Hey! What happened to the Lolita challenge?!

Hey guys.

I know, I know. It's been a looooooooooong time since I posted. Given I'm not talking to myself, you're probably wondering why.

Well, I'm lazy.

Yep. Good old fashioned laziness caused my disappearance. It's really hard for me to keep myself wanting to do something.  It started with not feeling well, I might've missed a week, but it was prolonged by the fact I just didn't want to write the posts.

That and I occasionally forget my blog exists.

I might try the challenge again another time, but for now, I need to work on actually wanting to post/making myself make time for it. I'll continue to post random Lolita related content every now and again, like the three hundred year old French macaron recipe I found, as I feel up to it.

For now, how about y'all leave me some topic ideas? Or tips on formatting and stuff? You could even correct my grammar, should you feel so inclined. It'd help a lot. :D

Lolita 52 Challenge Week 7

Late again! I'm really bad at this! Anyway, I'm gonna tell y'all a story. A magical story about a princess and her first meet up.

Once upon a time, far off in a remote (and often frozen) desert land, lived the beautiful princess of a lonely country. The neighboring countries were small, and hard to reach from her lonely little stretch of sagebrush. She had no friends, and the biggest village in this country had Walmart as the biggest/classiest store for hours in any direction. She had no friends, she never went anywhere, and she wasn't allowed to wear her favorite gowns when they did go into town.

Much to our princess's delight, eventually, the king and queen came to realize that owning country in a place where nothing and pretty much no one else lives was a bad idea. They moved to a bigger country with bustling cities and warm climates. Alas! Our princess was still lonely. There still didn't seem to be another princess anywhere!

This did not discourage our young princess, and soon, her beauty and uniqueness attracted a handsome prince. He took her to a magical realm of awesomeness and fantasy where princesses gracefully danced across the floors. She met a fair maiden who invited her to join a group of princesses.

Unfortunately, it was many moons before our princess could join the others in their fabulosity. Oh, the delight though! Our princess had the opportunity to join her beautiful comrades at the mall for a birthday party at the Build-a-Bear. After creating a wonderful new stuffed animal friend, they retired to the birthday girl's house for cake and presents.

Our princess was happy. She finally felt like she belonged. She and her frilly new friends took pictures and talked brand until late in the afternoon. The End.

Lolita 52 challenge! Week 5 and 6!

I've decided Saturdays are too busy and unpredictable to promise a blog post. I'm officially moving the challenge to Wednesdays! Yay! I'm also going to do two topics to catch up.

The first (late) topic of the post is "My Favorite Thing to put on My Head". In a word, bonnets. I love bonnets! In my opinion, bonnets give more of an antique doll feel than just a bow or a hat. Bonnets are lavish, extravagant, and definitely a Victorian statement.

It would seem, though, bonnets are unpopular. I totally understand why; the bigass, flowered-up ones that I find everyone referencing are awkward and hard to wear. I prefer the more proper-Victorian styled. They don't have to be bigger than your head. >_>


Topic two, "5 keywords that describe my personal Lolita style". This one is gonna be a quick list, as I'm honestly busy today. xD Go figure.

1. Handmade, since most of my pieces are.
2. Classic
3. Dark, but not gothic. I like darker colors but not really gothy.
4. Second-hand
5. Limited. I only have about five outfits. xD

Well, here y'all go. <3 I've gotta get back to baking. We're having a bake sale Saturday, the 23rd in front of the Walgreen's in Beeville from 9-4 (just in case y'all wanna come out, I will be dressing up).

<3

Lolita 52 Challenge, week 4

Ha! On time this week! I'm choosing the topic "Wardrobe blunders! Things I bought and regretted!", and we're diving right in.

Most of you know I'm not really considered a "true" lolita because I don't spend money on brand. As of today, I don't own a single brand item; the closest thing I have to brand is a skirt from Surface Spell. As I get more money, this might change, but I still won't buy anything brand new.

When I'm not making my own, I like secondhand pieces. More importantly, I like things I can pick up at thrift stores and alter. One day, when I was just starting out in lolita and before I could really sew all too well, I found what looked like some sort of an ivory wedding dress. It was knee length, had some very pretty beading, and an empire waist. The only thing I didn't like was it had spaghetti straps. I thought I was in love, thinking I'd found a great hime piece. I took it home, bound and determined to coord it perfectly.

