♡ Sapphire's Birthday + Aquarium ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

Hi hi hi everybody! It's been a while since I've blogged huh? It's been over a week since my best friend left to go home and last week we actually had a storm here in the UK that evening which cut out our power here from 7am Monday morning until 3.30pm on Tuesday afternoon (seriously a whole 32 hours of doing practically nothing except for read and drink tea is extremely mind numbing...) and then afterwards I've been (trying) to edit about 200 odd photographs and with my attention span... errr it didn't go as planned there so I'm really really really behind :c

Anyway this post is about Sapphire's birthday and our trip to London Aquarium! You see, Sapphire's birthday was actually the first birthday (be it mine or hers) that we've actually spent together so it was pretty exciting to be honest... I managed to get her a U-Kiss album and have it delivered on time because delivery from Asia varies from time to time and I didn't want to take any risks so I ordered it about two months ago and I made the right decision seeing as it arrived literally a few days before she did! We went into town for a few hours to have lunch together and just do a bit of window shopping... or in my case do some actual shopping as I've been kind of needing new clothes for a while >u> Actually our first stop was at Nando's as we had both been naughty and skipped breakfast and by the time we actually got into town it was about 1pm so food was pretty much an amazing option by then. This was actually the first time Sapphire had ever been into Nando's and she seemed to like it quite a bit... it's a nice relaxed atmosphere and the staff are actually rather lovely and welcoming.

It was strange that we both pretty much ordered the same food except for one side dish... we didn't even give away any information to each other to what we were going to order until the food was delivered to us... it's pretty freaky sometimes how similar our minds actually are! Afterwards we did try to get some Halloween goodies from Poundland but alas nothing really grabbed our attention so we headed over to Starbucks to try their autumn specials. I ordered the salted caramel mocha and oh my days it tasted like I was eating a chocolate pretzel (which obviously is yum) and it did feel slightly weird to have rock salt on top of whipped cream but it worked? I was slightly greedy that day as it has been quite a while since I last had Starbucks so I ordered a strawberry and cream frappe afterwards.

We headed to primark, as said previously, I was desperate for some new clothes but the ones that I actually liked in there didn't have my sizes so I left with a long assed jumper, a skater dress top thing and some stone washed leggings which for the prices they were... it was pretty much a bargain. I also splurged a little that day and treated myself to Lady Gaga's 'FAME' fragrance as I was in the market for something new and even though I loved Katy Perry's 'KILLER QUEEN' fragrance... I opted for Lady Gaga's as it was a surprisingly nice scent.

Later in the evening, we had a mass family meal... more my family than Sapphire's as my brother and his housemate (who is also like another brother to me as we all grew up together) practically smelt the words /free food/ a mile off but to be honest... those extra bodies made the atmosphere more jolly? I originally wanted to cook all of the food and make Sapphire a cake myself but mum was like "no... you go and enjoy time with your friend and I'll do it all" and despite a lot of protesting it just turned out easier to give up arguing and let mum do all of the cooking (￣(エ)￣) All in all it was such a lovely evening and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves!

So on the Thursday, Sapphire and I headed into London to go to the aquarium at South Bank as they still had a 2 for 1 offer going on so it was pretty stupid not to snap it up and go along. It was rather cold in the morning when we headed out... normally I'm used to going into London around midday and coming home at like 11pm at night but we left the house around 9am... such a massive difference! Getting there early though, there wasn't much of a queue (heck there wasn't even a queue when we came out almost two hours later!) there isn't much to explain about the aquarium so I'll just splash (no pun intended seriously) a few pictures for you all to see;

I do very much apologise for the mass picture spam but it was so so so hard which ones to post... and is it obvious that I enjoyed the shark reef a lot? Apparently Sapphire should have taken a picture of me spazzing out at the penguins because they were so chubby and chubby and cute and chubby ; n ; omg though one was actually called 'Tubby' whilst another was called 'Vladamir'!!!

After the aquarium, we headed towards Central as it wasn't so far away and headed straight towards Chinatown (duh) for food. I originally had a list of places I wanted to take Sapphire (as well as to cross off my bucket list for before I moved abroad) but that didn't actually happen... so to save on the cash we went to our favourite eatery Misato as for the piles of food they give you and for the prices they charge how could you refuse? Oh and the food does taste amazing as well... yeah shouldn't forget that part. I originally wanted to go for something different but in the end I went for my usual;

After food we wandered around Chinatown, on which I purchased about a months supply of instant ramen as well as some other treats and then we went to purchase a cake. I actually took Sapphire to a different bakery previously and we were both disappointed with the past experience so we went to my favourite place 'Golden Gate Bakery' which has all the stars for style and substance (hurrr reference there)

After we had our fills in Chinatown, we went to Westfield's at Stratford City as that is pretty much on the way home so it was nice to go somewhere different. Actually I only had one place to go to on my mind and that was;

DISNEY!!! Gosh I love Disney stores and this one was all prepared for Christmas already but there was just something that made it even more magical. I was so caught up in the Disney I practically had to drag myself away from signing up for a Disney cruise experience... sob. But the one thing I was aiming for was to purchase a new mug as my last one sadly cracked a few weeks back and believe me choosing a mug was definitely a hard decision there! In the end I went for my favourite character Miss Daisy Duck;

I also may have cheated and purchased a couple of other items as well.... but but but they were in the sale and how could I not take them home?! And actually I technically got the marshmallow Sully for free because the (rather cute) sales guy was getting all flustered and didn't know how to scan the item so he was like "eh have it on me" sobs I could have married him on the spot!

