Rachel's Next Adventure

Original timetable. Revised timetable before Todd Haberkorn missed his flight. The Sunday event got off to a bad start, with doors opening 1 hour and 10 minutes late, but other than that, the gaming area's roof blowing off, and a few dealers deciding to leave due to wet power sockets and unsteady marquees the day went better than Saturday, with timetables being behind in the morning but getting back on track by the afternoon. Once we got in, around 10:20am, we headed over to the Estatic arts to pick up a couple of figures I wanted before heading in to watch the Kendo demo and a couple of the dances that the Seiza Project performed (the Kendo demo was on before the Seiza Project Dance, this is probably due to the venue opening over an hour late, but as Todd Haberkorn's Q&A was cancelled it'd didn't take long for the timetable to go back to schedule). After that we headed to a couple of stalls, got a snowcone and then headed to town as my friend...

We arrived at the venue just before 10am - the doors wouldn't open for non-VIP tickets until 10, but when we arrived we found that there was still a long queue of VIP ticket holders who hadn't got in yet (I do feel bad for them having paid extra to get an extra hour of time in the convention and not getting it). It then took an hour and a half for us to get in through the general queue, the official statement is that they only had two ticket scanners, a similar problem to what they had last year, so fingers crossed they hire more next year as the venue is bigger meaning the capacity and amount of tickets sold could grow. This was the original timetable, but queue to Sean being ill and Todd missing his flight, all talks were cancelled except Uncle Kage's Story Hour. This was the revised timetable after Sean's cancellation. The timetable messed up a few times, as by 10am they were already running half an hour behind, then around 1:30pm one member of staf...

Ok just a quick update, this weekend i'll be at Sunnycon 4 so there probably won't be any posts on here until Monday or Tuesday. You can keep up to date with whats happening at Sunnycon via my Instagram page and Twitter , where i'll no doubt be posting stuff quite regularly. Sunnycon Update: Sean Schemmel will no longer be making an appearance. Todd Haberkorn will be arriving late. Instagram: @elstoleno Twitter: @elstoleno I'll probably be posting on Tumblr too ~ click here , but it'll just be posts shared from my Instagram account. So for now here are two videos from last year's Sunnycon. Follow this blog on BlogLovin' Like us on Facebook

I've had that much to share recently that i'm posting a few things quite a while after they happened! I didn't want to post daily for a week or so then have no posts for a while, so, for now at least, i'll be posting once every two days. A few years ago, Fulwell Windmill was badly damaged in strong winds, leading to the closure of the windmill, and on top of that, they stopped lighting the windmill at night, which meant that the iconic symbol standing in the backdrop wasn't visible at night, it made the area dull. As a college student, we did a project based on buildings that lit up at night, I shot my project at Fulwell Windmill and Penshaw Monument (basically everyone shot Penshaw Monument), so for now at least, college students taking the same course will struggle finding somewhere unique to shoot. Anyway, moving on, the windmill is now, finally being repaired, it has not been announced how long it will take to repair the windmill, but all that has happen...

With just 40 days to go now I thought I'd best post another update! Things have been moving a bit more slowly since the last update, but we've just found out that the Fussa Tanabata Matsuri is on the day after the Tokyo Bay Fireworks Festival so we'll hopefully be popping over to Fussa Station for a little while that day. We've booked another hotel, I know, four hotels in one trip, thats a little bit over the top.. But this hotel we needed because our original flight home was cancelled and now the Narita Express from Ikebukuro can't get us to the airport in time for our flight home. So we're moving to a hotel near Nippori Station and will be taking the Keisei Skyliner to the airport. Like our hotel near Disneyland, we can't pay for it until we check in.  We still don't have tickets for the Fireworks, we had asked someone we know who is living in Tokyo to help us out because it looks like tickets need to be picked up from 7 Elev...

I just wanted to share a couple of close up photos of my birthday cake. I actually forgot to take some proper photos before the cake was cut - I do have some that I took on my iPhone 6 though, but they're obviously not the greatest quality. My Mam decorated this cake with my brother when I went out the day before my birthday. My brother spent most of the time eating the spare icing from what my Mam said! The cake is a plain photocake from Asda. The coloured icing is a Dr Oetker colour icing set. And the ricepaper cupcake topper decoration (see bottom right) was bought on Amazon, they came in official packaging. Follow this blog on BlogLovin' Like us on Facebook

As you may remember from my post on the 17th, I had wanted the Mickey Mouse backpack from the new Disney x Vans series, but it was missing from the UK website until a week after the series released. The minute the bag came live on the website (I think it was the day before my birthday) I had to order it! It arrived on the 15th of June (Sorry, I thought it deserved it's own post rather than being put in with the one on the 17th). Its not the biggest bag around, so I don't think i'll be taking it to Japan with me, but it should be fine for when I go into Newcastle or wherever for a few hours. If i'm honest, the bag doesn't look at nice in person as it does on the website, it seems quite a bit darker in person. I wish i'd gotten the Donald Duck backpack to match my shoes, but this is the one I originally wanted, and I do like it. Follow this blog on BlogLovin'

