Well, so much for storenvy... :P

Yeah, uh, as the title says, I no longer use storenvy... Due to my distrusting nature and whatnot. ^^;

To put it simply, they asked for information that I was not willing to give.

So, now I'm on Etsy!

At the moment, as in, right as I'm typing this, there are only 5 things in the shop. But they are some of my favorite things that I have made, and thus, I feel that they should sell... eventually. ^^;

So... Yeah... CHECK MY NEW STORE OUT!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/HidingMyLove

Something I'm Thankful For... (Belated Thanksgiving Post)

As you all may know, I'm not exactly 'normal'... In my hobbies or my fashion style. But, my family has almost always supported me in my weird endeavors. And if they didn't at first,  they eventually did, simply because they're nice people. 

Even my extended family, whether I'm talking about grandma/grandpas/cousins/aunts/uncles/ or my super close friends (who I consider family), even they accepted it, even though many of them didn't fully understand it. 

A part of me thinks that the only reason they accepted everything so simply is because they, themselves, already have enough weirdness to deal with... but another part thinks that it's also because they really do love and care about me. And so, for that, I'm thankful.

One of my cousins is a complete comic-book geek, not manga, comic-books. And, he actually works as a letterer for some comics (Nothing big... yet). He also has a business of making things out of old comic-books, like a cute bracelet he made for me one Christmas, though he normally makes things like wallets and buttons. But I digress, my point is that he was already in the 'otaku culture', so he knew about cosplay. So, but of course, when I came to him, dressed in lolita, he decided that it was cosplay, and still, to this day, I think, believes that it's a costume/ me pretending to be someone else. But, he accepts it as part of me. Even though he doesn't fully understand it.

In a somewhat related note, my grandparents also don't fully understand it, but, sadly, I think have a better grasp on it than my cousin. I think this because my grandparents were alive in the 50s and stuff, an era in which petticoats and big skirts were a normal thing, though the skirts weren't quite as big as ours. Also, my grandparents are able to see the influence of past eras in lolita fashion, For instance, one time, I came down in lolita while my grandparents were over, and my grandma exclaimed, with stars in her eyes, "She looks like my grandmother!"

And then, there are my otaku friends. Some of which almost fully understand lolita, very few of which are actually into lolita fashion, but are scared to attempt it, and some of which view it as a form of lolicon... UGH. Naturally, I have the most difficulty with the last ones (and aren't really friends with them...).

And my lolita friends/community are for a whole other thing.

And here is a ramble-y video that seems to tell my entire infant lolita life-story

I keep trying to sew... XD (big sewing/shop update)

I have taken a major step in my fashion designer life... I have begun to sell shirts I made, on storenvy... Only thing is... I've yet to sell ANYTHING that I've made, my polymer clay accessories included! So, to put it simply, no one seems to want them.

Naturally, because I'm paranoid, I automatically assume that this means that my stuff is not up to par. SO, now I'm wondering if I should even keep going, but that's not what this is about... This is about my eternal struggle with my mom's old sewing machine/ my lack of technique.

My mom's sewing machine is old, not as old as the only other sewing machine I can use is, but it is old. It's, like, from the 80s or something. (The other one is my grandma's and thus at least around 10 years older, I think...) But the problem isn't that it's old... The problem is that it's simply designed and not made for as much sewing as I do... It's about as simple as you can get, and it had never been used for more than fixing a little rip in some jeans, or something, before I got my hands on it. So, I think I've just about killed the poor thing.

But that's enough of me complaining about my mom's sewing machine.

I have another problem... I'm not capable of going to school for fashion design since all my options, as far a schools go, are too far away and/or expensive. And as a result, I am completely self-taught. Leaving much to be desired in my technique, I'll be the first to admit it, everything I make, is made rather sloppily. But I just keep on trying... 

Why?

Because this is one of the few things I'm good at, one of the few things that inspire me, that make me happy, and that can keep my small attention span's attention. 

I think that's enough about me... XD

Lemme show you the latest items for sale in my store! ('Cause I'm shameless like that!)

< This one was my first attempt at 'normal-ish' clothes... The result was a tank-top that was made of thick fuzzy/furry material... So basically, the result was a shirt that made no sense, but was cute.
 To the bottom left is the second one, this one made more sense... It has light, stretchy materials, and is short-sleeved, making it good for warmer weather (Meanwhile, I don't know what kind of weather you could wear the above one in).
And then came another nonsensical tank-top. Again, it was made using heavy fabrics(though not as heavy this time), denim. And this was my first attempt at some kind of tailoring, with some dart-like thingymabobbers. And then, because it felt empty, I added a giant heart  made of sparkly netting and some random purple ribbon... Yeah... I probably would've been better off with only one of those, instead of both.

