Confounded Unpacking Woes

In mid-August, we moved into a house. The house is absolutely wonderful, though so much more work than an apartment. We're in a suburb that is reminiscent of the one I grew up in. It's quiet and safe; everything I could wish for after living downtown during a drug epidemic. 

All my EGL is going into a spare room, but this room also needs to take the role of a guest bedroom. Hence, I can't let EGL envelope the entire space. I still haven't worn EGL a single time since my last post in June. Since unpacking is a bit tough because of the space restriction it seems like a perfect time to do a purge. But I have this motto to not getting rid of anything off-season. The number of times I've gotten rid of an item of clothing meant for Autumn in Spring and then when Autumn comes round I realize I've made a mistake is a testament to this. In this case, I'm not talking about seasons of the year but seasons of life. While I've been pregnant, I haven't had the passion or desire to wear EGL. Mostly due to feeling too ill. But I foresee this feeling disappearing once I am no longer pregnant and feeling better.

So, when I think about it like this, I shouldn't sell anything at this time unless I was already considering doing so beforehand. What about the space issue? Our house has a large storage room. The solution is to put some things into storage. 

I've been filming a few clips here and there as I am unpacking. So maybe I will make a short video if I get enough content. 

Also, I did buy one new thing recently:

It's the Happy Treat Star Necklace from Angelic Pretty. A friend of mine was selling it and I thought it will go really nicely with the Dreamy Stage OP:

Well, I don't suppose I'll be wearing EGL any time soon still. A friend recommended I should have a get together with people from my comm before the baby comes but I doubt I have the energy or time. My current goal is to at the very least get everything unpacked and put away (not necessarily neatly).

Update :o

This blog has not been forgotten! I'm shocked to see I haven't posted since 2022. There is a draft from last year but I doubt there's any point publishing it now. It included musings about disentangling my relationship with EGL fashion from my negative online experiences. 

Well, things are different now. In a good way. :)

I haven't worn EGL in several months :'( but that's because I'm expecting! And I am finding most clothing to be uncomfy D: One day I did randomly look online to see if there was any overlap between EGL and maternity wear and did find a dress from years ago (2017) :

Link to Article

Made a brand MerryGORound. It's really cute, wish I could find something like that now...

Today, I had to use PayPal for something and laughed about how it had been so long since I'd used PayPal because it had been so long since I'd bought EGL. My husband asked "is that all you associate PayPal with?" and yes, it is. The last time I ordered any EGL was from Closet Child in February. 

I should be moving again this year, but at least within the same city. It would be funny if I made a YouTube video of myself packing all my EGL clothes. 

It's ILD today, maybe that's a good occasion to post. But I've been thinking about this blog on and off for a while. I went on a few adventures since last summer. I'd like to post about them but it does seem a bit daunting (coming from the person who finds vacuuming a daunting task). 

For a few months I was too sick from first trimester side effects to do much of anything, so I spent A LOT of time watching YouTube (and is probably why February seems so long ago XD) and got really into videos about caving/cave diving accidents. I'd recommend this channel: Scary Interesting. I never plan to cave dive or go caving ever, so this kind of scary entertainment is perfect for me. 

Ramblings on a Sunday

 It's the first time I've worn lolita in a while. 

My coordinate for church:

I can't wait to get my new bag from Cotton Candy Shop, I hope I picked a good colour scheme... Kumakumya needs a rest! Also, shocker, I am not wearing a head accessory! I'm not just digging them, I guess. Maybe I should elaborate on that some day?

Coorindate rundown:

Jumperskirt, blouse, necklace, socks, shoes: Innocent World

Bag: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Cardigan: Lacemade

My new cardigan is from a brand called Lacemade. It's perfect for my style. I discovered it through the YouTuber Fairyanne. She's worn this cardigan in a few videos. I left a comment asking about it and she was kind enough to tell me where it was from.

The tag and packaging were all very pretty.

