Birthday weekend

Hello everyone!
This is a very special post for me, it's about the last weekend  in which we celebrated my father's birthday, my own birthday and spent time with some very special and beloved people.

I have to apologize to everyone who has sent me a message asking me about how it went and i i liked the presents etc because I did not reply to a single person. The reason was that I didn't have time to properly thank everyone and decided it would be easier to just post about it on my blog instead. So i you were one of  those wondering, here you go!

7th of June (friday)
I left work pretty late and arrived home at around 8 pm. When I got home my dear friend Anniesama had already arrived with her girlfriend. They came over and were going to crash at my place. I felt kind of bad to have to leave them but it was my dad's birthday so I gave them a set of keys and we went to my dad's place.
Dad said he wasn't going to celebrate his birthday so I kinda made myself invited to dine at his place anyway.

 Dad was never a very emotional guy so everytime I see how cute he acts around Mari I get super happy. He had gotten her a present even though it was his birthday and he had a photo of her in a frame. <3

I don't know why but everythime I go there we end up watching some soccer game. 

He had gotten himself a birtday cake! Kind of weird for someone who said didn't want to celebrate huh? ;)

8th of June (saturday)

I woke up with excitement and started getting breakfast ready for my guests. I always go a bit overboard with breakfast arrangemente even for my husband so i tried putting a bit of everything on the table.
I also had breakfast and eventually people started to arrive.

lucythewhite, anniesama, Lígia, black, chérie?, Ti and Mari

Ti is addicted to a traditional food we have in Oporto which is Francesinha. It's a sort of sandwhich places on a plate and served with a spicy sauce on top and french fries as well. He says that every time he sees it on the menu he will order it. I told him they always have them on the menu haha
So we went out for lunch

 We ate and then decided to take a stroll around town. We saw the latest book novelties in Livraria Lello, gabed a cup of coffee in Costa Café and walked around the art block in town.
It was an well spend afternoon but everyone was tired and we couldn't want to get some rest.

My husband made japanese curry, my older brother got japanese beer to match and everyone was happy.
After dinner we watched a bit of tv. After that we chatted a lot untill eventually going to bed.

We ended the night watching Shin Chan (haha), South Park the movie and Constantine as well as drinking sake and just having fun.

9th of June (sunday)

My birthday is on the 9th of June and so this was the only day for which we had plans.
We woke up and started getting ready. We ended up leaving the house at the time that we told people to gather so we were late (but in my defense, we weren't THAT late plus when you are with a big group its harder to be ponctual.

Part of the group: me, vania, annie and her girl!

We finally arrived at the meeting point and we weren't last phew but there were people waiting already so its always embarassing when that happens.

When almost everyone arrived we headed to the lunch spot. It was not easy to find a venue, most places were closed and the ones that weren't didn't have under 10 euro per person menus. So my mom saved the day by reminding me of this one. It's a tiny coffee shop in an old tiny mall that I know well because I used to live around there. The shopping mall is closed on sundays but they asked for permission to use it for my birthday so it felt sort of special.  

The owner holding Mari

The staircase. The table was set right where it's being taken. On the opposite wall there's a huge window clock which always made me drool as a kid.

The owners handmade this sign just for me. It says "Puzzle café thanks everyone for sharing this day with us. Welcome and Happy Birthday!" - aww isn't that sweet?

 

 What happened was just your typical birthday lunch, lots o talking, people getting to know one another, food, presents <3 and cake.
I actually forgot to get one so my husband went out to get it without me even noticing, he is fantastic.

 I got so many nice presents this year, you guys are the best!

 After lunch we paid for our lunches and headed back to the metro station. Some people were traveling by car so they had to get their cars of course. We decided to say goodbye to those who could not stay and the rest would re-group in my place and then go out and do something touristy afterwards.

When we got to my place somene requested to see my lolita closet to which i said yes (even though my room wasn't as tidy as I'd like). We chatted about lolita for a while and then suddently the room became full and i was presented with a box.

The lolita community had apparently gotten together in a group effort to give me a present. It was Anne's idea which is really special because we haven't even met in person yet!

The girls were going around my back exchanging links and gathering money in order to send me something. That's so nice yet kinda devious isn't it? haha

 Inside the box there was a card with all the girls names and cartoon versions made by the talented Annie. I love it so much! <3

I cried, there's photos of my crying and a video of me crying because my husband clearly does not respect my space haha but i do not feel confortable sharing that. But that's how special it was.

It was then time for our stroll! We went to the Ribeira area (river bank) where we walked and took photos and just enjoyed ourselves. I'll leave you with photos of my beloved city:

We also had some traditional (churros & farturas) and sat in a coffee shop and had snacks, juice and coffee.

This is what I had.

We then went back home and re-grouped once more to decide where we should have dinner. Again sundays are terrible days to eat out so we decided on a safe option, a place we know is usually open, our favorite pizzaria.

