Oxfordshire Lolitas 5th Anniversary Meet

The Oxfordshire Lolitas community is 5 years old! To celebrate, some of us met up for our usual anniversary meet in Oxford.

I apologise for the hall way photo of my outfit. The weather was absolutely atrocious! I wanted to get a photo before my hair curls fell out and I got the general windswept look. Bad weather seems to be a tradition for the anniversary meets. Out of all of the 5 anniversary meets, only 1 of them has had anything even remotely close to resembling okay weather. I wore my Queen's Coach JSK. I got the red JSK shortly after getting the black skirt. It is such a gorgeous print and I have always loved this red JSK. I did initially have a bit of trouble putting an outfit together, as the reds on the dress are a bit different to all the other reds in my wardrobe. It is almost a purple colour. In the end, I added an additional shade of red (although it does appear a tiny bit on the dress) and made sure to use plenty of it to balance it out. Although you can't tell in the photo, the under-skirt is the same colour as my hair accessory! This wasn't my initial outfit idea but the weather sort of spoiled my plans, as I found myself needing to use my Bodyline boots for the wet weather. At least I have another outfit planned for this dress I guess!

We ended up at the Slug and Lettuce after having a vote on where to go on the event page. The venue was surprisingly nice, with fancy chairs, mirrors and chandeliers. Some of the staff were really fun to talk to as well! I ordered a chicken skewer thing and some chips. The salad that came with it was very colourful and had quite a nice combination of fruit and veg in it. My only complaint is I could of done with some more chicken.

I am really pleased to say that I won Best Classic in the vote! I was so happy that people voted for me and liked my outfit. This year I got some pre-made rosettes off Taobao and then customised them by covering the centre part and adding the embroidery. As much as I love making rosettes, I sometimes get a bit fed up of them. And the less said about the year I managed to set my finger on fire, the better! The Taobao rosettes only came in 3 colours and I was really pleased that I won a rosette that matched my outfit so perfectly!

We attempted to get a group shot, but it was a little difficult to do with the way the table was laid out. Oh well, James tried his best! It was lovely to see a mix of regulars and also some newcomers.

After discovering that the cocktails were buy one, get on free a lot of us got stuck right in! This is my Porn Star Martini, which tasted absolutely amazing. I love anything with passion fruit in and if I see it on a menu it is almost certainly what I am going to order. I also had a passion fruit daiquiri, but the alcohol was a little bit strong tasting in that one. I loved how the Porn Star cocktail had a piece of passion fruit floating in it and an extra shot of prosecco too.

After having food we had our usual raffle. Here are the prizes I won. Sammi made the most adorable doughnut brooches and I knew I had to get one. It doesn't match a single thing in my wardrobe, but it is so cute! Sammi is so good at crafting, as is Shalisa, but I wasn't quick enough to get a Sugar Trampoline bow. I am glad I got the doughnut at least.

And this year there was also an additional quiz, which Shalisa ended up winning. I felt that I had to share Sammi's answer sheet though, because I don't think I will ever forget the answers she put! For the last part of the quiz I had a load of Baby print names and people had to fill in the gaps. So for "Memories of my First Soiree" became "Memories of my First Wet Dream" (ahem!) and the answers just got even more silly from there. I also think "Princess Chicken's Tea Salon" deserves a special mention. I don't think any of these print names will be appearing on Baby's site any time soon!

After taking some solo shots on the fancy chairs, we headed off to do our own thing. Hayley went on a venture to H&M to get hold of some Pusheen pants and then some of us headed over to the Mitre for a bit of a relaxed end to the day. I ordered a chocolate brownie (it is still nowhere near as good as the fudge cake at the Outlook, but I wanted something warm) and then braved the dodgy weather on the way home. 

So overall I think the actual meet itself went okay. The activities seemed to go down well and I know a few of us really enjoyed the alcohol! I had a good time, although it felt so good to take off my outfit at the end of the day and just crash on the sofa. Here is hoping for some fun lolita adventures in the upcoming year!

