Valentines Day for the lonely hearts: Hakuouki!

Happy single awareness day LOL. Another annoying stressful day at work. Got up early in an attempt to go to gamestop to pick up my copy of Hakuouki. Only to get there to find out they havent received their shipment yet. FAIL =_=;; Someone got alittle too excited. Jeez. I didnt even get chocolate today /: waiting for the massive sales tomorrow LOL! Going to try and score me some Dove Swirls or ghirardelli vanilla bean chocos!!! nom nom. I'm not a big chocolate fan tbh but I wouldn't mind expensive choco for cheaps LOL.

Apparently according to Sephora this month is my birthday.... o___oll oh well! I'm still going to go redeem my freebie!

from the looks of it, might be a free lip stick /: hopefully theres more colors than just RED =__=l I'm not a red lip stick person. I prefer nuddish rosey pinks to get the 'my lips but better' effect LAWL. Seriously not a lip stick person. I only wore red lipstick for cosplay /: and even still, I'm pretty picky with the shade....

Since they didnt have the game when I came earlier before work, I had to drive back during my lunch to pick it up and thankfully they do have it! I wonder how many people actually pre-ordered this game here..I was reading on Aksys twitter feed that the turn out was better than expect. Oh. Well then. O__Oll

I pre-ordered the limited edition copy and with it, you get ALL THIS:
to be honest I'm pretty sure there was ONLY limited edition copies LOL. No regular editions?....

You basically get the game PSP game, a sound track & art book.

Beats buying the regular 11x15 (???) art book thats worth about $30-45 a pop! LOL.

Aksys didnt change a thing on the game and simply translated/published it for us non-Japanese speaking fans. Before if you really wanted to play the game (like my dumbass a few months ago - maybe even a year ago) you went as far as downloading a copy onto your DS and finding all the right patches to make it work and just derp around and hope to God you know wtf you're doing. OR. Modded your PSP. Which again, resulted in the first part - derping around and hoping you got who you were aiming for. Trial and error. You sir/mam must have had the patience of the Gods LOL

(and like me, did not turn the damn game off at all for fear of loosing it coz you didnt know how to fucking save LOL)

BUT YAY FOR THIS HAHA.

Now for those of who you dont know what Hakuouki is well...let me enlighten you.

Its an otome game (dating sim game catered for girls, or a VISUAL novel game that just gives you little options of what you want to do / say. but its pretty linear)

and its based on the old Japanese setting where you play a girl whos dad has gone missing and decided to run off to the big bad city of Kyoto to find daddy. Of course being the naive little girl you are you stumble upon trouble the first time you're there and you somehow managed to get yourself in trouble and witness a fight between the Shinsengumi and the Rasetsu who, more or less are like zombies LOL or demons. Whut? Yeah, sorry I'm not very good at this.

Then the shinsengumi decides to bring you home! LOL. Of course you're in a compound full of hot blooded young men, so, what are you gonna do? Romance of course! LOL. Durr. Whut?

Its been adapted into a 2 part series Animuuuu that you can probably stream somewhere online if you want to see the anime counterpart.

but according to Aksys games this is really more of a "quasi-historical supernatural drama 1st, romance game 2nd." (via @aksysgames twitter feed)

but yeah, see for your self :B

...

Another shameless photodump. I've re-installed Lightroom in my computer and I remembered just how much I loved that program in comparison to photoshop <3

Nothing interesting or entertaining to really talk about yet again since I just finished filing my taxes and yep. LOL. Uncle Sam hates me and is wanting me to cough up haha. I really need to get my W2 fixed so I get some form of deduction /: blargh.

With that being said, my already pretty bad social life has gone back to shits HAHAHA. But lets hope I can try and make an outting or two /:

I've also procrastinated and did not work on any cosplays this weekend when I said I would. I'm gonna end up like this person in this video:

Lol. See 1:06 and 1:50 looooooooooooooooooool

But seriously. I need to get working on that hahaha and make that cherry blossom shoot happen ;A; then we can look forward to a shoot someday in the mountains. Aaaaah

Anyways, photoblog for the week...more like, weekend ):

digging back some old polaroids since I finally added a new corkboard/whiteboard

thingie ontop of my desk area. I managed to stick some polaroids up there.
I'm exciting to put more in when I get more film 8D...

