To the Dark Side!

well I am feeling quite good right now all things considering. Ok first off i do indeed have an implant, woopde do... its short and feels as weird as it looks.

Now for the news that excites me... I may be converting my friend to the dark/kimono side. Her name is Kris. She already had an intrest in freign clothing, but she has Saris. I keep going oiff at her about kimono so she desided to learn a bit about it... and she found it very interesting and deep, just like me. so if i play my cards right i may get a kimono buddy my age (no offence to you Marry Ann, i loves you too,  but with our age gap there is always gonna be a bit of a gap) it would be very cool if i did lure her over... one step closer to my kimono club/ group dream!

And thats all. i just took my pain meds so i'm getting very, very sleepy... lols... nite every one!

Teeth...

well today's post has nothing to do with japan or a rant (maybe). i just wanted to inform every one that today i get a tooth implant.

You see when i was young they had to pull out one for my frount teeth because they feared the tooth would grow out of my face and so now i have a large gap. they have already stuck some bone up in that spot and will now stick a metal screw (or thats sorta what it is) in the same spot and then a cap that looks like an awsome tooth! yay, no more snaggle tooth for me.

there isn't too much that can go wrong really but Oral surgery of any kind (including a cavety filling) makes me freak out at phobia levels. so this time i asked for anti anxiety pills along with the knocking out option...

well thats all,  it'll be a few days before i post anything because i may feel super wonky and i have no clue how i'll feel aboy my smile. so see ya guys, wish me luck!

Nemuneko

Ok so here Is a pic of my new nemuneko plush, I'm naming her Suzu.

Update July 13

Ok this is mainly one of my Rants i guess but i felt the need to post some news.

First off my newest Zori Arive probably Tomorrow (maybe today) i am very excited, overall my Rakuten expirience was not bad. I just probably won't use them offten... mainly because even though the shoes were just under 9 USD with the shipping it ended up at 30+ USD anyway... but i do think it may be my go to for shoes still because of the veriety...

Second, i just wanted to inform every one i have desided on the color i want for my Prom kimono... Purple, a deep plum color would be prefrerable. Overall i think my Prom Houmongi will be the most expencive kimono i will get untill i have a solid carreer. I'm really glad i am strating my hunt early because i'm finding the color i want is a bit... well... hard to find... but it does exsist, the trick is to find something in my price range... right now my range is around 100 USD but untill my mom gives me an officall budget and i crunch some numbers it will still be my range... because i have lots more accesories then the average prom dress buyer... lols.

in other news. i still havnt received any hint from Naomi/The Immortal Geisha about shipping, not even a confirmation that she got my address... its making me a bit fidgety because i really want this prize i won... i have already desided not to enter any more raffles so i don't want this huge fish to be reraffled.... meh, Naomi if you can hear this please send me a sign that you got my adress!!! lols just kidding but i will send her a question on say saterday if i havn't heard from her by then.

Also my newest Plush toy came in the other day, Its a Nemuneko or sleepy cat. i desided to name mine Suzu. i'll post some pics of her As soon as i get some pics....

Finaly i just wanted to post a warning. I have a Proceeder/ surgery on monday... it may be some time before i post any more kitsuke pics... It all depends on how my smile looks really. Its an oral surgery because i have a missing tooth so i should finaly be getting my fake tooth... it may be a few weeks before i am comfortable with smiling and thus posting pics of kitsuke... because lets face it i'm a smiler in frount of cameras... i don't show to may other expressions when some one else is takeing my pics. oh well thats all for now.

I won...

Ok so today was the day that a certain Kimono Raffle ended... It seemed like a normal enough day, i mean i have had a long history of subpar luck when it comes to winning but i had entered any way. i spent a good chunk of the morning, checking and rechecking IG and suddenly i noticed i had a message... i had only ever gotten 2 PMs... 1 as a welcoming and another the other day when one of the administratitors contacted me about adding my yukata pic to their facebook yukata pic collection.

Then i saw that they had posted the results... of course i was all like "No.... it couldn't be..." so as soon as it was loaded i scrolled down to the Showa Retro Kimono Ensemble - Donated by Ichiroya & Naomi winners secotion... and i saw my user name. again i was like "really? i'm not seeing things?" so i check that PM and OMG (excuse the chat talk) i had actully won Showa Retro Kimono Ensemble.
I was simply extatic... i ran down strairs, arms flailing, to find my mom and tell her... then i told some friends and my dad... and then i filled out the nessisary info on IG so i would receive my prize and then i posted on face book and now i'm posting here... yay!

