tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16962202945415254612024-02-21T10:17:19.419-05:00Paint the Skies with StarsMachiko: A DreamerMachikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.comBlogger94125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-21530120073402054252016-10-30T16:54:00.000-04:002016-11-20T16:58:33.320-05:00Fancy Lolita Tea Time - Royal York's Champagne Afternoon Tea<div data-canvas-width="426.29999999999995" style="left: 296.855px; text-align: center; top: 128.106px; transform: scaleX(0.867566);">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For
October's Lolita meet we decided to go back to the Royal York's Library
Bar since the majority of the group did not attend the previous meet up
there in <a href="http://momoiro-machiko.blogspot.ca/2016/04/fancy-lolita-tea-time-royal-york.html">April</a>. I found my previous experience there was very enjoyable and their accommodations were very good. </span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 17pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">While
looking up the Library Bar's information to make the reservation, I
noticed that October and November had a special featured 'Royal' menu to
celebrate the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's visit to Canada this year. Below is the menu~</span></span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5677/30838613451_b7c1efe72b.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5677/30838613451_b7c1efe72b.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Royal York's Library Bar</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In celebration of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's visit to Canada, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will launch a special<i> A Royal Champagne Afternoon Tea</i> series for the months of <b>October </b>and <b>November</b>.
In collaboration with Chef Darren McGrady of Eating Royally, visitors
to select Fairmont locations, including Fairmont Royal York, will have
the opportunity to experience a menu fit for a Queen, including
favourites of Prince William and the reigning monarch </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Royal Afternoon Tea</span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="166.98116666666667" style="left: 426.511px; top: 216.048px; transform: scaleX(0.774136);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sandwiches</span></u></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="488.3091666666666" style="left: 268.243px; top: 264.335px; transform: scaleX(1.09658);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Smoked Scottish Salmon Gravadlax with Suèdoise Sauce </span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="218.69549999999998" style="left: 403.043px; top: 290.995px; transform: scaleX(1.11267);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Sage Derby with Tomato </span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="448.88333333333327" style="left: 290.342px; top: 317.656px; transform: scaleX(1.11158);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Coronation Chicken with Mayonnaise Bridge Rolls </span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="564.8608333333332" style="left: 229.967px; top: 344.317px; transform: scaleX(1.11193);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Roast Beef with Golden Beetroot and Horseradish Crème Fraîche </span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="344.5246666666667" style="left: 342.533px; top: 370.978px; transform: scaleX(1.11335);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Potted Shrimp with Warm Melba Toast </span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="104.86083333333332" style="left: 457.572px; top: 397.639px; transform: scaleX(1.10119);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Jam Pennies</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Additional Sandwiches</span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="295.29966666666667" style="left: 362.353px; top: 468.548px; transform: scaleX(0.800867);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u><span style="font-size: x-small;">Selection of Pastries</span></u></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Warm Scones with Clotted Cream and Fraise des Bois Compote</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Vanilla Bean Shortbread</span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="312.5503333333333" style="left: 353.634px; top: 572.643px; transform: scaleX(1.09446);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Raspberry Tartlets with Lemon Cheese</span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="160.47166666666666" style="left: 429.68px; top: 597.649px; transform: scaleX(1.10328);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Earl Grey Fruitcake</span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="186.45" style="left: 416.7px; top: 622.656px; transform: scaleX(1.07806);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Chocolate Biscuit Cake</span></span></span></div>
<div data-canvas-width="184.43333333333334" style="left: 420px; top: 647.663px; transform: scaleX(1.09586);">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Caramel Banana Cake </span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Battenberg Cake</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5519/30838613831_a8dfa2986e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5519/30838613831_a8dfa2986e.jpg" width="132" /></a><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5662/30890622456_cfb4df0445.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5662/30890622456_cfb4df0445.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Some of the savory and sweet items for afternoon tea.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
day that we all met up, because it was an overcast day and the table
was set up in the middle of the room, the lighting was not ideal for
taking pictures. We don't have very many pictures of the food or us in
the restaurant due to the poor lighting. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I
quite liked the savory items in the menu and did not eat too many of
the sweets. Unfortunately, the Royal York forgot my dietary requests
that I initially provided in my e-mails, but our waiter was quite
accommodating and found me some fruits and sorbet to substitute for the
chocolate items. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Since
they lost my request, they also missed my special request to celebrate
my birthday during our afternoon tea. I wasn't that disappointed since I
did not want to make a fuss about it, but their lack of organization
this time around was a bit odd.</span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5827/30838613051_255c723ca9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5827/30838613051_255c723ca9.jpg" width="212" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tour of the hotel</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Part
of the afternoon tea experience at the Royal York comes with a tour and
we all opted to join it, I was more curious to see what new areas we
would see or not see in the tour. This time around we did not visit the
kitchen galleys or the executive suite levels, but got I see more of the
large dining rooms and the ballroom. I didn't know that the film, Red,
was filmed in locations inside the hotel. We also were allowed to go
into the "smallest bar in Toronto", the York Station, that is run by one staff member named Alina. </span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><br />
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our tour guide mentioned that they only do tours of the roof garden during the spring and summer months. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5789/30625238850_15e0b20a85.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5789/30625238850_15e0b20a85.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5640/30625246720_9c6ea7f5b1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5640/30625246720_9c6ea7f5b1.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Overall,
it was a good experience at the Royal York. I prefer the standard
afternoon tea menu rather than this special one since I found that all
the desserts tasted very similar and sweet. There were some mishaps with
the dietary requests and the restaurant lighting but the food was still
very delicious and they provided great hospitality. For future
reference, I will have to email them a few days prior to confirm my
reservation and any special requests so that this does not happen
again. </span></span></div>
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</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For this month's Lolita meet, I wore Alice and the Pirates' End of Immortal Eden.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5729/30838612211_2f7d6f6486.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5729/30838612211_2f7d6f6486.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">All photos are courtesy of Kimi. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Until next time, </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">stay fancy!</span></span></div>
Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-20447904013369518162016-10-25T22:48:00.001-04:002016-10-25T22:48:52.354-04:00Lolita Closet - Metamorphose's Fancy Egg High Waist Pinafore JSK<div style="text-align: center;">
This week's post, let us look at Metmorphose's Fancy Egg in the high waist pinafore version in pea green. The third post I have for the Fancy Egg print, this dress belongs to my friend, Keiko, who asked me to keep an eye out for it and to buy it if it ever popped up on the second hand market. It is her grail dress and she been obsessed with it every since the print was originally released, so for awhile I would check for this dress. Only lately, I have spent a lot of time looking for this dress and eventually I found it in this version and it came with the matching headpiece!</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8435/29188364090_3ac4ce76d3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8435/29188364090_3ac4ce76d3.jpg" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Metamorphose Fancy Egg in pea green</td></tr>
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The pea green color was definitely one of the more unique colors in the original colorway options and I was surprised that it was a bit more muted in life and not as bright. It is definitely not a mint green, but leans more towards a more earthy tone of green. It might be hard to tell since my carpet is pink, but it is a very lovely shade of a soft green. <br /><br />The dress has an empire waist cut and the main part of the bodice is embellished with diamond shaped trim and satin and grosgrain ribbon on the center panel. </div>
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<a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8580/29188890330_5839130b56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8580/29188890330_5839130b56.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8226/29397775541_671799958e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8226/29397775541_671799958e.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bodice details</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
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You can see the different types of trim and lace that decorate the bodice and it is all dyed perfectly to match the green colorway. The skirt is gathered into the empire waist and can accommodate a medium sized petticoat. The dress has a side zipper to help you get into the dress. Keiko told me, it is quite comfortable and because it is high waist dress, you don't feel constricted when you eat.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8084/29368820432_44f485d314.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8084/29368820432_44f485d314.jpg" width="295" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of the dress</td></tr>
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</div>
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The dresses in this series do not have fancy buttons for the shoulder straps, and it one of those things I wish they could have spent a bit more time on since I think any kind of shank button or even a fabric covered button would have worked better than the plastic one they chose. <br /><br />The back panel features a quarter panel of shirring, and you can lace up the back with satin ribbon. I noticed that this dress did not have waist ties, which is a bit more unusual and uncommon for a lot of lolita dresses. I would say a majority of dresses in my collection come with waist ties. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Details</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Once again, the print is beautiful in any of the colorways and I think the pea green brings out more of the gold details from the print. You can see the subtle lace print on the border and the hem is finished with the green pea fabric. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7549/28852828054_ee321d7a3c_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7549/28852828054_ee321d7a3c_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mini-hat!</td></tr>
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When I found this dress, it came with the hat headpiece that none of my friends knew about! I knew it existed but I preferred the barrette or the bonnet over the hat head piece. It's actually really cute in life, since the hat is stuffed and is very soft and light weight. There is a hair comb on the underside and the two ribbons are sewn on the side. The ribbon on the hair is removable so you can use that instead as a hair piece instead of the hat. The ribbon is made from chiffon and has a small cameo decoration on it made from plastic.<br />
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I might take a break from this print and move on to other things in my closet for future posts for now. I do have the black colorway of this print, so that definitely will come up later on!<br /><br />
I hope you enjoyed looking at Fancy Egg with me and until next time, <br />Stay fancy!<br />
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-35788615399893752562016-10-11T22:06:00.000-04:002016-10-25T22:02:06.964-04:00Lolita Closet - Metamorphose's Fancy Egg Tuck Pleated Pinafore JSK<div style="text-align: center;">
Let's explore and examine one of my favorite prints in my closet, Metamorphose's Fancy Egg, also known as Egg Art. This version is the Tuck Pleated Pinafore JSK in medium length. Ever since this print was released in 2012, I knew I had to have it. Initially I bought the ice blue skirt directly from Meta, which I <a href="http://momoiro-machiko.blogspot.ca/2013/03/lolita-closet-metamorphose-fancy-egg_19.html">blogged</a> about awhile ago. Over the years I've slowly accumulated the rest of the colorways and at some point, all the colors were in my closet. Meta recently re-released Fancy Egg in some new designs and included a red colorway. I still prefer the original colors rather than the new ones. Let's look at the original pink colorway in the pleated pinafore design!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meta's Fancy Egg</td></tr>
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I acquired the pink version of the pinafore JSK with the barette as a set. Initially I wasn't sure if I would like the color, since I normally do not gravitate to pink lolita dresses. However, the price was really appropriate and it was a deal that I could not pass up. I also thought it would be a nice piece to add to my Fancy Egg collection since I had already owned an item in the blue and black colorways. The silhouette is quite lovely and I have to admit that the medium length makes it even more elegant than I imagined.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Front and back detailing</span><br />
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The bodice has a yoke that includes pleated chiffon detailing and two brooches that are removable; one small bow and the other is a lace cutout with a "M" emblem placed on some satin ribbon. The overall print is designed with a harlequin motif and is more subtle with the pink colorway. The skirt is pleated rather than gathered at the waistband and the waist tie is made from chiffon. Although the chiffon gives a lovely airy effect, without any interfacing, it does not maintain a bow shape that you would normally have with waist ties made from cotton.<br />
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The back has a quarter panel of shirring and features lace up button holes with pink satin ribbon. There is also an invisible zipper on the side for you to use to get into the dress. I was not particularly fond of the buttons they used for the shoulder straps and in time I might replace them with pink or gold buttons. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back</td></tr>