Random Adventure in Oxford!

Over the weekend I ended up going to Oxford to see Sammi and Shalisa. We were meant to be having a meet in Reading, but a lot of the people who were meant to be coming to that couldn't go because they were at Hyper Japan. I do hope my absent friends had a good time at Hyper Japan. I haven't been to HJ in 3 years because I didn't have a great time the last time I went, but maybe I will give it a go next year again. We will see how things go.

Thankfully, it wasn't raining heavily this time! I managed to stay relatively dry until I got back to the train station and had to walk home. Oh well, it is still a massive improvement on last time, and no umbrellas died! I wore my black Queen's Coach skirt, which I obtained recently. The colours on the skirt were not quite what I was expecting, but I managed to find items the same colour as the flowers on the skirt. After looking closely at the skirt, I realised there are actually colours in the print which I had never noticed before, such as peach. So maybe I will come up with some more challenging colour combinations when I get the chance to think outfits up.

We ended up going to a restaurant we hadn't been to before called My Sichuan. I came across this place earlier this year when I went to a games board cafe nearby with friends and I happened to spot this place hiding around one of the corners. The restaurant turned out to be quite an interesting find and I liked my food. My chicken and chili dish came with a tea light candle underneath to keep the food hot. The only problem is, it was a bit tricky to eat because it was quite messy! Shalisa and I both had aprons made out of all the napkins we stuffed down ourselves and I avoided the chopsticks because I am not too confident using them. The food was well cooked though, and very tasty.

Afterwards we decided to head to the Mitre, but not before getting some fudge from the Fudge Kitchen and having a bit of a posing session. I was very glad that nobody decided to come out of the door we posed in front of! I think all of us were reluctant to take out coats off, but at least we got some photos in the end. I was really pleased with the fudge we tried as well. They have a new Pumpkin Spice flavour, which tasted so amazing that Shalisa got us a slice to share. It was an interesting take on what I am guessing is a flavour brought in to celebrate Thanksgiving. If adopting some aspects of American culture means we get tasty fudge, then I am all for it!

Sammi and I decided to get Cosmopolitans at the Mitre. They are more of a pub than a cocktail bar, so they only have a few cocktails on offer. We got given these weird winter hat shaped cocktail stirrers. I suppose they are fairly cute? I do miss the Pimm's strawberry stirrers though- I am always taking them home with me! 

Like Reading, Oxford also has a Purple Turtle bar. What we didn't realise though, was that the Oxford one isn't open all day like the Reading one is. So we went out in to the cold for nothing! I did get a picture of the Christmas lights though, but it is very blurry. It serves me right for clicking and walking at the same time. The lights look a lot better in the dark but after seeing these lights so many years in a row, I think Oxford could do with some new lights.

After our Purple Turtle disappointment and discovering a lot of the pubs were totally packed, we ended up back at the Mitre! After being out in the cold, I wanted a hot pudding, so I got a warm chocolate brownie. Every time we get this pudding from the Mitre it seems to come out different. but this time all of our desserts were identical. Sadly though, I ended up paying more than Sammi and Shalisa, because the guy who served them added a discount that they were not meant to get. I was fuming when I found out! It clearly pays to wait and get the right member of staff to serve you.

I ended up having a really great day. I was so glad that we tried a new place and I would like to go there again sometime. It was a bit busy in Oxford, but that is to be expected at this time of year. The lovely, warm food we got was comforting and it was the perfect accompaniment to our fun conversations. I am so looking forward to our Christmas meet-up. We are going to meet Sammi's new puppy Biscuit too, which I am really looking forward to!

Mini Catch-up in Reading!

Over the past weekend I was finally able to have a catch-up with Shalisa and Sammi. After being ill for weeks I was finally free to venture in to the outside world again! Unfortunately, this weekend it decided to absolutely chuck it down with rain. But I was not going to let that stop me from seeing my friends.

