Week 10

This week I'm on time again, and here is this week's topic:

What I thought when I got my first real piece of Lolita

My first real piece of Lolita was actually something that I made myself, a skirt that I sewed from a red fabric with a nice white border embroidery. Looking back it isn't all that beautiful, quite plain and the way I coordinated it was... let's just say "meh", but it still made me feel like a real Lolita. 

One of my first thoughts was: "Wow, skirts that sit at my waist really suit me" :D

And it also got me really excited to go to my first meet-up.

What were your first thoughts?

By the way, here's a picture of my Zelda embroidery. Not even a third is done XD But it's looking better and better, don't you think?

    

(Belated) Week 9

Okay, I'm not on time, I know. But I didn't really have a choice, I didn't have a good internet connection in Munich where I spent the last 5 days.
I attended a seminar on Dance4Fans/Videoclipdancing there, which was really exhausting, but also a lot of fun. I can't even tell you how bad my knees looked throughout all the days because we had several choreographies in which we had to get down and do stuff on the floor. And I don't think I've ever had muscles aching this much before! I couldn't even pick things up from the ground today and sitting down and getting up are like torture!
But I'm optimistic that this will go away soon ^^

Anyways, here's this (or rather last) week's topic:

How Lolita has changed me

Well first: I now wear even less trousers than I did before. I have just gotten used to that girly feeling of wearing skirts and dresses.

 

Second: It has definitely changed my shopping behaviour. Especially in the beginning I started to only buy things that I could somehow include into my lolita wardrobe. This has changed meanwhile. Today I'm more focused on what I can wear to work. Sometimes that even goes along, but most times it doesn't and to be honest I really wish I had the money to go on a huge lolita shopping spree.

Ah well, we can't have everything...

Third: When I buy something I take more time to consider if it is really worth its price. Quality is a very important factor in this fashion and lolita has made me more aware that if you spend a lot of money on something, it shouldn't be poorly constructed or made of cheap materials. 

Fourth: Lolita was one of the factors that made me start sewing (which sadly I hardly have the time for nowadays :( )

Fifth: I spend more time planning what I wear, how I accessorise it and I have become very critical when it comes to coordinating clothes.

I'm sure there are some more things, but these are the first ones that came to my mind. What about you (if you wear lolita at all), how has it changed you?

Week 8

And again it's time for the Lolita challenge. Time really feels like it's flying by, doesn't it?

Anyways, today's topic:

Impulse buys that were totally worth it

That's definitely my Surface Spell dress that I wore at the 5th Lolita meet-up:

It popped up at the Dunkelsüß-sales one day and I fell in love and bought it. And I still love it, I just don't really have the time to wear it :( 

Week 7

This week's topic:

Lolitas I have met in real life

Well, there are of course the manatees: Vroni, Mia and Sophie.

Then there's also Kajime, Kitteh, Goldkind, Betty, Mii and a few others of whom I don't know if they have a blog ^^"

It's actually not that much, probably because I've never been to a meet-up outside of Dresden (except maybe once), although I'd love to go to one. 

I'm happy that we're planning the next meet-up here in Dresden, it's going to be in April!

There's already an idea for anoutfit in my head, but I will have to sew something for that and at the moment I just can't seem to be able to do anything good with my sewing machine -.-

I have neglected it for quite sometime and now all I do turns out crappy -.- Ah well, I still have time to make several practice pieces ^^"

Week 6

Hey ladies, it's already week 6 and I managed to post every week on time ^^
I'm a little proud of me ;)

This week'stopic is a rather short one:

Something that was a gift

My lolita wardrobe is pretty small and I had to think about this a little before I realised that I wear a gift almost everyday at this time of the year: My wonderful coat that I got from my boyfriend for Christmas two years ago! It's so warm and cozy, I still love that thing to death!

So, what's happening in my life at the moment?