Clouds of cotton candy...my roomate asked me to make cookies to bring to her
dinner party down south. Instead of using pink (which I normally use)
I opted to use a light blue color. Like candy clouds.

I scored a unicorn cookie cutter. I'm excited to use it.

I picked up more flavor oils which I get locally at the local baking supply store. You dont need much to flavor your goodies with these babies.

Tried this new Revlon Photoready primer. So far so good. I know most people are raving over the L'oreal ones (????) but the foundation I use primarily is Revlon (since I"m out of my Mac one and tbh the Revlon colorstay is a very good dupe to the mac one)and its always better to stay with the same brand line you're using since you know their designed to work together.

I finally decided to build the 2 Gundams I have sitting in my shelf...
actually, the gunner zaku I recently got on Friday. I went to Marukai and was suprised to see they stocked the Gunner Zaku. I've been trying to find it and didnt want to pay for shipping by buying it online. So. Yay.

I effed up my ankle -possible from too much Dance Central and felt pretty sick saturday. So I've been pretty much bed / chair ridden all weeken=___=ll and keeping my foot elevated and iced. Killed time building 2 BBs and playing a little bit of COD.

Other than that, ALOT of sleeping ;A;....

and 0 sewing productivity....

Vanilla Matcha Cookies

lol, yes guess who raided Marukai and just bought 3 more boxes of Sakura Matcha Kit Kat?! lol. Totally a fatty mcfatfat.

Not really...Q__Q I'm sending these out to friends so they can try it too! Unfortunately these are limited items only, as they only come out in the Spring in Japan when the Cherry Blossoms are in bloom.

Yay me, look whos trying to be all productive and stuff?! LOL

More like, look whos trying to be cool and being all 'I'm going to update this blog more often' type deal....so fail. I really have not much to talk about HAHA...

Other than, I really really really need to start sewing or working on costumes HAHAHA or build my new BB Gundam so I can allow myself to get another one o__olll

yeah right, as if that'll happen .___.ll ugh. Cramped neck. stupid pillow. Ah, moving on!!!

For thise ghetto recipe you're going to need....5 ingredients ONLY! :D and is going to be super easy! Prep time is under 20 mins! :D hurhruhur

I have 2 variations to these Vanilla Matcha cookies actually, this particular recipe only calls for 5 super super super simple ingredients - perfect for people staying in college dorms - granted you have access to a toaster LOL or a oven and don't want to be storing all sorts of ingredients that you're probably going to barely use; ie: baking soda, flour etc etc. Right? :D

The inspiration for these lovely cookies, are, of course the new Kitkat Sakura Matcha cookies, unfortunately I dont have sakura extract - its real. Trust me, I've seen it. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a seller that carries it internationally. If push comes to shove I might be super desperate enough to try and shopping service HAHA.

Ingredients:

I do want to advice tho, that this ghetto recipe
wont allow you to use a cute cookie cutter /: the next one I'll be posting - will tho! :D
this recipe produces a soft moist cookie, crunchy on the outside but nice, soft and moist on the inside and goes amazing with
Matcha Latte or just green tea in general. Or, if your a cookie purist - MILK!

• CAKE MIX - yes, I'm dead serious. I told you this is going to be super easy to make and does not call for a lot of ingredients that most people - unless you're an avid baker. Wont really have!
  
• 2 Tablespoon Agua (Water)
  
• 2 Eggs
  
• 1/2 Vegetable Oil
  
• Matcha Powder (Green Tea Powder). For this recipe I used about 3/4 of a teaspoon of Matcha (you can adjust how much matcha you put depending no how strong you want it to be)
  
• White chocolate chips - optional (you can get chocolate and chop it up yourself, but I prefer the Hersheys chocolate chips since they dont exactly MELT and DIE in the oven like other chocolates might...)
  