They found us a nice table outside but it took almost 1 hour to get all the food out so it was terrible. It's not normal for them to be this slow but the place was full.
Anyway my friend Susaninha ordered one of their heart shaped pizzas which i absolutely love so I took a snap of it.

 Me and my husband had this salmon pizza, it was sooo good. I love salmon. We also had white wine.

After a long day everyone was a bit happy to know it was time to go home and rest, i know I was. <3

10th of June (monday)
Monday was kind of sad because it was the day of my friend's return to their homes away from Porto but i tried to make the best of it.

So I woke up early and decided to hit the pool and spa with my friend Filipa. It felt super good! After that we went to meet everyone at a chinese restaurant.
After lunch everyone finally said goodbye and I was left with my older brother and my friend Vânia.
We went to check some stores and especially to check out some video games and it resulted in me spending a ton of cash on something rsuper silly. I got my blythe dools a drum set, a handmade and expensive drum set. But its sooo cute!

Isn't this ridiculously cute??

 So what did I get as a birthday present:

• Huge black bag - kirarah
• Hello Kitty har, warmers and waller - inlaws
• Hello Kitty note book + golden bracelet - Annie
• Jewelry holders - Inês
• Blue jewelry - Ma-fada
• Huge blue floral ring - Vânia
• multi ring set - Older brother
• Cups - Cristina
• illustration - Duarte
• Drum set - me!!!
• Porcelain set - Mom
• Vanity - husband
• Metamorphose dress - portuguese lolitas
• Pocky phone strap (I am using it right now Chérie!)

Mari also got presents! 

Pink shirts, blue shorts and duck - dad!

Butterfly dress - Vânia

Yellow dress - mom

Well that's what I did on the 7, 8, 9 and 10th of June. Then it was back to work.

I'd like to thank everyone who thought of me on my birthday. You all made me very happy. 

Jo

A very special weekend

Hello everyone,

This weekend was special to me, it was the birthday of my friend lucythewhite. So I spent part of friday, saturday and sunday with her and some of the local lolitas (friends).
It was super special and it made me happy to be a part of it.

The idea was to replicate what we did the previous year so lucy scheduled another sleepover meeting at her place.

We ate a ton of chocolate (boy I do not know why I'm so big and she's so slim, the girl loooves her sweets haha),watched some movies, played games, chatted a lot about everything and wore pretty clothes. What's there not to like?

Because it was lucy's birthday she got to pick what I was going to wear as a bonus and being an Emily Temple Cute fanatic she obviously picked the only etc dress I own. She did pick a moitié dress as well.

The gigantic amount of cake, pie, cookies and chocolate fondue she had for us!

 Here's lucy first pick, we both wore her favorite brand, Emily Temple Cute. I wanted something confortable and brought a matching friend, my newest blythe (Neve) who was wearing the same pring.

Me and the birthday girl. She is sooo cute, lolita suits her very well. She's one of my inspirations <3

 

 

 The other pick was this blue moitié dress. It's one of my most confortable dresses so I was super happy she chose this one too. I think having others pick a dress for you is fun! It's like a surprise for oneself as well and because i never coordinate beforehand its not a bother at all, on the contrary.

Me, Mineko and kirarah, they looked so pretty too! Kirarah's wearing one of lucy's outfits with one of my Angelic Pretty wishlist prints. She looks so amazing I have encouraged her to "borrow" that outfit more often. <3 Mineko is so photogenic, she always looks perfect in all her shots!

Mineko took her girl with her too, she has a pure neemo body which seems like a lot of fun to pose.

 Overall it was just a perfect weekend although I'm still a bit sleep deprived. It's impossible to sleep a lot when around friends, even when its "bed time" we end up falling asleep after chatting for a long time!

We should really do sleepovers more often.

Oh, if you haven't noticed I'm doing a small giveaway on a previous entry. I'd love it if you guys participated, its a lot more fun if there are more entries.

I hope you liked reading about our weekend.
A big kiss,
Jo

Happy Birthday to me

Hi again!

Back so soon, I know.
Well last saturday (9th June) was my birthday. I turned 29 and am feeling quite old at the moment.
I had fun! I didn't have a regular birthday party this year, instead we had a lolita gathering. The reason for that was that on that exact same day there was an International Online meeting scheduled and because we thought it was a fantastic idea, the Portuguese community really wanted to join. In light of that happy coincidence we ended up having both events in one.

It had to be in someone's house for technical reasons so we just crashed my own. I asked the girls to help out by bringing food and drinks because I knew I wouldn't be able to feed them all. They actually brought more than i thought and i ended up drinking coca-cola for this entire week. I think there's still some left haha. Oh dear not good for my figure and health!

Anyway everyone arrived really early so i ended up having to get dressed quite fast.
We just laughed and chatted a lot until 6pm (scheduled time) and it was fun. At 6 we turned on the webcam and begun the chat experience. I've got to say it was somewhat disappointing in a way.

Yay for Portuguese lolitas!