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This dress falls right below my knees when I wear it and I really like that I don't have to roll up my petticoat because it's not short on me. The pleated chiffon hem is really fun to walk around in since it shifts constantly with your steps. The fabric is made of a lightweight cotton so it's a great choice for summer or hotter days. You have to be careful not to snag any of the chiffon pieces on anything since it pulls quite easily. The inside of the dress is lined with pink polyester lining.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Details of the print</td></tr>
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The main reason I love this print is the Faberge eggs and all the fascinating details in the print. It's so much more magical to see in life and I constantly talk about and show my friends this print all the time. There are so many hidden gems in the print and I always find something new when I wear it. </div>
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I recall wearing this dress and some ladies saw me walking down the street and they stopped and stared a bit, and hid around the corner just to see me walk by. I thought it was quite cute and they stopped me to say that they loved my dress and had not seen this fashion before in Toronto. </div>
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I hope to wear this dress more often in the future. I was not deterred by the pink color and I definitely love the design of this dress. If I manage to find this dress in a different colorway, I might end up adding it to my collection.</div>
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Until next time!<br />
Stay fancy!</div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-59475755486463071262016-08-23T11:33:00.000-04:002016-09-05T12:11:26.748-04:00Fancy Lolita Tea Time - Ritz Carlton<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This month's meet was pretty exciting, since we finally managed to get the majority of the group to have afternoon tea at the <a href="http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/canada/toronto/dining/afternoon-tea">DEQ restaurant</a> located inside the Ritz Carlton hotel. I had to book quite early in advance to secure the booking for a party of 11. They were very accommodating with my requests as I initially booked for 8 people but asked if we could change it to 11 people about 2 weeks prior to the date. I think partially because the manager e-mailed me asking me if I could change our reservation time from 12pm to 2pm because there was a private event happening and they could not set up in time for afternoon tea. If anything, it worked out for most of us, as it gave us more time to get ready!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6jTVoz2khWsO8uDTLtzc3WvRnAHSU_hquflLzzdKJmYS0JrOKMN6razLS7FNz1EeGJUDLqHuYy5JODE3M8ZvBRglTr1fiFx_MJCwZEhO9AjreiV2eY856SlaObPQhF7fpboS7-QAeTbZ/s1600/ritz-carlton-toronto-afternoon-tea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6jTVoz2khWsO8uDTLtzc3WvRnAHSU_hquflLzzdKJmYS0JrOKMN6razLS7FNz1EeGJUDLqHuYy5JODE3M8ZvBRglTr1fiFx_MJCwZEhO9AjreiV2eY856SlaObPQhF7fpboS7-QAeTbZ/s320/ritz-carlton-toronto-afternoon-tea.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Photo credit: Ritz Carlton</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The nice thing about the Ritz is that their afternoon tea menu changes every month or two. The theme for the month of August was Japanese high tea. I know previously in May, it was maple themed and I just saw that for September and October, it's a Gatsby themed tea set. It's nice that you can return and have something unique every time you go. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This was our menu for our experience at the Ritz. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">YUZU CURED SALMON<br /> Wasabi mayo, pickled radish, romaine, flaky croissant</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> CRAB SALAD BOUCHE<br /> Pineapple, cucumber, mirin cured raisins, micro greens</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> TONKATSU SLIDER<br /> Panko crusted chicken, candied plum relish, avocado, citrus mayo, sesame sliders</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> GRILLED FLATBREAD<br /> Roasted red peppers, spiced Japanese eggplant, crispy shallots</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Broccoli and cheddar quiche</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Pistachio Strawberry shortcake<br /> Yuzu lemon tart<br /> Matcha sables<br /> Mango crème choux<br /> Sweet plum pound cake<br /> Freshly Baked Raisin Scones<br /> Devonshire cream<br /> Preserves</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Tea or Coffee</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Our group had a nice alcove to ourselves in the restaurant and there was a fireplace where we were sitting. It provided great ambience but having the warmth of the fire in mid August was a bit odd. I think most of the girls were not deterred by this fact since the air conditioning was abundant and we got lucky with the some cooler weather that day. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8355/29230040755_2d31499826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8355/29230040755_2d31499826.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tea selection</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Ritz serves Sloane tea for their tea sets and if I recall correctly, they had swapped out a Darjeeling for a Japanese Sencha for the month since it was more appropriate for the theme. Sloane tea is a <span style="font-family: inherit;">Toronto based tea company and it's nice to know that they're supporting local businesses.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There was no time limit to our seating at the Ritz, it seemed that they normally allotted 3 hours for each seating, but they never mentioned a time limit to me when I made the reservation and there was never a sense that they wanted to rush us.</span></div>
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Each person was given their one pot of tea and the table was covered in
teapots. Be mindful that the teapots are quite large and heavy. The
tables had milk and sugar packets for your tea and a small jars of
honey, jam and Devonshire cream for the scones.</div>
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We were served quiches that were served on a plate and they brought out
the savory items on the tiered stands. It was hard to photograph the
items on the stands and I hoped that they would give us the thinner
frame stand for our food. I noticed that the Ritz has a variety of
stands and some are quite unique looking. The table of two that was near
us had a stand comprised of stacked cubes.</div>
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My favourite savory item was the smoked salmon croissant with the wasabi mayo. I wish I could have eaten more! A lot of locations in the United Kingdom offer refills of savory or sweet items, however it doesn't seem to be commonplace here in Toronto. I would have ate more of those croissants and taken home some of my sweet items.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweets time!</td></tr>
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They served the dessert tiers after we were done with the savory and
mine was brought out on a separate plate for my chocolate allergy
request. There weren't too many differences with mine and the food items that
everyone else had except that the chocolate topping pieces were either
taken away or substituted with fruit.<br />
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One of the things that was brought to my attention was the large amount
of sugar on the matcha cookies, I barely noticed it on mine since there
was not much sugar, but Whitefrosty was scrapping the sugar off and she
had a small mountain on her plate when I looked over.<br />
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I enjoyed the yuzu tart the most and I learned that it was less sweet
compared to the version with the white chocolate topping. My sister said
that she could taste the yuzu better in my tart when I let her try a
bit of mine.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The normal desserts and my special non-chocolate versions of them. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The raisin scones <span style="font-family: inherit;">had a <span style="font-family: inherit;">dense cake </span></span>texture<span style="font-family: inherit;"> to them and were very filling. They weren't very large but eating one was definitely enough to send you into a food coma. I prefer my scones to be fluffy and lighter.</span></span> </span></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Overall I had a really pleasant experience at the Ritz for afternoon
tea. The food was very good and we were provided with excellent service.
They took into consideration all the accommodation requests that I
asked for. I wish that we could have been seated at a normal table rather than the coffee tables that were in our alcove. I found that it was
harder to eat and the couches were too comfortable. I think a few of us
had started to melt into the couches after we finished eating since we
were so full!<br />
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If you're looking to come here with a larger group of 8, it is best to
book at least 3-4 weeks in advance, especially during the summer season.
For a large group you will be sent an email and form to fill out with
your personal and credit card information. It is a disclaimer and also a
contract to advise you if you were to cancel within however many hours
notice how much the Ritz would charge you for cancellation fees. As long
as you contact them prior to that, any cancellation will not incur you
any charges or fees.<br />
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For this meet I wore Metamorphose's Swan Lake.</div>
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Some photos from this post are courtesy of Kimi and Archangeli. Thank you! <br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Until <span style="font-family: inherit;">our next adventure<span style="font-family: inherit;">~</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Stay fancy! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">~*~</span></span></div>
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Bonus: </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That fireplace!</td></tr>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-81208728917229588302016-08-07T15:38:00.000-04:002016-08-15T22:12:32.915-04:00Lolita Closet - Bodyline Nostalgia Waloli Set (L051)<div style="text-align: center;">
One of the more interesting sets I have in my closet is from Bodyline. It was the first Japanese lolita-esque item I ever bought on my first trip to Japan with my family back in 2008. I remember going to Harajuku and seeing Bodyline and thought some of the sets and prints were very cute and affordable. At that point in time, I wanted the set more to wear at a convention and never thought I would start collecting and wearing lolita. This is the Nostalgia Waloli set (L051) that retails for 4999 yen.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waloli set from Bodyline</td></tr>
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I remember going into Bodyline and trying to try on the top in store. After some miscommunication and sign language, I realized that they don't allow customers to try on their clothes in the store. I also realized it was one size, but I remember the shop girl giving me a thumbs up saying it would fit me...haha! </div>
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There's three components to this outfit set. The top, the skirt and the waist piece. I chose this waloli set because I liked the blossom pattern on the fabric and thought it was a nice budget piece. The top is a one size fit and quite loose on me. There are some ties around the waist area on the front panels to secure it in place and to get that 'Y' on the front of the top. The way that the ties are built in, it's impossible to not put it on correctly. The front panels are lined with some black cotton lace and is on the collar as well. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back photo</td></tr>
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The sleeves have fully finished seams, so you can hide some items in them
without anything falling out. I think I put some random things in my
sleeves, like coins or some tissue, when I wore this outfit to a
convention. </div>
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The skirt has an elastic waist and does
not give too much. You could probably replace the elastic if it is too
tight, but it was alright for me. It consists of a black ruffled under
layer and has two asymmetrical cut pieces of the blossom fabric which is
all sewn together at the waist band. <br />
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I could never figure out if I should tuck in the top into the skirt and then place the waist belt on top, but I remember thinking it didn't look quite right, and even on the promotional pictures on Bodyline's site, it had the bottom portion of the top sitting on top of the skirt. I had habit of tucking in the bottom corners of the front panels into the front of my skirt, just to help give some volume to the skirt and visual interest. I don't think it matters that much, considering the fabric really blends in on itself. How you wear it and whether you tuck it in or not is all up to your own preference.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butterfly bow</td></tr>
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The waist bow is pre-constructed and looks more like a butterfly than a
traditional obi bow. It is made of the same black cotton fabric with
interfacing to help reinforce it to keep it's shape. The whole back
panel of the waist belt is shirred, and the way you put it on is with a
zipper fixture on the side. There are two decorative ties that go all
the way around the belt, and are adjustable. </div>
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I was lucky on my trip since I managed to find some cute zori shoes in a shop called Geta-ya in Asakusa. They were out in the front of the store on display for sale and I remember thinking, they might match this outfit! I had to make my own black tabi socks to go with this outfit when I did wear it since I couldn't find any black ones in Japan. <br />
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I hope you thought this blog post was interesting and you liked this feature. It's not a common choice for someone to have a set like this in their lolita closet and it leans more towards a costume piece rather than a fashion piece. However, I still consider it something unique and combines that fusion between tradition and unconventional fashion from Japan. <br />
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Until next time!<br />
Stay fancy!</div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-10075929253060439552016-08-03T15:15:00.002-04:002016-08-03T15:38:17.356-04:00Lolita Closet - Metamorphose Swan Lake OP<div style="text-align: center;">
It has been a very long time since I have updated with a closet post. I was going through my flickr, and I realized I had prepped photos for future closet posts but never got to them. Now that I have more time and a focus for blogging, I'll start posting more items that I've acquired and added to my lolita closet in the past few years. </div>
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Let's go back to one of the first few lolita items I ever purchased, Metamorphose's Swan Lake OP dress in off white. They originally released this series in 2008 and is one of the more iconic Meta prints out there. It's a classic and I'm sad that I don't get to wear this print more often. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Metamorphose Swan Lake</td></tr>
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I originally bought this print when I was on a trip to Japan and unfortunately, the collar that came with the dress was missing when I purchased it. I prefer it without the collar, but it would still be nice to have it to complete the set.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of the front</td></tr>
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There are a lot of details to go over in this dress and it is very versatile. Meta made it so that the sleeves, bows, waist ties were removable on this dress. When the sleeves are attached, they're too short for me, so I prefer to wear it without the sleeves. The dress is made from a soft cotton material and has a quarter-panel of shirring on the back. There is a side zipper to help you to get into the dress. I'm almost 5'7" and this dress is high waisted on me just because of my height. </div>