• Vanilla Extract - Optional
  

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees 8D

All these ingredients - minus the matcha can be bought at Target and all should run you under $10! 8D

The reason why I'm using a cake mix is, as I explained, this particular recipe calls for people who don't always own the essentials to baking and this is just for someone whose looking for something super fast, quick and easy to snack on.

You can get Matcha powder from your local Asian Market, just be weary some Matcha can from Thailand, China, Japan. Etc...I don't know how the taste would vary to be honest since I am no Matcha offinado lol and I prefer my teas to be on the stronger sweeter side. So I am by no means, an expert on knowing pure matcha and etc.

I got mine at Marukai (a Japanse market, like Mitsuwa and Nijiya)- or if you don't have access to one, you can simply purchase them directly via eBay or Amazon, I just picked up any POWDERED matcha I found. Granted they run alittle pricey...this tiny tin can cost me almost $10. (It was around $8somethingsomething) but a little goes a long way!

I'm not sure what the name is exactly of this brand, it seemed like its one of the more generic ones anyway. Don't be fooled by the amount you see, when you first open it, its sealed completely with a metal can opener thing. Open that to reveal your matcha in a bag - to help preserve freshness and keep it from being a mess!

Just be careful when you open the bag, I'd snip just a tiny tiny bit on the side to let some air out, this will also help move most of the powder DOWN to the bottom of the bag and not stick all over the place and make you waste a bunch of that precious matcha powder.

So with your ingredients assembled. Combine the Dry Ingredients together! LOL

Pour all your cake batter into a mixing bowl and drop about a teaspoon of matcha, for this recipe...I used about 3/4 of a teaspoon of Matcha since I wasnt sure how strong I want it to be. You can add less or more depending on how strong you want the green tea to be.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Also, I'd suggest using a fork or a whisk to combine the dry ingredients together.The point is you want to avoid any clumps of powder forming and you want to break it all apart so you dont have to deal with them later on when your adding the wet ingredients. If you want you can just run it through a strainer as well.

Mix your wet ingredients onto your dry ones! Mix mix mix mix 8D it should turn it into a nice soft green color~ obviously its gonna be more green color the more matcha you add.

At this point you can also decide if you want to add Vanilla Extract if you want a stronger vanilla flavor. I feel like this also helps create a smoother 'matcha latte' feel/taste.
Also, if you are NOT using a 'french vanilla' cake mix like I am, it might be a good idea to just go ahead and add some vanilla extract in there anyway

At this point you can decide if you want to white chocolate chips in there or not. I halved the batch, half I left without and the other half I added white chocolate chips. And I think everyone loves the one with the chocolate chips more hahaha 8D
again, optional~

Now you want to line your cookie sheet with wax paper - this will keep the cookies from sticking, I wouldnt suggest putting PAM on the cookie sheet as it will actually make the cookies deflate and spread out! So if your going to skip out on the wax paper - be sure you are using NON STICK cookie sheets - my cookie sheets are both non stick but I still prefer using wax paper - makes clean up faster.

Roll them into balls or use a ice cream scooper or melon scooper - I wish I had one, so the cookies would be smaller and cuter ;A; and plop em onto your cookie sheets. Bake for about 8-10 mins (this honestly differs depending on your oven so I just suggest keeping an eye on them, when the edges start to brown up or the top. Their done!)

