A Year in Lolita: September

September 2014
Location: Florida

September was a much more active month for me. I was making more lolita friends, and thanks to my boyfriend I was also able to attend Anime Weekend Atlanta for the first time. Before that though, I attended a birthday party of a new lolita friend. It was at her home, but it was such a cute set up. Everything was adorable. We had a lot of fun taking silly pictures and having a mini swap meet.

2 Sweets and 2 Goths XD

Near the end of the month was AWA. I was both really excited and terrified all at the same time. I was nervous about traveling to Atlanta from North Florida by bus on my own. Luckily, once I got there, I was meeting with a long time online friend/fellow lolita artist, Donni. The trip was long and tiring, but I made it in one piece without getting too lost. It had been a while since I had been to a large con so I was sort of overwhelmed, but thanks to Donni and some of the local lolitas from my town that were also attending, I didn't feel quite as anxious. I also met up with a friend from college who I hadn't seen in years. All in all, it was super fun, and I did a lot more than I usually do at cons. Of course the whole weekend was all about lolita~

Coords for the weekend~ AATP all the way!

To be honest, the main reason I attended AWA was for the Baby the Stars Shine Bright tea party and to meet the designers. I sold a few things from my wardrobe to put together a coord with Vampire Prelude. I also worked out at the gym and dieted for a few months to fit into it a little better. Even so, the sleeves openings were too small, so I also had to alter it. The dress was missing the pearls on the bodice so a friend made me a new one, along with a beautiful flower crown. It was a lot of work, but totally worth it. I loved the final result~ The tea party was amazing! The Baby designer and the manager of the Harajuku store were both very nice, and went around to speak with everyone. They talked about the next trends for Baby, and about how they liked all the effort overseas lolitas made in putting together creative coords. They both really enjoyed the flower crown my friend made. I made sure to pass that along to her~

All the cuties!

The whole weekend was definitely worth the crazy trip getting there and going home. I met so many new people, reconnected with old friends, and got to know acquaintances better~ I spent WAY more than I should have, but I have no regrets about it. I had a good time, and that's all that mattered.

A Year in Lolita: August

August 2014
Location: Florida

To be honest, August was pretty uneventful. I don't drive, and the public transportation here is pretty unreliable, so I don't get out much when I'm in Florida. I spent most of my time looking for jobs (and not hearing anything back) and drawing. The highlight of my August was an outing with a friend, and my boyfriend's birthday. One of my best friends who also was interested in lolita with me in high school was starting to get into the fashion again. We decided to check out the English Tea at Hoyt House, a Victorian mansion turned bed and breafast, that neither of us had been to before. I let her borrow my Chantilly dress and I wore Night Fairy Fantasia for the occasion~


The tea room was super fancy~ Probably one of the more fancy ones in the area.Everything was delicious and the service was great.

Tea at Hoyt House~

Near the end of the month was my boyfriend's birthday. I planned a Skype date tea party since he's in Hawaii. It was actually really fun. This time I wore the Chantilly dress since it was the dress he got me for my birthday the year before.We both made tea, arranged some snacks, and had a pleasant birthday tea party. Even though he could really only see me from the shoulders up, I did go all out for my coord~

Coord Breakdown: OP: Chantilly, Socks: Offbrand, Boots/Jewelry: AP, Headdress: handmade

I may not have went on many adventures this month, but I had fun on the ones I did go on.

A Year in Lolita: July

July 2014
Location: Germany/Florida

Happy Merry Christmas! And every other holiday! It's literally Christmas in July on my blog. Ha!
Anyway, the first week of July was my last week in Germany. I spent most of it packing and cleaning. Unfortunately, due to an admin switch and a couple of cancelled meets, I was unable to meet the local community. But, one of the girls messaged me to hang out and visit a museum in town a couple of days before my departure~

Coord Breakdown: JSK: AATP, Bonnet: IW, Blouse: Offbrand, Wristcuffs: BTSSB, Tights: F21, Boots: AP

The museum was really neat~ And it was nice to talk with a local lolita who put up with my lack of German skills. I was even more sad I had to leave after meeting her and another one of her friends. Even so, I'm still apart of their group on FB, so if I ever make it back, I'll be sure to attend meets. In a few days I'd be leaving Germany for good. It was a great experience that even though it didn't quite work out how I hoped, I don't regret a minute of it. 

After I left Germany, and went back to my parents house, I immediately joined my local community. Apparently they had formed a lolita community while I was in Hawaii and I had no idea until someone in the Hawaii comm had told me about it. Conveniently, they were having a meet up at a local con a week after I arrived. I had no idea this con existed either. I guess I had been away longer than I realized...Anyway, the meet up was fun. I met up with old friends and made new friends at a very nice tea party. The comm left me with a good impression, and I was eager to be an active member.

