Spring Picnic Meetup!

Hello everyone!
This weekend I attended the local lolita group's spring picnic meet up, hosted by my friend Kendall. (I helped!)
It was a really nice meet up and for Kendall and I started at 8:00 the night before. We made up all the sandwiches and cupcakes and whatnot, though Kendall did way more than I did. She even made the bread for the sandwiches! The menu was Vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream icing, turkey and cheese sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, tea, lemonade, and croissants.
The next morning we got up about 7:30 to get ready, put together and what not. Since Kendall is new to lolita she doesn't have any clothes of her own yet so I put together outfits for both of us as well as my sister, Savannah, who attends the meetups as well.
Since it was a picnic I wanted all of our outfits to be springy.

For Kendall I did a more classical outfit since she likes that style and did it with a kind of mori twist to it; layering, ruffles, pearls, brows and natural colors. I was ver pleased with how the outfit turned out.
Boater hat: Taobao
Capelet: Vintage
Top: Offbrand
Skirt: Handmade from egl sales comm
Boats: Offbrand
Jewellry: All offbrand

Savannah is a very no fuss kind of person so I went with a simple coord. I went with my straw bergere hat for her because it shaded the face and was very much springy but since it was a bit more reserved and old fashioned, unlike boaters hats which match just about any age, I picked my red bustleback dress. I also liked the dress because the bright red reminded me of gingham tableclothes. The shoes are my riding boots and I chose them because they're very comfortable and good for the outdoors.

JSK: BTSSB

Blouse: Anna House

Socks: Offrband

Shoes: Offbrand

Hat: Vintage

When I was planning my outfit I knew one thing for certain, I was wearing that mini straw hat. I bought it last year at Frill and though I really like country lolita, I just have a hard time facilitating it. Never the less, I was determined! I took my other country-ish item, my strawberry socks (which were the first pair of lolita socks I ever bought like....4 years ago, and I barely wear them. ;-;), and made an outfit around them. The pink shoes and dress were the basics because they were the majority color, and I used that blouse to tie in the red in the strawberries in the socks. I wish I had more red to tie into the outfit though. :c
Blouse: Offbrand
JSK: AP
Underskirt: Candy Violet
Socks: Secret Shop
Shoes: Golden Pony
Mini hat: Indie brand of unknown origin

Once we were ready, we packed up our apocalyptically well stocked load into my car and headed off to the park to set up! We got there a good 45-50 minutes early and started laying out our food, and place settings. The weather was lovely that day too; We were under the shade, and there was a breeze. Kendall had bought the most perfect place setting for the picnic too! Since we had picnic tables available we set everything out.

The girls started filing in once the time for it to start rolled around. The first one to get there was a new girl named Caroline! We just had a huge influx of lolitas this past month or two, like 9 people. That doesn't sound like much but when there was about 8 people beforehand its a big jump!

Caroline was an absolute sweet heart. She was so quiet and really just a nice person. It was great to meet her! We kept having to remind her she could go and get food and things. She was nervous about getting up!

Then Erin showed up, she was new too! She made her own skirt and was just getting into lolita. She looked super cute.

Then Angel showed up, and she was super adorable. Angel likes to keep herself a little more private so her face is covered in the pictures. Either way she was presh to death.
We all ate our food and then we took pictures, which I've used so far for everyone's pictures but we also took doubles to match everyone's styles up!

The two classic ladies!

Country Bumpkins. >u<

After the gratuitous pictures we all got together for a game of croquet! I own a really lovely cherry wood set and Kendall asked me to bring it along for the meet up. Kendall won last time and she won again this time! Two time champ!! I was doing really well till the end, and then I fell behind. ;_;

Serious business.

It was such a lovely day and a lovely park. You can see the fields behind us.

Then things got intense...

Shockwave!

Face of a Killer. HA!

 Hadoken!

