My New Build A Bear Bulbasaur Plush | Blogmas #31

Yay! It's really not long now until it's New Year! So, Happy New Year guys! I hope you all have a wonderful night, whether you're out celebrating at a party with your friends and family, or like me you're snuggled up at home, watching movies and staying snug :) Bring on 2018! I hope that it's an amazing year for all of you! For today's post, I thought I'd share a post all about the latest addition to my Build A Bear Pokémon collection. I was so happy when the store finally revealed that their next plushie in the Pokémon collection would be Bulbasaur. He's always been my favourite of the starter Pokémon; he's just so adorable. This is a post for my fellow Pokéfans and lovers of all things cute & cuddly! 

One of my favourite things about the Build A Bear Workshop's Pokémon plushies, besides the fact that they are such good quality and super cute, is that they each come with their own Pokémon card! It takes me back to my primary school days everytime I see one, to the times when all my friends played with the Pokémon trading cards on the playground :) They've done a great job on the design of these, and it's just a really nice little addition! I have all of mine up on my art wall in my bedroom and they look so cool lined up side-by-side. 

Last time I was at the Build A Bear store, buying my Vulpix plushie, there was an awesome offer on gift cards that I just couldn't resist. It was only £5 for a gift card worth a tenner! I'd been saving it for when the next plushie was released so of course, I used it for my new Bulbasaur. With it being Christmas time, everyone has been busy and so I couldn't visit the store to get my plushie this time around. I was a little disappointed about this because I enjoy the experience of choosing the plushie myself, and watching it get put together. I'm such a big kid! However, the advantage of buying it online was that I got to get the exclusive outfit for once :) For most of the other plushies, there has been another version of the outfit that is sold in the store, but with the unique shape of the Bulbasaur plush, there isn't a hoodie or a t-shirt available. Instead, the online exclusive outfit is a hat and scarf set, which is such an awesome choice considering the plushie was released in Autumn-Winter. 

So without further ado, here's my new Bulbasaur...

Omgosh seriously though, how adorable is this Bulbasaur plush!? I love how eye-catching he is! His eyes especially just stand out so well against the green colouration of the rest of the plushie. I love how Bulbasaur's bulb on his back looks! It's squishy too and made of a different material to the body of the plush. It sort of has a felt like texture, whereas the rest of Bulbasaur is super smooth and soft. It's a really cuddly plush! I love his big smile too :) 

As part of the online deal, you have to get both the outfit and the Pokémon's specific sound and I have to admit that I wasn't happy about this at first, because I prefer to have my plushies without a sound in them. Just because I hug them and sometimes use them as cushions when I'm watching movies in bed, etc., so I don't like the idea that a sound might go off each time I move or something, haha! However, I was very happy to discover that they put the sound box thingie into Bulbasaur's foot so I can still hug him without pressing it. To be honest though, I actually really like his sound because it's one of my favourite Pokémon voices!  As any other Pokémon fan will tell you, it's very common for us to intimate a Pokémon's sound whenever we see it, or don't in my case XD I make random Pokémon sounds all the time, because I'm just so cool, hahaha! It's very cute, and I'm definitely happy it came with a sound now. 

I absolutely adore his hat & scarf set!! It has the sweetest leaf and Pokéball print! It looks really good on him, and I think they did a fantastic job in coming up with this unique outfit perfect for his body shape, considering he can't have a hoodie or whatever :) What do you all think of it? 

I think the entire plushie set, including the outfit & the sound was around £40, however I got £10 off with my voucher card. It came with the house box that you get if you buy them in store, which is what you can keep your plushie in if you want :) I use them for storing my magazines in though haha because they are great boxes! I did say that I wanted a 'birth' certificate with my plushie like I usually get in the store, but they didn't put it with my order so that was a little annoying. I named him Leafy, because I'm so original XD (And my Charmander is called Flamey, haha!). If you had your own Bulbasaur, what would you name him/her? 

Overall, I am very happy with my new plushie, and he's definitely one of my favourites that they've made. If Eevee & Vulpix weren't in my top five favourite Pokémon of all time, then he'd definitely be my favourite! I just love his design and he's larger than the others too. Meaning more surface area to hug! Let me know if you want me to share an update post, showcasing all of my Pokémon Build A Bear collection so far? I'm really hoping that they release more. I would love to see a Mew one! 

Wow, I can't believe that I actually made it to the end of Blogmas (and a few extra days too! Because I'm now sure that everyone else stops at Christmas Day, oops!). I'm definitely a little proud of myself for managing to blog every single day of the month. It's been a challenge and I don't know how some people do this all year round! Go you if you do; you're amazing! I'm certainly in need of a rest now, but I'll definitely have one or two posts up this coming week. I hope you've enjoyed reading today's post, and all of my other Blogmas 2017 posts. Please show them some love if you haven't already, it would make my day! :) 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

Are you a Pokémon fan? If so, who's your favourite? 