Cuties~

A Year in Lolita: June

June 2014
Location: Germany

June was both a fun, and relaxing month. I stopped worrying about finding a job, and decided to just enjoy the rest of my time in Germany. Unfortunately, since most my funds were almost all used up, I spent a lot of my time just enjoying the peace and quiet in the house before having to go back home. I did go to the Ritter Chocolate factory since it wasn't too far from where we were staying and bought an ungodly amount of chocolate. I pretty much ate chocolate everyday for a whole month. Somehow I lost weight in Germany, it makes absolutely no sense. Anyway, near the end of the month, a couple of friends came to visit me in Germany after their trip to Iceland. Recovering from their trip, we spent most of our time catching up and doing small day trips. One of our day trips was to the castle in Ludwigsburg. We originally planned to take a tour of the castle, then explore the gardens in the back where there was a fairytale themed section. Since we got to the castle before the tour started, we decided to explore the gardens first.

So, when we heard about the fairytale garden, we were expecting something cute with some fairytale stuff thrown in too. This fairytale garden though...was way more than that. This was like a mini-fairytale theme park. There were little buildings and areas set up to recreate several different fairytales, a lot with interactive set ups. For instance, they had the magic mirror from Snow White that you could ask if you were the fairest in the land (in German of course) and it'd answer you. They had the table that would set itself if you spoke the magic words. They had the donkey that spat out golden coins from it's mouth (more chocolate!). And my personal fave, a ridiculously fun toad prince water fountain that did different things when you stepped across it. It was clearly intended for kids, but I was having a blast. I'm such a fairytale fanatic, so this place was magical~ We ended up spending the whole day in the garden without seeing the castle interior.

Rapunzel's Tower~

I sort of regret not wearing lolita to this outing, but at the same time it was hot and mostly outdoors so it might have been a bad idea anyway. However, I did wear lolita to go to the opera for the first time~ I knew there was an opera house in town, but never thought to go since I figured it'd be pricey. But when we checked prices the tickets ranged from extremely reasonable to more expensive. I never thought I'd be able to see an opera for 9 euros. So, we went to see Orfeo et Eurydice and it was amazing~

Astronomical Clock for the opera to fit the Greek theme~

Afterwards we stopped at a cafe to have some ice cream even though it was starting to get cool. This was one of the last few things I did in Germany, and I'm really glad I got to experience it with friends~ 

A Year in Lolita: May

May 2014
Location: Germany

May was a month of excursions~ I visited the Neuschwanstein castle earlier in the month. I wanted to go in lolita, but my hosts had told me they had went before and there was quite a hike to the castle so I opted not to. However, after the hike and reaching the castle, I saw a girl going down the hill in a Cinderella Jewelry OP. Suddenly I felt like "if she could do it, I could have!" but actually...I don't think I could have. I barely made it to the top without having heart attack...and I was definitely sore the next day. Still, the castle was mind blowing! I practically threw a fit when we were walking down a corridor and suddenly I found myself in a colorfully lit CAVE. I couldn't get over it...I still can't get over it.

Made it!!

Our next trip, was admittedly the trip I was looking forward to the most.We took a day trip to Versailles in France~ This was seriously one of the high points of my life. To go somewhere that you've only seen in books is just completely surreal. I made it a point to wear lolita this time, even though the bus ride was 6 hours, it was surprisingly warm, and I would be doing A LOT of walking. Still, absolutely worth it. Also, I wasn't the only one who dressed for the occasion, so I didn't feel too out of place.

Coord Rundown: Skirt/Headbow: Meta, Socks/Purse: BTSSB, Blouse: Bodyline, Boots: AP, Parasol: IW

Sadly, my AP booties have never recovered since that trip, but still worth it. I'm not even sure how I can put into words how amazing Versailles was. I was definitely having an extremely emotional moment though. Especially when I stepped into the hall of mirrors.

Obligatory mirror selfie...in the Hall of Mirrors!!

Well, that was certainly something I could scratch off my list of things to do before I die.Sadly, I wasn't able to explore Paris during this trip, but I did at least experience infamous Paris traffic and in the process got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. Dear France, I'm not done with you yet~

The last trip of the month was a trip that was special to me and my love for fairytales~ We went to Hanau, birthplace of the Brothers Grimm to see the Cinderella play and look around the historic area of town. Since I had already gotten over my fear of wearing lolita out and about in Europe, I wore Cinderella Jewelry for the occasion. Coincidentally, the Frankfurt lolita group, Candy Days, were having a meet up at the Cinderella play as well. I was too shy to approach them, but after the play a few girls came up to talk to me. They were all very friendly and tolerant of my lack of German skills.

