February: Books I've Read

I have to say this month I have lacked on keeping up with my reading a book each month even though I have still managed to read one book but that was only because it was a quick read book which I spotted by my favourite author in Tesco otherwise I wouldn't have read one book this month.

I did mention in my January post that I was going to use this time to try and finish two books I already had started reading and out of the two I picked up 50 Shades of Grey and anyone who has read the book knows that its quite big and I am a very slow reader so hopefully I can get this one done in March so that I can start on some of my other books!

A Very Distant Shore by Jenny Colgan

I love reading any book by Jenny Colgan and I have so many on my book shelf that I have't even read yet and when I saw this one in Tesco for £1 under the quick reads section I had to get it. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed the little boats on the front were very similar to another one of Jenny's new books The Summer Seaside Kitchen which turns out is set in the same place and is a small spin off book.

I haven't read her new book yet or even brought it because I still have so many others to read but after reading the first few chapters of this book it has made me want to go and pick it up and it be my next book.

The book its self is 34 chapters and only 160 pages long which is great for a quick read and somebody who is a slow reader like myself. It did feel really weird reading like two pages and the chapter being over but the story its self was so good and I loved every moment of it.

The only issue is I have fallen in love with the two main characters and I am not 100% sure how much they are included in the main book. I know that Lorna will be because she is the main characters best friend but as for Saif I have no clue but that won't stop me reading.

So here we are going in to March already and time to start another new book or maybe finish 50 Shades who knows maybe I'll do both!

Disneyland Paris September 2017 Series: General Trip Infomation

Welcome everyone to the first post of my new series all about the lead up to my next and last Disney holiday until November 2018 boo hoo!

I thought I would ease the series in with a simple general bit of information about this trip like how we are travelling, where we are staying and more importantly a bit about Emma!

Our holiday begins on the 11th September when we will fly from Birmingham airport to Paris Charles De Gaulle in the early morning. We originally wanted to get the 6:30 am flight but once our dates were available they bumped up the costs a fair bit I imagine because this would be a popular business flight so we opted for the next one being at 9:20 am which in a way is more in our favour because by the time we have arrived, picked up our bags and made our way to the shuttle it will be about 12:30 pm meaning we should arrive at Disney by 13:30 pm with the hope that our room may be ready early!

We have decided that we would meet up in Birmingham the night before and stay in a hotel over night so we were ready for the flight in the morning. Ideally it would have been cheaper and easier to fly from Bristol and Emma from where she lives so next time this will be something I will more likely do than travel somewhere else.

Once at Disney we are staying in hotel Cheyenne for 4 nights and 5 days leaving on the morning of Friday the 15th September which will give us 3 and half days in the parks. We could have travelled home later on the Friday but because we both have onward journeys to make via train I thought it would be easier to get home for lunch time so we can both be home for dinner.

Due to having this holiday booked back in June last year it means we managed to still get breakfast included within our deal as now any bookings made for after the end of March this year no longer include it which is a real shame because it makes things more expensive.

The reason for the visit is because whilst we are there it is actually my 25th Birthday and at the same time it is Disneyland Paris's 25th Anniversary so I thought what a great way to celebrate then to spend it in Disney with my Best Friend Emma.

After a few issues with our booking due to the travel rep being a totally idiot we managed to get everything back on the straight and narrow. In our booking we have included 4/5 nights at Hotel Cheyenne including breakfast, Disney Magic Shuttle, Birthday Cake and confirmed lunch at ADC which is the Princess lunch on my actual Birthday. We paid for flights separately as they weren't available when we made the booking but it actually made our holiday a good £150 cheaper doing it this way anyways.

So more about my beautiful Emma. We have been friends for nearly a year and a half now and even after only being friends for a couple of months she was saying that she would love to come on my Birthday trip to Disneyland Paris and I am so excited that she is. We actually became friends via good ole Instagram via our mutual love for Disney of course but also The Sims but I actually think the first time we spoke was about The Sims and not Disney!

Ever since we have been talking most days, face timing and have met in person twice as she lives a little further away than I would like ;) I cannot wait to be reunited in 195 days for all our fun to begin!

Not sure which part of our planning I will post about next but with the anniversary beginning soon I can start to make more plans!

Disneyland Paris/Paris Trip Report: Day 2 DISNEY DAY!

Finally after months of waiting since my last Disney coach trip the day had arrived and we were of to spend the day in DISNEY! Who doesn't love a Disney day?

