My 23rd Birthday.

I thought I'd take pictures of my outfit since I haven't officially done a OOTD post yet. Excuse my awkward legs...

My Mickey Mouse cake! A bit childish, I know. This cake has memories though. Ever since I was little, while living here in Japan I'd order this cake on my Birthday. It's changed over the years but it was very nostalgic seeing it right in front of me.

The ears are the best part!

My Birthday was beyond great! I spent the morning at the onsen rejuvenating myself, picked up my cake midday, then had dinner & cake in the evening. I even got all teary eyed, well, I actually cried as my grandma read her letter to me. Tears of Happiness, I honestly didn't think I'd breakdown like that. I think being back in Japan & actually celebrating my Birthday here in Japan for the first time in over 15 years was a little overwhelming for me.

I love my Kiki's Delivery Service cushion! I have noticed I'm beginning to accumulate a lot of Kiki stuff. Bit obsessed? I think so!

p.s. 少し遅れて...お誕生日おめでとう ハッチ！(:

Moominvalley's 'Little My' mug

I bought this mug last month & today is my first time using it. I also bought a soup mug but it's still tucked away in it's box. I've been a huge Moomin fan since I was a little girl so I get really excited whenever I see Moomin goods at the store.

Do you have a favorite mug?


Also, today is my Aunt Keiko's birthday! 誕生日おめでとう。♡

Setsubun / Bean-Throwing Festival!

Today I ventured off to the Haiki Jinja (Shrine) to celebrate Setsubun. Also known as Bean-Throwing Festival. Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring in Japan. Basically consists of a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the year & to drive away any disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come.

It's common for people to wear a Oni (demon) mask outside of their house & have their family members throw beans at them while the ones throwing beans shout "Oni wa soto!" (which translates to Demons out!)

Then it's custom for the family to throw beans into their house while they shout "Fuku wa uchi!" (which translates to Luck in!)

I had a really fun time at the Shrine. I sat through a ceremony inside the Shrine then afterwards joined in on the bean-throwing. After they threw the beans, they threw packets of beans that had paper raffles attached to them & bags of mochi (rice cakes). To my surprise, I actually caught a packet of beans so I went to retrieve my prize/gift. I got a Tommy Hilfiger duffle bag! How neat is that? Then when I got home I ate an Eho-maki (lucky direction roll) in silence facing the yearly lucky compass direction, which it determined by the zodiac symbol of that year. It was way too big & long, hahaha, but I ate it all! Woo! Then my grandmother threw money in the dark for us to try to collect. The cat got a little bit hyper from us all laughing & making a lot of noise!

Anyway, I feel like I am rambling. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!

p.s. I feel like the way I edited the pictures has ruined the pretty colors that are meant to be seen. Not sure if I should load different version of the pictures or not... H'm...

February flurries...

New desktop for the month of February.

Snow has been falling all day long today. I love how snow is different here. It's more fluffy & way bigger than the snow back in Minnesota. I was in awe of it, kind of surprising since the one thing I hated most about Minnesota was the snow. I guess here in Japan, at least where I live, won't get as much snow as it did in Minnesota so I have somewhat a different feeling for it now, haha.

My apologies for not blogging more, but then again I don't have many subscribers so I don't think they've noticed. (:

On another note: my birthday is coming up! February 13th, I'll be turning 23! Do not like the sound of that at all. Hopefully I'll have lots to blog about around my Birthday!