Dear Gabriella Marie

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Michigan EGL Society’s Sweet 16 Anniversitea

Photo: Mary Anastasia Photography

Hello all! Long time, no post! 

If I’m being honest, I could write a whole post alone based off of my lack of online presence recently. However, I’m choosing to keep things a bit more relevant to the theme of this blog by posting about my amazing community’s most recent event! This year marks the 16th anniversary of Michigan EGL Society’s creation, so to celebrate, some members of our community created this amazing event for us: Our Sweet 16 Anniversitea!

In the time leading up to this event, we had multiple fundraiser auctions within our community, with items donated from people’s own personal collections! It was so great to see the efforts of our organizers and the excitement from our local community for this event. I really cannot express my appreciation for this group enough.

Photo: Mary Anastasia Photography

This highly anticipated event was hosted at Meadow Brook Hall, a gorgeous venue in Metro Detroit that I never had the pleasure to visit until this event! It was the perfect backdrop for our tea – gorgeous, ornate, and historical. There were so many spots to take photos, something I greatly appreciated! Speaking of photos – our organizers were even able to source an amazing photographer for our event through their hard work and our community’s fundraising efforts! Here is the link to our photographer’s website, if you’d like to support their works! 

Photo: Mary Anastasia Photography

Our event officially began at 11AM, but we were invited to show up as early as 10AM to have time to mingle, explore the venue, and have our photos taken. Upon my arrival just after 10AM, I arrived to the room we had reserved and was checked in by one of our mods, Courtney, who also had a birthday we were going to celebrate a bit later! Upon check in, we each received a goodie bag, were asked if we wanted to enter the coordinate contest, and provided with our table assignments.

Photo: Mary Anastasia Photography

The goodie bag was such a sweet touch! It included a mask, an exclusive magnetic pin for our community, tea, some hand sanitizer, post cards from Lady Sloth, and a sweet booklet full of memories and appreciation for our community members. Take a look at my goodie bag haul below! 

After getting to my seat and perusing through my goodie bag, I raced off to the side room where our photographer resided! Here’s the amazing portrait/outfit shot I was able to get. (I rarely like how I look in photos, so the fact that I am so happy with this one speaks wonders about their skills!)

Photo: Mary Anastasia Photography

I wore my Miss Danger Royal Heart JSK, which was featured in a previous post of mine. The blouse is offbrand, the tights are offbrand (Vero Monte on Amazon – I cannot recommend these tights enough!), and the boots are Ellie Shoes’ ‘Sarah Mid Calf Boot’. The crown is by SweetV, my brooch is from TinyPasserine on Etsy, and my necklace is from AsamiMoonland. Moving on…

Once we were all seated, food and drinks started to be served! We started with a wonderful scone, moved on to a small salad, and then onto our main course, and finally ended the meal with this cute little raspberry tart. Our wait staff was professional, polite, and very efficient! I’m attaching a little collage of all of our delicious food items below. 

After we finished our food, it was on to more festivities! First on the list: door prizes! We had a whole set of door prizes from our amazing sponsors! These ranged from socks, to tea, to brand novelty items, to much more! It was such a cool treat for all of us attendees, to have the ability to win a door prize, on top of all of the other goodies we had received!

Photos: Mary Anastasia Photography

We had a couple of lucky tablemates who won twice! One of them was generous enough to give me their second winning ticket, which I received a small prize bag for. It was such a sweet gesture and I’m so thrilled about it still. Thank you, generous table-mate! The contents of my bag are photographed below… I did also receive a few other items in this bag, but shared those items with the other person at my table who did not have a winning ticket. 

I was shocked to find a few Lady Sloth items in my bag, including their Halloween Origami socks and Spooky Macarons bow! I also received this beautiful pearl necklace. I still can’t believe the amount of collaboration, coordination, and generosity that went into these prize bags! After all of the door prizes were given out, it was on to our final scheduled activity of the day – the coordinate contest! This optional contest was broken down by category, and then by overall winner. I entered in the classic section (Entry #3 over here!) 

Photos: Mary Anastasia Photography

Each winner would receive a sash for their winning category along with a gift card to Eat Me, Ink Me; The best overall from that set of winners would also receive a crown and a gift card to KuroShiro Kawaii! I won’t show photos of each winner due to respect for their privacy, but I will say that the kind tablemate I mentioned earlier won the Gothic category! All 3 category winners were so deserving, and our overall winner was so sweet too! Everybody looked amazing.