Nothing much exciting has happened since my last post other than the cardigan arriving in the mail. Otherwise, I recently repaired the pair of shoes (Innocent World Roseline Shoes) I am wearing in today's coordinate using Shoe Goo. The soles were coming off. Not sure how much longer they'll hold out. It's such a shame that they are in poor condition because they're very cute. Many secondhand shoes I've purchased deteriorate quite quickly, even if they were initially in good condition. Not sure if it is my climate (dry) or just the age of the shoes. 

I might considering buying a replacement from Cotton Candy Feet because they make shoes in this same dusty rose colour. 

I think this design would be good for my classic lolita looks. 

Also, how awesome is it that shoes are back on Lolibrary? For a while there, they didn't have any of them listed because they'd lost the information. Lolibrary is such a valuable resource to me.

Also also, I think I want to get one of those Garden style one piece dresses from Baby, the Stars Shine Bright. The ones with the V-shaped front. I saw one for a good price a while back but didn't go for it and I've kind of regretted it since? Ivory is my favourite colourway, but sax is also nice. Thinking about getting a dress/skirt in a brown fabric with an allover print some day too...

I guess I should update my wishlist!

I've got a meetup next weekend and there is a swap meet at the beginning. I need to go through and pick out things I want to sell so I can free up some space and $$$ 

Busy busy

 As the title says, I've been busy busy.

But I want to talk about something else.

**TRIGGER WARNING: SA**

A Plant Focused Post

 Behold! Some new plants were left in the lobby of my apartment building the other day:

Note reads: Adopt me!! (I'm very needy) I need more than usual humidity!!

The top left is Stromanthe and the bottom right is a Rattlesnake plant. The are both in a bit of poor shape, but I hope I can help them out. They both had sticky-notes on them. The stromanthe had "Adopt me :(" on it and the rattlesnake plant had a note explaining that it's quite a needy plant and requires high humidity (you can see it in the photo above). 

Gardening is a hobby of mine, I have many indoor plants. Then, there are all the plants on my balcony that form a vegetable garden during the warmer months. Last year was very experimental in determining which plants will do well on our north facing balcony. Squash and relatives did poorly. Beans did the best, so quite a few of those were planted this year, along with a tomato plant and some leafy greens like kale and swiss chard. A variety of herbs were planted this year too. Last year, I planted different sorts of herbs within the same pot but they didn't fare well. This year, I planted each herb separately so that they can be watered and exposed to sunlight to meet their individual needs. We do get sun on part of the balcony in the morning and all over in the late afternoon, so the plants aren't in total shade all day. The tricks to herb gardening are slowly revealing themselves to me with time.

I've got quite a few drying out right now for use throughout the year.

My herb drying setup, at the moment.

The mint plant, started from a cutting I took in the woods near my old apartment is very prolific. I've cut it back and dried those cuttings several times this year already. It makes a very nice tea. The dill plant seems to be doing well, seems less is more when watering it. This was the first time I'd picked any of the dill, so will see how the plant rebounds. Basil does well to have its leaves pruned frequently.

Cherry tomatoes. I didn't grow the plant that produced these from seed myself this year. The ones I did died by the hand of a neglectful babysitter whilst I was away during one of my adventures this past spring.

Crab apples! 

In foraging news, a tree nearby was filled with nice looking red crab apples. Very shiny. Very bitter. Tried cooking in boiled water. Still somewhat bitter and very sour. Perhaps they need to ripen on the tree a bit more because I know that crab apple jam/jelly is a thing. Wild purslane was also discovered. May go and pick some this week.

And here is my coordinate for today:

Jumperskirt: Dot Stripe JSK
Bolero: Angora Bolero
Blouse: Themis Blouse
Socks: ??
(Everything is Innocent World)

No hair accessory for no real reason, I suppose.

My smaller MeLikesTea petticoat is pink (in a shade which I totally love) so it kind of shows through some of my dresses, such as this one. The size is perfect for casual wear, but the colour presents a problem. Perhaps I should buy another petticoat in a plain colour... How many petticoats does one need, though? Bah.

