Visiting FAO Schwarz ❤︎ | Photo Heavy

Hope everyone is staying cool in this humidity. This may be the year that I break down and by an air conditioner -_- I found out in May that FAO Schwarz would be closing it's Fifth Ave location and relocating. Even though I have lived in the city for awhile I had never been. I asked Boba if he wanted to go there on a date since it had been a long time since he'd been there.

I thought it would be a good idea for us to stop by Dainobu to grab some snacks for the day. On the way we passed by Midtown Comics and decided to stop in. I saw the Jem and the Holograms comics and could not resist since I heard rave reviews for it. And since they were having a Memorial Day sale I should grab a few things. I also have an account with them. The lady at the counter recommended we check my account first just in case it was more of a discount than the sale. I ended up getting all three volumes for $3 due to my account^^ I have no idea why it was so low but I ain't complainin! 

We continued on our way to Dainobu. We loaded up like crazy with onigiri, takoyaki, and sweets like daifuku. It was my first time taking Boba, and I think he really liked the store. They also have fav drink, Mango Skal, in a large size #bless

Boba suggested we walk over to FAO. I forgot how annoying it can be to walk on 5th Ave. I'm typically not in that area because most of the shops are ridiculously expensive and it's always crowded. It wasn't too bad because we weren't in a hurry.

By the time we reached the store,  we both had worked up an appetite with the heat and all our walking. We sat in mini park right outside FAO and devoured our food. I snapped a few pictures of the iconic toy soldier before went in.

Board Games for the Birthday Boy| Boba's Bday Celebration

Boba had his birthday last month, and I organized a day of fun. We both happened to be off that day, so we got to spend his whole birthday together^^ Work was really stressful that week, and I'm happy that I was able to gather our friends together for an event. I felt like I didn't do enough for his birthday last year, so this time I wanted to make sure that he had a great time.

First we decided to hit up a store that has Magic the Gathering tournaments as well Magic decks and other board and card games. They even had the deck that I had been searching for for awhile. It was the Fate Reforged White/Red deck, and I also bought the Red/Black Dragons of Tarkir deck. I really loved this block of Magic. I'm excited to see what the theme of the next block will be^^

That night I had made a reservation at The Uncommons at 10 PM till closing. I had visited the game cafe before during my second Geek Girl Brunch and thought Boba would love it. I invited a few of our friends to play games with us. We took a nap and headed to the game cafe and meet our friends. Luckily, they have serve food, so Boba ordered an iced coffee to give him some perk, but I could see an adorable energetic gleam in his eyes. He looked so excited^^

The gang

We played a bunch of games and friendships were tested lol I found how petty them tricks were during Uno. Uno always ruins friendships!

Boba delivering Xander some bad news. Jason's just happy it's not him haha

Mitsuwa Marketplace and Couple Purikura

Hello everyone! Boba and I took a trip on Sunday to Mitsuwa Marketplace a Japanese specialty grocery store that has a food court and a few other stores located in New Jersey. We do have a few Sunrise Marts in NYC that sell Japanese items and food, but we went to Mitsuwa specifically for the purikura machine. Which I was super excited to discover that they had as I've been wanting to take purikura pics for awhile and have never done it before. It was actually pretty easy to get to and their website gave great instructions which I really appreciated. It's only about 25-30 minutes from Port Authority, so it didn't take too long to get there.

The purikura machine is located in the store that sells traditional Japanese items and Japanese pop culture merch like wall scrolls and anime figurines. The store is right beside Kinokuniya and located near the Gundam kits.

The booth has a credit card option, but it doesn't work so make sure to bring cash. It costs $7 dollars for one round of photos. It was actually quite fun to do and the pictures came out super cute. I liked how it didn't feel like everyone could see you while you were taking photos. Most American photo booths I've been to the few times I've used them has the side out which is awkward. I wasn't used to the timing section, but it makes since so people don't decorate all day long while others are waiting to use the machine.

You could have one photo sent to your smartphone for free which I thought was a nice touch. If you wanted to purchase the rest of the pictures for digital download it was only 3 dollars. I decided to buy them all in case I lost the printed photos.

Food Porn and Boba's Birthday!