Oops! It's ok guys, there's enough petticoats to go around, I swear!!
Till next time guys! <3

Procrastination, Practicality, or Just Plain Poor {Lolita 52 Challenge}

Source

Hello Hello!! Before I get into today's prompt I just want to point out the updated layout for Monochrome Sparkle!I have moved my about me to its own page after basically destroying it for the sake of reducing side scrolling so go check that out! Learn all about my crazy life.
Anyway, today's prompt is "Why don't I wear lolita more often?", which is as good a question as any. Unfortunately there's not any big important reason. The fact of the matter is I just don't have a big enough closet to wear it any more than I do and even beyond that I just don't have the money to improve and maintain a larger closet for the most part.
I take close care of my pieces either hand washing or dry cleaning them, the latter of which is fairly expensive and while my parents DO help me quite frequently with the fees, almost always in fact, there is pacing to consider. I don't want to bleed my parents dry!
I have about seven jumperskirts and two skirts. That's it. And while I coordinate them very well and with a lot of different items there's not enough to really wear more often than I do, which is fairly often anyway! I dress four times a week at least, so it's not like I'm skipping out most of the time.
On top of that, I have to worry about wearing out my dresses. At which point I should tell the sad and short story of my first brand dress:
I once bought my first jumperskirt from San Francisco's BTSSB store and I loved that dress. Incidentally, it was my only jumperskirt for more than a year and I wore probably once a week! And I wore it into the *ground* by the time I retired it, it was covered in tiny stains, the lace was yellowed, and there were tiny rips along the seams.
The moral of that story is, if you wear a dress too often you basically slowly destroy it, and in an effort to avoid that myself with my current closet I have to take care to not wear my dresses to often.
So in essence, the reason I don't wear lolita more often is I'm not to the point where my closet can facilitate more than what I currently wear.
Till next time!

Why I wear Lolita? {Lolita 52 challenge}

It's just like the title says this time around, why do I wear lolita? I haven't done one of these in a while because I haven't posted in a while.  But that's the prompt, and boy what a loaded question. I've actually thought about this a lot ever since I read a questionnaire a couple years ago about lolita. As soon as I read it I really knew the answer-- so, what is the answer? This answer is a few parts.

Lolita is part of who I am. It represents part of me.

I started lolita at a very young age, around 14, back when I didn't really have an identity for myself. The existential question "Who am I" would have hit deep if I had considered it in between contrived stanzas of poetry and bad deviant art uploads. So, when I found lolita, along with some other things, I felt connected and grew around it and into it. Not so much artificially selecting myself for lolita traits but instead just growing in knowledge and experience relevant to the culture around lolita. Everyone grows up with cultural influences that shape them, people who participate in band, high academics, plantation society. Mine happened to be lolita.

I love the way it looks.

What more can I say? I don't know why, it's just part of me. I adore the look. The supreme girliness and unabashed self appreciation that goes into wearing lolita. I also like the fact that its technically an alt fashion and is really weird and out there.

The community is relatable and connecting.

While the lolita community has a lot of draw backs to it, the drama, the cattiness, it has a good side too. It brings together people from many walks of life and allows me to meet new people. And beyond that I feel like I belong. I fit in somewhere. It's hard to say that because everyone is encouraged to strike out on their own but honestly, people need support, people to relate to. That's what the lolita community does for me. I can ask advice, and talk to people, have things in common with people everywhere from Scandinavia to Japan.

So basically, lolita is just right to me. I didn't think about why when I did it, and now I only think why because I'm asked. It's ineffable and it's my fashion.

Oh geez guys, I AM BEYOND TARDY!