My final purchase of the day was a box of macarons from a tiny iddy biddy stall down the food court (I swear it feels like a mile walk just to get from one end to the other) and I've previously purchased from said stall before hence why I had to purchase again because their macarons are simply delectable;

And thus this is pretty much the end of the first half of the week with my bestest best friend... I miss her so much already that I feel that I may have to push back my move abroad by about a week to go up to visit her and say goodbye and shit :c ugh I envy the people who have their best friends so close by to them when ever they need them... I know Birmingham isn't exactly far away away but when there is work in the way it makes it seem like it's the end of the world? I'm just going to finish off this post with a couple of pictures of Sapphire and myself before I get over emotional;

Oh one extra final note... I'll try not to leave such a massive gap in between this post and my next post about London MCM Expo... it's kinda sorta not actually been started but I'll try and get that done and published by the weekend hopefully if I don't get distracted by something sparkly...

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ 안녕히 계세요... ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

It’s going around well,I haven’t died and I’m back for ya ♪♫

Ahhh another trip into London... but this time to see a couple of friends whom were sorting out their visas for their study year abroad in Japan! Ren and Emily are finally going... it feels like a lifetime ago when we were talking about the whole thing but it's finally here and they're finally leaving me... for a few months may I add! I decided against wearing extremely heavy make-up this time around and I'm glad that I did because hello that horrible melty face feeling...

It was another disgustingly hot day in London, around the 33°c mark I believe and I felt more uncomfortable travelling than I had done previously! I literally just wanted to stand inside a freezer to cool down because even the shady areas were baking hot... cries. I headed into Starbucks near Trocodero whilst I waited for Ren and Emily to finish their visa stuff and as there tends to be air-con there; it was nice to chill out for a while and enjoy a refreshing drink! I actually finally managed to order the mocha cookie crumble frappe as for a while I haven't been enjoying the taste of coffee like I normally do... but this was delicious despite the fact I actually tend to dislike chocolate drinks! I think the coffee helped tone down the chocolate taste so it wasn't as sweet as I imagined it to be...

I met my friends at the "Four Bronze Horses of Helios" fountain which is less than a minutes walk from Starbucks and it's an amazing fountain based on the Greek legend of Helios:

"The greek legend is that of Helios, the young Greek god of the sun. He is the son of Hyperion and Theia. By the Oceanid Perse he became the father of Aeëtes, Circe, and Pasiphae. His other children are Phaethusa ("radiant") and Lampetia ("shining") and Phaeton. Each morning at dawn he rises from the ocean in the east and rides in his chariot, pulled by four horses - Pyrois, Eos, Aethon and Phlegon -- through the sky, to descend at night in the west. Helios once allowed Phaeton to guide his chariot across the sky. The unskilled youth could not control the horses and fell towards his death." information source: http://www.fountainsoc.org.uk/fountain/45

Isn't the fountain pretty? Well from the angles that I was sitting at I suppose but yeah... after meeting the girls and meeting a couple of their friends (new friends yay!) we headed towards Japan Centre for drinks and then for a sit down as by this point... I think the heat was getting to us all? We tried to go and sit in Leicester Square gardens but they were closed as the premiere for 'Red 2' was apparently happening that evening so builders were getting it all ready for the red carpet etc etc so as it was too hot to sit on the walls outside, we headed over to Misato's for food:

After that, another friend was coming to meet us after he had finished work but because of mis-communication, he didn't arrive until 5.30 and by this point we were all tired and feeling grotty from the heat so once he arrive we said our goodbyes to each other and parted ways! I am sad that I only got to spend a sparse few hours with Ren and Emily and even less time with Dayle but ugh weather... next time I'll see the girls will be when I'm out in Seoul myself and when they has holidays from studying (roll on next spring woohoo!) and I'm definitely going to try and see Dayle as much as I can before I piss off to the other side of the world!

Oh and literally minimum purchases for once... a couple of decent magazines that were on sale as some cute (yet extremely cheap for once) 3D stickers! I can't wait to use the stickers actually...

Peace Out

xoxo

♡ Personal Ramblings ♡

みなさん、こんにちは! 

I bam neomu seolleneun nal ireoke, duri hamkke gayo baby ♪♫

It's been a while since I've been active and sociable... forty three days to be precise but who's counting? I've been finishing my studies (two more modules to go then I'm finally complete and signed off!) as well as working to get some more money behind me. I've also been helping Toni with her online business and getting her ass into gear into buying supplies for the countless ideas she's been coming up with... dude seriously purchase the supplies you need y'hear me?

