July Favourites

Apologies for the late posting of the monthly favourites for July and you can blame my computer for that one. I think a part in the tower is worn out/broken as the computer is struggling to do anything. Finally got it to load this morning without crashing so I shall try to post this before it dies again. July was a pretty busy month mainly with work. The weather has improved slightly as in its not freezing cold every day. There was one day with some crazy fog and it was a task to drive to work in it. Let's get onto the monthly favourites! Starting off with this cute Gomamon Pop Vinyl I got last weekend! I placed an order as soon as I saw it announced. Not the biggest Pop fan but I do like to pick them up when the figurine looks cute or is some IP that I love.

Gaming

Finally finished my One Year Challenge for New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star. It was a long journey and a lot of screenshots to post. Might take a short break from Style Boutique outfits as I'm worn out from it. I have been playing lots of other games in the meantime. Last month I talked about Pretty Princess Party which I have been playing a fair bit. Not as much as the sequel Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island! I brought it on sale and been playing it every day since. It's basically an Animal Crossing clone where you are on an island and do random activities like fishing, catching bugs and crafting stuff. Absolutely love how easy it is to move buildings and bridges in the game. Animal Crossing needs to get on that level. 

Besides a stack of digital games, I also picked up a few new physical games for the switch. I got the remake of We Love Katamari and Little Friends: Puppy Island. Only played the Katamari one so far and it is amazing. I had played the original one on the PS2 but this port is way better. Always fun to roll around and pick up random stuff. Haven't tried out Little Friends yet however it did come with some cute joy-con grips. They look great on my Nintendo Switch and are quite nice to play with.

August Favourites

Winter is finally over even though the first day of Spring here was absolutely freezing! It was 7 degrees at my house this morning when I left for work and I was rugged up when I got there too. So over this cold weather and hopefully it will warm up soon with some lovely spring weather. Onto the monthly favourites now!

Gaming

I started a new challenge in New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star this month called the One Year Challenge! I've posted a few outfits already and you can check out the first theme which is hearts here. This challenge looks like it will be a fun one and definitely a challenge to post outfits every week for a year. The current schedule for the challenge posts is on Saturdays (Australian time) and I will make up a page for the challenge soon.

The other gaming news for the blog is that I have started playing MODEL debut2 #nicola on the Nintendo Switch. It is a fashion simulation game from Japan and I love it to death! It is super cute and I throughly enjoy the editing part of the game where you can design your advertisement. I've only posted one play journal so far for the game but I have another one lined up for early September. How gorgeous does my character look in the game? I haven't unlocked different hair colours or styles yet but I cannot wait to change it to something else fun.

Stationery

Headed to the local bookstore in town this month armed with some gift vouchers! I get them through training modules at work and it's a fun reward to pick out a new book. I actually ended up using the vouchers for this adorable Pusheen re-usuable tote bag and sticker set. I'm crazy at Pusheen branded merch and I've used the bag quite a lot. It's great for throwing into a small bag to take with me whilst I go shopping. The stickers are lovely as I didn't have any of Pusheen in my collection yet and they are good quality. The other item I got from Dymocks was this Standard Issue planner notebook which is more of a notebook than a planner. I think it uses the term planner as there are dates available on the pages. The cover is hard and the pages lie open flat when you open the notebook. A very nice stylish notebook which I'm looking forward to using once I finish off one of my journal notebooks.

September Favourites

I was thinking about what to talk about in this month's favourites and I couldn't think of much. This month went past pretty quick with work and stuff so I don't remember much that went on. The weather hasn't been very spring-like here as it has been raining most days with temperatures in the tens. Some days we even had stacks of hail which I haven't seen for a long time. Hopefully it will warm up soon and we can all get some use out of our summer attire! Just a quick monthly favourites this month as I don't have much going on.

Gaming

This month I've mainly just been playing some 3DS here and there as well as some Sims 4. Found a bunch of game packs on clearance at some stores so I was able to get some more content for my game. Picked the perfect time honestly to get into the game as I don't have to pay an arm and a leg for the content. 

