We've combined the 12 Reasons We Want To Go To Japan together in to the perfect day and here's how it would go:

1. Visit a cat cafe

We'd start our perfect day by waking up with a coffee at a cat cafe. I have a list full of theme cafes I'd like to visit in Tokyo but a cat cafe, or should I say neko cafe, is at the top of my list, combining our two favourite things - cats and coffee!

2. Snap some fashion

I love Japanese fashion, so we'd take a walk through the streets of Harajuku so I could take photos of everyone's amazing outfits for my blog.

3. Ride the Shinkansen

Tom loves trains so we'd take a Shinkansen to Kyoto. This rail line is the most travelled in the world and the train broke the world speed record, so we're sure to get there with time to spare!

4. Meet a Geisha

We'd then explore the streets of Kyoto hoping to meet a Geisha. I've longed to meet one in real life ever since I read Memoirs Of A Geisha and admire how beautiful they are.

5. Play in the cherry blossom

Every spring, Tom and I have a blossom fight under the trees in Scotland. The colours are beautiful but probably nothing compared to the blossom in Japan.

6. Eat sushi

We'd be worn out after the blossom fight, so we'd treat ourselves to sushi. We bet it would taste better than any sushi we've ever eaten before, coming fresh from Japan.

7. Learn origami

As a craft lover, I couldn't leave Japan without learning how to make origami and bringing home paper crane souvenirs for all of my friends.

8. Watch sumo wrestling

In the evening, we'd watch a sumo wrestling match and cheer along as we try to work out the rules, feeling a little less guilty about our full bellies of sushi.

9. Dress up

Every fun night out needs the perfect outfit and what better than a snuggly warm cosplay animal suit. We'd bring ours home in our suitcases and wear them as pyjamas to get through the cold winter nights.

10. Sing karaoke

We're a little too shy to sing karaoke in the UK but after a few sakes, we'd be singing our hearts out with the locals and where better to learn the ropes than the country that invented it?!

11. Get Purikura stickers

We'd then get some Purikura stickers to remember our perfect day by. It would be so much fun drawing animal ears and whiskers on ourselves, not to mention, trying to use the Japanese machines would be an adventure in itself, and if it turns out wrong, it won't matter because it will look cool anyway.

12. Sleep in a capsule hotel

We'd end our perfect day with a good night sleep in a capsule hotel. Tom would love how high-tech his bed is. Some people say they would be claustrophobic but we think they'd be cosy!

Check out the contest for yourself at Inside Japan Tours and please wish us luck. We've got our fingers crossed!

I loved Thora Birch as Enid in Ghost World and couldn't resist attempting to DIY her look this week. I attempted to sew my own skirt like hers when I was a teenage and ended up holding it together with safety pins. I'm a better crafter these days, so let's get started:

1. Start by making a pair of geek glasses with dino.
2. Follow Mi.ezekatze directions for mixing and multicolouring your hair.
3. Dress up with a catwoman style knitted cat hat by Raven.
4. Make your own superman t-shirt with Miss Amy.
5. Sew a paisley dee ring bag like Steph.
6. Accessorize with Tom Sawyer's dinosaur pin.
7. Draw strangers in your homemade journal.
8. Go comic book with my speech bubble bracelet.
9. Revamp your boots to look brand new like violetta.
10. Sew a simple pleated skirt with Trudy.

Which comic books do you read?

At the start of the year, I set myself a couple of resolutions which would be my goals for the year. They were pretty daunting, so I broke them down in to simple tasks I could do every day, but my biggest problem has always been sticking to something consistently without losing focus. I read that you can make anything a habit if you do it for 30 days, so I decided to give it a shot and make jogging my first habit. I was a bit sceptical at first but after a couple of weeks, I found myself automatically psyching up to jog. Almost four months later, I've jogged for 111 days without fail and have answered all of my emails everyday for 80 days. Even Tom has been inspired, working on his music for 30 minutes each day for 74 days. It really does work

1. Focus on one habit at a time

I bet there's lots of awesome new habits you'd like to gain and, though it's really tempting to try to tackle them all at once, it's important to focus on gaining just one at a time. Write a list of your new dream habits and pick out the one you feel the most excited and passionate about. Enthusiasm will help you stick with it and you can deal with the more tedious ones when you get the hang of things. It can be quite motivating to pick out the second habit you'd like to gain now too, so highlight that and stash your list somewhere you can find it again in 30 days time.

2. Do it for 30 days

They key to making something a habit is to repeat it every day. Once you've done it consistently for 30 days, it'll become natural and you won't even have to think about doing it. Make it top priority, and if you can, do it before you do anything else. There's no better way to kick off a great day than by getting your biggest challenge out of the way first. Just keep at it, make it your number one priority and before you know it, you'll be looking forward to doing it each day.

