Learning Japanese: Genki Review

Today's post will be a review of Genki. The Japanese language textbooks and workbooks.

As my plans for moving to Japan are now for definite i have been teaching myself japanese using these books. I do a chapter or so of the textbook then do a few pages of workbook a day. it seems to be helping as already my Hiragana knowledge has shot way up.

The way the book teaches you is very good as it gives you a text or paragraph in hiragana with romaji underneath and then gives the translation of it in english below. This way i can look at the text, read the romaji and figure out what it says then study the hiragana. The other day i could understand a whole conversation (romaji only)!! It then gives you nice list of the vocabulary at the end of the lesson in Hiragana, romaji and english translation along with notes on the grammar and fun little facts on the language. Then it goes on to re-enforce the lesson, teaching you how the sentence structure works, how to use words (like doko, soko, asoko, dore, sore, are etc) and where they belong in the sentences and how to successfully use conjunctions etc.

One niggle i did have with the book however is how little the "alphabets" (yes i know they arent really alphabets) are introduced and how they work at the beginning of the book. especially as after lesson 2 it kinda launches straight into only hiragana. You will need your hiragana chart handy for the workbook too.

Overall however it has so far been a challenge (and i'm not even onto lesson 3 yet!!)but nevertheless one that has stuck and i seem to find myself knowing more when i study than i did the day before. which is... you know nice. But i have always had an affinity at learninf and "getting" new languages.

One thing that has been reccommended to me is the audio CDs that go with the books that supposedly help with pronunciation etc. My pronunciation has always been commented on at how good it is by my japanese friends however so i think i will save these for when i know more japanese itself and need to start listening to the faster flow of it better. but whatelse is anime for right? XD

I've reccommend these books. they have been pretty good so far!! :)

Harry Potter 30 Day Challenge Day 6 - 7

Day 6 - Favourite Professor

Professor Moody. I thought he was hilarious. XD He really made me laugh with his "teaching" methods etc. XD

Day 7 - Least Favorite Professor
Horace Slughorn. I think he was stupid and lazy and annoying. that is all. XD

Harry Potter 30 Day Challenge Day 5

Day 5 - Saddest Moment

When Lupin and Tonks die. When you see them lieing together after the battle. Both the film and the book made me weep like a baby!!! :'( the thing is, in the film you dont know about teddy. Itd be way sadder if you knew about lupin's struggle and teddy in the film.....

Harry Potter 30 Day Challenge Day 3 - 4

Day 3 - Favorite Character

Ron. I think the stuff he says is frickin hilarious. Best quote from prisoner of askaban 'id love to know what the ministry would do to me if i blew up an aunt. Mind you theyd have to dig me up first because mum would have killed me' hahaha

Day 4 - Favorite Villain

Hmm... In the movies its definitley Voldemort or Lucius Malfoy but in the books i think....... Maybe Bellatrix or that Umbridge woman. Even though she makes my skin crawl i think she is a well written and disgusting character and everything a villain should be. :)

Harry Potter 30 Day Challenge Day 2

Day 2 - Least Favorite Book in the Series

Ok so i gave this a lot of thought and even though i adore the entire series, i have to say that Goblet of Fire is my least favourite. The book is basically just a whole load of filler to last up until Voldemort comes back. It's like Sailor Moon Super S where its just a terrible filler series so Sailor Moon can get to her Eternal Moon transformation. Bleh.

101 Things in 1001 Days

Been a while since i did a post on this.

One of them was

"Get a new year's kiss at midnight" which i did. :3

Next week i am heading back to uni and have decided to mix FICE of the things on my list together:

- Wear Makeup Every Day for a Week
- Learn 3 new Hair styles
- Wear a Skirt or Dress everyday for a week
- Take photos of my outfits for a week and blog about them.
- Spend a week without facebook (although it will probably need to turn into Tumblr as i am WAY more addicted to that than facebook right now)



Goodness.....
but the only thing i really need to concentrate on next week is my essay which is practically done anyways so yeah.....