What do I do when the weather gets too bad? I wear a lot of black! I did have a more interesting outfit planned, but it involved light colours, which don't go well with rain water and cars driving through puddles. With the bad weather, it didn't seem like we would be venturing outside much, so a simpler outfit was really the best option. I wore Magical Moonlight by Metamorphose. It felt strange wearing this dress without a more Halloween related theme. 

We very sadly lost Shalisa's umbrella! Shalisa was telling us it was her favourite umbrella too. This destructive damage was caused by one strong gust of wind. The shop that Shalisa's Sugar Trampoline stuff gets stocked in were having a mini store party, so Shalisa was able to dump the remains of the umbrella in the skip. I also lost an umbrella, but it was a cheap one I wasn't really attached to thankfully. I was more concerned about getting wet!

After a bit of mingling at the store party, we eventually made it to the safety of the Outlook pub. This was the view of the river from our table. It looked better in person. We had lots of ducks and geese swimming by.

As we were feeling a bit down, we all went for massive burgers! This was Sammi's Big Porky burger. I went for a 'dirty burger' which has chili con carne in it. It tasted amazing but we were so full afterwards.

Here's a little group picture of us. Alas, my poor curly hair was already destroyed by the weather (apologies for moaning so much today!). 

We decided to order some cocktails but to be honest, the strawberry woo woo we had was incredibly disappointing. It tasted of syrup and little else. We also got a ridiculous amount of ice with it, so we only got one small glass each out of it. At least now we know for next time- this pub is great for food but terrible for drinks.

And so, to make up for the poor cocktails we headed to the Purple Turtle! This place used to be a bit of a grotty dive bar but it has been refurbished now and it is so much nicer inside. We really wanted to sit on this uber cool sofa but I dithered for too long and then it got sat on by this random guy. We really weren't having the best of luck! At least we got a picture of the sofa. 

The cocktails here are so much nicer! There was a 2-for-1 offer on the cocktails, so the 3 of us split the last remaining cocktail. It was really weird fishbowling with just the one cocktail! I think we will definitely be coming back here in the near future.

But despite the weather, we did manage to have a good long catch-up. The 3 of us and James can talk for hours. The photoshoot meet felt like such a long time ago. I suppose time does seem to go slower when you are ill and you are just so desperate to get better. Fingers crossed we get a bit of Autumn sunshine for next time!

Oxford's TPC Calendar Meet in the Botanical Gardens

The Oxford community are taking part in the Tea Party Club calendar again this year and on Saturday we had our photoshoot. We got given the month of April this year. I was so relieved we were not stuck with August for the third year in a row! We got so lucky with the weather because it was bright enough to look like a Spring month. We went to the Botanical Gardens this year because we chose to do a gardening theme.

I decided to wear March of the Duck by Metamorphose. It may seem an odd choice for the theme, but it was because I found a duck shaped watering can and I wanted to match. Some lolitas have matching scepters, but I have a matching watering can! I kept my outfit quite casual because an OTT outfit would not work with the gardening theme. My only real regret is not wearing a wig. I curled my hair but it was just refusing to behave itself and I wasn't happy with how it turned out. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it wont look too bad in the final calendar picture.

I even found some real duck friends. They may look cute but the female duck ruthlessly swiped and ate this dragonfly! It all happened so quickly that it was like the duck had ninja-like skills! Poor dragonfly... But apart from that, the sleepy ducks were a nice distraction during the photo taking.

The Botanical Gardens were in full bloom. I am actually quite surprised that we haven't really had any meets here before. I have been here with James but never with the Oxford group. Perhaps we will have another meet here next year.

I don't want to share any photos that are like the final photo we pick (I doubt we will be using these bench photos!) but here is a group shot of us. Lauren's sister was great and gave us plenty of directions. We spent quite a lot of time at different locations as well. I am confident we have at least picked a fantastic location for the background of our photo.

And here we have the duck watering can! I found it in the 99p store and they were getting rid of their Summer stock, so it feels like me finding it was fate. My obsession with ducks knows no bounds...

