Life Update and International Lolita Day rundown!

Hello Lovelies~

 May is gone, June is here, and things have changed once more for me, which is why I disappeared through the month of flowers. I have moved once more and am now living with a good friend of mine and watching her little girl for the summer. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you're sure to see her in the background of some on my pictures. The girl isn't just a Ham, she's the whole Christmas Dinner.

I'm writing again. I joined and RP last year and recently stopped lurking an joined in the fun. Now all of my literary creative juices are flowing and I feel so energized it's kind of crazy. But that might also be because Summer is here and I love summer.

 Swimming, sun, cooking out. What's not to love? This is the perfect season to scale back the layers and bean the rules till they melt in the heat. Casual Lolita is easier to do in the summer and it's even ok to rock the short styled skirt that AP promotes from collection to collection when the print suits.

The Dark Eye Shadow Tutorial I promised is on it's way, along with a Makeup Brush Deco tutorial I promised a lovely reader who asked for it in the Comment Box on the side bar to the right. Though if you comment or ask questions with that, please remember to put the title of the post in there some how. I discovered the hard way that it is a direct link to me, but is an independent widget, thus it isn't connected to the Post at all, but to the Blog itself.

 ^-^; Silly me, but you live and learn.

Yesterday was International Lolita Day! (YAY!!!!) I hope ya'll had fun and did something to celebrate, even if it was just something small like wearing a bow and curling your hair or wearing Mary Janes when you usually wear sneakers or something.

 I happened to be invited to the Zoo though a strange conversation that started off as plans for other people, then morphed into combined plans, then different plans, then just all types of plans were made! But the Zoo plans fell perfectly.

When I got dressed I hadn't planned on rain, but by the time we got to the Zoo it was Pouring! It cleared up later in the day, but still. Rain on ILD.

  It was a good thing I brought one of my parasols. If you ever get a chance to get one, I recommend it. Especially one that can double as an umbrella. They are so useful for zoo trips. 7 hours in and out of the sun and I am not burned any more than I was the day before.

We didn't see everything, our Zoo is huge! But we got a good bit accomplished and even got to ride the carousel! No pictures sadly, my phone died in the middle of the trip, but I did get tons of pictures in the aquarium! FISH!!

 All of those will be a separate post. I took lots of pictures there. ^-^;

And we rode the train around the back half to see even more animals, because I don't think we'd have made it if we'd have been walking with four kids, a stroller and a wagon, each containing a child and food. o.o

 The day was finished off with an early birthday celebration for my lovely roommate. We had Pork Ribs smoked to perfection with mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, grilled Asparagus, and grilled pineapple (of which I only had one small square to try, but didn't eat more so I could avoid my stupid allergy from kicking in, despite the Grilled Pineapple being one of the more delicious things ever!)

I had a blast and it was a wonderful way to celebrate ILD. I now have wonderful new memories and stories to tell.

Now on to my outfit for the day!

I only got Selfies of myself through the day, so this photo was taken later.

Dress: Metamorphose
Socks: Metamorphose
Shoes: Off-Brand but Cute As Hell
Headbow: Metamorphose
Parasol: Metamorphose (Not pictured)

 Yes, this is an outfit you've seen me in before, but It's super comfortable for a day out and about and walking and this time, rather than adding the two Petticoats I usually wear with all of my dresses, I went without it as this dress has a built in petti.

This is an older dress, so it has a traditional Old School feel to it, shape and colors, but I love it. I have a large chest, 50" inches and it could go at least four inches larger. I love Meta dresses for this reason.


I've always had a thing for fish. Aquariums are my favorite attraction of anywhere I go, but after reading and watching 'Princess Jellyfish' I have come to appreciate Jellies all the more. So I took a picture with one!

More Jellyfish pictures later, but for now. Thanks for reading! Follow me on all of my social networking sites for more pictures, updates, and faster updates. I am even posting on my Tumblr now! But that is more for my Everything I think is awesome moods, including Shows I'm watching, Fics I'm reading, Geeky memes I find funny, Stuff like that.

 Let me know in the comments below what you did for ILD! (Even if you just took a Nap ^_^ ) Happy Monday!

Facebook: Kathleen Sweitzer (please message with 'Sweet and Simple' so I know to add you)
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International Lolita Day 2013 (Picture Heavy)

Hello Lovelies~

 International Lolita Day was June 1st. It fell on a Saturday this year and I was lucky enough to have it off of work, so I got to start celebrating early! I had strawberries and cream for breakfast, then started getting ready for my day.

My day was supposed to go like this...

* Farmers Market at 8 am
* Taste of Omaha (a local celebrate the city festival) at 11 am
* Lunch at some point
* A Movie at 3-ish
* Bookstore after the movie
* Dinner
* The Circus at 7

Pretty busy day, Right?! Lol Here's what actually happened.

 I didn't sleep all night and started getting ready for the day at 2 am. I took a shower, deep conditioned my hair, and used a homemade sugar scrub with lavender and peppermint, before relaxing in a bath for an hour or so with soft music playing. Totally indulgent!

