Manga I Love ~ Otomen

Hello Lovelies~

 I was recently asked by a reader what my favorite manga was. My automatic response was 'Sailor Moon', as that's my response to most things, but then it struck me that while I love everything about 'Sailor Moon', the Anime, the Movies, the Live Action Series, the Toys, the Music, .... it's not actually my favorite manga.

I read a lot of Shoujo manga. Stories of sweet love and elegant art work. It all started with Fushigi Yuugi. A Wonderful epic of a normal high school girl who is sucked into a book and proclaimed the only one that can save the kingdom from war.

 Time went on, more storied were read, and I fell in Love with Kitchen Princess. A story about a girl who is accepted into a school for the gifted and talented due to her eidetic sense of taste and perfect recreation skills.

 More stories followed, many of which I read over and over because I can't get enough of them, and at the moment, my favourite manga happen to be 'Otomen', by Aya Kanno.

It's a story about a boy named Asuka who is said to be the manliest man, but must hide the fact the he loves knitting, cooking, and other girly habits from the world due to his mother's issues with her husband leaving her.

Asuka falls in love with a girl named Ryo who can't cook or do anything feminine, but is skilled in Judo, Karate, and various manly activities and can no longer hide his girlish heart.

The manga follows their love story as Asuka learns it's ok to be who he is and helps others come out of their solid walls of what gender specific habits should be.

This manga is really worth reading. The art is soft and delicate, but at the same time bold and elegant.

It's so...dreamy.

If that's not enough there is a cute boy who loves makeup, one who loves flowers, an adorable boy who just wants to be more manly, a manga artist, and many, many more!

 While this widely popular Manga was never turned into an Anime, it was turned into a Live Action Show which I Love. It follows the manga pretty well and is very cute.

Behold my 'Otomen' Collection!!!

There are volumes I don't have. The manga actually has 18 volumes released in Japan as of January 2013. Upto volume 16 has been released here in America and the next two volumes aren't scheduled to be available until 2014.

DIY Cute Studded Shorts (Tutorial sort of)

Hello Lovelies~

 I know it's November, but in some parts of the world it's warm and I'm dreaming of warm wind and sunshine. A friend of mine, while doing massive amounts of laundry, for a pair of old shorts and asked if I wanted them.

Free shorts? You Bet!

 Now I've had a bunch of light pink studs I've been holding on to since studding came into fashion, but I had yet to find just the right thing to use them on, until now that is.

Step one ~ Lay out your materials. All you need is what you want to stud and the studs. Super Easy!

Step Two~ Choose your design.

 I went with a heart on one pocket and I played around with designs for the other....

Step Three ~ Push the studs through the fabric of your chosen project and carefully fold over the prongs. This was the hardest part of the whole thing. To fold over the prongs, use something heavy and solid. I used a unopened soda can.

 I don't have pictures of this process because I honestly forgot to take them. But I'm sure Youtube has a few good videos on how to do it.

In the end, this is what I chose. The studding was very hard work, but it was well worth it. It's an adorable look that I feel great when wearing.

I really liked doing this. It was so much fun!

 Thanks for reading!!!

October Inspirations!

Hello Lovelies~

 Over the past week I have been going though some pretty serious stuff in my life. I recently moved into a new place, my laptop's motherboard fried, and I quite my job. Add to that the convention I have coming up next month, and I am a bit frazzled. Sadly, blogging has taken a back seat to my crazy life for a bit, but I'm back and I have a few fun posts all ready to go!

Check back all this week and the following week, as I have a Loli friendly Halloween Costume all put together, a beauty product review, a recipe, and a makeup tutorial all lined up in my blogging que!

  But this post is all about My October Inspirations!

Who doesn't love this movie? I have always been in love with 'The Addams Family', Morticia is a style icon of mine and Wednesday always makes me smile.

Snow falling at night, with just a little bit of light to see each snowflake as it dances down to earth....it's a magical experience.

Tamagotchi!!!! This is the new Tamagotchi ID in pink, it's so cute! A friend of mine has it in purple and now I want one to play with as well.

I wish I were more inspired this month, like by make up or nail polish or something more interesting, but I'm not. It's been crazy and maybe next month will be more inspiring. 

Monster Blood Smoothie

 Hello Lovelies~

  This is my first 'Food Friday' in a good long while, so To celebrate the month, I present to you this 'Monster Blood Smoothie'. It's so good It'll make your hair stand on end! ^_^.

This shake was created by my favorite person right now, Master Shake. He is the manager at my local Village Inn, an Americana restaurant popular in the Midwest. They are famous for their Pies and for that last two months, my good friend has been Shaking It Up with the popular pies and creating a new spin on old favorites.