New Shoes x 2

There has been a need for a classy pair of pink heels in my lolita wardrobe for quite a while. Cotton Candy Feet has some really cute styles. The problem is that there are too many good options! It's taken a few months, but I finally decided on a pair. It came down to choosing the pair with the name I liked the best. Fairy Ballerina Glitter Shoes was the winner! How can you go wrong with fairies, ballerinas and glitter?

I chose the light pink option. Here's a picture showing some my dresses I plan to wear them with:

Top Left: Toys Museum 
Top Right: Whimsical Vanilla Chan 
Bottom Left: Unbirthday 
Bottom Right: Dolls Tea Party 
All Angelic Pretty

(Yes I did some doodles on this collage. Trying to let my creativity out a bit more.)

In other news I found a super cute Angelic Pretty blouse for sale secondhand online and I bought it! 

It's the Decoration Ruffle Blouse from 2009. It has detachable sleeves! It wont come with the detachable ribbon on the front but that's okay because I can just make it myself. It will be my first completely blue blouse. The blue blouses I have are both striped. It is always funny to me how I've been in the fashion so many years but some things that feel like they should be essential (e.g. a plain blue blouse) I just don't have. Something else I don't have is a white bag. Probably, I need two. One for classic looks and one for sweet looks.

Since it's an order from Japan, I picked out a few other items too. Gotta make it worth it. ^^; (goodbye money *watches money flying away*)

I also got these shoes for more casual lolita looks in a local store! They had a few other pastel coloured shoes as well, but I resisted them. I wish pastel colours could stay in fashion for a long time...

Top row (left to right): Fantastic Carnival, Happy Bunny, Marshmallow Bunny, Toys Museum
Bottom row (left to right): Melody Toys, Toy Parade, Toy Fantasy
All Angelic Pretty

They'll go with many of my dresses! :D Personally, I think combining sneakers with lolita is super cool. It makes the outfits look way more casual.

Weekend Adventures

On Friday afternoon my husband and I went berry picking. I recalled seeing raspberries growing along a nearby path last year. They're black raspberries, actually. There weren't too many ripe fruits, lots of unripe ones. Still, we had a small haul.

The raspberry bushes are feisty! Foraging is a lot of fun, so I don't mind the minor scrapes. I put these into pancakes the next morning. Saturday is always pancakes for breakfast and then I save the leftovers for Monday to make the first day back to work a little more fun.

After berry picking we went to go see Nope, Jordan Peele's latest directed film. There is something special about a horror film directed by a person known for comedy. Hopefully, he will direct more films! I am also hoping that there will be a director's cut of Nope because there was an entire subplot that was removed.

On Saturday afternoon we went to a festival. It was 30 degrees but I really wanted to wear lolita fashion anyway and so I did. Parasol came to the rescue!

Parasol, headbow: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright
Blouse, socks, wristcuffs: Bodyline
Bag: Angelic Pretty
Necklace: Sweet Dolly House
Shoes: An*Tai*Na
Skirt: Design replica of Angelic Pretty Cross Ribbon Skirt

My natural hair looks okay with the giant head-eating-bow. Why doesn't my longer hair? A mystery. Speaking of hair, I am thinking about growing mine out again. 

An old school style felt suited for the festival. Sometimes, when out in public "going back to basics" seems best. Quite a few people complimented my outfit. One girl said she really wanted to get shoes like mine. I wish I had told her to "DO IT" and encouraged her but I was a bit overwhelmed :< Hopefully, I inspired her in some way because another lady had said she felt it was inspiring that I was just wearing whatever I like.

The only problem with a parasol is that you have one hand less free. Not terribly ideal when you are also trying to hold a Korean rice veggie dog (which was very delicious by the way!). I also had this Chinese charcoal baked bun filled with sugar and topped with sesame seeds. Wish I'd taken photos of the food but alas. >__<"

With all the events of the weekend, I feel like I've fully recovered from being ill. I'll be back to the office tomorrow (Monday) but I don't know when I'll return to the gym. Trying not to be too concerned about losing my gains. Maybe it will be fun to see where I am at and start again, who knows?