Hey homies! I hope you had a lovely weekend. I was super busy myself. I had dinner with one of my homies on Saturday and brunch with a bestie on Sunday. I tried mimosas for the first time and they are deeeelish! I also just recently completed my first week at my new job and so far I love it. I'll be giving my first tour of the campus tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about getting lost, but I'll play it off if I do lol 

I have been being extra social and eating lots of good food ^^ About two weeks ago one of Boba's best friends, Matt, and his girlfriend came to NYC to visit. We usually go on lots of double dates and epic food runs when they're here. She is a Youtuber that has makeup channel, and she came for IMATS. 

During one of our food runs we went to Momofuku Milk Bar to try their famous soft serve. Boba and I got the cereal milk soft serve with crunch. It was kinda gross : ( It tasted salty. None of us liked it. I think it pretty much killed our food run because we decided to call it quits for that night and meet up the next day. Usually the four of us have two lunches, two or three dinners, and three or four desserts; we go hard! Luckily, we got some delicious french macaroons before hand at our regular hang out snack place Spot Dessert Bar.

I also tried their hot Thai Milk Tea and a new dessert on Saturday night and had my mine blown by them. Here's a shot of the dessert I tried:

That red bean ice cream went SO well with the green tea flavor.

The next night, Boba and I took them to Eight Turn Crepe a place that serves sweet and savory Harajuku style crepes. My favorite sweet crepe is the matcha stripe chocolate. Yumm yummmms! Matt and Christina loved it : )

A few days later, Boba and I celebrated his birthday and it was lots of fun! I was a little worried about planning because I got super sick the Sunday before. Luckily, by the time his birthday came around I was a lot better. We went a to nice seafood; he had lobster and I got scallops. Everything was amazing! After that we quickly went to Spot before we watched Captain America. That movie was sooooo good! If you decided to go be sure to stay after the tradition white on black credits as well as there is another secret scene. How awesome is that that you get two secret scenes! Afterwards we got bubble tea at Saint Alp's Teahouse.

Next, I will be reviewing all the prologues of the Voltage Inc. otome games! Stay tuned and thanks for reading! 

So, I'm a Sellout

Let me set the scene for you: I'm walking on a nice day in Brooklyn, not too hot, not too cold. Holding hands with Boba who I hadn't seen in in three months due to me teaching in China. We're heading to see my bestie and her awesome girlfriend to spend a chill day at their apartment. Then it happened, a guy walked past me, leaned way in my personal space all by neck and called me a sellout. 

....

.....

Hold up...

We kept walking, but I stopped at the end of the block as I processed what had happened.

The strange thing about the situation is that I wasn't upset. I'm from the deep South, so I've experienced a lot of ignorance and flat out racism. I was more annoyed by the fact that he felt his thoughts mattered to me, a person that he didn't even know. He knew nothing of my relationship, saw something he didn't like, and projected some mess onto us. I also was heated that he got in my personal space. Luckily, Boba and I are pretty chill and felt it was best to just keep it moving and not dwell on it. I hadn't experienced anything like that before, but I am aware of what interracial couples may face. I had heard stories from my friends and read about different couples' experiences on blogs. I also feel that calling someone a sellout is ridiculous because you have no idea why they are with their partner. Like somehow I magically am not black anymore because I am dating someone non black. The term implies that I hate myself and black people and that I view other races as better than my own. I read a post that breaks down why these notions are false. 

Now, I'm not gonna sit here and act simple like there aren't people that date interracially for the wrong reasons (self-hate, fetishism, etc.). But that ain't me. I'm not dating my boyfriend because I have feel some type of way about black men like some would assume. I was taught to judge people by their character, so I have always selected the people in my life by that principle. I love Boba for Boba, not because he’s a different race than me. 

We make the best silly faces together ^^

It's fine if people have their own opinions on the issue, but you shouldn't use them to judge or shame other people. I'm very lucky that my parents raised me to listen to the people that matter and disregard folks that are irrelevant.

Divergent Movie Date and Birthday Celebration!

On Friday, Boba and I went to see Divergent. Ugh, it was SO good and thought provoking! I def caught a case of the feels. I need to get the books stat. My bestie Meika saw it a few hours later; she read the books and said that the movie pretty much followed it. Obviously some things had to be left out, but that just makes me want to read the books even more. She also liked that they stayed true to keeping the POC in the books POC in the movies which doesn't happen sometimes.

The only downside was that this awkward girl sat beside us. There were three sits between us and the next person before she sat, so she could have sat in the middle and had a set free on either side of her. But no, she had to sit beside me. At first I was thought maybe she had a friend that was going to join her later, nope she didn't. She proceeded to move uncomfortably in her chair due to the back being broken which she knew and commented to me after she sat in it -_- Um trick, move to the empty seat beside you. AND she talked to herself the whole movie. She tried to talk to me at one point and I wasn't having that ish. My body's been ready for this movie for two months you ARE NOT gonna sit beside me and f this up. No ma'am!