The 'Monster Blood Smoothie' is made with a piece of Triple Berry Pie, Yogurt, Half a Banana, and a bit of Orange Juice.

 He won't tell me the recipe exactly, but I think I've sussed it out for ya'll ^_~*


Monster Blood Smoothie
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Either 1 piece of Triple Berry Pie filling

   OR (to make it a bit more healthy)

1 handful of Blueberries
1 handful of Blackberries
and
1 handful of Raspberries
A sprinkle of sugar (or any other sweetener you like)

A splash of milk
A scoop of plain yogurt
A splash of Orange juice
Half a Banana

and Blend.

To garnish, four blueberries in the bottom of the glass, pour smoothie in, take a spoon or straw and make designs in the dark streaks from the pie.

Whipped cream on top for a bit more sweetness and add a few more blueberries.


And there you go, a bit vague, but that's as much he's told me!!!!! He is SO devious! Master Shake keeps me coming back. That's for sure.

 Everything is to taste, so I hope you play around and find a tasty concoction that gives you chills this holiday season!

Let me know if you try it out! I'd love to know how you like it!

 Thanks for reading!!! 
 

Gruesome Tooth-some! Welcome to Octomber!

Hello Lovelies~

 Welcome to October and the countdown to Halloween!!!!! This year I want to do one craft and one costume a week to celebrate! I may even throw in a recipe here or there.

This month is a bit hectic for me, personally, so I'm trying to set a blog schedule and Stick With It!.....But ya'll know how good I am at that ...>_>.....yeah....But! In Honor of it being the 1st, I thought I'd kick this month off right with a costume idea!!!

 Macabre Tooth Fairy

This is something I actually really want to do this year.

 Elegy, one of my favorite American Lolita Brands, has come out with a new print depicting Teeth! It's called 'Conncinous Crowns', and it's rather startling at first, but it calls to my inner goth girl who still loves Victorian medical drawings and anatomy sketches.

 

If I get nothing else from this collection, I need this tote. It's so creepy and cool! I must must must have it in my life!!! And for $50, I think I can swing it.

 But this is the outfit I would want to wear as the Macabre Tooth Fairy. Add to it the Tooth Badge and crown....maybe made of teeth.  o.o.... How cool would that be?

A good pair of wings, bloody gauze wrapped around your mouth with small drips trailing down your chin under it, as if all of your teeth had been pulled and you were now collecting teeth from other people to replace them or even out of rage for your teeth being taken, and a pair of lightly bloodied pliers.

 How awesome would that costume be?!

 Anybody already got their costume all planned out? If so, what are you going to be? If not, do you have a dream costume? I'd Love to hear all about them!!!

Thanks for reading!

 Kat


 

Book 10 of 50

Hello Lovelies~

 Right now I am in the middle of a lot of changes, so I don't have access to the net as much as I like. Rather than freak out about it, at night I am reading. I have read five books in the last week. One while in the middle of another. I think I'll be able to review quite a few new books in the coming month if all of these changes persist.

For now, My next book!

I've had this book on my shelf since it came out and finally got around to reading it. I was less than impressed, but got though it anyways.

 'Insatiable' by Meg Cabot, is a typical vampire book with a typical Mary Sue, under the guise of a 'Vampire book with a Twist!'.

The first words on the back of the book are, 'Sick of hearing about vampires? So is Meena Harper.'.

 When I read that I was so excited! I thought, 'Finally! A non vampire, vampire book that won't take itself to seriously.'. The book is written by the woman who wrote 'The Princess Diaries', so I was all ready for an amazing book!

What I read was less than thrilling.

 Sure it started out alright. It turns out that 'Insatiable' is actually the name of the Soap Opera the main character, Meena, is a dialog writer for.

Now I have a not so secret love for Soap Operas, so this was an awesome premise to me. Sadly, her job, which is a Big thing in the beginning, gets put on the back burner and turns into an after thought after....eight chapters or so.


 The main character, Meena, is an honest to god Mary Sue. The Vampire prince fall in love with her practically at first sight, the vampire hunter fall in love with her after fighting with her and continues to show his affection by snipping at her and practically pulling her pig tails. She hates the vampire when she finds out what he is, but continues to sleep with him because she just can't resist him.....

This book was a Hot Mess. And then to top it off, there was a Dragon.

I'm not saying it's didn't have it's funny parts. I'm not saying it wasn't written alright, despite all of the WILD brand dropping, (Think Pretty Little Liars style), and I'm not saying that if you have a free afternoon and nothing better due like....weeding a garden, doesn't have to be yours, or washing you hair for the sixth time that day, then go ahead and give this book a try.

