Meet-up Report: Pettingill-Morron House

Hello Frilly-Folks!

I've finally gotten around hosting a meet up at a local historic home, The Pettengill-Morron house where the eight of us met up for a private picnic in the backyard, followed by a tour of the house itself. I never really liked taking part in or hosting picnic meets because of the unpredictable Midwestern weather, but it was gorgeous out, and we could not have picked a better day to dine en
plain air.

The Pettengill-Morron House 

(source: peoriapublicradio.org)

The affair was BYOB, but people brought in a few things to share including some yummy scones from Panera, fudge brownies, cucumber sandwiches, and tomato-basil-and mozzarella cheese. It was the first time two girls from the Quad Cities came down to Peoria for a meet up, however, everyone clicked quite easily over our love for all things geeky. 

It's unfortunate that we weren't allowed to take photos (with the exception of no flash photography AND if there are people in the photo, but we weren't allowed on the furniture, so it kind of felt pointless to try) because the interior is amazing (you can get a gist of it through the house's and Miss Jean Morron fb page). The house is said to be the oldest standing residential structure in the city and it had been home to several people, and so the historical society kept treasures of its previous owners, meaning we got to view different eras in the house and there was detail overload (seriously wish we were allowed to take photos); it felt like I could be in a room for hours and see an artifact or interior design choice I've never seen before. 

An uncanny fact about the house: The original owners did not believe in having domestic servants, although they'd have staff who'd come by every so often, however, for some unknown reason, the house has a servant living quarter off the back of the house with a hidden staircase leading to the kitchen. We've speculated that it might have to do with the blue-print standards of mansions in the day, but for whatever reason, it exists and is decorated to resemble Ms. Jean Morron's dorm from her time at Smith College.

There were no heirs to take over the house and her possessions after she passed on, but we found ourselves with slight envy of her fulfilling life which including being well-off and teaching at the local high school until her early retirement that involved traveling around the world with her dogs.

After the meet up, we took photos at the front of the house and slowly parted ways, leaving half of us going to 3030 for some iced coffee and tea. 

Coord rundown:

Hat: H&M (with faux roses pinned)

Blouse: Off-brand (I swear, it's not off-white)

Wristcuffs: Unknown Taobao shop

Necktie: Atelier Pierrot (cameo was a gift from the 2nd comm mod)

JSK: IW

OTKs: Ebay (iirc, it's an IW replica -boooo)

Shoes: Antaina

(unseeen: purse from Evil Live/Lolita Collective & Btssb Milk-Chan Pochette dubbed Miki-Chan)

Here's our little group (sans SOs)! 

If you ever go downstate Illinois, be sure to make an appointment to tour this beautiful home! 

Meetup Update: Galentine's Day

My community decided to have an afternoon tea and crafting meet at a mod's house on February 13th, and although it was a small affair, we had a lot of fun eating cute sandwiches and sweets, and making cards for each other and loved ones.

I originally planned on wearing a wig, but I overslept and woke up the time I was supposed to have left the house. Thank goodness I had prepped my coord on the previous night. This is actually a re-creation of my coord since I didn't have time to take a photo. And I thought that I would wear a red main piece, but I thought that the head-bow, socks, and necklace would go better with this, and I wanted to wear those accessories since they were gifts from friends <3

Head-bow: Sweet Mildred (gift from the hostess!)
Blouse: Metamorphose
JSK: Lief (my wishlist dress! I always see it in lavender and never in black!)
Socks: Angelic pretty (they have hearts on them!)
Shoes: Antaina
Necklace: gift (I'll let you in the source later!)

I'm going to try to keep posting coords, even though I'm not very photogenic nor wear interesting/ott pieces. I usually don't go overboard with the stickers, but I couldn't help messing with them through this cute app called Bestie. It's sort of like purikuta with an instagram interface. Check it out!

So what did you do on Valentine's Day? Did you wear any cute coords? Leave your story in the comments below.

