big dreamer

Two projects done

I FINALLY finished these two projects I have been working on for a while

First of all is my ALICE

ALICE! �I LOVE ALICE

yes, I love this short hair version of Alice, in fact my mom said I should get a similar hair cut but I don't really want to cut my hair. �anyway, you need to go into deviant art and see it full size to really appreciate it

Alice in the mushroom forest- by ~jyoshikousei16 on deviantART

Second is Charming cherry and the ribbon dance, �my FIRST ever lolita pattern design! � I had fun making it, even though it was an on-and-off project for the past few months. �I am going to order some fabric and make my own skirt :)

Charming Cherry -lolta print by ~jyoshikousei16 on deviantART

today in the park

Ok so today I went to the park to take some pictures along my running track.  My friend Tomoko just happened to be running there too...  Afterwards I went to her house and got dinner! woo hoo!

anyway, enough talk, let me show you some pictures of where I go running.  

my day with Nacco

So today was a national holiday in Japan to celebrate the spring equinox.  I had to work in the morning, but after that I ran home to change into my pink LOLITA dress from BABY and my bunnies and I hopped on the train to go to Shinjyuku.   I had to make a quick detour to Nakano (one station from Shinjyuku) to stop by my Irish music teachers house.   Yesterday I asked him if he knew of a way I could get my hands on an Irish flute because i am interested in playing it.  Well it turns out he had one.  He is leaving for a vacation in Ireland tomorrow, so he told me to stop by his house and he would lend it to me.   

So this is his flute.  Hand made wooden flute by his friend, who is a flute maker in Canada.   Pretty insturment, now I need to learn how to make sounds out of it.. and sustain sounds!  The whistle is really easy to play, but this requires some skill and training before you can start playing it.  I will do my best

Now on to the fun part

So I go back to Shinjyuku to meet my friend Nacco.  I brought along my gothic/lolita bible because they had a really cute cafe I wanted to try.   Turns out that this place was in.. Nakano!  So I hop back on the train and go to Nakano, again.    We step out of the train gate and try to find it... THEN we realize, this place is closed on mondays, and today is... MONDAY!  so we went back to Shinjyuku, 300 yen lighter, and search around for a catalogue to find a french restaurant.  Well, all the hot peppers (the free restaurant guide) were gone, so  we looked and looked, and ended up at the very north end of the station.  We found a magazine and found a bristo!  Alas, it was at the very SOUTH end of the station.   So we walked and walked (shinjyuku station is very big, north to south...) and finally ate!

at the restaurant, (pictures coming soon) we had all you can eat bread! happy!  Lunch was yummy... with lots of yummy salad for me!   some beef and some gallettes 

Oh, and Nacco gave me a little gift from her last trip to Disneyland.  ALICE of course...

After lunch we went to a bookstore to try to find me a copy of Alice au pays merevilles (Alice in French) but alas, they didn't have any.. but they had a small selection of French books, which is uncommon for a bookstore in Tokyo.  

We then went to marui one... Nacco got a CUTE green dress at Emily Temple Cute! She looked adorable.  We also went up to BABY and I talked to the store clearks... and then I was totally being a little sales girl to Nacco.. showing her all the new prints, telling her what comes in what sizes,  what is new... god I couldn't help it.   I was also trying to stay out of the way of the sales staff at BABY

Anyway we looked at a lot of lolita clothes, and I found a great harajyuku punk tie to send to my professor  (he collects strange ties)  

and finally I got something..

I think only one person reading this may recognize where this bag is from (and NOT the BABY bag in the back)

Need a hint??

Well here it is

Thats right Pierre Hermé, who was awarded "Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur" (the highest honor in France), and whose macarons are considered the BEST macarons in Paris.  In fact, you can only get them in France (but they can be sent to most places in Europe) and Tokyo

These were the macarons I got

Citron, which is my FAVORITE macaron flavor of all time, Jasmin (which is something I had to try) and Arabesque.  I wanted to try the Wasabi macaron, but they didn't have it.  and I really want to try his Strawberry/Wasabi macaron, but they don't seem to sell that in Japan..   I guess i NEED to go to Paris now.

anyway, they were all amazingly heavenly!!  