 That's as much as I'll say about it though.

I didn't like it, but others might.

Recommendation : Spend the money on something else, like a manicure or pancakes. Both options with give you more satisfaction with life than this book will. And they don't have sequels. 


























 

LBC : Design an outfit for under $100 ( Official for 2013 )

Hello Lovelies~

 Yes It's true! After much hoping, the LBC has finally decided to do a few of our old posts again! I am so happy to be doing this topic again in an official Carnival capacity.

To celebrate our year anniversary, I decided to do a 'Dark Carnival' themed outfit!

 Let's start out as we mean to continue. This shirt is part of the 'Conncinous Crowns' Collection from the American Lolita Brand, Elegy.

Coming in at $55, it is the most expensive piece of our outfit. I chose this shirt because winter is approaching faster than expected this year and investing in one or two really good, versatile, neutral long sleeved shirts.

My favorite aspect of the shirt is the ruffles around the neck and cuffs. It's such a romantic look that can be mixed into Sweet, Gothic, and Classic outfits very easily.

 What I love most about Elegy as a designer is that she makes all of her clothes in inches! So this shirt can be made all the way up to a 50" bust.

You can order it HERE .

I paired this adorable top with a cute, but plain skirt from Forever 21 Plus. It's a bit shorter than I would normally recommend, but I feel it would look lovely with this top and I just love the peek-a-boo window on the thighs.

At $15.80, the Forget me not skater skirt is a must have for your winter wardrobe.

 Buy it HERE .

Printed tights have been The Thing for the past year and I don't see that trend dissipating any time soon. There is so much fun that can be added to an outfit with printed tights, but I couldn't find a pair I really liked with this outfit that fit my theme, but just when I was going to give up, 'Sock Dreams' made my dreams come true.

One side striped, the other side diamonds, These Harlequin tights are just the thing to add a bit of elegant whimsy to this look.

 Your can buy them HERE for $8.

OR for a look that screams 'Sexy and Classy' I would recommend these tights, also from 'Sock Dreams'.

These are $11, but well worth it! ( I like these more than the Harlequin ones myself. )

 Buy them HERE .

No outfit is complete without something fun in our hair, like the beautiful cherry on top for a fabulous sundae!


This "Gothic Victorian Circus Carnival Burlesque Black and White Striped Hair Clip Fascinator" from Hexotica on Etsy pushes the cost of my outfit over my $100 limit, but is so pretty!!!

It has Drama, Flare, Fun, and is the only thing I found in line with my outfit that wasn't a pair of boring hair bows.

 This hair piece is $38.43 . You can buy it HERE .

Let's Break it down.

Shirt          ~ $55.00
Skirt          ~ $15.80
Tights       ~  $ 8.00
Headdress ~ $38.43
-------------------------
Total            $117.23


So, all together my outfit comes out to $117. 23. Not bad! With the striped tights, this total ends up being $120.23.


 Again, I officially didn't make it under $100....Oh well!

 Thanks so much for reading and I hope you liked the outfit I created. Next week I'll be doing a 'No Price Limit' Gothic Carnival Outfit post, so make sure you come back from that!!

If you liked this post, please check out the other ladies from the LBC who have participated in this week's topic!

Lace a la Mode

The Silent Revival

Jess Cosmic Delight

Her Lumpiness 

Pictures from My Birthday Party!!

Hello Lovelies~

 My birthday was this week and I had a lovely day full of Impressionist art and Dr. Seuss. My favorite artist has always been and always will be Degas. For the first time, I actually got to see a Degas close enough to see the lightening of the upward strokes on his sketches.

Romantic.....Elegant.....soft, but strong....I could've stared at those sketches and paintings for the rest of my life and still not seen enough of them. There were other artists represented there of course, but Degas was the main reason I wanted to see the Exhibit.

 It was amazing to see the what each individual was going though by just the stroke of the brush. The amount of paint used. Even by how many colors used within the composition itself.

I can't say this exhibit changed my life. But I can say that after seeing these amazing works of art, my world out look will never be the same. I hope to keep the lessons I learned from the quite whispers in my heart forever.

 Unfortunately, I can't tell you the secrets the canvases wrote upon my heart. You will simply have to see them for yourself and learn your own truths.

 Friday I held a party as my actual birthday fell of Tuesday and I know very few people who actually want to party and stay up late in the middle of the week.

The day started with my very dear friend coming over to help set up for the party. She wasn't able to stay for long, but I really enjoyed getting to spend time with her.