Have a great weekend!
Lily 

Another Fun Weekend: Round1, Tea at The Drake Hotel, & Road Side Antiquing

On November 14th, I joined the Chicago community for afternoon tea at The Drake Hotel with Lauren and Hailee. I get invited to go to their fancy tea meets at The Drake (as well as at Russian Tea Time and The Palmer House), but haven't gone until now and so I was really excited to make one more trip to Chicago before winter sets in. We stayed at Helen's place over the weekend, but couldn't hang out due to her having to work and prepare for her trip for Taiwan. Hopefully she'll be able to take my suggestion to visit Alice is Coming in Teipei to make up for missing out on the fancy tea meet with us.

Friday night, we did the most touristy thing ever and went to Portillo's, and then we HAD to go to Round1 because Lauren had never been there before. For the unfamiliar: Round1 is an awesome entertainment chain featuring Japanese arcade games, karaoke rooms, and bowling alley; they unfortunately don't have DDR or Para-Para-Paradise at our state's location, but they do have purakura machines which never fail to make me laugh and have unrealistic beauty expectations.

Aw. I'm sorry it's blurry. Let's just pretend it's an instagram filter. Yeah.

And because we're a bunch of weeaboos, we also had to stop at Too Cool, a chain selling relatively overpriced anime and kawaii mascot goods. I've been to a few in our state, but so far, this one (at Stratford Square Mall) has the best inventory; there was so much stuff to look at, but very little time to shop. I didn't want to leave empty handed and got a set of Rilakkuma stickers and a Rilakkuma button for a friend's stocking stuffer. 

The way of the Kuma

You can't have a Japanese arcade without UFO machines! Hailee snagged a Korilakkuma plush and I got a Hello Cammy plush (Sanrio+Street Fighter collaboration) on my second try. Unfortunately, even with our help, Lauren went home without a plush friend (there was a Rilakkuma she wanted, but the guy after us got it instead  ಥ_ಥ ). I guess it means we'll have to go back! 

On Saturday, we got dolled up to go to The Drake and had met up with our friend Kim in front of Union. I rarely take cabs in a city because they're so expensive, but we didn't want to take another 30 min trip (via CTA) just to get to our final destination (probably not a good idea to take city transit while in lolita anyway). I always forget how crazy cab drivers are on the road. I asked him to drop us off at Water Tower place where we briefly checked out the American Girl Place (I've honestly never been before) and intended to go next door to Lush, but it was hella crazy and packed in there and we decided to stop by after tea, hoping that foot traffic would die down then. After returning my clothes at Uniqlo and visiting Ghirardelli's (which was also packed), we realized that we had taken the wrong turn, but somehow made it to The Drake before most of the other guests have arrived. Our hostess handed out hand-written thank you notes to each guest.

The Drake was absolutely gorgeous, but like a convention center, the fancy lighting made our pictures look like garbage which really sucked because you could have a photo-op in just about any where in the vicinity - and with this in mind, I apologize for the lack of photos! It was so lovely seeing new and familiar faces and everyone decked out in their finest - even the boyfriends looked sharp! There were two weddings going on at the hotel, but even then, without meaning to, the lolitas somehow took attention away from the newly wedded! 

We had about 30 or so people who attended and we had to break up everyone in groups. At first, I was feeling a little odd about sitting in a table away from the main group, but quickly found myself satisfied for not having to squish in a booth of petticoats. It was also nice to be seated in our own bubble because it made it easy for everyone to mingle after eating and being away from a few bridal/baby showers going on. Our time block was a little late, but we were able to catch the live harpist. 

I knew that ordering alcoholic beverages was an optional part of our RSVP, but I had just heard about pre-ordering tea blends, and so I don't know what the other tables got, however, our table of eight had two sets of the Big Ben English breakfast tea, 7 Citrus Oolong, and Tropical Garden. 

Top: mini lemon poppyseed loaves, red velvet macarons, lemon petit fors
Middle: egg salad, cucumber & tomato on white bread, lobster & shrimp salad on a brioche bun
Bottom: goat cheese & pomegranate mini quiche, smoked salmon-herb crème fresh & arugula, English scones

The tea service was lovely. It seemed as if the service was well timed for us to be allowed to eat in peace and receive drink refills. The price is a bit steep, but what made up for it was the quality of the food, atmosphere, and service, and that they offer food refills, but I was already loaded with carbs to ask for another bite; I honestly didn't feel hungry again until we got back to the suburbs at 9pm. 

