A look back at my month with photos, blog posts, plans & goals progress, links and more.
What I’ve been up to
September was not a good month for me, thanks to some health issues and stressful work stuff. I was a bit worried I wouldn’t have any photos to share but luckily we had a late birthday trip planned for Nicolette. We stayed in Leith next to this lighthouse and had some fun outings.
I should probably do a separate blog post about the trip as I took a lot of really cool photos. We did a boat trip that went under all 3 bridges in the Firth of Forth, as well as dropping us off on Inchcolm island for a few hours. The time went surprisingly fast for such a small island as there’s a ruined abbey, some abandoned WW2 stuff and great views.
Nicolette was keen to go to Apple Day at Aberdour Castle and it was actually really great. They were pressing apples into an endless stream of apple juice that we drank a lot of, plus apple tasting and you could help yourself to apples in the orchard as well. The gardens were lovely too, and then we had lunch at the beach, on a surprisingly hot and sunny day.
This is what happens when I’m in charge of birthday celebrations. Nicolette is not ten years old but kawaii is for life.
Purchases & Gifts
I spent a whole £6 on souvenirs, bringing home a pin of the Forth rail bridge, a hand-knitted pumpkin (with a Tunnock’s Teacake inside), and a hand-picked Laxton’s Fortune apple. I’m going to cook that up and eat it with my porridge tomorrow.
I mentioned last month that I was enjoying listening to music again and I ended up buying an MP3 player. Compared to an iPhone, or even an old iPod, it is complete trash but it does the job and holds all my music. I love that it looks like an iPod Mini as I loved mine. I also upgraded my headphones as they were on sale.
Things I Wrote
- August Recap
- New Kawaii Character Collabs
- Cute Sticker Sheets For Autumn/Fall
- Introducing Lloromannic
- Everyday Jewellery with Kawaii Characters
- Autumn/Fall Craft Supplies
- Kawaii Links & Videos Roundup
- Kawaii Blind Boxes & Gachapon
- Relatable Kawaii Artist Picks
- New At San-X This Month
Plans & Goals Progress
Books: 2 more, now 2 books ahead on my reading challenge. You can see them all in Books, Comics & Zines I Read in 2026. I also finished going through all my small zines, which a real nostalgia fest. I still have a few file boxes of A4 zines so they’re next.
Crafts: I haven’t done any crafts this month but I am excited to get started on some dressmaking soon, thanks to these books I was sent to review by Search Press. I have been intimidated by dressmaking but all the projects look very achievable so I am hopeful! I also did a surprisingly good job of decorating my TokyoTreat spooky noodles with hand-cut decorations. Look out for them on SCK tomorrow!
Cycling: It’s been a full year of Zwifting! I feel quite proud of that achievement and my Scotty the squirrel pocket plush was a big incentive to keep my streak going. I didn’t manage as many rides as usual this month, though I did complete the Shorts challenge at the last minute. It included a 5 minute crit loop that was basically Mario Kart and a hill climb up Box Hill in London which was Not Fun.
2026km goal update: currently 1488km completed, 33km behind schedule – noooo! I will have to do a few of longer rides soon to catch back up.
Other stuff: My Duolingo has been on a streak freeze all month but I think I will start back at the beginning soon.