She made cookies, chocolate doughnuts, and muffins. She even brought cream cheese frosted brownies! They were so yummy!

Mum and I made Cheeseburger balls. But they weren't so 'ball' like. But darn they were SO good!

 I missed pictures of people as they arrived, So I missed out on getting pictures of friends I hadn't seen is nearly forever! I'm sad I didn't but I know I'll have opportunities at another point in time.

(To everyone not shown who attended, I hope you know how much I love you! )

The next pictures are from somewhere in the middle of the night.

Look at this purse!!! I love it SO much!! Tabby, my darling friend above, got it for me and I have now transferred everything from my old purse into it.

Above is Al, she is so much fun and bubbly! I WISH I had gotten a picture of her outfit and her shoes. Oh my lord her shoes were amazing! Purple Suede four inch pumps paired with charcoal grey tights and a simple black sheath dress and black wool jacket with black leather accents. I loved it.

  Here she is modeling a pair of Gendo Ikari glasses I've had for about ever.

She got me the most adorable Teapot and yummy smelling Afternoon Tea blend.

And it was all wrapped in this Gorgeous pink shawl shot through with got thread.

Miss Jenee is the most amazing free spirit I've ever met. She is the one who encourages me to be more bold, even if she doesn't know it.  ^_^

Her hair was done so beautifully. I forgot to ask if her hair band was handmade, but it was very cute.

Below is the best gift!! The bow is not only a hair accessory, but a broach!

And inside was this SUPER cute bracelet she made herself! I love the large crystals. It's such a heavy bracelet, but it rattles and shakes and is so perfect.

Below is the Unforgettable C.J. . He's always the life of a party. He sure did bring something to the gathering!

C.J. Being evil about putting vegetables in Tabby's tea. It is one of my favorite memories!

 The vegetables in the tea happen to be Zucchini, Cucumber, Carrot, and a tomato. The tea itself is Pineapple and Blueberry. ....He said it was good. I didn't try it to find out.

And that was my birthday! I had so much fun and I hope the next year is full of just as much laughter and love.

Thanks for reading and sharing another birthday with me!

 

My Trip : Part 2 of 2

Hello Lovelies~

 Last time we spoke, I was sharing Dinosaurs and Sea Life with you, this time, we'll cover the Hope Diamond Collection and Dinner that night.

 Pure Quartz. It's looks small ish in the picture, but it actually came up to my waist! It was amazing to see and feel. The Energy that radiated off of it made me feel all shivery.

These were the best pictures from my phone of this incredible collection. I'll do another post when I get the pictures from Kelly's camera. Every Piece was.... indescribable to experience.

 The next few pictures are of the Hope Collection's less precious, but equally amazing display.

There was so much to see, I wish I could show ya'll everything! But That would take forever >.>  It really would.

Super cute popcorn machine outside the museum.

Duncan Doughnuts in China Town!  And the Entrance to China Town is below.

 This is sadly the best part of China Town in D.C.

By the time we got home, her family was back from the Boyscout Jamboree, so we all went out to eat. I was told it was a very nice restaurant, so I dressed up!  As it turns out, I was the most dressy of our group, but It was ok. ^_^ I tend to be one of the more Dressed to Impress in a group.

I wore my Black and White Meta dress. The hair style is an amazing feet of awesomeness. It is held together with one boby pin and the two hair sticks you see in front. That's it. It didn't move all night O.O....

As an appetizer we have the most delicious Grilled Bruschetta with a Triple Tomato and Mozzarella salad. It was tossed with a light sprinkle of parsley and a healthy drizzle of thick Balsamic Vinegar. It was so yummy.

 This particular appetizer isn't on the menu and is only served for a few weeks of the year due to the tomatoes only being grown and harvested within a certain window of time. I was so lucky to get to try this!   

For my main dish, I got the Jambalaya Pasta. It had strips of chicken, beef, and large shrimp in it. I added button mushrooms for a bit more texture and oh my lord! Heaven!

Kelly got the Whiskey Barbeque Burger, which was oh so yummy!

And her brother, Chris, got the plank grilled Mahi Mahi with onion straws. The fish was lightly seasoned, so the natural flavor really came through. It was very good.

 Then.....This came out.

Bread Pudding in a White Chocolate cream topped with a Vanilla Bean ice cream and accented with Raspberry sauce made into cute hearts.

 Su cute! So good! Served warm! There was almost a fight over this desert. But we were all so full after dinner that there were only a few fork battles and in the end, we were all satisfied. ^_^

That is the end of Day 2!

Thanks for reading!