Naturally, after the meal, we took a lot of photos.  

Strangely enough, the bathrooms have wonderful lighting.
Jsk, headbow: Angelic Pretty
Blouse: Off-brand
Wristcuffs: Taobao (unknown brand)
Otks, shoes: Bodyline (yes, those are super frilly socks! Not bloomers!)
Necklace: Payless
Purse (lol, y u open?): Evil Live via Lolita Collective
Wig: Lockshop via Lolita Collective

Once again, I apologize for the lack of photos. I'm afraid I don't feel terribly comfortable sharing photos that don't belong to me. Looks like I'll have to get myself a new camera in the near future 

(◕‿-)

Lush was still crowded as it was in the day, but we still made it a point to stop inside and get some Christmas shopping taken cared of. I didn't feel like buying anything in particular and I think that I'm usually like that when I go there because there are so many products to try and I just want to get them all! Does anyone else have this issue too?
After we finally got back to Helen's, we ordered Lou Malnati's to go with some wine I got for Hailee (she had turned 21 recently).  The bottle is called Freak Show and while it's really bitter at first, it does have some lovely notes afterwards. I honestly bought it because the bottle was too cool not to get, and I thought it would make up for missing on their performances at the local Rocky Horror Picture Show - which was circus themed! 

We could have stayed longer on Sunday, but had a lot of errands to do once we got home, however, we still wanted to do one more fun thing before we did and ended up pulling into an antique mall just off the high way. I'm so glad we did because I've always passed by the place every time I go up to Chicago-land and it's got some amazing stuff. 

Like this cat pitcher!
For more photos, check my instagram page.

Another wonderful weekend gone by. With winter coming into view, it'll be a while until I can visit my sister community, but I can't be sad too long with winter lolita day coming up! As far as I know, we're going to move our meetup for Sunday (instead of the usual first Saturday) and make holiday cards. What are you winter lolita day plans? 

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a good rest of your day!

A Frilly Weekend: Pt 2. Annual Mega Meet 2015

Due to reservation limitations, the annual mega meet up ran from 10 am to 2 pm, and in spite of being relatively sleep deprived, I thought it was worth having to get up early because the meet was held indoors, allowing us to go all out without the fuss of the heat and rain (and the risk of getting brand grass stained! - the AMM have always been held outdoors as a picnic). Hailee had bought donuts last night to share and I made coffee. I don't know what's funnier: that I was making coffee that was from Helen's cabinet or that we were scrambling around the kitchen to find sugar. There was something oddly peaceful about slowly waking up to a gloomy Sunday morning with friends over coffee and donuts.

In spite of putting together a simple coordinate, I was the last one to get ready because I had been fighting with my blouse that got wrinkled in my luggage; fortunately, Helen had a steamer that she had let me borrow. And in spite of scrambling to pack, taking turns for the bathrooms, and sitting through in-bound traffic, we got there in good timing, just enough time to eat and mingle before our gracious hostesses began the games and raffle.



I should have taken a photo of the buffet table. It took up three tables and people were still coming in with more food to share; there was a lot left over as well, and it got me thinking that I won't bring any food next year. I think everyone had seriously stepped up their coordinate game this year; even the newbies looked presentable. It was lovely seeing people I haven't seen since Anime Midwest 2015 and 2014 and I definitely made some new friends during the meet.

Every annual mega meet, we play a game of lolita bingo which involves going around the room and finding people who happen to be wearing a certain motif or piece in their coordinate. I didn't win, but I've always liked playing this one because it's an excellent ice breaker.  Sometime after bingo, our hostesses began the raffle prizes were much nicer than they'd been in the past; if I recall correctly, there were two parasols, two petticoats, two barets from a Taobao brand whose name I can't remember, a couple of illustrations, an AP necklace, a mini alpaca plush, some beauty items, and I had donated a couple of tea tins.  I think I'd like to donate more to the raffle so that more people can get something or maybe get a couple of the crafty girls in my community to make gift bags for everyone.

