1Up Subscription Box - Galaxy [December 2015 Unboxing]

Another subscription box has arrived! Despite today being a stat holiday, Canada Post had some people working, so my December 1Up Box arrived this morning! This month's theme was Galaxy, since it's Star Wars month so I was hoping there were going to be some cool Star Wars items. The box is pretty small (compared to the Smuggler's Bounty Box), but let's get into it!

This is what you see when you first open the box. Looks like some Star Wars stuff....!!!

The first item is a lanyard featuring a bunch of characters from Star Wars and Star Trek.

Next up is this super hairy Chewbacca plush toy from The Force Awakens. It's going to sit next to my Quatchi plushie!

This month's t-shirt is a mashup between Star Wars and Totoro. There is a Death Star as the moon (that's no moon!), Luke and Leia, Chewbacca as Totoro, a snow Yoda and Darth Vader in the background. It's a Gildan brand shirt which isn't the best quality but the material is pretty thick.

One of the filler items is a 1Up Box branded inflatable green light saber. I didn't blow it up but I imagine it would be pretty fun to have some light saber fights if you had two of these!

This one is for Star Trek fans - a Captain Kirkby art print featuring a mashup between Star Trek and the adorable Kirby.

There is a cute Rocket Racoon sticker included.

Each 1Up Box comes with a button for that month. The Galaxy button features Wall-E holding a potted Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy!

Here's everything that was in the box (including an info card that tells you what is inside). What did you think?

The 1Up Box starts at $29.95 USD month to month, but use coupon code AWESOME to receive $3 off your first box. With the exchange rate, this box came up to $38.61 CAD. Were the contents worth almost $40? Probably not...but I guess I'm really just paying for the surprise!

The January subscriptions are open now and it sounds like a promising box - the theme is Legend and promises to come with an epic t-shirt and a Funko product (does this mean a Funko Pop! Vinyl or something smaller like a Dorbz or Funko Pocket Pop?). Sign up for 1Up Box here.

LEGO 40125 - Santa's Visit [Build]

To get ready for Christmas, I purchased the seasonal set for this year from LEGO - Santa's Visit. 

The contents of the box.

I poured out all of the pieces from the three bags.

This is the base of the set.

Building the fireplace.

Hung up the stockings!

Don't forget the cookies for Santa!

Add a couch for Santa to sit on so he can enjoy his baked goods. It swivels around.

And of course a Christmas tree!

The Santa minifigure comes with his sack of toys. The family cat wasn't asleep!

This adorable Christmas scene makes a great holiday scene!

This adorable little set costs $12.99 and will be set up on my window sill for the holidays! It was a fun build and goes great with my other seasonal sets!

Funko Star Wars Smuggler's Bounty Subscription Box - First Order [November 2015 Unboxing]

I've been bitten by the subscription box bug! I have resisted all the cool, geeky subscription boxes for a long time like Loot Crate, 1Up Box and even Funko's Marvel Collectors Corps...but when Funko announced they were releasing a Star Wars subscription box, and one of the items was a chrome Captain Phasma bobble head...I had to have it! The Smuggler's Bounty Box debuted in November this year, with The Force Awakens theme to coincide with the Star Wars Episode VII movie coming out this December. All the items included are exclusive to the subscription box. 

And here it is! Each box is self contained so there is no combined shipping available if you decide to order more than one. The box art was pretty cool, with Kylo Ren on the front. 

When you first lift up the box cover, you get another layer that has an iron patch featuring a first order TIE fighter pilot and a lapel pin with Kylo Ren. They each have Aurebesh characters on them, which is the only written language in the Star Wars universe, and I believe it translates into Smuggler's Bounty, but don't hold me to that!

Underneath that flap on the box, the t-shirt is revealed! I was super excited to receive the Captain Phasma one, the one I wanted!! There were four variants that were sent out - in addition to Captain Phasma, there was also Kylo Ren, a stormtrooper and a snowtrooper. Unfortunately the shirt was way too large for me (I'm using it as pjs!) so if you order, keep in mind that you might have to order a size down (they only come in men's sizes).  

Underneath that, the Funko Pops! The chrome-plated Captain Phasma bobble head was guaranteed to be in the box but the other one was kept a secret. I received a TIE Fighter Pilot bobble head. There was a variant available as well, a Special Forces TIE Fighter Pilot, which is identical to the one I received but with two red stripes down the helmet. I think it's pretty cool they printed "Smuggler's Bounty Exclusive" right on the box of the Pop, instead of dealing with stickers.

 

The last item tucked in the box was a Star Wars The Force Awakens lanyard with cute Funko Pop style stormtroopers. I think this will be a good replacement for my old lanyard.