A couple of weekends ago I went and stayed around Rachael's to keep her company for a few days as her parents went on holiday. I think all we did was eat, sleep and watch 'Geordie Shore' as well as 'Keeping up with the Kardashians'... oh and I did meet a few of her friends she goes out clubbing with so we weren't completely cut off from the outside world! Oh I did take my camera with me with intentions of actual pictures with Rachael as they seem to be pretty limited... but it just ended up with taking pictures of the food we had consumed:

↑↑ Day one: bbq style food // Day two: lots and lots of sushi ↑↑

↑↑ Day three: picnic food // Day four: more sushi and chicken katsu ↑↑

I hated how the weekend went pretty quickly... but because I had booked the Monday off work it made the week feel that it had zoomed along which was good because I had made plans to go and visit Sharan in central London on the Saturday!

I completely dressed myself up to the nine on the Saturday... which included wig wearing and full blown war pai- I mean complete make-up routine. As soon as I reached Chelmsford train station though... I knew that I had made a mistake wearing so much make-up as well as making the decision to wear a long wig because it was baking hot to the point that I physically felt like I was melting. Luckily I wasn't the only one suffering... but it was just such a horrible feeling being all sweaty and icky at the same time (。┰ω┰。)

↑↑ FOTD ↑↑

Sharan and I met up at Waterloo station and headed over to New Malden, my old stomping ground from my university days... it had been 16 months since I last went there so it was rather lovely going somewhere familiary. We met up with Sharan's friends Ny and Rissa and had lunch at Haru, which in all honesty is actually my favourite Korean restaurant in the whole of London/Greater London etc because of how delicious and authentic the food tastes, it literally transports me back to Seoul whenever I eat at this restaurant. 

↑↑ So much delicious food... it didn't last long ahurhurhur ψ(｀∇´)ψ ↑↑

I must admit that it was an extremely stupid decision to order seafood ramyeon on a scorching hot day... but it was what I fancied so I took the stupid route for sure but heck it was damn tasty and I guess that cancels out the stupidity ever so slightly. I also ordered some kkampunggi and kimchijeon but we kinda shared the kimchijeon amongst us and I shared most of the kkampunggi with Sharan... oops. Afterwards, we headed to K-Mart for some ice-cream but they didn't have any so I just bought a slushie cola drink thing which was really good to have in the heat... the others needed to go to the massive k-mart along the main road but because I don't do very well in the heat, I headed to 'The Place' with some other friends that were at a Korean Food Festival that was happening on that day... don't know why we didn't go along but eh don't think we missed much? 

'The Place' is a really cute, and recently opened because I only remember a different coffee shop being there, coffee shop that sells all kinds of drinks and even fruit waffles... how could I refuse a fruit waffle? In all honesty... it disappointed me because in my head I was expecting something like I had had on my Seoul trip back in 2011 and boy was I wrong. They were vacuum packed waffles (not freshly made) so they were a lot chewier than fresh waffles, the ice-cream was nice though and so was the fruit.

I absolutely loved the interior to 'The Place' as it had a vintage feel with a whole heap of books and quotes and it was so comfy to just sit back and enjoy the atmosphere and the company. It was amazing to catch up with Monique whom I last saw properly... must have been when Sapphire came down to visit even though we bumped into each other briefly at MCM Expo.

After we had all finished at 'The Place', Sharan and I headed back into central for a few more hours and to catch up properly alone. We went into Japan Centre first so I could buy a couple of magazines and a couple of drinks and even though it was early evening, it was still humid and the amount of people lingering around was beyond ridiculous and it just infuriates me when someone is walking slow in front of me or when a group practically take up the whole sidewalk or even both at the same time! Just be considerate for people around you you douchebags GAH ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

↑↑ Goodies from the whole day... smurfs haribo is officially the best ↑↑

After Japan Centre, we finally headed to 'The Diner' in Shaftsbury Avenue... at the OTHER end of Shaftsbury Avenue by The Forbidden Planet. This restaurant is a place I have wanted to go to for a while but everyone I tend to hang out with has only really been interested in eating Korean and Japanese food and it's just time for a change up... especially in the summer when the warm weather just makes me want to experience other foods. I don't know about Sharan's opinion but I adored 'The Diner' and the waitresses were just so cute and real attentive... possibly one of the best services I have had in a while. I decided to order an orange cream soda drink (who loves orange soda?! Kel loves orange soda) as well as a po boy hoagie with a side of onion rings, corn dog and hash browns of which I shared the sides with Sharan because there was just so much...

I definitely want to go back to 'The Diner' and try other things! But there are a few more restaurants on my bucket list before I move permanently to Seoul so I'll just push this residence on the back burner for a short while.

Gosh; reading back over this post it's just /almost/ completely food isn't it? Ahhh well food is just a lovely thing and there's just so much to explore of it in all honesty! I'm going back into London on Monday to meet Ren and Emily as they'll be heading off to their study year in Japan /sob sob/ but I'll meet them out there next summer and they want to come to Seoul for a visit as well... so it's not like it's forever! But I'll still miss their faces so I'm bare looking forward to seeing them

Peace Out

xoxo