After the raffle, we headed upstairs to a balcony for photos which we broke up by style before posing in a giant group photo, and then returned downstairs to clean up our space before parting ways. Saying goodbye have always been bittersweet, but I suppose all good things come to an end, and there will always be future meet ups.

Courtesy of Vincent Kan Photography. Check out his facebook page!

Speaking of style, here's a photo of my outfit which I coordinated with simple makeup and curled my short hair, and had totally forgot to take a picture of the day I wore it. Blouse - Angelic Pretty; Socks - eBay; Boots - Dry Goods, Skirt - Meta; Hat - F21; Strawberry earrings - Sweet Mildred 

Word went around that some people were going to go into Chinatown for lunch and shopping, and as much as we wanted to go home to beat traffic and relax, we thought it'd be best to take advantage of being in the city and to eat a proper meal first. Not too far away was Strings, an authentic Japanese ramen restaurant - so authentic that it was tiny. I couldn't imagine trying to squeeze more than ten lolitas in the space among the other restaurant patrons. Even though word went around about going out to lunch there, the Milwaukee lolitas changed their plans to visit a sweets shop in the shopping plaza and so it was just Helen, Hailee, Lauren, and I, and later joined by a few girls from the Quad Cities. I believe I had a "Shoyu ramen" bowl which was surprisingly heavy for being the vegetarian option (I don't even know why I ordered a boiled egg for added protein), As good as it was, I didn't realize it was going to be a heavy meal, and that the broth was going to be oily. I think next time, I'd like to take our group to Gyu-Kaku for happy hour.

After our meal, we walked across the street to the plaza to find the rest of the lolitas who were still out shopping, but instead found (another) knock-off anime toy and gift shop. I wish I could have taken photos of the weird things we came across - like a sad Hello Kitty with a red nose and long face, and a bunch of random household objects with some hilariously questionable Engrish, including this:

A contact lens case (with useless "tweezers").  It's not worth the $6.99, but it was cute and the Engrish accurately explains my feels.

We went back to Helen's house to return to comfortable muggle clothes, double check our bags, and finally head home.  I think that this year's annual meetup was a success and I can't wait to do it all over again.

Until next time...

A Frilly Weekend (Pt.1); Afternoon Tea at the Pinecone Cottage Tea House

Every year, the Chicago Lolita Community (Chigothloli) hosts a "Midwest Mega Meet", a meet and greet event open to lolitas all over the Midwest, however, we've had people visit as far as Canada stop by to say hi. I actually live a few hours south of Chicago land and so I rarely go up there for meetups in spite of being quite integrated in the online community, but I always try to make it up there for conventions and the annual meetup; they're the only few times I can see my (frilly) friends up north. This year, I took my friends Lauren and Hailee from my local comm and we stayed over the night at my friend Helen who lives out in the suburbs; because we had to travel a ways to the meet, we decided to keep it casual and save our fancier coordinates for the mega meet. There was also a tea party meet up happening on Saturday at A Baker's Tale in Chicago, but there was a limited seating capacity, and so we decided to stay out in the suburbs and have tea together at The Pinecone Cottage Tea House in Downer's Grove. I was actually invited to a meetup there a while ago, but couldn't make it, and I'm so glad that I've finally gotten around it!

A Baker's Tale will just have to be on my laundry list of places to visit until then.

