A small victory.

I love my kanzashi hairbands and for the past 6 months I have been searching the internet and shops for a box that will protect them.

Finally today, I have found it!



I can not tell you how pleased I was when I discovered them!

Oh I need to have a life if these little things please me.

What is this!

I finally received my tsukuri obi and it is the most modern one I have.



However when I got it, it came with a plastic obi makura. At first thought this seem like a good thing until you realise the size.



Its tiny! The otaiko part is 30cm wide and this is just 10cm. There is no way that this obi makura will give me the otaiko fullness that I like.

Nonetheless, it is amusing little thing and I have no idea what to do with it.

Feeling the winter blues already!

I really hate the end of summer.

The weather is cold and miserable but I can cope with that!

However the short days are a killer for me as it ruin my sleeping pattern. Somehow the thought of getting up when it is still dark just depressing. It feels like that I have only just gone to bed for a couple of hours and I like sleeping.

Tomorrow and Thursday I will be in London studying for my ACCA, which is fun but scary at the same time because these are my last two days of tuition. Soon I will need to think about revision!

Saturday's Lunch

If there is an event happening in London that gives me an excuse to wear a kimono then I am going. And if there isn't then why not just create one!

This Saturday I met up with my IG friends for a spot of shopping and lunch.

It started off really well, I got up at the right time and got on the right train and then the series of misfortune began. As I was about to get to Liverpool Station I realised I forgot my obi ita! So an emgerency shopping at WhSmith was need to find a subsitute was needed. Lucky I found a clear folder which would make a reasonable obi ita. Then off to Hong's to get change then she pointed out that one of my kimono seams has come loose! So that needed to be repaired before anything else could be done.

Ok we are all dressed and off we went to Piccadilly Circus. Stupidly I just got on the first DLR that was there which did not go to Bank. Hong did tell me that it didn't go to Bank but my brain was panicking! Not a problem we thought because we could get on the Tube at Tower Hill. Wrong! It was closed for whatever reason so we got on a bus to get to the nearest tube station which was Monument. But that was closed as well and the nearest one was Bank so we had to walk to Bank.

Finally getting to Bank we got to Piccadilly Circus at 12.30, an hour late which is not fashionably late.

After making our rubbish excuses to Chantel and April we made our way to the old Japan Centre to look at the non-food items. So much cute stuff to buy but no where to put it. The was the most adorable glass cat mug for £6.99 which was just shouting to be brought. However I had to resist as I don't have any space in my room. Chantel on the otherhand decided to buy a few matching plates and bowls, triangular onigiri maker and a onigiri lunch box.

Then off to Minamoto Kitchen because we are suckers for them but we didn't buy anything. They did have a cute window display though.


Although looking at the picture now, the models look a little creepy to me.

Hong and I were thirsty after our adventure with London transport so off we all went to Okawari for lunch.

Now you hear of things happening around Chinatown at night time and when we arrived at our restaurant we found it taped off as it was part of a crime scene! Ok at this point I think we were all a little stunned however the nice officer allowed us enter the restaurant because we had a booking and it was only a few feet past the police tape.

Okawari was chosen because it had tatami style seating where the tables were sunken into the floor to give the impression that you were sitting seiza style. Great idea however we all had trouble getting our legs under the table which lead to some unladylike behaviour.

Lunch was surprising nice with bento boxes priced around £10 and we all shared a tempura starter. All in all a very nice lunch and it gave us time to take a few pictures.

April and Hong.


Chantel.


Of course a trip to London would not be complete without a trip to Haagen Dazs.

This Saturday happen to be the grand opening of Japan Centre new food store near Mitsukoshi with a 10% off promotion. So as you can imagine it was very busy and we left it to the end of the day to have a look to avoid getting squashed.

As we all parted our way we all saw the most funniest thing. The man driving the little van was also singing as well and yes the van was blowing bubbles.


When I got home around 7.10pm I thought I deserve some lovely belgium chocolates that my brother was kind enough to buy for me. They are very nice by the way.

Another expensive hobby!

As you may have gathered, lately I have been on a kimono buying spree but I have another hobby which is even more expensive!

Corset!!!

Before I started on kimono my first fashion love are corsets. I have loved them for as long as I can remember and though people kept saying that they are fetish wear, I think they are gorgeous.

I have only three in my collection but with the cheapest on being £100 you can understand why I only have three.

£100 can buy you a lot of kimono.

As such, my next corset will be a custom made but I don't have a design in mind.

One has gone a little overboard!

The following photos were taken after one of my friends took a picture of their kimono collection.

I feel SOOOOO guilty for buying to much.



But I do love everything and to show how sad I am, I actually enjoyed rearranging my wardrobe to fit all my kimono items into it.

Here is some close up of my kimono



Now the obi



I wish I had more time to wear them!

I feel like moaning about annual appraisals.

Sigh..........work can be very trying for me. Ok with current economic being bad one should be glad that there is still a job for me and that there is no redundancy planned at my company. However it is the time of year for annual appraisals!

This year has been a bit of a challenge. I am doing well on my studies but it does not seem to be showing in my actual work. This means my progression through the ranks has been slow and as such managers are not happy. Unhappy managers means they don't like you and they will not book you for future work.

What does one do? Clearly doing my best is not working and although people have offered suggestions they don't seem to be working.

I can not help but feel depressed.

On a lighter note, I have purchase more kimono accessories!

Two pairs of lovely geta!

Another purple obi.

And another kinchaku bag which is slight bigger then my current one.



One has been very busy at Ryu Trading!