Around this time we also heard a beautiful speech from Denise, one of our mods, and got to sing happy birthday to another mod, Courtney! After these festivities wrapped up, we were set free for photos and group photos! Our big community group photo was at the top of this post. After that, we were all done! 

Overall, this event was such a wonderful celebration for the amazing lolita fashion community that Michigan has. It is genuinely mind-boggling when I think of thee amount of effort, time, and dedication that our event organizers put into this, and I’m so honored to have been a part of it! Here’s to another 16 years, Michigan EGL Society! 

A Long Weekend in NYC

Hey there! As I mentioned on my Instagram earlier last week, I’ve just recently come back from a trip to New York City to visit my boyfriend’s family for Thanksgiving. It was a ton of fun and I thought I’d share some of the cool spots we visited! 

It was a busy day on the Wednesday we flew out – I went straight from work to the airport with Paul which meant we felt like there was quite the time crunch! The stress fell off pretty quickly after we got to the airport, though, as the big pre-Thanksgiving crowd we were expecting was basically nonexistent. I kicked back and played some Pokémon Shining Pearl on my Switch while we waited for our flight. 

We took off around 9:30PM, and landed in New York at around 11PM. We enjoyed some Chinese takeout with the family before resting for Thanksgiving the next day. 

The next morning was peaceful, and we were able to share some breakfast before I helped set the table while Paul got dressed in time for the guests to arrive. The table looked stunning, Paul’s mom did an amazing job! 


(Photos courtesy of Paul’s Parents ♥)

We enjoyed some amazing food and company for Thanksgiving. We all took turns going around the table and saying what we were thankful for, and I felt a lot closer to everyone after! After we finished up with our dinner we had some dessert and I got to try Port Wine for the first time; I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. 
We wrapped up the night with some charades and karaoke before everyone had to go home. I had so much fun and got to meet a lot of really awesome people – I’m so Thankful for that! 

The next morning Paul and I woke up ready to explore the city, and that’s exactly what we did. We started in SoHo to grab Pizza from a spot Paul really likes called Prince Street pizza. It was really neat to see the photos of all of the famous people who have visited on the walls of the restaurant. The pizza was pretty tasty too! 

We stepped back outside and quickly noticed the cutest bakery across the street. I saw the pink exterior and knew immediately I had to go in to take a look! I’m glad I did, because it was just as cute as I expected. 

I grabbed a cappucino and a mini blueberry cheesecake to enjoy before we met up with one of Paul’s friends. As a larger group, we went to Adidas and The North Face to shop around a little bit. Paul found some awesome emerald green Ultraboosts on sale that he bought. By this point we had once again worked up an appetite and so we were off to Chinatown for dinner! 

I had hot pot for the very first time and it was absolutely incredible. Even passing through the streets of Chinatown on the way home was amazing; the lanterns and bright lights were so impressive and unlike anything I get to see back home in Michigan. 
After dinner I stopped near home on the subway, grabbed a snack at the corner store, and then finally knocked out once I was in bed. 

The next morning coming around meant it was now Saturday. We started our morning by meeting some friends for dim sum, another meal I hadn’t gotten to try before then! I enjoyed our lively conversation and the variety of foods to try. 

Afterwards, we took off to the city! I had a few things on my list I wanted to see but the first one was Central Park; a landmark I hadn’t gotten to visit during my last visit to the city. The weather was brisk but I was able to borrow Paul’s jacket (my new favorite coat) which helped out quite a bit. We even got to see a happy couple taking wedding photos! Here is a gorgeous view we got to see. 

Despite the warm coat by the end of our walk we were cold and I was in need of yet another snack. This made it the perfect time for me to visit Laudree’s location on Madison Avenue! I got to enjoy some Laudree macarons from a booth in a mall last time I was in the city, so I was eager to see one of their brick and mortar stores. The best part? It wasn’t too far of a walk! 

Laudree was packed, and I can definitely understand why. It was cutely decorated, and the macarons were even better than I remembered them! For anyone curious, I got the Napoleon III box of 12, in the rose color. The orange blossom and rose flavored macarons were my favorites.