Anyway as an aside:  Nacco speeks english rather well now, much much much better than when I first met her (we spoke all Japanese then).  In fact she has gotten much better over the course of 1 year than people I have been speaking to for the last six years.  The reason is simple, Nacco only listens and reads fun and interesting things which she wants to listen to and read.  She reads manga in english, and she listens to movies and anime in english on her ipod, and reads the script.     She doesn't waist her time with boring textbook work, lessons, grammar drills and role plays and other unproductive stuff like that ... nope it is just pure input. 

I am glad SOMEBODY took my advice.  

lolita coordinates

So I bought a few new panniers at work the other day.  Panniers are something that i have really really needed to get some nice good poof to all my lolita skirts.  I got the tulle pannier, which has thick tulle and is very puffy, but it hurts a but.  and I got a new pannier that is not out on the web page, but it has little snow dots and ribbons to it.  it is very pretty 

anyway,  here is me in all my new panniers (sorry about the heart in the face, but my face was ugly... and this is lolita underwear LOL )

And here is me in my new pink BABY dress with 3 panniers!   i like how they give a nice cupcake shape to this skirt.  I had the pull the tulle pannier down to get this effect.  If not I would have got the dead-balloon skirt, which is an absolute no-no in the lolita world

Next is my Alice coordinate.  Oh were oh where are my feet! Oh and how funny it will seem, sending presents to ones own feet...

Here is the first BABY JSK I got a long long time ago.   It is a bit short on me, so normally I wear another skirt under it as a petticoat.  but even with its short length it can be cute. If i had some long bloomers it would look really cool!

This is my second BABY JSK, with my skirt as a petticoat.   

This is just my skrit and blouse... something I do for summer.   BUT boy this would look NICE with a bonnet or a straw hat.  I made the bow... but yeah, straw hat or bonnet.

This is my kitty skirt I got from Metamoru (sorry I am in Japan and use the japanese nicknames)   I should have worked on the shape of the skirt a bit more before taking the picture.  But that is my me developing some much needed lolita sense.

last, the dress that I made for halloween a few years ago.  I still want to finish the apron  and  and some ties...  That would really help.  Also i need MORE panniers to make this skirt puffy enough  There are 4 meters of fabric in the bottom tier alone.  it was getting dark and my hair was getting yucky so I had to heart my face... 

Concert and session

So I had my concert yesterday... I did pretty well :)  Everybody liked it so I guess that is best

as for today, I had my celtic music dojo with Jim... it was the first time in about 2 months which I was able to attend!  Then afterwards we had a session.  I got to see my friends Daunt for the dojo and Carl for the session... so that was good.  Jim was able to reserve a room with a piano, so we were able to have some piano accompaniment, which was a nice touch...

seems like Jim can play the piano too...  what CANT the guy play?  I have seen him play the fiddle, accordion, guitar,  and whistle... and now piano. 

anyway, here are some recordings from the session

(of course Live Journal people will have to go to vox to listen)

new dress today...

I am soooooo sleepy again!!  But I had to post this before going to bed

I got a new dress from BABY, and this one fits!!   

Well, seeing that it was based off me  it had better fit :p  Although they did make the skirt a few cm shorter than the original sample.

This is the new LL size that is NOT yet on the webpage

Now the reason why I got black so that i have something to wear when performing...  So I told myself.  Brown was also cute... and I wanted the pink too, but since I have 3 other pink dresses from baby..

anyway, black is new for me.. but i can wear it at sessions and stuff :)

BTW, I have never had a brand dress fit me so well.  I wish i was tiny so I could wear dresses like this all the time

my room looks so big! it really isn't that big, but it is a wide angle lens.. 

here is the detail of the sholder

it is really elegant... and noticed the longer shoulder strap for us taller girls..  That was your request which was built into this dress...

and the princess drop on the pocket

and I picked up one of the novelty cups today too

but i will have to show you the picture later... i forgot to resize it and i am sleepy

oh, and my carrot soup!! I made it a few days ago! It was soooo sweet, and I didn't put any sugar in it!  but there is milk and paprika on top..

ok, can I sleep now?

let me tell you why...

