Trying to bring a community together.

Hello everyone!

Not sure if you know but I am Portuguese. Portugal is a small country which has been deeply affected by the recent economic crisis to an excent IMF has to interveen for a while. We are now supposed to be recovering and people are struggling a lot, that includes everyone. Salaries are low and at the same time despite food still being somewhat affordable things like electricity and gasoline etc are super expensive. I think in terms of gas we have some of the most expensive prices in Europe? Something like that. 

On the other hand despite it all tourism is blooming and the country still has many monuments back from when we were big in Europe (discovery age and whatnot) and the food is super rich and diversified. Alcool is affordable and we have amazing wine. Because we needed EU help in pretty much everything our transportation services, airports, some concert halls, football stadiums etc are somewhat new and modernized. Because of the crisis people had to try to survive in other fields and have opened new and exciting restaurants, cafes, shops a bit around (at least my town) even though there are still a lot of stores closing and empty.

We have a gigantic amount of music festivals all year but mostly in the summer and they always sell out despite the expensive (for a portuguese citizen) tickets. I always find that amusing. I make more than min wage and cannot afford them the way people go to them at least. The average music festival attendee goes to more than one and usually buys the most complete ticket version.

Fashion is also blooming here with interesting new designers and people apparently caring more about what they are wearing. Its nice to go out and see everyone bringing what it is for them, their a game. But despite all of this and despite lolita numbers growing in the world and all the events and all the buzz around lolita everywhere in Europe and despite the efforts, in Portugal, lolita is close to dead. Numbers do not increase (people leave and then sometimes someone new comes around) but the level of committment and support surrounding a community and events has fallen. I suppose we can't blame ourselfs for that, society is changing but it seems like other countries have managed to obtain some number growth so this is disappointing. After being here and in the fashion for 10 years or more I cannot help but feel a sense of ... failure while at the same time I am fully aware that there is little I could have done/can do more than what I did and still do (not as much I am not afraid to admit). 

So how does all this rambling fit with the post itself? Well as an effort to cater for the community we do have and knowing some people are not able to move to attend meetings (because traveling for an event is not something we do here, trust me, even tried that "give away free stuff" technique and it still did not work) I decided to arrange for an online national meeting on the 18th of July.

People seemed excited and we got a wooping! 17 participants enrolled. Wow, imagine that, 17 people. I bet you feel excited for me heh? 

The problem was that on the date apparently only around 5 people remembered to attend and those 5 experienced some kind of tecnical difficulties with tinychat which is unfortunately the only platform I know that is free and enables multiple people chatting with a mic and camera at the same time. Out of all those 5 people I am not sure how many were wearing lolita. So it was a bit of a fiasco which is sad. 

Well I did feel pretty which is good considering I've been very sick which is something I will not bother you with in detail. 

I was inspired by Carmilla's style I think. One gets inspiration from what we have in our memory bank without realizing. I went to a local store the other day when I was still healthy and I saw this floral crown I've been in love with for a while. But now it was on sale so I finally got it. It is the hugest flower accessory I have ever worn and i think that's what reminded me of her. Also I got that underskirt as you know and I was dying to use it and Carmilla's dresses are sometimes on the longer side so that sealed the deal. 

 Anyway this is also not new because I have posted about Paris but I am really proud of the way it ended up looking so here it is in a bit more detailed. It took a couple of hours to make because its all hand sewn and I used things I had in my crafts box which was great! I really like it but it matches almost nothing else. Its a bit like that pierrot hat i made for the Lver btssb outfit too. There's something about Paris that just makes me wanna go crafty.

Anyway I hope this post doesn't get misunderstood because this is my personal diary and I do want to be honest but I do not want to be too negative or anything, I always see myself as someone who is just honestly speaking her mind and usually very strongly based on reality other than my opinion.
It can be seen as a positive thing too, at least when you hit rock bottom there's a place to... improve? Maybe now the local community will reflect with what's been going on lately and for a bit and move? I don't know, I hope so. Not sure if any of the people involved read or even care but ya know. One does what one can.

I really hope I can be well again soon, I honestly do not know what is wrong with me so I cannot give this health situation a name yet but i'll carry on with the testing and visits to doctors to see what is going on. I hope I don't have to go to the emergency again though, I hate going to the doctor to be honest, I feel very helpless there even when i'm being discharged.

I hope you are all well, I really do.
Love always,
Jo

Egl Portugal x Lolita en Nuncaxamais (Sunday)

The next day we woke up a bit late and actually ended up taking a bit too long with all the house chores etc to get ready and as a result.

When we left people were actually being very nice to us, but I did leave with my daughter since this was not the oficial day for the event and people are usually much nicer to me when i have her with me.

A very nice woman asking me why I was wearing what I was wearing, she was very nice about it which is refreshing.

The view from where the meeting point was, in the main Oporto avenue, Aliados Avenue.