Coord Rundown: JSK/Headbow/Purse: BTSSB, Blouse: Meta, Socks/Boots: AP, Jewelry: Putumayo/Offbrand

The play was actually really good. I'm not a fan of musicals, but I liked it enough buy the soundtrack afterwards. My German comprehension is pretty limited, but I was surprised how much I could actually pick up. All in all, it was a good trip, despite multiple issues and getting lost at times.

Unfortunately, as magical as my time in Germany had been, my roommate and I were having terrible luck in finding a job. We only had one month left on our tourist Visa, so we decided it was a lost cause and would just enjoy the rest of our time in Germany as much as we could with our rapidly depleting funds.

Lolita 52 Challenge: 10 Facts About My Lolita Wardrobe

Since I'm doing a year in lolita right now, I'll make Lolita 52 a weekly thing again...like it's supposed to be. A friend of mine did this prompt for her challenge last week, and it looked like fun, so I thought I'd give it a try this week~ So, 10 facts about my lolita wardrobe, go!

1. I started collecting pieces in 2006 when I first went to Japan.
I could only afford one skirt. After that, I didn't get another piece until I got one custom made by In the Starlight. I pretty much only had those two pieces for a couple of years until I ordered my first brand piece from Baby, then immediately another piece from Angelic Pretty. I was becoming more familiar with the livejournal sales, and the economics of selling and buying lolita secondhand. Since I didn't make much money at my sad little work study job, I did a lot of selling before buying, so my wardrobe didn't do much growing for while.

2. My current wardrobe isn't that large in comparison to how old it is, but currently it is the largest it has ever been.
And I'm very happy with it~

3. I have more Alice and the Pirates pieces than any other brand.
I really shouldn't, it's not exactly a plus-size friendly brand, but it's my fave. So I suffer.

4. I love Alice in Wonderland prints, vertical stripes, and trump themes!
When it's all of the above, it's the perfect piece~ I may have more than one JSK with these traits.

5. Over 50% of my wardrobe is black.
Only two pieces out of the other 50% aren't dark colors. Still a goth at heart~

6. I currently only have 3 pairs of shoes.
To be fair, I only have 2 pairs of non-lolita shoes. I lost two pairs from overuse, and left one pair in Hawaii. I really want more shoes, but I have a slight limp which makes me scuff my shoes pretty easily. I love brand shoes, but to ruin them so fast and pay all that money...not ideal...

7. I have a lot of pieces in my wardrobe that are probably permanent pieces.
Some of my dresses are pretty old and have been worn A LOT. Their quality has gone down enough to get nowhere near what I paid for them, so I decided to just keep them forever. Luckily, they're the ones I love the most~

8. I lack solid color dresses/skirts.
I have one...I had one...I recently sold it for a non-solid color version of it. However, I really want some. I'm trying to break my print habit. I just really love seeing art and design on pretty clothes.

9. Speaking of art...I have a Yoh print piece, and an Asumiko Nakamura print piece.
I want more artist collab pieces. Yoh and Asumiko Nakamura are my two favorites, so I want anything they work on, but I'd also like to acquire some Kira Imai and Tama pieces as well.

10. I've started to shrink my wardrobe down.
Not intentionally, but since I'm out of work, if I want to get new things, I need to sell. I loved having a full time job that paid well. For a while I stopped selling things unless I couldn't fit it, so my wardrobe was growing. But now it's shrinking again. I'm sad to part with certain things, but getting new things is exciting too. Emotional roller coaster XD Once I get an income again, I look forward to rebuilding it~

A Year in Lolita: April

April 2014
Location: Hawaii/Germany

Happy belated ILD! Since I was out and about yesterday, I wasn't able to post. I was going to do two months today to make up for it, but so much exciting things happened in April! To start with, it was my last week in Hawaii. I had a lot of loose ends to tie, stuff to put together for artist alley, and so much to pack. Needless to say, it was a very busy week. It was all leading up to my last hurrah in Hawaii at Kawaiikon. Misako Aoki was one of the guests of honor this year so we were all looking forward to the tea party event. Harajuku Hearts/Angelic Pretty USA were sponsoring it so there was definitely a lot of temptation to spend money even though I needed to save for my trip. I didn't get to leave my table very much during the con, but it was still super fun since so many people stopped by and I was sharing it with one of my friends~ And of course the boyfriend made sure I was fed and comfortable throughout the day.