Let me tell you why I am learning to speak French even though I am lolita and should focus on Japanese..

Well, I already speak Japanese already first of all :) My best friend in the whole wide word doesn't speak anything other than Japanese...

Well let me tell you how I started french...

Pourquoi j'apprends le français?

Il n'y a pas de raison pour commencer l'apprentissage du français.  Je dois dire que c'est seulement la chance!

Au Japon, il y a beaucoup de gens qui croient qu'un professeur et les règles de grammaire sont nécessaires pour l'apprentissage d'un langue.  

Je ne pense pas que c'est correct

Je voulais essayer d'apprendre une langue sans professeur et sans les règles de grammaire.

Pourquoi le français?  J'ai juste choisi le français pour une raison ou pou une autre.  Je ne sais pas!

Mais maintenant j'ai beaucoup d'amis français sur facebook... et je pense qu'il est agréable d'entendre parler, en français, les filles lolitas!

Ok, in english

Why do I learn french?

There is not any reason why I started learning french.  You could say it was simply luck.  

In Japan, there are a lot of people who believe that a teacher and the rules of grammar are necessary to learn a language.   

I don't think that is correct.

I wanted to try to learn a language without a teacher and without the rules of grammar!

Why french?  I just chose it for one reason or other...  I don't know!   

But now, I have a lot of french friends on facebook, and I find it nice to hear lolita girls speaking french :)

Ok, yeah, lolita girls speaking french is so ... KAWAII!!   That should be reason enough...

But i wanted to prove to people that it is possible, and in fact better, to learn a language without teachers and complicated rules of grammar.

With my japanese I spent years trying to using 'the way' to learn  languages.   I took classes, stuck my head in the textbook... which read worse than stereo instructions and was entirely overtly-compicated explanations of Japanese grammar and lacking the language itself.  In fact, when I showed it my japanese friend he said "this is all in english, where is the japanese?"  

Lets just say I wasn't going to learn Japanese in a textbook where I needed to use Webster's dictionary of the English language just to try to understand the textbook.   I have no clue what the heck transitive, intransitive, definite, indefinite is...  I just wanted to speak Japanese.

So how did I get my japanese up?  

By stopping all classes and textbooks and just working on what i wanted to work on.  I read the goth/lolii bible, I read my friends blogs...  I read my friends group's ultra-liberal newspaper (I can tell you a lot about the dangers of nuclear power in japanese because of it).   

So with french I just decided to just learn by listening and reading... and using LingQ and google translate.   I made it simple and enjoyable.  I never worried about talking because I was only interested in understanding at first.  

Now i cant wait to go to Paris and Versailles and wear my lolita cloths... and get funny looks  but have the time of my life!  If I do go to Paris, we could have a party :)  anyway, happy language studying... 

Macarons and Cards

Yatta!!! �My new cards came today...

They printed out rather well. �

$10 for 100 cards, not bad!!

They also go well with the cute card case skinni sent me!!

Her card cases are awesome!��check it out!

now i need to get the email on the card set up :P

Also, i finished this macaron picture. �What do you think?? �I don't know if i like it!

Macaron and Fruit by ~jyoshikousei16 on deviantART

Julia and SUCCESS

So i finally got around to watching Julie and Juila. � It didn't really come to Japan, like a lot of good movies in the states. � I liked it, quite a bit. � Since I am now officially a france geek, as much as I am a Japan geek, I really liked seeing all the shots of Paris :) �I want to go to Paris and wear lolita:) � well, I want to go to Versailles and wear lolita! � That is my ultimate lolita goal :) �Anybody want to come with me�

Back to the movie, �one thing that i really like was Meryl Streep's performance, it was amazing! I really thought she WAS Julia Child. � I remember watching Julia's cooking show when I was a really really tiny kid! �She was that 'funny ol lady who cooks on TV' � But back then I never realized how great she was, and how much wonderful little tidbits of advice that she had! � �I was so impressed on how well Meyrl was able to portray Julia so perfectly. �She had the voice, the mannerism, the funny little body movements... amazing acting!