Do you have a plushie from the Build A Bear Workshop?

I'd love to hear all about it! 

Lush Wishlist | Blogmas #30

Hello guys! I have literally done nothing but sleep for most of the day, oops! In the early hours of the morning when I couldn't get to sleep, I decided that I wanted to watch one of the Netflix series I've had on my watch list for ages, which is never a sensible idea for me! If I enjoy a show, I don't want to stop watching it and before I know it the sun has come out and the birds are tweeting and I've heard my family have gotten up. I look at my clock to discover that it's in fact 11:30am XD So I guess you can say that I really enjoyed watching The OA, and I'll definitely be mentioning it in my What I've Been Watching post next month, haha!

Over the last few days, I've been seeing a lot of photos of Lush products, mostly what everyone has been gifted for Christmas, and it's made me feel like I'm in serious need of a Lush haul myself considering there's only one bath bomb left in my designated bathtime drawer. Yesterday my best friend blogged all about her recent festive Lush haul (you can check out her post here), and it just made want to have a good spending spree there even more. There are so many products that I'm yet to try! So for today's post, I was inspired to share a wishlist of the products that sound most appealing to me right now :) Enjoy! 

Dashing Santa Bath Bomb I have tried almost all of the Christmassy bathbombs that Lush have released over the last few years, however I still haven't bought myself this one! It has a really cute design and is made with a mix of bergamot & mandarin oils, so it's perfect for me since I am a lover of citrus scents. I neeed to buy it before it goes! 

Pink Peppermint Foot Lotion Anyone who knows me well will know that I spend most of my life barefoot. I just hate having to wear shoes and socks, and since I spend the majority of my time at home, there's no reason why I have to wear them so I just don't. My parents think that I'm a bit of a wild child, especially since I don't usually wear shoes when I'm outside in the garden either :D The only downside to this is that my feet are always exposed to all sorts of surfaces, etc and I need to get into the habit of looking after them a little more! The fact that this one is peppermint makes me want it straight away, however I think it's awesome that it's pink too! People have mentioned in the reviews on the Lush website that it has helped with their circulation too, and I am very intrigued about how this might impact the pain that I get in my feet thanks to fibromyalgia.  

Love Body Spray I have been curious about trying out Lush body sprays for a while now, and none of the fragrances that I've spotted when visiting the store have appealed to my tastes. I don't like spraying my perfumes or deodorant all over myself; I find that the smell can get a little overpowering for me and give me a headache. However, I still wanna smell yummy, so I thought I'd give the Lush spray's a go. Love is an online exclusive, and contains two of my favourite floral fragrances, Ylang Ylang and Lemongrass. 

Secret Arts Jelly Bomb Earlier this month, I shared a review of the Snow Fairy jelly bomb, and this was my first time using one of these new kinds of bath bombs by Lush. I mentioned in this post how afterwards I was encouraged to try more, and this one is the next best sounding one to me! I love the name, which is inspired by Harry Potter! I really enjoyed having black bath water when I used the Black as Your Soul bathbomb by Hex Bomb, so it would be cool to see how this one compares as well!

Lord of Misrule Shower Cream Everyone loves the Lush shower creams & I really want to find out for myself what all the fuss is about! I really love the Lord of Misrule bathbomb, the smell of it is amazing! So, I am very much looking forward to finding out how similar the shower cream's scent is. The ingredients include black pepper, vanilla & patchouli, all of which I enjoy. The dark green colour of the shower cream is something that I like too, as it reminds me of forests (my favourite places in the world!). 

Dirty Dusting Powder I was really sad when I discovered that Lush had stopped selling their bottles of Fairy Dust dusting powder, because I really really wanted to try it! I decided to just try another instead, called Silky Underwear. When I opened it, I actually hated the scent because I'm not a big fan of Jasmine, and it was such a shame. I have been looking after for a scent that I might like ever since but couldn't find one. Lately though, I learnt about Dirty and it sounds right up my street fragrance-wise. It is a blend of spearmint, rosemary, thyme and rosewood. I love mint so I'm hoping that this one will be a hit with me!

Sweetest Thing Gift Box In her recent haul post, my best friend talked about one of the Lush gift boxes and after seeing the items that she got inside hers, it's made me want one for myself :) I love the packaging of Lush gift boxes, with their themed pretty wrapping paper and bows. This one in particular grabbed my attention because of all of the sweets in the design of the wrapping, but also the fact that the products inside have ingredients that is sugary, sweet and definitely my preferred type of scents :) It just looks like such a cute box!

