Kitty-Cats Everywhere!

Cat theme seems to be a trend right now, and I'm really thankful for it! So it means I've bought far too many new items of clothing recently.


I bought these items a few weeks ago now. Lace and cat underwear sets, shoes, and shirt are from Primark. The skirt is from H&M. I wish it fit better, but there's too big a difference between my waist and hip measurements! I also bought a pack of Twix and Enter Shikari's 'Tribalism'.


Shirt and skirt worn. The shirt is actually from the men's section, but I like wearing it oversized or tied at the waist to make it a more feminine cropped style.


I got these last week. Everything is from H&M. I also got cute frilly lingerie in the sale but I didn't take a photo!


And completely unrelated, but Victory Over The Sun vinyl and a Rory C shirt to cut up in prep for Warped Tour!

In summary, I really need to stop buying clothes!

Day Dream Carnival

Way back on April 7th I placed my order for Day Dream Carnival after much deliberation. I'm still not convinced I made the right decision as I'm more of a JSK person than a skirt one, but finally it is with me so I can try it and see!

This was my first time using Angelic Pretty's International shopping site, and I found ordering to be quite a smooth process. There was a little delay on payment confirmation, but nothing too extreme.

The items themselves cost 22,155¥, shipping was 3,730¥, and insurance a further 50¥. I didn't get a customs bill from Parcelforce before delivery, so fingers crossed I have avoided customs for a total cost of £165 at current exchange rates, which isn't bad at all.

The items were shipped on the 12th and arrived today, on the 16th. Pretty speedy!


The goods were wrapped in an Angelic Pretty bag with a bubblewrap pack over the top. I was a bit surprised that it wasn't boxed or in sturdy-feeling wrap, but it all arrived safely so it isn't an issue.


Inside my items were bagged and there was an undamaged AP bag in addition to the one they were wrapped in, and an AP sticker.


The skirt! I'm really not a fan of this brooch, but I guess it will be nice to pin it on my jacket in winter to tie outfits together. The gold in the print looks stunning when the light catches it. Obviously the overall quality is fantastic with nice feeling fabric and lace.


The matching headbow. I'm not a fan of this gold triangle trim (especially since there is none on the skirt) but it will be handy to wear with lots of things I own since I tend to wear black a lot and always with gold jewellery. The dangly star is just adorable, and the pearls are a nice touch and they match the brooch.


And a comparison with Sugary Carnival! The ponies looks very similar but more detailed on Day Dream Carnival, although the marshmallow motif is still evident in the pillars. I actually think Day Dream Carnival has overtaken Sugary Carnival as my favourite print! I didn't think that could happen, but it's just a lot classier and therefore should be easier to wear (and I wear Sugary Carnival the most out of all my pieces anyway).

I've yet to try on this set, but I'm very happy with it so far. No customs made it a bargain, and means I'm even more tempted to buy either Musée du Chocolat or Holy Lantern. I'm favouring the former, but I can't decide whether to go for pink or mint colourway (I originally wanted mint but I would be able to coord pink much easier). But I'm not sure it's still available and it's much more expensive than this set, so who knows what I'll end up getting!

Jimmy Eat World

On Saturday I went to see Jimmy Eat World in Bristol with my boyfriend and best friend from school. This was my fifth time seeing them live somehow (first time indoors), but Katie has seen them more times than me! We were happy to discover that we were among the youngest people there as it seemed to be old-ish fans (I say -ish as very few people sang along to the proper oldies).


The support act were called The Shimmer Band. They were alright, reminded me of Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian.


And then Jimmy Eat World themselves!


They were great as always, really fun to sing along to and dance! Although that said, I think we were the most enthusiastic group.

At the end of the show the guitarist threw his plectrum and it bounced of my boob, but someone else managed to grab it off the floor before I had a chance...RUDE lol.


They didn't play my favourite song (Get It Faster) but I've heard it live a couple times before, and hearing Authority Song and Kill definitely made up for it anyway!


I think we'll probably see them again next tour too! But until then, I guess I can watch their iTunes Festival set =D

Ramen

Recently I have developed a love for restaurant-style ramen!

The first time I ever had ramen was at Yo! Sushi earlier this year.


I wasn't keen on some bits of it, but I figured it would taste great if I made it myself. So I did. Several times.