"Fast Forward" all the morning boring stuff getting up, getting ready, eating and checking out we were finally in the lobby with Michelle and Tracy waiting for the coach to turn up to take us to the parks. It was late which didn't surprise us but that didn't stop us taking a few photos and messing around chatting to the other members from our party.

We arrived at Disneyland around 9:50 am and made our way over to the Walt Disney Studios to get our fast pass for Ratatouille as Jemma had never been on it before plus with it being a favourite of mine and so popular it made sense to get a Fast Pass first.

After getting our fast pass we headed over to RC Racer in the Toy Story play area as nobody really wanted to ride this with me on the last two trips and it was another ride that Jemma hadn't been on before well I dragged her on it to say the least. After this it was finally time to ride the best ride ever Ratatouille which is just amazing and it really doesn't matter who many times you ride it as its still amazing every time.

It was still raining at this point which was a real shame because he hadn't had chance to get out our cameras or Instax Polaroids but the rain was meant to stop later so in the mean time we got in the line for Tower of Terror which was currently at 60 minuets wait and boy was that a big fat lie by the time we had waited in the rain and reached the inside foyer bit to the hotel we had been waiting an hour to be told that only 2 of 6 lifts were working but by that time we thought we better stick it out and finally two hours later had rode TOT and reached the twilight zone ;)

I cannot believe that by the time we had rode RC Racer, Tower of Terror and Ratatouille it was coming up to 3 pm and we thought we had better get some lunch. We ended up in the quick service restaurant opposite the shops as you enter the Studio's because I was dying to get the Vader Menu and I am sooooo glad that I did!

The burger was AMAZING it was a simple burger with cheese, salad, gerkins and this special sauce in the most amazing black coloured burger bun. When I was carrying it to the table everyone was looking at my food because it was pretty weird if I am honest even when I was eating it it felt a little odd but it tasted so good. It was accompanied by a Yoda cupcake which was to die for one of the best cupcakes I had had although it was more like a gooey chocolate brownie with a green coloured cream on top.

We were originally meant to be meeting Michelle and Tracy at 4:30 pm to go and grab a spot for the parade but by the time we had finished eating it was near 4 pm and the sun was out so we decided to mess around taking some photos in the production courtyard of the Studios before making a decision to go grab a goofy hug which was the best thing ever. After this we hit the shops before making our way over to the Disney Park.

When we arrived we managed to catch the last half of Disney Magic on Parade as we had both seen it a few times we weren't to bothered if we missed it although I am glad I got to see some of it. I cannot believe it was now near 6 pm and it was getting dark ever so quickly so we made a dash for the castle for another photo shoot haha.

With the wait time for Big Thunder Mountain only at 45 minuets and after all the other failed attempts at riding this ride we decided to give it ago and long and behold after 3 years I finally got to ride it! It was incredible and I think the experience was even better because we were riding it in the dark which for some reason gave me a fit of giggles!

Once we came off BTM it was just gone 7 pm so we took a stroll up Main Street and went in every single shop there was although I feel like one shop was missing from previous trips so when I go back in September I shall have to take a look and see if it was just my imagination.

We decided that we would watch the Star Wars show instead of Disney Dreams this time around although that changed very quickly as after arriving we realised it was the French showing and not the English which threw us a little but after speaking with a CM we realised the programme was incorrect and they didn't bother to change it which really annoyed me!

So in the end we hopped over to Main Street and managed to get the most perfect view for Disney Dreams to finish of the most perfect day!

I'm glad that I managed to watch Dreams one last time before it all changes in March. I had the most amazing trip with Jemma and it was great to finally visit Disney with her and hopefully next time it will be for longer. So 199 days until I am back home so until then Disney!

Review: February 2017 Tokyo Treat Box

And here we are already in to February and on to my 2nd Tokyo Treat box of the year! 

I am trying to decide whether to order the March Yume Twins box at the moment because its going to be Totoro themed but I am going to wait and see what people get first because I am a little strapped for cash and want to make sure its items worth getting and I know since I last had it they have changed they're boxes which seem to be containing better items so we shall see.

With it being February this months theme is Valentines Day and from the items I am looking at in this box they are all pretty pink and fit very well.

As always here is a photo of the outside and inside of the book that they provide you detailing all the items with in the box in English as well as some extra bits of information which I always look forward to reading.

Usually I would post a photo of the whole box and contents but because I was knackered from my trip to Paris when I was taking the photos I kind of forgot about those ones and ate a lot of the box before I forgot.

Items Received:

Strawberry Chocolate Covered Barley Puffs (5/5)

I knew we had had these before! In my first box I got last year in March!