The other day Nintendo announced some exciting things in their Direct video. First off is Brewster finally in Animal Crossing New Horizons! I'm happy he is coming back as I miss all the old characters and I'm sure others do to. I was actually playing New Leaf the other day on my 3DS and it made me sad that so many cool characters were removed in New Horizons. I wonder what content Brewster will bring to the game and I haven't played for ages so it gives me an excuse to try the game out again.

Another piece of interesting news was the Disney Magical World 2 remaster for the Nintendo Switch. My friend sent me a messaging asking if I had seen the new Disney game for the switch they announced and I was over the moon thinking it was a new game or a port of the arcade version exclusive to Japan. Then all my excitement went down the drain when I discovered what it actually was. Like who was asking for a rerelease of the 2nd game? I've already played that one and still own it! I read about some DLC being included which is just clothing and items. Nothing worthy of being called Enchanted. At least the first game had DLC that added new regions and that would've been worth the remaster or just combine both into a set. I'm waiting until it comes out in December to see if anything new has been added but I just don't have the time nowadays to grind at a game I've already completed. I do miss taking cute screenshots in the game :( The pose mechanic in that game was hilarious!

August Favourites & Blog Update ♡

August seemed like a long month for me and it didn't fly past quick like everything else has this year. I felt like I got a number of things done this month and had some fun experiences. Made a list for everything I wanted to post in this month's favourites and there was quite a few things. I will be posting a blog update at the end of this post so please give it a read if you are a follower of Marzipan Wonderland ♡ ♡ 

First up because it doesn't really fit anywhere else are these cute Barbie patches I found! My friends and I were in Big W recently when I came across these. I thought the price was good for three official Barbie branded patches and I've been collecting patches for a future sewing project. Of course I had to have a Barbie one on there as I love Barbie! I was actually looking in the Barbie area as I've been on the search for Barbie So Extra #6. She is impossible to find!! I went looking for her today in a few shops that had the new So Extra line listed on their site but when I got to the stores, they only had older dolls. Going to hit up some other stores closer to work tomorrow and I just know she is going to take forever to find as it took me 6 months to find Doll #3.

Gaming

This month I've been playing my 3DS quite a lot and I've really missed the console. It's so easy to pick up and get into a game. I enjoy playing it for short periods when I'm bored or I get some inspiration for an outfit. I have been playing heaps of Style Boutique which I'll talk more about in the blog update later on. Another game I've super been into is Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop! I actually brought this ages ago and totally forgot about it as I must've gotten my Switch. I remember picking it up on the eShop as it was on sale and it's a fun game to play quickly. The recipes are easy and a bit repetitive, but the deserts are gorgeous! Definitely give this one a try if you are a fan of the series.

Reading

I never thought I would get into reading as much as I have this year! Getting a Kindle has made a huge difference and opening my eyes to the world of ebooks! I never really got the appeal of them but once I spent more time researching titles I was interested in, it was easy to just start books and read them on the go. I've been using my local library app to read ebooks and it has been amazing. I used to use the library a lot but I found it hard to return books once I switched jobs as I wasn't next door to a library anymore. So I thought app would be good and it's the best thing! My library uses Overdrive and it works great on my Oppo phone. I enjoyed reading this book called Paperback Crush: The Totally Radical History of '80s and '90s Teen Fiction this month. The cover looked appealing as it reminded me of Babysitter Club books which the book actually talks about. It was a longer book than I was expecting but I learnt a lot about teen fiction and I never knew there was so many titles! We didn't have most of these here in Australia when I was younger as children's/youth literature is very dominated by certain authors and always deals with gross or weird humour. I wasn't a big reader as a kid but I do remember reading Babysitter Club books from school fairs.

July Favourites

Can you believe August is finally here? July seemed to be a really long month for me. I guess it was because we had a lockdown and I lost track of the days. I kept working the entire time due to working in online logistics and it was nice to hang out with my co-workers on a casual basis. Luckily the lockdown was only short and everything was able to reopen but with restrictions. It feels like I did a lot of things this month so I'll get right to it!

