International lolita day, winter.

9th of January

This day our community, the Portuguese Lolita community had organized a small gathering in my town to celebrate the winter loliday with a huge delay. Better late than never, right?

Anyway the weather was a disgrace, it was raining a lot and barely anyone was in the streets. 

It was scheduled at a lovely chocolate/cake store in which we had too many yummy sweets. It was great.

I had a lot of fun just looking at lolita magazines, eating and chatting with everyone and I love how everyone looked so different too. 

My friend Su came all the way from Lisbon to attend and stayed at my place which was a plus. <3 

Su, I adore you Su.

After getting dressed I went over to the meeting spot where soon all the participants arrived. Sadly it then started raining (a lot!) and we had to go all the way to the shop under heavy rain (my feet were super wet) but once we got there we got pretty confortable.

The counter full of tasty chocolates <3

We chatted and looked through lolita magazines and just spent a lovely afternoon. I really do wish we had these more ofen but the truth is, we just don't..

Group photo. Everyone looked super different, which is really cool. 

I am going to leave you with some photos of the goodies. The food was super yummy and just perfect for a dark and wet afternoon like that one. <3
I had my favorite drink (cappuccino) and a slice of chocolate / passion fruit cake, it was amazing!

Also Su brought me an adorable present, this cute cupcake shaped box which is now being used as decoration downstairs <3 My daughter also got treats, a princess crown and scepter which she loved.

You spoil me too much Su!

That was pretty much our day. 

The next day Su had to go back home but we booked lunch at our favorite restaurant, Ichiban.

Su loved it which is what's important. The view there is usually amazing because its right next to the sea but the weather was even worse on that sunday so just getting out of the car and into the restaurant was a freaking nightmare. 

Anyway I hope you liked hearing about my special weekend. I really want to have another one in my town just like that but nothing is scheduled for the rest of the year hehe.

I love you, thank you for following even if i'm too busy to post often. <3 I really really do appreciate it. <3

Japan 2015 Haul Post

Hello!

As you might have noticed I will not be posting other entries about my trip this year. I don't feel like it to be honest but I am still going to post my trip haul. I bought a bit too much again this year and will now be saving to pay off my extravagant buys for a couple of months haha but its always worth it, shopping in Japan is a lot of fun!

The photos are a bit small but if you click on them you should be able to see things a bit better.

These are all the lolita related purchases. In total I bought 5 dresses, 1 used and the other 4 new. 

I cannot post individual photos of everything so if there's anything you'd like to see please comment below! 

This is all the makeup/beauty related products I got during this trip. I even got these cute plastic containers to put in my room because they were too lovely to pass on,

And these are mostly stationary items, a couple I got from liemzie too (thank you) and of course the rilakkuma x hankyu plushie is not stationary, his job is to look cute and gather dust. :X

I buy a bit of this stuff there because I LOVE penpaling. I don't write a lot of letters unfortunately but I like being prepared. I don't collect these although i wish i could (who has space for that), I really use them. 

Lastly these are my doll related buys this time. I did not visit any doll stores unfortunately so I just got a magazine and a couple rement items because they are adorable. My BJDs got nothing this time.

And other than that we also bought a ton of food. Now I am poor, again. haha

I hope you liked reading about my shoppaholic side :|

I love this sort of post I must admit, looking at what other people buy is a sort of sadistic hobby.

Love always,

Jo

Japan 2015 Lolita Day

Hello everyone, how are you doing?

As only some of you know, I have been quite sick. I have been in and out of doctor's offices and taking a ton of tests to try and feel well again. 

I was in Japan for three weeks recently, we arrived last weekend to Portugal. I was unwell for the most part of the trip and even went to see a doctor there as well. Still I managed to have a handful of nice days out of this trip and one of them was the day in which I got to see my friend liemzie again.

My husband took some outfit photos before we got to the meeting point and I really like them, they remind me of Momoko living in the japanese countryside haha. I am almost 100% sure there's not even a single lolita in that small town. 

The pieces I am wearing were all gotten during the trip because I did not take anything lolita with me. Fortunately this dress does not need a petticoat! I did feel the lack of accessories but it wasn't too terrible wearing this outfit, it was sort of light and fresh.

We had to change trains in Tennoji station and there's a Axes femme store there where i got something i will need for a future outfit. The shop girl was super nice, we always made jokes when we went there.