After that it was about 4 and I did my nails while I let my hair dry. I tried out those 'Instant manicure' nail strips...they took forever! They say easy, but I will never use them again, they just took so so long. Two hours. And in the end, they chipped and peeled by the end of the day, even with a top coat.

 At six I picked out my outfit and in the end, I based the whole this around a wig I didn't even wear out of the house.  ^_^;

I matched the wig with the Angelic Pretty Sugary Carnival tote bag I got with the AP Collection Mook that was released this last year. After I chose the colors I wanted to represent, I did my makeup.

Light pink and purple on the lid, light blue and mint on top, a darker purple in the crease, purple and pink eyeliner on top, gold eyeliner on bottom, purple mascara, and silver sparkles over that.

 The whole look, foundation to lips, took about an hour and a half.

Full Outfit rundown ~

Dress - Metamorphose
Hairbow - Baby the Stars Shine bright
Wig - Gothic Lolita Wigs

I then went to get my mum up for the Farmers Market and while waiting for her to get ready, I began to chat with a friend on Skype and before I knew it, My mum, Her mum, and the rest of her family were all chatting and we talked for two hours or so!

 It was really nice to get to talk to her, we live so far away and have been friends forever. She's a blast and so is her family.

As I was chatting, I realized it was beginning to get stormy, not good for wigs, so I took it off and this is how I looked when I left the house.

When we finally left the house, it was almost 11, so we skipped the Farmers Market and went to get lunch. It wasn't good. Enough said about that, BUT! On our way to lunch I saw a sign....

 A real sign, not the divine intervention type, and it said 'Estate Sale'.

Lovelies...I can not tell you how much those two words make my heart sing. A Yard sale can catch my attention, a Garage sale can make me stop if it's easy to get to and it looks clean, but an Estate Sale, well, I'll stop most every time.

 I wasn't allowed to take pictures while in the house. It is was posted all over the closed doors, but I can tell you that this house, while not much on the outside, was so elegant and so well put together....I felt so at easy and welcomed in this house....like the elderly lady who had lived there would invite me for tea and a bit of gossip at any moment.

The house was decorated in soft rose pinks and had the most eye catching paintings all over the walls. She had three china cabinets, six full sets of china, two sets of silver, and one cabinet full of Rococo styled knick knacks .

 Pink and gold trimmed swans, French Ladies escorted by Regal Gentlemen figurines, Ceramic Roses, and other such breath taking collectibles.

She had three working radios from the 1940's - 1954. The 1954 radio was pink! It was so cute and if it hadn't been $85 I would have it in my room right now. All of them still worked, not a scratch on them, it was stunning. Truly.

 Here is what I bought, I'd have gotten more if I have had more money on me.


Decorated Wall Plate ( Originally Bought for $1.50 according to the tag on the back.) 

 

Replica of a famous painting called 'April Flowers' by Pieter Casteels. (From what I can determine on line and from her house in general, I think this is a 1947 reproduction of this famous painting.)

We got another print, same artist, same time frame, but the picture wont size properly at the moment.


I was lucky enough to find three plates with this beautiful design.

It's a slightly rounded bowl, great for saucy dishes. ^_^ (I love a good gravy or sauce)

This is a saucer and bowl set, not as elegant as the other rose patterned dishes, but still pretty.

If you can tell, it's not a deep bowl , not super functional for a bowl. I like to think of it as a bowl to cleans ones fingers. Or better yet! An Ice cream dish!!!

This is a better shot of the saucer.

This pretty magnolia plate was the fist thing I picked up. It is so pretty that I thought I could use it to house some of my jewelry.

This tea cup matches the plates above. It was so lonely, a lone cup with no saucer sitting amongst a stack of dishes...I just had to get it.

My mum picked up this pretty piece from a pile of over sized chunky jewelry, I think the pretty stuff had been bought the day before. But this.... is a large piece of marcasite with a reverse image cameo carved into the stone.  It's surrounded in antique burnished silver and can be worn as both a broach and a necklace.

                This is from the Royal Albert 'Woodland' Robin collection. I bought it for $14.

                     I think it matches well with my other Royal Albert tea cup.

My mum found this old book of poems and pictures from 1934. It's a first printing and while it's falling apart, the poems are lovely.

We also found two Barbra Streisand vinyl covers. Sadly, the records were missing, but the pictures as beautiful.

Speaking of pictures! I found some pictures of the woman who owned the house!

 Now, originally I thought it a bit crass to buy other peoples family photos, but I figured if they were rude enough to sell them, I'd be the odd one to buy them. They were just to elegant to pass up.

I am looking for some really pretty frames to put them in. They are a bit haunting really. But they speak to me in a way modern photography doesn't. And she was so lovely....

This is my favorite piece! I walked into her bedroom and there it was! Hand painted, gold dusted...I'm not sure what it was used for. But I'm thinking of using it as a covered candy dish. My Great Aunt Lou has one next to her bed and she'll wake up in the middle of the night, eat a chocolate, and go straight back to sleep.

After my day of shopping, I didn't have enough to attend the circus, I was so sad to miss it! But I did get to see Iron Man 3, so I wasn't that upset.

 So that was my day! I had a wonderful holiday and lots of fun. Did you do anything for International Lolita Day?