For those of you who are woundering what exactly did i win... well here it is:

Original picture from Immortal Geisha

and here is what it comes with:

Donated by Ichiroya:

- Warm purple haori with rose and faux shibori rinzu (this purple is notoriously difficult to photograph well)
- Gorgeous silk indigo komon with shibori momiji and ume upon a square lattice rinzu background (Length: 157cm, Wingspan: 125cm)
- Dark, dusty pink hakata nagoya obi

From the collection of Naomi Graham Hormozi:

- Soft pink silk juban with shibori and rinzu ume
- 1 Obi-ita with asanoha pattern
- 1 obi-makura with asanoha pattern
- 2 date-jime (1 silk hakata and 1 velcro with silk hakata stitched to the top)
- 1 korin belt
- 1 eri-shin
- 3 muslin koshi-himo
- Spring green shibori obi-age
- Spring green obi-jime
- Spring green kasane-eri
- Red han'eri with embroidered sakura
- Red and gold zori and matching bag

Of course i will wear it as soon as i get it but for now this is all i'll say.

Zori Rant

Man... My newest pair (3rd pair) of Zori hasn't come in and i'm finding myself impatient even though i ordered them 2 measily days ago... i should be more worried about my Nemuneko (bought it, and issues ensured.... ):  ) but i want my zori, this time they are black with a little bit of blue, not that the blue was very visible in the pictures but oh well... They are sized at something like 23.7 cm- 24 cm... idk why they have a rang but what ever.

i have steadily been buying larger and larger zori mainly because i guess i feel my heel still sticks out too much... then again i have no clue as to How much is Too much and how much is Too little... i wish i had a mentor or something to tell me this... or a diagram. Then again all of my zori have been very tight as well from the top (blaming my largish western feet on that part). So i find myself wearing them properly (aka, the thong part is not crammed all the way inbetween my toes) which makes my heel stick out even more... oh well.

Either way i cannot buy (have desided not to anyway) and more zori till my newest pair makes its apearence... and maybe thats why i'm impatient... i have silver zori that feel a bit too small, i have some fake tattami zori that fit a bit better... and as soon as i get thease black ones and see how they fit i will probably hunt down a 4th pair... the 4th pair must be white... after that i guess i'll try for gold... and after gold i may as well see if i cant find a gray/silver pair that fits better then what i have...

i want to much kimono... thats my issue... i find myself wanting more and more pretty silk/cotton/wool/synthetic kimono... i dread my college days because who knows how i will take life living as a poor student? i plan on working part time though as soon as i have gotten comy with college life though, so maybe i can make a kimono nest egg and stuff and tap it one a month or so? but no i feel that might not be enough...

even though i dread the days as a poor student i find myself looking forward to the days where i'll have a job that pays more then minimum wage... when those days come i feel i'll need a cat, a new kimono every time i see 1 i cant live without, new zori, tons of obi and gasp... Obiage and obi jime galore.... i'm gonna stop my rant here...

on one last not i will post pics of my new zori as soon as they come in.

Motifs and my old Blog

Ok so really quickly i want to post a few things.

First Up is this:
Motifs for the months!
I had originally found this list on a site called Ruby Kimono, but it seems to be down and i don't want to track down my old blog again... so i'm gonna post it here. This list is really helpful for beginers and those who care about seasonality. I Still do not own this list really but since Ruby kimono is down at the moment i feel there should be a second source to pull even this much info from...

January

shou-chiku-bai - plum, bamboo and pine combination
lobster
takara bune - treasure ship
noshi - paper strips
snow and snowflakes
hana fuda - card games
kites
pine trees and cones
plum blossom
hawk
ducks
rabbits
temari - embroidered balls

February

plum blossom
daffodils
beans
uguisu - bush warbler
camellia
tachibana
magnolia

March

plum blossom
rape blossom
peach blossom
butterflies
narcissus
peony
camellia
cherry blossom
tachibana
maple (green)
rose
magnolia

April

cherry blossom
butterflies
lanterns
azalea
rhododendron
magnolia
rose
peony
hollyhock
maple (green)
wisteria

May

butterflies
wisteria
azalea
iris
butterflies
carp
fawn
peony
paulownia
willow
thistle
carp

June

butterflies
paulownia
iris
willow
pinks
hydrangea
umbrellas
water
dewdrops
gardenia
swallows
peony
thistle
carp
goldfish

July

butterflies
fans (round and folding)
hydrangea
fireworks
pinks
dragonflies
pampas grass
moon
nandina
lotus
lily
thistle
fireflies
goldfish