We also had a lovely lunch there, it was like going to an upscale posh restaurant, the food was incredible and it was like 10 euros a person. It was cheap. I love eating in Japan, high quality for affordable prices. I have never had a terrible meal in Japan.

After that we went to Osaka station to meet my friend. I was a bit early but so was she! Great timing.
Since I have no clue on what to do when i'm in Japan, she, again, decided on what we could do.
We visited a limited store with really nice handmade things. It was a lot of fun and i wanted it all.

It was in this lovely mall with a ton of exhibits and activities. There was a train exibition too and I got a little something there too.

Me and the lovely Liemzie with... flamingos. :P

Picking out our favorites, look how focused we are! 

I liked this store a lot, i considered buying the straw hat with the black ribbon and bows....

When we got to this stall we got stopped by a bunch of older ladies who started complimenting our looks and asking us questions. It was really funny at first. They wanted to take photos with us and the artesan showed me a book she published...

... but then it came to a point where they wouldn't let us go and we got a bit bored. I even got something from the lady's stall in the end haha. look how unconfortable we both look!

After checking the pop up store out we left the mall and went to our next stop.

The Osaka (limited time only) Gudetama Coffee. How cute (and silly) is that?

Better photos on one of liemzie's fabulous blog posts.

The entrance for this café. 

my husband got the matcha pudding, it looked so sad!

Liemzie still had not had lunch so she had something more nourishing.

Our table! I misbehaved and had matcha latte.

 Fun facts about this place. There were only about 8 things one could pick so the choices were limited. Although Gudetama is an egg there are no egg related recipies which seems strange. The waiter did not place my cup on the individual paper in front of me. I thought it was odd but them Liemzie told me its because some people want to take them as souveniers. It sounded lovely but also silly because that means they serve no purpose.
Other than food there's merchandise on display and even statues of Gudetama around the place. The coffee will move to Tokyo next so that means all of this will be gone soon.

Hep Five has the most amazing Purikura area I had ever seen. There's a couple machines near the normal game and UFO machines but then there's a top floor that is actually exclusive to girls and or couples! So a boy cannot walk around there alone, ever!
They have costumes for rent and girls apparently come over with bags with clothes and then change clothes for purikura and then back to their normal clothes. There is an area with mirrors and beauty appliances (like hair curlers and dryers etc, not kidding!) for people to freely use to make sure they look their best.
Then there's a ridiculous amount of purikura machines of all styles! Unbelievable.

One of the purikura machine corridors.

We look so happy and silly, this is one of my favorite photos!

This machine was hilarious... it was about... being manly? I did not even understand but we ended up making a video punching a non-existant boxing bag. How silly is that?

And these were some of the costumes one could rent. They claim that one could dress in maid and lolita... so those maid outfits are both? So japanese people are confused on what lolita is too. XD

We then visited a bunch of nice stores! Most of them I never went to before!
Axes Femme, again! Liz Lisa, BABY, the stars shine bright, Ank Rouge... and some more. I saw a lot of things I wanted... shopping in Japan is so easy....

We also visited a Rilakkuma pop up store thing. You can read about it on liemzie's blog. 

She got the cutest Rilakkuma ever!

 And we took another silly photo, this time we couldn't do it together.

After this we finally said goodbye to Liemzie because it was getting quite late. It was so nice to see her again. It will be the last time we will be able to meet in Osaka too because she is moving back home. I am going to miss having a friend in Osaka but i'm sure we will see each other again in Europe.

When she left we went to a couple character stores where I spent more money. I mean common, look at how much fun these stores look! Look at the colors!

We finally sat down and had dinner. My husband wanted chinese and I ended up having a really yummy meal. I felt better these days, i thought i was better so I took some risks.

After that we went home, I was super tired but very happy. It was a great day, probably the best day of all the trip.

Thank you my friend!

Jo

Unexpected Visitors

Hello!

I have been prettty absent lately, the truth is that after LVER I had not worn lolita up till yesterday night. I am still in mad love with the clothes but the lack of a decent community here and the fact that I feel more and more unconfortable wearing it around my town for a bunch of different reasons (some known and some that not even I know) has made me grow a bit detached from the fashion this year.