Now it's time to show my lovely models wearing them~!

  -cough-you mean your best friend and you-cough-

As always, these are available at my storenvy store: http://kidforocks.storenvy.com/ 

Long Overdue, Negative Review (ilovecirclelenses.com)

I have always been a faithful, loyal person... When I find something that works, I stick to it.

However, I feel that I should address this issue, even though, for all I know, it could be fixed by now.

ilovecirclelenses.com, to put it simply, sort of betrayed my trust. After years of orders, great orders with excellent shipping, they seemed to disappear from the face of the earth. And after ordering with them again, for what ended up being the last time, that's when it happened.

Now, I don't wish to particularly discredit them, I just want to warn others.

Back, waaaay back, around May, I ordered my lenses from them. I thought that all was well... but I was wrong. After many days, past the amount of time that it would've normally taken for the lenses to get to me, nothing had happened. So, naturally, I contacted them. They said nothing. So I contacted them again, and again, the last time telling them that I wanted to avoid opening a paypal dispute, but may have no choice but to. That got their attention. They sent me a tracking number, which I stalked for a day or two... only to have nothing happen. So, I contacted them again. And got nothing. 

Throughout all of this, I gave them the benefit of the doubt, because, like I said earlier, I'm a loyal person who believes that "If it's not broke, don't fix it!"

And thus, the paypal battle began... Which is seriously overly dramatic since ilovecirclelenses did nothing. They didn't answer paypal. They said and did nothing once the dispute opened. And after a while, paypal gave up and just gave me my money back...

Sooo, yeah. Just warnin' ya, ilovecirclelenses.com pretty much doesn't exist anymore last time I checked... the website is there... but it doesn't seem like there is anyone working there anymore. :/

New York is kinda stupid sometimes... :/

I know, it's an abnormally mean title coming from me... or anyone, in my opinion.
BUT the New York City Subway System is rather stupid. (Thank God for friendly homeless people!)

Two of my friends, my mom, and I went to New York this past weekend, yeah? Well, it'd been a while since we had been on the subway in New York (which, by the way, is, like, the least user-friendly subway system out of the three cities I've been to that have subways/metros/whatevers... aka, LA and DC and NYC), and we were sooo lost. I knew which train we wanted to take, and what station we were going to get off on, but we didn't know what kind of ticket to buy... There were three kinds: Single-Ride; Metro-Card; and Quick Metro-Card. We were stupid and bought single rides, completely unaware that each credit card was limited to only two per day... We had four people and two cards, so we managed to get to the Btssb store... but we didn't know that, because of this stupid rule, we were going to end up trapped in the 2 Ave. Station, trying to get back, but unable to. BUT THEN CAME OUR SAVIOR! A nice homeless man, who noticed that we were, obviously, tourists, and were, obviously, stuck, walked up to the ticket machine and started pushing buttons for us after asking us where we were trying to get to. And his help got us back to Times Square, which let us get back to the hotel!!!

 I wanted to hug that nice man! (But didn't due to stranger-danger instincts and the fact that both of us were drenched in sweat...) Sadly, we didn't have any money smaller than a $20 (which we were saving for food and stuff), and we felt bad that we couldn't give him some money for his help, but we had plenty of water bottles! :D  So, of course, we gave him the last cold one, and he smiled, thanking us and exclaiming, "You saw I was sweatin'!"

Sooo, yeah, New York, as a city? The subway system is totally stupid... and NOT USER-FRIENDLY!! D:
But the people, or well, at least those that care about New York's thriving tourism trade, or maybe just care about people, they're nice. And helpful!

Half Educational/Half Kawaii NYC Haul~

Yep, just as the title says, when I went shopping, I successfully split it in half between educational stuff and kawaii stuff! YES! While I spent more money on the kawaii stuff, of course, I did manage to buy two cute/lolita things and two educational things! And that was all of my money... I'm poor... :(

Hehehe... Anyways~ ^^;
My haul video is below!

Baby, the Stars Shine Bright in New York City!!! :3

Alright, trip's over!

I will now share my experience at the one and only: Baby the Stars Shine Bright store in NYC!

The first day we got to New York, we went to the store immediately after we got to the hotel in NJ, rode a bus to NYC, then took the subway to the Baby store! Needless to say, for those of you that saw how I planned on dressing to go to the store, y'all can probably figure out that I was SWEATING TO DEATH! D:

"Why is this important?" you may ask... Trust me, it's important.