After our brief macaron break it was time for my last major stop of the day – the Metropolitan Museum of Art! This has been a bucket list spot to visit of mine for quite some time so I was tickled pink when I found out I could visit. The line to get in was long and it was only getting colder but after some minor roadbumps, Paul and I had made it inside! 

This is where the Met Gala is held every year, so it was cool to know that so many celebrities had been in the same spot as I had. After getting over my initial shock and awe we took some time to explore the museum. Paul loved the exhibit about battle armor and weapons. I found my attention drawn to the European Paintings section on the second floor. 

After we took some time to enjoy all of the art, Paul and I decided to stop by one more place before heading home – his parent’s favorite restaurant to surprise them! We were able to surprise them at the restaurant and joined them for dinner. I wish I had taken some photos! Just rest assured that the food was excellent and I slept very well after that meal. 

The next morning was our last full day in NYC, so we had to make the most of it! We headed into the city at about 11AM – but not before grabbing a bacon egg and cheese sandwich. Our first stop was mundane, T-Mobile for a phone chip update for Paul. Afterwards, though, we were en route to Radio City Music Hall to watch the Rockettes live! I was so excited; I always wanted to be a Rockette growing up so seeing them in person was so awesome. I couldn’t take any photos during the actual show but I did take this one right before it started.

I won’t spoil the show for anyone, but I will say that everyone I was with who had seen the show before said it was even better this year than before. 

After the show had concluded it was time for dinner! We made our way to one of Paul’s dad’s favorite hangout spots, themed after his favorite sports teams – Boca Juniors! We had some amazing food there, I shared a serving of various meats with Paul’s brother’s girlfriend, Nicole. We also had an amazing dessert after, some type of crepe with a cream filling and crème brulee style caramelized sugar on top. 

After sharing some more conversations and fun we headed home, wrapping the night up with a few games. That night we played Jackbox games, Sequence, and Left Right Center. So much fun! 

Finally, however, our weekend had ended and we woke up the next morning with the daunting task of packing up and flying home. Before we left we were treated to a wonderful breakfast from Paul’s mom, and we got to say goodbye to Paul’s grandpa on our way to the airport. Just like that, we were in our terminal and back en route to Michigan. 

There were a few delays on the way home and the whole time it felt like the world telling us to stay just one more day! We couldn’t, but the delays (and some weird weather) did cause us to extend our vacation somewhat by staying in a hotel by the Detroit airport upon our return. We got to watch some TV and enjoy a big meal of Burger King to wrap up our weekend adventure. 

Over all, it was such a fun weekend and I am so thankful to all of Paul’s family and friends who helped us out by getting us to New York City and spending time with us. What a wonderful weekend it was to reflect on everything we are thankful for. ♥

Until next time!

Michigan EGL Society Fall Tea

Hey all! Hope you’re having a wonderful pre-holiday weekend. 
My lovely local lolita fashion community held our annual fall tea this Saturday, and since I documented some great photos I thought I’d share! 

I woke up slightly late on Saturday morning and had to scramble a little bit getting ready. I was caught in a rut deciding between two dresses, and even once I decided on the dress I had an even harder time deciding on shoes! Ultimately, though, I decided on the following coordinate. 


     The jumperskirt I wore was the amazing Plus Size 3 Tier Frill JSK in Red by Metamorphose. I love this dress and would honestly probably live in it if I could. It’s super comfortable and has a really nice quality to it. It’s weighty enough to be a good dress for the fall/winter season, but not so heavy that it would be impossible to wear in the summertime either!
     The blouse is actually from Target! Their summer collection this year had so many great staple pieces for lolitas, specifically their blouse selection was really impressive. This blouse has tiny embroidered flowers all over it, along with some folded detailing on the sleeves. It’s even complete with ruffled details on the peter pan collar! 
     The socks, bracelets, and necklace I believe were actually from SheIn. I really don’t recommend shopping for actual lolita main pieces on sites like SheIn, but they are a great affordable resource for things like basic purses, costume jewelry, and socks. 
     The shoes are the Bodyline rocking horse shoes in white. This was the first time I had ever worn these outside of the house and I’m proud to say I did not break an ankle like I feared! The foam platform makes these shoes feel pretty supportive, almost bouncy in a way I did not anticipate. 
     Lastly, the rectangle headdress was from TaoBao! 

