[Paris] Angelic Pretty Tea Party 2015

Despite being sick for a long time and only being allowed by the doctor to go back to work 3 days before the event date, I decided to still go ahead and travel to Paris for the Tea Party. This could not have happened if it wasn't for the goodness of my friend Aliki and my new friend Melodie since I did not want to book a room without knowing for sure if I would be able to travel and they just let me stay with them at Melodie's. I will never forget what they did for me.

FRIDAY
Anyway I went to work as scheduled on friday and took my trolley so I could go straight to the airport after that. Its not that I like travelling light but Ryanair only lets people take a carry-on trolley and a smaller handbag.

I arrived and got some wine to give to Melodie as a thank you gift (and because Vinho Verde is my favorite and uncommon outside Portugal) and then got in the plane. I used to love flying but now I feel very uneasy to fly on my own. I have a new irrational fear of flying and always think "what if the plane crashes". It really sucks and I know it makes no sense though.
Anyway fortunately it all went well and soon I was in the ryanair bus and then the metro. I am an idiot and I ignored Aliki's address instructions and decided to go with my gmaps documents and therefore ended up getting lost and having to pay a fortune for a cab ride but that was ok, I was super happy and excited to hang out with Aliki (at that point i did not know i'd fall in love with Melodie too).

When I finally got to Melodie's place we chatted for a bit and then went to bed. Boy was it hot in Paris, as soon as I got off the plane I felt as if I was already in Japan for the summer.
Melodie was apparently very worried because I "got lost" at midnight somewhere in Paris which made me feel a bit guilty for making her worry like that, Aliki was right about her, she is such a nice person. Indoors it was super hot too and I felt sweaty and gross haha. We might end up sleeping a bit more and ditching our first plan which was to go to the Rin Rin princess crepe signing session, its too hot and we do not want to arrive at the tea party with running mascara and reeking of sweat.

SATURDAY
Aliki was already complaining about the weather at 9am which is adorable. I understand though, I'm not a fan of heat either but was still super excited to be in Paris.

We got dressed quite fast but still had to get on a cab to get to the popup store to pick up out tea party tickets.

Unfortunately when we got there the lovely shop girl told us we should go to the hotel directly and did not need to make that stop which was a bit waste of money and time (we wish we knew in advance but that's not what we read). We then got back in the cab and the driver after taking a photo of us haha finally left us at the hotel gate. I actually knew that hotel already, i had been in front of it once when i was visiting the eiffel tower with Vania a couple years before. I had no idea what it looked like inside though.
We got the vip treatment from the start with fancy dressed people opening the door for us and greating us at the gate, that's always fun since its not normal for me to be in such places.
There were already some girls inside and we decided to go to the bathroom to check our makeup. In there we saw a lot of girls getting ready. Apparently a lot of lolitas (maybe because of the heat? Not sure why) get dressed in the hotels for these events. I was a bit surprised but it was nice, like being in a huge dress up party. Rosalynn was there and I was super happy to see her.

Aliki, the perfect tea party partner. <3

This sheet was later used to cast the votes for best coordinate. 

Delicious french pastries.

We eventually saw all the girls we knew that were there, I was thrilled to see everyone again and to meet the girls I had in my facebook friends lists but never had met before. <3

During the event we saw Ap new releases in a fashion show (See all the outfits here), took photos with Maki, Asuka and Rin Rin, chatted with a bunch of amazing attendees, got photographed by the talented Marie, ate and drank amazing stuff, voted for best dressed who got amazing gifts, got lucky in the raffle for the first time! and even got super cute freebies from Angelic Pretty. It was a bit short though, I wish it had lasted longer!

Fashion show outfits, aren't they all lovely?

Marie's lovely photo of me in the photo corner. 

Taking photos and seeing friends. ^_^; 

Ada and Rosalynn, I love them and I love this photo <3 <3

Photos with Angelic Pretty designers, Maki and Asuka. How perfect are they?

The table with all the prizes, so amazing! I was dreaming of owning that brown choco bag.

Out of the raffle prizes there was this one chocolate bag that someone really wanted...  

And DAMN I ACTUALLY WON IT! 

Rin Rin was adorable, super nice. I remember her back from when she posted outfits like the rest of us and told her that, she was quite happy to hear that it seemed. <3

The three special guests saying goodbye.

Group Photo for the Angelic Pretty tea party 2015

We said goodbye briefly and went to the pop up store so we could finally see what was available. Got there and we did not want anything so we left and returned to the house.

Still bummed about losing my sunglasses somewhere in Paris.

We told Melodie about the Tea Party, took a shower and ordered chinese food. We also opened one of the wine bottles which was super cool and therefore tasted heavenly. We chatted a lot and eventually went to bed. It was a fantastic day, and I think it was the most fun I have ever had in a lolita tea party of this size.