Well, I have a week off right now, which on the one hand is great because I get to do stuff that I usually don't have the time for. But on the other hand I already miss the people from my own courses ^^"

Yesterday I was in Munich for a day because I had a seminar there. Unfortunately the weather in Munich wasn't the best in the morning and in the evening, so both my flights were a little delayed and I was home pretty late. But it was still fun and at the end of february/beginning of march I'll be in Munich for 5 days for another seminar. It's great that I get to see some parts of Germany that I've never been to through my work. In march I'll also be going to Düsseldorf and probably Dortmund! 

Sooo... I guess that's it from me now. 

Have a great weekend! ^^

Week 5: Parasols

The picture didn't turn out right, so I'll just write the this week's topic down:

Parasols: Vital or frivolous?

I have to admit, I never really had a strong opinion or even thought about a topic like that. I don't have a parasol myself, just one more fancy umbrella, and I don't think I desperately need one. Though I have to admit that they look pretty awesome and give every outfit a nice touch of elegance and class. 

There are some wonderful lace parasols that I wouldn't say no to if someone offered them to me, but I think money could be spent on more urgently needed things.

In summer when it's hot I generally try staying in the shadows or cooler places anyways, because I don't really like heat. But you always have to consider that you have to carry a parasol around all day if you bring it to a meet-up. So if I had one I'd probably only use it for a photoshoot or something like that.

So... I definitely wouldn't say they are vital. Frivolous... maybe ^^

By the way, there has been some progress on my Zelda embroidery:

The left side already has a lot more details ^^

Lolita 52 Challenge: Week 4

Well, even though I'd never wear it (like... ever), I really love a well done Sailor Lolita-outfit. Not the usual tacky ones with just a black/navy dress with the typical white stripes, but an outfit where someone really put an effort into.
I once saw a wonderful white underbust sailor-JSK on sew_lolita and I'd really love to see an outfit with something like that. Accompanied by a cute hairstyle, great accessories and maybe a fitting photo shoot location, this could be the greatest thing ever!

What about you, do you have something that you love, even though you'd never wear it?

Lolita 52: Week 3

How was your week? Mine was okay. I'm having a little trouble with my right foot, but I make it work somehow. The show must go on ;)

So, on to the next topic of the Lolita 52 challenge:

This is definitely one of the easier questions and some of you may already know the answer, because it was quite obvious in my former blog design. It's "Dance of the black cat" by Alice and the pirates:

I especially love the JSK Version II in the black colourway, which is why it's on the top of my wishlist. But the green colourway is also nice.

But there is also another print that I love that is a little more recent (though still already a little older). It's "End of Immortal Eden", also by Alice and the pirates. I love all the colourways and especially the JSK, but unfortunately it wouldn't fit me :(

How about you, what are your favourite prints?

Me and my needlework (and a Valentine)

So, some of you may be wondering if I still sew and embroider.
Well, technically yes, I just lack the time. I haven't sewn in quite some time because that's not something that you can just do while you're relaxing on the couch for example.The last thing that I worked on was my Tartan dress, but it turned out that I made some stupid mistake and have to undo half the seams, which kind of demotivated me.

As for cross-stitching, I finished my last project, but I can't find it right now, so I can't show you a picture of it XD
And I already started the next one, a quite big one actually.
This is the motif:

I'm mainly doing this for my boyfriend. I never got to play Zelda, although I always wanted to :( Ah well, maybe some time I will ^^ Anyways, this is my progress so far:

It's the upper third of the picture with all the colours that I already had in my stock, but new ones are already on their way.

I really wish I had more time and was more motivated to sew :(
In particular because I got some gorgeous teal-coloured tussah silk for my birthday and I don't know what to do with it yet. I'm always open for ideas ;)

Last but not least, I got a wonderful Valentine:

Thank you so, so much! I'm flattered and happy that you like reading my blog! I just wish I knew who you were, so I could give you a huuuge hug!
Thank you so much! *___*

Week 2

First off: Woohoo! This week I passed my driving exam at the first attempt and now I have my driver's license! I am so happy that I'm finally done with this, the lessons were really expensive -.-

So as a kind of "reward" for myself (and because it was necessary) I got my hair cut today. I wanted to get the last remains of my attempt to become blonde out of my hair and now it's maybe a little too short for my taste. But it was worth it, now my hair colour is consistent again :)

Derpyface reloaded...