The Christmas Penguin Bubble Bar I haven't used a Lush bubble bar in what feels like forever! I don't have bubble bars very often, so when I do they feel sort of like a special treat. The lovely smell of Lush bubble baths and that they often make the water a different colour too make them so awesome! This festive penguin not only looks super adorable, it's almost filled with citrus oils! I need to hurry up and get my hands on one before they are gone until next year! 

Mint Julips Lip Scrub I've been telling myself to get a lip scrub already for so long now, and I don't know why I still haven't! I am feeling just that little more tempted now though since my lips have been suffering from the weather lately, and they even split yesterday :( ouch! I need to invest in some nice lip care products, and the ingredients in this one sound fabulous. It contains of course peppermint, but also jojoba, marigold flowers (which we grow in our garden every year already) and vanilla. It sounds good enough to eat! The website describes it as mint chocolate (without the chip!) so that has be interested!

Sacred Lotus Bath Bomb Okay firstly how cool does this bathbomb look!? And the name is awesome too! On the little video on the Lush website, the bathart that it creates looks fabulous and I have a mighty need to try it! I might be my favourite item on this entire wishlist. It does contain jasmine which as I've mentioned is not something that I like, but it has neroli oil which I do like so hopefully the jasmine is not too strong. Have you ever used this bathbomb guys? If so, I'd love to hear what you think about it :) 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

 Do you have any bath products on your wishlist right now?

Also, do you have an absolute favourite product from Lush?

 I'd love some recommendations! 

 

My Favourite Autumn/Winter Yankee Candles | Blogmas #29

Happy Friday guys! I hope you've all had a fabulous day, even though it's been absolutely freezing! What have you all got planned for the weekend? Today, me & my awesome friend Aaron went into town to do a little shopping, and I had a lovely day catching up with him :) We went to Costa first & had a delicious hot chocolate with whipped cream each. We popped into a few shops and had a nosey around, and I also got my Norman Reedus calendar that I mentioned in yesterday's post. It was reduced from £8.99 to just over £5, so that was great! As well as that, I picked up a few presents for upcoming birthdays and an adorable Bomb Cosmetics bath blaster with plastic frog sitting on top (it's called 'It's Not Easy Being Green'). We finished up our day by heading to KFC, so that was the icing on top of a brilliant day! When we were shopping today, we popped into a few stores that sell candles and I was inspired with this post idea for Blogmas Day 29. Today I'm going to be sharing with you my favourite candle scents from the Autumn & Winter collections by Yankee Candle. I hope that you all enjoy reading! 

I definitely think that the Autumn & Winter range are my absolute favourite of all the candles that are made by Yankee Candle. They just always bring out such lovely fragrances, so many of them with a food, or more so dessert, theme, and those are my best loved scents because they remind me of yummy treats and I'm a big fan of sweet smells. I'll include a link with each candle that I include on this post so that you can try it for yourself if you're interested :) 

Snowflake Cookie

Since I've used this awesome candle as my photograph for today's post, I thought I'd talk about it first. The Snowflake Cookie candle is in my top five favourite candles by the brand, because it's just such a wonderful scent. I can tell instantly that it contains vanilla, which makes me happy! Vanilla is my absolute favourite scent of candle of all time, so I love candles that are a combination of vanilla and other sweet fragrances. The notes in Snowflake Cookie include: fluffy marshmallow, cinnamon, nutmeg, whipped vanilla icing, sugar cookie & buttercream. That sounds good enough to eat! How pretty is the pale pink shade of this candle too!? I really like both the shade and the imagery on the label of the candle.

Black Cherry

Cherry is one of those classic fragrances and tastes that are iconic when it comes to Autumn and Winter time. We include cherries in lots of festive recipes, and the colour of cherries is popular for Autumn fashion. I was drawn to this candle in the first place because black cherry flavoured yogurts are my favourite, but also because I love the dark red shade of the candle! It's a colour perfect for both seasons, and the fragrance itself is a lovely blend of cherry, almond, cinnamon and candy. All of these scents remind me of Christmas. Are you a fan of fruity fragrances, or is floral more your thing? You can find some Black Cherry candles here.

Fireside Treats

If you love toasted marshmallows or smores, then this is the candle for you! It smells so much like the real thing, of the smokey burning wood smell and of course, of gooey melting marshmallows :) Fireside Treats is just a very delicious-smelling candle, and I especially like to burn one on Bonfire Night (usually to make up for the fact that any of my family haven't remember to stock up on real marshmallows, oops!).  According to the Yankee Candle website, the notes for this candle are: cedar wood, firewood, glowing embers, sugar, marshmallow and vanilla fluff. *nom* I love that vanilla fluff stuff!

