If you knew what the bluebirds sang at you, you would never sing along

I've been very busy lately, but I had a test today so workload tomorrow is not as bad. Since I had a little extra time, I decided to go to the Disney Store today since I've been meaning to do that. There weren't that many people at the mall, but for some reason the Disney Store was extremely busy and crowded. I found a lot of things I wanted to get, but the line for checkout looked like it was going to take at least half an hour to get through, so I ended up not buying anything. A few shops down, though, there was a sale going on and I ended up buying a new skirt. Hope I can go back to the Disney Store again soon when there aren't so many people!

a little bit of shopping.

Today was the flea market, which means new clothes for me! The Bring Your Own Bag policy has finally hit my city, and I haven't quite gotten used to it yet, so I brought my unicorn tote bag which is pretty big in my standards, but in reality can only fit up to three garments. It got to a point where I had to carry everything I bought in my arms, so a nice lady gave me a few extra bags to hold everything in.

Today's haul!

a scottish wool sweater. It's a bit scratchy

eyeball sweater!!

saxe blue nightgown.

tricot bed jacket. I have a similar one with short puff sleeves.

another nightgown! This one has no flare so I wore it unbuttoned with a petticoat I found at Goodwill.

Also got this cute pillow!

In addition to my flea market things, I received my Bodyline order today! I got a pair of shoes, some bloomers, and a cardigan.

Flea market days are good days.

Love, Kaia

let luck be on my side.

I love getting lucky packs, and I'm always hoping that BTSSB SF are doing winter lucky packs while I'm in California in the winter. It hasn't happened in a while. But this year I decided to try my luck with an overseas lucky pack. An expensive one to boot.
I ordered directly from the Baby Japan website for the first time. There were 3 different set options for Baby and 2 for AATP. I ended up going with the Princess Set, which was about half the price as the most expensive option. It was said to come with two jumperskirts, a cutsew OP, a coat, blouse, a bag, socks, hair accessory, stationery, etc.

I had it sent to school during break and had to wait till I was back to see what I got. Pretty anxious to open it when I got this big box upon my arrival!

 I wouldn't say I was disappoint with what I received at all, but I'd be lying if I said I felt like I got what I wanted. The problem I had was that there was a coat that I was dying to have, but it'd been sold out on the website and wasn't for sale in the San Francisco location, so I had really hoped I would get it in the lucky pack. Didn't happen.

Onto the contents!
This piece was the first one I saw when I opened the box.

Sweet Jewelry Princess Garnet! I was really surprised with this one; I wasn't expecting any of the border print JSKs so this one was a pleasant surprise. I would have loved this one in the navy or offwhite colorway, though. Black and pink takes me back to my not so pleasant middle school days.


My face fell when I got this one. It's definitely very pretty, but I always pray that I don't get anything pink in my luckypacks. Pink is my favorite color but Baby and Angelic Pretty make bubblegum pinks that are too saturated for my liking. The black with pink was already pushing it a little. There's no give on this one. No shirring in the back so it's a little tight for me. The details are lovely, though. It has a flocky crown print and pearls on the chest.

This coat was the next item, Teddy Ribbon Coat. It was definitely not the coat that I wanted, but BIG sigh of relief I got cream. I was hoping to not get black. Dark colored dresses I'm alright with since there's usually a balance of light colors in the print, but I have a hard time wearing too much black now.

Next is the blouse! I was hoping to get the shirred babydoll blouse because I've wanted it for as long as I've been in lolita (five years now!), and another girl in the comm got one in hers. Unfortunately I didn't get it. Hoping to sell this one because there's no stretch in it and it doesn't fit me.

The cutsew OP I received was really cute. I almost like how it looks, but the sleeves are a little puff and the skirt isn't too full so I don't like the proportioning. Too top heavy. If it were sleeveless I might have wanted to keep it.

A piano keys cardigan! This is charming. It comes in three colorways, pink, white, and black, and I think the white one is my favorite.

A pink bolero. I was pretty eghhh about this one but it looks like my pack was coordinated relatively nicely, as this pairs up perfectly with the first jumperskirt up top.

    This bag, I really do like. It's perfectly sized for papers and books. I've been wanting a heart bag but those sell well and I'd been pretty certain that they wouldn't be giving them out in lucky packs so I was preparing for the worst as far as bags go. I was expecting something small like a clutch or a pochette.
More pink. I suppose to go with all the other pink in the pack.

Plain white socks. I'm not fond of knee high socks so these will probably be sold.

   Brand stationery items! Usakuma kind of freaks me out. I wish they'd do black bead eyes instead of red and blue eyes.

I put everything on sale or for trade, so I was trying out some of the things this morning. I have a habit of wearing the things I'm selling for as long as possible before I part with it. Which I think makes sense but it's also a bit silly because I've been wearing this Sweet Jewelry Princess JSK for a few hours and I'm starting to get attached to it.
The pink is much more pastel than I remember it being when I first opened it. This one has already found a new owner, so I will be parting with it by next week. I wasn't super excited about any of the items that I got in the pack, but after having them around for almost a month, they're growing on me.