Ahhhhhh, I haven't written in like ever. ;-; I've been really caught up with trying to do ok in school (This princess is one nasty procrastinator) as well as just generally been busy with things. Last weekend I went to my first concert which was a big deal, and I've entered the running for senior class vice president. I try and keep up with my friends and all. Honestly, I haven't even spent enough time on myself! It's a travesty. BUT! But, but, but, next month is May, and that means A. last month of school before summer vacation B. THE MONTH OF MY BIRTHDAY C. the last month before this year's Frill Convention.
For those of you who don't know what Frill is (Or missed my gratuitously long picture post on it) Frill is the first American all lolita convention. Last year was the first one and this year is MUCH MUCH bigger. They've scaled it up to an actual hotel and have a huge amount of things planned compared to last year. I'm very excited to see how it'll grow as I've been following it since day one as best as I could.
This year Frill is June first and second, which means holy frick it is really really close. Heehooheehoo, deep breaths. I'll make a post later about my outfit plans for Frill if you are interested, this post is just a catch up.
Besides Frill, like I mentioned, is my birthday! I'll be 17 (ah, I'm so young) on May 7th. >u< I don't know what I'm doing for it this year; I can't do much because of what I'm planning next year. My mother and I talked about it before my LAST birthday and agreed that I could have a Masquerade ball for my 18th birthday so I'm trying to have really low key birthdays until then so I can spend more money on it! Haha.
I'm also thinking of making my Vice president campaign very....me. So up the glitter, pastels, and cute characters. I figure if I try and be very formal and political about it it wouldn't be an accurate representation of me. But who knows, things may change!
Anyway, this post was just to remind you all I am not, in fact, dead. I'll try to get better about posting. ;_; Boo.
To make this slightly more interesting, here's a couple outfits of mine from the past month or so!

Outfit Rundown:

Skirt- Made by a seamstress I can't remember the name of. :x

Shirt- Sweet loot from my concert attendance
Belt- Offbrand

(Not pictured: shoes and tights- off brand)

Cinnamoroll inspired outfit!

Jumperskirt- Glitter Trump from AP

Blouse- Antonio Milani 

Shoes- Golden Ponies

Tights- offbrand

Hair stuff: assorted lolita etsies

Apron- special commission

Anyway, Talk to you again soon guys!

Lolita Transformation!

Hello hello!
Recently I've been displeased by the lack of lolita content on youtube, partially because I just want to watch so much all the time and I've run out but also because there's just not all that much! So I've resolved to help contribute some (also because I like making content). I've made videos in the past but they were a good long while ago and I really just have not wanted to do any because I didn't have editing capabilities. I do now though and boy do I love it! This is my first new video and it's a classic as far as lolita videos go: A Transformation video.
Enjoy. <3

Off To The Races!

Here in North Florida the changing of the seasons can be indicated by a few things; 1. bipolar leaps in weather (37 low, 79 hi, I'm looking at you) 2. The sudden explosion of Crimson Clover and those tiny little yellow flowers, you know the ones and 3. The Red Hills Horse Trials.
The trials are a prominent event around the area as it leads to international competitions and some years has been a pre-Olympic event. The official site has this to say on the Friday through Sunday event:
"EVENTING is one of the fastest growing equestrian pursuits in the world. Riders of all ages and abilities can compete. Developed from cavalry competitions during the early 1900s, it is the ultimate challenge for horse and rider. It tests their partnership and athletic prowess in three disciplines: the grace and harmony of dressage; the rigors and thrills of cross-country jumping and the power and pageantry of stadium jumping."
&
"Tallahassee--Florida's capital city--is the site of the Red Hills Horse Trials, an annual United States Eventing Association Area III event. Named for the sloping terrain and rich red earth known as the "red hills" of north Florida and South Georgia, the Horse Trials features a challenging cross-country course newly updated and designed for 2013 by Scotland's Hugh Lochore."

I've been going every year since I was very young, first out of a sense culturing by my parents, then by a affinity for horses and events, and now by tradition, appreciation of riding, and the significance of the event....and maybe some half asleep Derby-esque dream of high society. I feel no regret!

The day that I visit is the day the horses run cross country and it's my favorite event without a doubt. Everything is very fast and interesting and the jumps are really wonderful as well as it being in natural terrain so it's a scenic piece as well. There are shops and food vendors as well, however. One particular hat shop visits every year and I love them. I wore one of their pieces this year, in fact. My outfits are always pretty elaborate for the event;

 I've been dressing up for it for a few years, since I've really been able to, on principle as well as geez, its an excuse to dress up. Who wouldn't take that? But that aside, it's a big event and maybe not Derby levels or anything, but its very prominent so I take pride in dressing appropriate for the height of the occasion, even if everyone else is sporting shorts and t-shirts.

Last year was a big deal for me, I had my picture taken and ended up in the city's newspaper! The photographer had approached me because of what I was wearing (I'll give you two guesses), interested in the fact I was so fancy looking, haha. It was so strange, all my friends and family and friends of family were calling me about it or messaging me on Facebook. It was really surreal for just a picture!