I’ll preface this by saying that this was my second-ever meet in the Michigan community, and it was amazing! We visited a local venue, Tonia’s Victorian Rose, to partake in a little brunch/tea party. It was my first time in the area (and at this tea room) and I have to say I was really impressed. I arrived just in time and proceeded inside after nearly forgetting to put money in my parking meter. I was greeted by a kind host and could immediately see a bunch of members of my community in a side room! I took a seat and was able to pour myself tea from a selection of either raspberry tea or earl grey. They were both great. 

The tea room was amazing. There was so much attention to detail in the decor, and I absolutely loved looking at each of our unique teacups and saucers. As more and more people arrived we all chatted about various topics including but certainly not limited to Thaksgiving plans, Kumya phone holders, and glittery blouses. One of my favorite things about being a part of a community and attending meets is being able to chat about the fashion with people who understand and actively participate in it. The fact that a room full of lolitas can find the tiniest details you put care into when planning a coordinate and compliment them always fills me with joy.

Shortly after taking a seat and enjoying some tea, we were served our first course. Cream of Asparagus soup – I had never had it before but it was a smooth, pleasant soup great for a cold day. 

We enjoyed our soup, and after a few more refills of raspberry tea our hostess came out to provide us with our food and explained a little bit about what we were eating. It was really cool to learn so much about the differences between an American style tea party versus a British tea party. I learned that we were served American scones, which are a little sweeter and richer than a British scone which would usually require a side of clotted cream to combat the dryness of it. I never knew that! 

Our trays of food were delicious and perfectly arranged. They included chicken salad on croissants, cucumber tea sandwiches (a favorite of mine), salmon tea sandwiches, quiche lorraine, scones, lemon curd filled pastries, fruit, chocolate, and even a small serving of whipped cream which was prepared in-house. 

The food was all to die for. The chocolate and quiche were big hits among the group. I loved the lemon pastries and the adorable cucumber sandwiches. I even took a photo of one! 

The food was deceptively filling, a fact I was very pleased to discover! After we had all gotten the chance to eat and finish our tea it was time to take some photos. We ventured our way outside to discover it was even colder than when we arrived! I looked around and got to admire everyone’s adorable jackets, which has inspired me since to start shopping for my own lolita-friendly coat. I guess I had underestimated the weather and didn’t even think to bring a coat until I was already halfway to the venue – and whichever coats I did have, none of them would have matched very well. 

Not to worry, though! The no-coat conundrum was worth it for the super cute photos. 

A group photo of my wonderful community, and…

Another one of us who wore red! Everyone looked so great. The group of us split from here, with some community members heading home and some of us opting to explore the downtown area. I stayed, determined to get some hot coffee to warm me up before the trip home. 

As you can expect for the group of 10+ of us who decided to stay, we definitely gathered some attention. I’m very pleased to report that we had no major negative interactions and were able to share a bit about lolita fashion with a few curious passers-by! We were even lucky enough to meet a person who was familiar with the fashion and wanted to join but didn’t know where to start! We directed them to a few beginner friendly resources and invited them into our comm, so hopefully we have a new member soon! 

After a long journey (and by long I mean a few blocks of walking, if that – just stopping a lot more than anything) we arrived at the coolest coffee shop I’ve seen in a while, called Dessert Oasis. It was warm and the jazz music (and promise of hot coffee) was enticing enough to lure us in. 

It was a really cool spot with a nice vibe about it, and some really talented baristas. The line basically stretched throughout the entire store, but the coffee was well worth the wait. I ordered one of their signature drinks called “The Versailles”, which they described as a spin off of the 18th century hot chocolate – an espresso drink with dark chocolate and a spiced syrup which was created in-house. After I placed my order, I was handed a mysterious playing card – this is how they would find me to deliver my drink. Once it arrived, the coffee definitely lived up to my expectations!

After enjoying our coffee and some more conversation, a few of us realized that our parking meters had run out! It was time to say goodbye, and as we hustled outside to our cars a block away we realized it had begun to drizzle! The drizzle was sort of a wintry mix and by the time I was in my car driving home, it was definitely snow. 

Over all, I had a lot of fun out with everyone on Saturday. I hope this post inspires you to try something new, go somewhere you haven’t been before, or just to spend time with friends! It was a much needed excursion for me and the perfect way to welcome the winter season ahead.

Until next time!