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There is some lovely gathering designs on the front of the dress that continue in to the back. It features some ruffles made from the fabric of the print and some sea green tulle that is also part of the colour palette that is seen on the trees and castles in the main print.<br />
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The collar and sleeves are white while the rest of the dress is an off-white beige color. It's something I found strange in the overall design, but it's a matter of personal taste. Since the swans are white, it helps add balance to the overall design.</div>
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The overall print has stars, moons, crowns and small carriages featured throughout and the main motif of the print has many swans swimming in the lake and has carriages approaching the lake shore. I love how they carefully cut the the waist ties to show a prominent part of the print as opposed to the side seams on the dress, where they cut off the print where some of the swans were and they didn't make a conscious decision to keep the continuity of the print. The cotton lace on the hem is plain and there is nothing very remarkable about it.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of the dress</td></tr>
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The waist ties are attached by two shank buttons on each side and are a good width to make a full back bow. The dress has a built in layer of thick tulle to add some poof to the bottom of the dress. It helps add some fullness, but I would still wear it with a petticoat underneath. </div>
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This dress is one of my more treasured ones in my closet. It brings back fond memories of my trips to Japan and how it led me into this hobby. There is something so simple and charming about this print and the theme is very romantic. <br />
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I hope you enjoyed this closet feature, until next time!<br />
Stay fancy!</div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-17446019981030865142016-07-17T21:58:00.000-04:002016-07-20T12:27:08.118-04:00Fancy Lolita Tea Time - Butter Avenue<div style="text-align: center;">
July's lolita meet up took place at <a href="https://www.butteravenue.com/products/afternoon-tea">Butter Avenue's</a> Lawrence location. I booked about two weeks in advance for the reservation through their website. The booking slots for afternoon tea go as far as two weeks in advance. Even if you call to ask if you can book for a later date, they still ask you to wait for the date to appear and book through the site. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Picture credit: Butter Avenue</span></td></tr>
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Butter Avenue always provides great service and they promptly respond to any inquiries within a day if you e-mail them. I found that the online bookings were a bit more of a hassle since I had to pre-pay in advance for our group. Any cancellations 24 hours before the date are non-refundable, so I let my group know that if anything changed, to please let me know...or else they would still be on the liable for paying me back. </div>
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We opted to choose the 12pm time slot and this month's meet was a smaller one since not everyone could make it. I was still rather excited to try the afternoon tea here, I had seen pictures and it looked so lovely!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Disclaimer: I have to apologize for the pictures, my phone wasn't cooperating with the lighting >_<;; </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top of the tealist is Houjicha, Genmaicha and Afternoon Picnic</td></tr>
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The tea list is short but I think it's still a decent selection. They
give you the option to have your teas hot or iced, which was really
nice! I had the Marvellous Moon as an iced tea and it was really
refreshing. Everyone had their own little tea pots and excellent
presentation of the teas before the hot water was added. To sweeten your
teas, Butter provides these cute potion bottles of liquid sugar. I
thought it was really cute... even though I opted not to add any sugar
to my tea.</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">My Marvellous Moon tea with fresh strawberry and orange slices and the fancy potion sugar bottle!</span></div>
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They served us our quiches first and this time it was quail egg and smoked ham. It seems every week the sweet and savory options for the tea sets change, my friend Kimi said that it was different from last time she came to Butter for afternoon tea. We were also served an non-alcoholic aperitif that consisted of rose infused lychee jelly and some crumble on the bottom of it. It resembled a fruit parfait without any fruit. They replaced my crumble, since it had chocolate in it, with more lychee jelly. Which was still very delicious! </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Delicious quiche and rose-lychee aperitif.</span><br />
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We were asked which macarons we would like to come with our afternoon tea sets, and they even marked down with macarons didn't have chocolate in them for me. Afterwards we were served our mini brioche buns and our 2-tier stands of sweet and savory items. The brioche buns were served with apricot jam and butter was optional. I loved the savory items, and honestly, I forgot what the french pastry on the stand was called, but it tasted amazing. It was crispy and flaky but very nice cheesy and buttery flavor to it. I wish they had more on the stand!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photos courtesy from Kimi </span> <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">My different desserts on my own 2-tier stand~!</span><br />
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The only difference between my non-chocolate tier and the other ones was that I received 2 mini madeleines glazed with matcha and a mini lemon meringue tart. These items replaced the mini Ciao Bella coconut dessert and the chocolate cubes which were very sweet according to Kimi. They also swapped out the chantilly cream on the mini cassis puff dessert and used an icing glaze instead to secure the blueberry.<br />
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Overall, I had an enjoyable experience at Butter Avenue. I usually like going there to get some desserts occasionally, and if you're looking to try a sampler of some of their usual desserts, afternoon tea is a nice option without filling up on the full size ones. The mini versions of the sweets are adorable and visually very appealing. They also gave us a to-go item to take home after we were done eating, a cruffin! I don't have a picture, but the croissant muffin was quite delicious!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Kimi</td></tr>
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Any food that you don't finish you can take home and each of us had something to take away with us. The pricing is reasonable, more towards the expensive spectrum for afternoon tea. It was $50, and when you book your reservation online, they include taxes and gratuity. Expect to spend around two hours during your seating if all the spaces are booked up. They serve each table or group as all the party members arrive. Our group was the last to be assembled and thus, we were the last table to start our afternoon tea. <br />
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Photos: Kimi<br />
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Unfortunately, we didn't get a proper group photos of ourselves! Amy and Kimi had a cute cat theme with their outfits and Sarcasm-hime's dress was so cute. She made it herself! For this month's meet I wore the pink JSK of Metamorphose's Fancy Egg. <br />
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Until next time!<br />
Stay fancy~<br />
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-15084987476742181642016-06-14T18:46:00.000-04:002016-06-15T11:17:11.963-04:00Fancy Lolita Tea Time - DT Bistro<div style="text-align: center;">
We skipped having a meet in May since Anime North was happening and we had a lot of other things to do with Cafe Delish. By some random occurrence of the lolita gods, this meet up fell on the weekend after I was admitted into the hospital for appendicitis. Of course if it happened to be that weekend, I would've insisted that the other girls follow through with the plans and be fancy for me while I was feeling not so fashionable my in hospital smock. (Although I have to say, they are very comfortable...!)</div>
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I had a week to mostly recover and come to June's summer lolita meet up. It was also to celebrate a belated International Lolita Day (summer edition) which usually falls on the first Saturday of June (the other being in December). This month, I chose for us to go to <a href="http://dtbistro.com/DT_BISTRO/">DT Bistro</a>, located in downtown Toronto along Spadina and Harbord St. I came across it in pictures and was delighted to learn that they also serve afternoon tea on weekends from 2-5pm. </div>
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The interior of the restaurant is very open, lots of natural light streaming in and they had set up our table for afternoon tea beforehand. They also have a brunch/lunch menu that you could order from, but I opted to tell them that our group was coming there for afternoon tea when they called me to confirm the reservation. </div>
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They have a shorter tea list, which sometimes makes it easier to choose what kind of tea you would like. They have afternoon tea options, one being the normal one and the other being deluxe, which includes a DT Bistro special cocktail along with the pot of tea you would get in the normal tea option. </div>
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Our waiter kept mixing up our tea orders and poor Keiko had her pot of tea replaced four times, and I still think it wasn't correct after the fouth try. They also ran out of mint tea for Tenshi, so she had to order camomile instead. Archangeli's genmaicha was missing the gen mai, it just tasted and smelled like regular green tea, with no puffy rice bits, so really she just ordered sencha. Their tea selection has some interesting choices, but I would stick to a tea you're familiar with before they mix it up with something else by accident. Our server was trying to convince me that my jasmine tea was chai when it clearly did not look like or smell like chai tea. You got to stand your ground for your tea especially when you know it's the right pot you have!</div>
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The savory plate was really appetizing, however the cornbread and tomato soup were a bit of an odd edition. There was this amazing braised beef with melted cheese, I would eat a whole plate of those, they were delicious! I was so stuffed I couldn't even eat my scone, not that I did not want to! I just find my stomach capacity to be less after surgery. I'm sure I'll be a food heathen soon enough again!</div>
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Each tier had a slightly different dessert plate on top. I actually forgot to mention I preferred no chocolate...so I just didn't eat any of the chocolate items, except for the fruit tart and one of the macarons.</div>
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DT Bistro has a lot of potential and it's great that they take reservations. Their afternoon tea sets start at $30, which I think is a very reasonable price point. If only they served sugar cubes instead of packs of sugar, it would definitely elevate the experience. They also did not have enough tea pots with infusers for our group, so half of us had tea bags in our pots, a slight detail I took notice of. </div>
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Some of the patrons who were coming in for a drink were very enamored by our group, I think most of them have not seen lolita before? Lots of subtle smiles and curious glances were thrown our way. A lady on the street, rolled down her car window to yell, "You girls look adorable!" while Keiko and I were making our way to the streetcar. Gosh, I love Toronto. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Archangeli</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This was also Naoko's first lolita meet up! I didn't realize that she
was interested in lolita until the month prior. I invited her to come
to this meet up to wear one of her only lolita items she purchased while
in Japan. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Naoko-chan! You're more than welcome to visit Machiko's Lolita Closet Rentals! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Please
don't get any tea or stains on rental items though. You will be subject
to dry cleaning fees and eternal tears from Machiko if stains don't
come out. (>o<;;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I opted to wear something with a high waist so it wouldn't bother the area that had been operated on. I definitely was not able to wear a petticoat. I will have to wear this print again sometime to give it some justice!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">For this meet, I wore Angelic Pretty's Dreaming Macaron. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Until our next meet, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">eat some more scones!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">~*~</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bonus:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Derp lolita?</span></span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-66457058937574372442016-04-30T17:25:00.000-04:002016-06-15T11:01:54.134-04:00Fancy Lolita Tea Time - Royal York<div style="text-align: center;">
This month's meet was a special one, we had a special guest who came back from Japan to see GazettE perform in Toronto in April, and it was decided that we should meet up and have afternoon tea in lolita. Becca is the reason I own Twinkle Journey because many years ago, I saw her dress in Japan and it immediately went on my '<i>need this in my closet</i>' list. </div>
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Becca told us she rarely wears lolita in Japan because she has no one to wear it with...so we told her to bring her lolita gear with her and we would dress up and she could have her first afternoon tea experience. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Library Bar. Photo credit: Royal York</td></tr>
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Initially, I had booked another restaurant for high tea, but it didn't end up working out, so instead, we decided to go to the <a href="http://www.fairmont.com/royal-york-toronto/dining/librarybar/">Library Bar</a> located inside the Fairmont Royal York. I had never set foot inside the Royal York before and the interior and ambience definitely had a lot of history and pride to it. </div>
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They have set times for afternoon tea and they only allotted around one hour and a half for your sitting time in the Library Bar. It is recommended that your party arrives on time because after your afternoon tea experience, the hotel gives complementary tours of the Royal York to add to your experience. The tours are only on weekends and it was definitely a nice touch to our experience there. </div>
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The day prior to our reservation, the Royal York phoned up my sister to confirm the reservation and to ask if anyone had any food allergies. Thankfully she told them of my chocolate allergy and they said they could accommodate that.</div>
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When we got there, we were allowed to check in our coats and were shown our seats. They have a moderately sized tea list, however the selection includes unique and traditional teas.</div>
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They served the sandwiches first and brought the 3-tiered stands. It looked like most of them had been pre-plated and where sitting on the side of the bar area, and when they brought over the stands, they already had 6 portions on the plates. Since there was only 6 of us, my sister and I concluded that they must have forgotten about my allergy, which was fine. I could just eat the items that did not contain chocolate, no problem!<br />