Pull them out, let them sit and cool on the sheets before removing them or you will break them up! I like to let mine sit for about a few mins before I transfer them to a cooling rack. I'd say 10 mins should be plenty enough - but if you live in colder environments then yeah. Haha

Let them cool, and ENJOY! 8DDD Best enjoyed with a nice tall glass of milk or better yet, matcha milk tea~

The next post I will hopefully be making is to show you another Recipe for Matcha Cookies - this one will allow us to use cute cookie cutters! HAHAHA 8D

And possible a Matcha White choco latte

looool PS, I finally got a legit mousepad HAHAHA NO more using ghetto paper LOLOLZ ohmygawd. Yay marukai for $1.50 mousepads xD

omg another post in one day?! Revlon Lip Butters

Oh my goodness! Another post in just one day? LOl, is this my way of trying to make up for lack of posts?! Probably. My posts arent as creative and fun as most bloggers tho, so I dont really consider myself as a legit blogger 8B

This post is going to be about the Revlon Lip Butters everyone and their mom is talking about. I'm honestly not much of a lip wearer person. At all. I get lip sticks and glosses - mostly given to me by people. but I dont really buy them /: lol.

and when I do, I avoid pinks since well, my lips are so pigmented light baby pinks just dont seem to work with me or my pigmentation ): sucks for me LOL. and also coz my lips have cracks on them and dont get 'exfoliated' as much. So, another reason why I just avoid lip sticks or anything like a plague. I only wear them for cosplay if I need to, but sometimes its nice that it just completes your look. And also its a good way for me to downplay how RED my lips can be sometimes ):

So picked these up, since everyone and their mom was talking about them. Their the new revlon lip butters and they are exactly as what everyone raves about!

pretty pigmented for something thats suppose to be like a lip balm?!

they do have a shimmer to them, so if you're looking for something more matte, you can get their color burst line or their other ones.

I've always trusted revlon for their lip sticks tbh. I used their red one for my Esther cosplay and it was pretty hydrating. I know alot of people compare these as dupes to the Dior ones. Well, I've never tried the Dior lines so I can't compare 8B

they dont leave my lips chapped or cracked looking either and are quite long lasting.

I wont swatch them since theres plenty of raves and swatches of them online already.

the only down side to these are:


their cheap and I mean, cheap. this is a brand new one that I JUST opened to take the photo and as I was putting it back, it hit the side corner leaving that ugly mark /:

and I know I'm not the only one whos had to deal with this. Everyone who had reviewed these had to say the same thing. But oh well! Their at a fraction of a price of what most people pay for super quality lip wear. No complaints from me! LOL.

2 colors I got were Peach Parfait and Sweet Tart. I didnt really expect the Sweet Tart to be THAT pigmented but oh boy was I wrong, so when I first wore it, it was PRETTY INTENSE PINK. Of course it can be pretty sheer when you first apply it but I made the mistake of thinking it was sheer so I liberally applied it on loool. So....pigmented and I had to immediately wipe it off. Was too bolt for my taste. It ended up looking like Kirbys foot like in the photo below ):

but the peach parfait is by far my favorite. Its the closest to a nude rose color -which is the most natural nudish shade I can wear without looking ridiculous and just tones down the redness in my lips just the right amount *u*

Lastly, I wanted to share this song by G.Na. I've been slowly following Kpop since I kinda fell out of the vigei scene, theres still a few bands I follow but not religiously. And I'm always looking for new music to just pop into my iPod and just listen to some nice vocals and music. And well, I stumbled on G.na a while ago, I only really know 2 songs from her /: maybe 3. But only one stands out the most to me and its 'I'll back off so you can live'its sort of an anthem for a dark time lol a long time ago. But it makes so much sense HAHA.
Obviously the song was in korean before but I saw this not too long ago. She re-wrote an english version of it 8D! And performed it. Whoo. I wish she would make a studio version of it. But I couldnt wait and loved the song so much, I ripped my own version from the video and cut out the intro just to get the song. I have it on my tumblr too if you want to hear it without the long intro and etc.
Amazing vocals for something live. <3

Photo Dump Updates

Instagram Diary!



Been a while since I last did an update here. Most of my random updates are happening over at my Tumblr LOL.