SUNDAY
When I woke up it was late, for some reason I did not remember to set my alarm the night before and Aliki did not want to wake me up so we ended up getting ready a bit on the late side. We finally got ready and we realized we might not make it when the bus did not come to the stop on time and we had to wait 20min for the next one to arrive. Aliki freaked out and she wanted to get on a cab and the cab driver just left us at some reason place we could get to ourselves by metro (and maybe faster too). So we went to the gardens and to the only fountain I could find and we were 10min after the fashion walk start time so of course we did not see anyone. We walked there for a bit and then just gave up.
I was a bit sad but it was ok, I had such luck the day before I knew I shouldn't push it, it had been enough luck to last for a while. I never get that lucky so I should just take it!
So we took a couple photos around the area, had a cup of coffee at starbucks, took photos with a million tourists (all of which were super nice) and made plans for lunch. I had limited time because of my flight and because i still needed to pack.

I am in love with this bag and feel like wearing choco themed everything now.

Melodie told us the restaurants around the pop up store were good and not too pricey so we went back to the Ap pop up store which was close. When we got there Maki, Asuka, other lolitas (I got to say goodbye to Ada <3) were there. All items had a 20% discount too but i still did not buy anything. i behaved very well this time! We got to hang out and chat a bit but then left because of the time.

We looked for a restaurant for a bit and decided to eat at a sort of supermarket/fast food/bento place and the food was glorious. I got to miss japanese food a bit less which is great, all of that for 10 euros. Parisians are so lucky, i cannot believe how easy it is for people to eat/ stock on japanese stuff there. I have to ask people to mail things to eat certain things.

We got to the house pretty fast and I got ready very fast too. I think I lost my sunglasses in Paris though which sucks but i suppose I can just buy a new pair.
Aliki and Melodie and I parted ways and it was quite sad.
The ride back to Port Maillot was so easy that it made me feel really stupid about missing the way when I had arrived. haha

At the airport I got some small gifts for my daughter and husband as I always do. <3

And had something to eat. Love smoked salmon.

The flight was ok, portuguese people, the way we behave on planes is really awkward and funny so that makes any trip lighter. I was more relaxed. I also wanted to hug my familly really bad, boy had I missed them. I had fun but i couldn't wait to see my daughter and kiss my husband.

When I saw them it was really nice although I knew Mari was sick. We had to take her to the emergency later that night, that was terrible.

If you'd like to see what it felt like to be in the TP, this video is a great example. It is all french but just watch for the nice outfits and lovely venue. Also can you spot me from time to time? :P

 

This is now my final week at work but I tried my best to post this as soon as possible. We have some small meetings coming up in the Portuguese community too which is exciting. If this keeps up I might regain my 100% level of love for lolita which I had slightly lost recently due to my community being so inactive and me being so busy and stressed.

Ah and I almost forgot, this is my haul from this trip:

1.Melty Ribbon Chocolate boston bag (brown) - raffle prize

2. 3 clear file folders from Angelic Pretty - attendee gift

3. Big Angelic Pretty Paris 2015 badge - attendee gift

4. flyers, cards, number pin, thank you card, etc - Paris TP/shop freebies 

5. Angelic Pretty Crystal Dream Carnival Pin (pink) - purchase

6. Angelic Pretty Crystal Dream Carnival Necklace (pink) - purchase

7. Angelic pretty stripe ribbon wrist cuffs (brown) - purchase

8. Angelic Pretty princess victoria wrist cuffs (sax) - purchase

9. Guerlain miniature gift bag - a lovely gift from Melodie <3

I hope you liked reading this post, again this is just how I view things and I am very honest when I write. After all this is my diary. <3

Thank you everyone who contributed for this amazing weekend. I owe you one <3

Love,
Jo

PARIS trip - Part three: the beginning of the end (b)

Day5: Tuesday the 5th of July

 After the insulting events at Versailles I was determined to raise our moral and we decided to go shopping and use it as a tonic for our souls (I bet there’s a ton of people out there who would do the same).

Our immediate pick was BABY, the stars shine bright of course. I tried on a shirt I had fell in love with but sadly it was snug on the upper arms and Vânia went looking for a cardigan she had fell in love with but that was also sadly gone already. I ended up buying another bonnet (I’m in love with bonnets lately) and she got a different cardi instead. You could totally see that the store’s stock was down because of the recent events and the amount of lolitas shopping around Paris at that time.

Mr. Sawada was alone there and again he was a total darling, I really liked meeting him, he looks like he is such a nice person. And he remembered us as the “Portuguese girls” which is funny but adorable.

In front of the Paris Btssb store, right window shop. It's really adorable, the french lolitas are really lucky.
Also... that outfit is too flashy and costumey for Versailles hahaha oh dear.<3

We then sat in a typical Parisienne coffee shop and had coffee and/or a glass of beer (because I’m lifestyle like that haha) and took a rest. After that we just went back to the hotel to get our stuff ready for the next day, the flight day.