Our (Early) Thanksgiving 2021

My family and I celebrated an early thanksgiving this weekend, so I thought I’d take you along for a little bit of it!

My wonderful boyfriend and I started the morning early on Saturday (at about 6 am although we originally planned for 4am) to get started on some of the prep. It was one of those quiet moments I really appreciate these days; I pulled up a chair, swaddled myself in a blanket, and sipped on coffee while I watched Paul prepare a gorgeous 20lb turkey for us to eat later. He dressed it up with some butter, lemon zest, thyme, and a few other tricks I can’t quite remember. We stuck it in the oven and went on with the rest of our day. 

Something I love to do on Thanksgiving (and I’m sure most people do) is reflect on the things that I’m grateful for, and for me one of the things that comes to mind is lolita fashion. I have a supportive family and loving boyfriend who allow me to express myself through my clothes, and this year I’ve finally been financial a financial spot where I’ve been able to invest in building a wardrobe. I reflected on the 12 year old me who wanted to be a lolita so bad, and how happy I’m sure she’d be if she was able to see me now. 

I thought it only fitting to wear lolita for the day! I threw together a quick coordinate with Alice and the Pirates’  Secret Adventure and Winery of Happiness JSK II. It felt like a festive print and was one of my favorite brands at 12. It still is to this day, in fact! My outfit breakdown is as follows: 

       

      I got these super comfortable shoes and socks off of Amazon; the shoes are just some burgundy Mary Janes and the socks are the ones designed to go under cute winter boots, but I find that they go perfectly with a lot of my coordinates! 
     The jumperskirt, of course, is Alice and The Pirates’ Secret Adventure and Winery Of Happiness JSK II which flaunts some somewhat plus-size friendly measurements! I really love this JSK, the feeling of the material is almost similar to a textured cotton or linen despite being synthetic. 
     The blouse is one of those generic short sleeved crop top blouses you can find on most taobao retailers, this one is from the brand Smiling Angel. The fuzzy coat is one I actually found on clearance at Forever 21! It’s super warm. 
     The necklace and earrings I’m wearing are from BB&B Deco, these are from the Queen of Hearts set they have! They are the cutest little burgundy and brown macarons with a gorgeous heart design on top. 
     The bow on the left side of my head is the matching bow from the Secret Adventure and Winery of Happiness set, but in green (I accidentally purchased the wrong color lol). The bow on the back of my head is a satin burgundy bow set on a barrette. I believe it’s from Forever 21. 
     Lastly, I got the red heart purse from taobao. 

So, after I got all dressed, boyfriend and I headed out to Nino Salvaggio’s, a grocery store in the area that flaunts fresh produce, freshly baked goods, a beautiful pastry setup, and is all around a good place to go to burn through some money. Upon coming in I was pleased to find gift baskets galore, and plenty of festive decorations already set up for the holiday season. 

We came in for only a few things but left with more than we anticipated, including these gorgeous pastries.

Paul’s choice is on the left, a bourbon pecan pie. Mine is on the right, a fruit tart with flan filling. 

After our excursion, we picked up some donuts from Tim Hortons for the family and headed home so Paul could start on a family recipe of his, ham and pineapple. While he worked on that, I got started on the deviled eggs. 

We took a much needed 10 minute break (at this point it must have been close to noon or 1 pm), and resumed our activities in the kitchen again. I whipped up my green bean casserole and then cleaned and decorated for our guests who were arriving shortly. Paul stayed in the kitchen, working on mashed potatoes butternut squash soup. 

My guests arrived shortly after! It was my aunt, uncle, cousin, and her daughter. Between them and my family at home we served a total of 10 people. We popped open some wine and Paul finished up on the turkey and gravy just in time for us to eat around 5:30. 

The food was amazing! I was too hungry to snap photos of most of it, but I did get this photo of the soup Paul made – best soup of my life. 

We wrapped up the evening after dinner with some Harry Potter while my boyfriend, dad, and uncle played drums and guitar downstairs in the garage. Our dessert options, kindly provided by my aunt, were cheesecake, pumpkin roll, and pecan pie – all of which were amazing. 

All in all, I had an amazing thanksgiving surrounded by people who make my days so much brighter. I’m so happy to be where I am today – even when things get difficult I know I have a great hobby, a steady job, a loving boyfriend, and a supportive family. 

What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving? Do you have any traditions you’re excited for? Let me know!