Tirol Choco Strawberry Assortment (3)

I thought I had seen this brand and I was correct we received some of these in the March 2016 box but they were Sakura flavoured and this month these are strawberry flavoured but 3 different ones. Out of them all my favourite is named as Smoothie although from the photos it doesn't look like a smoothie ha. I wasn't that keen on the other 2 hence why the score is a little lower.

Strawberry Picola (1/5)
I don't know if because by the time I started eating these I was bored of the Strawberry flavour but I really wasn't really all that keen on these. My partner loved them so he's happy as that is more for him ha!

Peach Gumballs (5/5)
I love a good chewing gum and after having other flavours of these before I was looking forward to trying these although to start with I was like what these aren't sour like the usual ones but wow after the sweet taste you get it doesn't have pack a punch of sour after. I love liquid centre they had as well.

Mini Peach Ramune (5/5)

These are like really tiny peach ramune flavoured candies which tasted amazing shame they weren't bigger because I think they may have lasted me longer ha!

Calbee Kataage Chips - Clam Soup (5/5)

I love Calbee chips! And these ones are just amazing even though I thought they would be really fishy but they actually weren't at all although I am not really sure what clam's taste like but these were really nice.

Mini Asparagus Biscuits (5/5)
I find the name of these really bizarre because they are simply a biscuit with a layer of chocolate on the bottom and don't even resemble asparagus so would love to know where they got the name from. These did how ever taste very yummy and were just simple. 

Strawberry Mousse DIY - N/A - Haven't completed

Calpis Gummy Apple Flavour (5/5)
I had never heard of Calpis before until the drink that was included in last months box which I really liked so when I saw that these gummies were included I couldn't wait to give them ago. You could definitely taste the creamy taste like how the drink tasted with this apple flavour thrown in, I really loved the jelly middle.

Harvest Cheese Crackers Sandwich (5/5)
I feel like I have had something similar to these in the UK before but I cannot quite put my finger on it but these tasted amazing. They are little crackers with a cheese filling inside and the cheese has such a strong taste as well so these will definitely last a while as they're not something that you would eat in one sitting as they're very rich.

Bourbon Petit Shrimp Crackers (2/5)
I'm still not convinced on these and I think its the flavour.

Amuse Japanese Lucky Charms

Pocky Midi Strawberry Fromage (5/5+)
BEST POCKY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously this is amazing. I have never seen Pocky like this before so was really excited to give this a go and after trying it I am not sure I could eat normal Pocky again haha! Its double dipped with two layers of cream goodness.

Japanese Apple Sparkling Soda (5/5)
This has to be one of the best drinks we have received in recent boxes and it tasted really good and very refreshing. It was like a drink we have in the UK called Apple Tango but not as sour as that more of a gentle apple taste.

Strawberry Chocolate Lollipops (5/5)
These are so cute but not big enough! I love chocolate and especially strawberry flavoured chocolate so these were an instant hit for me. I love the packaging they came in the designs are really sweet.

Strawberry Langue De Chat Cookie (3/5)
These are a simple soft strawberry biscuit which taste good but I wouldn't necessarily buy them myself as I prefer a more thick biscuit and these were just to thin and could do with having some sort layer of chocolate on the bottom haha! 

I have to say this probably wasn't one of my favourite boxes as it was very savoury heavy and I like a good mix of gummy, chocolate and savoury items but there was some lovely items in here which I did really enjoy especially the Pocky! I can't wait for next months box as its a mix of Matcha and Sakura flavours. I'm more looking forward to the sakura treats but I will give the others ago!

If you would like to read any of my Tokyo Treat reviews from 2016 then please click on the "Tokyo Treat" or "2016" labels in the label column on the side.

Thanks for reading. I purchased this with my own money and I was NOT paid to review this by Tokyo Treats.

Disneyland Paris/Paris Trip Report: Day 1

I cannot believe that it has already been over a week since I was on my girls weekend with my best friend to Paris and Disneyland, it has zoomed by that is for sure. As mentioned in previous posts this was part of a charity organised event by the lovely Chris and Corinne who did the September trip apart from this time we had an over night stay in a hotel which made everything a little less knackering well I say that haha.

Our journey began on Saturday morning when the coach driver picked us up from Bristol Temple Mead's train station at around 1 am in the morning which is a lot later than the previous trip and it didn't make it any easier as I spent the whole of Friday doing chores around the flat and then we decided we would stay up as there wasn't any point going to bed for an hour before we had to get up again.

From Bristol we made our way up to Swindon where we picked up the rest of the coach party where everyone seemed to be getting on at. At this point my friends Michelle and Tracy joined us which was great to see them and have them along for the journey. There was a slight delay with us leaving Swindon as 4 people didn't turn up due to them having the wrong information but luckily they managed to catch us up.

