Last Thursday I completed my last final of my undergraduate life. I think that in a few weeks I'll probably start to feel much more accomplished over it, but not before I finish simply being extremely happy to be finished with finals, and then after being overwhelmed by job searching. Since graduating, I've been focused on getting my room back in order and getting on top of all of the work that I slacked on during finals, but I've also been up to some fun stuff as well! On Saturday I had the pleasure of doing a graduation photo shoot with a very talented friend of mine, which I might share when he finishes editing the photos. Between that and being fed grapes off the vine by my boyfriend while I lounge around in his room, I've also gotten a fair amount of shopping done as a present to myself for graduating.
I saw that preorders for the Liz Lisa happy bags were opening the day after my last final, and I was waffling on getting one for myself, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, I treated myself to a combination of Daiso, eBay, and thrift shopping!
Daiso
Right after finals my friends and I headed over to the local Japanese district to have lunch. We ate at a delicious okonomiyaki restaurant called Gottsui. My stomach was still in knots from finals, so I didn't order much, but I snacked off of my friend's plates and ordered myself some miso soup and an unbelievably delicious watermelon tea. The card reader on my computer isn't working lately, so I can't share too many pictures,
but I did post a picture of my tea on instagram.
After eating we poked around
Tokyo Japanese Outlet which was filled with adorable things as usual, and then headed over to Daiso. I've been really into scrunchies lately, so I made a point to stock up, and also found a cute bow clip for wearing with my ponytails.
I also picked up a super cute cat fan (since even in the winter, it still gets hot in this area
) along with some peachy sparkly nail polish and a new set of false lashes I hadn't seen at Daiso before! They reminded me of Dolly Wink's Sweet Cat eyelashes, but they're only $1.50! I was excited to see a more natural looking lash, since normally I wouldn't want to wear Daiso lashes outside of cosplay only. I did try them on briefly and was disappointed at how uncomfortable they were, but I'm going to give it another try when I have plenty of time to do my makeup and see if I hadn't just applied them wrong that day.
eBay
I've started winning auctions... please don't let me get addicted! This auction was ending the evening after my final. It was a very close auction with two others bidding for it, but I let all of my pent up stress from the last couple of weeks guide me. I didn't want to pay more than $20 initially, so I chose my bid to be under $20 with shipping included. After pushing the button though, and with only 1 second to spare, it turns out another bidder had set their max bid to something higher, and I was outbid. Without thinking, I clicked to bid 50 cents higher... and miraculously not only did that bid go though before the end of the auction, but it happened to be higher than the other bidder's maximum bid. It was so suspenseful, and I felt so proud to have come out victorious.
Even though this skirt seems to be offbrand (the seller did not list any brand or show any photos of the tag, so I have no idea) I think it's extremely cute. The print seems to be a bunch of tiny bows, and the lace at the bottom looks like it's a nice quality. I think the skirt has a nice flannel type of fabric as well, which makes it perfect for winter. Definitely can't wait to receive it!
After the thrill of winning the last auction, I was actually kind of let down that this listing only had a "Buy It Now" option. Still though, $15 for an Ank Rouge shirt seemed too good to pass up, especially since I've been in need of cute short sleeved blouses like this for the past few months. On the one hand, I really hope it is not a replica, but as long as it looks nice, at this price I'll be happy with it either way.
Incidentally, this is probably the least thought I've put into any purchase since I started building my wardrobe. I think a combination of the low price, the fact that I've been in such short supply of blouses, my feelings of victory over finals, and the fact that it matches so well with the skirt I had just bought, made this blouse a very easy decision. I love that the brown bow embroidered on the collar goes so well with the bows on the skirt. I'll definitely be wearing these together a lot.
I actually only bought this My Melody coin purse because it was cheap and I wanted something to practice bidding on to make sure I remembered how it worked. Well, it turns out that I won anyway. I've never used coin purses much, but I always struggle with change when I put it in my wallet, so maybe I'll give it a try. I'm sure I can find something to put inside, even if it's just small jewelry or something like that.