The trailer for The Maze Runner blew my mind. I told Meika to be on the lookout for it, but she said she didn't get the same trailers I did. She ended up watching it on YouTube. I think she's down for the cause. It'll be another movie we'll run to see. I ain't gonna lie the trailer did scare me a bit lol I also got to see the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy for the first time. Boba's gonna sprint to the box office for that one lol

Of course we had to play the what faction would I be in game. He swears up and down I'm Dauntless. I had to explain to him that I don't like to do anything physical unless I want to, that's one of the reasons I quit track after junior high lol I figure I would probably be a divergent. He can't decided if he would be smart or kind. I told him he'd probably be a divergent, too.

♥Bubble Tea Love♥

I still remember the first time I tried bubble tea. I didn't care too much for the boba. The tapioca pearls did not do it for me, but the tea itself whooooo buddy I was all about it. I had no idea that I would become an addict >_< I even named my blog after it ha After the third or fourth try, I loved the pearls!

I wanted to share a few of my favorite spots in NYC that I frequent. The best bubble tea I've had has been in Chinatown (the one in Manhattan on Canal). If you ever been to any of the places I mention let me know how you like them!

1. Ten Ren Tea Time
The first time I had bubble was at Ten Ren Tea Time which unfortunately spoiled me lol Sometimes it sucks to have the best of the best the first time you try something new. The first time I came here, I got the Chocolate Milk Tea which is still one of my favorites. It's located in Chinatown on Mott Street.

Black Sugar Milk Tea : ) So yummy!

2. Saint's Alp Teahouse

My friend took me here a few years ago and it blew my mind. My fav is the Strawberry Ice Slush. I don't know why, but it seems like it's so hard to make an authentic tasting strawberry bubble tea. Even if it's milk tea, it can often be a miss. This tastes just like a delicious smoothie and most importantly like real strawberry. I hate that syrupy flavor you get from non milk tea strawberry flavors worse than a failed strawberry milk tea. This Taiwanese bubble tea house is located on 3rd Ave near Astor Place and St. Marks.

Their Sesame Ice Slush

They also have this really delicious condensed milk toast!

3. Chatime

Cha Time has an amazing menu! There are so many different flavors to try ^^ Also, the prices are amaZING! You can get two large size bubble teas for the price of one. They also have different add ins besides tapioca pearls. So, if you want to try jelly or even something else in your boba, give them a try. There is a Chatime in Canal Street, but I usually go to the one in Flushing. I love how they seal the top.

I've also had bubble tea from Teariffic on Mott and random bakeries in Chinatown. Usually the bubble tea in Chinatown is tastes good, but I wanted to highlight my favorite places. 

Also, I am super happy that Boba and I will be going to see Divergent tomorrow. I am sad that I missed Hunger Games, but I refuse to miss this. My friend Meika and I really love books with dystopian societies. She's planning on seeing it tomorrow or Saturday, either way I know we'll have a great conversation about it :) Thanks for reading!

Gemini Gamer Attack! Well, right after I finish something else....

I would say my astrological sign description fits me. I know a little bit about everything, have a ton of interests, and love to talk my butt off. Some of the super negative traits I don't have; I think it's because my Sun sign and my Moon sign are both Gemini, so some of the bad attributes were canceled out. Two still haunt me in my gaming life: lack of follow through and indecisiveness. I have amazing organizational and planning skills outside of this area. If you ask my closest friends, they will let you know that I finished every assignment before the last minute which is amazing because my college was reading and writing heavy.

I had only beaten one video game in my entire life, and I've been gaming since I was three or four! It was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan game on the original Game Boy. It was actually the first video game I owned!!! : )

The fact that I am an RPG lover further complicates this issues and aids my indecisiveness. When I do finally get back in the mood for gaming, I have to pick through all of my awesome titles. If the game I pick happens to be wrong for the mood I'm in, I then lose my enthusiasm and the process starts all over again -_- If video games were were like the game of love, I would def be a love em and leave em type haha

And alas, it has happened again lol In my Valentine's post, I talked about how I had to choose between Bravely Default and One Piece: Romance Dawn. I got tired of Romance Dawn in a night...I know I'm that bad. It was cool to play as the Strawhat gang, but when I had the option to repeat a level that I had just beaten to fight a boss that I already fought before I gave up. I could have just continued the story, but I knew leveling up would be important for the next part of the game. I was like f it lol I still plan to do a review on it.