The Smuggler's Bounty box is available in Canada and the US only and ships out every other month. The cost of the box is $25 usd + $14 shipping to Canada ($7 shipping in the US), with a guaranteed value of $50. I was a little bummed that the shipping was more than half the cost of the box!  After the crappy exchange rate, the total cost for me was $52.42 CAD. I meant to cancel my subscription after the initial box, but it looks like the January box is The Resistance themed...Guess I'll be continuing!

Check out the Funko Smuggler's Bounty if you want to subscribe to your own box! You have until January 15, 2016 to get your order in for the next one!

Celebrate the Holidays at the Vancouver Christmas Market

The annual Vancouver Christmas Market is back for it's sixth year at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza in downtown Vancouver, from November 21 to December 24th. It's the perfect place to get some handmade creations including holiday ornaments, soaps, wooden toys and knitted sweaters. Don't forget to bring your appetite - there are over 20 food vendors this year, serving favourites such as pork hock, schnitzel and spatzle. Enjoy the performances and join in on the Christmas carols as well!

I was invited by Zomato to join them for a night out at the Vancouver Christmas Market and we hit up the food stalls. I had my eye on the roasted pork hocks at Haxen Haus, which they roast on spits. They were crackling in the heat, my mouth was literally watering when I was looking at them. I had the shredded pork hock served in a bun and covered with sauerkraut. The pork hock was very flavourful and very filling. There is the option to get a half or whole pork hock as well, which I might do next time I visit the market! I also had a mug of hot cider, which was perfect for the cold weather! 

Someone in our group decided to go with the traditional German egg noodle, Spatzle. The noodles are boiled then heated on a pan and then topped with cheese. It had a very chewy consistency, and was pretty tasty!

We wanted sweets afterwards so we visited I Love Chocolate, which serves hot chocolate and various skewers smothered in chocolate from their chocolate fountain - yum! Their best seller is the strawberry and cream puff skewers and I can honestly saw it really hit the spot and satisfied my sweet tooth! Honestly anything covered in chocolate is fine by me!

Of course after eating, we had to go on the carousel, and we had so much fun on it that we went on twice!

There are plenty of vendors selling holiday goodies so we went around to take a look. 

Cookies, mugs of Gluhwein, nutcrackers galore!

Plenty of cute and intricate handmade holiday ornaments, more cookies and crafts.

There is plenty to see and eat at the Vancouver Christmas Market and it's a fun place to bring your family. Normally tickets are $8 each but Social Shopper has a promotion right now where you can get a pair of tickets for only $11. The market will be downtown until Christmas Eve.

EB Games Funko Mystery Box [Black Friday Unboxing]

Because I'm crazy, I ventured out early in the morning on Black Friday to do some shopping. Since I've been collecting Funko Pop toys lately, I decided to grab a special Black Friday EB Games Funko Mystery Box that was advertised. There were five different Funko pops you could get, with a gold variant of them all. As well, each box has a Pocket Pop, Pop Pin and two ReAction figures, all for $25. 

I ended up getting the gold version of Borderland's Claptrap, a Anna pocket pop, Loki pin and a Breaking Bad and Tomorrowland ReAction figure. Not too shabby! Mystery boxes are so much fun!

Sal Y Limon - Taco Tuesday!

My coworker took me to Sal Y Limon, a little Mexican place on Kingsway, since we've been trying to plan a taco night for a while now. This restaurant offers tacos, burritos, quesadillas and other yummy Mexican fare. The tacos are quite small so make sure you order several, or make it a combo (I got a side of tortilla chips and a lemonade).

Grilled beef, grilled chicken and slow roasted pulled pork tacos.

Fish, grilled chicken and vegetarian tacos.

The tacos were pretty good (they come with 2 tortillas, so you can make them into 2 tacos each!) and I think I'll be coming back here soon to try some of the other things on the menu soon!

Mimibuloveme Desserts

Just across from Oakridge mall is a little dessert place with a really interesting name - Mimibuloveme. The name itself isn't shown on the entrance of the restaurant though. I went for dessert with C and J since we were in the mood for sweets. They offer bubbletea and parfaits, and even pasta! 

Really funky artwork on the wall.

J ordered the small sized black sesame parfait - the ice cream is topped with corn pops, cakes and mochi balls.

I ordered a scoop of black sesame ice cream. It was a bit too sweet and didn't have the taste or aroma of  fresh black sesame seeds like I've had at other restaurants.

The desserts and drinks here are very sweet so make sure you request less sugar in your drinks. This place is opened quite late so it's one of the few places in Vancouver you can go for late night dessert!