From an Ugly Duckling to a Princess

I was not an attractive kid. From first to most of eighth grade, I was such a tomboy it was ridiculous. I hated anything girly, played around in the mud, only ever played video games (because they were just oh-so-MANLY) and refused to wear a skirt except on VERY special occasions. I wasn't just a tomboy, though- I was just a dirty, nasty child (though that's perfectly acceptable for normal kids, this is 12-year-old me we're talking about here, and you haven't heard the worst of it). I showered as little as my parents would let me, ate terribly and never exercised and developed a weight problem, and had acne the size of mountains all over my face. At twelve years old.
Finally, when I was fourteen I discovered Lolita. Actually, as embarrassing as this may be, my first exposure to Lolita wasn't actually Lolita- it was one of those cheap black and white maid dresses attempting to pass as Lolita, and I found it on a cosplay site as I fancied myself an otaku at the time (something that FINALLY ended freshman year and I am, unfortunately, still living down to today... and yes, I was one of THOSE otaku who mixed Japanese words into English sentences and wanted nothing more than to move to motherland Japan someday where I could eat ramen and be a geisha-samurai-ninja >.>). Nonetheless, I do remember that the model for this dress was quite beautiful herself, and suddenly I was a little more inspired to take care of myself. I started washing more often, and for the first time since Kindergarten I wore a casual skirt to school!
When I discovered real Lolita through EGL upon attempting to get further information on this beautiful look, I was enamored. I wanted to be as beautiful as all these girls in frilly dresses, and for once in my life I wanted to wear frilly dresses and act like a goddamn lady! I'm sure my parents and everyone around me thought I was insane, as I started buying and wearing skirts and (gasp!) pink clothes and accessories! I actively sought out Hello Kitty and cute merchandise I would've scoffed at as "stupid girl stuff" not two years ago. But, for the first time in my life, I was REALLY happy.
I admit, I might have been just flat-out denying my femininity for that "tomboy" period of my life. I clearly remember watching girls at indoor recess doing each other's hair, and being jealous that I couldn't go over and ask them (because that would've just RUINED my reputation, of course!!). So, when Lolita came along and I realized I was at the age where it was socially acceptable to wear makeup and dress up whenever the hell I wanted to, it was like a revelation to me. Today I wonder, could Lolita have changed me like it did had I discovered it two years before? Or two years later?
Today, I am not the person I used to be (contrary to what many of the people who attended elementary school with me seem to think... remember that weeaboo thing I mentioned earlier? That reputation's stuck with me, unfortunately). I do what I want to do, without fear of what people have to say. I openly admit if I like something, even if it's not time "image" I want. As for physical appearance, I believe I've done well! In the past three years, I've cleared up my face considerably (though my complexions far from perfect, I'm working on clearing it up and I usually wear makeup to cover it up anyhow!), I shower daily now (thank god... it's SO embarrassing thinking back to how disgusting I must have been), I know how to coordinate a decent outfit, and since discovering Lolita I've lost around 40 pounds!
I admit, I'm still far from physically perfect. Now that my hair's growing out a bit, I'm JUST learning how to do things with it, I'm still a mite overweight (my overall goal weight that I hope to reach this summer is 120!), due to being a teenager I occasionally get zits and I would like to work on my public speaking skills a bit, but as for my emotions? I've never been happier.
Even if I'm not all the way there yet, I truly feel like I've grown from an Ugly Duckling to a Princess.
That's my Lolita "origin story!" Does anybody else have one? I love to hear stories of how people came to love certain fashions, so if you've got one, please do tell! :)

Poupee Girl

Some of you may have heard of the infamous Poupee Girl. For those of you not in the know, Poupee Girl is a Japanese site where you get an adorable avatar to dress up. You can get new items for your avatar by posting pictures of your clothes, commenting on other people's items to get "ribbons" (the currency in Poupee Girl) and dressing up your avatar every day. The site is very popular with Lolitas and the j-fashion scene in particular because there are lots of Lolita clothes in addition to normal clothes. In fact, I've seen people rock all styles of Poupee- steampunk, Fairy-kei, mori girl, all types of Lolita- there's hardly a limit to what style you can dress on Poupee.