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However, maybe 5 minutes after the servers had set down the stands, one of them came by and to confirm whether one of us had a chocolate allergy, to which I said yes!<br />
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They brought me my own separate afternoon tea set without chocolate. It was fabulous, I had gelato, Royal York's famous coconut macaroons, and a lovely fruit bowl. Definitely very surprised with the selection of sweets they gave me to replace the chocolate confections. </div>
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After we finished our afternoon tea, we went on the tour of the Royal York hotel! They brought us into different ball rooms and the hotel kitchen galley. We also went upstairs to some private conference floors you can rent out for functions. </div>
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The tour was only an hour and afterwards they let you explore the public areas of the hotel by yourself. We took some pictures and then set off for some evening plans. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">These photos are courtesy of Bosu. Thank you~</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Royal York's afternoon tea is $50, however the food was very good and the tour experience really helped make it more memorable and special. They have great service and are very accommodating. If you want to explore a bit of Toronto's history, swing by the Royal York and just walk around the lobby area. There are lots of pictures and plaques of historical moments that are intertwined with the hotel. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">For this month's meet I am wearing Metamorphose's Twinkle Journey as per Becca's request. <3 </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /> Until next time,<br />Drink more tea!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>~*~</div>
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Bonus:<br />
Look at this swan cream puff! </div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-32666470547663315232016-03-21T15:47:00.000-04:002016-06-15T11:03:27.456-04:00Fancy Lolita Tea Time - Yuzu & Macaron Day<div style="text-align: center;">
For this month's meet, the lolita gods were against me in helping me get a location for us to have afternoon tea. I think I called around 6 places and they had no space for us...and I learned from then on that I needed to book these places probably weeks in advance if we were going to try to get a reservation for a group of 6 or more.</div>
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In the end, we decided to go to a Japanese restaurant, <a href="http://yuzunohana.ca/">Yuzu no Hana</a>, to have lunch and then head over to <a href="https://www.butteravenue.com/">Butter Avenue </a>(Queen St. W) for Macaron Day.</div>
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Yuzu has lovely and elegant interior space. I think the workers there were amused that a group of girls in lolita showed up for lunch, but nonetheless, they were very polite and offered great service. I ordered the chirashi and it was lovely.</div>
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Onto the main attraction! Getting those macarons!</div>
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By mid afternoon our main group headed towards Butter Avenue and then Bosu and Yumi met us there in the downstairs seating area. Butter had organized a fabulous line up of 30 new flavours for Macaron day with 30% of the proceeds going to charity. So many flavours to choose from...but I can't eat them all!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Butter Avenue</td></tr>
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Our group managed to hog a nook in the corner in the downstairs seating area and other patrons were kind enough to let us use their empty chairs so that we could sit together and not squish ourselves in the bench seating. I picked up an extra box of macarons for my friend's birthday which was coming up, but my box contained these flavours; Butterscotch Rum, Strawberry Basil, Guava Plum x 2, Toasted Sesame (<span style="font-size: x-small;">which I ate and is not in the picture</span>), and Iron Goddess. </div>
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By far my favourite flavour is guava plum. They had it the year before...and if they bring it back next year, I should just get a whole box of them. I love them!</div>
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We relaxed there with some tea and water for a bit until part of the group had to leave and venture off to different destinations. A few of us decided to go to <a href="https://delysees.com/">Delysees</a> to get some of their donut macarons! They were so cute looking and a bit small compared to a usual macaron, but they were very sweet and hard to eat more than two at once. </div>
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Did you enjoy Macaron Day and head out to get some free macarons? Let me know in the comments or just tell me if you love macarons too! </div>
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At this meet I wore Angelic Pretty's Day Dream Carnival (Twilight set). </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo credit: Bosu</td></tr>
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Until next time!<br />
Stay fancy~!</div>
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~~~</div>
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Bonus:</div>
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I spotted a yellow bird at Prairie Girl cupcakes. I want it... </div>
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So cute and fluffy!! </div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-68703229099832244712016-02-08T12:29:00.000-05:002016-07-03T23:24:01.266-04:00Fancy Lolita Tea Time - AnnVita Tea Room<div style="text-align: center;">
It's been quite time since I've blogged, <span style="font-size: x-small;">my last post being in 2013</span>, but I think it's time that I come back to this in order to record the things that happen in my life. So many things have changed in the past 3 years, so let's get blogging!</div>
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I find with lolita, you have ups and downs. You are passionate for the hobby and then after you're satisfied with your wardrobe, you decide take a break. I took a break and when I came back to it earlier this year, I saw many things I had missed in the past few years. I never stopped loving lolita fashion, but with other things happening in my life, I just didn't have a chance to wear it very often and lolita took a back seat. </div>
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My friend, Whitefrosty, kept suggesting that I organize some meet ups so that we could wear our outfits. Dust off the frills and be fancy! </div>
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It was also a coincidence that one of my other friends, Hiroko, was interested in lolita...but had no lolita items, so I told her to come over and have fun with my wardrobe. I said, "Pick whatever print interests you and I'll dress you up!" </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Previous AnnVita visit with my friend.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My brunch!</td></tr>
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I organized a meet up at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AnnvitaToronto">AnnVita Tea Room</a> since I knew they had a lovely ambience and had some very nice drink selections and offered two types of afternoon tea sets. It was also around the time of Whitefrosty and Keiko's birthdays, so I figured it would be fun to celebrate in lolita.<br />
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I had previously came here on casual dates with my girl friends and with Whitefrosty before. I'll try to find some pictures of the tea room. It's quite lovely. One side has lots of natural light that streams in, which can be harsh on your eyes depending on the time of day and the amount of sunlight, and there is another side near the entrance that is a bit more secluded. For our meet, we were seated behind the entrance wall partition, which provided a bit more privacy for our group.</div>
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When we arrived, they were serving brunch! I was really surprised...(and hungry). So the few of us who were there early decided to order some food while the rest of the group arrived. </div>
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I ordered the classic breakfast set for brunch and it was a generous portion and the price was quite reasonable. (I believe it was around $10-12?) I find with AnnVita, their tea and drink list is quite expensive, but the amount you are served is quite deceiving. The cheapest drink you can order is $11.99 if I recall. It looks like a little amount, but 4-5 cups later, you're bursting! On this occasion, I ordered the rose milk tea. It has lovely hints of rose and a creamy texture to it. It was served with a cute dessert...that none of us could figure out what flavour it was. Guava-mango?</div>
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Their afternoon tea sets are around $40 per person. One is the Victorian tea set and the other is the Jane Austen tea set. A few of us ordered the tea sets to try, but since I had brunch, I opted for an order of scones instead, they're small, but so filling!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Victoria Tea Set</td></tr>
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If you're looking for a place to spend a comfortable afternoon at, AnnVita is a lovely choice. They take reservations and the staff are very friendly. They do not rush you or give you a time limit on your seating. I do prefer their teas and the a la carte menu for scones or biscuits. The tables are small so you have to be careful when moving your plates or pots around while in lolita.<br />
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At this meet, I wore a coordinate featuring Metamorphose's Happy Ending Story. </div>
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This is a first of a small series of group meet ups for tea time and wearing lolita.</div>
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Let's be fancy!</div>
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Until next time <3</div>
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All photos were taken by Archangeli. </div>
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Bonus:</div>
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Welcome to the dark frilly side Hiroko... ;)</div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-65495964992854714712013-04-03T23:33:00.003-04:002013-04-03T23:33:44.707-04:00Juliette - My Volks SDGr Nono<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's about time that I introduce my newest addition to my BJD family! Juliette has appeared in pictures and some of my doll collecting friends have already seen her in person too, but I opted to not introduce her yet since I had not paid her off completely. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Her back story is quite long and holds a special place in my heart. Juliette has special meaning to me and my sister, and she was adopted into my small BJD family with a bit of luck and fate. (^__^)*</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Juliette, a Volks SDGr Nono</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Nono used to belong to <i>D.ark</i> who I had the pleasure of meeting a couple times during a visit to London and in Japan. Although I didn't know her very well, from my first impression she was a lovely person with a kind soul. The stories my sister would share with me when she met up with the doll collectors in London left me inspired because she was such a vital part of her community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was during our trip to Japan in last May (2012), that my sister got the news that D.ark had passed away from her long term illness. It was so shocking and hard to accept because we had just seen her a few days before at the Volks Dolpa. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Her husband, Fransgaard, decided to list her dolls for sale and I never knew her collection was so vast and diverse. I was a bit overwhelmed! My sister helped him one weekend while she was in London to piece together all the components and sets for each doll and showed me the listing for her dolls. I saw Nono and I knew I wanted to adopt her, but her cost would hold me back. It was based on sentimental attachment since it was the first doll I saw D.ark with when I met her and if it was possible, I would want to have her in my doll family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I messaged Fransgaard about her price and told him I would think about it because it was quite a lot of money. I got back to him too late, as there was another buyer interested in Nono and she was sold. I was disappointed but I chalked it up to fate telling me that "<i>It wasn't meant to be.</i>"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A month later I received an e-mail from Fransgaard asking if I was still interested because that buyer flaked and never made a payment. After initially spazzing out in surprise, I agreed to adopt Nono.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> During my trip to London in November, Fransgaard was kind enough to let me pick her up and bring her home while I still had to complete my layaway. (I also went through D.ark's extensive amount of fabric to see if she had anything I could also use. The amount of lace and trim I brought home is a bit shocking (>o<); ) Bringing her home myself had good benefits since I could avoid shipping and customs fees.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I spent a long time trying to come up with a name for Nono. For months, that's what I called her anyways since I had not come to any decision. For some dolls, you just know what to call them when you receive them, while some, it takes a bit longer to that name to appear. In the end, I settled on Juliette, but I will probably still have a habit of calling her Nono. ^__^;</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winter Smile Nono</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I can't do a traditional box opening post for Juliette since I didn't bring her her box with me. The SDGr box was too big for the suitcases we brought to London, so I left it at my cousin's apartment and I'll figure out when to bring it home...in the future. @_@;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Juliette is a Volks Grafitti Girl Winter Smile Nono, she's shorter than a SD16, but taller than a SD13. Her stringing and her joints are quite different from my other smaller dolls, and she can pose a lot better than I thought. Nono comes with high heel feet and optional flat feet. I have not changed her legs since I'm not 100% sure how, and I like that she can wear high heel shoes anyways.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I just changed her into an outfit that coordinates some of her default pieces with other items, so I did not feel like documenting her clothing pieces. We'll use the booklet images instead! Haha.. (>x<;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />I really like her default outfit, it's something I would wear! I love her twin-tail hairstyle since I have a soft spot for pigtails. Also, a couple of my smaller girls have pigtail wigs. The skirt doesn't fit that well along the waist band. I feel like instead of being a curved waist band, they just cut a straight waistband...so it doesn't fit nicely. </span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The ankle warmers are a bit ridiculous, and I've opted to put them on as hair accessories as D.ark had styled her during last year's doll meet. (That meeting was the first time I met D.ark and the first time I saw Nono!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By far, one of the best items of her default wardrobe are her shoes! They're super adorable and cute! My sister also has this same outfit and one day I'll make her dress up one of her dolls to twin with Juliette. Hehe! ( * v * );</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Being my first large scale 1/3 doll, I initially didn't know how to pose her or play with her that well. At some point I'll need to get a stand for her since she does not stand well in her high heeled feet. Having a large resin doll fall over on their face is not ideal at all! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I don't have an extensive wardrobe for her now since I'm trying to save money, I'll have to make some things for her to wear! Or I'll just borrow some items from my sister since she has so many outfits for her Dollfie Dream dolls. (*o*@)! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That's all for now, I'll try to take some more pics and catch up on the rest of my blogging in the next couple months! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Until next time!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">♥</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-28876888685290502612013-03-29T19:31:00.000-04:002013-03-29T19:37:35.332-04:00Lolita Closet: IW Henriette Vest<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I have not blogged about Innocent World at all in my series of Lolita Closet posts. I recently just made a small order from the company, so I'll share my experience with their ordering system and what I bought from them (*o*@)!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Innocent World is one of the few lolita brands that ships world wide and their english website is very easy to navigate and understand. Their shopping cart system is a bit odd, as there isn't one! Every clothing item has a listing on the side of the quantity in stock in their respective colourways. You have to submit an order form with their special item codes and wait for the company to either reply to you, or be invoiced by paypal for your purchase. My normal e-mail and my paypal e-mail are not the same, so I did not notice I got invoiced until almost a week after! (>_<;) Oops..! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Those who know me, have known of my long outstanding quest to find a nice vest to go with my everyday clothing and for lolita. I could not find anything when I was shopping at the mall and a lot of the regular priced vests that I like from Alice and the Pirates are just too hefty on my wallet! Fortunately, IW was having a sale and I saw this vest...and decided to buy it. It was still expensive in retrospect, but I don't regret getting it!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Keiko was over one day, so I asked her for her opinion about the vest and she told me to buy it if I liked it because she knew how frustrated I was about finding a vest. While she was looking at their site, I asked her if anything caught her interest and I'd get it for her birthday (^_^;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The smaller package is hers, while the bigger one is mine. I asked Innocent World to gift wrap her item and they wrapped them both! Haha..! The packages came with a hand written note thanking me and hoping I would like the goods. I rather like how simplistic it is and makes it feel more personal, and the stationary is beautiful!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> They definitely don't go overboard, like how BtSSB or AatP gift wraps their items, but I still appreciate it. I think I'm picking too much of my mom's taste lately, because I really like the floral print of the wrapping paper they used to 'blind package' the items!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8523/8600744873_6143447844_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8523/8600744873_6143447844_o.jpg" width="274" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Henriette Vest</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This vest came in three colourways; navy, brown, and black. I chose black because it coordinates well with a lot of items in my wardrobe. (<span style="font-size: x-small;">I apologize if the lighting in the picture is off, when I uploaded them on flickr, it just made all the images darker! Bah! Plus the lighting is all over the place<span style="font-size: x-small;"> >_<;;</span></span>) The vest is very simple, there are three non-removable bows in the front and is a round neck vest. Initially I was not sure where the closures were, but their is a zipper on the side seam. Putting it on is a bit odd because you have to pull it over your head and then zip it closed. Not the conventional way to put on a vest...but it does not bother me too much. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8250/8600744807_26d6830cb6_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8250/8600744807_26d6830cb6_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Details</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They used a simple rose lace along the collar and princess seams. I wish they placed the top bow a bit lower because it's covered by the lace. If I feel like it, maybe I'll move the bows one day.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8380/8600744761_76dbe8ce22_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8380/8600744761_76dbe8ce22_o.jpg" width="268" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Back</span></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8373/8601844892_ed9d5bd8a6_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8373/8601844892_ed9d5bd8a6_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Removable ruffle</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The back is very simple, not too many details to talk about. The tail ruffle is removable, and I bought it because I thought it was cute and would look nice with a skirt. There is no shirring on this vest, however the measurements on Innocent World's site are quite accurate and it fits me very well. I find it rather flattering and hopefully I'll get a chance to wear it this weekend!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8374/8600824825_f0bd0f933d_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8374/8600824825_f0bd0f933d_o.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Little Birds Cameo Ribbon Clip</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My experience with Innocent World was a positive one. Their customer service is great and they do respond to you quite quickly if you send them inquiries. I e-mailed them back informing that I had received the package and thanking them, they were sweet enough to say that in the future if I needed anything gift wrapped again, to give them the names of the recipients so they could include personalized notes in their packages. (*o*)! How sweet is that...! ♥</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">~~~</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If any of you are wondering what I ordered for Keiko, I got her this barette. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I obviously don't have pictures of it since it was her birthday gift and it would not make sense for me to open her package! I did see it when she opened it and it is very beautiful...and she can wear it anytime too!<br /><br />So, until next time!<br />♥</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-26813040764036939132013-03-19T22:37:00.005-04:002013-03-19T22:37:43.687-04:00Lolita Closet: Metamorphose Fancy Egg<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ever since
Metamorphose announced their Fancy Egg collection, I was obsessed. There
something about the print that I loved but at that point I didn't have
the money to be ordering anything from Metamorphose, so Fancy Egg ended up on my wish list. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The pics for this post were a bit dark since I was loosing light, so I apologize for that!</span>)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8100/8560490923_aa1701b49c_z.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8100/8560490923_aa1701b49c_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another Metamorphose order!</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">However, in February while perusing their website, I noticed that they
still had the shirred version of the skirt in pink and blue! From what I
knew before, they only had pink left, so I chalked it up to being
unfortunate. After I discovered that blue was still in stock, I went
ahead and bought the skirt along with the matching diamond print socks!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Metamorphose was
having their Spring Fair and were offering a cute notebook to be
included in orders that exceeded a certain amount of yen. Along with the
notebook, I also received a paper Metamorphose bag! I usually get the
hot pink plastic bag, so this was a pleasant surprise, but it was a bit
dented from the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1696220294541525461" id="_GPLITA_0" title="Click to Continue > by CouponDropDown">shipping</a> process.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8524/8561599132_52791f91a8_z.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8524/8561599132_52791f91a8_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Spring Fair notebook!</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The notebook has
Fancy Bunny as the cover, which was another release Meta had in Jan/Feb
for their Crown Label collection. It's cute and I'm not sure when or if
I'll use it because I have so many other notebooks that I have to use!</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8103/8560491037_9183ab0465_z.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8103/8560491037_9183ab0465_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fancy Egg OTK socks</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The over the knee
socks have the blue diamond print that runs the length of the socks and
at the bottom you see the lovely Metamorphose swan 'egg' and logo. The
design has some gold threads woven into it so it glimmers a bit at
certain angles. I thought it was funny because they called these socks
"Pale Pink" when the only pink on the socks is isolated on the eggs. The
socks are white and blue. . . Metamorphose, sometimes I don't
understand you! Haha! </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Thankfully I could read the Japanese and it said light pink and ice blue...)</span> </span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8376/8560490999_b5cb74d4b9_z.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8376/8560490999_b5cb74d4b9_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fancy Egg Mini Skirt</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The skirt and
print were exactly what I expected and the print really exceeded my
expectations. This is the "ice blue" colorway and I also thought the
green colorway was beautiful too, but I preferred blue in the beginning
when the collection went up for reserve. This is the "Mini skirt"
version. They had another skirt but the waist band was not shirred at
all. The waistband it fully shirred for the mini and stretches very
wide. It is lined with light blue polyester lining and the fabric is a
medium weight cotton material. The lace is gold and more subtle and fine
than some of the other skirts that I own. I like how it's understated
and allows the print to shine more!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8371/8561599066_2c134986d9_z.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8371/8561599066_2c134986d9_z.jpg" width="283" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fancy Egg details</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Faberge eggs
and motifs in the design are so lovely. There are swans incorporated
into the eggs and lots of intricate details with the gems and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1696220294541525461" id="_GPLITA_3" title="Click to Continue > by CouponDropDown">jewelry</a>
pieces. The top portion of the skirt has the harlequin diamond print
motif (not shown in the picture above) and the bottom has a subtle print
of swan lace for the hem.</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8530/8560490885_1faba7f779_z.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8530/8560490885_1faba7f779_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A carriage egg! >_<!</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I noticed on a
small jewelry case there was a unicorn! How cunning of Metamorphose to
add that in since it's one of their trademarks besides their swans! I
especially love the jeweled teddy bear and that carriage egg.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm really happy that I decided to purchase
this skirt and even though I still feel I would like to get a JSK of
this design, I can settle on having this skirt! I can't wait to wear it!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Until next time!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">♥</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-11940839689197065432013-03-17T18:26:00.003-04:002013-03-21T23:35:47.322-04:00Lolita Closet: AP Wonder Story Round JSK<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's been awhile since my last post! I must apologize for that since I began a transition between jobs and what not. I also didn't feel like blogging too much since some posts take awhile to type up. I digress and today we'll look at Angelic Pretty's Wonder Story Dress! The 'Round' version of the jumper skirt!</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7277/8162333546_ee674f1d85_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7277/8162333546_ee674f1d85_z.jpg" width="276" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">AP Wonder Story Round JSK</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This dress isn't part of my own personal collection, rather it is a gift that I purchased for one of my closest friends as a belated birthday present. (My sister chipped in too!) We're both pretty hard to shop for..so I gave her an IOU when her birthday passed because I had not come to any kind of decision to what to get her. While we were in Japan last year in May, I saw this for sale and my eyes bugged out from their sockets. I just knew it was hers! </span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7262/8162310985_e8fbf4bc17_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7262/8162310985_e8fbf4bc17_o.jpg" width="242" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bodice Details</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The fabric has a heavy weight to it and is quite soft. I was quite surprised of the print, because it is really crisp despite being printed on gabardine fabric. There are many details on this dress and I regret not spending more time to stare at it more closely! I love how they took the time to have the "A" centered on the waist bow and the lace used on this dress is gorgeous. It's dyed perfectly to match the saxon blue. </span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7131/8162348876_d819e910bd_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7131/8162348876_d819e910bd_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Custom Lace!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I especially loved the lace on the hem of this dress! The teacups with the AP design is just too much for my lolita heart to comprehend. I thought it was so amazing!</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/8162357030_60730bb214_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/8162357030_60730bb214_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wonder Story print</span></td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I apologize for the odd quality of the photo (>_<;). My camera isn't that great and the twill lines on the gabardine messed up the overall quality of the photo...but you get an idea of the print! I love the Alice in Wonderland theme (which is quite prevalent in a lot of lolita designs) and all the cute details really make the design cohesive. The text on the pages of the book were almost legible, and from what I recall, it was an excerpt of Alice in Wonderland in French. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I secretly love the falling macarons..it's reminds me of AP's Dreaming Macaron print...</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8480/8162364476_3b9e1d0666_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8480/8162364476_3b9e1d0666_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wonder Story details</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I love how the print has many hidden gems in it. The blue and pink book are titled "Angelic Pretty" and "White Rabbit", respectively. The spines of the other books read, <i>Wonder Party, Wonder Cookie</i>, and <i>Crown Trump</i>, which are other print designs by Angelic Pretty! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The back features a full shirred panel and adjustable shoulder straps. The waist ties are removeable. The dress has some tulle built into the skirt to add some volume and it is lined on the inside. <br /><br />And one of the most interesting surprises I found when I was taking photos of the dress before I gave it to my friend, was that . . . </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This dress has pockets!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is the first dress that I've ever known personally to have side seam pockets! None of my other dresses have them and I'm rather disappointed that they don't! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> My friend loved the dress and she really likes to wear it...which reminds me that we should get together soon for some high tea! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />And that concludes this post about this dress! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Please look forward to my next Lolita Closet posts!<br />♥</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-48044664362365225142013-01-16T22:41:00.002-05:002013-01-16T22:41:43.009-05:00Lolita Closet: AatP Princess JSK Shirred<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My first Alice and the Pirates post, even though it is not my personal Alice dress from my own closet! My sister recently ordered a dress set from Baby's online site and even though she had it for a week, she didn't open it. She knew that I would like to document everything about it, so I ended up taking it home with me one day last week and opened it in my room.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Initially I helped her put the order through on Baby's site because their shopping cart is a bit ridiculous and she could not be bothered to try to read the 'help' page on their site. I have to say, it is a bit nauseating to look at and it helps that I can read some of the Japanese kanji...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you ever order anything from Baby, the wrapping tissue they use is pink, and if you order from Alice and the Pirates, the tissue will be blue. Something cute that I noticed ^__^"</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alice and the Pirates</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They wrapped the dress beautifully and I love the ribbons and stickers...so I added the sticker into my collection. (Haha, I'm such a dork >__<;; ) The package included the plastic and paper shopping bags as well. I love the attention to detail...♥</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">AatP Princess Jumper Skirt</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The JSK is really nice and simple and I quite like the floral print. It looks really busy in the picture for some reason, but when you look at it up close or in person, it is very pretty. The neck ties are not removable but since they are just ribbons, you can just tuck them on the inside of the JSK and it won't create any bulk. The dress is made out of cotton and has a polyester lining.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">AatP Princess JSK front</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The front bows are really cute, but they are not removable for washing, however the ribbon for the corseting is. The trim is nothing extraordinary or custom, but it's simple, neat and adds some visual texture and highlights some of the design lines in the dress. I like how they've used it to accent the hemline and it also matches the headband.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8355/8388730092_ac9f6e2f61_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="315" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8355/8388730092_ac9f6e2f61_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">AatP Princess JSK back</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the reasons my sister purchased this dress was because the back is a fully shirred panel and it stretches quite wide. One of the not forgiving things in the lolita hobby is that not all the dresses are made in different sizes and can be somewhat limiting. (-__-")</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The waist ties are removable and I really like the ruffled tiers on the back of the dress. It's quite adorable and gives the silhouette some extra poof. It's definitely princess-like ^__^"</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8045/8387647827_094068eaed_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8045/8387647827_094068eaed_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The matching headband for this set is quite simple and versatile. You can use it for a lot of other coordinates and it's always nice to have headbands (in my opinion~). The bow has a wired structure so you can shape your bow to your liking and it is made out of cotton. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I really like this dress, when I opened it I was really taken back by how nice the floral print was. I looked nice on the site, but in person, it just really grows on you and it's really lovely. The construction is not as detailed as some other Baby or AatP dresses but I suppose it's because it is a simpler dress. Overall, it's simple and has some lovely elements and I can't wait to see my sister wear it! ^__^</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Until my next closet post!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Take care~!</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-4238826500804130862013-01-04T17:03:00.000-05:002013-01-04T22:26:53.003-05:00Metamorphose Winter Lucky Pack 2013<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Metamorphose recently posted up their sale for Lucky Packs last month! This year, they only had skirt options available (instead of the skirt or JSK options), but they had the choice between a light or dark lucky pack. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Since all lucky pack items are unknown, it's always a matter of luck for which items you will receive, but their picture posts usually give you an idea what will be inside a pack! From this year, I gathered that each pack would have this combination:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Skirt</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Pair of bloomers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Accessories (headbands, barrettes, bracelets or necklaces) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I opted to get the darker version of the pack because the example picture had the Sweets Street skirt which is one of those prints that I had previously obsessed over. However, looking at other people's posts of EGL and the variety of prints they have shipped out, I'm a bit disheartened that I didn't opt to get the light version of the luck pack also! (>__<;) </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8359/8346350061_a99411cf11_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8359/8346350061_a99411cf11_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lucky Pack time!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8095/8347408448_485017a955_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8095/8347408448_485017a955_z.jpg" width="165" /></a> As usual, Meta packages their bags within a bag and included in the package was a thank you note and instructions for how to return the package if there was something defective with it, or an incorrect order.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Unfortunately I got charged with customs for my package and the ransom I had to pay was insane. I pretty much cursed the whole time in my head because the duty was so much. Almost 50% additional for my purchase, so I'm not really happy about that. Plus there's all these ridiculous fees they add on to bring up the price. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Not. Impressed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let's get onto the good stuff! I took a peak inside because I started taking pictures of everything so I knew I had not received Sweets Street, but from the color and print I knew I wasn't disappointed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I received the shirred skirt of the Masquerade Lady print!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8354/8346361811_aab23b0ebf_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8354/8346361811_aab23b0ebf_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Masquerade Lady SK</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8193/8347421544_90287f070c_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8193/8347421544_90287f070c_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Masquerade Lady Bloomers/Drawers</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And to my surprise, I also received matching bloomers for the skirt. I was just expecting plain bloomers from Meta, but this is something different! I don't think I should wear them as bloomers and would look nice with a kodona styled outfit. I'm not really sure what to do with them, but I am amused that I got them in the pack.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Masquerade Lady Print</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since the skirt doesn't include the border design, I think it's a very versatile skirt to pair things with. I don't own too many skirts, but I do enjoy mix and matching them with things in my wardrobe. (Also, they are also very easy to travel with since they don't take up too much space!) The skirt has some lovely soft cotton lace along it's hem and it is lined on the inside. The fabric has a lovely feel and touch to it. You can see the texture that runs along the weft weave of the print in the above picture.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8510/8346381191_51449d6ce4_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8510/8346381191_51449d6ce4_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Shirred Ribbon Frill Blouse</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I'm not sure of the name of this blouse, I just read what was on the tag, but it's a simple normal blouse without too many embellishments. Oddly, I almost wish I had this in white since I don't have any plain white long sleeve lolita blouses. The back has a lot of shirring, so it can span a variety of sizes. It has waist ties at the back and has a modestly sized neck tie (that I personally really like!)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8332/8347457272_2c1f3cfd17_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8332/8347457272_2c1f3cfd17_z.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Heart Bracelet</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My last item I received in my lucky pack was a cute heart bracelet. It has a heart charm and Metamorphose logo charm and when I took it out of the package, I thought if I tweaked it a bit, it would look better as a necklace. . . Hmm... Ideas!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Besides the hideous fees I incurred from customs, I'm rather happy with the items of my lucky pack! I'm glad I didn't decide to get two since the fees would have been an extra burden on my wallet. Because I received the Masquerade Lady drawers instead of plain bloomers, there were no socks or hair accessories includes in my lucky pack to compensate for the price of the drawers. I'm fine with that decision since I have enough bloomers and although I like socks, I rarely wear the brand ones that I own. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you ever decide to get a lucky pack, it's usually worth it and helps you build your lolita closet with some staple items. I paid 10,500 yen for this pack, and the retail price of all these items together was 36,645 yen. So there was a huge savings! (*o*@)'!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Until next time, Metamorphose!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">♥</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-67660633053926970632013-01-02T22:00:00.000-05:002013-01-02T22:00:03.661-05:00Volks Sumika Times ft. Sora<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Volks' Sumika Times blog accepts owner pictures of their Volks dolls and my sister has submitted quite a few of her Dollfie Dreams that have popped up on the blog before. Sora has made a cameo appearance before when I gave him to my sister to bring to the LA Volks showroom to find a new wig for him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They updated this awhile back in November and I'm just getting to blogging it now, but better late than never! Sora got his big feature on the blog during his trip to London. My sister was kind enough to bring him along on one of her business trips and snap shots of him with some iconic buildings and architecture around the city! She was the one who sent in all the pictures to Volks to have him showcased.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://site.volksusa.com/sumikatimes/2012/11/12/customer-gallery-machikos-sora/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8081/8319756829_241bff5ebe_z.jpg" width="280" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://site.volksusa.com/sumikatimes/2012/11/12/customer-gallery-machikos-sora/">Sora, a Volks YoSD Kakeru</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You can check out his feature <a href="http://site.volksusa.com/sumikatimes/2012/11/12/customer-gallery-machikos-sora/">here on this page</a> to see the other pictures and commentary. (^__^;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After Sora appeared on the blog, I brought him to a doll meet the week after and some of the attendees recognized him because of his showcase! I thought that was amusing~!<br />Sora, you're getting lots of love!</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-34635413600068361642012-12-29T23:30:00.000-05:002012-12-29T23:30:00.669-05:00V&A Lolita Exhibit<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last month on my trip to London with my sister, we popped by the Victoria & Albert Museum to check out the Hollywood Costume exhibit. My sister had been waiting two years for this exhibit and some of the costumes we saw were really amazing and it's so different seeing them in life rather than on the movie screen. (My favourite has to be the Dolly Levi gold dress from Hello, Dolly!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There was a 45 min to an hour wait to get into the exhibit, so my sister and I walked around the gift shop and planned to head into the gem room, because we love sparkly things~! However, on our way there my sister got side tracked for some reason while walking by the Japanese antiquities room. I knew that the V&A had a small exhibit dedicated to lolita fashion and how British culture has influenced it, but from what I knew, it was on display from March until August. However, the museum has extended the exhibit until February 2013! So, if you visit the V&A museum before then, you'll see the lolita exhibit in the Japanese section on the main floor! You can't miss it because the displays have pink windows!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Kitty and the Bulldog: Lolita fashion and the influence of Britain</u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Kitty and the Bulldog explores the way in which British fashion –
notably Victoriana, Punk and Gothic – has influenced the development of
Japan’s ‘Lolita’ style, a cult fashion movement whose defining feature
has been its preoccupation with cuteness, or ‘kawaii’. The display
features nine outfits recently bought in Tokyo for the V&A's
permanent collections. - </i><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.vam.ac.uk/</span><u> </u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My camera couldn't make due to the dim lighting in the room and the contrast between my coat at the displays was too great, so the lighting was off! So, I must apologize for the quality of the photos (>_<;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8209/8253221805_a152bde9b9_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8209/8253221805_a152bde9b9_z.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8480/8254297076_33454f89ed_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8480/8254297076_33454f89ed_z.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><u>Left:</u> Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Alice and the Pirates <u>Right</u>: Innocent World</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Examples of Sweet lolita, that venture into classic and a bit of gothic for the AatP dress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I really love the styling they used for all the mannequins. I also noticed that all the wigs used were from Priscilla. Good to know they didn't cap the budget on wigs since Priscilla wigs are quite expensive. I really like that bag on the BtSSB display. . . Oddly it was on the outlet page on Baby's online site, but it was sold out. (-__-;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Left:</u> Moi-Meme-Moitie <u>Right</u>: Putumayo</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'll have to admit I'm not expert on Gothic lolita, but I love looking at Moi Meme Moitie's clothing. There are minute details that you have to see up close that I couldn't capture on film, but the custom lace is gorgeous and the simplicity makes the overall outfit very elegant. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Putumayo! I don't own anything from the brand, but I always like looking at their ads in my Kera magazines. Their branding is geared towards punk lolita. I also like the Hangry & Angry stuffed doll that's part of the styling! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Left:</u> H.Naoto's Sixh. and MINT Neko <u>Right</u>: Mamechiyo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">H.Naoto has so many lines, I can't remember most of them. Apparently the outfit is inspired by Vivienne Westwood and falls into the punk and visual kei category. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mamechiyo has some lovely contemporary works that modernize the kimono. I've known of the designer for awhile since Magic Pony exhibited some of her work many years ago here in Toronto! The description for this display categorized the style as "Japanese Lolita" and is more demure and explores Japanese traditional dress. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm really happy that I got to see this exhibit before it went away. It was purely by accident since I didn't know it was extended. It's just interesting and fun to see a fashion/hobby that you're devoted to in a display at one of the best Art & Design museums in the world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Also, it also brings lolita to a broader audience and hopefully more people see it as a fashion rather than a costume. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">♥ </span></div>
Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-566393754555461862012-12-25T12:00:00.000-05:002012-12-25T23:52:10.184-05:00Happy Holidays!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's been a busy week filled with lots of good times with friends, family and with work squashed into the mix! I hope everyone has been having a lovely day and a safe holiday!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*<span style="color: #cc0000;">Merry</span> <span style="color: #38761d;">Christmas</span> and <span style="color: #bf9000;">Happy New Year</span>*!!</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sora shall share some festive spirit with you all! <br />I hope 2013 will be a great year for everyone, and I hope that I complete some of my goals and resolutions this year too. Here we come, 2013!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To another year filled with lots of good food, lolita fashion, dorkiness, friends, BJD, yellow birds and whatever I missed! Hehe! @(*o*@)!!</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-32852859709995592532012-12-11T23:31:00.002-05:002012-12-13T07:17:06.539-05:00Club Nintendo Gift 2012<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I woke up today and found a small package waiting for me. I wasn't sure what it was since I haven't ordered anything lately. It wasn't until I opened it, I realized what it was! It was my Club Nintendo gift for being a PLatinum member!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The nice thing about Nintendo is that if you join their club and buy their products, almost all of them come with registration codes which earn you points. You can redeem those points for online download games or for some other rewards such as pencil cases, cards, etc. You can get something using 10 points, up until 1200. (On average, a game will probably get you only 30 points).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To reach Gold member status, you need 300 points and to reach Platinum you need 600. @(*o*@)''</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At first, my reaction to the initial gifts did not appeal to me since there were better gifts in previous years. The options were posters or calenders, or you could get some classic games for your DS/3DS/Wii. I just opted to get the playing cards since it was practical (the calendar was also practical, but was a Gold member award, the cards were Platinum only.) From the prototype picture and description it was Super Mario themed playing cards on clear plastic and it looked fancy. However, I have to be honest, I didn't have too much expectation for it. Plus, I submitted my choice in July/August and it didn't arrive until today. The fine print on the site did say that it would arrive before Christmas though. . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After I opened my package and took out the cards, I was really surprised! The metallic print on the plastic is very sharp and has a great sheen to it. The cards are done on clear plastic and the designs have void spaces in the design to accent that fact. My camera had a hard time trying to capture the designs on the back of the cards!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mario, Princess Peach, and Luigi are the King, Queen and Jack, and Bowser is the Joker! I am really amused with these cards and I'm not sure when and if I will use them because I really like them. It kind of defeats the purpose of it being practical, right? >3<;</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All in all, Nintendo, you've impressed me! This gift exceeded my expectations and although it took almost 4 months for it to arrive to my house, it served as an unexpected Christmas gift. It's nice that Nintendo awards it's members for their loyalty though. They don't have to but it is a nice gesture. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Anyone want to play cards with me?</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-91375005594456385132012-12-09T00:00:00.000-05:002012-12-09T15:41:08.790-05:00Macaron Journey - Ladurée in London<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What is a trip to London, England without a trip to a Ladur<span class="st">ée location? It seems to have become a little tradition between my sister and I to visit one of their tea rooms to have our version of high tea or to pick up a box of macarons because I collect their limited edition boxes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A couple years ago, my sister and I went on a macaron pilgrimage while we were in Paris to taste the confections from the<i> "holy trinity of macaron goodness</i>".<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(If you must know, they are Ladur<span class="st">ée, Jean Paul Hevin, and Pierre Herm</span><span class="st">é.) </span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ladur<span class="st">ée at Harrods, London</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="st"> <span style="font-size: small;">Since I have not done a <span style="font-size: small;">macaron post in awhile, <span style="font-size: small;">let's start with <span style="font-size: small;">my favourite! My sister and I always <span style="font-size: small;">rave about Ladur</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="st"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="st">ée and their macarons<span style="font-size: small;">. Nothing in Toronto seems to compare to them and <span style="font-size: small;">some of</span> our friends <span style="font-size: small;">had</span> <span style="font-size: small;">been slightly skeptical of their greatness<span style="font-size: small;">, but they have all been converted by us!<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="st"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="st"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">I initially stum<span style="font-size: small;">bled upon them a few years back when my best friend mentioned she wanted to <span style="font-size: small;">try <span style="font-size: small;">really good macarons. I asked my cousin<span style="font-size: small;">, while I was visiting her in England, where I could find some since I did not know where to get them. She directed me to Ladur</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="st">ée and I've never looked back! (I also brought home a box for my friend, who enjoyed them immensely. (*o*)~</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">My sister and I have tried pretty much every flavour of macaron they make and we make an effort to try out all their new seasonal flavors when we visit a Ladur</span><span class="st">ée shop, be it in Tokyo, London or Paris. Their macarons are flown in from Paris to all over the world. The flavours that my sister and I like are Vanilla, Salted Caramel and Pistachio.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Laduree, Covent Garden</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">I'll make multiple blog posts about the different experiences I've had at Ladur</span><span class="st">ée locations, so we'll just stick to London for this one! There are 4 locations in London that can be visited, each has their own little charm to it. The one located at Harrods and Covent Garden have tea rooms where you can dine and enjoy a cup of tea. I wouldn't recommend sitting at the Burlington Arcade location to drink tea or macarons since they have limited seating outside the store and the overall experience we had was a bit fussy. On this trip, I discovered they opened another location in Cornhill (near Bank station). It is a patisserie and only sells macarons and some of their desserts, but also carries an extensive amount of their souvenir items and official merchandise. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">Le <i>Saint Honoré Rose</i>-Frambois</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">Ladur</span><span class="st">ée - </span>Lanvin collaboration</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">Hands down, my favourite dessert they serve is the </span><span class="st">Le <i>Saint Honoré Rose</i>-Frambois, or as my sister and I call it, the "Rose Puff". I missed out on having this desert while I was in Tokyo, so I had to have two rounds this time in London to make up for the loss! Everything about it is infused with hints of rose and raspberries. Even if you're not a fan of rose flavored things, after eating this, you'll be converted. I converted my sister who never enjoyed anything Rose flavoured and it seems to be the only thing we order now. (^__^;)</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I ♥ Lanvin . . . and macarons!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Macarons for me!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">The fun thing about </span><span class="st">Ladur</span><span class="st">ée is that they always have fun collaborations with well known designers for a limited time. If there was a designer macaron, </span><span class="st">Ladur</span><span class="st">ée would be the one to make it! Their latest collaboration is with French designer, Lanvin. When I saw the promotion pictures for it, I knew I had to collect the box and try the new flavour, bubblegum! I love Lanvin artwork, and the cute illustrations on this box were adorable. My sister and I tried the bubblegum macaron while we were at the Harrods location and unfortunately, it was not one of our favourites. It was very sweet and tasted very similar to Double Bubble bubblegum. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">Some previous collections limited the amount of limited flavors you could get for a special box or you could only get the special macaron by purchasing the box. Since I was not ready to indulge myself with another bubblegum macaron, I filled up my box with Vanilla, Pistachio, Raspberry and Cassis (Black-current) macarons. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">The day I purchased the Lanvin set, the sales associate told me that they were launching new packaging the next day for the holiday season. Since I like collecting the packaging I groaned about, because if it was pretty I would have to get it. I opened their seasonal news letter that was at the cash register and gasped at the pictures of the box and showed my sister. It was horrible because we knew there would be damage to someone's wallet. /(>_<;;)\</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">I have never seen a </span><span class="st">Ladur</span><span class="st">ée box like this one. Officially the collection name for this release is called "Cashmere". The print was inspired by French textiles of the 16th century and features calico patterns. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st"><span class="st">The macarons had a plastic casing to prevent them from jostling around in the box and also has the calico design on it. </span>My sister bought this box set and filled it up with her favourite flavored macarons. Lots of Salted Caramel, Vanilla, Pistachio, Pure Origin Chocolate and Raspberry. She gave me the box to store and to keep (*o*)!! Thank you!! ♥</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">I'm glad that I only get to visit </span><span class="st">Ladur</span><span class="st">ée in specific places because I think a lot of my money would be spent on their confections. They have a new special edition box for each month of the year and I'm sure my wallet would cry! You might be thinking, "<i>What does she do with those boxes?</i>" I actually use them to store small trinkets and things, and one set I use to store sets of shoes for my dolls. I'll document all the boxes I have in a future post!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">I think if there was a </span><span class="st">Ladur</span><span class="st">ée in Toronto, it would loose some of it's luster for me. Part of the charm and excitement of </span><span class="st">Ladur</span><span class="st">ée is that I only get to experience it once a year (maybe..if I'm lucky!) and I enjoy every moment of it because I don't know when the next time I will visit another location. I savour every bite of a macaron, dessert and drop of tea because it's special to me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">However, at the same time, it would be much more convenient to have a location here!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">I just can't win in the end.. (^__^)*</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="st">Until next time </span><span class="st"><span class="st">Ladur</span><span class="st">ée</span>!</span></span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-85901733552497114772012-12-01T15:24:00.003-05:002012-12-02T01:10:22.869-05:00Happy International Lolita Day!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just came back from my trip to London with my sister earlier in the week..so I have more things to blog about. All in due time! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are 2 International Lolita Days every year. One in the spring/summer and the other for autumn/winter. They fall on the first Saturdays of June and December. To commemorate this day, I'll post the coordinate I wore for Hyper Japan Christmas 2012 last weekend! I'm sad that I missed all the lolita fashion events that were on the Sunday, as I went only on Saturday. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I got stopped a lot for pictures since some people thought my sister and I were in costumes. I made it a point when people asked "What costume are you wearing?" to state I was wearing fashion, and not a costume. (^__~)*</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pic credit: Archangeli</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I decided to bring <i>Alice and the Pirates</i>' The End of Immortal Eden with me on our trip. I haven't worn it during any occasion at home, so I figured, why not wear it for Hyper Japan?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since we were staying with my cousin (who owns many shoes and handbags), a sudden revelation hit me to ask me to borrow her handbag because it was a similar color to my dress. She was kind enough to say yes when I asked *o*! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Dress: Alice and the Pirates<br />Headband: Alice and the Pirates<br />Blouse: Bodyline<br />Shoes: Bodyline<br />Jewelry: Betsey Johnson, Off-brand, mix of lot of my personal collection<br />Handbag: Louis Vuitton</span><br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Until my next post! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">See you! ♥</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-64168046495990969882012-11-14T21:00:00.000-05:002012-11-14T21:15:23.805-05:00Super Junior<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The postman woke me up today with a lovely package! A few weeks back, I made a pre-order for <b><i>Super Junior's Boys in City 4 - Paris</i></b> photo book and also ordered their 6th album, <b><i>Sexy, Free & Single</i></b>. It was a birthday present to myself and I had been secretly thinking of getting it when they had announced the photo book earlier on. The photo book was released last week and I got a notice that it shipped on Thursday. Took less than a week to get to me! I was really surprised~!