Pinecone Cottage is adorable as it sounds. The tea room is a corner building with ivy grown over the brick walls. The place is quite small, but charming with its shabby chic decor and antique books and wicker chairs. Everyone gets a unique mix-matching tea set (cup, saucer, and pots and plates), and our meal came as a four part course which changes every month according to what's in season and theme (in this case, it was a "Paddlewheel and Calliope Afternoon Tea, which was inspired by the owner's trip on the Mississippi; I'm assuming it was a Mark Twain inspired meal). They had a wide variety of teas to try - greens, white teas, herbal blends, and blacks, each ranging from floral to sweet and fruity and with caffeinated/decaf options.  I wish I could sample every one of them because they sounded delicious! Every month there are two featured teas which for August was Summer Apricot-Watermelon and Marigold-Almond Iced Tea,

Maybe it's because I'm a classic lolita at heart, but I chose the "Lady Grey Royale", a lovely blend of Darjeeling, Ceylon, Cap Keenum Moafen black teas, lavender flowers and citrus. I usually dislike floral blends, but this wasn't so bad, in fact, it was pretty mellow. If I recall correctly, I could smell the lavender first and then got a hint of citrus aftertaste.  After tea was served, we started our four course meal with potato salad and honey cornbread.

Puns

The salad was pretty, but I wish that the potatoes were boiled a little longer. Following our salad were our sandwiches which included BBQ pork in mini croissants, cucumber and nasturtium sandwiches, and heirloom tomato flatbread stacks -  the veggies, according to our server, came from the tea room owner's garden!

Peach shortcake scones with pineapple sage Devon creme and damson plum jam was next. They were served fresh out of the oven and even though we couldn't remember whether to take the cream or the jam first, they were warm, fluffy, and delicious (and I really want some right now). I'm sorry that I don't have any photos of the scones. I guess they were just too good looking and smelled so wonderful that we went right in!

We ended our tea with two kinds of cakes: "Huckleberry Tuxedo Cake" and "Tarragon Cantelope Tea Bread". To be honest, I wasn't as big a fan of the cake and bread as I was for the scones, but like everything else, I finished my plate, and I think I'd like to go back again some other time. We were approached by some Red Hat Society ladies who were having tea across of us and Helen joked after they left about how she might join them when she "graduates" lolita.

Our lovely little group

Helen was pretty tired from having to work that day and so she went home with her boyfriend Jason, who joined us for tea, and the rest of us went to do some shopping at the Woodfield Mall. I met a girl at Sephora from Hong Kong who loved what we wore and I shared her a few links about the fashion and lolita communities. Even though the Forever 21 there was pretty big, I was disappointed that there weren't a whole lot of accessories, makeup, and miscellaneous items to pick up.

We made it a point to hit up Lush where Hailee and Lauren picked out some bath bombs while I got myself a bar of Jungle hair conditioner, and where we were bombarded by salespeople trying to get us to try every little thing in the store. I tried the hair conditioner when I came home, but I have mixed feelings for it because of the strong herbal scent. I should have asked for a sample. I'm bummed that I didn't take a photo of it, but some of you "alt-lolitas" might appreciate that one of the sales associate's sleeve tattoo of Peter Rabbit and his family! We also make it a point to check the Disney store since the ones at our local malls have long closed. We didn't get anything, but found a bunch of adorable tsum-tsums.

 The weather is getting cooler and I wanted to start up a new wardrobe with a bunch of fall and winter basics at H&M, but I was sorely disappointed in how I couldn't find any basic dress shirts for women without something to nitpick at - in this case, I fell in love with these polka dotted dress shirts in navy and grey, but the buttons don't go all the way up (it has a v-neck). I can't wait for Uniqlo to finally open up its flagship in Chicago. I can't stand how difficult it is to find quality basic pieces in the women's section; they're all boxy instead of fitted and don't have any practical aspects like functional pockets (I have a pair of dress pants from Maurice's that are ironically in their "I am Smart" line and it's sewn with fake pockets), and usually there are some dumb things sewn on like pre-cuffed 3/4 sleeves and studs (I hate the studs trend with a blinding fury). I think we spent the most time at Ragstock. I didn't get anything, but I found some sweet t-shirts featuring cats, and Lauren found a fluffy pink coat that you could pet for hours. We stopped at Jewel after leaving the mall to buy some food for the potluck and Lauren found a phone connecting piece in her coat!

As much as we love wearing lolita, we were looking forward to changing into comfy pjs, and passing out, but not without watching Kamikaze Girls first!