Macaron Treats

Macaron Treats is a candle from the 2016 festive Yankee candle collection called 'Holiday Party' and it was such a pleasant surprise to see among the other scents, because it doesn't scream Christmas when you look at it. It's a lovely pale green coloured candle, and has a very nice sweet nutty smell. I use all of the candles that I've included today all year round because they are my preferred scents, however this candle is actually perfect for using in any season because there's never not a good time for macarons. This candle has made me want to try actual macarons even more... can you actually believe that I haven't!? I like how the macarons on the label are red and green, because it adds that little Christmassy touch to the design of the candle. Oh, and the notes in the Macaron Treats candle include: raw sugar, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, cookie & almond.

Christmas Cookie

I'm sure that this is one of the candles from the 2015 Autumn/Winter collection, but I can't remember. It's a popular one so it's still easily available, and it's no wonder why because it smells great! It is a very similar scent to the Snowflake Cookie candle, however whereas that one smells very sweet, like you can certainly smell the marshmallow and vanilla icing, the Christmas Cookie focuses more of the actual biscuity scent. It reminds me of baking at Christmas time, of the cookies actually baking in the oven or just baked fresh, warm cookies.  The fragrance ingredients are: creamy vanilla bean, cinnamon, sugar, baked notes (I'm assuming that Yankee Candle mean by this that there's baked cookie scents in the candle), butter and nutmeg. Whenever I burn this candle, it makes me want to do some baking! I definitely recommend this candle for those of you who love sweet scents, but not when they are too overpowering. This one is a pretty cream shade too, so it will go well displayed alongside any Christmas decoration colour scheme.

Berry Trifle 

This candle makes it into my top five Yankee Candles as well! I adore the colour of it so much, it's a crimson, wine red shade that is so much like my preferred shade of lipsticks. The berry theme makes it fabulous for Autumn, but then trifles are a traditional dessert enjoyed around Christmas here in the UK so it's a candle for Winter too! The label also shows snowflakes on top of the trifle :) It just has such a scrumptious scent, created by a mix of different fruity and sweet fragrances (raspberry, blueberry, lemon and strawberry, plus vanilla, sugar & cream). I'm not really an artificial floral scent fan. I really love the scent of real flowers, but floral scented things are usually too overpowering for me. The Berry Trifle candle though has a mix of both super sweet and fruit scents which are right up my street. I very much like the various strawberry scented Yankee candles, so having strawberry as a top note is probably another reason why this candle is one of my favourites.

Amber Moon  

I used this scent of Yankee Candle for the first time when I was at university back in 2015, so I'm thinking it's probably from the previous year's Autumn/Winter range. It's unlike all of the other scents that make up my favourites, as it is not a food-based fragrance. Amber Moon contains sandalwood, amber of course and patchouli. Amber is usually a mix of various resins from trees as well as bark such as Benzoin, mixed with the flowers of citrus trees and vanilla and much more. It has an earthy scent to it that makes me feel relaxed, and it also reminds me of the smell of spices and herbs. It's almost reminiscent to me of the scent of my favourite German festive cookies, Lebkuchen, but of the more faint spices underneath the strong ginger & cinnamon smell. Amber Moon is a very pretty name for a candle too, and it would be a very nice aroma to smell in the evening to help you feel cosy. It's not available on the Yankee Candle website anymore, but I found this one on Amazon for you guys :)

Candy Cane Lane

I first discovered this candle when I was researching the Yankee Candle advent calendar in Autumn 2015, which I shared a short post about during Blogmas of that year. I bought one before getting the calendar itself because I was so intrigued. I am a lover of all things mint flavoured and scented, so I couldn't wait to find out what this one was like! It has notes of both peppermint and spearmint, along with sugar cane, malt, candied caramel, vanilla mint (that sounds amazing!), tonka & vanilla bean. All these ingredients sound like a dessert made in heaven to me, haha! I was definitely not disappointed by the fragrance of this candle; it smells so so lovely! The mint is strong enough to make the candle live up to it's name, but with the other scents intertwined, it's just a nice, sweet smell :) I love it! It's definitely a great candle for Christmas time, with the vibrant red colouration and also the label featuring a gingerbread house decorated with a white & red candy cane theme. It's a 10 out of 10 from me for sure! I love the name of the candle too because it makes me picture a road lined with candy canes leading up to Santa's grotto or something! This candle seems to be out of stock everywhere, but I finally found the candle on eBay!

Well I hope that you've all enjoyed reading about my favourite Yankee Candles from their Autumn/Winter collections. I'd love to know if you guys have used any of these candle before and what you thought of them, so please leave a comment if you have! It would be great to know if I've made any of you want to try a particular candle for yourselves. With it being just after Christmas, there should be some sales on with Christmas collections too. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Do you have a go-to Autumn-Winter candle?  