So, Boba and I had a mini date on Friday where we got Dim Sum and bubble tea. I tried a new flavor at one of my favorite boba spots, Ten Ren. It was Black Sugar Milk Tea, and it was sooo amazing. I was a little nervous that day because I was meeting one of his good friends from college. Before we met up with him, Boba surprised me and bought me Bravely Default! I am such a lucky girl! He knows about my video game commitment issues and he still bought me a new game : ) He also bought South Park: The Stick of Truth for himself. Also, the meeting with his friend went awesome! Nick was really funny and cool.

Also, for any of my readers that are hyped about the new Harvest Moon game Connect to a New Land I found a YouTube channel called Lin and Ko run by a super cute interracial couple that are playing the game live. They have about 11 videos up already. And no worries about the game being in Japanese for my non-Japanese speakers, they're translating it! I haven't had time to watch them yet, but it's definitely something I will do soon.

Thanks for reading! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

King Spa | Korean Spa Date with Boba!

Boba and I went to King Spa on Thursday; the spa was sooo relaxing and I definitely needed some relaxation time. I bought the vouchers off Groupon as a nice Valentine's gift. We were originally supposed to use them on February 13th, but it kept getting pushed back due to my schedule. I had been to a Korean spa (Spa Castle) before back in 2012. A friend of mines got two gift certificates from her boyfriend for Spa Castle. She decided to take me which was super sweet! I talked to my roommate about wanting to go back to Spa Castle, and she suggested I try out Kings Spa. A month before Valentine's I saw the voucher and thought why not! It was $40 for two people, not bad.

The night before was filled with laughs as always. I love how silly Boba is; I had the bright idea for him to put on my kigurumi that I got from New York Comic Con. I don't why I hadn't thought of it before! He was adorable ^^ He wouldn't let me take any pics though *sad face*

The next morning we leave around 9:50 to make the 11:05 shuttle from Flushing; I picked the H Mart location. The shuttle is free as long as you take it there and back. It was super freakin cold in the morning, we got to the H Mart with no problem. I noticed that it had a mini parking lot, so I called King Spa to check to see if we should wait there or in front of the H Mart. A guy picks up and I ask this simple question, he proceeds to tell me that I should have went to the Flushing Public Parking Lot because it's better. I explain that it's too late and I am already here and wouldn't have time to make it there. He then puts a woman on who repeats the same thing and tells me I should call the driver because the driver sometimes doesn't stop at H Mart because "it's hard to stop there." By this point it's getting annoying because they're doing everything but answer my question. It was clear that there was a language barrier. She also had a slight attitude with me even though I wasn't catching one with her. So, I take the driver's number. He answers in Korean, I repeat my question. He just hangs up -_- I call back a few times and he wont answer. Boba and I are waiting in the cold trying to figure out if we should just go warm ourselves up, relocate to the public parking lot, and catch the next shuttle at 1. We decided to wait until 11:30. An annoying start to say the least.

We wait in front of the H Mart on the sidewalk. Around 11:15, a black van pulls up. It has no logo on it for King Spa, but since it beeped I figured it might be for the spa. I knock on the window and ask. The guy shakes his head yes and we get in. 

It didn't take long to get to the spa. My roommate told me about a nice, cheap Korean restaurant across the street. We decided to go in and eat there in case the food inside was too expensive. We both ordered bibimbap. Here's a photo of the side dishes.

I really like bibimbap, but I haven't really explored Korean food outside of that. I have seen some delicious photos, but I have yet to find a restaurant to try. I think I need to go with someone who eats Korean food a lot, so they can blow my mind with its yumminess.  

Next, we ventured into the spa. The reception area was super small and really unorganized and it wasn't even a busy day. The one thing I loved about Spa Castle is that even though my friend and I went on a Saturday it was still a nice, fluid, super friendly entrance and exit. The staff was super nice and helpful, here not so much. 

We both enjoyed the Jacuzzis in the same gender locker rooms. Then we met on the second floor. We explored the floors together; I was feeling snacky so we had our first patbingsu which I have always wanted to try! That and Taiwanese shaved ice, another to do on my list. We had shaved ice in China that looked like this:

And Boba said this kind of shaved ice blew his mind lol So when I described patbingsu and Taiwanese shaved ice, he was a little hesitant. We both liked it though : )

Here it is in all it's delicious glory!