Its time for another Japan trip planning update! Timetable update Here is our updated timetable, its still pretty rough, with notes everywhere. Basically, the changes were the Ghibli Museum being removed, Kamakura being added, some rail planning, the Tokyo Bay Fireworks as the date has finally been announced, and a lot of things have changed day after I realised just how far apart things are! So I checked via HyperDia how long it would take to get from A to B and reworked the timetable, as 40min between sights when it could be 13min is crazy! Day 1 – August 4 th Day 2 – August 5th Day 3 – August 6th Day 4 – August 7th Day 5 – August 8 th Arrive Narita Express Mega Pokemon Centre in Sunshine 60 Sunshine 60 observation deck Ikebukuro area Otome Road? Animate Ikebukuro open until 9pm NekoBukuro open until 8pm Namja Town open until 10pm Shop for food Set up JR Pass and make reservations ...

For a month or two I had been eagerly awaiting the new Disney x Vans line, mainly because I wanted the Mickey Mouse backpack - I did like the shoes too, but slip ons just aren't my thing, I like tight shoes. So last week, after looking at the shoes in person, I decided to go for the Donald Duck shoes, there is also a matching bag, but I've ordered the Mickey Mouse one for now, and depending on how good and how much space it has, i'm considering ordering the Donald Duck backpack to match the shoes for when I head off to Japan. Anyway, moving on. These shoes are basically the same as the Lo Pro shoes, only with a patterned/printed fabric rather than a block colour. For the most part, these shoes are comfortable, the only downside i've found with them is that the back of the shoe rubs on my heel some times and makes it a bit sore - i'm used to having the LPE with the cushioned back though so its probably just me that would be bothered by this. ...

I say 'haul', its not much of a 'haul', I only bought four things on this visit. This isn't the exact Danbo from the first photograph, its the one I bought from Animez at a convention last year or the year before. At the time of writing this I haven't built the new one, but I do have a plan for it. I bought a second one as this new one is going to be Danbow , a female version of Danbo.  The Danboard mini kit was £12. The rest of the things I bought were new stock, they literally hadn't even hit the shelves yet. I got three Naruto figure straps. These two were £3.50 each And this one was £6, and it came with stickers. Its about twice the size of the other two. Animez have a loyalty stamp card where you get a stamp for every £5 you spend, you save them up and are rewarded with free gacha's from the free gacha box and once you fill your card you get £10 off. One full card gets you £10 off and two or three free G...

Anyone who has wandered down a supermarket's in store Bakery aisle will notice all the fresh, branded cookies that are around. Personally my favourite is the Milky Way Magic Stars mini cookies that you can buy from Tesco. On my most recent trip - i'd gone in especially for these cookies - I noticed a NEW sticker, and a bright red bag, Tesco now sell Skittles cookies! So I thought i'd try them out and let you all know how they were. I'll start with the Milky Way Star cookies, now these, these are absolutely amazing, possibly the best in store cookies i've ever had. The only problem is, they only ever seem to have the next days date on them, which is short even by fresh bakery dates standard. These are definitely worth trying if you're near a Tesco (I'm not sure if anywhere else sells them). They're a mini cookie, perfect for children, picnics, parties and get togethers. These cookies are crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the ins...

As you may have already seen from yesterday's post, my birthday was yesterday! My fiancé gave my my presents early, so here is what my family got me The first present I got was from my little brother before he went to school - ¥15000! My cat gave me ¥4000. The rest of my family gave me money, and my Mam also got me a new pair of GHDs - with a heat mat for when I go away! (so glad, because she threw away the one we got with the last pair of GHDs!) and she got me something else but it won't be coming until Monday so I have to wait and see what it is! And here is my birthday cake! Last year I had to help decorate my own cake, so I was surprised on the morning to see that my cake had already been decorated! My Mam and I went to the beach and got some lunch. I went out in the late afternoon and met my fiancé when he finished work and we looked around Newcastle for a while before I headed back early as my family and I were all going to get KFC...

Today is my 24th birthday, but my fiancé gave me my birthday presents last night because we won't have a lot of time together today because I have plans with my family in the evening. I've had a lovely three days off, we've been to the cinema and we've been shopping in Newcastle twice - one of those days we were supposed to go to Tynemouth and on the other we were supposed to have a BBQ but the weather just hasn't been the same as was forecast.  Yesterday we also ordered £2000 worth of yen using the Money Saving Expert offer through Debenhams, which at the moment will give you a £5 voucher AND the same exchange rate as the Debenhams card holders get (which is the best rate for someone in the North East, if you can't get to a Debenhams then Marks & Spencers should be your next choice). Our Yen won't be here until Tuesday, but they have an option of paying in full, or just a 10% deposit when you order it, so if you don't quite have t...