And now it's time for the second part of the Lolita 52 Challenge, so let's see what I pulled out of the box:

Wow, that's a tough one.
As I told you, I didn't really have the time to follow the recent trends, so it's kind of hard to say what could be the next.
"Alice and the Pirates" pay homage to Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary with their most recent (and gorgeous) release (Does anyone know why you can't see the JSKs anymore?). Maybe other brands will do something like that too? Lolita fashion draws much inspiration from historical fashion, so I think it would be really cool to see not only elements of historical clothing but also prints that depict historic events or personalities, like Marie Antoinette, Catherine II of Russia or Elizabeth I.
I just love history :)
But with spring lurking around the corner I could also see Country Lolita having a comeback, with straw hats and baskets, Vichy check and fruit and flower prints.

What do you say, what's the next Lolita trend?

Bringing back Lolita

As I mentioned in my last post, I hardly find time for Lolita these days, and by that I don't mean only wearing it, but also reading the blogs, writing my blog, keeping up with new releases etc. The only thing I still do on weekends is looking at the valentines and secrets. It's just a habit that I didn't get out of my system luckily :D
But now that I had some free days and time to scroll through everything that I missed, I realised how much I actually miss it.
So I decided to bring it back into my life by at least writing about it regularly. And since we all know that I have a hard time with that "regular"-part, I do it with a little help from Caro-chan who initiated the Lolita 52 Challenge.

52 topics/questions to write about for 52 weeks. Every week I pull one out of the box and tell you my opinion on it, or show you pictures or whatever the topic requires. Join in if you want to!

So let's get on with it, my first topic is:

Hm... I'm not really sure if I have a favourite hairstyle. I am always amazed by those opulent hairstyles with tons of roses and accessories that you sometimes see from photoshoots (mostly in Classic Lolita).
When it comes to myself though, I just don't have time to make these :D Somehow I always end up being late for meet-ups, because I spend too much time on make-up or I start too late with the preparations.
Most times I end up with making a simple pigtail with the top portion of my hair because it's quick, easy and looks elegant. So I guess you could say that's my favourite hair style...
If I have the time I also make little braids out of the top hair before I make the pigtail, like I did here:

I also love curls, but I just have naturally wavy hair that is really thick and does what it wants, so it's hard to make curls that last as long as they should. For our fairytale meet-up last year I wanted to have curly hair and it looked really great in the beginning but despite the hairspray, they turned out more and more wavy after less than an hour. But it still looked good and better than if I hadn't even tried to make curls:

Blurry, overexposed picture is blurry and overexposed -.-

For our nerdy meet-up I wanted to do something very different and made my hair extremely curly and added tons of hairspray. Then I kind of tied them together around my head. It didn't look very flattering, but it was fun nonetheless:

Okay, so this turned out not only to be about my favourite hairstyle, but I hope you won't mind. General information: I usually keep it simple :D


As a little "bonus" I show you some pictures of me from our last meet-up.
I lost quite a bit of weight through my job, so my blouse looks kind of saggy on me and the shirred waistband of the Meta-skirt also looks kind of weird, but oh well. I still liked my outfit:

Let's hear it for derpy face :D

So that's it and see you next week :D

Happy New Year!

Yes, it's already 2013 and there hasn't been a single post on here since August.
How could that happen? Well, I simply had a lot to do.
My new job is fantastic but takes up a lot of my former free time (Well duh, that's what jobs do! :D), so I just didn't find it in me to write a lot.
Maybe just some keynotes to my current situation: I love my job as a dancing and Zumba instructor, I still don't have my driver's license but hopefully will get it this month, I have barely time to do some sewing or embroidering and even less time for Lolita :(
But I had a wonderful birthday and Christmas in december with great presents (such as a foot spa massager from my wonderful boyfriend :) The best gift ever for someone who has to stand and dance all day ^^) and a great New Year's Eve at my dearest Vroni's. Speaking of it:

I wish you all a wonderful and happy new year!

Stay healthy and work hard on your New year's resolutions ;)

Oh, and Hurley says Hi from under the Christmas tree :)

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 :)