Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013!

Hello everyone.
How were your holidays?

This year Christmas was different. First it was the first time i spent christmas in my house. We've been living here for 2 years now and last christmas we went to Japan so I didn't even get a tree.
My inlaws also are visiting Portugal for the first time (even if my husband has been here for several years now) and its also the first time my mother in law ever left Japan. That was exciting too!

I wasn't really in the spirit because my favorite part is buying presents for everyone and there was a delay with my last two salaries but finally i got the money and i got to buy presents for everyone so I was pretty happy about that.

Christmas tree, the first one!

Before Christmas, on the 23rd there was a meetup and I had already picked out what to wear (which is very rare) but because i only got the money then i had to let the girls i couldn't go and go shopping for Christmas presents instead. I promised the girls i'd still take photos of myself in the outfit for them to make up for missing the meeting and this is the result. I'm sorry about the light, it was getting dark. I'm not managing time very well lately, with the baby and my inlaws etc.

The colorful decorating balls are chocolate!

I went for the old school classic x macabre doll look.

 We ate the traditional portuguese meal for Christmas, codfish and vegetables. The next day we had stuffed turkey.

Typical Portuguese Christmas Eve dinner.

There were a ton of cakes and sweets and I honestly ate too much, i gained a ton of weight and I'm a bit down because of that at the moment.

Typical Portuguese Christmas desserts and treats.
I do not have a Bolo Rei (king cake) because i'm not a fan.

What about presents you ask? Well...

I got:
an antique plate (mom)
antique tiny tea sets for my dolls (mom)
set of bath towels (mom)
lace teal tights (husband)
sewing machine (husband)
Jean Paul Gaultier classique (husband)
foundation + setting cream (inlaws)
japanese traditional fabric coi purse (inlaws)
necklace / bracelet gold (inlaws)
necklace silver with pearls (inlaws)
musix box with chocolates (older brother)
red bracelet + black flower ring (adriana , local lolita)
pocket money (inlaws)

But the winner of "most christmas presents" was of course Mari. Look at this haul!

Just a ton of clothes, toys and everything else one could think of.

On new years eve we decided to take a trip and go visit my husband's workplace and some of the local tourist attractions. Unfortunately the weather was terrible so we barely made it out of the car and it was also kind of scary on the road with the fog etc. :| Not the best weather to go out in.
Anyway we got to Braga at lunch time and we decided to have lunch in a place my husband knows who's owners speak japanese and where the food is delicious and very inexpensive.

My favorite wine is vinho verde

I had a "steak" with vegetables and it was fantastic.

We also chatted a bit and met the familly who owned the restaurant, talked a bit about backgrounds and whatnot and then finally left.

We then headed over to my husbands work place, the local university. He wanted to show his parents where he works which is understandable.

It was raining, it rained almost all day!

What my outfit looked like with decent shoes and without the coat.

We then headed over for a famous spot called Bom Jesus where we managed to take some really nice shots of the monument. The weather was terrible but we also had a view over the city.

It's gorgeous there!

 We then got back in the car and tried visiting the Sameiro Sanctuary but it was so foggy up there that we couldn't even see the road. It got very very scary and everyont agreed it was a better idea to try to head back down. We finally did and everyone was super relieved.

I took Kaneko with me but it was raining so she never
made it out of the car. 

We then slowly headed back and as we got closer and closer to my city the weather started clearing up!

Christmas decorations

 We started getting some snacks ready for the New Years eve dinner. Instead of eating something heavy we decided on getting a bunch of different things and just eating a bit of this and that.

Shrimp, salmon, mushrooms, salad, melon, mango, ham etc

For dessert we had coffee of course and pocky, but not just any pocky,
what my inlaws call "premium pocky".
My father in law waited 40minutes in line to get this for us. 

Me, my father in law and my husband all left the house at midnight to watch the firework. I love fireworks but this year it was kind of disappoiting i must say. I still liked it anyway, any is always better than none, right?

HAPPY NEW YEAR
Fireworks at the main avenue in Porto

We then went back home and went straight to bed we were all beat!

Did you have fun too? I hope so. Happy New Year everyone!

Thing I achieved in 2012

• Became a mom (part of my 2012 resolutions)
• Stopped biting my nails
• Lost some weight (part of my 2012 resolutions)
• Smoked a lot less
• Sold a lot of my collection and didn't buy a ton more things to replace them
• Significantly improved my house
• Did a couple of lolita photoshoots which was a lot of fun (part of my 2012 resolutions)
• Managed to keep our local community going as usual (not dead yet!)
• Wore something close to ott sweet for the first time
• Attended two lolita meetings outside of the country
• Sold almost all of my gothic and punk clothes and kept lolita and work clothes only
• Visited Japan for the 3rd time
• Got my first BJD (part of my 2012 resolutions)
• Got my first brand new Blythe dolls
• Met with my university best friend in person again!
• Had my first xmas at our place ever

New year resolutions for 2013

• Lose weight (part of my 2012 resolutions)
• Improve my language skills (part of my 2012 resolutions)
• Get a drivers licence
• Travel more with my husband (part of my 2012 resolutions)
• Be more sociable
• Go out more
• Become a better lolita (part of my 2012 resolutions)
• Wear lolita more often as casual daily wear again
• Have more money/ be more financially independant
• Be more positive
• Get in a sewing course, hairstyle course, cooking course... whatever! Learn a new skill.
• Improve my self asteem!

What about you? What do you hope for next year?

Love always,

Jo

New Year Post

In 2011 I... 

• Found my dream lolita bag after all these years;
• Got my first Blythe and full size Pullip dolls;
• Traveled with a great friend and had the time of my life;
• Met some online friends in person which was very exciting;
• Got new pets: the cutest turtle and my little fish;
• Made some really important changes at my place: got a kitchen among other things;
• Closed down my lolita store after being beaten up anonymously for having had the courage to do something;
• Closed down the store and gained a lot of free time, income and energy;
• Got less attached to some things and gained a bit of peace of mind in return;
• Went to see a dentist for the second time in my life;
• Started wearing wigs regularly with lolita - so much easier;
• Got a pair of bordello boots and have been over-wearing them because they rock;
• [...]

 

My New Year resolutions:

• Think about my goals as a professional - I'm 28 and should seriously think about this.
• Lose weight - goal is 65kg & be more healthy.
• Get a savings account going + retirement plan.
• Buy my first BJD - learn more about the doll collecting world.
• Take the IELTS exam.
• Learn as much as I can languages wise.
• Finish my basic house renovations.
• Pay more attention to my friends.
• Travel more in Europe.
• Take more and better photos in lolita - I want to have nice shots taken before I retire. 
• Seriously think about expanding the familly, almost 30.
• Buy a sewing machine and start sewing again.
• Get better at applying makeup and doing hairstyles.
• Get more floral printed dresses and dress a bit more casually.
• Finally nail a triple fortune bonnet.
• [...]

this is turning out to be harder than I thought so it shall be work in progress for a couple more days.