The Current State of the "Spare" Room

I keep referring to it as the "Spare" room. My husband corrects me that it is "My" room. In our previous two apartments, it was always referred to as my room. But I want to highlight that this time it is meant to be more multifunctional. 

Previously, the room was dedicated to all my hobbies and then additionally as my office during the pandemic. Now, while serving those purposes, it also needs to be a guest bedroom. Just this past week we bought a mattress. A Murphy bedframe is being delivered tomorrow afternoon. 

Bestar Evolution Wall Bed, White

I really like the solution of the Murphy bed and hopefully it works as well as I am imagining. 

The majority of my EGL stuff is now put away...

It was hard to fit the entire height of the closet into one photo!

Albeit, not in a super well organized manner in some cases...

Some of the drawers in this dresser. Very full and very messy...

One day, I will organize the above dresser with all my socks and cardigans and such. There is also a storage bin full of EGL clothes that I don't think I want to part with but haven't got room for in the closet. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I'm waiting until post pregnancy to make any decisions about selling things. Justification is that quite a bit of my wardrobe was difficult to acquire. If I sell things, I might not be able to find them again.

This also reminds me that I need to update the wishlist page of this blog! Eep!

This camera angle is mostly satisfying to look at.

Since the closet in this room is half the size of my previous hobby room, besides putting some things into a storage bin, layering blouses with jumperskirts on the same hanger was also a necessity. It was kind of fun to choose which to layer with which though. I wonder if it will affect coordinate planning for me though? Because there is now already a suggestion that a certain blouse and jumperskirt should go together. 

I've also got some of my art supplies in the closet with my EGL wardrobe. Prior to moving, all my painting supplies were stored in the living/dining area of our previous apartment. I'm not even sure how they migrated out there from my hobby room. Art is also something that's fallen to the wayside whilst pregnant. I know I am going to be super busy taking care of a small human, but I hope I regain passion for my hobbies. In any case, it is a bit hard to organize this room when I am not doing any of my hobbies. Not sure what arrangement will be the most functional for me.

There's also a hold on putting up any decor until the Murphy bedframe is installed. It's going to take up most of one wall. It needs to be in place before anything else goes on the walls. 

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 $$$ 

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.

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? 

I am back from my many adventures!

I've been sick for the past week. I was supposed to go to Trotcon and even had a Fluttershy inspired egl coordinate planned out. :( Actually, I didn't get very sick. It was like a mild cold. But I did feel very tired. 

It was really nice to just spend an entire week at home feeling obligated to do nothing. :D

I managed to get some things done. For example, a button had popped off my Cherry Cat jumperskirt from Innocent World. The button seems to have been sucked into the void of nothingness because it has entirely disappeared. Months of searching have yielded no results. I sewed on a clear button as a replacement. The buttons are mismatched now though. Maybe now that I've gone through the effort to replace it, the missing button will return.

The results. Not too noticeable hopefully?

Cherry Cat is one of my favourite dresses. The cats are sort of wonky looking but it reminds me of the wallpaper border of my childhood bedroom. The dress is also very simple. The ease of wear that comes with such simplicity combined with the nostalgia makes it a go-to.

Mouse (soon to be a victim?) carries a cherry away.

On the topic of mending, I repaired the burn holes near the cuffs of this sweater. This sweater was left downstairs in my building's lobby, as things often are. It's sort of a leave and take situation. Quite a bit of my muggle clothing is sourced from here. It's fun to find new clothes for free that are in my size. I guess whomever owned this before must have been a smoker? Thought I don't recall it smelling like smoke.

Before.

After

Why is there no full view photo of this sweater? Who knows?! This is really just for bookkeeping for myself maybe. Or maybe to prove to myself that no, this blog (as a whole) isn't just about lolita fashion. It's about my life. Something like that.

In that case, here's as close as a worth photo I have of myself "wearing" the sweater. It's wrapped around my waist. This image looks hella flat, but I am actually at the top of a very big rocky hill (or perhaps you could call it a small mountain). It's a very remote location, very cool to go somewhere so remote.

