Here’s a look back at the last couple of months with photos, blog posts, plans & goals progress, links and more.
What I’ve been up to
After a horrible summer of bad news, things are starting to turn around and my luck is improving so fingers crossed I can end the year with some positivity. One thing I’ve been dealing with is potentially having to leave my home of 10 years but thankfully I had a nice landlord who made the extra effort to find a buyer who would take me too so now I have nice new landlord who wants me to stay forever. Removing some of this stress has helped me regain some enthusiasm to work on my shop and I have some new things happening. I’ve also been doing some crafts, reading a lot and photographing many sponsored things.
Recent blog posts
My posts on Super Cute Kawaii
- Fall 2024 Pusheen Box Review
- TokyoTreat Halloween Snack Box Review & Sakuraco Highlights
- Cute Characters: More Kawaii Cats
- Kawaii Halloween Crafts & Activities
- Halloween Picks By Kawaii Artists & Makers
- New Kawaii Craft Books To Buy & Preorder
- Free Kawaii Crafts & DIYs To Try
- Kawaii Plush Display Ideas
- Where To Buy Studio Ghibli Merch
- Cute Mermaids & Purrmaids To Buy & DIY
- Kawaii Sticker Books & Storage
- & lots more…
Plans & Goals Progress
- Books, Comics & Zines I Read in 2024 – 9 more, 3 ahead of schedule.
- I went out on my bike! And it went way better than I hoped so more rides to come (Scottish weather permitting…).
- I technically designed some new products, though they are all variations of existing products/artwork.
- I forgot this last time but Northumberland was another UK day/overnight trip.
Links I Loved
- It was the 20th anniversary of LOST last month and I am loving all the articles – and just finished a rewatch myself. Episodic Medium has a fascinating 3 part discussion between 3 critics from the time about Lost’s impact on TV criticism and I’m very much enjoying reading their book.
- I’m also looking forward to literary agent Kate McKean’s upcoming book on publishing as her Substack is a reliably great read. What I Say to Writers Who Pitch Me at Conferences is full of such good advice that also mostly applies to any kind of monetised project, e.g. “Is this [the book] you want to talk about for the next 2-5 years?”
- And I am currently trying to talk myself out of spending £30 on KILLED (OF KIDS): A Book By Huggy Bear but they were such a huge influence on me, as a band, zinesters, intro to Riot Grrl, politics etc.
- Rosecrans Baldwin writes about something I also love: “People who only appear occasionally, who pop up once in a while to do a very specific thing before disappearing again, are a lovely phenomenon these days.” Also a reminder for anyone who thinks it’s too late to come back to blogging or whatever. It isn’t! People who miss you will be so delighted.
- For future reference: A week of eating at the Edinburgh Fringe from The Boy Who Bakes.
- More Japan Super Budget Dining at SoraNews24 – this time how to spend ¥1,000 at Mister Donut (please let me!).
- Please also teleport me directly to the Suica penguin shop & cafe.
- I completed my Compendium run of Tears of the Kingdom, and it only took me just over a year (!) I wrote about it on my Zelda Tumblr and there’s loads more posts on there too. Feel free to boop me (I love Tumblr).
- I think we did an awesome job with our Reel for the Halloween TokyoTreat box.
- Random new hobby – watching full playthroughs of Zelda games I’m never going to play (or replay). The BeardBear channel is perfect in my opinion – no chat and no messing around or doubling back. I watched Wind Waker recently and it’s such an amazing and hilarious game – but it also removed any lingering wish to finally complete the game (too many boss fights at the end).
- A reminder that I share all my kawaii & Japan links on the Super Cute Kawaii newsletter. It’s free!