 I'd love it if you guys would follow me over on my social media :) 
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My Goals for 2018 | Blogmas #28

Hey everyone! It's not long now at all until the start of 2018, and it's really got me thinking about how I want next year to be. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know that 2017 has not been the best of years for me. It's been super stressful and I've had lots of personal and family problems going on. All of the things that have been going on in my life have made it very tough for me to complete the goals that I made for this year, and I'm trying my best to not let myself get annoyed and sad because of that. I've been spotting some really encouraging quotes on tumblr & twitter over the last week or so, reminding people that it's okay if all they did this year was get through it, and honestly these posts have been so helpful for my mental health. Thankyou to all of the wonderful people who have taken the time to share these kind words, because it really is lovely for people to read and distract themselves from their intrusive thoughts about how little they've done this year ♥ Ignoring the way the past year has gone and focusing on the year ahead of me has been helpful, and today I came up with my goals for both my personal life & blogging. I thought I'd share those with you for my Blogmas Day 28 post :) 

I am yet to get myself a nice new calendar for 2018, so I've used my mom's calendar for this photograph, haha! How cute is this dancing Shiba Inu though!? My best friend spotted a calendar of one of my favourite #MCM celebs, the gorgeous Norman Reedus, in our local town centre the other day so I'm hopefully gonna be able to get that soon! Have you all gotten yourselves a 2018 calendar yet? If so, what's the theme? I'm planning to use my Filofax planner to keep track of important dates, but I still find it helpful to have a calendar up that I can quickly look at to remind myself of the more important things on my schedule. If I can't get my Mr Reedus calendar, I'm probably going to get a Pusheen or Sanrio one instead! I'm gonna end up making this post all about calendars... so on with my goals for 2018! 

♥ My Personal Goals ♥

Dye my hair a bright colour or two 

Many of the goals you'll see on my list today will be very similar to the ones I shared for 2017 and that's because they are something that I didn't manage to complete, but really want to do. I have been wanting to dye my hair a bold, bright colour for a long, long time, and I need to just do it! I would love to make 2018 a year of vibrant hair, and experiment with several colours but we'll see how I go. I am determined to have at least one mermaid-esque hair colour next year! 

Go to Lisbon, Portugal for the Eurovision Song Contest 

One of my best friends & I went to see the Eurovision live final show back in 2016 and it was honestly one the most amazing musical experiences of my life, and we would really love to go back for 2018! We are not going to be able to attend the final this time around since the queue online earlier this month to get tickets was absolutely ridiculous. I was on the website on time and I still had 54,000 people ahead of me :O It's such a shame, but instead we are going to try to get tickets for the semi-finals shows and still go over to Portugal. If not then my goal of 2018 is to visit another country :) 

Practice my German lessons at least three times a week!

I want to really put my all into learning German next year, and I'm going to aim to revise/practice a little everyday, even if it's just for 30 minutes. I have re-start my 60 day Pimsleur language course, or at least pick up where I left off and it requires you to do them every day! Of course, there will be days when life will get in the way so I don't want to set a goal that I might not be able to realistically do, so I think that three times a week is still a great attempt :) 

Get my geocache finds up to 10

Geocaching is a really fun hobby and I would love to invest more time in it (If you don't know what geocaching is, why not have a read of my post all about it here?). Being a spoonie makes it difficult to hunt for new caches, especially since I don't have a car, but I'm going to challenge myself to look for them whenever I am in a new place. I have found three in my hometown so far, so I have to find seven more in 2018. 

Read 15-20 books

I want 2018 to be the year that I really get back into reading! It was one of my goals for this year to read more books, and I have accomplished that (even though I would have liked to have read more than I actually have)! However for this coming year, I am determined to read all of the Harry Potter books that I've purchased and also as many of Stephen King's novels as I can :) I can do this! 

Work on my mental health

Throughout this past year, I have done quite a few little things that have challenged my anxiety. They were only small things but nonetheless important to me! With my year being filled with setbacks, I wasn't able to work on some of the things that I had talked about with my therapist in our last few sessions at the beginning of 2017, and I need to pick up where I left of and challenge myself more over the next 12 months. I won't share my specific goals because they are very personal, but I might write some updates throughout 2018 with how I'm getting on with them. I'm going to take them one step at a time, but hopefully by the end of the year I feel at a better place than I do now :) Oh, and I also want to explore private therapy since I've apparently had all that there is to offer in my hometown >.< Have any of you had private therapy before? How did it compare to NHS therapy? I'd love to hear any tips and personal stories that you might have :)

Get another tattoo

I have so many dream tattoos planned and so little money to get them done this year! I would love to get some new ink in 2018, even though I'm such a crybaby so I'm dreading the actual act of getting the tattoo itself haha! But it's so worth the pain when you have a beautiful piece of artwork on your body that lasts forever. I just need to overcome the pre-tattoo nerves and go get them done!

