`Dolly Pink Will Be Returning to Anime North 2012~!
YAAAY~! So if you guys follow Dolly Pink's blog, my application for Crafters' Corner has been accepted!
I really haven't been working on my accessories this past few months but coming April, I hope to be a very busy bee creating new items for everyone to enjoy. I already bought a few things for the table to help display the items but I need to make more stock to make the display useful. Lol.
Since last year I didn't really have much fun, I told myself that if I returned for the 2nd year I would definately make it worth while for me to meet new people and take cosplay pictures. I missed out on this chance last year so my goal is to take 50 pictures of cosplayers. :) If you plan to cosplay this year please let me know what you want to cosplay as --- I've always wanted to cosplay but I'm not confident enough to represent any anime character yet... Lol.
This is a pretty short update but thank you for reading and I'll update with pictures of the contact lenses soon~!
Sorry for disappearing from the face of the earth but the past few months have been a little bit hectic for me. I went on a few vacations and attended a family wedding. I wanted to write about my trips in Seattle, Wa and Vancouver, BC but due to unfortunate event that took place, my camera had been stolen so I didn't think there was a point to talk about my tour of the 2 beautiful cities without showcasing some amazing pictures with it.
It also sucks that my camera had gotten stolen because it was a 2 week old Canon point and shoot camera that I had purchased just for these trips. :( However, I saved a little bit of money after the trip and purchased the same camera again! ^___^ It was kind of dumb to purchase the same camera again but I thought I should teach myself the full functions of this camera first before moving on to the more technical Canon 7D DSLR I originally planned to purchased.
During this month, I took a lot of photos for a friend of mine to help advertise her cute circle lenses so please be patient once more til my next update. Her store in located in Pacific Mall and it's called Miu Box so if you happen to be in the mall please come by her store to take a look at all the Japanese and Korean cosmetics she has to offer.
Other than this little update I wrote -- stay tune for future picture posts and possible reviews.
Happy Chinese New Year~!
&
Thank you for reading,
Aya
**This event happened in July... sorry to make you guys wait so long but here it is!**
Atomic Lollipop took place on Saturday July 30 and ended on Sunday July 31. It was Toronto's first convention dedicated to anime and music which had taken place at Anime North's Sheraton Conference Centre. Tickets were priced a little high considering that it was it's first year -- $35 [early bird] and $45 [paid at the door] but even though it was pricy, it was still well worth it for most attendees because of all the fun-packed schedule. There was a lot of rave parties going on inside the hotel hallways and outside the hotel including a rave/electro concert in the Kyandi panel room featuring "BESPA KUMAMERO"! Bespa Kumamero is an electro-duo from Japan who came to Toronto to launch it's first Canadian tour and let me say, their music was very up-lifting and enjoyable as it made me forget about my stresses and dance. If you have no idea who Bespa Kumamero is, their music is similar to Perfume and Aural Vampire.
So what did I do on the first day of Atomic Lollipop? I help ran a Lolita fashion contest for the convention in which Joyce and I were hand-picked judges from the main coordinators. The fashion show went by really quick because the entries were capped at 20 people. There were 3 segments during the show; first being the models getting interviewed by the judges --- asking questions like where they got their inspiration(s) from, what their favorite brands were, etc. Second was where all the models walked out on the stage one by one posing and third was having their picture of a 2nd coordination up on the projector for bonus points. The show was short but sweet as everyone that participated had fun and enjoyed walking on stage with full confidence. On Sunday the winners were announced: Cadney [Best Lolita Overall], Whitney [Best Classic Lolita], Jackie [Best Sweet Lolita] and Gen [Best Gothic Lolita]. During the show, my favorite model that walked out on that stage was Gen! Her pose and style was so bold that when she walked out on stage, it brought tears to my eyes. Her coordinate was perfect as she added little accents like lace around her eyes to make her face pop.
After the contest, I had to help Cadney and Joyce set up the Lolita fashion panel. There was a lot of technical difficulties but in the end, everyone learned a lot about the fashion and seemed interested. I also donated a lot of Dolly Pink goods as prizes for people who participated in the panel which were a popular pick! **YAY!!**
Meanwhile as the panel was taking place, I went back to the Artist Alley to chill with Baby Pinku [Pinkly Ever After] and Bel and Eli [Atomic Ami]. Gen had to leave early so I didn't get much time to talk to her but I did the next day as Sunday I didn't have to help run anything except the Artist Alley table! It was a little boring to sit there and do nothing so I went around the convention collecting a lot of the balloons to get ready for a photo shoot I had planned with my Lolita friends. However... all of our dreams were crushed when they got confiscated for no reason by a mean old lady, which sort of ruined our day but we still took photos nonetheless.