As we arrived at Dover to catch our Ferry it was snowing and I mean properly snowing which was amazing and it even continued in to France as well although by the time we arrived in to Paris the snow has stopped and vanished. I won't bore you with the details of our ferry crossing as nothing really exciting happened.

We arrived at our hotels around 14:30 pm which was what was predicted by Chris which was great even though by this point in the last 19 hours I had only managed about 4 hours sleep but we dashed in to our room freshened up and headed off in to Paris to go explore.

With having such limited time in Paris we decided to go straight to see the Eiffel Tower as that was one of the main places I wanted to see. We used the RER from Disneyland and hopped on the Metro to get to there which was a good experience even though I didn't like the Metro that much with it being a super old one and the lights kept going on and off!

Wow as soon as you got off the Metro you could see the Eiffel Tower right away and even though it was just a tiny bit it was beautiful and the closer and closer we got just wow, It was so cold in Paris that afternoon and by the time we got there it was starting to get dark and it wasn't exactly the best of lighting to be messing around with my camera but we took a few photos and walked up to the top to get a better view.

After messing around for half hour or so we started to get hungry, our feet were hurting and it was cold so we decided to make our way back to Disney to find somewhere to eat as we couldn't decided on anywhere in Paris although it wasn't much easier in Disney as it was a Saturday and busy. In the end after ages of walking around we decided to try the all you can eat Tex Mex at Billy Bobs.

With it being Saturday and us not booking anywhere we weren't sure on how long we would have to wait upon arriving, the guy on the door said he could have us a table within 30 minuets which we didn't think was to bad so went to the bar and grabbed a drink. As he didn't take my name I was little miffed and worried he would forget about us. At the bar I had my first ever Glowtini and it did not disappointed at all although I wish I had what Jemma had it was some sort of Candy Floss mocktail with sweets haha.

I regretted getting the cocktail straight away as it went straight to my head whoops considering the last proper meal I had was a full English on the ferry at 7:30 in the morning. After the half an hour we went back to the guy who for a second didn't look like he wanted to give us a table but in the end he did but we still then had to wait another half hour before being seated.

The cost of eating here was 32.99 euro and this did include a drink as well which I think was really good value for money considering the variety of food that was on offer. The food was always being replenished so there was never a shortage of things to eat and try not forgetting the massive range of desserts on offer I could have just gone there to eat.

By 10:15 pm we were finally done and made our way back to the hotel for some well deserved sleep skipping the shopping and opting for an early night which was for the best as by that time we were both shattered and looking forward to curling up in bed. Next stop DISNEYLAND!

Disneyland Paris 12th February: Shopping Haul

I cannot believe I am back from Disneyland Paris after my short weekend trip and I thought that I would start my series of posts of with my haul. I am actually really surprised at how little I brought this trip even though I still managed to spend a lot, we all know how expensive Disney is!

When I went to Disneyland last September I decided that I would start collecting pins so on this trip I decided I would buy a couple more. Most of the pins I saw this time were the same as before apart from a few exceptions like the two Rapunzel pins which were a must buy for me as last time they didn't have any of her. I also got the hotel Santa Fe pin but they didn't seem to have any of the hotel New York ones so I am hoping that maybe they will be back in stock.

I had to pick up these 3 cute Tsum Tsum Aristocat toys because I didn't manage to get them in the UK because I was short of cash and I knew these would come available at DLP but I was so lucky to find these in the parks so good job I did.

Tower of Terror is my FAVOURITE ride and when I stumbled across this key ring I just had to buy it although apparently its been out in the parks before and I have just missed it on my previous trips. I love that it is the room key from the story and its big enough for me to find in my bag which is also perfect.

I filled up my photo album from my September trip with photos from 2014, 2015 and 2016 so I thought with having two trips this year I would buy this super cute 2017 album with Sorcerer Mickey on the front with a few rides in sparkly lights on the front. I also love the inside of the album as the print is so cute.

Last thing I picked up was this super cute tin with the new Disney print on which was released last September and because I missed getting it on my last trip. I brought this so that I could put my pins in it until I have collected enough to make a pin board but for now it contains all the little sweets that came inside which taste amazing!

So this is everything that I brought on this trip and I have to say I was slightly disappointed with the range of merchandise available as I couldn't find a few things that I wanted or it was just the same stuff as before. We are all hoping that the stock levels are a little poor because they are getting ready for the 25th Anniversary which I have seen a preview for and it looks amazing!