They had little chairs that basically had no legs and were on the floor and game tables. They even had chess pieces! Boba is a chess lover, so I offered to play with him. It was my first time playing a full game. I usually quit and go do something else. The game lasted a long time at the end, but I was determined to see it through. Surprisingly, I won! I kept picturing Fire Emblem in my head haha I think that was the only way that I was able to do it lol It was more fun than I thought it would be!

We look so relaxed and sleepy haha

Our cute uniforms

I really enjoyed the various nap rooms and tv rooms they had. It was super easy to find a quiet place to relax. The downside with Spa Castle is that all of the comfy chairs are in one big floor together, so it can get pretty loud. We went into one sauna and decided to spend the rest of the time napping until we took our 4:30 shuttle back to Flushing.

Boba got done changing before me and was waiting for me at the reception area. There was a lady and three of the staff talking/arguing and it was clear that they weren't understanding each other despite the fact they were all speaking English. 

We checked out and decided to stop at the cafe across the street called Koko Loko. We bought some macarons that were so so. Their coffee and drinks looked amazing though.

We stopped by the New World Mall food court and got shrimp dumplings. We headed to get bubble tea from Cha Time across the street. Then made the trek back to Brooklyn.

I personally liked Spa Castle's efficiency a lot better, their website is super detailed, so you pretty much don't have to call them for anything. But I did like the intimate setting and different rooms that King Spa had to offer. Spa Castle's food is way better and their staff rock. I feel like King Spa's staff is a little rude and they are super unhelpful. King Spa doesn't allow kids, but Spa Castle does. So keep that in mind depending on what kind of experience you have in mind.

Also, Boba and I went to a fantastic restaurant last night Coppelia, it was SOOOO amazing. It's a 24 hour Spanish restaurant; we ordered Mac and Chicharron, Flautas de Pollo, and the nachos. I tried their condensed milk milkshake and nearly tripped out because of the tastiness. And of course we had to get the Mexican Coca Cola soooo amazing >_< Someone help me!!! We will def be going back. I love how when we got to eat at Latin American restaurants the staff just start speaking in Spanish to Boba. Its like they always know he speaks Spanish too haha They hardly ever talk to him in English, and if they do once they hear his pronunciation they switch to Spanish. I need to brush up on my Spanish, I've gotten so lazy -_-

Thanks for reading! I hope warm weather comes to NYC soon : )

Gyu-Kaku Date with Boba

Hey, hey, hey! I hope you had a great Valentine's Day with your loved ones and friends. I had a pretty nice V-Day despite the city being super crowded. Boba and I wanted to see a movie, but when we got to the theater we didn't see anything we wanted to see. We were gonna try I, Frankenstein, but saw it's horrible rating when we checked it out on Rotten Tomatoes, bless that site lol

We ended up going to Gyu-Kaku in the village. The wait was only an hour, so Boba took us to Video Games New York to buy me a V-Day gift^^ He's so sweet and knows me so well! I am not a flower person; I would rather be bought food or something else haha I was about to get Bravely Default for the 3DS when the shop owner told me about the new One Piece game that had just come out! I was SOOO excited because Boba and I had been talking about how cool it would be if there was a One Piece RPG available in the States. I figured why not get this instead since he's totally responsible for my One Piece addiction haha I read some okay reviews online about it, but I'm still excited to play it. I'll write a review on it later. 

When we came back to Gyu-Kaku we only waited ten more minutes. I'm super happy that we decided to eat there instead of making a reservation at Max Brenner like I originally wanted. We ran into a friend there and he was waiting an extra hour and a half even though he had a reservation. Ummmmmm, no!!! I would have found somewhere else to eat. They had a special Valentine's Day course, but I wasn't feeling anything on that course menu. We looked at the regular menu and saw some more course options. We decided on the Geisha course. It had ten items on it which is a lot. So, I'm thinking that we had to pick a few things under each section. I was wrong, but in the best way. You everything on the course menu!!! There were a lot of things that I haven't tried on it, but they all sounded delicious. The Geisha was amazing and we stuffed by the end!

The next day I bought Boba the new Batman game (Arkham Origins) for his PS3 and surprised him after his shift with it. He didn't even expect it. We're just started playing it together right now and it seems really awesome so far.

Thanks for reading!