3. Track your progress

It's important to track your progress to keep yourself on target and motivated. I've got a great little app called Streaks for my iPhone which lets me create motivational calendars for my habits, tracks my progress and tells me what my longest streak has been so far. Another great option is to score a wall calendar with a giant X for each day you do your habit. As the number increases, you'll become more and more proud of yourself and less likely to break the habit.

4. Keep motivated

There will be days when you're not in the mood to work on your habit, so it's important that you learn how to motivate yourself. I'll write in more detail about motivation in a future article, but for now, let's find something simple which will inspire us to keep up our habit for 30 days. Perhaps you can reward yourself at the end of the month with something from your wish list or maybe you want to challenge a friend to try and create their own habit at the same time? Everything's more fun when it becomes a game. Pick something that will work for you!

5. Answer to yourself

Check in with yourself at the end of the day to see if you've completed your habit and if you haven't, it's time to ask yourself some tough questions. Why didn't you do your habit? Was there some physical reason you couldn't? If not, then what was it? It can be pretty depressing when you realise there was no excuse and you just didn't feel like it. But... is there still time you could do it before bed? And if you did, imagine how great you'd feel when you don't break your habit and get to add another cross to your streak! This kind of thinking has saved me so many times, even if it meant working up until the clock strikes midnight. Don't worry if there is a legitimate reason you can't complete your habit one day - just negotiate with yourself to do double the next day to make up for it.

Once you've gained your first habit, you can start creating more while maintaing your original. In fact, creating one habit might actually create lots of positive changes without you even realising it. For example, when I started jogging, I found that I started eating healthier, working harder and being tidier without even trying to. And, when you've got a 30 day habit in place, it'll take way more than one bad day to knock you off track again. Remember, it takes 30 days to break a habit too and with that in mind, are there any bad habits you'd like to break? Just do a little bit every day for 30 days and it'll become second nature in no time!

Resources:

• 18 Tricks to Make New Habits Stick.
• Streaks - Motivational Calendar
• How to break a habit by A Cup Of Jo.
• Tips for Breaking Bad Habits and Developing Good Habits.

Have you been inspired to create a new habit? I'm here if you need a habit buddy!

• Aeriel photos of beaches are making me feel so summery.
• The Internet Map is fun to play with. Can you find cutoutandkeep.net?
• This Bat signal made from string is incredible!
• There's a campaign to get a gold medal winning Olympic horse a gold postbox too.
• I love this floor plan of Carrie Bradshaw's apartment. I could totally live here:

• If your favourite book was a bikini, what would it look like?
• I love this rainbow bridge and this coloured pencil tree.
• This amazing chimera cat is it's own fraternal twin.
• I like the idea of a Lady Gaga Disney movie.
• I've had Adam Buxton's counting sound in my head all weekend:

• The Beercamp 2012 website is like a pop-up book and so cool.
• I love the design for this typewriter waffle iron and for this teeth lined teacup.
• Creating A Great Profile On Facebook by Coco Rocha is really funny.
• These auditorium chairs are pretty nifty and I love this biscuit cushion.
• How to make your vintage tees feel soft.

Which great links have you found?

Colleen Ly is a design student living in Raleigh, North Carolina. She discovered me after one of her friends introduced her to the marbled swirled nails on Cut Out + Keep. Her parents are her heroes as they're the strongest people she's ever known. She eats Mexican, Italian & Chinese food, her favourite colours are blue and purple (like a bruise) and her favourite book is Feed by M.T. Anderson.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was younger I dreamed I would be so many things.. I desperately wanted to be a pirate, or go live in the jungle, or be a ninja secret agent. My dream job today would be if I were an amazing glass artist who lived in the outskirts of Prague, CZ who could earn a living off my pieces and as a researcher at the Bee Institute that is about 40 miles north of Prague. I studied glass works for two months this past summer and fell in love with Prague and its' surrounding areas. I could sit by the river and stitch all day! It would be a dream to live the way the people I met there did.

Where should we visit if we come to your town?

If you came to visit my town, I'd take you to the Rock Quarry if you felt like splashing around in the swimming holes. Then we'd go downtown to grab some food at the Raleigh Times, which has awesome drink specials and the best chili cheese fries in town! We would probably go to Father & Son after that, since it would only be a few blocks down. It's a vintage thrift store I think you would like.

Where do you look for inspiration?

Inspiration usually comes from those around me, nature, and passing by strangers. Sometimes a nice gesture from a stranger can make your day! Being around other design students also inspire me to do better. I am surrounded by amazing artists, it's a wonderful environment to be in when I want to find inspiration. My top resources are some of my professors and fellow classmates, as well as a few blogs I follow.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Go with that gut feeling! In the end you can never really regret what you wanted the most.

What would your three wishes be?

• I wish I had a huge studio, on a boat.
  
• I wish I had a magical sewing machine that didnt annoy me.
  
• I wish I had a million more wishes!
  

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