But I know not everyone follows me over there and it IS NSFW 8B

but for those who dont know what that means, lol, its just not safe for work or public viewing HAHA...
Oh so shameless...
Anyways, another photo dump update since nothing much has been happening thats worth blogging about.
I know Anime Conji is coming up in a month or two, and I dont know about the LACP anymore since it seems that theres been some issues as to where they will be holding the shoot /:
My friend told me about a shoot next week up in LA by the Piere, not sure if I'm going yet or not, I didnt order my compact flash card yet /:
and not sure if it would come in on time if I order it NOW. LOL....uhh...so I might just be lame and pass on this one and possibly throw myself into working on costumes for the up coming spring shoots~


Whats coming up for spring? Secret secret! LOL, you just gotta follow me on Twitter or Tumblr to find out! LOL. But honestly, its not that much of a secret >_>lll LOL.
So yesterday, went to the Swap Meet to gather some fabric/materials for some projects and hnnggg I brought $40 with me, and I walked away with just alittle over $7 in change left 8D

thats pretty exciting since I bought fabric for 3 different costumes. YAY thats WIN. The place isnt as extensive in choices of materials like the Fashion District is but theres a specific vendor I always can go to there that carrys Casa Crepe Satin which is my go-to for 'fancy' looking cosplays that requires Satin material and I get it for just $2.5o a yard I believe...but you can ALWAYS haggle people down there especially when you're buying ALOT!
One of the vendors there tried to sell me country cotton for $2.00 a yards. I'm like =_= you're kidding me. No.Lol. So he ended up giving it to me for 1.50 a yard as well as heavy cotton twill as well 8B. Win Win Win.
Got some decent trims and elastic. 3 yards for $1.00 and $2.00. So thats 3 bags worth of different stuff. Again, the swap meet we have here isnt as nice as the ones up in LA, where my friend got all his buckles and etc for just a few cents a piece ): I kinda wish we had that down here, but oh well! 8D


I still got more than enough stuff that I needed, some specific fabrics - of course I couldnt find, but atleast a bulk of the materials I needed, I got there so I can definitely get working on some stuff. I was too tired to work on them last night and figured I'd take it easy today too LOL. Aka, I'm just procrastinating. LOL. but really, I need to get working!
I also changed the layout of my room with the help of Anthony.

Heres a link to the video: http://lobstercockroach.tumblr.com/post/17021689000/rearranged-my-room-with-the-help-of-anthony-8d
It should help maximize the space I have here lOL so I can have more floor room to cut fabrics and perhaps even get another small table to set it up in the middle so I can sew? 8D I'll look into finding a Mahjong table or something LOL.
The only down side to having my bed by the window = LOL SUUUNNN ZOMFG. It woke me up at like 8am on Saturday morning x__X natural alarm clock much....

Which would be good for me for days when I have work, so I can seriously force myself up by 7 or 8 and go run before work...lol. But on weekends zomfg. no.
So I picked up BLACK fabric at the Swap Meet and pinned it up on the window - ghetto coz I dont own a curtain rod LOL. and it turns my room into a super dark cave LOL. Even as I write right now, with the 'curtain' tied up, the room is still pretty considerably dark, especially at the corner where I have my laptop on. Oh well, Lamp~ lol
Onto the photo dump!




New SKIN TONER from BOOTS. Boots is a 'drug store' brand from the UK that I believe specializes in carrying a wide variety of skin care line, most of them are made to be natural or hypo allergenic. I figured I'd try this one since I dont really own or use a toner, and the ones I used before - are extremely drying ): and so thats why I've veered away from using them. This one apparently has rose extracts on it and well, I wont lie, it does make my skin feel softer and it does pickup the dirt and crap my cleanser leaves behind :X eep!
and who isnt a sucker for vintage style packaging? not to mention it was going on clearance, I hope Target doesnt get rid of this line :x its actually really nice!