This never happened.

Let's set aside the fact that it STILL needs to be taken in to fit me. The problem with it was because it was so intricately beaded, boleros looked wrong, no matter what color they were. The way the beading was made the bust sit funny, none of my blouses looked right. Don't even get me started on the waistline and petticoats. I just couldn't get it to look right with the rest of my wardrobe.

It still sits in the back of my closet waiting for me to either work up the nerve to get rid of it, or finally do something about coordinating it. I highly doubt I'll do either, since I paid good money for it, I doubt I'll ever find anything that'll look good with it, and a situation might arise in which I need a more formal dress.

I really shouldn't've bought it in the first place.

Lolita 52 Challenge! Week 3!

Yes, yes, I'm late. I'm sorry but, I was busy this weekend. I had some catching up to do with my boyfriend.

This week's topic is called "Why don't I wear Lolita More Often" and the short answer is: life sucks.

Texas is hot, yes. That doesn't really bother me. People look at me funny. That doesn't bother me either. There's only one other person in my immediate area area who wears lolita. That's fine; she'll go places with me if I ask. The place I lived before, I didn't have anyone. I don't wear lolita more often than I do because my insides decided to try and assassinate me, and now I'm in and out of surgery.

I've got enough pieces now, I could wear a different lolita outfit once a week for two months. That might not compare to some ladies, but it's a big deal for me, considering I've never had a lot of money. Literally, the only thing stopping me from dressing up more often is my medical issues. I have normal outfits I can't wear because I have to be wary of where my clothing sits on my mid section.

Luckily, it's only temporary, and then I can go back to whining about wanting more pieces. :3

Lolita 52 challenge, week 2

I'm not going in order on these, I'm just picking whichever sounds the most appealing. Today, I pick "Why I wear Lolita". Bare with me though, I'm still in the hospital.

I've always wanted to be pretty, but I've always liked to wear what I like to wear. In seventh grade, I had what I thought was a cute pair of sweat pants. They had a little heart on one side with a Dalmatian on it. I loved them to bits and I'd wear them often. I thought I pulled them off well with cute tee shirts. I was happy with my fashion.

However, the other girls in my grade disliked how comfortable with myself I was. They ridiculed me, my sweat pants, and my waist length hair. That was the last year I went to school and it took years to get over it.

During my homeschool years, I started studying Japan, and I came across Lolita. I tried it out because at the time it was the popular thing with my online friends. Because of my new interest, I learned to sew, I learned to design, I learned to draft patterns, read metric, and even speak and read some Japanese. All this led to regaining my self confidence, and even becoming a more vibrant person. I wear Lolita now because I've developed a personal style that brings out my natural beauty, and shows the world that I'm not afraid to be myself.

I've Got a Plan! Lolita 52 challenge!

Before we begin this post, I need to update y'all. Prepare thyself for medical disgustingness and some shameful begging.

I was supposed to be done with surgery by now, but the radiologist screwed up and missed a fistula. I'm gonna leave it to your imagination how we figured it out, but it means I had to have an extra surgery, after the ileostomy was already taken down. Unfortunately, the fix isn't holding, so it's back to the ileostomy next week, another repair and two months of healing the fistula, then we take the bag down again. That's three extra surgeries, instead of the just one we would've done if someone had done his job.

Which brings me to the begging. To pay for this, my mother and I are offering gourmet cupcakes for sale. They're homemade down to the frosting, and we can do individual, or a couple dozen at a time. Price varies by flavour, and we do start discounting after the first half dozen. I'm also offering my artistic services by donation, or you could always be an awesome person and donate without incentive, so when this is all over, there'll be money left for my wedding. : D

Now back to the content.

I want to blog more about lolita, because that's something I have a lot of passion for. So, starting today, I'm going to undertake the Lolita 52 Challenge I found over on FYeah Lolita. Today's topic: 5 pieces that every Lolita wardrobe should have, regardless of style.

Now, I'm not telling anyone how to run their closet, but this is what works for me and I'd recommend to anyone starting out. If you have anything you disagree with, comment (nicely!) below. I'd love to hear opinions!

Let's get to it.