We walked to our destination, the brunch spot, the famous Progresso Café. We arrived and as usual the staff was super nice, We took a while to sit down and even more to pick what to eat and they were still super nice and patient.
Finally everyone ordered and everyone just waited while chatting. I was pretty tired and I took that oportunity to put some makeup on since i did not have time to put any at home (haha).
When food actually came, Mari ended up eating a big part of my brunch order to an extent the girls asked me if i wasn't hungry. haha She eats so much!

Brunch time!

We were supposed to go visit a Museum but considering the delay and also what the girls would actually experience in terms of sight seeing, we decided to go for a stroll instead.

I love this photo. 

We ended up reaching a place that I love, the Palácio de Cristal gardens. It was sunny so it was crowded! It was still nice to spend some time there and to take the outfit shots for that day, there.

I am wearing my enchanted staff pin, can you spot it? It's so cute!

I finally wore the matching bow i got at enchanted and these grimoire tights that do not match anything... but are so pretty!

Me and Darkmaid again, she is such a cutie, she always looks perfect!

After this, we started walking back downtown and we finally parted ways soon after. I am definitely missing having these girls here and I hope we can see each other again very very soon!

I hope you liked reading about out weekend!
Love,
Jo

Egl Portugal x Lolita en Nuncaxamais (Saturday)

Hello again!

Due to the proximity between northern Portugal and the Galician area of Spain, our community, Egl Portugal and Lolita en Nuncaxamais have established a sort of informal deal, that we would try to schedule meetings where elements for both communities would be present and alternate them between Spain and Portugal.

The last times it was the Portugese community to move to Spain for a visit and so, having that in mind, the girls from Lolita en Nuncaxamais decided it was more than time to come over to Porto for a visit.

I was in constant contact with the responsible party to get the total number of attendees and because I wanted to make sure they'd have a good experience I decided to book the same place I always book for special occasions, the Grande Hotel do Porto.

We met with some of the spanish lolitas in the main avenue of our city and then moved to the venue. I was a bit nervous to be honest, all I wanted was for them to have fun and want to come back to our lovely city.

We arrived a bit early and therefore could spend some time in the lobby, taking photos, chatting, etc.

The lovely representatives from Lolita en Nuncaxamais

Us, the Egl Portugal girls

After this, I escaped into the tea room and, with the help of the girls of course, got everything in place.
Kirarah made tickets for the girls to take as souveniers which was a perfect touch. Soon it was time to let everyone in the room for the munchies!

Have I ever told youthat i dislike my nose and my smile? I do. Welcome to "sala douro II".

The table with some of the food, the free goodies (a ring, regina chocolate,  etc).

The raffle goodies: me, two of the galician lolitas, toshio and annie all gave out things to be given away between attendees.


I really wanted to win this drawing by the talented Anniesama, and guess what luck got me! I was so happy! ^_^;

My outfit, Christina picked the color scheme so we could be matching.

You can see it more clearly here, in the tea room because of the light. I really love this dress, i wish i had it in every colorway. <3

Me and Darkmaid (Cristina) have known each other online for years, a decade! It is always so special when i can be with her in person, I think she is a great person, super open minded, super honest and just overall a great person.

After the meeting we went window shopping and then said goodbye because we were going to hit the bars later that night which we did. There are no photos of that unfortunately but I hope there were enough for you to have an idea of what went on that day.

Love always,
Jo

Jogging

Hello!

On the 1st of May, a national holiday in Portugal, the local lolitas scheduled a meeting.
Even though I was busy and arrived late, i went to this anyway. I wore something super casual and fast to get on.
The chosen spot was our regular café which serves everything every lolita seems to like, including the typical macarons which is what I had.

Regular coffee in Portugal and a raspberry macaron.

Casual classic look: h&m hat, Innocent world bag, jsk and bolero, calzedonia tights and tuk boots.

We chatted a lot about how our community was doing and other related issues. It was very informative to be honest.
I had a lot of fun! Thank you girls!

I have been getting into running lately. I have been running for about a month and some days and, with the exception of last week because it was raining every day, I have been running 5km almost every single day.

I never thought i'd like to run, i don't even like going out alone, but I do. I am not doing this to lose weight since I'm still eating like I normally do, but to feel healthy and energised. I'm not sure it is helping in any of that but I am determined to keep going.
The furthest I've ran without stopping was 9.20km in about 1hour and 6 minutes.
Honestly i'd love to be in the gym so i could swim and use the machines too but i stopped because i cannot afford it anymore.

So what about you? What sort of excercise are you into right now?

Enchanted report - part 2

SUNDAY

We woke up and started getting dressed for the Tea Party. 

Since we did not bring any extra outfits getting dressed was easy... and annoying in my case because I wasn't a huge fan of my outfit. The reason I chose it was because this Juliette et Justine dress is soooo thin it takes no space in my luggage. I also pick it because this way i would not need to take an extra pair of shoes. I had also received this lovely wig by Lockshop and wanted to make my best to wear it at the event, so it was a lot of reasoning and not that much "want" involved hehe.