Afterwards we were going to go and try somewhere new for a late lunch, but we ended up at the Mitre! We were all feeling quite exhausted and the Mitre happened to be the closest food place. They had a new menu, including this mixed berry cheesecake. I was very impressed with my dessert. It had a firm base and the compote was so good.

So despite being concerned about my dodgy hair, I was so glad that I got the chance to take part in the calendar again. I always feel like I never get enough photos at these meets but a photoshoot meet is the perfect excuse to go a bit mad with the camera. We got plenty of photographs and I can't wait to see how they turn out.

Picnic In Oxford!

Last Saturday the Oxford community had another picnic meet! It went so well last year that I decided to try and recapture some of that magic. It came very close to being rained off, but thankfully the grass dried in time! I was getting so worried that I would have to fit a group of 11 inside an Oxford restaurant without a booking- a near impossible task on a Saturday.

I wore Sugary Carnival because... I don't know why! Do you ever feel an urge to wear a specific lolita piece? Well, that is what happened to me. I didn't really plan this outfit out that thoroughly but when you are wearing a lot of pieces that you already know go together, then it isn't that difficult to make an outfit anyway. Last time I wore SC I teamed it with lots of pink, so this time I went with white for a change. You can't really see it in the picture, but the ankle socks are the same shade of lavender as the dress, which for me is quite an achievement! I hate trying to match lavenders.

We went to the University Parks and actually ended up in the same spot we picked last year. Shalisa had to tell James to stop feeding the ducks because it turned in to a bit of an invasion. It felt a bit like we were in an Alfred Hitchcock film! 

Most of us put off buying food until the actual day in case it got rained off, but Madeleine made the most adorable biscuits and cakes. I really loved the Hello Kitty biscuits. They tasted amazing. Maybe I should get the recipe off of Madeleine.

I completely forgot to get some group shots, so I am including this partial group photo that I took when I was waiting for people to get their shoes back on! There were lots of cute outfits and berry and food prints seemed to be the theme of the day. We had plenty of time to laze about and just talk. I found out that a large chunk of the group is in to strange documentaries, so we bonded over that!

Then it was time for the pinata. After the issues we had last year with the pinata not drying out, this year I got a shop brought one. Unfortunately, the shop sold the last donkey pinata literally an hour before we got there, so we ended up with the most derpy looking dog pinata called Sparky (it was either that or Olaf from Frozen). We managed to confuse a real dog with the pinata, who didn't seem to understand that the pinata wasn't a real dog!

Sammi managed to decapitate poor Sparky quite early on but didn't break the body, so we had to hang the headless pinata back up! We didn't take the head down straight away, and this random woman came by and started staring at the dog head, as if it was an art installation or some sort of protest, which was incredibly bizarre!

Eventually, the pinata was fully destroyed. Lauren seemed very pleased with her sweet and keychain haul! I think most people got at least something out the pinata. Those keychains I got in my Taobao order from the other week proved a big hit. Although the macaron keychains smelt very strongly of plastic.

Here is a random shot of the lake we were sat by. It was quite a nice view and we had plenty of trees around us. We also got to overhear a play going on nearby, which had a strange theme going on.

Afterwards a few of us went to the Mitre for drinks. I saw they had a new lemonade on offer, but was very disappointed that it didn't look like how it did in the picture! Where is the additional slices of lemon, stripy straw and cute jam jar glass!? It was lovely, but I noticed the others changed their orders when they saw they weren't going to get the jam jar glasses!

I came home feeling very tired, but I feel it was worth it. The picnic meets are usually some of the most relaxed meets and it was lovely to do something simple before Regalia in September. I hope to see the Oxford group again soon.

Birthday Adventures!

I have recently been out and about a fair bit, as I was celebrating my birthday! It was great catching up with some of my close non-lolita friends in London, and I then had a separate meet last Saturday with Sammi and Shalisa. I then spent my actual birthday with my husband James and we went out on a little adventure of our own.