1. A plain white blouse
I don't mean bland, I just mean no prints, no other colors, and no GIANT frills. A nice and simple, button down blouse will go well with a lot of things. I prefer white, since it can span a range of styles and is also easier/cheaper to find. I do have a friend who can't stand white blouses though, and only buys black. That might work better for you, but  if you're only into gothy/dark lolita styles. White works with anything.

2. Tights
Rainbow unicorns and neon candy prints are unwelcome. I like to have a solid white pair, and a solid black pair. Whether you choose thigh high, knee high, or regular tights is up to you.

3. A Selection of Headbands
A wide headband makes for a quick and cute hair accessory. Try to keep a variety of the colors you wear most, a few natural colored ones, and, of course, a black one and a white one. In the very least, one black and one white. You can always velcro some coordinating flowers or ribbons to it to match your outfit.

4. Ballet Flats
My favorite pair of shoes is a pair of black velvet ballet flats I picked up for cheap. They're extremely comfortable, but still go with most of my outfits. This makes them the ideal meet-up shoe, since my comm often walks around the mall together.

5. The Petticoat
I'm pretty sure this is on every list, but it can make or break your outfit. It's very, very important to have poofs in your outfits. Almost any skirt can become lolita with the application of a little floof. Petticoats are the best way to achieve the perfect shape, and therefore the look.


Hopefully, this helps someone. :3 Or in the least, someone enjoys reading this.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

New Lolita Holidays!

My wonderful friend over at Petticoat Pedaler shared this week's Lolita Blog Carnival in our Facebook group, and those lovely bloggers decided to invent new holidays to celebrate Lolita. If you don't already know, we have International Lolita Day every first Saturday of June and December, but wouldn't it be fun to have more reasons to get together and dress up?

A lot of great ideas have already been put out, but there were a few I was surprised not to see. And since I've been slacking with my own blog, I decided to take this opportunity to enlighten you all with my special brand of quickly-typed, unedited, posted-before-I-could-change-my-mind writing.


Style Switch Day

Is your typical style so sweet, people get diabetes by looking at your coordniates? Or is your wardrobe blacker than Mana's favorite lipstick? Why not a day to mix it up? And if you have nice friends, you wouldn't even have to buy a new outfit (unless you want to). To make it even more fun, you could help plan each other's outfits, hair, makeup, etc.


Bloomers and Corsets Day

I am NOT suggesting we run around in our underthings in public, but perhaps get together at someone in our community's house for a home spa day. In our bloomers and corsets. This way, we're still frilly, but our nice dresses won't get mud mask and face cleansers on them.


That's all my ideas, but make sure ya'll follow those linkies and read everyone else's ideas. :3

I'm a TERRIBLE blogger

I have been experiencing LIFE, okay? So I haven't been posting, bah. I'll get around to it eventually.

Anyhow, this last week is where all the good stuff's been. :3

Not only did I get to spend it at my wonderful boyfriend's house, Tuesday afternoon I got to go to tea with some very lovely ladies. We went to a little shop called Lotus Dreams Tea down in Corpus Christi. They have wonderful hand blended teas and great prices. I'm itching to get my hands on their White Rabbit blend. Sadly, I have no money because I got fired. That, however, is trivial ridiculousness that I shan't post.

Wednesday, I went with Adrian to Geeks Who Drink at Cassidy's. I would've done pretty well-- if I had played. I didn't have a team, so I just kind of listened and chilled with friends.

And then came Saturday, and the most AMAZING birthday party I have EVER attended. We went to frigging Build a Bear Workshop. Dressed in Lolita. And we all got stuffed animals. I still don't know why making a build a bear is so fun, but I'm hooked.

Though, someone needs to teach the birthday girl that she gets stuff on her birthday, not that she needs to give stuff away. xD Not only did she buy everyone's bear, she gave me a beautiful dress and wig. <3

While I was gone, my new Wacom came in the mail. It's probably the shiniest thing I've ever owned! I need practice, but I'll get it.

Surgery this week, wish me luck!

FabuFrickingTastic

So. My insides are currently outsides, kay?

FIMALLY met with the surgeon in San Antonio. The good news is we can get them put back where they belong. The bad news is we have to come up with close to 10,000$ UPFRONT and it's TWO surgeries to completely fix it.

More good news is that once the money issue is taken care of, it'll fairly easy surgeries.

Anyone got 10k lying around?

