem waiting for the stupid Polar Bear Outfit from Little Monica, grr...more on this later) and I decided to watch a shoujo anime called Say 'I Love You'. I ended up finishing it all in one go (13 episodes) and crying because some parts truly made my heart ache. I normally don't watch shoujo because I find the story lines to be cliche and boring (except for Honey & Clover, NANA, and ToraDora!) but wow...I ended up really liking this series and it kept me on the edge of my seat because nearly every episode there was a cliffhanger. I found myself relating to the main character so much and honestly I know it's not the first time, but I wish Yamato, the main male character, was a real person, or that there would be more people like him. And I was really surprised by the main character's strength because she never gave up; I was scared she would just call it quits and commit suicide or something...o_o I'm not saying that's what I would have done but the anime focuses a lot on themes like bullying and friendship. It examines the different situations of a few students that the main character ends up being friends with. I'm not used to making friends (as an only child, I'm pretty much used to being on my own, and sometimes even prefer it that way) but once I made friends, I realized how easily I'm hurt by them, but at the same time, I can't ever go back to imagine the feeling of not having friends...It sort of becomes a social support trap that you need and depend on, and this is outlined very well in this anime. Anyway, the ending theme was done by Suneohair, I was addicted to their music in Honey & Clover so it added to the extra feels for sure. T__T It is such a sweet story...Highly recommended!!

Aaaand lastly, Meganebu!! turned out to be a huge disappointment! Samurai Flamenco, after two episodes, was not bad, though the plot is a little strange and it wasn't really what I was expecting. I'm catching up on KuroBasu season 2 and started watching Kill La Kill (oh GAINAX...), and so far I actually like it, skimpy school uniforms and all (lol).




















Leaving you with a pic of our Xmas tree with Myles & Yukio~ Take care and enjoy your holidays, everyone!!!~