The 8th Lolita Meet-up in Dresden

As promised, here is a little post about our meet-up last weekend (or rather next-to-last weekend).
It was just going to be a little picnic in a park where everyone was supposed to bring something for himself instead of planning the whole thing altogether, but we ended up swapping and sharing anyways :D
We were 5 girls, though unfortunately one manatee was missing :( I hope you'll be there next time, Vroni! *hugs*
Anyways, after the picnic we also strolled into the city and had bubble tea together before we parted ways.

Onto the pictures:

Our merry little group

The Unholy Trinity

And now onto some shameless self-promotion...

Slipping Cinderella's shoe back on (and they were not kidding, DAMN, these feet are small :D)

Yep, I'm a tree-hugger now. Kind of...

As you can see, I didn't have time to do my hair properly, which is a shame because it would have looked so much cooler with a proper hair-do, but oh well...

A big thank you goes to Mia and Betty for the pictures!
It was really a great day with you girls, and I'm looking forward to the next meet-up, hoping I'll have time for it >.>


Outfit rundown:
Underbust-JSK+headpiece: selfmade (fabric form OoJia)
Blouse: F+F 
Tights: H&M
shoes+accessories: offbrand, Bijou Brigitte...

Time for a change

As you can probably see, my blog now has a beautiful new design. It was about time, don't you think?
Many thanks go to Mia, this is practically all her work :D
So tell me what you think, do you like the new design? Is there something you can't read/see?

In other regards, nothing has changed really.... Still a lot to do, still not enough time.
But there is some progress on my stitching:

The picture is not up-to-date though, I'm already a little further.

Actually I still don't have much to tell you... although there is one recommendation for my German readers: If you have a Lidl near you, you should check out the ice-cream section, because they have these two super-delicious flavours:

Bananalicious is so... bananalicious :D And it has walnuts (meh) and chocolate bits (yay!) in it. YUMMY!
Strawberry cheesecake even has some bits of biscuit dough in it <3

Oh, and last weekend there was a rather spontaneous (as in start planning it just a few days before) Lolita meet-up. I don't have all the pictures yet, so I'll show you some later ^^

The driving lessons are going so-so. The last two were not that bad, but after all the ones before I was crying, feeling like a total failure. Today's lessons gave me hope, though. At least parking doesn't seem to be that much of a problem for me. Some girls chimed in when I told you I was going to make my driver's license, so tell me: How are your lessons going? ^^

And now I wish you all a good night, I have to go to bed soon.

... so little time

The situation hasn't really changed: I have a lot to do and not enough time. Which feels weird to say, because in the evenings I just sit there and stitch or do nothing. But that's mainly because I'm just exhausted from the day. -.-

Last week Stefan and I decided to just take a sunny day off and go swimming. For me it was the first time in 4 years and I finally got to wear my new beautiful swimsuit. I can't believe I waited so long to do this again, it was so refreshing and so much fun! I definitely need to do this more often. While we were drying in the sun we took this picture of us and I think it's so cute *___*

As I told you before, I have a new stitching project, but it's just a smaller, abstract one that I need to "collect" colours for a bigger one after it. Here you can see my progress so far:

I haven't worn Lolita these last weeks, so there's no outfit to show you. Unfortunately, there is no meet-up planned in this next month but only in September at the earliest. Which kind of sucks because I don't know if I'll have any time to attend one then, because my apprenticeship starts on the 1st of September and especially the first months will probably be quite demanding. Maybe I'll just dress up on my own, I really miss the frills.

Oh, does anyone of you want to see Stefan and me dance? Stefan made his DTSA (Deutsches Tanzsport-Abzeichen) in silver two weeks ago and my parents taped it. The more I watch it, the more I hate it, because our technique is a catastrophe, but everyone seemed to like it, so it can't have been all that bad:

The first dance is Samba, then ChaCha, then Jive and the last one is a Tango.


That's it for now, I have to go to work soon -.-

Blah blah blah

Yeah, you already know the procedure: Sorry for not posting anything, blah blah blah...

