No Sophie No Blog!

So last month I heard about this cool subscription box service called Kawaii Box. You've probably tried a fair few in your time, the kind that include beauty and skin products galore but this one is for the cute lovers in life. Kawaii is a Japenese term for 'Cute' and this very cute box contains various adorable items from Japan and Korea. Like any other subscription box it comes monthly, I purchase a 3 month subscription so you've got another two of these delightful boxes to enjoy- though I'm sure I'll renew my subscription because this box was just too good! Anyway, on with the unboxing (which was easy enough, I appreciate when they don't cover it in tape and it requires angry cutting to get into)

First inside (as well as a cute 'Share your Box' explanation and signature paper) is this little 'Thank You' card which is so sweet- thank you Kawaii Box!

On the flipside it contains 'spoilers' of what's inside the box. I chose not to look at this when I opened it purely for the surprise but it is handy, especially with items that are completely in Korean/Japanese, to figure out what things are.

Firstly is this little Pote Pote Disney Snow White keychain. I've never heard of these before, they kinda remind me of a Tsum Tsum, just standing upright and not lying down. This is very soft and squishy, the body feels like a beanie. It's actually quite big for a keychain, I've added it to my car keys anyway as I love it so much- and so does everybody who sees it!

These took a little investigating, they're Halloween themed gum from Marukawa. I'm not normally a gum person but I'll give these a shot, one is red and the other seems to be silver/black according to the packaging. I'm expect something really sweet out of these.

The first thing that caught my eye and OMG IT'S PIKACHU! I love Pokemon, if you didn't know, and this coin purse is just everything I need in life. It says Pokemon Center on the back of the card and comes with a keychain, so I suppose you could hang it from your house keys, car keys or bag for easy access. I currently use a big pencil case for work (I'm a Waitress and all my free money goes towards a float) but hopefully, fingers crossed, I'll change jobs soon and get to use this little guy!

A third cute keychain (keep it up Kawaii Box my car keys can take it!) is this little Strawberry Oreo delight. I love Oreo's, particularly all the new exciting flavours and surprisingly I've never tried Strawberry. It looks so cute and it's very squishy, it reminds me of a stressball (I normally find Oreo's a source of comfort when stressed) and it has a very nice Oreo-y smell as well. Pleasantly surprised.

These are Karipori Candy Sticks, according to the little 'Thank You' note. They come in a very nice little box with a flap that opens at the top, and you get two per packet. I've only tried the Cola flavour so far and it's very cola-y. You may as well have a pint of coke, you'll get the same taste. I have no idea what the purple one is, it looks sweet and tasty anyway. We'll have to see. I'll try and post what I think on Twitter. Check below for my Twitter handle.

This is a very cute Animal Spray Bottle. I love this. It's travel sized so it would be perfect for on the go or if you were heading on holiday (With the amount of liquid restrictions imposed this could be helpful for carrying perfume etc.) It may even help with hot days, we have the fires on at work and I might carry this with some cold water topped up to cool me down when the kitchen gets too much. Thank you Kawaii Box you're a lifesaver!

This is a 'Happy Food Eraser', it looks like it says it's from Yatai? Anyway it's adorable, it reminds me of the cute ones you used to find in WHSmith's stationary section. He has a blue body with a melting pink Ice Cream top and a smiley face all on his little Ice Cream stick. This could definitely be a cute present for a niece or nephew or yourself! I'm more than excited to use this whilst drawing.

MORE KEYCHAINS! This is a Cross Stitch Keychain Kit from Korea, it comes with two little keychain patterns and lots of different coloured threads. I wish I was good at cross stitching, I might give this one to my Gran and ask her to make it for me for Christmas or I could get my act together and try it myself! I love the little Apple design and the Pineapple is very relevant for Pineapple Pen!

Two of my favourite things in life- Food and Stickers. These cool food stickers come in a range of Japanese food designs, ideal for your sketchbook, journal or to decorate a phone case or notebook. They look so tasty! I'm going to open up my old language book and use these to help me learn Japanese in a fun way.