SO! We got to the Btssb/TokyoRebel store about 30 mins before closing or so (I wasn't paying attention to the time) I was drenched in sweat, so, of course, I didn't dare try anything on, but if I wanted to, I could've tried up to 5 items! (Which, duh, isn't that much in America, 'cause, I don't know about you, but I try on, like, 10 things minimum at most stores(Then again, most stores have a lot bigger selection than Baby-san))

Anyways! One of my best friends, who accompanied me on the trip, and is a complete gothic/punk/raver/sometimes lolita/whatever chick, she fell in love with the TokyoRebel side of the store... that's right, the store is one store with half the store in pink, and the other half in black, this confused the crap out of my mother, who thought for sure that it'd be two stories. XD

But, like I was saying, my friend tried on a SEX POT ReVeNGe shirt. White with black straps/buckles around the chest and arms, and with detachable black sleeves! And all along the bottom were these cool lace-y, tulle-y, netting stuff, that looked all torn up. IT WAS SWEET :D

Sadly, though, I've no pictures... 'cause no pictures are allowed in the store, my other friend learned that the hard way when she tried to get a picture of my gothic friend in the shirt and the Baby-san shop-girl put her hand in front of the camera, much to the horror of my other friend XD
EDIT: Actually, here's a picture of her shirt, 'cause I've finally looked it up on TokyoRebel's site... ^^;

It's called the 2-way bondage gauze cutsew

Back to me, yes?

While my friend was trying on the shirt, I was trying out the Usakumya-chan pochette. I'm pretty sure that the shop staff thought I was nutty, since I immediately went up to the counter, asked to see a usakumya pochette, then asked to rip it's hood off and stick my hand down there. 

You might be yelling at me that I'm a tactless idiot, but I was spending almost all my money at this store, on this thing, and I wanted to make sure that my hand could even fit inside!

But the shop staff, if they did think I was nutty, it didn't show. The TokyoRebel shop-girl was at the counter, so she dealt with most of my craziness, and she was soooo nice, and cool-looking! She just asked me what color I wanted, to which I replied, "Pink!" She knew which on I wanted since they only had the one type that had any pink on it, and she grabbed it and handed it to me. That was when I asked if I could open it and see if my hand would get down there. Her smile faltered, most likely because she wasn't sure if she was going to make the sale anymore, but she nodded, pulled the hood off for me, unzipped it, and handed it back to me. The only thing? My hands were VERY SWEATY...

But I tried! I stuck my hand as far down as it would go! And it didn't go past the neck 'cause my hands were sticky! D:

That's when my mom stepped in, took it from me and stuck her hand all the way to the bottom, and I knew that her hands were either bigger or the same size as mine, so I went ahead and asked to buy it. The shop-girl asked me if I wanted the one I had been messing with, or a new, shrink-wrapped one, I felt bad that I had stuffed my sweaty hands down into the display one, so I took the display one!

While my mom was paying, I chatted to the Baby-san shop-girl, she was nice, though she gave off a slightly elitist air, but that easily could've just been my paranoia since I was wearing a 'lesser brand': Bodyline. Which upped my self-consciousness at the 'big brand' store. But she talked with me,and we chatted about the only remaining headdress in stock. And the moment I said, "I'm cheating," while talking about my head accessory ('cause I kinda DID cheat since I didn't use something meant for the head on my head...) she jumped right in and said, "No you aren't, it's just different from our stuff!" Which really made my paranoia go down some...

And she was really cute... 

Back to the pochette!

My mother had bought it, and passed it back to me. I began trying to stick things in it immediately. 

NOTE: Things the size of or bigger than a large-ish wallet will NOT FIT!

My phone, thankfully, did. (And I think I gave the shop staff a heart attack when the tone of my voice became gruff and I muttered, "If not even my phone fits in here, we're gonna have a problem...")

While my friend was buying her shirt, the Baby-san shop-girl helped me put the pochette on and loosened the strap for me, so I could wear it across my body. Then my mom kept asking me if I needed a drink (which I'm pretty sure aren't allowed in the store, so I said 'no'), and then she asked the TokyoRebel shop-girl for a tissue. The shop-girl replied that she didn't have any tissues, but she had paper towels! So I took one and blotted my sweaty face, and when I was done I asked where the trashcan was, and to that, the shop-girl said, "I'll just take it for you." AND SHE TOOK MY GROSS AND SWEATY PAPER TOWEL AND THREW IT AWAY! HOW NICE IS THAT?! I mean, I'm pretty sure that the trashcan was behind the counter, so she couldn't let me back there of course, but still! It was nice that, without a single flinch or groan, she took something so gross and threw it away for me!

SO TL;DR: 

I LOVE THE STORE!

The shop staff (for that day, at least) were soooo nice! And didn't seem to be completely disgusted with my super sweaty self, and didn't seem to really care that I wasn't wearing Baby! And while I was there, I saw lots of people that weren't even wearing lolita coming in and looking around! And the shop staff were nothing but nice to them!

This be the kind of adorable usakumya-chan pochette that I got!