Start up my Youtube channel

I have been wanting to branch onto YouTube for ages and ages now! I spend a lot of time watching videos on Youtube and I have so much inspiration for my own videos that I want to film, but my anxiety disorder has really been holding me back. I would love it if I could share some content onto my channel in 2018, even if I end up deleting them, I want to take that big step for me... making them and sharing them! Wish me luck guys :)

Experiment with bolder lipstick shades

I absolutely love seeing people wearing bright, eye-catching lipsticks, in blue and purple and orange and all sorts of exciting shades! It makes me so inspired to wear them, but then I'm just never brave enough to get some for myself. I need to just try them and stop worrying what other people will think! I'm hoping that when I have a bright hair colour, that it will encourage me more to experiment with all the bold makeup looks in general. I have a lot of things that I want to get better at, so I'm hoping that 2018 is the year!  

Write up one of my stories properly

I have always loved writing, and throughout my teens I would write a lot of short stories and found it to be a great outlet for my depression back then. After years and years of having no motivation to put pen to paper when it came to writing fiction, I finally wrote something earlier this year :) I have only written about three chapters but I'm pretty proud of myself for getting that far. It might not seem like a lot, but after so long it's an accomplishment. I'm hoping that I can continue this particular story next year, and also write up some of the other ideas I have. I'm nowhere near ready enough to write a full storybooks worth, but hopefully I'll get there eventually. It's something that I have wanted to do since I was a kid, and it's on my bucket list. 

I have lots of other little goals that I want to accomplish in 2018, but I'm trying my best not to overburden myself with resolutions that might make me feel super pressured. I don't want to end up beating myself up emotionally over the things that I don't manage to get done. I'm looking at my goals for next year as more of a guideline or a wishlist sort of thing, of stuff that I want to do but if I don't do it, then at least I tried and that's okay :) 

I'm going to finish this post with some of the main goals I have relating to my blog.

♥ My Blogging Goals ♥

1. Buy my domain
2. Read more blogs 
(I have been seriously slacking when it comes to this over the last year. Sorry guys!)
3. Get a custom header 
4. Dedicate more time & effort to my social media accounts
5. Post on blogging Facebook groups 
(I joined loads of blogging Facebook pages & then didn't even share anything, oops!)
6. Come up with a social media schedule
7. Join in with more twitter chats & interact more with other bloggers
(I am so socially awkward but I'm going to try my hardest!) 

I hope that you've enjoyed reading about my goals :) If like me, you didn't complete all of your goals for this year, try not to feel bad about it. There's no rush to complete these things, they take time to do and that's okay ♥ Just give them another go & don't be so hard on yourselves. You are trying your best and that's all that matters. Try to set yourself smaller, more achievable goals that make you feel good when you complete them, such as finishing all the episodes of a TV show you want to watch, or doing a little DIY project. Look after yourselves, and remember that your mental health is more important than any goal that you've set yourself. I hope that you all have a wonderful, fun-filled 2018! 

Thankyou for reading!

 
♥

I'd love to hear all about what you want to do in 2018

What I Got For Christmas 2017 | Blogmas #27

Hi lovelies! Does anyone else ever feel like the days after Christmas until New Years Eve are just sort of like one long never ending day? I personally feel like it's a blur, and I forget what day of the week it is and I also find that I'm so unproductive. It's just three days of nothing but waiting for the next year to start! Let me know if it's the same for any of you guys. But anyhow, on with today's post. As promised, I'm going to be sharing what I got for Christmas :) I wasn't sure whether to do this post or not, because I've been reading a few negative tweets and such about these kinds of posts lately, and usually I just blog about whatever I want to and try not to let things like that influence my decisions, but I don't know, I got worried about it this year. I just hope that it doesn't look like I'm showing off or anything like that, and that you guys enjoy reading about what I get for Christmas, or my birthday, etc. This blog is my happy space so I like to write about all of the things in my life that make me feel good, and who doesn't feel good getting gifts? I know I love reading about what everyone else got for Christmas :) Enjoy! 

I was definitely spoilt this year! I love surprises and I always ask for smaller gifts, because I enjoy opening up lots of little packages VS bigger ones! It makes it so much more exciting, and I usually can't figure out what's inside either, not that I try though. My sister likes to feel her presents first so she can try to guess what's underneath the wrapping paper, but I've never really wanted to ruin the element of surprise. How about you? Do you love surprises or do you try to figure out what you've got before you even open up your gifts? 

When my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year, I asked her to do a little haul for me from a UK based kawaii website called Cutesy Kink, and I was so looking forward to finding out what she would choose for me :) Here's what she picked... 

