I Miss Blogging!

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been about 4 months since I last blogged...I really miss blogging :( Unfortunately I've been really busy for the past few weeks and I'm sure things will only get busier from here, especially with finals coming up! I have a few review and haul posts coming up so I hope to get started on them over winter break :) Until then, here is a picture of a mini layer cake I made! The inside is filled with fresh whipped cream, peaches, and strawberries :)

The Rest of My Japan Trip

Lololol this is basically going to be a post composed of random pictures I took in Japan...nothing terribly detailed like my first post on my adventures in Japan, sorry! If you have any questions about a picture that you see feel free to leave a comment below.

Went to a museum...actually I got dropped off at the wrong museum T_T The one I wanted to go to was an hour away so I decided to just spend my afternoon here. It was actually kind of interesting so it wasn't a big deal.

Delicious matcha dessert my aunt and I got by Asakusa.

Bought ice cream at a booth in Asakua. There were so many tourists crowded around this ice cream store since they sold really unique flavors: vanilla, green tea, vanilla and strawbery, vanilla and chocolate, vanilla and green tea, grape, sweet red bean, chocolate, strawberry, black sesame, blue berry yogurt, marron, mango, custard pudding, cookies vanilla, rum raisin, white peach, fully ripened melon, chinese style almond jelly, chocolate and banana, purple potato, mandarin orange, buckwheat, pineapple, bean powder, and french vanilla. I went with red bean ice cream; it was really good!

Katsu: So. Freaking. Good.

Omurice.

Calpis! I drank this almost every day in Japan :P That and matcha green tea.

I forgot what this dish was called but in addition to this mystery dish we also ordered monjayaki, which I specifically ordered in honor of Tonari No Kaibtusu-Kun lol.

Chocolate and matcha green tea ice cream.

.

Went to some stained glass/church museum. It was boring.

Hot soba :D

Ghibli exhibit at the Nasu Teddy Bear Museum. SO GOOD. If you are a Miyazaki fan and in Japan, be sure to check out this special exhibit before it gets taken down!

Giant Totoro!

My aunt and uncle took me on a road trip and this is the hotel where we stayed at. They slept on two twin bds while I got to sleep on the tatami mat.

This hotel was super fancy and it must have been expensive...there was a buffet-styled breakfast/lunch/dinner offered there and the food was of the best quality possible. I had so many plates of sashimi!

My relatives also took me to a zoo where there weren't any cages for the animals. I love lions so I freaked out when I saw a bunch :) Look at how close I was to him!!!! Okay I used a pretty good lens and zoomed in but still....!!

I also got to feed a giraffe. It was overall a super fun experience.

Udon noodle soup with mochi.

!!!

The best thing I have ever had at Starbucks: a chocolate brownie matcha green tea cappuccino. Too bad it's only available in Japan :(

And on my second to last day in Japan I ate takoyaki. The two guys working there were SUPER cute..too bad I was too shy/embarrassed to ask for a picture with them >:(

Hope you enjoyed reading this post!

Canada: Day 1 and 2

Hi everyone! I just got back from vacation with my family in Canada. I didn't have time to blog during my vacation but now I do hehe. 

I live in the Midwest so driving straight to Canada would have taken way too long. We decided to stay one night in Ohio but before we did so we went to Shipshewana, Indiana. I'm not sure why...I thought it was really boring :/ We first went to the Shipshewana Auction & Flea Market since it's supposed to be the Midwest's largest flea market.

I would NOT recommend visiting this place. My whole family agreed it was a waste of our time. There were more fake designer items than anything else...I have never been to a flea market before so maybe that's the norm but I personally did not enjoy my visit haha.

I bought a slice of custard pie to try and it was okay. Nothing amazing and it was actually kind of expensive for "okay" ($3).

We then visited an Amish community and went on a 15 minute buggy ride. Nothing terribly exciting, but I guess it was kind of interesting to see what the Amish wear...we also bought some kettle corn to eat.

After staying in Ohio for a night, we went to Cleveland's Little Italy.

Display in one of the stores; I thought the necklace was quite pretty.

