Getting ready for a big, arty weekend!

I'm so excited about this weekend, and to make it even better, it starts tomorrow! Early-ish in the morning, I'll be hopping on the train to Tokyo. The original plan was to go just for the two days of the Tokyo Design Festa, then I scored a couple of extra days off. To top it off, it turned out that my mate from Australia, who is in Japan on business for a few months, had time off as well, so we're making a short holiday of it.

Our plans aren't set in stone, but tomorrow, I hope to go to Nippori Textile town. Mmm.. it's a good thing they don't take credit cards because otherwise it could be really dangerous! Friday, will involve a lot more shopping, as it's best to get my shopping fix before hubby arrives to join us. I'll also be meeting Fuji Mama for French crepes. She's the first person I'll have ever met from the blogging world. It's funny, I'm excited and nervous at the same time. The rest of the weekend will probably be taken up with the Design Festa and hopefully a trip to Harajuku to get some Cos Play photos and possibly to the Sumo.

To get to Tokyo, my friend and I decided to save a little money and take the slow, fast train there. This one takes three hours rather than the usual two. That means lots of catching up chatting time, but hopefully also some creative ideas time. I love to write on trains and get lots of ideas then as well. I'm not sure why. So, for the occasion, I've packed a special little bag. In it, I've popped a blank journal (with a kimono fabric design on the front of course), a couple of pens, some scissors, glue and colour pencils. Plenty to write and do some rough sketches with. I always plan to take my sketch book with me, but it's a bit too big, so I though maybe downsizing might help. I think it may be time for a moleskin.

In the back of the journal I've also created a pocket to keep some small pieces of Japanese yuzen. Some of the designs I do, I like to use colour patterns, but am not so great at sketching, so am going to get back to doing mini collages.


I've also packed my new copy of the Artist's Way which I'm dying to get into. Of course my camera bag is ready to go but I'm still umming and ahhing about taking my computer... Now, I just need to pack some underwear and I'm ready for the weekend!