Along with my fabric shopping haul yesterday, I took my little brother to Marukai which now carries Sanrio and Gundam stuff! Oh whut?! yes! LOL.
I'm excited since I normally order my gundams online ._.ll and have to pay the hefty shipping price, but now a store locally carries em~ and they also have Gundam Markers, not the top coat andother stuff but hey! its definitely a start! :o
Especially since the old anime store in Mission Valley mall started carrying less and less Gundams /:
I got a new Marker, a grey toned one since I believe I have all the primary colors for a Gundam but not a greyish toned one for the guns! 8D hurhurhur!

and a new plastic case for my BBs o_o


It doesnt fit any of the other BBs coz of their odd shape and protruding structure, so the Wing Custom Zero might have to get its own case and cant share LOL. I kept the Sinanju out since he comes with his own stand 8D
I like that these can be stackable too so if I were to get more, I can stack them up higher and higher! But I really should consider getting a wall shelf or something so I can stack them up from there /:
I still have my Justice Gundam to build as well....but yay for these plastic cases! :o no more dusting!!!!!! lol. Well, just dust the box but omfg yes!


I'm sure everyone and their mom has been curious to try those weird Kit Kat flavors exclusive only from Japan. Well, I stumbled on this at Marukai! It was like $3 something for a box ._. and it has 6 mini bags of kit kat in there, pricey but I checked ebay and other vendors online, their running for like $5-7 a box .__.ll oh my.

but yes! this. IS. AMAZING. Its really hard to describe the taste, its got a light smoooth green tea flavoring to it, and a hint of vanilla cherry-ish cake???ish lol, I guess thats where the cherry blossom comes in. Its very light, not too sweet, not too strong in flavor and I LIKE green tea but I'm always weary of anything Green Tea Macha flavoring coz it might be too strong or bitter, but, NOT THIS ONE. ITS AMAZING. I wished they carried this in a bag form ._.
I'm totally hording this tiny box and resisting eating it all in one sitting. LOL. I still have 3 bags left and I gave one to my brother and his gf already ):
lol. I need to get me one more box and just, HORDE that one LOL. But its SO WORTH IT.
What I also really want to try now is the SAKURA KIT KAT

If only I knew where to get these .__. I might have to pester Shin to bring me back some more Macha Sakura Kit Kat and the Sakura ones when He comes back from Japan to visit. And probably some Rainbow Pocky LOL to share with Toshi. HAHAHA.



I finally got some decent shots of this little coward LOL, hes SLOWLY getting used to me I guess o_o

it helped that my brother was holding him/petting him LOL so he didnt exactly run away when I had my camera out lol....
thats basically my week in a nut shell, now I should go to my parents house for free food thanks to their super bowl party o___O
I dont like the super bowl but I'm always down for free food LOL! And I should get working on some cosplays next week, seriously, if I'm not going to the shoot .___.

To avoid a completely bland photo less text blog....lol, heres a hint to the possible photoshoot change lineup we're gonna be doing for Cherry Blossoms *u*
hurhurhur. (yes, I'm so lame. I'm still using the OLD iPhone lawl. Thinking of upgrading to the Samsung Galaxy 2 Skyrocket or the iPhone4s for my bday. hnnggg iunno cant decide ;A; the interface on the Galaxy looks nice but the iPhone is so familiar >_>)

Is it sad that my Tumblog gets more loves than my actualy blog???lol, no, not really. Haha. Who can deny that Tumblr has pretty pictures and random memes to keep things interesting and slightly random.

Oh such dramatic appeal <3

lol. I havent updated my blog in a while - simple because not much has happened that worth writing about o__o

Except for well, future planned Cherry Blossom shoot which might have a few line up changes.

ohnoes! lol, but I expect good results - I hope.

I need to really use my camera more often =_=ll
I really want to start shooting again, I need to update my Model Mayhem photog. account /: urgh. cant pick which ones are best to upload to it lol...

I'm heading out tomorrow to hit the swap meet to hopefully gather materials to start sewing up a storm in my room lol in preparation for the coming spring and photoshoots :o

I'm waiting for my new green lenses to come in~
I also need to trim my new red wig and my old one so I can use it for the photoshoot in March/April. Lawl.

I need to write up lens reviews for all the other lenses I own /:
that requires putting them on LOL. omg. HAHAHA.
</3 I dont think I got a good shot of the brown princess bambi ones I got intime for PMX either /: