Update!

It has been a while, hasn't it?
After last post I took a break from blogging, for multiple reasons but mostly because this blog is mainly about lolita fashion and I did not really wear any egl last months. Besides that I was superbusy with work, and then later busy with the puppy we got. And then summer holiday came.
Still I wanted to update you a bit about it.

Leaving Lolita or not?

Some months ago I sold some of my dresses, some are still for sale even. And then I did not wear it for a long time, to see if I regained new motivation for it or not. Here are my conclusions for now:

I don't like super-sweet anymore. 
Especially the pastel sweet clothing with sweet themes, I just don't feel very me in it anymore all the time, it's simple as that. It's not like I dislike pastel colors in general and sometimes it still makes my heart go 'doki-doki' or go 'awww', but my taste is growing towards more jeweltones or things with brown and cream I guess. And a bit more subtle sweet, not too many bows and frills and such (or maybe just for the right occasion and in the right style).

It's hard to try to decide what to sell.
Besides what I've sold some months ago, I also sold my Sugar Dream Dome skirt and some pairs of shoes. I won't sell any more/other handmade/designed main items, because they're just too precious to me (at the moment). Toy March jsk I want to keep until christmas/winter, because it's a warm dress with wintery tones, even though it has a sweet print. Wonder Story jsk is relatively new and still to my taste, so I'm keeping that. Although My Little Bear's Cafe is on the sweeter side, I'm keeping it for now because it's very comfy and isn't overly sweet in colors (you can tone it down with a bolero and such), It was also my first brand (dream) dress. I probably won't be making new coords with it though. I'll keep the rest of my accessories and socks just in case.

I'm still interested.
Some weeks ago, I finally had some time for myself and felt I got a break, and that was exactly when I took a look at the fashion again, at coord posts and sales and videos, and it sparked my interest again. I think it's good to have a hobby just for yourself, for a bit 'me-time'. So yes I'm still interested.

However, there are some things I don't necessarily like (related to the fashion) anymore:
- Travelling too much (especially with public transport, delays are so common, maybe when I get my driving license I can go to meetings by car).
- Dresses that are not comfy. I just don't wear them as much.
- Superpoof all the time. I don't know, I just feel it's a bit much sometimes? I feel like I'm going more into the Otome-style with this. Same with OTT-like things. I'd rather see the fashion like a daily thing so I actually use it outside of meets.
- Spending too much money. With this I mean: I'm going to be more picky and really think if I should buy something and going to wear it often so that it's worth it. And probably not as much main items again This might also mean I probably would sew more dresses by myself, it's a lot cheaper and at least I can choose the style/cut that I like. At the moment I have other things in my life that also need money :P.

What do you still like then?
I've been searching/looking for dresses that suit my current taste, and it's not as easy to be honest. I'm open for suggestions of course!
- I still like prints, but I'm now also open for non-print more casual dresses.
- Mainly jewel-tones (red, navy, purple), browns/blacks with a print, and maybe creams or soft pastels if the print/cut is not too much and the colors don't look too pale.
- Themes: Forest, animals, stars/night/atmosphere, fairy tales, gardens ... so this didn't change as much I guess. The print can still have a sweet/cute theme, but just expressed a bit more subtle!

Here are some examples of things I still see myself wearing:
   

 




And to pair these kinds of things I'll have to also look for matching blouses and bolero's. I definitely like a better red blouse and still looking for a nice brown bolero that fits well. That, and I think a better pair of black shoes.

But...!
I got to be honest, I just don't know how much I will still wear it. I do want to keep it 'spontaneous', I started planning coordinations but from then on it was more or less ticking off my list, and it was not a lot of fun. I just want it to be more like 'today I feel like wearing it and I'll see what I'll wear'.
But the main reason is because I will be busy with work and courses I follow...probably fulltime. So that means I'll have to rest a bit during the weekends too and I can't promise anything about wearing lolita fashion a lot.

Coming months will be more about starting work and the courses and also prepare for the Japan journey which I'm very excited for. So I don't know when I'll write again. I wish you all a good time and possibly till next time!

Catch-up Feb/early March

Yet again, I haven't written anything new in a while. I have to be honest and actually tell you that lolita fashion has not been on my mind 'a lot' recently, even though I wore it several times last month. In January I wrote that one of my goals was to not buy new things, or either sell things and, well I bought new things, and sold other dresses, and still I kind of feel 'meh' about wearing it lately. It didn't really help either that both packages got lost. The first one got here 1,5 month later, the second one (not from Japan, but from the US) is still lost T_T. Feels like I'm cursed.
I planned several new coords in my bullet journal and managed to wear some of them, but it did not feel the same somehow, it was more 'doing what I had in mind' than 'yay let's wear lolita to be happy'.
Maybe it was also just the cold outside (I'm really happy it became Spring now, but we had weeks of really freezing cold temperatures and all I wanted to do is stay inside. But yeah, maybe I'm just getting bored with it, who knows. However, I did manage to wear it for several occassions, so here are some coords (or parts of it).

First off: we had a meet at the local cat cafe again, and I mixed my milky planet yellow with some lavender and pink things, I'm honestly really happy with this coord, I love the colors. That star in my hair was a gift I got when I bought the Sugar Dream Dome skirt, I thought it would work with Milky Planet as well! The cats at the cafe were really cute and it was nice sitting and chatting there!


Then some casual outfits (more Otome-kei like) I wore on some days off. I actually don't mind not wearing a petticoat everytime. It's a lot more convenient when you are at home sitting on the couch for example, or when you need to visit a busy place. That and I don't need that poof all the time for just daily use (I don't have a petticoat that gives an in-between/small poof either).

And it took a while, but I finally wore the cape I made last winter. I was waiting for a snowy sunny day but it didn't came and so I just wore it on another cold day. I had this coord in mind for a while so I'm happy I could finally wear it. I also finished sewing a jumperskirt with the fabric I bought in japan. I also made an overskirt for it in plain pink chiffon which I hope to wear soon.










Last week I met up with two lolita friends. With Eveline I did some resin crafting, which was a lot of fun doing together! We forgot to make outfit pictures, but I managed to make some snaps that morning so not all is lost. I wore my Lucky Star Dreamland jsk with the yellow AP cardigan I just got in and the easter/bunny socks. I really like this cardigan, it's comfy and perfect fit for the waist-height of lolita dresses (to me at least), I should have bought one sooner.

And then lastly, I met up with Nienke, who I hadn't seen in a long while. I took the chance to wear my new Wondery Story jsk with a fairly standard coord I'd say, but it works nonetheless.

That card-ring from AP I bought from Yvette, a lolita friend who lives in my own city, I'm glad I could buy it from her, suits the coord perfectly don't you think? The resin necklace I had made at Eveline's place, I could use some embellishments from her <3.

With Nienke I shared some yummy cupcakes that her partner made and we chatted the afternoon away! Then yesterday I hadn't anything planned (just chilling with my husband, which is perfect for a Sunday, right ^_^ !), so I took the opportunity to wear my Tartan Love JSK again. Maybe not the most versatile of dresses, but sure is easy to wear and a good match for a rainy day I guess.

That said, I'm still not feeling that same spark I had anymore with lolita fashion. I kind of feel like it's time for something new in my life(?). Whenever I feel that, I have the habit to want to get rid of old things. I'm not saying I'm suddenly going to sell all of my dresses (I'd probably keep some of my handmade ones anyway), but yeah I've just been focussing more on the future or at least on 'something else', so that's why I haven't written new lolita-related blogposts, I don't want to force myself too much. Do you know this feeling too? If so, what did you do with it?

My husband and I have done double driving lessons per week (haha, there goes the money), and I've been studying for the theory exam as well (which is planned next month), I'm super-duper looking forward to having a car at this moment, because more and more I feel like I'm keeping myself from doing what I like and need in my free time (like, hiking/walking in nature/parks etc. or going somewhere just because I feel like it and NOT depend on public transport and the stress that comes with it. But yeah it probably will still take a while before we can officially drive.

In other new: we have another vacation planned to Japan. Yep! But this time, suprise surprise, my best friend and her partner are coming with us, which I think is superduper awesome :D, I'm so stoked for it, but we have to wait until Autumn. Last time we said we probably wouldn't visit Japan anytime soon, but then we looked at other places to visit and still thought "hmm..but we could also go to Japan". We hope to plan more daytrips outside of Tokyo/Osaka, and plan to visit Hiroshima too this time. I can't wait for our new adventure ^_^ !

Okay, that was it for the update. Thanks for reading and see you next time!

Catch-up January '18

Hello hello, this month is almost over already so I'd thought it would be a good time to post my lolita updates from January.
Actually I didn't wear a lot of lolita fashion, not as much as I'd liked because January is a busy month where our students round up the 2nd semester and next to that I started with a new illustration job so yeah I am a busy person at the moment. Nonetheless, I still hope to wear more lolita fashion coming months, due to the fact that I only teach one course (next to some other student supervision/counselling things) so yeah, hope that will work out. I think though that I'm not the only person not wearing lolita a lot in this month. It's so cold so you'd rather just wear fuzzy sweaters and sit on the couch (which I also did ;) ), I can't wait for more spring-like weather!

Technically I didn't post the coord I wore on Dec. 31, so yeah still 2017. I wanted to wear something to celebrate New Year's eve, with a lot of sparkles!

I wore a casual hooded shirt with it that I've sewn myself a while back, and the navy AP ribbon otk's that are apparently not that high, but I think they looked great in this coord anyway. I also polished my nails and thought some cute stars on them would be nice!
Well, this was the last time I wore the Constellations And The Stars of Confeito JSK, because I planned to sell this dress. I know it was one of my dreamdresses, but after wearing it multiple times I kind of just got uninspired with coordinations with it and as said in my 2018 goals blogpost, I want to refresh my wardrobe a bit without spending too much money so selling was the go-to option. More about new purchases later!

Then some weeks later I had a day off and decided I wanted to wear my Bubbly Jelly Sea JSK, because I haven't worn it in such a long time while, this was due to some damage it got when I traveled back from Under the Sea in Amsterdam (that sunday a bottle of hairspray broke in my husbands bag and  got all over it, so the lining got all wrinkled and weird, I fixed it slightly by cutting it on one side, but you can't see it because it's under the dress anyway). I wore the jellies in a casual way with some boots (because winter). Next time I want to try wearing light-blue with it instead of darker colors.

Our stranded train

And the day after that we had a sweet lolita meet up in Gouda (yes, you might know it from the cheese), and well this was quite an adventure. The train that I took together with another lolita, broke down just before the first big city where we had to transfer to another train to Gouda. Living all the way in Groningen, I am always afraid to have some kind of delay but it usually doesn't happen so I guess this day was the statistical compensation T_T but yeah it was kind of interesting, we had to get out of the train, sit in a bus to Zwolle and there wait for the other train which was also delayed because of our original train, haha. 

But we got there in the end, had some tea and sweets/pastries at a very cute cafe and took a lot of supercute and fun photos so I'm glad I still got to go. However, I really don't want to live too long in Groningen anymore, I'm really fed-up with always travelling this much if I want to go somewhere.

So for my coord (below) I felt like wearing Sugar Dream Dome skirt again, as it is winter-themed and even though there are presents on it, I felt like wearing it again because I'm still happy I bought it and I really wanted to wear it with the necklace I made! This time I wore my white bolero on top of my pink Angelic Pretty blouse. And hey, I finally used the big bow for it as well that came with this blouse. It also has golden and shimmery accents so I felt it was a perfect match ♥.

Well, for the further wardrobe updates, I had hoped that to tell that there came a package, but it didn't get here. My shopping service posted it on Thursday Jan. 18, so I expected it from Wednesday 24 on, but still isn't here. I mailed them but they tried to explain something that has to do with SAI, but I used EMS so that has nothing to do with it. I asked on our Dutch lolita page and some people said it could take two weeks, which is in my opinion too long for EMS, but yeah there also has been snowfall in Tokyo, so I have to still be patient for some days. I hope nothing went wrong with it :(.

Anyway, what I am waiting for is some smaller items plus a jumperskirt. I've been watching the cardigan and necklace in December but decided to wait with buying it (because December is already such an expensive month), but I kept going back to it so on new year's day I decided to buy them anyway. The necklace was actually a wishlist item, I find this bunny so very cute and I think it fits well in my wardrobe. The cardigan is a good match with a lot of my pastel items too and I've been wearing lolita fashion more casually with cardigans so I think it's a good addition for variety.

And this is the jumperskirt I'm waiting for, it's Wonder Story (collared version) from Angelic Pretty. I've always liked this print, but it is quite rare to find (or at least for a decent price), so I was really surprised to find it and couldn't help myself ^^; (so yes that's why I'm selling other dresses). I really love the Alice theme of it, yet still not super-out there, I love the combination of books, cards, tea and bunnies ♥. And I think this shade of red is also quite nice, it fits better with white and has a more pink hue to it. I'm very curious to see all the detail in person. But yeah, let's hope my package comes here soon. In the meantime I'm planning some things out to make a dress with the bunny-fabric I bought in Japan last year, but I'm not super inspired and don't know what kind of model/cut I should make so I should give that some attention I guess.

Well, hope you liked the updates and I hope you had a good (or better) January and see you next time, byebye!

Age and Lolita Fashion

In the last months, multiple articles have been published about age / aging in lolita fashion. Recently my fellow Dutch lolita friend Liv wrote an article for the KERA website and in November there was an interesting article by Lucy at Wunderwelt Libre telling about that things are changing at the moment when it comes to fashion (or other subcultures) and a link to a Rufflechat discussion about a show with Misako Aoki (who is now 35) and was possibly 'mocked' about her age. I think this is a fascinating subject, of course also because I'm an older lolita (and still wear sweet), so let's talk about this!

Wearing lolita fashion until you die? That was Momoko's thought (screenshot from Kamikaze Girls)

A short while ago my colleagues and I were talking about aging in general, because somehow it gets harder sometimes to guess peoples (physical) age. We get kids later in life (if at all), and we stay younger (in mind or lifestyle) just a little bit longer I think, at least that counts for most of us. It is harder to find a serious stable job and maybe it's also because we have the freedom to choose what we actually like to do instead of doing what someone said we are supposed to do, like it used to be in older days. There is not a 'normal' time anymore to 'settle down' , it's not even normal to 'settle down' (you know, with partner, buy a house etc) I guess. So yeah, people are adjusting and more flexible.

The other side of the coin however is that that amount of freedom creates a lot of room, or maybe emptiness, that we somehow want to fill in our lives. Just like any other hobby it's just a form of spending your time. That is also because: we have that time. Lot of us don't have to take care of our family that much or don't have to work double jobs to earn enough money or are active in church or whatever. So you search something else to fill your time with.
And when we get a bit older it might be hard to find new friends so search for other hobbies, other communities. For active lolita's it's interesting to ask yourself: what would you be or do without lolita fashion?

When it comes to Lolita Fashion, we all know it's not a cheap fashion and although cheaper Taobao brands are getting more accessible, the main brands are still popular and selling new dresses for about 200-300 Euro (and this is without shopping service and import costs). For a teen this is a lot of money and I think lots of parents might find it a bit much to spend on a piece of clothing, but it still happens. I knew about teen lolitas that just bought a dress only once per year or two years because of this and that's totally understandable. Then again, nowadays young people have a lot of money to spend because the living circumstances (of parents) are getting better.

I'd like to wear more
Otome / casual lolita
but I usually just
don't have the time in
the morning to prepare.

And because of the shift in modern freedom and not settling down early, I think we have more people in their twenties, getting their first job and spending money on the fashion because they don't have a lot of other expenses and can choose to spend (part of) it freely. So that might influence the age shift.

The look of the fashion changed too, the modern-day classic-sweet approach really also suits 'older' ages. Colors are a bit toned down, there aren't bows everywhere etc. That said.. that is more of a generic look on what would suit people their age, and I for one am not a fan of that kind of thinking like that. I think that lolita fashion also already stands for wearing something alternative that just makes you happy, so why not just wear whatever you like in despite of your age?

I don't see myself
stop loving cute stuff
anytime soon

Don't get me wrong, I don't wear full lolita fashion to my work as a (applied university) teacher because that's both not practical and probably I wouldn't be taken serious anymore, but I do sometimes wear more toned-down versions (Otome-like) if I feel like it and have the time. And in my own time, I just wear whatever, whenever I like it. Because it makes ME happy.

I think that is the most important lesson actually, that you shouldn't let other
people (or your own thoughts about other peoples thoughts) stand in between you and whatever makes you happy. And I guess that not everyone is that bold in their choices, but even outside of fashion it is very important. Don't let mental made-up rules dictate what you do with your life (well okay maybe except for things stated in the law), there are always people who will have a different opinion than you, and that's fine (who cares?), but this is your life so get the most out of it that will make you happy, not anyone else!

Where do you see yourself some years in the future? Will it matter what you will wear or will it matter if what you do makes you happy? I wonder how other people think about this, let me know!

Plans & resolutions for 2018

As promised I'm going to talk a bit about my plans for 2018. At this point in my life I feel like there are definitely going to change some things this year, and other things I should just keep doing. For now my resolutions are (in short):

1 ☆ focus more on (long-term) happiness
2 ☆ buy less, sell some things
3 ☆ eat/drink more healthy
4 ☆ keep jogging/ work out weekly
5 ☆ get driver's license
6 ☆ find a new job (for after summer)
7 ☆ find another place to live possibly
8 ☆ do more *new* things
9 ☆ keep track of and remember my goals

1. Focus more on (long-term) happiness
This is the biggest one and probably the hardest one to explain. It's some smaller goals into one actually. Sometimes I feel my life is a bit empty and I don't feel as much happiness as I did before. One of the things it has probably to do with is friends...friends I used to have OR that aren't as close. I can't just say that it just happened, if I want to stay in touch than I should do that right? But it's kind of hard. There are plenty of people I'd like to meet up with but most of them are at least 2,5 hours traveling away. So when I go it means I'm gone for a day, that costs, next to working, quite a bit of energy and also less time for spending with husband. I guess I discovered that maybe it shouldn't really matter as much and I should just do it, I think friendships are important and I should definitely meet more up with all the nice people in my life!