Gaming

I brought a bunch of Sims 4 expansion packs early this month as I felt like getting back into the game. I've actually been enjoying it a lot and I don't mind Sims 4. A lot of people complain about it, but I find it fun and it's nice to see something different to the previous games. It gets boring with the same thing over and over again and it's interesting to see the unique packs the developers are bringing out. I've been playing the Eco Lifestyle pack the most and been working on different careers. My sim kept getting set on fire by their toilet though which was silly. I think I upgraded it too much so it kept causing fires every time someone used it. Sold it straight away after the third fire!

Reading

This month I've been obsessed with reading and it's all I think about! When I was at school, I wasn't much of a reader and usually avoided it outside of reading sessions in class. After year 12, a friend got my into the Janet Evanovich books which were the only thing I really read for years. But since I got my Kindle, I've been really into it! Like I search for free kindle books and read those. All the ones I've read so far have been great and I even brought more in some series! I quite enjoyed the Bennet Brothers series from Staci Hart and I'm starting the second book in the series soon! Other than the Kindle, I use the Overdrive App with my local library so I can read at work or on the go. The app has a decent selection and I've read some good comic books on there especially Sarah Scribbles who I actually have the first book from.

February Favourites

Another month has passed again and it seems 2018 is going too fast! As usual, I spelt February wrong in the title of this post. It's just one of those words I can never spell. Anyway, I didn't get up too much this month but here's my Feb Favourites!

Gaming
This month I've been playing Style Boutique 3 quite a lot (what a surprise) and I've been focusing on collecting all the clothing and accessory items. It's going quite well and I've a sizeable dent in the collection. Thankfully there is no storage limit at the boutique so that makes it much easier to not have to delete items for room like you had to do in previous games. In my game currently, I've just hit the start of spring and there was some new items to collect for the new season. I found summer was quite difficult as there was a lot of season specific items like bikini tops and sandals. So those took out a large chunk of money. At one point I was down to $25,000 but luckily now I've climbed back past $150,000. Trying to save up a lot to buy all the most expensive items like Enid Chen and Purple Moon soon.

Best sales day ever!

Music
This month I discovered some amazing songs. I know I'm late to the party, but Momoland's Bboom Bboom is one of the best K-Pop songs I've heard for years! I'd been following the group a while ago and I was interested in becoming a fan and this new album finally hooked me in! I love Bboom Bboom as it reminds me of classic Crayon Pop songs and I'm a sucker for quirky concepts. I've ordered the Great album so that will be exciting when it arrives.

One of my favourite groups CocoSori finally had a comeback with Mi Amor. It's a nice latin feel track with a great instrumental. I enjoy the song, but I wish CocoSori had stuck with their quirky image. I guess they went with the generic sound to try to appeal to a wider audience but I've seen a lot of fans aren't happy with it and the album isn't selling well. I've ordered the album so it should be good when it rocks up as I'm waiting to see the photo book. For some reason, blogger won't link to the MV of Mi Amor so here is the dance version. The MV version is available on youtube so just search it up if you are interested.

Lastly the queen of trot delivered another hit recently! Hong Jin Young brought out a new song titled Goodbye and I loved it from the first listen. I've always been a huge fan of hers and her singing is just beautiful. Plus she streams on twitch which is always hiralious.

Art 
A while ago I brought this book called How to Draw Almost Everyday by Chika Mayata. The book illustrates and provides instructions on how to draw simple and cute drawings every day of the year. I've been working through it since the start of the year and it's been great so far. I will post a review of it sometime in the future.

Sewing
Started a new sewing project this month which is a jacket. I've never made a jacket before so it should be interesting. I'm using this beautiful Japanese style vintage fabric that a friend gave me with the Simplicity 8418 in style A. I'm making it without the motifs on the back part of the jacket.