August

pampas grass
morning glory
round fans
pinks
dragonflies
fireworks
moon
deer
bellflower
bush clover
nandina
lotus
lily
thistle
fireflies
goldfish

September

pampas grass
fireworks
morning glory
pinks
bellflower
bush clover
orchid
deer
bellflower
nandina
dragonflies

October

pampas grass
chrysanthemum
golden bamboo
maple (red)
persimmon
gingko

November

chrysanthemum
maple (red)
snow
hawks
ducks
persimmon
gingko

December

toys
bamboo
pine
snow
hawk
ducks
rabbit
lobster

For those of you who never saw my old blog here is a link, there were only 8 postings and i wasn't very good at my kitsuke at the time but it tells a lot about who i was at around 1 year ago. yup soon i will be full circle and one year into my kimono love i got my first yukata some time in mid august and fell truly in love. so next month around lets say... the 18th, i will have some sort of celebratory thing, maybe it will be just dressing up, maybe i'll go somewhere... or maybe i will make a bento, get dressed in kimono and head out to the local park to wlak around in nature... who knows but i will do something.

well thats it for now. Good bye all of my readers (who ever you guys are).

Onigiri, Rakuten, and general kimono News

Alright I am beginning a sort of self Bento challenge, see every year my lunches start out as a whole sandwich and some fruits... But by the end of the year I end up eating just fruit and not much at that! So this year my resolve is to start making real bentos... I do have three bento boxes so I'm set on that, but I don't have that many things I can make and bring to lunch... I am a person who cannot stand to eat the same thing more then twice... unless its fruit...

So today i began my testing phase of sorts. I desided to begin by making onigiri. heres how they turned out.

Not bad looking right? for now they are plain but i plan on trying out diffrent fillings... though i have to be careful that i fell it with something that isn't greasy because i will probibly be making them weekly... Like say make three on sunday, and stash  them in the fridge and eat them through out the week..

But if the filling is greasy then it will surly come apart... right now my list of fillings to try just to try include:
-Avacodo
-tuna+mayo
-salmon
-egg
-hotdog

The avacodo will probably keep the best but i think hot dog can work well too...
I already plan on making rolled omlets to pack in too... so i probably won't use egg as a filling once school starts.

Currently i will look for otherthings i can stuff in a Bento... if anyone has a sugestion, post a comment please (i don't expect much just so you know)

xXx



Alright Next is my Rakuten bit, which won't take long because i don't have much to say at the moment. Today i bought a pair of black and blue (or so it said... could barely see the blue) Zori for a grand total of 700 yen which totals to just over $8. This is my first buy ever from Rakuten and due to the fact that the Zori were so cheep (they mentioned imperfections but hey... how bad can it be? and besides my feet will cover most of the top.) i am curiouse as to how it will end... I hope my first Rakuten expirience ends well and without isues because well, it has lots and lots of pretty things that are much easier to get off of there then say off of eBay... like zori, i saw a good number that was discounted.

xXx



Finally i have a general kimono news i would like to share. I have offically desided to wear Kimono to my senior prom. Soon i will be starting my last year of high school.. and truthfully i was quite undesided as to if i would go western dress so as not to stand out or to wear kimono and be able to rewear the dress and the memories. well i desided "i only go to senior prom once, why not make it memoriable."

Now see i did some "scouting" ( i guess you can call it) a few months ago and whent to prom as an 11th grader. that was a big part of my desision, i didn't dance much, i mostly sat and talked and i saw a girl wearing a sari which kinda made me wish i had worn kimono (never mind that she was indian in ethnisity and i am so totaly lily white...) either way i found myself wishing i had done it last year.

Now as for what i have desided upon for the moment all i have in the desired color departments are Black or bold... or maybe both? Also i want to wear a Houmongi or Tsukesage, not a furisode, i can't aford to think of my sleves in that sort of enviroment, and i think i'll probably wear a Tsuke Obi (I don't even want to think about my obi sagging pitifully.

so for now my list includes:
1 kimono
1 obi
1 obiage
1 obijime
1 pair of zori
1 matching clutch bag
hair accesories

Now the other thing to consider is the time of year, Last year prom happened in may... so i'll probably need a Hitoe kimono...
and the paterns i can wear are:
-butterflies
-wisteria
-azalea
-iris
-butterflies
-carp
-fawn
-peony
-paulownia
-willow
-thistle
-carp
I almost couldn't find this list becaus ethe website seems to be down at the moment... Luckly i had copied and pasted the list into a post on my old blog... I will repost the lift just to be helpful.

Well thats all for now, look for my posing of the Seasonal motifs which will be coming soon.