After an action-packed weekend, Atomic Lollipop was ready for its' first closing ceremony in which they announced that it would come back the following year! With a successful premier, there will be a lot of anticipation from con-goers in 2012. Overall, I had a lot of fun at Atomic Lollipop -- there was a lot of excitement, parties, beautiful people and most of all I got to spend it with my friends [Gen, Cadney, Joyce, Lanii, and Jackie]. What fun would it be without your fellow Lolita fashionistas?
Thank you for reading lovelies~!
Love,
Aya
Here are some Atomic Lollipop pictures I managed to take of friends and cosplayers: [Please click on the pictures to view the full image]
Cadney, Lanii, Me & Meek
Ciara and Me!
Ciara is cosplaying Madoka *hopefully that's the right character >__<;*
Quick faceshot of me
Joyce and all of the epic balloons I collected *___*
Me, Cadney & Joyce
Photo Credit: Cadney
Me and my boyfriend Kyu
He was only able to hang out for 1 day and then went to work. :(
Kyu and I again
A sneaky shot of Lanii taking pictures of Cadney & Joyce
Joyce and I
This was what we both wore on Saturday when we were judging contestants.
Photo Credit: Cadney
Kyu as Vampire Knight Kaname-sama
Photo Credit: Cadney
Bespa Kumamero @ their concert
Gen and I
Gen at the Artist Alley table: Dolly Pink & After Alice
Last week I was soo busy that I couldn't write any entry about my new puppy. I went all the way to a yorkie breeder in Etobicoke, Ontario which is 2 hours away from where I live by bus but it was well worth it. I have never been puppy shopping so this was my first time buying a puppy. I have wanted a pet yorkie for quite some time and I told myself that with the money I earn from Anime North, I would buy myself a new pup. I was very lucky to have found the perfect little girl on my first try and let me be honest with you, it was soo hard to pick just ONE puppy from the litter. >__<; I had a choice between 2 girls and 1 boy; the boy was the smallest and oldest of the litter and weighed about 1 pound [if grown up, he will weigh no more than 2-3 lbs], Kumi/the second youngest pup [if grown up, she will be a maximum of 3-4 lbs], and the second girl [if grown up, she will be atleast 5 lbs or more].
I didn't pick the boy even though I really like small dogs because I knew it would be really difficult to take care of him and since he wouldn't grow anymore, it wouldn't be fun to just walk around showing him off like a novelty when I really wanted a puppy I can play and bond with. Treating any dog as a novelty wouldn't be fair to him/her but be treated like your family and special. Why? Because they are going to spend the rest of their lives with you, be there when you're down and love you no matter what. Any pet in general not just dogs, should be treated with respect and love. I recently read a really sad article about the puppy boom in Japan and it's unfortunate that most of the people that buy dogs over there, only buy them for novelty purposes and as a result abandon or worse, execute them. (Please read/refer to this article: Dark Side of Japan's Pet Boom)
After playing with the new puppy I got, I decided to think of names for her which was hard. My mom suggested all these typical small dog names like: Lucy, Angel, and Mimi and my sister suggested: Bella. I knew that this puppy was going to be very special to me and my life so I wanted to give her a unique name that I felt matches her. On the 1st night I couldn't think of anything but on the next day, I came up with Kumi, Yumi, Hikki and Kyuki [a play-on name with my boyfriend's name Kyu]. Even with all these choices, I still went on Facebook to ask my online friends for suggestions which ended with total fail/no help... However, by the morning of the 3rd day and playing with her for a bit, I picked her up and looked into her eyes --- and in that moment I knew that she was a Kumi.
Kumi was borned on April 25, 2011 [during the week of the Royal Wedding! Woot~!] and weighs approximately 1.5 lbs. She is a Yorkshire Terrier and her current fur color is dark brown and tan. As of 6 weeks old, she still doesn't have any teeth and can't bark. When Kumi runs, she trips and falls everywhere because her sense of balance is still a bit off. Her favorite toy is a "Puppy Toy Turtle Plushie" I bought from a pet store. She loves the squeeking sound the turtle makes and carries it everywhere around the house. With this week coming by fast, I know that I will always love Kumi like a daughter and never part with her.
Here is a picture of Kumi: [Please click the image to enlarge]
On Friday June 3, 2011 I went to a mini lolita meet-up to say farewell to Akane, a fellow lolita from Spain. Akane had visited from Spain to attend Anime North but unfortunately for me, I only got to talk to her for a few minutes before she had to go home so I had to make sure I attended this meet up to wish her farewell.
I first met up with everyone at Pacific Mall for some shopping but since I came late, they had already taken purikura pictures without me. After some shopping, people wanted to take pictures of the group because of the beautiful coordinates everyone was wearing but the security guard threaten to kick us out if we took any pictures inside the mall. I wasn't actually there to see this happen but a lot of the girls told me what he said. *sigh* Honestly, since this security guy was new, he was probably going on a power trip because I've hosted numberous meets at Pacific Mall & taken a lot of pictures without any complaints.