The same thing happened this year, though the picture didn't end up in the newspaper, which I don't mind. But I actually had more people take pictures of me. X_X Plus someone interviewed me, and boy did I screw that up. I forgot all my words which is so weird because I usually have no issue talking to people. Ah well, it happens. It was flattering either way.

If you ever are passing by the North Florida area around march you should definitely look into the event and try to attend. Its an experience for sure.
Till next time!!

Bringing back the Sunday Drive

Not a challenge prompt today! I know, shocking. But I have something I experienced that I need to share, and that is the Sunday Drive.
For those of you who don't know, the "Sunday drive" is a concept which was particularly popular in 1950's America in which, on a Sunday, you got into your car in some relatively presentable clothes and just drove through town or the country side. sounds kind of silly doesn't it? But last weekend I got a bad itch to move and see things and that is just what I did. Armed with a cardigan, my keys, and my phone only, I hopped into my car and set out into the roads around my father's house.

Assuming you don't make a point to know all the little details of my life (Even if it is fab) let me explain, my father's house is about 10 minutes out from anything resembling a suburb or town and 30 minutes on the interstate away from a respectably sized one. So, long story short, old houses, dirt roads, and trees abound. Everywhere.
I let my dad know I was going on this drive, to which he offered advice on what roads to take. And I should say, I've lived at this house my whole life, part time after age 6 and I knew the area pretty well but not well enough to be acquainted with all the little roads so I was quite open to his suggestions. After learning his directions, I set off, eager to go somewhere or do something other than surf tumblr.
I gotta say guys, I expected it to be pleasant but it was so much more than that. It was so many things I needed to have the time to do. Let me explain;

It was time to spend alone with my thoughts and with a clear head. Driving occupies your hands and enough of your brain to not be bored but little enough for you to still think naturally.
I turned the radio on scan, stopping it wherever I heard something that I thought interesting. It was a time to do things without any pressure or assurance. You just make decisions based on what you feel like.
I didn't have anywhere to be or anywhere to go. It was cathartic for me to be able to decompress and not rush anywhere or have to hurry around. I could go as slow or fast as I felt like without stressing.
I stopped whenever I saw something I was taken with because it was a back road and had little traffic. A few times I actually pulled over to the side of the road to pick flowers or rabbit's tobacco.
It was really just a time for me to breathe and think and move and not worry about the consequences of any of it. It was freedom for a while.

So what to do with this information?
Go on a Sunday drive yourself. Here are some tips:

• No distractions. If you can leave your phone at home and just take a camera all the better. This is time for you.
• Don't let guilt get you. If you want to pull over on the side of the road to pick some flowers, damn sure do it! Don't let the idea that you shouldn't or other drivers will think you're weird doing it stop you. What does that matter anyway, you're not breaking any laws.
• Don't have a return time. If you set a time to be back home then you'll constantly be concerned with getting back by then, detracting from the experience.
• Have a map or a GPS. This way, you wont be worried about getting lost or having to stay on main roads. Have a fall back on so when you go adventuring it wont matter, because that's an important part of this-- impulse. Follow whatever you feel like, just mind your blinkers.
• Have a way to document. A camera is good, or a camera phone. Don't get to caught up in recording everything though!
• Look for dirt roads and countryside. Driving around town is nice, but it can be a bit restricting. Stop lights, traffic, loud noises. Ditch that and find some back roads with trees and maybe some cows if you're feeling really frisky. No stop signs, little traffic. It's great.
• Dress for the weather. Yes, you're in a car, but don't think you're going to be the entire time. If you find something amazing, get the hell out of the car and investigate! These things are things you shouldn't be missing just because you're "supposed" to be on a drive. This is all about you uninhibited.
• If you want to scream, or beat a tree with a baseball bat, or do cartwheels, do it! This is your time, and no one is going to get you in trouble for doing what you want to (so long as it isn't private, watched property. Ie. You can get away with smashing a tree in a huge forest type area or the back of a field. Not so much in a suburb....well, if it's not your tree)

That's it. Go forth. Drive