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I ordered through YesAsia since they offered free shipping and somehow it ended up being a lot cheaper than other sites. The cover price of both items were marked up, but it somehow ended up being cheaper because of the free shipping. Other sites killed my shopping cart with their explosive EMS and air mail rates @_@;;!! Although when I received the photo book and album, I realized why the shipping was through the roof! The weight of the books combined were 3.5kg, (about 8 lbs).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I didn't bother taking pictures of the packaging, since it was plain, but the books had 2 layers of bubble-wrap protection and there were no dents or bent corners.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Moving on~~! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Say hello to Sword-bean Shiba! </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">S.J. in the house!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I purposely ordered the Type A version of Sexy, Free & Single after a lot of contemplation. The album was released back in July and I've held off on getting it because I wasn't sure which version I wanted. There were 3 (@__@;;)! They sure know how to take a fan's money since each version had great extras that the other versions didn't have.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Paris photo book was released on Super Junior's 7th anniversary (Nov.6th) and is a collection of photos of all the members on their days off when they weren't performing for their concert; which happened earlier this year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Excuse some of the weird lighting for some of the pictures. I took some pictures during the day time, and others at night at my desk. >_<;</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Let's start with their 6th album! There were 10 random different text color versions of this album, the original is with red text, but I'm quite happy I got the silver one. I was hoping to get silver or gold since it stands out better on the blue background. The album is a hardcover photo book (84 pages) and the main concept for the photos was natural...handsome...flower...boys? (^o^*);; </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I can't quite figure it out, but I do like the concept. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Leeteuk</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yesung</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I think my favourite picture from the photobook is Yesung. He looks completely different and I didn't know it was him when they first released his teaser back in July. Plus...he's rocking out his look! He has branches on his head!! (*o*@;:)!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Leeteuk has a really nice series of photos too. I was really fascinated with his hair accessory and the make up they did for him. Most of all the members look completely different in this album, at first you can't really recognize them easily. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I think the only shots I don't like are Siwon's. The styling make him look like an odd version of John Galliano and it just doesn't do anything for me. (o_o);</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Siwon</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kyuhyun!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The trend with k-pop albums is that they come with collectible photo cards. However, it's all distributed randomly and you don't know who you'll get. I like all the members of Super Junior, although I'm a bit biased towards a couple of them. I have to praise the photo card gods, since I ended up getting Kyuhyun, who is my favourite member in the group!! (*O*)! I had a 10% chance of getting his card so I was super surprised and thrilled when I turned the card over to see it was him! The back of the card has the text, Sexy, Free & Single and Kyuhyun's digitized signature on it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The back is where you can find the CD and it's just a slot in the back where the CD can be pulled out.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Boys in City 4 - Paris</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Onwards to the photo book now! I pre-ordered the normal version which came with an extra postcard book and the poster. The special version came with an extra poster and some other stuff along with a behind the scenes DVD. I only wanted the book, so I opted to go with the normal one. There was an option to get the poster shipped in a tube on another site, but YesAsia wasn't offering that, so that's why I ended up with the folded poster. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">BIC4 Post card book</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'll start with the postcard book! It has 20 different postcards featuring the members individually and as a group and they're perforated so that you can detach them from the book to use as postcards. The back of each card has the corresponding members signature digitally printed. They resolution/print quality is great and they are printed on nice card stock. I don't think I would have the heart to use one!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Boys in City 4 Paris!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The photo book is hardcover and a little bit over 350 pages! The eye candy...!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The inside has many comments from all the members through the pages. I can only read the English parts of the book since my Korean literacy rate is quite non-existent. I think if I got the Japanese version I probably would have been able to read it...!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Candid</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yesung</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The book is separated into 6 parts to highlight the different locations and areas they were photographed at. It's nice to see some of the sights and areas they were at since my sister and I were in Paris a couple years ago. Only minor drawback is that many of the photos have a 'staged' feeling to them, especially if they're indoors, but it doesn't make the photos less appealing. I actually like the odd candid shots when they're not focused on the camera. When they're out and about in the city many of the photos are of them staring off into the distance and it looks like they're absorbing and taking in as much of Paris as they can.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kyuhyun, Eunhyuk and photographer Leeteuk</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There's a series of shots with Kyuhyun, Eunhyuk and Leeteuk, where Leeteuk is being the photographer. The shots are really funny, cute, and oddly amusing since a photographer is taking a picture of them taking pictures of each other. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8065/8186155773_3a898e48a5_c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8065/8186155773_3a898e48a5_c.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So handsome! *o*</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I won't post too many photos of the book itself. That would spoil it for whoever wants to buy it. I know people have already scanned and uploaded a large portion or the whole photobook online already and fans have complained about it; that it ruined the element of surprise for them. I tried to avoid it as much as possible and it worked out well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I'm really happy with this purchase!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Super Junior, Fighting!<br />♥</span></div>
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Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696220294541525461.post-11284158597589304252012-11-10T23:59:00.000-05:002012-11-10T23:59:00.357-05:00Birthday don't stop & October lolita and doll meet!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After I got over my severe cold and stopped being a hermit in the house, Keiko came by to sleep over for my birthday weekend and it ended up being a 3 day affair with cake and fun...which also stretched into the next week! Or maybe it should be that the Cake Doesn't Stop! Seems like I've been eating a lot of cake lately!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fashion week!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Work it!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Keiko actually invited me to go to her friend's bridal fashion show, Paraezo, for Mastercard Fashion Week. It was a nice chance to dress up and bring out the designer bags and shoes! Since I'm not used to wearing heels...I almost died in my shoes, but thankfully I had brought along flats to change into. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The show was beautiful and had some really lovely bridal dresses. The styling was very elegant and the designer had used fresh flowers to create head pieces. I wish I could have taken better pictures, but my camera isn't that great and we were sitting in the back row, so I didn't get a decent shot from the show. (>_<;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since we were all dressed up I asked Keiko if she wanted to walk along Bloor and maybe check out Holt Renfrew. I just wanted to visit the Shu Uemura counter to get some refills for my eyeliner since I had just run out that morning, but it would be fun to see all the shiny expensive stuff...and pretend we can afford it? (*o*-)'</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8474/8133850361_28e388a8b5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8474/8133850361_28e388a8b5.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8133852743_feb9c89974.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8133852743_feb9c89974.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After trying on some shoes and learning about the steep and insane prices of some purses...she asked me if we should eat a snack at the cafe. I didn't even know Holts had a cafe...! We decided to get some drinks and share dessert. Our waiter was super nice and I think, a bit bored since we ended being the only table at the cafe/lounge in the late afternoon. The result was that we have super service. I had a Holts Pumpkin Martini (<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Belevedere Vodka, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin</span>) and Keiko had the Renfrew (<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Belvedere Vodka, strawberries and balsamic finessed with Veuve Cliquot Champagne</span>.) We ordered a Pear Upside Down Cake caramel to share, and it was delicious! The desserts at Holts are fairly priced at $8 each, but their drinks range in prices depending on what you want. I believe their most expensive cocktail is $22. (Pricy!! >_<;)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8329/8133861752_22cf176b21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8329/8133861752_22cf176b21.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Me in Twinkle Journey</span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8465/8134083777_9cc0ce0184.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After going back home and pretty much crashing for the night because we were both tired, we woke up bright and early to get ready for lolita! It was time for our monthly doll meet and it would be the first time that Keiko came along. Since I think it's always fun to dress up in lolita and go to doll meets, Keiko borrowed a waloli outfit from my closet to wear. Even though it was raining a little bit outside, water wasn't going to stop us from wearing lolita!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This month's meet was at March<span class="st">é. It's a nice location to go since there is an extensive amount of seating and every person gets to budget their own meal or drinks. We got there a bit late so a majority of everyone was already there. Oddly enough, besides the long table set up for 12, there was a smaller table to the side with 3 chairs. I kept saying it was discrimination since all the girls in lolita were sitting at the smaller table and we all happened to be resin collectors who brought resin dolls (to a Dollfie Dream/Vinyl doll meet.) LOL It was completely by accident, but it was still funny. ^__^'</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I hope Alice doesn't get mad that I posted a picture of her! (*o*@)!! I really liked her gothic lolita dress. There was a lot of ruffles and lace and I wish I could have looked at it more closely. Keiko is wearing my Bodyline waloli coordinate I got a few years ago. Apparently, she's always wanted to wear waloli, and she got her chance! I decided to wear my Twinkle Journey JSK since I haven't worn it yet. I really so love the design and dress, the unicorn print is gorgeous. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I didn't take too many pictures at this meet, since we spent quite a lot of time socializing with everyone who came. Also, a lot of my pictures didn't turn out well because of the lighting. My camera just couldn't cope with it, so a lot of the pictures turned out very dark. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had quite an extensive amount of girls show up at this meet though! It was really awesome to see all the dolls. There were a few people who came in to sneak pictures of the dolls, which I thought was a bit odd because all they had to do was ask to take a picture. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some of the Dollfie Dream dolls at this month's meet</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since it was a Halloween meet, I dressed up Lareine in a kimono and Sora went as a sheep! Alice had cute matching outfits for Yukio and Myles, a ladybug and bumblebee! And Keiko's Eliza is wearing a lovely classic lolita outfit. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Takoyaki Couple!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alice surprised me by getting me a small birthday/souvenir gift from Osaka, Japan! It's a cute keychain of a octopus (tako) and an octopus ball (takoyaki) that kiss! It's so amusing, I have them smooching on my desk right now. (^__^*)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After the meet ended, we decided to go back to my place for dinner, drinks and cake! Chanel also came by to join in on the cake fest! I picked up my cake the day before and although I paid a pretty steep price for it, it was totally worth it!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pic credit: Archangeli</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Birthday don't stop!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cafe Michi's Matcha Red Bean cake is the best! I think if I could, I would have ate the whole cake by myself, but I think I would have gotten a severe stomach ache. I gave my co-worker a piece since I was talking to her about it and the next day she told me it was so good...she forgot her name when she ate it!! (*o*@)!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My sister and I ended up going to Michi again the next week for some afternoon tea and cake. Their earl grey cake was very good and English trifle was scrumptious! Since my friends from high school were coming over and their birthdays just past in September and October, I got more cake to go! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Back to my birthday weekend! We ended up staying up quite late, mostly because I was spamming Keiko with k-pop variety show programs. Then I showed her AKB0048 and she started to marathon all the episodes into the wee hours of the morning! The end result is that our group has converted another person into a fan of AKB and our cosplay group grows. We just need to make the costumes! (>__<;;)</span><br />
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<a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8466/8133748683_ec9ccb57f5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8466/8133748683_ec9ccb57f5.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8051/8133769794_ac6a582fbb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8051/8133769794_ac6a582fbb.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The weekend concluded with a meal at Shisho Tree Cafe. I have never been before but I have been by it many times because I like to eat ramen at Niwatei (which is next door.) The food is Japanese and Italian fusion, and oddly enough, it works! We shared a dish of okonomiyaki fries and I got myself the okonomiyaki pasta. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thanks to everyone who kept the party going and for making my birthday weekend an awesome one! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">♥</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span>Machikohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10713987648210564849noreply@blogger.com6