Me in my iconic field hat. I had to make a few repairs to it this trip. It's ten years old now!

It's been quite a while since I've worn lolita. This spring/summer has been filled with traveling. Although last week was spent in quarantine and could have presented an opportunity to wear lolita, I preferred to wear clothing that I could fall asleep in at any moment. I did indeed sleep a lot.

But the food supply has run low and I feel pretty well now so I visited a grocer. It's quite hot so I went for a super cute look instead of lolita. I have discovered that wearing a wig is as good as wearing a hat to keep the sun off one's head :P 

This dress is from Peiliee Shop

I'm happy with how this fit turned out! I think it's very cute. 

Otherwise, I've been playing the Sims 4 a bit and watching both Fargo and My Dress-Up Darling. 

Also, I have this bubbling feeling of nostalgia! I don't know why. Maybe it's just because it's summer??

 

Some Lolita Coordinates and... Yogurt and... Free Mug!

I felt like doing some spontaneous blogging today. Missing the days of LiveJournal where my friends and I used to write about whatever came to our minds. 

I decided to make a coordinate using my Chelsea skirt from Innocent World the other day. I really have been getting a lot of use out of this old school Angelic Pretty headbow. It's the one that I bought really stained, it was marked as a "garbage" item. I took it apart and did a heavy duty cleaning on. Not only did I get to learn some things about how Angelic Pretty constructs headbows but now I have this hair accessory that I'm really enjoying! I put a lot of time into rehabilitating it but it turns out it was worth it :D

~btw, is headbow a single word? Spellchecker tells me it's not, but I think it should be.

Coordinate rundown:

Skirt, socks, shoes, bag: Innocent World

Blouse: Emily Temple Cute

Bolero: Bodyline

Headbow: Angelic Pretty

And of course, here's the first coordinate I wore with my new Angelic Pretty Toy Parade OP. I love this print! Ahhhh!!

Coordinate rundown:

Everything is Angelic Pretty! :o

Here's another coordinate I've planned for Toy Parade using a mint x pint combo:

Coordinate rundown:

Headbow: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Everything else: Angelic Pretty 

As much as I like shopping for lolita, I really don't need to buy anything, so coordinate planning like this feels like a way to shop my own wardrobe. Reduces the risk of temptation. Actually, I just bought the socks in the above Toy Parade coordinate collage :x They're mint! I did need a mint pair of socks!

Okay, and here's another coordinate idea using my Bambi underbust jumperskirt from Innocent World:

Heh, it looks kind of funny with the socks and shoes like that.

Coordinate rundown:

Dress, socks, bag, headbow, necklace: Innocent World

Blouse: Milk

Shoes: Offbrand

IN OTHER NEWS:

I made my own yogurt using soymilk and cashews and some leftover store bought yogurt. It was surprisingly easy! There's some rhubarb apple sauce on top. I ate it and didn't die! Hooray!

Observe this cool mug someone left downstairs a while ago. People leave things they don't want in our lobby all the time and there are some cool finds. Including clothes. Nothing lolita of course, aha. Sometimes, I get really bad munchies so I try to drink herbal tea to help. Doesn't always work though T_T

I also started getting really into Avril Lavigne's old clothing line, Abbey Dawn. I found a shop on eBay selling a bunch of old leftover stuff that never sold from years and years ago. It's helped me to get out of the funk I was in with my non-lolita clothing. I was feeling... really uninspired and unhappy with my clothes. I guess I'm having a bit of a scene revival.  
 

A Friend Comes to Visit

A friend of mine who shares my interest in alt Japanese fashion came to visit me yesterday. 

He wore ouji and I dressed as so:

Coordinate:

Hat, cutsew, jumperskirt, shoes: Baby, the Stars Shine Bright

Socks: Bodyline

Purse: Offbrand

We walked around looking for a place to buy lunch, but everything was closed because it was a Holiday. Also, it was incredibly windy. It is a good thing that I wear bloomers. Strangers definitely saw them. Urgh. 