I pretty much hinted how much I wanted one of the Neko Atsume bags that they sold on the website, so that wasn't really a surprise! I absolutely loved the game, but as usual I play games for a while, am hooked on them and can't stop playing, and then I just stop. I really wish that I didn't get bored with them so easily. However it was still an awesome little game, and so so adorable! One of my favourite cats was Pepper, so when I spotted this bag of her I had a mighty need. I actually featured it on one of my past wishlists, so I'm really happy that I finally have it. It feels super soft too, and I think the little tail detail is really sweet. Did you ever play Neko Atsume? If so, did you have a favourite kitty? 

So my mom chose some really lovely items for me: a Sumikko Gurashi memo notebook, some adorable alpaca sticky notes and lots of kawaii pens! I really like Sumikko Gurashi official products, they are very well made and always a great quality from what I've seen. I don't own much merch of these San-X characters, so I'm very glad to have some more for my stationery collection. These alpaca sticky notes and page markers will be perfect for my Filofax, which I've finally started using guys! It's a turquoise coloured planner, so they will fit in well with the colour scheme I'm going for too. I told her that I wanted some cute pens to store on my new desk once my bedroom decorating has been finished. I got some of the popular pen pots from Ikea, and I think these pens will look so pretty it in! My favourite of the bunch is definitely the Spirited Away No Face pen, and it's probably one of my favourite presents that I received of all of my Christmas gifts this year. I'm a big fan of the character, he's adorable!

So which pen is your personal favourite? Mostly everyone I've asked so far has said that they prefer the pink My Melody pen! If you're looking for some cute stationery then I definitely recommend Cutesy Kink :) (here's a link to their website).

For Christmas this year, my dad gave me some money and so I ordered something from one of my favourite kawaii websites called Tofu Cute. I've wanted one of their plushie lucky bags ever since I first heard about them! There are various sizes available and which one you chose determines how many plushies you will receive. If you order one of the two large sized bags, you also get a free poster from the Japanese brand Amuse. If you've been following me for a while now, you'll know that I'm a little obsessed with the plushies made by this brand, and so you can imagine how excited I was about receiving this bag! It was very tough not to open it until Christmas Day, haha! I picked the Senpai sized bag, which I think was £34.99, and here's what was inside! 

 
Yayyy! Just look how adorable these plushies are! I really like that they come inside this adorable pink drawstring bag, which of course has a Maneki Neko (which is Japanese for Lucky Cat/Fortune Cat) one it since that's what these lucky bags are named after. Tofu Cute also sell another lucky bag which is filled with Japanese snacks too! 

So I received two medium sized plushies, one of a Shiba Inu dog in a cute little uniform and the other is a hamster sitting inside a fruit! The hamster is my favourite plush that I received, just because it's such an adorable, random design. I have a few plushies of these hamsters, including a giant one! I just love it :) I also got two tiny little bunnies, the blue one I love but the other one is one that I wouldn't really have chosen to buy myself. I'm not really disappointed because getting things that you might not like is the nature of lucky bags, and I still buy them purely because I love surprises! The little tofu cube charm plush is super cute and I'll be putting him on one of my bags. I am a little sad that I didn't get an alpacasso item inside my lucky bag, but happy to receive two Shiba's because I didn't have any of those in my collection yet. I think these lucky bags would make a great present for any of your loved ones that are fans of all things kawaii. What do you think of this lucky bag? I forgot to take a photograph of the free Amuse poster that I was sent, sorry guys! It was a Christmas themed one which is very cute, but I wanted a poster that could be displayed all year round. I'm just going to have to rock a Christmas poster in my bedroom for the entire year, haha!

Here are the presents that I got from one of my brothers and also from my sister. I was actually really surprised, in a good way of course!, that my brother chose this Pac Man light for me! I LOVE it :) It's adorable and geeky and I really like how it changes colour. It's right up my street so it was nice that he knew I would like it! I was actually looking to buy a cute little light to use as a night light. Because of my insomnia, I am awake for hours and I need to be able to see to read and stuff, but I don't want to use a proper lamp because they are too bright and will make it even harder for me to fall asleep! This one reacts to music too, which will be cool to see. He also got me all of these washi tapes which will come in handy for the scrapbooking that I plan to do next year. My sister bought me the loveliest pin from Punky Pins, and it is actually the one that I bought my dad for Christmas too. Great minds think alike and all that ;) 

