Countdown to Christmas - Day 22

22nd December

So today Simon and I decided to head off into Nottingham to do some last minute Christmas shopping.

Today was a very wet and soggy day!  So our first port of call just had to be Starbucks for a mocha and cinnamon swirl (me) and a macchiato and rocky road (Simes) and once fueled with sugar and caffeine we were ready to go.

We actually had a very good shop, we knew exactly what we were looking for and were all shopped and back at the car in 3 hours; not bad for a wet and busy Saturday this close to Christmas.

But one thing that helped us out, and kept us dry, was my trusty umbrella...not any old umbrella of course but my Disney one...and not any old Disney one but one all the way from Tokyo Disney Resort.

Simon was lucky enough to visit both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Sea whilst visiting Japan with work back in 2007.  During his visit it rained rather heavy one day and so he bought himself the umbrella which has naturally now become my umbrella!!

Simes at Tokyo Disney Sea - here comes the rain!

But he did bring me back this lovely handbag and purse...

The detail is amazing

Luggage tag, says Go! and Stop!

Handbag lining

Purse and its gift box

The detailing is very subtle, so I hope you can see it on the photos.  The one thing Simon found when shopping for  goodies in Disney Tokyo was that everything was either tiny (lots of mobile phone charms) or very subtle compared to the merchandise that you see in the other parks.

I love my bag and although I don't use it as often as I should do it is very lovely, it came in very handy for a hen weekend back in November when I used it as an overnight bag!!

The other good thing about Simon's trip to Japan is that it introduced me to one of his work colleagues, Nana, and although we have never met we chat about nails,baking and future trips to Tokyo via the internet. And the really great thing is that Nana and I are actually going to meet in person in less than a weeks time as she is here in the UK for Christmas...we are then going to start the planning for a visit to Tokyo in 2014 :)