An Explanation for my New Lease on Life

You know that song "Imagine" by John Lennon? Every time I hear it, I think of a world falling apart. Imagining there's no heaven, it is easy to try. I've done it before. I imagined there was no hell, no consequences, no government, no religion, nothing to own, nothing to work for, no reason to fight. At first, I agreed. Maybe we don't need the things we thought we did. I thought maybe there was no point to clawing my way through life, because even if there was heaven, nothing from this world would go with me. And what if there was only darkness afterwards?

In that moment, however, I lay staring into the face of death. It was beautiful and terrifying in the same second. It was cold and yet so warmly inviting. I could feel its hands trying to grasp me. I could hear the whisper to meet my fate. It sang softly, lulling me out of mortal pain, coaxing me into the growing blackness.

My sight was fading, the only sound was my own rapid heartbeat. At first, I let myself slip a little at a time. Then, I began to panic about being right and wrong; about my place in the cosmos. Was I really going to fade into nonexistence? Would I feel myself decay? What would happen to my memory? I tried to sort it out with both religion and science, recalling as much as I had been taught about either.

Then it all became clear. Even if there was no God, no Kingdom beyond this life, the universe worked with purpose. Everything had cause and effect, up and down; physically, there was no way to exist without sending some sort of energy radiating through all of existence.

I reflected on my past. What kind of energy had I sent out? Not one of any positivity. For all of my two decades on the planet, I had only two memories that didn't cause pain. What, then, would resound back? Everything that had made me miserable in my life.

It was that thought, that fear of nothingness, of destruction, slamming back into everything, that gave me the will to change my world. It was that thought that lead to the unraveling of my sorrow.

I'm terrible, I know.

But I made chocolate covered bacon! Yes, those things go together. Quite well, too.

My mother and I threw a chocolate party this week. Specifically, we threw a chocolate party to demonstrate some of the ways to use DoTerra essential oils. We made cake, brownies, fondue, the bacon, and our becoming-famous bean truffles.

Yes, beans.

It sounds weird, but it actually makes the truffle less choking-on-sugar sweet, adds a smoother texture, is lower in fat, and is easier to flavor. We thought up the idea when my mom was asked to teach a class on using and storing beans a few years back. They've been popular in our area since. We flavor them with oils like cinnamon, peppermint, orange, or lemon. I like the peppermint best, but I'm dying to try making them with spearmint. It takes at least a whole day to make one batch though, so we try to save them for special occasions.

I did think about holding a tea party for the Corpus Christi Lolita Group and making some then, but I'm not sure when I'd do that. Or if anyone would come. We had a big turn out for our business event, but none of my friends came. Oh well, maybe next time.

For pictures, visit my mom over at http://mtoils.blogspot.com

Au Revoir <3

#Geekbowl

I just got back from one hell of a weekend up in Austin. Geeks Who Drink put on their 8th annual Geek Bowl, aka a gigantic room full of drunk people (not the Salt Lake team, of course) answering stupid questions about a plethora of subjects only fun people with no lives could get right, with hopes of taking home $6000. I apparently only qualify for the 'no life' part because I got like no questions right. I think my final score was 9 out of 80. Yep.

Anyway, GWD of course plans events for the whole weekend as well, and my honey and I attended the superflippingawesome pre-party: The Freak Bowl. I was so wrapped up in the awesomeness, I didn't get pictures taken. This, I much regret. All walks of Geekdom came together, jammed out to awesome bands, and chilled without any Star Wars vs. Star Trek fist fights breaking out, or at least none that I saw. Must've been quelled by the Doctor and Superman. Or they were too distracted by the hot circus performer chicks playing with fire.

Next year is gonna be in New Mexico. Jeeze. How am I supposed to afford that? Pshhh. I guess I gotta find an actual team to go with and actually compete or something.

And in case you're curious, you can go to GeeksWhoDrink.com and see when and where it is and all that crap, because I'm too lazy to look it up myself.

Writing is Hard!

A secret passion of mine was always writing. I tried for many years to purvey my many ideas through written word to no avail. I never could understand how to fill in all the plot holes, or even how to advance in some places. This is fricking not easy!