This was my outfit for my little meet with Sammi and Shalisa. I obtained Rose Toilette by Angelic Pretty a couple of months ago. It is such a lovely dress. I put off getting it for ages, because I have the Bodyline perfume print, but Rose Toilette was definitely worth getting! The pink colour is quite an interesting shade, so I mixed it with some peach coloured items, as they seem to compliment each other quite nicely. Shalisa has warned me that the tea barge we were visiting was small, but I vowed to take off my petticoat if need be! Luckily we actually had plenty of room, so nobody had to witness me panic undressing! I am really happy with how this outfit turned out. The only thing I wish I had done was ditch the ankle socks, as I feel they made my ankles look chunky.

We went to the Whittingtons Tea Barge on the river. It proved to be a lovely little venue, although some road works and a closed pavement meant we had a few issues walking there! We ended up all climbing over this blockade and crossing this blocked off road 5 times because the barge had changed locations to the other side of the river and we didn't realise (that is the only downside of choosing a moving venue). We all had an afternoon tea but most of us switched to elderflower cordial instead of tea. It was quite hot that day and none of us fancied tea. I was quite pleased with how much food I got for the price we paid. It was really delicious too. This barge is the top rated food venue in Reading on Tripadvisor and I can definitely see why!

We encountered this baby goose on the riverside. But despite being very cute, we had to back off as its protective mother looked like it was about to launch at us!

And here is a small group shot from the pub. As you can probably tell from the table, we indulged in some Pimm's! We tried the new strawberry version and it tasted amazing. We were all feeling very drowsy after our afternoon tea, so we ended up lazing in the pub for a few hours. It was all perfectly pleasant until we witnessed this couple doing some very, erm... 'affectionate' PDAs and this guy who kept wheezing on another table! Later on we went to Mr Chips, and instead of just getting bubble tea, we actually tried their chips! (I can confirm they were amazing chips). Eventually we parted ways with Shalisa and the rest of us endured a bunch of drunks on the train home. I am looking forward to seeing Sammi and Shalisa at the next meet!

And a few days later, it was my actual birthday. I went and had another afternoon tea! This time it was just James and I, and we went to The Manor Hotel at Weston on the Green, which is a little drive away from Oxford. 

I have to say that I didn't feel the afternoon tea was worth the price we paid (I did say in a recent post that places in Oxfordshire charge extra just because of the Oxford reputation!) but the food was very yummy. I especially loved the scones which were stuffed full of jam and cream. Just look at how packed they are! The scones were warm and flaky. As somebody who is obsessed with cream, I was very pleased with the generous helping.

Here is the rest of the afternoon tea. It looks quite sparse but actually, there was more than enough food for the 2 of us (this picture doesn't include the 2 scones I had).

What I really loved about this trip was the venue. The hotel was stunning and I really want to spend a night here. James and I spent some time waking around the grounds and taking photos. We spotted a swimming pool and there is even a massive croquet lawn. We didn't feel like having a game though, seeing as we had just eaten.

And this was the outfit I wore for my birthday. I had a hard time deciding how "dressed up" I wanted to look, as there were a lot of guests walking about. I decided to go for a more sweet-classic look and I still kept a few fancier elements and a generous petticoat. This time I tried to use all of the colours in the skirt and attempted to spread them out according to how much the colour appears on the skirt (if that makes sense). I used the peach beret again but switched my white gloves for peach ones and I added lavender flowers to the shoes. I used slightly different tights and a different blouse too.

And these are the lolita-relevant presents I received! I haven't been getting as much lolita stuff recently, as I am currently having storage issues. So I ended up with plenty of new books and DVDs to keep me going instead! I like that James kept the 'royal' theme going with all his lolita purchases. The wrist cuffs are from Stocking Shock, who now let you choose which way up you want the bows. I really love the crown charms and the chains of beads. I think out of all the Stocking Shock cuffs I have, these ones are by far the best. I wasn't sure which colour I wanted, so I asked for both! The Teja Jamilla tights are perfect. The size guide seems pretty fair. I am not at the maximum size for these tights, but I could tell that the tights would stretch a fair amount more. They are pretty opaque when worn, apart from right near the top of my thighs. The tights material is thick and feels soft too. I love the screen printed emblems. They lined up really nicely on my legs when I put them on. So the quality is very good and I would definitely consider getting more tights from Teja Jamilla in the future.