I thought these trees were lovely! I only took one coat with me which does not match the outfit at all hehe.

We arrived at the station and walked over to the Hotel, we remember the area well from last year. When we arrived it was sort of late I guess (or right on time) so everyone was already inside. 

We met the receptionist from last year, the Portuguese man we took photos with last time, guess what? I finally have a photo with him! We asked him again this year. He remembered us and said that he had told the staff that he was "looking everywhere for us". So sweet!

This is clearly Vânia's cup and pastries (the super dosage of sugar gives it away!) but I do not have a photo of the table so this is the best i could do without stealing one from someone else. How unlady-like are we?
Everyone got an enchanted pin+sticker set, a ring and other promotional goodies! 

Our table, we ended up sitting in the most hidden corner of the room but in great company, with Mr.Fidel, Sara, Ania and other lovely spanish ladies!

The food was great again and I must have had at least 4 cups of coffee! In the meanwhile everyone started leaving to take photos etc which is always a lot of fun!

Me and the lovely Vief who looked extremely original that day. There were a lot of girls wearing Puppet Circus which is amazing!

I love love love misty in this shade, I swear if it wasn't ridiculously short i'd try to get it (or in black). Don't they look like angels?

Playing around with Vânia, Mo and Sílvia (I still cannot believe you came! I want to see you more!)

Ok so Russian lolitas are incredible, look at this! I could only chat with them a bit that day when they were leaving and they gave me their cards and were super nice. I hope I can one day travel there to attend one of their events, they seem epic! 

This photo <3. Look at them!

Some of my favorite lolitas and people now. I cannot explain how fabulouse they all are. We all know they are great looking lolitas etc but I could only hope for them to be just as nice as they are in actual life. <3

I am in awe with Minori's makeup and sewing skills, more now than before. She truly is amazing. 

I obviously spent some time with my loved Scarlet and was asked to pose next to my pages on the Shades of Wonderland book. I am so proud to be a part of it, that book is everything! And Puppet Circus again!

Another view of the room, now when people were leaving after the raffle (I did not win anything).

All I can say is <3

The most fun and the surprise of the trip were these two because I had never met or seen them before and they are super nice and ridiculously fun to hang out with. And now i kinda want that dress, they looked gorge!

3 of the 4 Portuguese ladies at the tea party! The photo with Silvia was taken by Ana but you can see her in a previous shot.

My outfit: offbrand shirt, iw cardigan, grimoire socks, triple fortune headdress, jj dress, offbrand boots, claire's applique on cardigan, btssb bag, chocomint necklace and offbrand gloves and ring etc.

Fidel not only creates amazing clothes but he also looked stunning in this ensemble and makeup! And those socks, they sold out before i could get to them! Curse!

After the amazing tea party we left without going for a walk like last year because we wanted to change clothes for the after party and take it easy.
We took some better outfit shots near the house we were staying in.

We took a bath, got dressed and left the house, i guess we ended up not having as much time as we had wished. The thing is that, in London, bars and discos close so early... we do not understand this well as its the opposite in Portugal.

I wore something confortable but when i got there some of the brave ladies were still in lolita. I had done that last year and figured after vania ruining her dress with a cigarette going in normal wear would be safer. :P

The only shot i borrowed was this one from Miyu. Its the only one where you can more or less see what i wore and what i look like out of lolita.

We had fun, we drank some cocktails, chatted with interesting people and when the bar closed we ended up dancing at a disco which was differrent! 

Me and Vânia

We thought it would be smart to leave earlier because of the metro but then realised we could not get on it because it was sunday and it was closed already! Oops. We ended up going a bit nuts and getting on a random bus that took us to the tower of london area because we remember the place we were staying at was near there.

My "we appear to be lost" expression.

At this point I admit to have been a bit altered from the drinks since we were taking selfies on a bridge, from the results and also because we were laughing in a very odd manner for a very long time haha
But at least we got sight of the bridge etc, so pretty!

The view! The mix of old and new again.

We finally got in a taxi and magically remembered the name of the station. We arrived home safely but it was quite the adventure!



MONDAY

We decided to go check out Camden before our flight and guess who we found? Wasn't that lucky? Nymia, the other Portuguese lolita, took this photo.
We went to Cyberdog which is amazing! I got some lights for Mari's shoes.

 They ended up staying there and me and Vania left because we were starving!!

But mostly in need of coffee. I ordered the cappuccino.

And the english breakfast which was great!

We still had some time to check stores and to get gifts to bring back home. It's so lively and interesting, i really had fun there, too bad we had to run!

When leaving we also saw Midori with her interpreter walking around. People in London and Camden don't usually look at you when you are dressed up but she was still turning some heads hehe

 We finally went to the bus stop and with time to spare. At the airport we met Eimear! How lucky! And we also met the spanish girls again!

I am sorry for the delay and now that means most info was forgotten but i hope i made up with the shots. I had to wait for Vânia's photos because my camera had broken down the day before and she was nice enough to take photos for both of us <3

Love always,

Jo