There will be lots of photo-y goodness next week. :) Need to perfect the art of getting my circle lenses in.... :/

Harry Potter 30 Day Challenge

So being the total nerd and Potterhead that i am, i've decided to do this HP 30 Day Challenge i found on tumblr.

the questions look like this:


Day 1 - Favorite Book in the Series

Day 2 - Least Favorite Book in the Series

Day 3 - Favorite Character

Day 4 - Favorite Villain

Day 5 - Saddest Moment

Day 6 - Favourite Professor

Day 7 - Least Favorite Professor

Day 8 - Favorite Subject

Day 9 - Least Favorite Subject

Day 10 - Favorite Shop in Diagon Alley

Day 11 - Most Handsome Character

Day 12 - Most Beautiful Character

Day 13 - Most Missed Dead Character

Day 14 - Favorite Book Cover

Day 15 - Favorite Tri-Wizard Tournament Challenge

Day 16 - Rate the Houses From Most to Least Favorite

Day 17 - Favorite Animagus


Day 18 - Favorite Unforgivable Curse

Day 19 - Favorite Horcrux

Day 19 - Favorite Deathly Hallow

Day 20 - Funniest Moment

Day 21 - Most Emotional Moment

Day 22 - Aspired Quidditch Position

Day 23 - Favourite Patronus

Day 24 - What You Think Your Patronus Would Be

Day 25 - Favorite Dursley

Day 26 - Favorite Wand

Day 27 - Favourite Magical Ability 

Day 28 - Favorite Death Eather

Day 29 - Favorite Portrait

Day 30 - Favorite Spell



Let's GO!

Day 1: Favourite Book in the Series

Hmm.... Is it stupid of me to say Deathly Hallows? I really love it because it ties up all the loose ends and i was sitting there reading it going "oh so THAT'S why that happens" etc. Also i feel like it's the only book where they have a purpose all the way through. the other books it's like "la di da, school school. Oh! we have something we need to do right at the end? ok! let's go!" Other than that i love Order of the Phoenix too. :)

How to Make an Inspiration Board

As part of my room revamp project i decided to take all the stuff off my bulletin board as it was cluttered and looking a bit ugly. So I decided to turn it into a fairy kei inspiration board and decided to make a How To on how i did it.

You Will Need:

Bulletin Board
Fabric to match the theme you are going for
Hot glue gun
inspiring photos/images etc
pins or sticky tac/ something to stick your images on with





Cut the fabric so it's bigger than than the bulletin and the edges are able to fold over to the back.

place the fabric on the front of the board and smooth it out from the centre. then use pins to hold the fabric still.




Next flip the board over and hot glue down 2 parallel sides. Then fold the corners in neatly and glue down the other 2 sides.

You should now have a nice smooth fabric covered board.




Now all you have to do is attack it with your images and things. I decorated mine with outfit inspiration, room inspirationg and other colourful inspiring images. I also used some of the cute and colourful things i had on my old board like different images of cupcakes and cute labels etc.



Looks much better than my old one! :)

Bedroom Inspiration

Why did i join tumblr? why? it is slowing sucking my soul and replacing it with pictures of Kyary, My Little Ponies and loads of other stuff that is totally blowing my mind. I also think my boyfriend is a bit concerned with the sudden and immediate obsession with teh interwebz.....

but moving on.

I found most of these pictures floating around Tumblr and as i'm trying to fairy up my room i thought i'd point out exactly what about them i like and what i want to do. :)


GDU Tavuchi for having the most epic of epi bedrooms! I want a low table like that to do my work on. and the heart shaped one is so cute. There is something about japanese bedrooms that are completely amazing. There is so little space that everything has it's own place and there is something really lovely about how they hang fabric and clothes on the walls as a mixture of decoration and storage!



I also want to cover the floor in cute fabric. The carpet in my flat is brown and it's horrible. i think laying out some pieces of fabric (and trapping them underneath stuff of course) would really brighten up my room and Spank!-ify it nicely.


cute bedding! I have serious issues finding cute and affordable bedding. I look everywhere and nothig comes CLOSe to anything this cute. although i'm seriously tempted to buy some plain pink polka dot ones from primark and decorate them myself.



Toys and jewellry and accessory holders. I love this MLP ferris wheel idea for jewellry and i've actually got my eye on a Barbie horse hair styling head for all my hair clips and stuff. think it would totally cuteify and creepify my room. :)


cute funn squishy chairs. you know, to go with my new mini table. plus macaroons are totally amazingcakes.

Everyday I'm Tumblin'

Oh look a bandwagon!

Yeah i have joined Tumblr. I'm going to use it as a micro blog which i can update on my phone (i do blog here on my phone but i feel like i'm cheating it with such short posts) and post inspiration and things i like. :)

please visit it here

xx