The tea party was on Saturday, and a lot of us had gone all out for the occasion. Before it started we spent a lot of time taking pictures together. I even had a twin!

Coord Rundown: JSK: AATP, Blouse: Meta, Bonnet: IW, Wristcuffs: BTSSB, Flower Crown: Handmade, Shoes/Tights: Offbrand

The tea party was very nice~ Misako was very sociable and went around the tables to take pictures and chat. There was also a raffle, but I didn't win anything (as usual XD). After a decent amount of tea and yummy snacks, it was group picture time. I was really happy with how many people participated~

Loli Shaka Time

I had been working on a drawing for Misako but unfortunately wasn't able to finish it in time to give it to her at the tea party. Once I got back to my table, that was priority. I managed to finish it and give it to her later that day. She really liked it~

Lazy mode of my coord...

After the last day of the con, there was a more casual dinner planned with Misako at a local Italian restaurant. She was able to sit and talk with us in a much more relaxed atmosphere and it was a lot of fun. We swapped pictures of cats on our cellphones and talked about how airport security wanted her to remove her wig, but it was her actual hair. Someone mentioned that a lot of people think my hair is a wig too, she was surprised it wasn't. She pulled on it just to make sure XD

Since this was also my last time seeing most of my friends I was trying hard not to be emotional. I didn't want to leave, but I had a lot to do the next day and had to leave a little early. I said my heartfelt goodbyes, and thanked the Hawaii Lolita community for accepting me and making my first experience in a lolita comm an extremely pleasant one. I had one more day left in Hawaii, and most of it was spent packing. Oh so much packing...It's amazing how little stuff you can bring under 50lbs. I should know this by now, moving around so much, but it never gets any less painful to leave stuff behind. I was traveling to Germany with one of my best friends, so it wasn't as stressful as it could have been. The trip was 36 hours, with about 3 stops along the way. Surprisingly it didn't seem to drag on that much, even our 7 hour layover in Istanbul. I think by then we were just dead to the world. Once we finally had made it, the first thing that struck me was...how cold it was! I definitely wasn't prepared. But it wasn't unwelcome. We had finally made it to Germany to stay with my friend's parents who had relocated there for work. It was our intention to spend the next three months desperately looking for work, but in the mean time take in the sights~ Only two days after we had arrived we took a day trip to Holland to see the tulips. Sadly, I didn't wear lolita...the weather and scenery were perfect for it too (sigh).

Keukonhof is officially the most magical place I've ever been.

We spent the rest of the month getting paper work out of the way, exploring our neighborhood, the nearby towns and local sights. One day while we were exploring town/checking out the animation festival in Stuttgart I saw a group of lolitas sitting in the castle square having a picnic. Sadly, I was too shy to say hello, but I was happy to know my new home had a lolita community as well. So far I loved Germany~

A Year in Lolita: March

March 2014
Location: Hawaii

March was a really bittersweet month. It was my last full month in Hawaii so I was busy packing (or at least busy putting off packing). Hawaii's anime convention, Kawaiikon was also coming up and I was selling stuff in artist alley too. Plus, Misako Aoki was going to be there so I was working on a drawing for her on top of all that. Our comm was putting together a scrapbook for her as well and a friend had offered to take pics of us in a mini photoshoot to put in the scrapbook~ It was really fun to have a photoshoot with everyone (even though I'm so awkward in front of a camera), and the pics came out great.


March was also the month of goodbye parties. I had around 3 different going away parties. The first was put together by my coworkers. Of course we did the thing I love to do most: karaoke! Earlier that day though, the boyfriend and I strolled along Waikiki beach to take more pics for the scrapbook. This time working on the drawing for Misako.

Please excuse my windswept hair XD

The next two going away parties were put together by a lovely friend who wanted me to see as many people before I go as I could, so she put together two different shindigs~The first, karaoke...again! Cause there's no such thing as too much karaoke! Actually, it was a surprise, and it was amazing! The room was decorated Alice themed along with everyone's coords~

2 Alices, 4 Chesire Cats, a Mad Hatter and a Queen of Hearts~

The second going away get together was two more fave things: Indian food and purikura! Oh so much purikura~

I have the best friends <3

Frilly Fujoshi Sisters~

I tried my best not to cry my face off cause I was gunna miss all my friends so much. The only thing that kept me from breaking down was knowing I'd see everyone again at Kawaiikon and the tea party with Misako in April!