When my birthday came around in late September, my mom asked me what I wanted as a gift. At the time I had been really busy with school and conventions so I wasn't able to ever actually do anything. So, now that I graduated she asked if there was anything I'd like for graduation and my birthday. Sometimes it can be really hard for me to think of things to ask for, but I thought about it and realized that I'd been admiring this Penderie Cat OP for months. After looking at it more, it seemed like such an obvious thing to ask for.
I love the vintage style cut of the dress, and the kind of sad kittens. Even the "Please take me along!" in the print is a sentiment I can relate to a lot. I just vibe with this dress on just about every level. I'm especially happy with it as a graduation present like this, since I'm also fairly certain that it will have a place in my wardrobe even if I eventually decide to move away from himekaji and Liz Lisa in general. It's definitely a piece that I love as a piece on it's own, even before factoring in how nice it looks with the rest of my wardrobe. Thanks again, mom!
Thrift Store
On Sunday my boyfriend and I decided to go on a thrift store date. I was really happy with my purchases so far, but wanted to treat myself just a little bit more, without diving for any more brand items in the auctions. (There is one more bag which I am probably going to try for, but since I'm already going up against 2 other bidders I think I'll avoid giving myself any more competition and only bring it up after the auction ends
) It turns out that we were very lucky, because we arrived within the last hour of an unexpected sale where all clothing in the whole store was only $2.99. I should mention that this is a Goodwill in a pretty rich area, so a lot of the clothing you'll find is in very good shape and there's even a lot of clothes from designer labels. It was really fortunate that we decided to go when we did!
I may pack this away until Summer, but I thought that something like this would be very cute over a dress or with a fluffy skirt. I love the swiss dot fabric with hearts all over it.
This shirt feels a little bit itchy, but I love the color and the rose lace pattern, and I'm in desperate need of more cute long sleeved shirts for Winter. I'm hoping that I can do something in the wash to make it a bit softer, but it's not so itchy that it's a big deal if not. The more I looked at this shirt, the happier I was over it, since I think the color and rose motif will pair it really nicely with my
Hello Kitty JSK that I bought a while ago.
I have lots of cardigans that I've accumulated over the years, but they're all plain solid color ones. I think the lace on this sweater is very cute, and it'd go good with the skirt and blouse that I got on eBay. It is also a little bit itchy, but I can always wear long sleeves underneath if I can't make it any softer. It feels very warm. I think this brand (Heritage 1981) dissolved a few years ago but when it first came out I always thought their stuff looked really cute and vintage. It might be a good example of western clothes that can fit easily into a himekaji wardrobe.
I wasn't totally sold on this coat, but for $2.99 I figured that it was worth it to get just to experiment with. I don't have any really cute coats that fit with my style very well yet. Since it doesn't get that cold where I live, this isn't a huge deal, but I've been keeping my eyes open for coats that might be easy to modify to look more hime. Although the cut of this coat isn't anything special, the color was really cute and I think goes with a lot of the things that I own right now. I'm thinking of finding some faux fur to replace the collar with, perhaps replace the buttons with something cuter or add a ribbon to the collar, and add faux fur bows to the pockets. I think if I pull it off it can look really cute.
This is the only item I bought that isn't really for my wardrobe. I was helping my boyfriend look for jackets and happened to see the back of this. "Is that a Portal jacket?" I was really surprised to see it! My boyfriend was so salty that it didn't fit him, but it fits me me perfectly! I probably won't wear it on a daily basis, but we've been talking about going to some gaming conventions in the future, so now I'll have something to wear! I'm not a huge gamer myself, but Portal is one of the games that I've played and really enjoyed, even though the textures in the second one made me feel kind of sick if I played for many hours.
My boyfriend said that Jinx usually makes really high quality stuff, so unsurprisingly this one feels really nice! The inside is a very soft fleece and in general it feels really sturdy and it's super warm. I looked online and apparently these go for around $50 new, and it seems like size small is sold out just about everywhere. $2.99, ladies and gentlemen! I love thrift stores.
Wow, that feels like a lot of stuff! Once my room is in better shape, I'm going to be hitting the sewing machine and knitting needles pretty hard. I want to make so many things for my wardrobe, and I have lots of Christmas presents to make as well!
Stay warm everyone,
Until next time!
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