So I ended up having a fantastic time. And thank you again to whoever made me the lolita valentines for my birthday and all the people who texted, messaged me, sent cards and left greetings on my Facebook wall. The messages really meant a lot!

Summer ILD Oxfordshire Lolitas Meet!

Happy Belated International Lolita Day! Shalisa, Sammi and I decided to combine our hosting skills and put on a party for the Oxfordshire Lolitas. We hired the upstairs of the Mitre, as it is a really large venue and there is always a pitcher of Pimm's waiting just downstairs. And we definitely needed the Summery drinks because the weather was hot and lovely.

It felt like ages since I had worn full-on sweet lolita, instead of classic or a more casual take on sweet lolita. So I decided this would be a good time to wear my Sweetie Violet JSK from Angelic Pretty. I teamed it with some of my favourite lavender items and the hat I ordered from Akilya. I used white to break up the pink and lavender, as I felt the colours were a bit overwhelming on their own. It was a light and airy outfit which was perfect for the weather conditions. I curled my real hair instead of wearing a wig. Sadly the curls did not last all day but I was just grateful not to have sweaty wig-head!

As part of the ticket price we provided a buffet. There were also gift bags and many prizes to be won. My Taobao order from last month could not have been timed better! I was quite pleased with how the food turned out. Sammi had made some macarons, which tasted amazing and she also brought along her infamous cous cous (she is the queen of cous cous). It doesn't look a lot in the picture, but I can confirm I was completely stuffed by the end of the day.

We did many different activities including a quiz that Shalisa kindly made. Our guests had to pick out the real brand print names. Some of them were really difficult. I sat this one out because I kept winning and decided to give somebody else a chance!

Next up was the Lolita Assault Course! This was my invention and it is based on etiquette advice given by the English Gothic Lolita Bibles and the silly videos that Misako Aoki has been doing recently about the rules of lolita. Our guests had to do their most composed walk around some cones whilst they had balloons chucked at them. Then they moved on to a posing station, had to sit down in the most considerate manner, tie some waist ties in to a bow, add some sugar to a cup of tea without making a racket and then finish off with giving us their best "lolita laugh". Judging by the reactions, people seemed to enjoy my course, so perhaps it will be making an appearance at a future meet...

And there was also a Pass the Parcel! Samm, Shalisa and I completely forgot how many layers we had wrapped, so it went on a bit longer than anticipated. And the random CD we had borrowed from the Mitre had the most peculiar music choices on it! Somehow we managed to get to the end and eventually Laura won the socks that were inside. Laura said she needed some new socks so I am glad we were able to help!

There was also a cake decorating contest. Some were certainly more inventive than others and everybody voted for the best cake. Laura won this contest as well, with her cute bird themed design (bottom right). There were some really cute designs. At least everybody got to eat cake afterwards.

And then there was Lolita Print Charades. Some of them proved harder than others and I had to omit some very embarrassing photos! There was a cake stand full of mini prizes to be won. Nicola and Hayley did especially well with the charades.

And finally, a group shot (minus both of the Lauras who had to leave a bit early). I really love how there was a nice balance between sweet and classic, as usually one style seems to dominate our meets. Everybody put a lot of effort in to their outfits and a lot of us wore our favourite pieces. I just hope everybody enjoyed themselves.

Afterwards the hosts went to get a drink and wind down. I think we earned it, as we were all exhausted afterwards. I don't think I will be hosting any big meets soon but I am hopeful to see the Oxford group again soon. I had a great time! I hope everybody reading had a great ILD too, no matter what you ended up doing.