My heart melts for this card. It says 'Whatever you do, do it with all your heart'. It's from Moomin and shows a little guy trying to cut wood with an axe. It definitely gives out a positive message of never giving up which I love and it could be an amazing good luck card for somebody, I might keep it for when a friend moves jobs (No I won't give it to myself! Even though I want to ,hehe)

Our penultimate item are these very cute Sakura Blossom envelopes. I would love to use these to send letters, they'd be much better than your normal boring brown/white envelopes. I can also imagine they'd be a great way to wrap small presents like necklaces. The blue pops and the pink is a cute touch indeed here.

Finally the box contained this little mechanical pencil which I nearly didn't see.There's a little lion design with a mint green rubber, white background and mechanical pencil top. Very handy for writing without the need to sharpen, it's so dainty and cute that it would fit into any pencil case without looking garish at all!

I loved this month's Kawaii Box and I'm very excited for next month's- and the month after's! If you'd like to purchase one visit @KawaiiBoxCo on twitter or Kawaiibox.com for more details. Really hoping for some Christmassy delights in the months to come. Thank you so much Kawaii Box!

Sophie <3

Twitter: @nosophienoblog

Snapchat: nixonlsophie

Business Email: nixonlsophie@gmail.com

Last Friday I had the pleasure of visiting what is now one of my favourite places in the North East. I've been hugely interested in Cat Cafe's from watching Japanese Culture videos and I love cats. Like really REALLY love cats. I'd heard of Mog On The Tyne from former colleagues but it's not been until recently that I've found the opportunity to go. Me and my friend Keely caught the bus to Newcastle after booking a table and had a great time munching food with all of the cute cats they had. Stan the man is certainly a character and Keely fell in love with Sybil ("No Keely you can't take her home") and I loved Sir Francis and Gizmo (Well all of them actually).

The staff are really lovely people, it didn't feel like talking to a waiter, more like talking to a friend with the same interests as you. The rest of the customers were great as well, I struck up conversations with people I'd never met over our love of cute cats. The space is small and cosy so it doesn't feel manufactured and there's plenty for the cats and you to enjoy. Not to mention all the food and drink is super cute and even sometimes cat themed which I loved.

For £5 per person entry fee it felt like an absolute bargain, our bill actually came to much less than I thought. There's even merch I was tempted to buy (maybe next time) and the cosy slippers provided when you take off your shoes gives the cafe a much more relaxed atmosphere. It's lovely how your money goes towards helping the cats who are all strays from Westgate Ark- my heart just melted.

It really is a gem of a cafe that is well worth a visit. I've nabbed myself a loyalty card so I'm definitely coming back ASAP- especially with Christmas on the way. I can't recommend this place more. It's absolutely incredible.

Sophie <3

Twitter: @nosophienoblog

Snapchat: nixonlsophie

Email: nixonlsophie@gmail.com

DISCLAIMER: I have much more time consuming content than this planned, however Winter is coming and for the hospitality business that means our hours skyrocket. Therefore where previously I had everyday to blog now I'm going to have to be selective with my posts at least until New Years. I'll make it my duty to drop a post on Monday, Wednesday and Friday like I originally intended and any other posts will be an added bonus. 

In the nearly three years I've been in employment I've had my fair share of terrible positions. But that's life right? You can't find your prince without kissing a few frogs and it's the same with getting a job. I've scrubbed floors, cleaned toilets and served very angry customers (which is of course what I do now!) but one job definitely tops the rest in terms of awful experiences. 

Get your cup of tea ready, maybe a digestive biscuit (other biscuit brands are available) and put your feet up becaues this is going to be a LONG story.

So let's begin...

My first 'proper' job was working as a Waitress at a Hotel. It was pretty rubbish, the staff were lazy and the pay was poor. But as a student with no responsibilities, other than learning to drive, it was enough to get by and have some spare change for the fun things in life. I was there maybe five or so months before I finally passed my driving test (only 1 minor may I add!) and I was overjoyed. Finally I had the freedom I'd been waiting for. I didn't have to have my parents on standby to ferry me about, I was my own boss. I felt like such an adult. But with great rewards come great responsibilities and I was now faced with a hefty £1,500+ insurance fee to be able to be an adult. I spent so many nights crying because I just didn't have the money, neither did my parents. I applied for hundreds of jobs and heard nothing. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, I could leave my current job and possibly be worse off in the long run or delay driving.