I wont share a photo of my friends' coordinate but he wore a white ruffle blouse with a black vest jacket and pants and a fancy hat from Alice and the Pirates:

Knights of St. Lily Hat A

When we were walking around, we got a lot of compliments. Way more than I would ever normally receive. I wonder, is it because my friend was with me? Are people more impressed to see a man dressed very fancy whereas they aren't as surprised to see women wear something unusual? Or is it because they don't normally want to bother a woman on her own? Anyone who wears lolita and has walked around in public with an ouiji friend, have you noticed any such difference?

We ended up returning to my apartment, ordering food for delivery and watched Pom Poko which none of us had ever seen before. It was both cute and sad. 

I've actually been watching a lot of movies and television shows recently. I'm all caught up on the new Fruits Basket. Shane and I also started watching Seinfeld which I have never seen before. The first season was in 1989 and wow... It's very interesting to me to see how our culture has changed. I also appreciate the costume design as well. 

I had this thought recently: why aren't there lolita undershirts? Lolita bloomers are a thing sold by brands. But undershirts aren't, are they? However, I often like to wear an undershirt and I know there are many other people who do as well. I wonder why this is, or if brands have sold them and I've just missed it. 

Picnic

We had a picnic meetup on Saturday. The weather was over 30 Celsius but by the water in the shade we were totally fine. Surprisingly, some people didn't show up so it really was just my direct group of friends. Which was fine! I think my sister was a bit disappointed though.

The meet was supposed to be strawberry and sweets themed so I wore Sheep Garden with my new Strawberry Parlour hat WHICH DOES NOT FIT ME >:(

Charlotte's coordinate was super awesome:

Mostly Putumayo 

She borrowed one of Brittany's wigs. Brittany and I were together at the drug store when she found that wig. It is by Gothic Lolita/Rockstar Wigs. I was surprised to see it there and on sale.

My brother also came with us! Him and his friends are into men's fashion. They have a lot of really nice and unique pieces of clothing. He complimented Raymond on his coordinate. Maybe one day my brother could get into Aristocrat. He is really thin (despite his ability to eat inhuman amounts of sugar) and only a bit taller than myself so he would definitely fit into brand clothing.

Brittany wore her bunnies and tea cups JSK and cute butterfly clips in her hair. Sadly, I didn't get any good shots of her outfit. 

All our snacks! I brought iced tea. The flavour was Sunny C from David's Tea. I brought orange pekoe in a thermos and some soy milk to go along with it. For snacks I brought golden oreos, tea biscuits, dried fruits, chocolate, peanut butter and the jam that my husband made. I highly suggest golden oreos/tea biscuits paired with strawberry/raspberry jam. It is a very good combination and everyone else thought so too. >:)

I brought 70% and 90% chocolate. We all tried both to compare. The 90% didn't even taste much like anything, it was just powdery. 70% was the best.

Raymond brought a whole bunch of snacks from Japan, Brittany brought fruit salad and dates (which were far superior to mine), cookies and trail mix, my siblings brought strawberries and candies. One of the candies were like gum drops with fruit and mint flavour combined together. It was unexpected! I didn't read the package label first ><;

Overall, we had a good time looking fancy and snacking. I was too tired to go through with finding someone to take our group's photo and then posing and everything so these snap shots will have to do. Brittany and I are currently discussing planning a meet up ourselves.

Hats. Let's Get Some Hats.

I recently watched the original Mary Poppins film and was inspired by the hats that Jane has in the movie.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate Jane's hats?

I'm wondering why the majority of straw hats in lolita fashion are similar to boater hats and not rounded like the hat with the blue ribbon in the bottom right corner of the image above?

I don't really like mini hats. I used to like them a lot when I was younger. What happened?

Anyway, Jane's hats give me inspo to get myself some more hats. Ones that I am currently in love with:

Charlotte Ribbon Straw Hat

Rosy Ribbon Beret

In other news, Amino now has ads. I don't know if I'm going to be using it anymore... Probably, I need some time to get over the disappointment. I hardly ever use Tumblr now because of the ads though, so maybe I wont get over it. :(
If there was an option to pay some amount to have no ads, I would consider it. (This goes for Amino and Tumblr)