Day6: Wednesday the 6th of July

We got up and got dressed. We were so damn stressed over the luggage space/weight! It’s always a huge stress if the hotel you are staying in doesn’t have a scale, isn’t it? So instead of going more casual or keeping it simple I decided to wear the heaviest dress out of the dresses I had taken.

We made a quick stop at Princess Crêpe but It was still closed so we just decided to go back later.

We still had time for some more sightseeing so we decided to visit the river bank and shop for souvenirs around Notre Dame. My husband has a thing for citroen 2cv so I went hunting for related goods.
I leave you with some photos of Paris we took that day, for a change:

When we got back we actually ran into Iira again which was of course kind of funny and gave us the chance to properly say goodbye.

We found this coffee shop with some tasty looking stuff right next to Notre Dame which was closed and we decided to eat there. I had a wonderful salmon salad and Vânia loves her eggs and went with an omelette.

I swear I still think about this salad.... It was sooooo good!

Gosh it tasted like a dream but we were totally full after that so we said “no” to our Princess Crêpe plans haha. The Harajuku Boutique store near the coffee actually opened while we were having lunch so we paid it a visit. It’s a very poor store in my humble opinion and the items are either terrible quality or kind of un-interesting and over-priced so I don’t think you should bother going there to be honest. The clerks were super nice though.

We still had time to go to Boddywood which is where the Angelic Pretty store is located but that also sells some other brands i really like, such as BPN, Swimmer, MILK, etc. I got some gifts at a nearby comic store (both my brother and my best friend are into Japanese animation so there’s always a ton of things they are guaranteed to like at those and then went in the store. I tried on some VW items I liked, I was still thinking about this one shirt, I loved it, loved the cut and everything but it could be a tiny bit bigger so sadly I left it there and Vânia finally got the cute bag she fell in love with and we left.

This is Boddywood where you can buy Angelic Pretty goods when you visit Paris. 

After that we took a walk and then went back to the hotel to get our luggage. We wanted to go to the restroom but they didn’t have one haha such a crappy hotel. But I loved it anyway, loved how every time we went out the guys would compliment us and say creepy odd things and open the doors for us haha.

We headed over to the bus stop that has the shuttles to Beauvais airport. There was this fancy shopping mall there where I found a gift for my dad. These two girls laughed at us and I almost got into yet another physical fight of course haha and then, after some smokes, we finally got into the bus.
It’s such a long trip from paris to Beauvais… We got to the airport an frantically went to weight our luggage and discovered it was actually even lighter than before! We laughed hysterically and felt stupid since our shopping was all in light of luggage space/weight. I even asked Mr. Sawada to put my bonnet in a plastic bag due to that haha XD

We then had the most expensive sandwich and glass of beer ever and prepared to fly back home.

When we got to Porto my husband was waiting for us and I felt so happy for being able to hug him. We are so ridiculously in love its almost disgusting. Haha

And our adventure was over, I remember we were both happy to be back that day but after two days we started to really miss Paris. It’s always like that, right?

Anyway thank you for reading and I’m sorry for taking so long! <3

THE END

PARIS trip - Part two (b)

Day4: Monday the 4th of July


We had decided to get up sometime in the morning even though we had gone partying the previous day. We ended up actually managing to get out of the Hotel in the morning, a bit late but it was still morning so we were two proud ladies. 
Since we were so close to one of Paris's tourist attractions (as creepy as that may be) we decided to go visit the cemetary.
We got in and came to the conclusion that it was far bigger than we had thought by seeing it from the outside. We took a quick look at one of the maps and started looking around. I wanted to see where Oscar Wilde's resting place was but we couldn't find it. The next time we saw a map we took a shot at it and realised we were heading the wrong way. 

Cemetary map. On the left side there was a list with all the "important" people that are buried there for consultation.

We did find Jim Morrison's resting place. It was somewhat surreal. The grave itself is really small and humble but its placed on the back of another much taller grave so its barely noticeable. If it wasn't for the amount of tourists around it I would have kept on walking. Also as I was taking this shot a woman, american accent actually said with this very low pitch cool tone "Excuse me" and she just got over the security fence that had been placed there and started posing squated next to the grave. I am not one of those people who'll be shocked (at pretty much everything these days, especially in the lolita communities actually) but it still felt kind of... odd. Vania said later that she was relieved she only wanted to take a photo because she sounded like she was about to do something really odd and fangirlish... but at the same time, very interesting.

Jim Morrison's resting place. As you can see fans leave things for him there. One of Vania's friends that used to live in Paris said that sometimes girls will leave bras there as well. I also read that there have been thefts done there as some people might leave articles of some value as well. 

