Winner of Giveaway and Florida Trip

Happy Easter everyone!  

 First off, congratulations to Monika for winning my mini birthday giveaway!  She will be receiving the items listed in the previous blog post~ a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anyway, something very sad happened to me recently.

My grandma passed away about two months ago. I didn't have it in me to discuss it on my blog back then, but my grandma was a wonderful lady. She inspired me so much to be who I am today. She passed her love of Japanese culture to me as well as her love of fashion, and she taught me to be kind and loving to others. I will forever miss her. 

This is a photo of me and my grandma. I was probably 2 or 3 years old in this picture.

So in the middle of this month my dad and I went to Florida to visit my grandpa as he was very lonesome and down. We live in Illinois so we're very far away from him and don't get to see him very often. It was so nice to be with him and to help cheer him up. We spent nice quality time together talking, going out to restaurants, the beach, and enjoying the weather there. My dad golfed with him, golfing has always been my grandpa's favorite past time. It was time that doubled as quality family time as well as vacation time since I got to be off of work for a little over a week, and the temperatures were much warmer there than in Illinois where it's still snowing lol.

 So while in Florida, I made sure to take lots of pictures of my grandpa and the things we did. I'll post some of them here~ (The ones I posted here are also on Instagram along with more photos)

I can see the beach! (photo from inside the plane~)

A family friend let us stay in their vacation home (which just happens to be really close to my grandpa's house!) during our stay. Here's the room I stayed in.

Our rental car was this cute little Fiat 500


Grandpa :)

Pretty flowers~

Docks and seagulls

Beach (only went one time while there and stayed for a short period but it was nice~)

Saw this cute little guy relaxing poolside!

Went to an anime store (grandpa was like "oh this is like the stuff you draw huh?" hehe) and saw this super adorable Vaporeon plushie. He's super soft too. Had to get him and had to bring him to the beach for a photo op hahaha

Drew this in the car on the way to a restaurant for my birthday dinner~ Ended up giving the drawing to my grandpa because he liked it  

Found my favorite coffee in a store there!!

I dunno, I like this photo of me hehe. I was told by shop staff in an accessory/clothing store that I looked Greek because of the headband haha


Bought the backpack for myself so that I could travel easier than with my purse. Plus it was super cute being lavendar and all~ Attached Korilakkuma to it. The shoes and wallet were a gift for my birthday.

Food snaps:

And I might as well post my nail art that I've done since my last nail art post.

Glitter and pastel


Simple pink and polka dots


Color blocking and leopard


Ribbons


I'll end this post by saying I love and miss you forever grandma, and I already miss you grandpa! Much love~

Nice Weather

I'll start this off with... "omg, the weather has been SO nice!" It's been in the upper 60s to 80F degrees for the past half a week or so, and looking at the forecast, it seems like it will continue to be wonderful! Because of the pleasant weather, I went out and took some pics of my newer ball jointed doll, Cerelia (a Bobobie March). Here's a couple of the pictures:

I also recently purchased some face care products, both involving foam~! One is Acne Free's Oil-Free All-Day Acne Control Leave on Foam.

Product description:

"Acne Free Clear Skin Treatments Oil Free All-Day Acne Control, contains 5% Continuous Release Micro-Benzoyl Peroxide Leave on Foam. Shine Control 12 hour clearing. Non Sticky. Fast absorbing. Kills 99% of acne bacteria on contact and keeps working for up to 12 hours."

It's nice because it features a pump and the product comes out as a foam! It also has 5% micro benzoyl peroxide. Regular bp tends to feel kind of grainy, but this goes on very nicely and smoothly, so it doesn't make my makeup look funny. 5 stars~!

The other product is Noxema's Clean Blemish Control Foaming Wash. 

Product description:

"Clean Blemish Control Foaming Wash, created specially for Adult skin, deep cleans to help treat and prevent blemishes while restoring skin's moisture balance.  Skin is left beautifully clear and feeling moisturized."

I love this foaming wash so far! The smell is sweet, almost like something berry-ish? This wash is excellent at removing my makeup, so many other ones I've tried have left some makeup residue on my face. This one also leaves my face feeling moisturized. I also like how this wash is formulated for adults with blemishes/acne. 5 stars, I love this cleanser.

So far I have been using both products for about a week, and my face looks a lot smoother and I seem to be having less breakouts.

I'll leave some photos here of my past week or two~ (which has been very busy and tiresome, lol.)

Mm, OFK's strawbery aloe drink. Served up in a retro Care Bear glass (seriously, it's from the 80s pizza hut promo, my aunt gave this glass to me~!) I've also been drinking the peach and mango varieties~ Aloe drink =

Hibachi chicken with steamed rice and veggies from a local Japanese restaurant~

Spur of the moment nail polish.

Chocolate horn/coronet I got on the left, and a cannoli (I think?) that my dad got at the local international market. The coronet was sooooo good. 

Anyway, that's it for this post. Now I should go shower and possibly take a walk while it's so beautiful out~! (My birthday is tomorrow, too! )