A Year in Lolita: February

February 2014
Location: Hawaii

February was a fun month for me~ Since I knew I was leaving Hawaii in a few months, I was trying to do as much as I could with as many people as possible. I went to that month's meet up which was at the Hawaii Chocolate Festival.

Coord Breakdown: JSK, Headbow, Boots, Socks: AP, Bag, Wristcuffs: BTSSB, Blouse: Meta, Parasol: IW

Not going to lie, I have a pretty intense chocolate addiction. Even though admission was kind of pricey for only a few samples of free chocolate, I was surrounded by chocolate and that's quite all right with me! Highlights of my day was trying chocolate covered bacon, a couple different types of chocolate alcohol, and this thing:

Chocolate and peanut butter lumpia with ice cream, yaaaaaassss

Later that day, I went to a masquerade in Chinatown. Unfortunately I don't have any (good) pics of my coord, but I can at least show off the accessories a friend had made for me to match~


Went a little old school with the headdress, but it matched my Elisabeth Bride of Death coord perfectly~

In other February news, I went on another purikura date with my friend, and figured it was time to start putting together a purikura album. Before I was just stuffing them all in an envelope, but the same friend had given me a cute little photo album for Christmas, so I decorated it and got to work~


I clearly don't have a future in scrapbooking, but it was fun putting it together. I still have a long way to go before finishing it though...

A Year in Lolita: January

Well, it's already December and another year is coming to an end. I've had a lot of extreme ups and downs this year, but as always, filled with lolita~ I figured December was a good month to take a look back at coords and events that stood out.

January 2014
Location: Hawaii

Let's see, in January I went to the worst New Year's Party ever, but I spent it with the boyfriend and the bff and that's all that really mattered. I missed the monthly meet up, but went on a purikura date with another one of my closest friends the next day to make up for it~

Coord Breakdown: JSK, Headbow: BTSSB, Blouse: Atelier Pierrot, Socks: AP, Shoes: Offbrand

 Also, January 25th was the boyfriend's and my 1 year anniversary. That's a year of him spoiling me and putting up with my "Scorpio intensity". When he asked me what I would like to do for our anniversary, I just really wanted to see Iolani Palace before I left Hawaii.

Coord Breakdown: JSK: Atelier Pierrot, Boots: AP, Parasol: IW, Bag: BTSSB, everything else, offbrand

The palace was gorgeous, and the tour was...an emotional experience to say the least. I really enjoyed it. As the only royal palace in America, it was a good precursor to the castles of Europe I'd explore some months later~

Lolita 52 Challenge: Impulse Buys that were Totally Worth It

Clearly keeping up with this blog was a failure...Anyway, impulse buys! I don't usually buy lolita on impulse cause of price, but...there have been a few times I let money burn a hole in my pocket and just fall out. I'm not sure I can consider it an impulse buy since I vowed to buy it as soon as I saw it, but Wonder Queen was probably the worst impulse buy that was totally worth it. Not the JSK itself, but the headbow, socks, purse and even the bonnet were.

It all started with saving up enough money just for the JSK. I knew that buying it directly from Angelic Pretty's site would be a bloodfest, so I ended up giving my money to a friend who was going to be in Japan during its release. Unfortunately she was only able to snag the bag for me. Around the same time Angelic Pretty USA was also releasing Wonder Queen, but my friend had my money and I didn't have enough to buy it. Against better judgement I decided to use a credit card I had just received. A credit card that I hadn't even activated yet, and had left all the activation information at my parent's house. On top of that, it was being released at 10am Hawaii time so I was at work and it was an especially busy day. First, I had to call my dad in Florida to ask him for my activation information. My dad is a bit...senile...so what should have taken a couple of minutes took about 30. By the time I got the relevant information, and activated my card it was a couple minutes before 10am. By then my heart was racing, and way too much adrenaline was pumping, so after snagging the black military style JSK (I didn't even try for wine, I knew it'd be hopeless) when I should have been checking out, realized...I had this unused credit card, with a larger limit than I was used to. Before I could really think of the consequences, I snagged the socks and headbow. Actually, the total wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but then I remembered I bought the bag too. Either way, it was totally worth it.

When it arrived, I wasn't able to get it on, it didn't fit. Determined to wear it (and Astronomical Clock which I had bought around the same time) I started dieting and walking home from work. A few months later I was able to get into it and wore it to my last con in Hawaii before moving to Germany. Angelic Pretty USA was there, and had the Wonder Queen bonnet conveniently in black so it was another impulse buy (I was able to sell enough Lolita Zodiac cards to actually afford it, but that money was supposed to be for Germany...). All in all, I have no regrets about it since it has become one of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe~

America's Next Top Lolita Pg 19