The REAL Julia Child

Meyrl Streep as Julia Child

But seeing the story of her life, and her determination to go through cooking school, and doing what she LOVE... and she became americas best loved chef by simply following her heart, doing what she loved to do...

and of course she practiced practiced practiced! � � You see this in the movie too, how hard she practiced. �and she pushed herself too! ��

I think Julia Child really embodies Richard St. John's 8 secrets to success. ��

Success

So if you keep on doing what you love, you will do be successful!!�

Good luck! you can do it!!

Decorations and cleaning tips

So I have been on a decoration trend lately.  I added more ribbons to my princess curtain along my bed... my bed is till not how I want it... there is something else i feel like i need to do before it is done.  I think I need to add another color ribbon... all pink is just too much.  I think some white or ivory ribbon would really help.

but I have had this ugly wire hanging down from the air conditioner outlet since moving into my apartment.  I have my computer connected to this.  But, as we all know, cables and wires are the worst eyesore for ANYY room.  You can have the most beautiful, cleanest room in world, but having a cable in site will cause it to look UGLY.  Cables and wires are the WORST in tearms of clutter.  so you really need to be creative to get rid of them, without getting rido f thiem

Well, I have declared war on CLUTTER because I, as a lolita, am ANTI-CLUTTER in all shapes, forms, what-so-ever.   

I found this great blog today which I am going to really read through!  I think it may have some great tips for keeping our princess rooms... well princessy! 

http://unclutterer.com/

I found a great little suggestion on this blog... and it gave me a great idea to make good use of my ugly eyesore of a cable!  

vola!!

I had the ribbon from when I last went to America.   I got the flower at the 100 yen store... I think I need to finish the rest of this nasty cable, and make something pretty to look at in my room!

Also, I have developed some rules for keeping your room nice and tidy.  THESE are a must.

1) Make your bed everyday.  Your bed is always the most noticeable thing in your room... and if it is unmade, then your room will look terribly messy.  So keep it nice and made

2) Dirty cloths go in the laundry basket immediately, not on the floor.   This is a MUST

3) Do not put anything on the floor which does not belong on the floor... this includes dust and crumbs and so on.  If you can make it for 3 weeks straight without putting anything on the floor that doesn't belong on the floor (or will be cleaned up after use.. I draw on the floor all the time, but then put everything back when I am done)   you will have a clean room for the rest of your life.

3.5) using a simple vacuum everyday is a great way to keep your floors clean.  I just use a small canister vacuum, and it works great!    Dust and hair really piles up fast, and 

4) Sticky notes:  Make them, hurry up finish the task so you can get rid of the note.  As a rule of thumb, you should never keep a sticky note for more than 24-48 hours.   

5)Directional cleaning.  THIS is a good one.   If your room is a total mess and you don't know where to start.   Start on one side and work your way towards a goal (what you really want to be doing)   I always want to be on my computer... so I keep it at the back of my room.  I tell myself I CANT use my computer until I have cleaned up to it.   SO i start on the other end of my room and work my way to my computer.   

5.1)  Top-down cleaning.  Although the effectiveness of top-down management is debatable in the business world, Top-down management is very effective in the cleaning world.  Work you way from the top of your room.. the top of shelves which NEVER get cleaned, and do the floor last.  The floor is cleaned more often than the top of shelves.   A top-down approach assures that your room remains nice and clean!

6) remember, everything you have has a home, and it too likes to go home at night.  You don't like to stay at work and school at night... well objects don't want to stay in their work place at night either.  Make sure everything is home for the night.

7) don't sleep with dirty dishes.   Make sure they are all clean before you go to sleep.  Unlike what my roommate in college used to say, there is absolutely NO need to soak dishes overnight. I have been hand-washing dishes now for over 15 years.  Trust me soaking dishes for 5 min is more than enough to get rid of any grunge off of them.   With hot water, any grunge can come off soon.  The whole idea of soaking dishes over-night is just an expression of our procrastination.

Well, I hope these tips help you make and KEEP your princess rooms nice and pristine!

good luck!