Another reason many Lolitas use Poupee is the clothes-posting feature I mentioned earlier. Who doesn't want to be complimented on the cute things they buy? And bonus, you get in-game money for it, and everybody's doing it so you don't feel like a show-off for saying "hey, look at this cute new pink umbrella I got the other day!" I've found that in Poupee Girl, alternative clothes, especially Lolita clothes, are the ones that tend to get the most compliments/hits.

I've had a Poupee Girl account for a while, but just recently I've re-joined and started actively posting once again. When I first joined, I didn't have a lot of cute clothes to post (or at least clothes I wouldn't be totally ashamed to post- who goes on Poupee Girl to see old, baggy, paint-splattered work t-shirts?!), but since then I've been far more actively working on my wardrobe (make-up arsenal/techniques, coordination skills, etc.), so I felt now was a far more appropriate time to join!! Of course, not everything I post is SUPER cute (I'm still a poor high school student and my closet is filled with mildly cute, albeit mediocre things), but at least I'm no longer sitting in front of my drawer saying to myself "Holy crap, that thing's ugly... but I really need the ribbons! Before the blouse sells out!!"

Overall, I'd say that if you're into fashion and would like to show off your arsenal of cute clothes, definitely join Poupee Girl!! It's a fun, cute website that, while it may not be for everyone (I know I'm having a rather hard time getting started, and it is a bit discouraging to see all these super well-dressed veterans while I'm still stuck in my n00b rags!), is definitely a fun thing to do in your spare time!! :)

BTW, although this goes for any post, I feel that for this post in particular it should be said (as these are individual's avatars I'm showing here):
I've found all these pictures across various places of the internet, and it's very difficult for me to trace the source. If anybody could tell me where these pictures come from, or if you would like a picture taken down, please don't hesitate to ask! I don't own any of the images and I always feel super guilty using them without credit, so if there's any info at all I want to know!! :)

*EDIT
I totally forgot to add, if you should feel compelled to join Poupee Girl, it'd be awesome if you could say I (MintSD) referred you. I could use the ribbons ;)

Friendship is Magic

Alright, so this is somewhere between kind of and completely unrelated to Lolita, but I have a confession to make:
I'm obsessed with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!!

Some of you might have heard of it, but for those who haven't, it's a kid's show aired on HUB based on, of course, My Little Pony toys. Lauren Faust (Powerpuff Girls, Foster Home for Imaginary Friends) is responsible for the seriously awesome animation in the show. Also, the show is damned addictive and funny as hell (though it is pretty easy to make me laugh... but I'm not the only one who thinks it's funny so it's okay :P).
Some of you might of heard about the incident on EGL the other day, when a girl who seemed to take the morals encouraged from the first two episodes (which are pretty much never mentioned again, by the way) way too seriously, and went so far as to post a long, horribly misspelled post on EGL about how we adults should be taking our morals from MLP. While this girl's intentions are good and some Lolitas certainly could use an attitude adjustment (though there are people like that EVERYWHERE and not just in Lolita), the whole thing was ridiculous. I'm actually afraid a lot of people who see the post might not want to check out the show, since it obviously must just be a super-preachy show loaded with moral after moral, and the fanbase must obviously be insane judging by that girl.
Luckily, judging from the comments on GTFO EGL (yes, I frequent that community, and I think it's a perfectly fine community but that's another post for another time), people who haven't seen the series again don't all seem to be drawing those conclusions, or if they are other fans of the series are telling them what's up. I was happy to see there were even a few people wanting to check out the series themselves!!
So anyhow, there's really not much of a point to this post, besides that My Little Pony is a great series and even if it does seem ridiculous for a fully grown adult to watch a show with characters name Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, it's definitely worth a look!! If you don't have HUB (like myself) you can watch it on Youtube. Pensivepony updates with the new episode every week, and I believe there's another channel that has new episodes but I can't for the life of me remember his name. So anyhow, if you have the time, check it out!! :)

(Pony macros courtesy of http://mlpmacros.tumblr.com/
You should be following them! ;D)

Bodyline... WHY YOU DO THIS?!

