Finger dolls

Aren't they absolutely adorable!? Found in a store on Strandvägen by the water in Stockholm.

Toilet paper on a roll

Did you read about the horror story toilet paper roll by Hayashi Corporation? The story is written by the author of the Ring, which movie honestly haunted me for years. And of course the story takes place in the toilet (I will not read this). The story repeats every 86cm, so you can let your friends use the toilet paper too.

Out of curiosity, I looked into other products they have. They also have sudoku and party line (like a toilet paper mask you can wear). The company also has serious products, like advertising about public messages including child abuse etc.

For me, I would rather have chic black toilet paper. I remember seeing one from Italy a while back, and swore I will use it in my future house.

Photo credit: Hayashi Corporation

The artistic and modern Hello Kitty

Did you notice that Hello Kitty turned pink and soft in 1996? Until then, Hello Kitty was red or yellow and always had black line/rim around her face, which made her look a little cold. The third Hello Kitty designer Yuko Yamaguchi (she is such a character! she has a blog) changed this, and successfully turned Hello Kitty into a global icon.

Did you also notice that Hello Kitty started to show up everywhere, in different shops in 2008? Apparently it was due to an HBS graduate who joined and brought in the idea of giving discretion to artists and manufacturers globally, to design goods everywhere, based on a licensing fee (and Sanrio's overseas operating profits is >US$0.1 billion).

Hello Kitty also gives much more flexibility in the design than the likes of Disney and Snoopy, which can allow for versatile products that keep the brand image really up to date. And they also started an office in Milan to headquarter all global products, with an all-Italian staff. From there, Hello Kitty is now moving to sell to men, starting with their KISS characters (a product of struggle by an Italian designer upon adding a tongue, because Hello Kitty must not have a mouth!).

Anyway, see below Miss Kitty White's profile. It's too funny.

Hello Kitty Profile:
- name: Kitty White
- born: suburb of London
- height: 5 apples piled up, weight: 3 apples worth
- pet: she has 2 pet cats!
- collection: candy

Do also check out these Hello Kitty junkies' blogs: Hello Kitty on real cat & Hello Kitty products.

Photo credit: Sanrio, Yuko Yamaguchi, Lady Gaga

Fur ball #2

Sorry that I don't know to whom I owe the photo credit, but it is very similar to my sheep fur ball thus I wanted to introduce here. Somehow my sheep fur ball without eyes look more mobile. I received this photo as a gift to make peace with me. Peace was reinstated.

Licca chan

My mom still thinks I am 6. She got me this funky Birthday Licca-chan and a Romantic Licca-chan. These are the latest models, so I am really ahead!


As it was back then, playing with it and my new camera was a lot of fun...