As you can probably tell, I'm not in the best mood. There's still so much to do and so little time and it really starts getting to my head. I need a time-out -.-
I already tried cutting back on work at the callcenter a little and I think it helps, but well, I really need the money. I need to buy so many new clothes for my job and a driver's license also doesn't pay itself (even though I have help from my boyfriend in that matter, but it doesn't feel too good as you can probably tell).
Actually all I want right now is a vacation. I don't really care where, but getting out of everything for some days would be just wonderful. But neither do I have the time, nor the money for it. I always wonder how students can afford going on holidays with their boyfriends/girlfriends. Stefan and I haven't been on a single trip together, what are we doing wrong?

Anyways, speaking of driver's license: After some struggles in communication with my driving instructor, I'll have my first driving lesson tomorrow. And out of all the driving instructors at that school, I get the unfriendly, grumpy one -.- (I already had a theory lesson with him, that's why I know him. And he wasn't too friendly on the phone, either.) We'll see how it goes, maybe he's a bit nicer once you're actually in a car with him and if not, maybe I can change instructors.

Today I wanted shorten the legs of the trousers that I bought some months ago and guess what: I'm totally out of practice -.- I can't even sew a straight line, I feel like a toddler painting in a colouring book and constantly failing to stay within the lines. Through all the cross-stitching I've really neglected sewing and it sucks -.-

That's it for now, I have to get ready to get to the dancing school.
Sorry for the rant, I just needed to get some things off my chest.

Who has the cutest boyfriend ever?

I do! ^^
This week we had our 4th anniversary and look what he had made for this occasion:

It's a love-lock!
For those who don't know: It is a romantic custom that has become more and more popular throughout the years and was based in Italy (and later made popular through a novel by Federico Moccia). Couples get padlocks and write/engrave their names on them. Then they bring them to a bridge and attach them to the railing or whatever suits best. And afterwards they throw the keys into the river as a symbol that their love will last forever <3
Some may say it's kitschy, but that's just the way I like it :D
Thank you sooo much my darling :-*

Unfortunately love-locks are forbidden in some places and here in Dresden they are removed from time to time :(
So we'll have to think about where to put it. Maybe we'll still put it in one of the more popular places because it's the gesture that counts anyway, but maybe we'll also find a smaller, more intimate place where no one cares or even appreciates symbols of love ^^

So much to do...

Sorry for neglecting my blog, I'm just really busy at the moment.
Between work, internship, driving school, training and being sick (damn it!) I just didn't find the energy to write something, but nothing special happened anyways. Right now I actually just want a day off, without ANYTHING to do, no one visiting, no one calling, just relaxing, I haven't had a day like that in weeks -.-

I finished my stitching though:

But now I have a hard time finding a next motif for stitching. Any suggestions?

I also have an outfit to show you but again, nothing special. It was just for meeting friends:

not even a petti...

At the dancing school, things are going great. The people all seem to like me and I can't wait to work there fulltime. It is a bit frustrating to see everyone dance and not be able to dance myself though. Since I was sick and there was a big football match anyways we didn't have training last week and I just miss it soooo much! We danced a little at home but it's just not the same.
At the moment I'm in a bit of a competitive mood. I really want to have more training and do competitions. Even if we wouldn't win anything, I just want dancing to go beyond this hobby-status. There is going to be a competition in November that I'm thinking about joining, but I don't know what my partner and my trainer think about that.

By the way, I've had this blog-design for over a year now, so I'm thinking about changing it. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated :D

And now I have to go. Work. What else -.-

7th Lolita Meet-Up in Dresden - Release the Nerds!

Hi, how are you all doing? I'm fine ^^

On Saturday the 7th Lolita meet-up in Dresden took place under the motto "Nerd-Lolita". It was a chance to wear outfits that you wouldn't wear to a "normal" meet-up because they are.... well, nerdy, based on fandoms or of a more extravagant style.
My outfit was rather spontaneously thrown together. Pretty casual with some geeky and punkish elements. I'll call it Nerd/Punk/Whatever Lolita :D

So, what did we do? First we visited a technical museum where you could see and make some cool experiments and logic games, which was really awesome. We didn't see all of it, so I think I want to go back there some time. And afterwards we just had a little photoshoot, first in a churchyard and then on a small plaground ^^
Actually we had also planned a picnic, but the weather wasn't the best, so we cancelled it and just parted ways after the shoot, some of us went to have some bubble tea, others went shopping and some (including me) went to McDonalds :D (so rori XD)

So here are some photos:

Check out my Hair :D That was also a rather spontaneous idea

So much Anni :D

Trying to make a bubble around myself - didn't work, too much poof :D

Our whole group - Pay attention to Vronis Tardis in the front :D

The Gang wrapped in Vroni's awesome Dr. Who Scarf :D

Together with Sophie - our outfits kind of matched :D

                                                                                  
I always find it hideous when Sweet Lolitas pose with teddy bears or other stuffed animals because the are "oh so kawaii", so I decided to make my own little parody of it by taking Stefan's (screaming) Raving Rabbit with me:

Unfortunately I'm just really bad at posing... and my legs look like they were photoshopped on me :D
And please pay attention to my Nyan cat necklace and my Nyan cat shoes, both made for me b the one and only, the Vroni :D Thank you so much :-*

A sign of life

Sorry for not posting in a while. There's not much going on here anyways, so I wouldn't know what to tell you :) I did wear a Lolita a couple of times but I forgot to take pictures... but the next meet-up is not that far away, so I'll have something to show you soon ^^

So now, have a small update on my stitching:

And I'm a little further already. I have to say, I'm really pleased with that whole grey-shades-shading-thing, it looks pretty awesome once you've finished more than one corner :D

By the way, I'd actually like to start driving school, but they just don't answer my calls -.- Maybe I'll just drive by there next week (on the tram, of course :D)...

Is the weather also fantastic where you are? Here in Dresden it's great, and today I got my first sunburn of the year :D  Anyways, this reminded me that I haven't been swimming in quite a while and that I don't have any comfortable and nice-looking swimwear. I tried to find something in the local shops but everything either doesn't fit or looks hideous on me, so I decided to grab a little deeper into the pocket (is there an idiom like that in English?) and spend some more money on something that I really, REALLY adore. So this is mine now:

From here

I can't wait for it to arrive and I hope it fits well *____* I'm more and more falling in love with Pin-Up and Rockabilly fashion anyways, so this just HAD to be mine ^^

And now I wish you all a nice evening ^^ Stefan and I are going to watch the ESC (it has become kind of a tradition) and just relax in front of the TV :)

Good N... No, FANTASTIC News!

So, my internship at the dancing school is over - sadly. It's quite frustrating to go back to "normal" work after being so active and dancing so much for a whole wonderful week *____*
But luckily there will be much more dancing and teaching for me, because - YES - I signed my indenture and will become a dancing instructor!!!
The apprenticeship officially starts on the 1st of September, but I'll already do a little training and working at the dancing school earlier in summer. And I'm even allowed to come to the summer courses! Zumba galore! :D
I can't wait for it to be summer, this is sooooo great! I can't believe my dream is actually coming true *____*
And we even signed the indenture already on Thursday, so only halfway through the week! I guess I made a pretty good impression ^^

So now my next "big project" is getting a driver's license, which seems pretty scary to me at the moment. And expensive -.- But luckily my lovely boyfriend supports me :-*

And there has also been some progress on my stitching, the first corner is done:

Day 3 of my internship...

... and so far it's AWESOME!

Yes, it's exhausting and yes, I have a boatload of aching muscles and YES, at the end of the day my feet hurt like hell but DAMN, it's awesome!

I was sooo nervous on the first day (as you may recall :D) and then I even was a few minutes late because there are road works in Radebeul at the moment that I didn't know of. But I called them from the bus and told them I'd be some minutes late and it was no problem.
When I got there my hopefully future-to-be-boss showed me where everything was and then the first course where I took part was a Bronze-course for adolescents. (Bronze means that they already had a beginners' and an advanced course) Afterwards there was a course for small children age 4-6, which was... ok. Not really my thing because I don't like kids but ironically I'm still actually pretty good with them. But they are so loud and twirly @.@
Unexpectedly, half the amount of 11-14 year old girls are even louder than them, as I experienced afterwards at the Videoclipdancing-course, which was really cool. I was in a course like this when I was younger and I didn't realise how much I actually like and miss it :D
Afterwards came Lady-Power, which is a course for... "middle-aged" women who like to dance ChaCha, Salsa and stuff like that but who don't have any men to dance (or whose men don't want to dance). So basically we do dance routines in a more fitness-based choreography. It's really cool!
And the last course on that day was a Bronze-course for adults.

Yesterday in the forenoon there was a... well, "light Lady-Power"-course for elder people which was also fun.
In the evening there were 3 dance-clubs, first for elderlies and then 2 for adults. Dance-club means that already took part in some or all the "normal" courses and now they come to just dance and improve their dancing.