I spotted these lovely Pusheen PJ pants when I was in Primark with my mom so it's awesome that she remembered and bought them for me! It's always nice to get PJ's at Christmas, although I've not worn them yet because I am in love with my new unicorn onesie and refuse to take it off, it's just too comfy! Yay, I finally have the Daisy Duck Disney Ufufy plush to go with the Donald one that I bought. I adore this new style of Disney plushie, and its another one that started in Japan, like Tsum Tsums! I'm really trying to not go into collector's mode with these plushies though, but I don't know how long I'll be able to hold off  purchasing more. They are so squishy and soft, and they are apple blossom scented too which is pretty cool! I was very happy to get a new Tokidoki X Primark collaboration pen, because I have really liked all of the others that I've had and I think multi-colored pens like this are great, especially when I'm writing long letters to my penpals and I want a colour change :) Tokidoki is one of my most loved brands and before receiving this pen for Christmas, I didn't have anything with the 'Sea Punk' characters range on either. Yes I got a random Lee's Macaroon bar, and if you've ever tasted one, you will understand why! I'm so sad that I've eaten it now T_T T_T

The second thing that I asked for was this fabulous activity book from one of my favourite artists Gemma Correll. It's another item that I'd been after for a while so I was so looking forward to getting it. I purposely avoided finding out what was inside it so that it would be a complete surprise, and I was certainly not disappointed. It's awesome and is filled with things that make laugh and smile, and lots of important messages as well :) I love it & I am almost tempted not to colour in it or fill it because I don't want to ruin it with my own horrendous artwork. How cute are these little stars!? I think they would be perfect for using as tree decorations too. They have bathbombs inside! How cool is that? I can't wait to find out what they look like and smell like, and I'm going to try not to peek at them until I'm actually about to use them. Also, how lovely are the shades in this eye shadow palette by Make Up Revolution. I have a couple of their palettes and I really like them, but this is the first one that doesn't have really bright colours that I'll be experimenting with so I'm looking forward to using it :) 

This adorable bulbasaur 3D printed planter was the other gift that I specifically asked for this Christmas, everything else other than the Neko Atsume bag & the Feminist Activity Book have been a complete surprise and I am so grateful! My mom bought me such lovely gifts and I feel very lucky! I'm looking forward to getting a mini cactus or succulent to put in my planter, he'll look super cute! The big candle is from Card Factory and it smells AMAZING! I spotted it a few months ago when I was out shopping with my mom and mentioned how much I loved it, so it was lovely to unwrap it on Christmas Day. How sweet are these Powerpuff girls figurines? They come with a little colour co-ordinated stand too! They are going to look so bright and eye-catching lined up on my new shelves that I've bought for when I eventually finish my bedroom (I know that I'm taking so long to get it done guys! I need to buy wallpaper and paint, but I've used up the money I had saved for Christmas presents instead, oopsies!).

This is the final bunch of presents that I have to show you :) On Christmas Eve, I blogged all about these wonderful Pusheen surprise plush blind boxes that I'd bought (check out this post here if you love cats or just all things cute!) and I mentioned how I really wanted to get the plush of Stormy the kitten, who is Pusheen the cat's little sister! I didn't get her when I opened the three blind boxes that I'd purchased, however I totally got her inside this blind box!! Like what? How amazing is that!? I was over the moon! I really really like this ice-cream pen that my mom got me; not only does it look so cute, it is also magnetic! Meaning that it will be perfect for my new desk which has a magnetic back. I can't wait to show it to you guys once I've got it all set up :) I have such a thing for tins, I always have! I don't know why I love them so much, but I really like buying things that come in pretty tins. It was fantastic to unwrap this adorable Scottish Terrier tin, which is filled with traditional shortbread biscuits *nom nom*

I decided to take a photograph of this gift all by itself so that I could zoom in and give you all a better look at these fabulous pin badges! I am so shocked that my mom managed to find something Ravenclaw related in Primark to be honest, because I've only come across like three Ravenclaw items myself and that's even in a larger store too! She actually found these in my local mall's store too, which I'm even more surprised about! (Go mom, you're awesome!). I've been considering cosplaying as a Hogwarts student for Comic Con next year, and getting a Ravenclaw crest pin has made me even more tempted to! Fellow Harry Potter fans, what house are you in? I made my mom take the Pottermore test the other day & she's a Ravenclaw as well! I really wanna make all of my siblings do it too because I'm so interested to find out which house they'd be in. Have any of you guys gotten your family take the test? 

A close up of my little Bulbasaur! He's my favourite of the starter Pokemon. What's yours? I think these things look so groovy with a plant in them! I love having a nosey at what other people have chosen to put in their own. I even saw people using them as a tealight holder, so I might steal that idea yet! 

Well, these are all of the presents that I got this year! My mom is an absolute star and she made my Christmas Day so wonderful ♥ I cant believe how much she bought me, and it really cheered me up after how stressful the last two months have been! It's a lovely feeling when someone gets you presents that are spot on, that are perfect for you. It makes me emotional that they know me so well! I hope that she loved her gifts from me too :) Christmas Day 2017 was a fabulous day! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

I hope that you all got some lovely presents under your tree this year! 

I'd love to hear all about them! 

What did you get? What was your favourite? 

Did you get anything that meant something special to you?