We were expecting people to be a lot more organized, to have some guidelines on how to conduct the event and also that there would be so many people wanting to join in that we would have to browse a ton of different rooms to meet everyone. That wasn't the case. In fact i think some people weren't even in a group and i hardly saw anyone carrying their country's flags like requested.But on the other hand it was fun to see all those people and i saw some people i admire and like a lot. Everyone was really nice to me as well, they all sang me happy birthday and i ended up crying like the baby I am. So other than the organization it was amazing and i'm sure that, in time, this idea will grow and turn into something a lot more fabulous! I absolutely recommend taking part in it in the future.

Anyway after that we took the obligatory outfit shots and ate birthday cake, blew candles etc.

I really like this photo and i love those sparkly things too, i'm like a kid!

Cutting the cake! I know plastic tablewear is not very fancy but its practical!

 
It was also a European Championship game day for us.We went against Germany and lost. Upsetting, not the best birthday gift from my national team. haha

What I wore that day. MmM dress, Meta bows, Handmade headdress, IW cardigan, VM underskirt, Bordello shoes. <3

Silly face from someone who was happy. Thanks for the awesome party guys!

Some of my birthday gifts:



My presents include: a boater hat, a new bag, a pair of argyle socks, necklaces, a little pet shop blythe, stationary, the new G&lolita bible, Diablo III (YAY), a lovely angel box with bath scented foam and shampoo etc. <3

I also got myself some lolita things (small things) but they hadn't arrived yet so i'm not including them.

The birthday month

Hello everyone,

This month was odd for me, there were a ton of birthday parties to attend.

I think the first was a work mate's birthday party. We went to a lovely restaurant that had portuguese food made with a modern twist and a very cool relaxed and elegant atmosphere. I don't usually go to that sort of restaurant with the girls because they are younger and usually nobody wants to spend more than 15 euros on a meal so I usually only go with my husband. It felt nice to go in a group for a change.

The last but most important one was my husband's. It started with us going to the doctor's office (but for a good cause), then i got him a new wrist watch and later I treated him for a dinner at his current favorite Japanese restaurant. It has a pretty pleasant evening actually and I'm sure he was very happy which is what matters.

The second birthday I attended was the one i'm mainly focusing on. [url=]Lucythewhite[/url]'s.
She didn't just have a birthday party, she had two birthday parties that went on throughout the entire weekend. o.o She had a diva birthday.~
The first party was a dinner with all of her friends which was a lot of fun. Then on saturday and sunday we had a lolita sleepover meeting at her place.
This is obviously the one i'm going to post about.

We were asked to go to her place somewhere in the afternoon. Of course i went a bit later since we were going to spend the whole weekend there anyway haha but eventually i got there. She was baking when that happened, making a cake she said so I actually arrived just on time.
Everyone else was already there and all the girls looked really cute!
We took outfit shots and chatted the whole time while checking out the lastest lolita collections and browsing Gothic & Lolita Bibles.

Outfit: Dress (Mary Magdalene) Shirt (Primark), Bolero (Innocent World), Socks/Bag/accessories (offbrand) & Shoes (Queen Bee)

After that we had dinner and cake and played a ton of pictionary. It was a lot of fun and some ridiculous drawing skills were shown. haha
We also pretty much violated Lucy's closet and I got to try on Btssb Alice's portrait ribbon jsk + bow and the Innocent World Viennese Waltz as well. Aww i kinda look cute in her sweet style. Weird but cute.

The next day we all woke up a bit tired and late... and everyone was very lazy too. We had a 30min talk about who should take showers first haha and then everyone one by one started doing so.
I decided to do the dishes and Carla volunteered to make lunch so she went out to get ingredients.
We chatted the entire morning about this and that and it was really nice.
We ended up eating a wonderful curry dish and getting dressed after lunch. After that we got lazy and took photos indoors again and watched harry potter.

Outfit: Dress (Metamorphose); Shirt (primark); Socks/bag/accessories (offbrand); Shoes (queen Bee) & headbow (handmade - gift)

Some girls left and some others decided to go to a chinese restaurant and have dinner.
After that we all left and said our goodbyes.
It was very tiresome for me I must say but i had a blast. We should def. do something of the sort more often!


So yes, a ton of birthday parties, not something that happens to me very often but it was fun!
Speaking of which mine is coming up and I have no idea what I want this year. I usually would ask for a moitié dress but i must admit i'm not really dying for one at this time. I might ask for another blythe doll but also not sure which one to get. Speaking of purchases I also have not been making any recently. I only seem to buy things when they are very special or something I really want. I got this new bonnet from Triple Fortune. It's not THE triple fortune bonnet but its a very interesting piece. One of my biggest pet peeves with bonnets and complex hats is that they need to be tied in the front with a ribbon and that sometimes makes me look bloated so when i saw this I knew I had to get it. it's a mini half bonnet that works as an headband. How cool is that?
 

And that's all for now. I hope you liked reading!
Jo

Dear sparkly princess

I would like to thank you for putting up with me all this time and for making me want to move on and smile every day. I just want to tell you that I am very happy that you are here and that I wish for the best for you. Happy Birthday darling!