Today is going to be pretty exhausting. First two courses with adolescents, then one with first- and second-graders, then Zumba, Lady-Power and in the end another course for adults.
I just hope my feet survive this day :D

Oh, and there have already been several hints that I might actually get (or already have?) the apprenticeship place *YAAAAAAY* (by the way, I realised that I called this week "apprenticeship" in the last posts. It's of course only an internship XD)

There has also been some progress on my stitching. That was already at the weekend, though. Now I don't have time work on it :D

You can hardly see it, but there are actually 7 different colours in it XD White, black, and 5 different shades of grey.

Nervous? Me? Nooooooo. Not. At. All. -.-

Okay. So tomorrow is the big day. (Actually today, it's already past midnight O.O) My apprenticeship starts.
And I'm soooo nervous >.< I'm just so scared of screwing it up or doing something wrong or embarrassing! I really want this to work out great, especially since there is no real plan B for me.
So please keep your fingers crossed for everything to go well!

Oh, and this Saturday I got a really nice Valentine:

I have no idea who you are, but thank you so much! I wish I could give you a huge hug right now *__*

I have new dancing shoes - reloaded

How are you all doing? I'm fine, but pretty nervous because on Monday my apprenticeship in Radebeul starts. I just hope everything works out fine, I really, reeeaaally want that job >.<

Yesterday my wonderful boyfriend and I made a trip to Zwickau to finally buy some dancing shoes for him.
Now he has a really good latin pair from Paoul, one of the leading brands for dancing shoes.
And I don't even know how I deserve this, but he also bought me a beautiful pair (also from Paoul)! *_____*

How does Hurley sneak into almost every photo I take? Anyways, Stefan's and my shoes ^^

My new shoes in their incredible beauty *__*

And again, I really need to clean that mirror XD

I've also been a little crafty again. I started a new stitching project:

It's the picture that is also on my favourite necklace, remember?
And I'll hopefully also manage to sew a skirt this weekend, I'll need it next week.

Shop for the job

How are you all doing? Fine, I hope!
I know there hasn't been in a post in quite a while, but there hasn't been much happening here ^^"
Last week I was sick, but luckily I'm almost well again. And since my apprenticeship at the dancing school in Radebeul is coming up, I'm in need for some new clothes. Lolita is not really suitable for this job and neither are my other clothes, so Vroni and I made some use of the good weather today and went shopping.

I finally wore Lolita again, even if only in a veeery casual coord:

I really need to clean that mirror...

This is what I bought:

A blue dress, a black top and pinstripe trousers that I still have to shorten the legs on. It was on sale and pretty cheap, so I'll just do it myself. But I also bought a plain black one that was more expensive, so I'll let the seamstress of the shop do it on that one ^^"

And furthermore:

A teal coloured top with a cowl-neck (I swear it's teal, the colour's just not showing that good on the picture) and simple black sports-trousers for the more sporty courses :)

All in all a pretty good haul I think, especially since some of the pieces were on sale.

And now, after a long and hard day of shopping, walking around the city and laying in the sun (harharhar), I'll enjoy my self-made Iced coffee.

I wish you all a nice evening and enjoy your weekend :)

Easter's over...

...and I found some good news :D
I admit, that was after easter, but still ^^

This year easter came as quite the surprise. Suddenly it was just... there... So as a spontaneous gift I made some apple-marmelade for my parents which is now famous as the "floating marmelade" because I stored it upside down and now it sticks to the top of the glass XD And when my parents visited us on Sunday, I made a cake. And it was the first time, that I was 100% happy with a cake I made. Don't get me wrong, I made a looot of cakes already, but I always find something that I don't like about it. But this time I was so happy that I had to take a picture ^^ So here it is, my perfect Strawberry-advocaat-cake:

Sooooooooooo yummy! *_________*

My parents gave us two private lessons with our dancing instructor as a present for easter, by the way ^^ Such a great idea *_____*

And now for the good news: Do you remember how I told you about the job interview at the dancing school that I really wanted to be working at? Well, I haven't heard anything from them yet. You may guess: That's not the good news :D
About a week later I had another job interview in Radebeul near Dresden. And it turned out, that this is just the perfect dancing school for me! The conditions for the apprenticeship are fantastic, the owner of the school is super-nice and the I think we got along great.
And now he's contacted me about a "Schnupperwoche" (a week at the dancing school to check out how we work together) and afterwards we'll conclude the indenture ^^ (probably. I'm afraid to get too excited now and then be disappointed if it doesn't happen. But he was pretty clear about it in his mail, so... yaaaay probably :D)