Still hoping someone will trade me for the coat and blouse! I'm going to get back to work.
Love, Kaia

international lolita day.

Happy December! Yesterday was International Lolita Day, which takes place twice every year, once in June and once in December. I bought a lucky pack from Angelic Pretty during their 2nd anniversary event online, hoping I could wear that yesterday. I've never bought a dress from Angelic Pretty before, so getting one was pretty exciting! The only thing is that I'm not a huge fan of sweet styles and Angelic Pretty is all about sweet. I was just hoping I wouldn't get pink.
First reaction: welp bummer, it's pink. Which isn't totally unsuspected, since pink is often the color left over. Pink is my favorite color. Just not Angelic Pretty pink. Or Baby the Stars Shine Bright pink (I like Victorian Maiden or Innocent World pink).
I looked it up, and this one is called Polka Dot Chocolate. It's cute, but I didn't quite get that lucky with my lucky pack because I was hoping for not-pink not-satin not-onepiece. I'm a jsk kind of gal.
Needless to say, I sold it for about the same price that I got it for. I figured a cute dress deserves an owner that would wear it. I snapped a couple pictures of it tried on.
On an unrelated note my hair turned kind of reddish in a freak accident. I flipped out the same way Howl did when his hair turned black. There was a New York tea party event with the other lolitas in the area yesterday, but I didn't go because money, the lack of, and time. I had a field trip and a bunch of errands to run in the city that I didn't make it back to my dorm until 11. I forgot to put into account that several trains are under construction on weekends, so I ran around transferring all over. Hectic. So I didn't dress up because I'd be running around and also because it's like 30 degrees.

Welcome back, colder weather!

Love,
Kaia

seasons a-changing

I used to post all of the clothes that I got from thrifting and shopping trips on this blog. I wonder if anyone noticed that I haven't done that very much this past year. The reason for that is pretty straightforward. I haven't done much shopping at all since I got to college. It's been getting pretty chilly lately, and I've been wearing the same jacket pretty much every day for the past month. I think that was a sign that I needed to get some new jackets, so I went to Goodwill to check up on outerwear.
From Goodwill, I got the two items on the bottom, a knit vest and a cropped coat jacket. The knit jacket and bear hat are from Beacons Closet.
Some sweaters! I love sweaters more than anything. The one on the right is from Goodwill, and the other two are from the swap and drop box on my dorm floor (freebies!) Overall, I didn't get much that's think enough to substitute for my everyday jacket. Probably have to keep my eyes out. Something else I got recently, this t-shirt by EmmyC on threadless. It has a cute allover design with businessmen all over it. I like to stop to read it sometimes.
I need more long sleeves.

Love,
Kaia

wu hoo!

Getting items on my wishlist, especially items that have been on my wishlist for a long time, feels really accomplishing. Does anyone remember the Jason Wu for CND nail polish collected that I was dying for last spring? The one that I didn't buy because it was $47 and I couldn't break the bank for it? The one that was over $50 after shipping? I have it now. On a whim, I decided to check it up to see if it was still for sale and surprise! It's 70% off! My lucky day. I snatched that baby up before you can count to three(hundred). It's $15 currently, plus $5 for shipping. Not bad, not bad at all. In addition, it comes with a bottle of free nail replenishing oil. Gee, what a deal. I bought my set on Goindulge. I'm pretty sure they're still available. The colors are my kind of colors. Sophia is the mushroom taupe that I've thought of buying several times from Chanel and Nars, which were both over my budget. Bridgette(dusty rose) is darker than my skin tone, which was surprising. I thought it'd be about the same tone. Regardless, it's quite pretty. I didn't think I would like Miss Wu(light grey) because I thought it'd be too light for my liking, but it turned out to be my favorite out of them all. It's the only matte nail polish I've ever owned, which is...different. I'm not sure if I like that. But there's always topcoat. Veronica is probably the only color I wouldn't wear, but you know. Never say never. It's quite pretty, just not suitable on me. But that's not it for the Jason Wu wishlist! I talked myself out of going to the Jason Wu for Target collection because I didn't want to spend any more money. But the more pictures I saw, the more I regretted not going. In March I checked the stock and there were a couple size 6's available within traveling distance from me (one in Harlem, one in Elmhurst). It's not hard getting around New York, but it takes a lot of time and time I did not have so I opted to order the size 8 that was available online and hope for the best. If it didn't fit, I could take it back and return it to a Target. It came and it fit! But not well, so I guess you could count that as not fitting. The waist was fine because it came with a belt, but the bust was really, really loose and did not look flattering at all, and this is supposed to be a flattering dress. I didn't take it back right away because I was hoping there would be someone with a smaller size that would be willing to trade with me. In early April, I joined a Jason Wu for Target facebook group and found a girl who was willing to sell me her size 4. I am so happy with it. I think the 4 is a better fit than the 6. Tomorrow, I'm taking back the size 8 to Target, since I wont be needing that one anymore. Two Wu items obtained! The only Wu wishlist item left is the pair of Jason Wu x Melissa pink bow flats. But I don't think I'll be buying these. I contemplated for a really long time in December when I saw that they were available in Saks, but I convinced myself no. On another note. The senior fashion show was today and I got pictures! I am not a photographer so my pictures are pretty terrible, but some pictures are better than no pictures, so I will hopefully have them up tomorrow or next week. Seeing the seniors present their work just makes me all the more excited about my own collection. Love, Kaia

forest prancing.