After that we got back to the hotel and got ready for the convention once more. I don't think I ever got dressed so fast. We didn't want to be late because the spanish girls had the fashion show and we really wanted to be there for them. We moved as fast as we could but when we got there we were 10min behind schedule. Unfortunately the convention staff was very strict and they did not let us in even for just a couple of minutes so we had to stay at the door to wait till the show was over. 

It was really hot out there and it was painful especially because we were very sad about missing the show. Oh well. We took the oportunity to talk to a couple of french lolitas and it was still a lot of fun. I would like to thank them for keeping us company.

Anyway we finally got in and managed to apologize to our friends for having missed the show. They still had the show outfits on and damn those Spanish designers can make gorgeous pieces, i loved their stuff!

Photo of random lolitas (and my back mind you) and the space #1

Photo of random lolitas and the space #2

I do not remember much of what happened that day, its been a while and i am not exactly famous for having the best memory out there... I remember i met with the Austrian girls which are always a blast. We sat and chatted for a bit and that was nice. I invited them to come visit Portugal but I am not sure if they will eventually come or not. Remember girls: Cheap Beer.

Me in the left then Jasmin, Ohrchen and Dani. Always smiling, always gorgeous and extremely friendly.

I also met the lovely Iiralina. The first thing one has to mention is how tall she is. Look let's put this into perspective: when we have meetups in my country i'm one of the tallest if not the tallest... now just check the photo and you'll know what I mean. 

The friendly iiralina and me. And no, we're not talking about boobs... although i'd totally engage in  that conversation . She was actually asking about the dress and I was showing the details in the bust where there's the gorgeous crossing. It's really one of my favorite dresses now. <3

I met a lot of new people that day but didn't take photos with them so its pointless to make a list. I'd just like to thank you for making me feel welcomed.

After that i headed downstair to see Bonbonmalefique's band play. She has a really beautiful voice and I rather enjoyed it.

Here they are, she's gorgeous right? And yeah she was wearing silent moon! Its so pretty life. I am thrilled about it.

And now I'll just randomly post photos I like. I haven't been doing that in these posts but I really feel like doing so today:

With the lovely Cris and the incredibly talented Fidel. She's wearing one of his creations  (that she had to buy!). 

I love this photo, it kinda shows how much fun I was having and I love that girl too so its like the perfect photo. <3

With Chrissi. We have a "regular" photo but this one is far more representative of our personalities haha. I love her too.

Ridiculous as it may sound this photo is the only one (except of photos of Vania but she'll want to post those on her blog i'm sure) photo I have where you can see some of the photography being displayed.

Cris is a Diva, she kept changing clothes! haha no but seriously look at how matchy matchy we were that day. She looked incredible! 

Anyway I really do not recall what happened after this other than us trying to decide where to go next. I was really tired from walking in those shoes for days and days. We were going to have dinner with Chrissi and her friends at a japanese place and they wanted to see the cemetary first. Vania looked at me with an evil glare as in saying "I can't walk that far! I'm dying!" and she was wearing sweet lolita flat shoes mind you. 

So we said goodbye to everyone and to the convention, wiped our tears and left the scene. 

On the way there, something quite amusing happened. We went past a wedding and the photographer say us go by and asked one of the girls if they could use her parasol for the wedding photos. So we had to stay there for a bit which was worth it because the parasol did add up to the bride's outfit.

We finally got to the cemetary and this time they got a map! So much easier. We found the resting place of Mr.Oscar Wilde which must be the strangest grave in the whole place. See for yourselves.

By this stage vania and I were really tired so we asked them if it would be ok for us to go change clothes while they visited the place. They said it was fine so we went to the hotel.

It was the hardest 15min of the entire trip. Not the worse but the most painful. 

When we were arriving, we got a call from Chrissi saying that they couldn't go have dinner because they were worried about their flight that night so we just said goodbye on the phone. I'll make sure I see her again in the future.

We laid down in bed for a long time, we were sooo tired! But we had to eat something so we called the spanish girls to see what they were up to. When we called them, we got word that one of them had been robbed and that they were in the Police station so of course we went there straight away! 

The police station was actually in the same street as Btssb which was... somewhat odd for us. It was a horrible situation but i tried my best to help out. We finally managed to get all the paperwork done with and went out to eat something and cheer the girls up a bit. We ended up having japanese food anyway, one of those restaurants owned by chinese which was fine actually, unlike what happens here that is. 

I ate a ton. I just adore sushi to be honest.<3

After this Ania and Sara wanted to go back to their apartment but Cris still had not seen the Eiffel tower so we decided we would take her there that night. We took the subway, got out.... had a blast. Seeing the tower is always special and its much more gorgeous at night. She got lucky because they turned the lights on as well so it was special. I am really glad we went there.

<3

That was it for the day. We took Cris home, went up to the apartment to say goodbye to everyone and we walked back to the hotel to get some much deserved sleep. We were very excited about our plans for the next day...