A trip to the zoo

Yesterday the weather in Dresden was quite nice (maybe a tad too cold for how sunny it was), so Vroni and Andi spontaneously asked us if we wanted to come to the zoo with them.
And of course we wanted :D I love going to the zoo!
I took many pictures, but I'll just show you some of them ^^

One monkey delousing another one *.*

*rrrrooooaaarrr*

Yaaay, playground! :D

A beautiful peacock *_*

And sloths are cute :D

Giraffes are so cool!

In the petting zoo (Who says it's only for kids?)

With Vroni and the billy goat (I hope you don't mind?)

And a beautiful picture of Stefan and me, the first one since his operation:

Blue tartan

How are you all? Are you enjoying the fantastic weather? (That is, if there IS fantastic weather where you are :D)
Vroni, her husband, Stefan and I did on Saturday, when we took a blanket and a picnic basket to the Great Garden in Dresden (a huge park). It was a great and relaxing day and it was great for Stefan to finally get out of the house. He was even able to eat some ice cream ^^
And last night was his first night without taking painkillers and he slept through it. Yaaay! The worst part is over :D

Maybe you've already read it over at Sophie's blog, on the Friday of Stefan's operation the Gang wanted to meet at Sophie's to do some sewing/knitting/crafting. In the end it wasonly Sophie and me for most of the time, but still we had a lot of fun together. First I made a simple Vampire Requiem headdress:

The other side is just plain blue so that I can decide which side I want to show ^^

And then I started designing the pattern for the dress that I want to make out of the blue tartan fabric that I showed you earlier. I want the cut to resemble the one of the IW dresses that I love so much.
So here's one of my sketches:

After several calculations, sketches and tests I finally have a pattern that might work, so now onto the fabric. This is what I did yesterday:

This dress includes several difficulties that I haven't dealt with yet: matching patterned fabric, princess seams and sewing a zipper into a dress with a gathered skirt. We'll see how that goes :D

But at the moment I don't spend that much time sewing because I'm at work often and because I have rediscovered my love for Sims 2 :D
And when it's boring at work, this is how I keep myself entertained:

I'm so bad at drawing these XD

What do you do when you're bored at work? And what difficulties do you have to deal with with your recent crafting project? ^^

Accessories

I've been tagged by Mia and now I'll show you my favourite accessories ^^

Here are the rules (in German):

- Verlinke die Person, die dich getaggt hat, in deinem Tag-Post.
- Zeige immer nur eins, maximal zwei deiner Lieblingsstücke der jeweiligen Kategorie.
- Erzähle uns, wieso du gerade dieses Stück ausgewählt hast.
- Tagge 5 3 weitere Leute und gib ihnen Bescheid.

My favourite bag 

It's the bag that Mia made me for my birthday and I love it to death. I use it nearly everyday because it is roomy, awesome, beautiful, has stripes and did I mention that it's AWESOME? :D

My favourite shoes 

 

My black wedges. They are simple but comfortable and I really love wearing them.

My favourite shawl/scarf 

I got it for Christmas from my parents and it's very soft and I love its colour.

My favourite necklace

I love this one because it depicts my passion and it's perfect for casual outfits.

My favourite ring

I got it for my birthday in 2009 from my boyfriend. It was a catastrophe when I had lost it a while ago, remember? But now I won't let it go out of my sight again :D

My favourite earrings

I don't wear earrings that often, but I really like these that I got for Christmas from my boyfriend:

My favourite bracelet

I don't have that many bracelets, but since I love cardsymbols this one's my favourite:

My favourite perfume

Ice Touch by Mexx. It smells so fresh and summer-y. In winter I prefer sweeter scents, but for the upcoming months this one's perfect.

My favourite nailpolish

I've worn this at the last meet-up. I think it's really cool:

My favourite hair accessory

You may have noticed, I looooove wearing roses in my hair ^^

So that's it ^^

Let's see, who do I tag?

I tag Mara (ff-and-ss), Mara (Sweet indeed) and Anni.

Have fun with it :D