I really wanted to get my insurance going, the longer I was a good driver the more it would go down and I thought that in the long run this would benefit me, after all nobody likes paying thousands for anything. It was late at night I noticed an advert for a new 'Vintage style store' opening (I'm not going to disclose the shop's name) and I thought eh, I could do that. I liked vintage at the time and it looked pleasant enough, plus the wage was a wopping £2 more per hour than what I was on at the time. It looked perfect. Oh how wrong I was.

I applied and managed to get an interview. Because it was a new store they were interviewing in bulk and I was in the last batch of three, maybe four groups. So my confidence wasn't particularly high, after losing out on so many jobs before I guessed I wasn't likely to get a position in a room full of experienced beautiful people. I tried though, I thought the manager looked impressed when I mentioned something about teamwork and I led my group with confidence. At the end we filled in sheets with our availability and left. It felt right? You know when something seems to fit you so perfectly. I knew I had to get at least an offer for a position.

On the Friday after I got a call saying they were willing to offer me an 8 hour a week contract. They explained 'ALL' (this is a key point) contracts would be reviewed after Christmas with the shop being new, so nobody was safe. I accepted it, the money was good and I wasn't fussed about serving another plate of food at the time. So I handed in my notice and stepped into the dangerous world of retail.

At first it was good. Shifts were fairly short and most of the staff seemed friendly. As the weeks passed however something seemed very wrong. A lot of girls were going about like they already 'had' the permanent positions. I felt like one of the only people working, most staff just stood chatting about their holidays or whatever they'd been up to, I heard more about shopping than I did our new stock. Bag checks, although necessary, felt intrusive and often older members of staff got away without having them. Our manager was frantic, she yelled at everybody when she was stressed and ignored the inexperienced members of staff instead of supporting them with their training. All in all it was a shabby place to work and my confidence started to dwindle.

Then I discovered something that really sent a chill down my spine. I was looking at the next weeks rota, around Christmas time, and found a sheet of paper detailing everybody's contracts. To my horror not all of the positions were temporary like they had previously stated. I was down as a temp, which is not what I had agreed to, and some of the other members of staff were permanent. We were all pretty annoyed at this. I was panicking all the way home, I had £120 a month insurance that needed to be paid for and now faced the possibility of not having a job at the end of the year. But still, I sucked it up and decided to face management. 

I was terrified of my manager so decided to speak to the slightly calmer looking Assistant Manager. I explained my situation, and how I was unable to get discount bus fair because I had been lied to about my contract. She smirked at me, telling me I didn't need a permanent job (Yeah like the 16 year old students did) and that I should've turned down the contract knowing the situation. She was completely ignoring me. I felt as a temp I didn't stand a chance of getting a permanent contract especially after overhearing that staff numbers would have to be cut. I went home in tears. My anxiety peaked and I had constant panic attacks, I could barely do a shift.

To make matters worse I received my P45 (Cancellation of employment) a single day before my last shift. So in a matter of hours I went from having a job to not having a job. My manager called me in and explained that Head Office had wrongly sent out the P45's without permission of the store and she was sorry. I couldn't care. I put on a front and said I was fine and walked out on Christmas Eve without a job. All temps had been cut and some permanent staff's jobs' were on the line.

I'd been messed around, lied to and bullied by older members of staff. It was three months, medication and counselling later for my anxiety that I eventually got another job. I love it, I'm back waiting tables and although some staff aren't my cup of tea it's good for me.

Always be extra careful when signing contracts. Check twice, three times, maybe four just to make sure everything is spot on. I was lucky I had my parents' support or I wouldn't struggled paying my insurance.

Tell me your worst job experiences here or via Twitter. 

Sophie <3

Twitter: @nosophienoblog

Snapchat: nixonlsophie

Business Email: nixonlsophie@gmail.com

LONG story short I've been looking for a cute wallet/purse forEVER. It sucked that every cute purse was mega expensive and often overseas meaning excessive shipping charges (It's going to the UK not Mars!) But behold, my super kawaii wallet, featuring the star of My Neighbour Totoro and my favourite anime character- Totoro! I fell in love with this the moment I saw it ("OMG I HAVE TO BUY THAT!") And £15 later (which I personally thought was a bargain) I was in the possession of a pretty pink Totoro wallet. Perks include:

* LOTS of different compartments for paper money, receipts and coins

* THE CUTEST LINING of pink and white for the coin section

* ITTY BITTY TASSLES as a cute added extra

Because I'm constantly travelling to and from work I find it hard to get the time to play many video games anymore with the exception of those I desperately want to play (Sun and Moon hype anybody?) So as an alternative I thought I would share my favourite Kawaii app games that I play each week, to give you a cute present to play on your way to work.