Last year, I purchased the One Year Adventure Novel program. We had sampled it years before and it seemed like a good purchase. It comes with 7 disks of video lessons, a textbook, a workbook, and a sample novel, as well as a resource disk and a forum membership. Whenever I get stuck (which is often), I go and chill in the forum's chat.

This is how I learned to drabble.

A drabble is a short, 100+ word story based on a few keywords. It can be one word, two words, seven, or whatever. Once all participants are done, we take turns posting them in chat.

My first session's keys were graveyard, music, winter, and shadow. When it's just a paragraph or two, it's easy. Here's what I came up with (in all of 15 or so minutes).

Untitled

I sat behind his grave, my back pressed to the cold, gray stone. Sighing, I hummed the songs he wrote for me. Can you hear me? I wondered, closing my eyes to the winter skies.

The frigid breeze swirled snow around me. Cold didn't bother me anymore, I was too numb to feel much of anything.I turned around and pressed my face to the stone. "Why am I still here, Araan?" Shadows of the living passed through me, chattering in distorted voices. If I listened really hard, I could make out words, but today, it did not interest me. I shivered violently as they stepped across the dirt mound that was- that used to be- me. It jutted out of the ground, brown and muddy, while the snow around it bore the week old foot prints of my mourners. Soon, Lady Winter would erase them with her crystal faeries and lay my lifeless body in white.


I stared at the old man under the tree. He had been here since times of cowboys and the first railways, sitting under that tree, year after year, watching the world pass. What if I suffer the same fate? This isn't what I wanted. I wanted to be with Araan! I promised to follow him to the end of time, and now I couldn't even leave the cemetery grounds. Why did he have to leave me? And why couldn't I go where he was?

I guess it's kinda dumb, but I did it, and that's all that matters.

Au revoir!

Too much?

I almost forgot I needed to be writing here.... oops.


So I'm writing this novel, and I finally got most of the plot worked out in my head. Set a hundred or so years after an Earth-shattering cataclysm, an orphan girl gets taken in by a prince. No one in the kingdom likes this prince because he's a crossdresser, and his brother, the king, is a total war-crazed, careless, ass. In fact, the king drove the kingdom into absolute, terrible poverty, and has been searching for the philosopher's stone with their money. Prince Christopher's been trying to pick up the pieces in Angelus's absence.

Now this girl is all grown up, and while trying to help a family, Christopher is shot. A stranger (Angelus in disguise) convinces the (currently unnamed) girl to go and get the stone, telling her its the only way to save Christopher. This is where things get a little fuzzy. I know I want all the hounds in Hell to bite at her, I just haven't decided what exactly happens after she leaves on her quest. She's gonna get robbed at some point, but that's all I've got. At some point, she's going to slump into a depression and contemplate whether or not she should even be trying to save him, if she even wants to live, and how to deal with such a cold, desolate world and her resurfacing memories.

I might be pouring a little too much of my past mental drama into this, but I think I still need to express it out loud. There's a lot more than just "oh, it's so hard" fueling her questions on life and death, and how she decides to handle the world affects a much larger plot I've had stuck in my head for years. I really need help deciding what tortures to unleash on her when, though.

If anyone has any ideas, go ahead and comment. I am trying to keep this YA friendly, though.

Arigatou!

Breathe, Breathe in the Air!

Okay, maybe not the best reference for a bright, shiny, optimistic new year,but it's the best one I got.

Happy New Year, world! After a night of epic Jenga skills, oohs and ahhs over lolita dresses, The Walking Dead, and too many cherry Pepsis, my friend and I had an idea. We're tossing around the thought of starting our own lolita shop. I can make patterns and sew, she makes beautiful jewelry, and another friend of her's makes headpieces and hats. For my drawing practice today, I'm going to sketch up some possible prints and designs. I'm so excited!

I think I need a soundtrack to set the mood for the year. Something that'll remind me of this excited, dreamy-eyed feeling whenever I hear it. I've found that whatever I listen to the most really sets up how the days go. Last year's reoccurring album ended up being "The Wall" by Pink Floyd, and last year ended up sucking hardcore juice boxes. I started off the new year with D's "Rakuen", but I need a whole album, not just one song to really keep me going.

I finished my permanent To Do list. I've got to print and laminate it as soon as I'm done here. It looks pretty awesome in my personal opinion. I've just got to finish getting my room in order before I display it's glory.

I think that's all for now.

Au revoir!