Catch up Post 1: A Fashion show, a pick-nick and meeting German Lolita's

This last half year has been pretty busy for me. It being filled with meets, work, move to a new house and day trips out. I didn't really had the time to write about them. So my backlog grew and grew until I had about 8 topics to write about. Plus I still have to catch up on posts for Kawaii Deluxe. I should be ashamed for procrastinating this long. Well because the year is ending very soon I decided to sum most of them up in one or two posts so that I can concentrate on other new posts in the coming year. So without further ado let me begin.

Summer darkness:

Back in July the annual event Summer Darkness took place again. I went last year with my cousin and we had a blast. This year was a little different but fun nevertheless.

Every year Leyla scouts for girls that would like to model in her fashion show at Summer Darkness. Ever since I started Lolita, I've tried to take part but to my dismay was never chosen. Accept this year me and Rosalynn took an afternoon to take pictures of our outfits to make sure we would be picked. To our delight both of us were chosen among several of my friends, which was super nice.

On the day of the show I travelled together with my mum, boyfriend and cousin's to Utrecht. They all came to watch and support me which was really nice of them. I dressed my little cousin up too and she looked super cute. Because she has chocolate skin the pastel pinks suited her very nicely. She felt a little awkward at first but really loved it later on.
Once in Utrecht my family set off to go eat somewhere and promised to see me later as I still needed to practise.
I was supposed to meet a group of girls at the station but there was no one there. I started to panic because I didn't know the way to the Dom and didn't want to be late. Luckily I found Natasje and together we followed a Gothic couple also heading towards Domplein.

 It was really fun to practise our walks without a stage. We were laughing most of the time as we pretended to walk the invisible catwalk. Apparently most people fell off the invisible stage. Luckily no person's were harmed during practise.
Soon after we were ushered behind stage to wait while other acts took place. Everyone was super excited while last touches were made for make-up and hair. Linda Friesen was also part of the show and her models (wearing her wonderful designs) looked A-ma-zing! Their hair was huge and their make-up was dolly like. Anne's hair was the biggest of them all. Everyone glared at her in auw as she walked past every time. Apparently this look was created by wearing two wigs at the same time. I have no idea how but I totally want to try it out.
I wore a classic outfit for the show. This was also my first ever classic coord and I was super proud of it. The funny thing about the dress was that I had sold it right after I had taken photos for the sign up. I had a feeling that I wouldn't make is as in previous years but luckily I sold it to a friend so I could lend it from her. Such a sweetheart!

Leyla walked around backstage to have everyone listen to their walking music. I was super happy when I got to hear that I would be walking to Misako's Lolitina song. I was in my element.
It was time for the fashion show and everyone got into line. Luckily I wasn't the first as I was super nervous as were many others.
One by one everyone walked up the stage steps as their music came on. Then it was finally my turn. I was super nervous. Breathing became harder, my hands were sweaty, I felt like crying at any moment (of happiness of course), my head was spinning and my heart nearly bounced out of my chest. When I reached the top of the stairs I beheld a HUGE crowd of people waiting for the next model. Even more than last year. Most of them were photographers. I put on my biggest smile as my music came on and off I went...

Click ¨HERE¨ for little video.

 It felt like I walked on air and my head was in the clouds. On the left side of the stage I saw my family and boyfriend standing right in front cheering me on. I saw a lot of other familiar faces too. I was in such ecstasy that I walked and posed a little too fast. I was having so much fun that I didn't realise at all.
Once off the stage my nerves declined and I was super proud of myself as well as all the other participants. But before I knew it it was time for our last walk together. This time less nervous I walked behind Janneke and closely followed by Deborah. We lined up on stage and bowed. There was applause and it was done.
After the show we were asked to hand out some flyers for Mfashion and Linda's 4 O'clock shop. Soon after I was reunited with my family and friends. Everyone was so proud and loved the show. After that we had a group picture taken and then walked into a little garden (the same one as last year) to take more photo's together with friends and my cousin).
Soon after me, my family, Rebecca, and Tamara went to sit on a terrace by one of the canals. It was super nice. The inside of the café/restaurant was beautiful too. It would have been great for a Halloween related meet. Soon after we said our goodbyes to my friends and me and my family headed home.

 It was a great experience and I really want to do more of this. Who knows maybe there will be more opportunities in the future. I'm definitely signing up again next year.

Summer meet:

In August it was time for the annual summer pick-nick in the Dutch Lolita community. I hadn't attended the previous one but was glad to have gone this year. There were so many people that attended even some Belgian girl's came. I've been meaning to meet more Lolita's outside the Netherlands and it's been a ever growing possibility this year. The Belgian girls were ever so nice and looked so elegant. Each dressed in classic Lolita. They were amazed how big our community was in comparison to the Belgian one.