So that was one of the reasons for long-term happiness. The other one has to do more with my own life. I think I should be more 'me' again, more enjoying the moment as is and enjoy the little things. Not reading facebook as much for example, but DOING more myself. Especially Facebook I haven't enjoyed thát much last year. Some people and groups are on there that I do follow and like and that is nice and all but there's no use actually on coming there multiple times a day. I fell like there have been more and more ads also, so it feels less 'me' anyway. The same goes for my relationship: less hanging on the couch, and putting more time in things I like to do (individually) so that when we see eachother at least we are genuinely being close with eachother.

Other goals are probably also more in line with this big happiness goal so yeah, here's the rest:

2. Buy less, sell some things
After these three years of lolita fashion my closet is full and I think I won't wear some pieces that much anymore so I'm going to sell those. Maybe I'll have more space for new things but also, I feel like maybe I won't have to buy as much. It's a weird feeling but after all, happiness doesn't come exactly from buying new stuff, it comes from doing things that make you happy. I just don't want to hold on to things forever, if I had a lot of great time with it, that was what mattered anyway!

3. Eat/drink more healthy
During the holidays it's always the case, whether I try to avoid it or not: I gain some extra weight and eat less healthy. It's not bad, it's what a lot of people experience. I usually eat less carbs, only one slice of bread at the start of the day and then maybe some cookies/snacks at night but during holidays I always give myself some time to enjoy some bread and all the nice things that come with this time of year. And I really like bread but eating salad for lunch is just healthier and eating a hand full of nuts as a snack also does the trick so it's just back to basic. Same goes for drinks. I can't deny I love some cocktails or wine, but it's not healthy physically and mentally so I definitely want to cut out drinking as much (and that probably helps snacking less too).

4. Keep jogging/ work out weekly
It was really nice to start jogging/running last year, it's good to do. I took a little break in december from it, it was too cold for me really but lately temperatures are going higher again so it's time to start jogging again. And else just keep working out inside of the house in some sort of way. I started doing some dancing with stepmania already today.

5. Get driver's license
I'm happy l did some new things in 2017. I started with driving lessons after we lost both of our ferrets, I felt like if I ever wanted a new pet (or maybe even kids later) I definitely need to be able to drive a car. And also, because then at least we are free to go places. It's really hard to reach some places like local forests (I love taking walks) or remote places where family lives and my husband and I got really tired of doing 'nothing'  just because we can't go there easily. That's why I really want to get my license...but it's hard >_<. I'm not a natural multitasker at all and driving is not something I learn easily (in comparison with theoretic things or other stuff where I can take my time..). But hopefully when I just keep doing it, I'll reach that point to get the license.

6. Find a new job (for after summer)
Unfortunately my current job as a (parttime) teacher/coach at the game/design department at the applied university was temporary from the start. I got an extension of the contract, but it's one day less work so I definitely need to find something new on the long term. Illustration hasn't gotten me that far either so I'm not sure if I should give that another kickstart as well, although I have a huge job coming right up tomorrow so we will see!

7. Find another place to live possibly
This has to do both with #6 and #1: finding jobs (for the kind of work I can do) is hard in the north of the Netherlands, so it's possible that we'd have to move. Next to that, we have been living for a long time now in Groningen and we're kind of ..bored with it. All fun things happen in the west/centre of our country but we enjoyed being in bigger cities as well (I mean, London..Tokyo..) and it's really attractive because it seems so easy as there are so many things to do there. So yeah possibly a bigger city at least, don't know when and don't know where but I'm excited to experience something new!

8. Do more *new* things
Talking about new, I definitely need some refreshing things in my life to spice it up. I'd like to challenge myself to do at least two new things every month. Whether it be crafts or making music or speaking a language or photography or meeting up with people I don't know, I don't know yet but I should definitely do new things, because that also makes me happy and just fills my life with genuine experiences. 

9. Keep track of and remember my goals
Guilty: after some time I will just forget what my goals are. After working and doing a lot you might just simply not remember it anymore. But this time I really want to keep track of it. I decided to keep a bullet journal and not have everything digital anymore. I already started doing something new today: I sewed my own journal together (it was kinda hard to find a nice one with blank pages and the art store was closed today so I just thought: why not make one myself).
So hopefully that helps with remembering what I want to do and full up my life with positive things!

Thanks for reading ♥ , I'd love to hear what your own plans for the new year are and of course I'll try to keep you posted about mine. See you again soon!