Anywho, after Pacific Mall, the group decided to head to Market Village [a small complex beside Pacific Mall] to have some dinner and shop. There wasn't much variety at Market Village so I just ate a very plain dish - shanghai noodles & soy milk. The clerk I bought food from was very kind and complimented us by saying that we were all pretty in Cantonese which I understood. Once we finished eating, we headed to a store called 'Smart Maple' to buy some cute Hello Kitty stuff where I was greeted again by 3 girls also complimenting about us. ^__^ During this encounter, I felt really happy to know that a lot of people enjoyed our take on Japanese fashion which was a new experience to Akane as well since she told us that she hardly goes out in lolita with a group.
After Smart Maple, we headed to 'One's,' another store that sold a bunch of Japanese things. There, I bought a cardholder because my ghetto dollar store one ripped. I got a Twin Stars one because it was the one I found the cutest and pink! When I showed Akane, she also expressed that she wanted one but had no money so I decided to get another one [she picked the same as mine's] and give it to her as a gift. She was so kind and gracious that she didn't want to take it, but after 5 minutes of persistance she then accepted my gift. Travelling to another country by yourself can be scary at times and so I felt like I had to be a really good host and make this trip memorable for her which I succeeded since she was really happy with it. ^___^
I did manage to take a lot of photos with the group but again... if they look blurry I apologize in advance for that. If you want to know which person is me, I am the girl with blonde hair wearing the Angelic Pretty hime-inspi red halter dress. I tried my best to do gyaru make-up but unfortunately I am still not good at it. I need to learn how to do better eye make-up and contouring. Anyways if you're wondering what make-up products I used, it was my Anna Sui orange blush [to give me a more modern princess look], my Tarina Sparkle Eye Palette [for the gyaru eye make-up look] and of course my Dolly Wink lashes -- you can't look like a cute princess without big lashes. Lol~! I also teased my hair after I curled it to give it more volumn but by the end of the day, my hair just fell flat as you can see in the photos. As for Akane, she was the lolita with the Angelic Pretty red polkdot cutsew and yellow sweet jam skirt. I managed to take a couple shots with her so I hope you enjoy them. ^___^
When we finished taking group pictures, we all opted to go to karaoke to sing our hearts out. Akane was very talented with her Japanese songs as she remembered all of her lyrics. One of the songs I really remembered her singing was 'Dear J - Tomomi Itano' because her accent and voice was soo cute~! I wish we could go karaoke a lot together but it's too bad she doesn't live here. >__<; If Akane was an aspiring J-pop idol I would definately support her because her personality is really sweet and her voice is soo natural and cute! Ahhh~!!! fangirl syndrome... *fast forward* A lot of the girls had fun and despite the owner giving me the wrong total amount for the room cost, we all figured it out smoothly. At the end of our fun, the manager took a picture of the group so we can be on their wall of fame but we didn't get to keep one because it would have costed extra for that, which is stupid since we're not charging them to TAKE OUR PICTURE for their wall. Ughh...
This was how the night basically ended and we departed ways. Thanks for reading and remember to sign my "guestbook" which is located on the top menu.
Love,
Aya
Here are the pictures of the meet-up. Just click on the picture to view the full image.
`My Long Awaited Anime North Post [Dolly Pink and Overall Experience]
Hey there dolls!
I know I haven't been updating my personal blog often... but I hope to make it up to you guys now with a bunch of picture posts!
First off, I'm going to talk about my overall Anime North experience. I already made 2 big posts about it on Dolly Pink's blog but I guess I can talk about my personal experience with Anime North's convention. As you may have noticed from Dolly Pink's blog, I was part of the Anime North's Crafter's Corner section to promote my upcoming brand Dolly Pink. This left me with little to no time to explore the convention itself even though I worked along side Pinkly Ever After. The designers who were in charged of P.E.A. were hardly there and that was because they were mostly busy promoting Pinku Project, a J-pop idol group. When the crafter's corner closed, that's when I had 1-2 hours to roam about in the Doubletree Hotel which I also reserved a room there. Every year, I try my best to attend a lot of panels because that's where all the fun is. I get to meet new people, learn interesting things [anime or cultural related] and share my thought on whatever topic is present.
Even though I am a shy person at heart, I try my best to talk to as many people as I can so I can feel comfortable just talking. Talking a lot is a skill and it is something I need if I ever decide to go into the business field. Anyways... back to Anime North. I noticed that a lot of people that attended this year who were not in cosplay wore lolita or other Japanese fashions. I never knew lolita was going to grow so popular here in Toronto but it did! I did take some pictures but most of them were taken by my boyfriend, Kyu. I saw a lot of pokemon cosplays, Vocaloid, and a lot of lolita cloning. If you don't know what lolita cloning is, it's basically just more than 1 girl wearing the same lolita outfit/coordinate. My friends did an Angelic Pretty cloning with Milky Planet and Sugary Carnival; the 2 most rare and popular AP prints! Again.. since I was too busy with my crafter's table, I didn't get the chance to clone with them as I do own both of these prints as well. T_______T I haven't clone with anyone before so it would have been soo much fun if I did participate in their group.
For Friday and Saturday, I tried to eat healthy as much as possible to keep my energy levels high and alert. For both lunches, I ate mostly sandwiches like egg salad and cold cuts while drinking only water to keep myself hydrated. If you are to survive any con, you need to have a big bottle of water. I lost my voice a couple ANs back because I didn't drink any water so now I know that drinking water is super important!!! Despite the heathly lunch, Kyu really wanted to eat MEAT so I had Harvey's for dinner on Friday and Korean food on Saturday. >__<; Harvey's chicken burger was ok... [I prefer their original hamburger better] the Korean food we ate was horrific! Kyu's kalbi [priced at about $17] tasted really decent while my beef stew [priced at about $13] was fail... We did order some sashimi but thank God we cancelled it after eating the Korean food because could you imagine eating rotten sushi and getting sick from that?! No thanks~! I already got food poisoned from Kelsey's 2 years back and I do not want to contract that sickness again...
On Sunday, that's when Kyu and I did our last minute shopping before Anime North officially closes. I took a quick 5 min walk around in dealer's room and another 10 min walk around in artist alley. Nothing really interested me in dealer's room but I wanted to get so many artwork from the artists there. Kyu managed to get a few Final Fantasy art posters [which were absolutely stunning imo] and a cute amigurumi bear from Atomic Ami! I remembered I bought an orange bear from them a few years back so when I got another bear from their new collection I was super excited~!! They really changed their game plan this year with the new table theme for their bears and fashion outlook that even I couldn't recognize them. Lol. I really have to hand it to them for the vast changes they made over the years from table display, amigurumi designs to outfit coordinations! If you can, please go to their site and support them for their hardwork. ^___^ Before leaving, please remember to sign my guestbook by clicking on "GUEST BOOK" on the top menu and I will visit you right back.
Thank you for reading.
Love,
Aya~
Okay.. now here comes the part everyone has been waiting for... PICTURES!!! To view the full image, just click on the image to enlarge. Please note that these are the same pictures I posted on Dolly Pink's blog. Thanks.
Today I went to a local lolita meet up and met so many new and old members of my local community. We went to Pacific Mall to shop around and karaoke to sing and have fun. I didn't get a chance to take any coordinate shots of my outfit or many photos of the members but here is a video made by Pinkly Ever After. If you see a girl with blonde hair and a blue sweet lolita dress [Angelic Pretty's - Sugary Carnival Jumperskirt] that's me!
Pinkly Ever After [Dolly Pink's Affiliate] also went to this event as well and you can see them in the video.
Leah is wearing a beautiful white one piece dress and Robin is wearing a very cute pink one piece dress as well! I love Leah's dress so much but unfortunately it's hard to find elegant pieces like that now a days since Lolita fashion has changed quite a bit with prints being more in demand.
Although the meet was very short and brief, I had a lot of fun none the less. It's been awhile since I was able to meet other sweet lolitas other than myself. A lot of the girls in the community lean more towards the classic lolita look and so seeing other sweet lolitas is a very nice change. Maybe before Anime North, I will host yet another meet for my local lolita friend, Courtney because it will be her birthday in May.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the video and thank you for visiting my blog.
Lots of love,
Aya
P.S. Don't forget to sign my guestbook! ^__^ Thanks!
♥ Getting to Know Me
Name: Aya I Location: Toronto, Ontario Interests: Lolita/Gyaru fashion, movies, music and dance, karaoke and crafting. Favorite Foods: Kim chi chiggae, Sashimi, Any exotic fruits and Sweets!
Hello and welcome to my first personal blog!
I am a girl trying to live a 'dolly' life and I love wearing gyaru-inspi and lolita-inspi clothes. I also make and design my own jewellery and accessories under the line "Dolly Pink."
TO LOLITA Valentine's Meet-up When: February 11, 2012 @ 1pm Link: N/A Note: A lolita meet-up that I plan to host for TO LOLITA. The plans for this are still in construction but the date has been finalized.
Aya's Lolita Birthday Meet-up When: --- Link:n/a. Note: Date and details are still not finalized as it's still under thought.
♥ Friday 23 March 2012 @ 10:24
`Dolly Pink Will Be Returning to Anime North 2012~!
YAAAY~! So if you guys follow Dolly Pink's blog, my application for Crafters' Corner has been accepted!
I really haven't been working on my accessories this past few months but coming April, I hope to be a very busy bee creating new items for everyone to enjoy. I already bought a few things for the table to help display the items but I need to make more stock to make the display useful. Lol.
Since last year I didn't really have much fun, I told myself that if I returned for the 2nd year I would definately make it worth while for me to meet new people and take cosplay pictures. I missed out on this chance last year so my goal is to take 50 pictures of cosplayers. :) If you plan to cosplay this year please let me know what you want to cosplay as --- I've always wanted to cosplay but I'm not confident enough to represent any anime character yet... Lol.
This is a pretty short update but thank you for reading and I'll update with pictures of the contact lenses soon~!
Sorry for disappearing from the face of the earth but the past few months have been a little bit hectic for me. I went on a few vacations and attended a family wedding. I wanted to write about my trips in Seattle, Wa and Vancouver, BC but due to unfortunate event that took place, my camera had been stolen so I didn't think there was a point to talk about my tour of the 2 beautiful cities without showcasing some amazing pictures with it.
It also sucks that my camera had gotten stolen because it was a 2 week old Canon point and shoot camera that I had purchased just for these trips. :( However, I saved a little bit of money after the trip and purchased the same camera again! ^___^ It was kind of dumb to purchase the same camera again but I thought I should teach myself the full functions of this camera first before moving on to the more technical Canon 7D DSLR I originally planned to purchased.
During this month, I took a lot of photos for a friend of mine to help advertise her cute circle lenses so please be patient once more til my next update. Her store in located in Pacific Mall and it's called Miu Box so if you happen to be in the mall please come by her store to take a look at all the Japanese and Korean cosmetics she has to offer.
Other than this little update I wrote -- stay tune for future picture posts and possible reviews.
Happy Chinese New Year~!
&
Thank you for reading,
Aya
**This event happened in July... sorry to make you guys wait so long but here it is!**
Atomic Lollipop took place on Saturday July 30 and ended on Sunday July 31. It was Toronto's first convention dedicated to anime and music which had taken place at Anime North's Sheraton Conference Centre. Tickets were priced a little high considering that it was it's first year -- $35 [early bird] and $45 [paid at the door] but even though it was pricy, it was still well worth it for most attendees because of all the fun-packed schedule. There was a lot of rave parties going on inside the hotel hallways and outside the hotel including a rave/electro concert in the Kyandi panel room featuring "BESPA KUMAMERO"! Bespa Kumamero is an electro-duo from Japan who came to Toronto to launch it's first Canadian tour and let me say, their music was very up-lifting and enjoyable as it made me forget about my stresses and dance. If you have no idea who Bespa Kumamero is, their music is similar to Perfume and Aural Vampire.
So what did I do on the first day of Atomic Lollipop? I help ran a Lolita fashion contest for the convention in which Joyce and I were hand-picked judges from the main coordinators. The fashion show went by really quick because the entries were capped at 20 people. There were 3 segments during the show; first being the models getting interviewed by the judges --- asking questions like where they got their inspiration(s) from, what their favorite brands were, etc. Second was where all the models walked out on the stage one by one posing and third was having their picture of a 2nd coordination up on the projector for bonus points. The show was short but sweet as everyone that participated had fun and enjoyed walking on stage with full confidence. On Sunday the winners were announced: Cadney [Best Lolita Overall], Whitney [Best Classic Lolita], Jackie [Best Sweet Lolita] and Gen [Best Gothic Lolita]. During the show, my favorite model that walked out on that stage was Gen! Her pose and style was so bold that when she walked out on stage, it brought tears to my eyes. Her coordinate was perfect as she added little accents like lace around her eyes to make her face pop.
After the contest, I had to help Cadney and Joyce set up the Lolita fashion panel. There was a lot of technical difficulties but in the end, everyone learned a lot about the fashion and seemed interested. I also donated a lot of Dolly Pink goods as prizes for people who participated in the panel which were a popular pick! **YAY!!**
Meanwhile as the panel was taking place, I went back to the Artist Alley to chill with Baby Pinku [Pinkly Ever After] and Bel and Eli [Atomic Ami]. Gen had to leave early so I didn't get much time to talk to her but I did the next day as Sunday I didn't have to help run anything except the Artist Alley table! It was a little boring to sit there and do nothing so I went around the convention collecting a lot of the balloons to get ready for a photo shoot I had planned with my Lolita friends. However... all of our dreams were crushed when they got confiscated for no reason by a mean old lady, which sort of ruined our day but we still took photos nonetheless.
After an action-packed weekend, Atomic Lollipop was ready for its' first closing ceremony in which they announced that it would come back the following year! With a successful premier, there will be a lot of anticipation from con-goers in 2012. Overall, I had a lot of fun at Atomic Lollipop -- there was a lot of excitement, parties, beautiful people and most of all I got to spend it with my friends [Gen, Cadney, Joyce, Lanii, and Jackie]. What fun would it be without your fellow Lolita fashionistas?
Thank you for reading lovelies~!
Love,
Aya
Here are some Atomic Lollipop pictures I managed to take of friends and cosplayers: [Please click on the pictures to view the full image]
Cadney, Lanii, Me & Meek
Ciara and Me!
Ciara is cosplaying Madoka *hopefully that's the right character >__<;*
Quick faceshot of me
Joyce and all of the epic balloons I collected *___*
Me, Cadney & Joyce
Photo Credit: Cadney
Me and my boyfriend Kyu
He was only able to hang out for 1 day and then went to work. :(
Kyu and I again
A sneaky shot of Lanii taking pictures of Cadney & Joyce
Joyce and I
This was what we both wore on Saturday when we were judging contestants.
Photo Credit: Cadney
Kyu as Vampire Knight Kaname-sama
Photo Credit: Cadney
Bespa Kumamero @ their concert
Gen and I
Gen at the Artist Alley table: Dolly Pink & After Alice
Last week I was soo busy that I couldn't write any entry about my new puppy. I went all the way to a yorkie breeder in Etobicoke, Ontario which is 2 hours away from where I live by bus but it was well worth it. I have never been puppy shopping so this was my first time buying a puppy. I have wanted a pet yorkie for quite some time and I told myself that with the money I earn from Anime North, I would buy myself a new pup. I was very lucky to have found the perfect little girl on my first try and let me be honest with you, it was soo hard to pick just ONE puppy from the litter. >__<; I had a choice between 2 girls and 1 boy; the boy was the smallest and oldest of the litter and weighed about 1 pound [if grown up, he will weigh no more than 2-3 lbs], Kumi/the second youngest pup [if grown up, she will be a maximum of 3-4 lbs], and the second girl [if grown up, she will be atleast 5 lbs or more].
I didn't pick the boy even though I really like small dogs because I knew it would be really difficult to take care of him and since he wouldn't grow anymore, it wouldn't be fun to just walk around showing him off like a novelty when I really wanted a puppy I can play and bond with. Treating any dog as a novelty wouldn't be fair to him/her but be treated like your family and special. Why? Because they are going to spend the rest of their lives with you, be there when you're down and love you no matter what. Any pet in general not just dogs, should be treated with respect and love. I recently read a really sad article about the puppy boom in Japan and it's unfortunate that most of the people that buy dogs over there, only buy them for novelty purposes and as a result abandon or worse, execute them. (Please read/refer to this article: Dark Side of Japan's Pet Boom)
After playing with the new puppy I got, I decided to think of names for her which was hard. My mom suggested all these typical small dog names like: Lucy, Angel, and Mimi and my sister suggested: Bella. I knew that this puppy was going to be very special to me and my life so I wanted to give her a unique name that I felt matches her. On the 1st night I couldn't think of anything but on the next day, I came up with Kumi, Yumi, Hikki and Kyuki [a play-on name with my boyfriend's name Kyu]. Even with all these choices, I still went on Facebook to ask my online friends for suggestions which ended with total fail/no help... However, by the morning of the 3rd day and playing with her for a bit, I picked her up and looked into her eyes --- and in that moment I knew that she was a Kumi.
Kumi was borned on April 25, 2011 [during the week of the Royal Wedding! Woot~!] and weighs approximately 1.5 lbs. She is a Yorkshire Terrier and her current fur color is dark brown and tan. As of 6 weeks old, she still doesn't have any teeth and can't bark. When Kumi runs, she trips and falls everywhere because her sense of balance is still a bit off. Her favorite toy is a "Puppy Toy Turtle Plushie" I bought from a pet store. She loves the squeeking sound the turtle makes and carries it everywhere around the house. With this week coming by fast, I know that I will always love Kumi like a daughter and never part with her.
Here is a picture of Kumi: [Please click the image to enlarge]
On Friday June 3, 2011 I went to a mini lolita meet-up to say farewell to Akane, a fellow lolita from Spain. Akane had visited from Spain to attend Anime North but unfortunately for me, I only got to talk to her for a few minutes before she had to go home so I had to make sure I attended this meet up to wish her farewell.
I first met up with everyone at Pacific Mall for some shopping but since I came late, they had already taken purikura pictures without me. After some shopping, people wanted to take pictures of the group because of the beautiful coordinates everyone was wearing but the security guard threaten to kick us out if we took any pictures inside the mall. I wasn't actually there to see this happen but a lot of the girls told me what he said. *sigh* Honestly, since this security guy was new, he was probably going on a power trip because I've hosted numberous meets at Pacific Mall & taken a lot of pictures without any complaints.
Anywho, after Pacific Mall, the group decided to head to Market Village [a small complex beside Pacific Mall] to have some dinner and shop. There wasn't much variety at Market Village so I just ate a very plain dish - shanghai noodles & soy milk. The clerk I bought food from was very kind and complimented us by saying that we were all pretty in Cantonese which I understood. Once we finished eating, we headed to a store called 'Smart Maple' to buy some cute Hello Kitty stuff where I was greeted again by 3 girls also complimenting about us. ^__^ During this encounter, I felt really happy to know that a lot of people enjoyed our take on Japanese fashion which was a new experience to Akane as well since she told us that she hardly goes out in lolita with a group.
After Smart Maple, we headed to 'One's,' another store that sold a bunch of Japanese things. There, I bought a cardholder because my ghetto dollar store one ripped. I got a Twin Stars one because it was the one I found the cutest and pink! When I showed Akane, she also expressed that she wanted one but had no money so I decided to get another one [she picked the same as mine's] and give it to her as a gift. She was so kind and gracious that she didn't want to take it, but after 5 minutes of persistance she then accepted my gift. Travelling to another country by yourself can be scary at times and so I felt like I had to be a really good host and make this trip memorable for her which I succeeded since she was really happy with it. ^___^
I did manage to take a lot of photos with the group but again... if they look blurry I apologize in advance for that. If you want to know which person is me, I am the girl with blonde hair wearing the Angelic Pretty hime-inspi red halter dress. I tried my best to do gyaru make-up but unfortunately I am still not good at it. I need to learn how to do better eye make-up and contouring. Anyways if you're wondering what make-up products I used, it was my Anna Sui orange blush [to give me a more modern princess look], my Tarina Sparkle Eye Palette [for the gyaru eye make-up look] and of course my Dolly Wink lashes -- you can't look like a cute princess without big lashes. Lol~! I also teased my hair after I curled it to give it more volumn but by the end of the day, my hair just fell flat as you can see in the photos. As for Akane, she was the lolita with the Angelic Pretty red polkdot cutsew and yellow sweet jam skirt. I managed to take a couple shots with her so I hope you enjoy them. ^___^
When we finished taking group pictures, we all opted to go to karaoke to sing our hearts out. Akane was very talented with her Japanese songs as she remembered all of her lyrics. One of the songs I really remembered her singing was 'Dear J - Tomomi Itano' because her accent and voice was soo cute~! I wish we could go karaoke a lot together but it's too bad she doesn't live here. >__<; If Akane was an aspiring J-pop idol I would definately support her because her personality is really sweet and her voice is soo natural and cute! Ahhh~!!! fangirl syndrome... *fast forward* A lot of the girls had fun and despite the owner giving me the wrong total amount for the room cost, we all figured it out smoothly. At the end of our fun, the manager took a picture of the group so we can be on their wall of fame but we didn't get to keep one because it would have costed extra for that, which is stupid since we're not charging them to TAKE OUR PICTURE for their wall. Ughh...
This was how the night basically ended and we departed ways. Thanks for reading and remember to sign my "guestbook" which is located on the top menu.
Love,
Aya
Here are the pictures of the meet-up. Just click on the picture to view the full image.
`My Long Awaited Anime North Post [Dolly Pink and Overall Experience]
Hey there dolls!
I know I haven't been updating my personal blog often... but I hope to make it up to you guys now with a bunch of picture posts!
First off, I'm going to talk about my overall Anime North experience. I already made 2 big posts about it on Dolly Pink's blog but I guess I can talk about my personal experience with Anime North's convention. As you may have noticed from Dolly Pink's blog, I was part of the Anime North's Crafter's Corner section to promote my upcoming brand Dolly Pink. This left me with little to no time to explore the convention itself even though I worked along side Pinkly Ever After. The designers who were in charged of P.E.A. were hardly there and that was because they were mostly busy promoting Pinku Project, a J-pop idol group. When the crafter's corner closed, that's when I had 1-2 hours to roam about in the Doubletree Hotel which I also reserved a room there. Every year, I try my best to attend a lot of panels because that's where all the fun is. I get to meet new people, learn interesting things [anime or cultural related] and share my thought on whatever topic is present.
Even though I am a shy person at heart, I try my best to talk to as many people as I can so I can feel comfortable just talking. Talking a lot is a skill and it is something I need if I ever decide to go into the business field. Anyways... back to Anime North. I noticed that a lot of people that attended this year who were not in cosplay wore lolita or other Japanese fashions. I never knew lolita was going to grow so popular here in Toronto but it did! I did take some pictures but most of them were taken by my boyfriend, Kyu. I saw a lot of pokemon cosplays, Vocaloid, and a lot of lolita cloning. If you don't know what lolita cloning is, it's basically just more than 1 girl wearing the same lolita outfit/coordinate. My friends did an Angelic Pretty cloning with Milky Planet and Sugary Carnival; the 2 most rare and popular AP prints! Again.. since I was too busy with my crafter's table, I didn't get the chance to clone with them as I do own both of these prints as well. T_______T I haven't clone with anyone before so it would have been soo much fun if I did participate in their group.
For Friday and Saturday, I tried to eat healthy as much as possible to keep my energy levels high and alert. For both lunches, I ate mostly sandwiches like egg salad and cold cuts while drinking only water to keep myself hydrated. If you are to survive any con, you need to have a big bottle of water. I lost my voice a couple ANs back because I didn't drink any water so now I know that drinking water is super important!!! Despite the heathly lunch, Kyu really wanted to eat MEAT so I had Harvey's for dinner on Friday and Korean food on Saturday. >__<; Harvey's chicken burger was ok... [I prefer their original hamburger better] the Korean food we ate was horrific! Kyu's kalbi [priced at about $17] tasted really decent while my beef stew [priced at about $13] was fail... We did order some sashimi but thank God we cancelled it after eating the Korean food because could you imagine eating rotten sushi and getting sick from that?! No thanks~! I already got food poisoned from Kelsey's 2 years back and I do not want to contract that sickness again...
On Sunday, that's when Kyu and I did our last minute shopping before Anime North officially closes. I took a quick 5 min walk around in dealer's room and another 10 min walk around in artist alley. Nothing really interested me in dealer's room but I wanted to get so many artwork from the artists there. Kyu managed to get a few Final Fantasy art posters [which were absolutely stunning imo] and a cute amigurumi bear from Atomic Ami! I remembered I bought an orange bear from them a few years back so when I got another bear from their new collection I was super excited~!! They really changed their game plan this year with the new table theme for their bears and fashion outlook that even I couldn't recognize them. Lol. I really have to hand it to them for the vast changes they made over the years from table display, amigurumi designs to outfit coordinations! If you can, please go to their site and support them for their hardwork. ^___^ Before leaving, please remember to sign my guestbook by clicking on "GUEST BOOK" on the top menu and I will visit you right back.
Thank you for reading.
Love,
Aya~
Okay.. now here comes the part everyone has been waiting for... PICTURES!!! To view the full image, just click on the image to enlarge. Please note that these are the same pictures I posted on Dolly Pink's blog. Thanks.
Today I went to a local lolita meet up and met so many new and old members of my local community. We went to Pacific Mall to shop around and karaoke to sing and have fun. I didn't get a chance to take any coordinate shots of my outfit or many photos of the members but here is a video made by Pinkly Ever After. If you see a girl with blonde hair and a blue sweet lolita dress [Angelic Pretty's - Sugary Carnival Jumperskirt] that's me!
Pinkly Ever After [Dolly Pink's Affiliate] also went to this event as well and you can see them in the video.
Leah is wearing a beautiful white one piece dress and Robin is wearing a very cute pink one piece dress as well! I love Leah's dress so much but unfortunately it's hard to find elegant pieces like that now a days since Lolita fashion has changed quite a bit with prints being more in demand.
Although the meet was very short and brief, I had a lot of fun none the less. It's been awhile since I was able to meet other sweet lolitas other than myself. A lot of the girls in the community lean more towards the classic lolita look and so seeing other sweet lolitas is a very nice change. Maybe before Anime North, I will host yet another meet for my local lolita friend, Courtney because it will be her birthday in May.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the video and thank you for visiting my blog.
Lots of love,
Aya
P.S. Don't forget to sign my guestbook! ^__^ Thanks!
♥ Cbox & Etiquette
Cbox Etiquette
1. Please show common courtesy and respect one another.
2. Do not swear in the cbox.
3. Any spam found will be deleted and an ip ban will be in effect.
4. Strictly no advertising! If you want me to advertise your shop(s) or website(s) please contact me at: Raspberry.Doll [at] gmail.com and I will work something out.
5. Lastly, enjoy signing the guest book.
Thank you,
Aya
♥ Disclaimer
All the images used in any of Raspberry Day's contents are copyrighted to their respective owners/artitsts unless otherwise stated. R.D. does not claim those as her own and credit is given to the source(s)' site.
The credited urls are listed right under this disclaimer and R.D. would like to give a BIG thanks to the following sites listed. If the urls do not work, it means that the source's site is no longer available or can not be found.
♥ Credits
Layout/Graphics Layout Designer : Aya Basic Coder : Nicole
Layout Designer :