I admit, I'm totally a fan of Bodyline. Not everything that comes out of them is that good, and of course they'll always have those questionable items, but it's been established among the Lolita community for a while now that they do have some nice items for decent prices, too. For a jobless student like myself, cheap Lolita is a godsend.
I always looks forward to Bodyline's updates. There's always a couple "crap" items with cheap scratchy lace or are way too short, but it's always nice to see some of Bodyline's new sweet prints and maybe even buy them, if I have the money. But, a couple of days ago, I wandered onto Bodyline's website and noticed there was an update on April 7th. Excitedly, I clicked the link to peruse the newly added items, and...
Wow. Just wow.
And not in a good way, either!!

Cheap lace, nasty prints, short skirts and satin all around!!
Is Bodyline truly going back to catering to the cosplay/fetish market? I've had my suspicions that they might be slowly erring away from Lolita for a while (I don't think their last update had many suitable Lolita items either...), but there was hardly anything suited for Lolita at all in this update. I saw socks that could work in sweet and one blouse that a super-experienced Lolita could replace the lace on and use for ero-Lolita, or possibly hime if they've got the imagination. But that was all.
Honestly, if Bodyline ends up leaving the Lolita market altogether and goes back to making those lace monsters they used to be infamous for, I'll be upset. Sure, there will always be Fan Plus Friend and Anna House (though even that seems to be declining in quality lately!) Bodyline was where I got my first dress from, and will always hold a special place in my heart.
That being said... I guess I should just start looking harder for a job. :P

Photo dump!

I apologize for the lack of posting recently, but I've been busy with choir/enjoying the nice weather/lazy (but more on that in another post!!). For now, since I feel bad about not posting, here's a bunch of arbitrary pictures I like!!

I just love this Fluttershy. She's my favorite MLP character, right next to Rainbow Dash! :D

One of the cutest Lolita pictures EVER :D

I don't know why I like it SO much, I just do >.>

Maybe it's my Rainbow Dash fangirliness showing through, but I just adore the coord and the rainbow embellishing it. It's very spring-y :)

Is it bad that I like looking at pictures of food so much? >.> Tastefully arranged food of course, which is exactly what this is. I love cheesecake (which I why I can never be a model, LOL xD)

Super cute casual hime-gal coord! I love her hair :)

Another casual gal coord. I love her cardigan, and I'm super jealous of her thighs (forever thunder thighs here, LOL xD)

I believe I found this on thisiswhyyourefat.com and I instantly saved it to my computer without a hint of irony.

This girl's hair and frames are super cute!!

Things like this make me want a pomeranian!

I've been playing a lot of Pokemon lately. This comic made me giggle :D

This is one of my favorite pictures of Rainbow Dash. She's so cute and so epic at the same time @_@

I like to think of this as the hamster version of Marie the cat! :)

This girl's coord is so adorable!! I especially love her hair :D

I believe this is what inspired me to get a poodle dress (which I haven't been able to wear due to it being a heavy winter dress and the weather getting warmer :( )

Aaaaand more ponies!! Except as humans this time!! I especially love the human representation of Dash in this picture, though for some reason I'm not crazy about Fluttershy and Rarity. They're not bad at all, but... I've seen better. :)

Also, apologies for the lack of photo credits!! I used to have all my pictures all saved in neat little folders with the original artists and everything but I've been going Tumblr-crazy so all that sort of information is lost in limbo D: If anybody has any info on these pictures, please let me know and I'll add it to the post!!