This week it's 10 Billion Wives by Masukachi Inc. Because why choose monogamy when you're full of Chibi cuteness? (10 Billion Husbands is also available).

The goal of the game is to collect 'Wives' using 'Love' points which are gained over time from the wives you currently have. This is called 'LPS' or 'Love Per Second' which depends on her initial 'LPS', level and what presents the player has bought her. These can be achieved at lvl.20, 100 and 120. You can also gain love through tapping, this starts at 1 love but increases with upgrades you can buy later on. There are sixteen unlockable wives.

I'm currently sat at 8 wives. For the time I've been playing on my breaks I think that's fairly good, the brilliant thing about this game is the speed 'Love' is gained. It scales well depending on the level of your wives, how many you have, how far you've got in the game and their gifts. So to begin with you only need 1,000 Love for a level which progresses to 10,000,000 Love for a level later in the game. 

It's cute to see your wives running across the screen (some faster than others, ONI Wife I'm looking at you! I couldn't capture her in a screenshot). The variation of the wives is an appealing part of the game, it's nice to see so many different characters and in a strange way it's nice to see so many different people represented in their hobbies etc. 

The game provides an easy tutorial mode that I pretty much skipped through, it wasn't difficult to figure out how the game worked. Because it's so straight forward it is addictive, you can find yourself tapping away until your love runs out and you're forced to wait. But than in itself is what keeps you coming back for more.

The game also gives you the option to receive notifications. This is handy to find out when you can meet another wife, meaning you don't have to be constantly glued to the game to see how much 'Love' you have. The game is free on iOS and Android devices. An easy option if you just want to pass the time with some visual cuteness and simple methods.

Sophie <3

Twitter: @nosophienoblog

Snapchat: nixonlsophie

Business Email: nixonlsophie@gmail.com

(Images courtesy of 10 Billion Wives by Masukachi Inc.)

Whilst doing some browsing (*cough* shopping*) on Pokecenterloot I came across the new range of 'Villain' Pikachu's from the Poke Centers in Japan. And in celebration of this and Pokemon's 20th anniversary I did a little painting of the Team Rocket Pikachu plush to kick off this 'series' (I don't know what to call it) of paintings. I may not be the best artist but I enjoy it, and I think I verge more on the simple style of things- if it looks like it then that's good for me!

So let's get on with it!

Since I started painting again (I stopped when my anxiety got so bad I couldn't finish a piece) I started sketching in blue, I remember BananaJamana (amazing Youtuber and artist, check her channel out, I'll pop it below) saying sketching in blue helps the colours pop and it really does. It's less harsh as well and easily coverable with light colours if your sketch goes a little wrong. I used the Plush as a base and changed the pose to give Pikachu a bit more life and sass (because who is more sassy than Team Rocket!)

I don't paint in any particular order. I like doing the striking bits first because it gives me a bit of confidence that the painting will look like what it's supposed to so here I started with the ears and the eyes. I pick up most of my art supplies from my local Boyes shop, it has an amazing craft selection upstairs. They aren't the fanciest but art supplies in the UK are fairly expensive so I do my best with what I have. I thought getting new acrylics was spoiling myself! Acrylic is normally my paint of choice because I find watercolour dreary and oil too thick. I normally paint on canvas' as well but I'm out currently so I used paint paper.

The painting took more shape after I started Pikachu's body. My painting skills are still a bit rusty so there was some smudging around the eye that I later corrected with more yellow. The shape of Pikachu's body made it easy to create shape. I like to stop myself once I finish the painting and look away from it, that way I notice any obvious bits I need to finish.

And this is the finished product! Just as cute as the Plush and bent on world domination, Pikachu must've finally gone over to the dark side after being captured by James, Jessie and Meowth! If you fancy getting the plush I'll pop it below. I'd also recommend checking out the special Pikachu's and the Christmas range now we're all taking down our Halloween decor! If you liked this then drop a comment, like or share on Twitter and follow me for more Kawaii art.

BananaJamana Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bananajamana

Team Rocket Pikachu Plush: http://www.pokecenterloot.com/product-page/4556239501