After walking around for a bit we stopped by a bakery.

Excuse my brother's hand....

 We didn't end up buying any of the delicious looking cakes but we bought a box of cookies. I didn't think the cookies were worth $9 as they weren't amazing (or maybe I just have really high standards when it comes to food haha).

That's it for Day 1 and 2!

EDIT: oops I forgot to change my watermark to shewalksonstsars.blogspot.com -_-"

Japan Haul Part 1 of 2

Don't forget to enter my Thank You giveaway here! :)

I'm not done with my Taiwan Haul posts yet (I still have to finish editing some pictures) but I've been so behind on my posts that I am trying to get one up every two or three days...emphasis on the word "trying" haha.

I didn't buy that many things in Japan because things were a bit more expensive in Japan than in Taiwan. I of course bought some matcha flavored snacks. The matcha flavored Pocky was ehhh. It wasn't anything amazing. The matcha flavored chocolate wafer snacks were pretty good though. The purple packets on the right are chocolate covered grape flavored gummies are divine...but I actually got them in Taiwan and not Japan :P My bad.

I haven't tried most of the snacks pictured here so I can't comment on their taste. However, the milk tea mushrooms are absolutely amazing and I totally regret buying just one box :/

My aunt bought a ton of Japanese curry for me to take back to the States. This isn't even all of it -_-"

If I remember correctly, I got these bento making supplies at Tokyu Hands. I already tried making the panda rice balls and they actually do end up looking like what's pictured! I also bought 3 sakura shaped carrot cutters and a bunny shaped cookie cutter.

I believe I got these at Daiso. They were too cute to pass up. I'm not sure if I'll ever use it though...I think these are meant to be used for little girls and not college students like me haha.

I also got these stationary supplies at Daiso. Just one dollar for lace tape?! Yes please :)

I can't remember if I got these from Taiwan or Japan =_=" I know for a fact that I got all the pouches on the left at Daiso, and I think the pens are actually from Taiwan...but I'm not sure. I am definitely getting old.

Finally, I bought these super cute bookmarks at Asakusa. I don't know if I'll ever use them but I thought these were pretty unique.

Have you ever tried matcha green tea flavored snacks? If so, did you like it? If not, is it something you want to try?

Taiwan Haul Part 4

I usually never wear false eyelashes and actually wasn't planning on buying any in Taiwan, but my cousin convinced me that they really do make a difference and are perfect for special events. I caved in and bought a box for about 150 NTD. These were the most natural false eyelashes my cousins could find (out of the 20+ kinds sold at the store...).

I am a huge sucker for stationary. In Taiwan, I spent over one and a half hours looking around in just a single, modestly sized stationary store. I bought a ton of stickers and birthday cards. I also bought 4 notepads, a set of paper envelopes, and a box of small notecards.

It would take me way too long to individually photograph each food item that I bought in Taiwan so I'm not going to :P But I filled up 2 large suitcases with food, so yes, I bought a TON of snacks. Half of my snack haul was generously gifted to me by my cousin Wendy.

 Some of my favorite snack purchases include a box of pudding (one of my favorite things to eat in Taiwan), matcha milk mix, and Koala's March cookies in various flavors (I think I got them in chocolate, milk, custard, and vanilla ice cream).

I apologize in advance for the next few weeks: I'll definitely be posting since I have about 3 more posts to go until I finish my Taiwan/Japan haul posts, and I have purchased quite a bit of things since I came back from Taiwan -_-". However, I think I'm putting my Taiwan/Japan diary posts on the back burner for now.

I'm going to try and finish them, but they take a long time to put together so I'll only work on them when I have some free time...which will be rare during the next few weeks due to my online classes, internship, traveling (again...), church activities, meeting up with friends I haven't seen in a while, and taking my cousin Ivy (who'll be coming from Taiwan and staying with us for about 3 months) out to shop/eat/explore.

So a big THANK YOU! to those who read my blog and comment. It brings a smile to my face :) And yes, I can't properly say thank you with a giveaway...which is coming up very, very, VERY soon ;)