Fortunately though I got the chance to meet one of the international lolitas that i consider my friends this week, another SFE member, Josine. She and her mom decided to visit my town, Porto and so we could at least see each other twice.
The first time we met the weather was absolutely terrible, the worst really, super strong abnormal winds, rain, cold but we still managed. My husband was kind enough to be our driver and we also took Mari. We met them at their rented apartment and then headed over to a local traditional cousine restaurant, Abadia. Josine's mom said she remembered having a codfish dish she loved years back so we ordered the closest thing possible. It was a really nice dinner, it was our pleasure to invite them. <3 After that we rode around town and i did a bit of the tourist guide talk thing.
Unfortunately I had to wake up super early as usual for work so we had to say goodbye after that. She was wearing a Juliette et Justine skirt i'd love to own myself (and the matching socks that I actually do own) and looked super feminine and cute. I wore pants and looked boring in comparison so I decided if we could meet again that i should try to go a bit more girly.

A couple of days went by and i was too busy so i didn't even try to meet up but finally yesterday night, and since my husband and daughter would arrive home quite late, i finally met with her again. I was lucky because she left in a flight this morning!
During the time we did not see each other the sun came back but, curiously, when we met it started raining again. I thought it was kinda amusing despite also being inconvenient. The weather sucked when we were together!
I wore casual classic and she was in the same style so we matched! I went to the place where she was staying which was about 10min walk distance from my place and we just looked for a place to sit and chat. We found a bar and just went it. We had sangria and talked for a long time, it was a lot of fun.
Unfortunately we did not manage to take any photos together other than a cellphone selfie that I posted on my facebook but when i got home I asked my husband to take a few shots of what I was wearing.

Beret: offbrand + bow from dress
Shirt: offbrand (Axes Femme)
Jsk/Cardigan: Innocent World
Socks: offbrand (calzedonia)
Boots: offbrand (c&a)
Corsage: SFE gift

 I wish Josine could come visit us more often, I have missed having someone who shares my love for lolita to talk to in person. It does remind me of how lonely it is to live here in that department. I wish I could go to another event this year but I do not think I can.

On another note I have gotten a few cases for my Iphone and I want more, i'm addicted to my phone for some reason. <3

Oh and my husband got me something yesterday too, i thought it was adorable. He said "I am sorry love but I had no time to get you a souvenir so I bought something on the plane instead. I hope you still like it!"He got me makeup! I loved it, and I actually do not own any eyebrow makeup kit so that's something new for me. 

Anyway that is all for now, I'm sure it sounds boring to some of you but it was a really happy event for me.

Love always,

Jo

[Winter Loliday 2014] How i spent loliday

Hello everyone!


On the 6th of December most lolitas around the world were together with their local community celebrating winter Loliday but unfortunately for me this was not possible. Still I knew I had to celebrate this day in some fashion and since it was sunny we just went out for brunch.

Me, my husband, my daughter and my mom all went to a local café where we had scrambled eggs, orange juice, toast with butter and jam, coffee with a drop of milk and where we chatted and enjoyed ourselves.

We then took stroll around our lovely city, Oporto and took the chance to get some family shots and I also asked for a couple outfit shots to register the occasion as well.

Unfortunately soon my daughter got in a bad mood and we had to go back home where she took a nap. She always gets so cranky when she's sleepy.

After that, my husband had to attend a meeting so I asked my mom to take care of her in case she woke up. I picked up the book I'm currently reading (1Q84 by Haruki Murakami) and went to a nearby café where I had a glass of sangria and a lovely salmon sandwich.

Isn't the area lovely? This is where I live.
I eventually returned home where I changed clothes, it was cold and I had a special dinner that night which was again at our favorite Japanese restaurant. I seem to go there a lot... but its so awesome!
We attended the Japanese community dinner where I had to focus to understand what people were saying which is always a bit tough but I manage. We also played bingo and we actually won something, of course we did not win the mega awesome stuff but I got a bottle of port wine which Is now sitting under the Christmas tree waiting to be opened.

The dinner was long but I had a lot of fun. I am definitely going to attend it again next year and it was a smart call not to take my daughter with us this year. I still remember how horrible it was last year... I basically just took care of her the whole night and did not enjoy myself at all.
We then called a cab and went home where I watched a movie with my mom and stayed up late. It was a great day, I should just do this sort of thing every single Saturday.


So it wasn't a very Lolita day, but I was happy.
What did you do this Loliday? Care to share?


Love,
Jo

Japan trip 2014 - Some lolita, finally!

Wednesday 30

We did nothing all day which feels good and is exactly what I am doing today.
We woke up, had yummy food for breakfast, had instant yummy food for lunch and had super healthy food for dinner (tofu, mushrooms, fish etc).
Played with Mari, watched tv, relaxed. Best days are those lazy days.

Breakfast included karepan (my favorite) and sweet buns with handmade maio filing.

Mari had fun in that box.

Discovered Mari likes matcha flavored stuff too, this is matcha pudding.

Friday 31

My inlaws wanted to take Mari so we had a more relaxed time. Woke up later than usual and there were some tasty onigiri waiting on the dining table.
After that, we were planning on leaving the house soon but my friend fla has a big mouth and chats a lot which makes me happy haha so i stayed in and we chatted and chatted and I was happy. Unfortunately soon it was time to leave and we had planned to visit Osaka's shinsaibashi área which is supposed to be my favorite in Japan so far.

This is what I look like. People stare a bit because of the sunglasses, very rarely do I see anyone with sunglasses here.

 This pond is right by Sango train station. Last year it was full of water and there were fish and turtles living there. We wondered about the turtles and found out they were taken to a save place but I got very annoyed when i looked at the área beneath a grid and there was water and still fish living there, that place is tiny and dirty! So sad...

Once a beautiful pond, now its like a trash can where some fish are still trapped.

but then vending machines make it better. I got the Café Au Lait which is milky and sugary and reminds me of my kitty cat left back home *tears*

 We got in the train and headed over to the connection station which is Tennoji. I like the fact that i always need to be in a train to go to places although i find the whole line this and that and JR and bla bla ridiculously confusing.

Since it was lunch time and had to literally step out of the station to change to the subway my husband suggested we ate around the area. I actually had been there last year to meet with one of his friends and I like it a lot, its super modern and there's a ton of things to discover, lots of stores and all that. 

The view accross the train station

People with sunglasses. I want to take more photos with my husband but its not easy to do so when we are by ourselves.

We then entered a shopping building because they have restaurants there, usually in the bottom but mostly in the top floors. I like malls here, they look super upscale like the sort of place i'd think twice about entering in my own country because of the price of the items and because I feel like i look odd in them haha but in Japan they are so normal everyone is everywhere and that feels nice.

I stopped twice, once to eat of course and the other time in the kid's floor. I was drooling over Mezzo Piano and even more over Shirley Temple's marvelous pieces. I fell in love with one jsk, but it was 7000yen on sale and still big for my daughter. I swear when she's a year older i'm going to buy this stuff for her. I do not care!

This in jsk version.... how can you not want to dress your kid in this???

The top floors with the restaurants had the staircase área all decorated with these leaves on the ceiling and i though they looked amazing, like something from a dream.

We browsed all the floors until we decided where to have lunch... its just that there are queues out of each one of the restaurants and I hate waiting...

Finally we decided to go to a Chinese food sort of place and I knew what to get from the shop window, plastic food model display, eggplant! I love eggplant!

I ordered a menu which included a small soup, a small salad, a roll and a meat fried piece which i adore.

It was way too much food for me so my husband ended eating half of it. My mother in law told us not to get stuffed for lunch because she wanted to take us out for dinner.
Since we were headed for shinsaibashi and we remembered it was not easy to find a bathroom there we decided to go before. Now I know you were waiting for toilet shots again but common, again? (ok maybe next time).
I did spot something I am actually thinking of requesting people implement here which is this:

Seat for kids

I know it sounds obvious but no, there's no place to put your kid down when you go to the bathroom... so going to the bathroom with a under 3 year old child is a huge drag! They had these in all the toilets and even the men's bathroom which is where this one was located actually. Isn't it perfect? I thought so.

We then left for the subway and headed to our destination, shinsaibashi. We left in the station with the same name and got lost. I always find Bodyline and never find the famous triangle park the first time. This time again we got lost and then laughed a bit when we got there because we totally had been close before and just missed it. I will always find it now though i forced myself to memorize the path to it.
That means we had just a couple of hours to browse things... which is not a lot but i mean shopping can happen any time, and this trip is about familly and resting.
Some photos taken of the area when we were just wandering around:

The famous GLICO sign.

 

When you see these lamps you know you have arrived.

My first stop was the one closest to me which was Angelic Pretty. I was hoping to miracly find a Cameo Window fully shirred jsk in red but of course it wasn't there. The other version not available in the site was there in red but its 89cm long and frankly full shirring is just more comfortable for me so i did not get it. I am still debating if I should get it in Brown or ivory so I left without buying anything.

Angelic Pretty Osaka - Cameo in pink for fla

After that, in the same street I went to two stores, one was the local second hand store which has become much more expensive than it was before, all the things I wanted were close to or over retail price, I really want musee in ivory but nah. But they had really nice things there.

Then I went to Atelier Boz but I found that nothing was too exciting except for this which is lovely but not something i'm dying to have. I also loved their hoop skirts!

After that I went straight towards my favorite store in the world, not because of the brands they carry (juliette et justine, moi-meme-moitie, "chantilly", triple fortune, atelier pierrot and others) but because of the atmosphere and most of all the servisse. The staff are friendly and act and seem... well human. Some stores train their staff to act in a way that seems plastic and just odd or even somewhat not helpful which happens everywhere, not just here and not just in Lolita stores. The Atelier Pierrot staff acts as if they are your friend and just want to help. I wanted to try on some triple fortune corsets and was looking for it in black but did not find it, they only had that pink on the window there. I fell in love with chantilly's prints and was disappointed by the one i actually wanted to see (haha life) and also fell in love with a MmM shirt (can't afford that) and a complete outfit by Atelier Pierrot that I will probably buy next week if its still there. I feel stupid though, buying a complete coord shown in the store but i loved it!

Anyway I just want to go back and get a photo with the store girl because i love her and want to be her friend (how creepy).

Atelier Pierrot Osaka - my favorite store in Japan

We also went in Innocent World where I also was disappointed by the only thing i wanted and almost got a dress on sale. I went in to buy a short sleeved  cardigan in black but they had 0 in L size so i couldn't.

Kera shop had the most gorgeous Lumiebre parasol ever with a stained glass print in it... for like a lot of cash (and for me to get it meant i'd have to play the luck game with the airplane trip "will it or will it not break") and I got to see my new jj dress which is... ok but super thin. Why are my jj dresses never thick and nice like the cat/rabbit dress my friend Vania owns... *sigh*
Finally we went in the PureSound second hand store. I found out their Lolita section is now pretty much non-existant and found two things I wanted there. One I got and will show to you (it was the only thing i bought that day) and the other I left but would like to own and might return to get, i didn't get it because it was just a plain pink dress but i think i'll wear it a bit. Not too cheap nor too expensive.

After that it was time to go, we had scheduled to be in Oji station by 6.30 and we meant to keep our promise.

Regular japanese train, bound for Oji station

In the process of getting there i got realy thirsty and wanted to buy water but we were out of coins so when I arrived at Oji the first thing I did was get Money from the ATM and hit the nearby supermarket. Never did water taste this good.

Buying water at the supermarket, gosh i was so ridiculously thirsty!

When we got back very soon everyone arrived so we got in the car and my daughter reacted in the most adorable way ever screaming "mommy mommy" ^_^; *melts*

After a while we arrived to our destination: more meat heaven!

The restaurante, during the day was black and at night it looked more grey-ish. It looked pretty grand haha

Korean style barbecue. Sooo tasty!

 After that we got back in the car and went back home where we rested a bit and waited for something that we wanted to watch: Cristiano Ronaldo in a japanese food tv quizz show.

Basically two guests have to eat 3 dishes, in the middle there's one the guest does not like. In the end they have to guess which dish the other does not like to "win".
Ronaldo was asked to take off his shirt if he lost (what?) and he did lose so he did take it off, the girl was melting, it was ridiculous haha.

After that we went jogging... and jogging here is harder I haven't made it to the 5k I usually run because its so hot!
Took a shower and slept like a baby!

This is the only thing I bought, I know... how ridiculous! I told you I am most probably falling out of love with lolita. :|

Victorian Maiden Gobelin print capelet. Not sure of name or if anything is missing.

Hope you liked reading!
Love always,
Jo