We were quite lucky weather wise. It was nice and warm and stayed dry though everyone took an umbrella just in case. Me and Tamara travelled together as she spent the weekend at my house and we had a blast. We stayed up late the night before sitting around a camp fire with friends whilst roasting marshmallows and talking about silly things. So we were a little tired the next day but we didn't care.
Tamara rocked a beautiful classic outfit and matched it with a hand-made Victorian hat. She really looked stunning. Classic Lolita really suits her well. I wore my princess dress in lavender and matched it with my lavender shoes and cardigan. I really love lavender, it's such a pretty colour. I also wore my Lock Shop Mermaid wig in milk. I really love that wig to pieces. It's so soft and the colour is so natural. I might make some reviews in the future. My friend Natasje wore the same wig that day and my did she look dazzling.  Everyone looked wonderful and soon it was picture time and of course a group picture followed.
I'm lactose intolerant and cant eat too many cakes containing milk and such but I already knew that I would be leaving the pick-nick with a stomach ache. Everyone bought such delicious treats and snacks. I just couldn't resist. One girl even made onigiri, which was gone within seconds. Luckily I received one just in time. My friend Rowan also wanted one so I shared mine with her.
The pick-nick came to an end and we all headed back to the station and went on our merry ways. Before leaving me, Tamara and Dieuwke stopped at Julia's to eat some delicious pasta. Soon after we embraced and said our goodbye's as everyone set off home.

It was a good day and I couldn't wait until the next meet would take place which wasn't that long after luckily.

Mini Zwolle meet:

My friend Tamara organized her own little meet for her Lolita friends, Meri, Andrea and Civa from Germany. As I had mentioned before I love meeting Lolita's from other countries so I had to go. Especially meeting German ones (I'm half German you see).
I didn't feel that well that day so I chose a light simple outfit which wasn't too tight. I also kept my accessories simple. But when I arrived in Zwolle and saw the rest of the group I felt a little under dressed. Everyone looked so wonderful. Tamara was also a little shocked by my simple coord.
I stayed the night so I had my suitcase with me. Luckily Tamara's dad took it with him so I didn't need to carry it along all day.
Once we were complete (we waited for Rebecca and Yvette) we headed towards the park were we picnicked together. Everyone bought a little something and I made onigiri. They were very popular among the group.
Tamara bought a whole bag of small sweets and among which were little watermelon coloured ones. They looked really interesting so I ate one. They turned out to be super sour so I took another and another and another (I love sour sweets). Picnicking was a lot of fun by trying out each others treats. While eating we chatted and it was really nice to get to know Yvette better. I had seen her on two previous meets but we never really talked which was a shame because she has such a lovely personality.
After a while of picnicking Tamara, who was ever so nervous about the progress of her meet, suggested to visit a traditional sweets house in Zwolle called "Het Bolletjes Huis." Here they still made the traditional sweets Zwolle is famous for. The shop was decorated very vintage like with all the sweets in jars. It all looked so colourful. Some people bought some sweets as a souvenir and we all got to try some for free. I had a caramel flavoured one. Not my favourite flavour in the world.

We were all very hungry so it was time to go eat. Tamara had made reservations at a pancake house in the area which was popular for it's delicious pancakes. Tamara made sure that everything was as Dutch as possible in order to give the German Lolita's a good impression of our culture.
The pancake house was small but very cosy. We all sat at one big table by the window which was nice.
Everyone ordered a different kind of pancake. You could choose between a sweet or savoury one. This is something I also found very strange when I first came to live in The Netherlands. I was only used to sweet ones. Andrea and Meri chose savoury ones with cheese and bacon I believe and loved them. I chose a sweet one with banana's. But the pancake was so huge I just couldn't eat it all regardless of how delicious it was.
Once all stomachs were filled it was time to head back to the station. We hugged Yvette and Rebecca goodbye and with Tamara in the lead me and the girls took the bus to her house.

 Once at Tamara's house it was relaxing time. Off went the Loli dresses and on went the jogging trousers and PJ's.
In the evening we played a few games about guessing the print of brand dresses and Meri knew most of the questions. There for making her the Lolita lifestyle expert!
Because I still wasn't feeling that well I decided to to go sleep in the other room. Civa didn't feel that well either so she went to sleep in Tamara's bed while the rest went upstairs. So in the night Tamara came to chat because she couldn’t sleep. We talked for hours and we were later on joined by Civa who still wasn't feeling well. So we went to have a midnight cup of tea together. It was a lot of fun. We then headed to bed and luckily we fell asleep in no time.

The next day we had a lovely breakfast filled with Dutch specialities such as "ontbijt koek" which is a kind of gingerbread, "hagelslag" these are chocolate hundreds of thousands, and "pindakaas" which is peanut butter. The Dutch really love this stuff.
After getting dressed we headed into town to do some last minute shopping because the girls would be leaving later that day. Unfortunately Zwolle decided to keep it's shops closed because of the fun fair which was in town. Tamara was very disappointed but we made her feel better after buying some delicious ice cream.
Later that day the girl's had to leave and it was all very emotional for Tamara. She looked forward to them coming all that time that she just couldn't believe it was time for them to leave again. To make her feel better I took her back to my place so she didn't have to be all alone.

And all of us in our casual wear.  Accept for Tamara who sucks at dressing casual xD

It was such a lovely weekend and it was wonderful to meet the German Lolita's and hopefully I can see them again soon. I got to know Tamara even more and I'm really lucky to have such a special friend. Tamara was a great host and I hope she organises more meets in the future.

That was it for now. Look forward to more catch up posts soon!