This was my first attempt! It took a really long time to cook as I wanted to do it properly with the ingredients all separate. I had to improvise with the broth, and it was also my first time boiling an egg! I also exploded a plate as I didn't add enough moisture when I microwaved my Quorn pieces! I had no spring onions in either, sadly.


Attempt 2 I made for my boyfriend. It came out much better and was delicious! This was my first time using tofu too. I'm not convinced by it, and will probably stick to Quorn once I've used it all up.


Attempt 3....I realised that my miso paste has fish in it. WHY. So I'd accidentally eaten fish in the previous version (I don't eat meat and never have) so I ended up just having noodles. It still tasted good, I guess?


Latest attempt brings me back to improvising with the broth (better than before as added some gravy granules to the soy sauce and sesame oil for extra flavour). Still tastes great, but does anyone know of any better easy broth alternatives? Or anywhere to get miso that doesn't contain fish? I had no spring onions again too, must get myself stocked better!

My love for ramen will surely continue. My old favourite was stir fry but this is a slightly healthier alternative due to lack of oil used in cooking it. Do you guys love ramen too?

Frock On!

Last Saturday was the day of the much anticipated Frock On! event in London.


We had to get up at 6am which was painful after a late night of watching scary videos and snuggly-wuggly poodles! Unfortunately the bring and buy opened at the start of the event as opposed to a little later as was suggested by the programme, so I think we missed the bargains! I was also too lazy to take anything to sell, which I regret now.


I had intended to wear a simple old-school coord, but I ended up going a little crazy with it as my rocking horse shoes matched the style, and Ziggi convinced me to wear a bonnet as she was wearing one too! The dress is BTSSB's Lovely Sweet Room, and the bonnet is Angelic Pretty's Glass Bottle of Tears. My bonnet kept pushing my headbow down all day so it wasn't particularly comfortable!


This was Ziggi's outfit! We matched pretty well, and she looked totally gorgeous. We only saw the first fashion show (we went to Subway while the other was happening as we were all hungry), but there were so many gorgeous dresses! Unfortunately I didn't get any good photos due to the lighting and my increasingly slow camera. My favourite was this Juliette et Justine one as modelled by Chokelate.


We mostly wandered around looking at stalls and chatting to fellow frillies! I was so stuck on what to buy. I ended up buying the Innocent World dress pictured below. It was £150 and turned out to be a big mistake as there are some little faint stains, it's worth less than what I paid anyway, and it's WAY TOO SMALL. It's such a shame as it's a gorgeous dress with lovely thick fabric, and it's much more the style I want to move towards.


I almost bought the Angelic Pretty Milky Planet rerelease JSK in lavender, but talked myself out of it (still tempted to contact the seller and get it, but I know I shouldn't!). Was tempted by a BTSSB Red Riding Hood JSK too...I wish I had bought it! There was also a painting dress but it would have been too small.

I really should have bought some Grimoire tights but I couldn't bring myself to spend £30 on a single pair, just as I couldn't bring myself to spend £20 on a flower crown even though they were stunning. At the next event I definitely intend to buy both!

My favourite item that I saw was a gorgeous shiro JSK by an indie brand...but it was £500!


There was a Gok's Fashion Fix style show where brand and offbrand outfits went head-to-head, which was really fun to watch.


There was also a posing demonstration (including the 'Malfoy step'!), and a Q&A with the indie brand designers.


The venue was great, loads of false book cases, amazing paintings and chandeliers, and the toilets had a sort of dressing room with lots of little seated mirrors and even a chaise-longue!


There was also a photo booth!


I didn't win anything in the raffle, but I did have my super VIP goodie bag that came with my ticket. This was what was in mine.


I still can't figure out what the BTSSB usakumya thing is supposed to be used as!

I also picked up Sophie's bag for her as she was too ill to attend. She got some super-cute BTSSB socks!


I had a really nice day, but I got tired very quickly! I'm also sad that I couldn't attend the tea party as I think it'd be much more my kind of thing. I'm making a promise to myself to go to it next year for sure.

Attending this event has really gotten me interested in lolita again! I want to sell off a whole bunch of OTT sweet pieces to I can buy some more wearable pieces and dream items! Although this will take me a long time as my stuff is still in the loft and I'm rather too lazy to sort through things and go through the hassle of selling...