This is rare, I never do moodboards. I've been feeling really mori girl lately. I went to the flea market on Saturday thinking I wouldn't find anything I wanted, but I got pretty lucky.

There weren't a lot of vendors out, most likely because they were predicting to have rain in January. Around a quarter to a third of the vendors weren't there, but I ended up a lot more things to buy than I usually do.
In total, I bought a sweater,a skirt, a fake fur stole, two scarves, a capelet, a lace thing, socks, and a perfume bottle. And nothing over $10. I missed the flea market back at home so much; Brooklyn flea is much smaller and pricier.
Some closeups of the socks I bought.
The fur one was $5! The other two were a little more expensive.
This Odette Barsa lace bed jacket is one of my happiest buys! It's the prettiest color and the details are so lovely (look that the bow lace overlay!!) and best of all, it was affordable, at $5.

I wanted to get pictures of the sweater and the skirt by themselves too, but I couldn't get any good ones so I think I'll do some outfit snaps for them sometime instead.

A recent scan of a sketch I drew
Interestingly, the capelet in the left picture is somewhat similar to the bed jacket I found at the flea market, but I drew the sketch much earlier. I did get pretty lucky this time around.

Love, Kaia

thrift shopping in the upper east side.

Today I had to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a field trip, so I decided to make a round to the Upper East Side Goodwill, because I've been wanting to visit for months. Before moving to New York, I had always wondered if the clothes would be any different in thrift shops if they were donated in the Upper east and west side. Just the front of the shop gave me a pretty good first impression. It looked a little bit different than all the other Goodwills I've been to.
The inside isn't really much different than most other Goodwills. There are still some parts that are kind of grimy, especially the fitting room.

The difference is that it's true. That the price for clothes are a little bit more expensive. And big brands are everywhere. Really. There are still the Target items, of course. A pair of shoes from Target were $15. They would have been half that price at the Goodwill back at home. Brands like Steve Madden and Nine West and Stuart Weitzman and BCBG are $25.

In this location, they have their boutique items and regular items. Boutique items are more expensive, but it's not hard for me to find something I really love. I found a beautiful printed silk dress from Tracy Reese, which would have retailed for over $400, for just $25. Definitely a markdown. It looked really new too. I would have leaped to buy it, but it was three sizes too big, and chances are I would just have it hanging in my closet if it's not my size.

I was in the shop for a pretty long time; definitely past an hour. And I hadn't even looked through everything. The shop is pretty small, but I found several things that I wanted to try on. After trying on piles and piles of clothes, I narrowed down to three pieces.
The left one is the expensive one; a $60 Coach coat. The middle one is $20 Esprit, and the right is $8 J. Jill. I'm not kidding when I say brands everywhere. There is the occasional designer piece, too. I'm still a little sad about the Tracy Reese dress. It would have been smart to take a picture.
That's the end of my thrifting trip. There were a few other instances where I've gone thrift shopping since I got here, but I haven't written about them. I was in the 23rd street area where a lot of the thrift stores are, and went to the Goodwill, Salvation Army, and Housing Works there. Because of limited time, I was only in Housing Works for five minutes. My friend went to check prices, though and it's not very cheap, it seems. I'll have to go back to see. The interiors are very nice, though. It's not the usual grimy thrift shop feel. In the five minutes I was there, I bought a tea pot that was missing a lid which I decided to use as a vase for my newly dried flowers.
I've been getting a lot of acne since school started. It's not going away until I get enough sleep and stop stressing, which wont happen until winter break. I an so looking forward to breaks.

Back to the museum, I was supposed to meet my class there at 10am this morning, but because of slight miscalculation on my part, and all the trains that were under construction today (everything, pretty much), I arrived at the museum past 11. I don't think I found my class until around 11:30. Just being able to find them was pretty lucky.
I didn't want to stay around to long when there were so many people and the Costume Institute doesn't have an exhibit, so I'd only been around for an hour.

I did visit the gift shop, though. There are some nice things, but nothing is cheap. I found a bookmark that I wanted to buy as a present to my friend, but for the bookmark alone was $17.

There was also a shirt that I was digging. It's a cityscape photo style shirt, made of cotton and spandex. This t-shirt is $55 if I remember correctly.

Their selection of handkerchiefs are so nice. There are two sides of handkerchiefs. My friend bought me one for my birthday last month, and I've been wearing it pretty frequently recently. It's the one that I'm wearing on my head in the picture with my vase.
While leaving the Met, I dropped a piece of paper, and a guard was trying to call me, and he seemed pretty confused. He called, "lady...sir!" like he couldn't decide if I were male or female. I don't know how many times this has happened. I don't find myself to be all that masculine.

I'm in the workroom tonight, working on homework. Hopefully I can get something done, at least.

Love, Kaia