A Very Spooky Birthday

Hello dear readers! Its been a packed few weeks for me. On the first of the month, I celebrated my birthday! My boyfriend and I had a special day planned, but it seems that New Years Day in Los Angeles is not the best of date days - almost everything we tried to do was closed! In spite of all the cancellations, we had a great day anyhow!

Our first stop of the day was a visit to the Hollywood Museum of Death. I was quite excited to visit this location because it seems like the perfect gothy tourist destination, but to be honest, it was a little intense for me. I don't consider myself a squeemish person, but room after room of autopsy photos, and the smell of embalming chemicals was a little too much for me. I did really enjoy their collections of death-row art and poetry, their amazing skull collection (they have a giraffe skull!!!!!), and their really interesting Heaven's Gate and Manson Family exhibits. The owners were really nice, loved our outfits, and even gave me some free buttons for my birthday! They had a really adorable (live, and 20-year-old) siamese twin painted turtle in the lobby. I'm glad I went, but I don't know if I'll be going back any time soon.... 

The infamous Hollywood Museum of Death... visit if you dare!

DEATH parking, teehee

You aren't supposed to take photos inside, but I snapped this
photo of a "family" quilt made by the Manson girls. Nothing pairs like crafts and murder!

After the museum, I wanted to go shopping at LA's oddities emporium, Necromance on Melrose in West Hollywood. Unfortunately, Necromance was closed, but we were able to browse some of the nearby shops that were open. I *almost* bought a pair of skeleton leggings, but I decided against it at the last minute. I should have bought them! There were so many cool stores on Melrose, including a branch of the Asian street-fashion brand JOYRICH, but most of the ones I really wanted to visit were closed :(.  

A shot of the inside of Necromance from Google. I'm so bummed it was closed.... 

After we'd had our fill of Melrose, we headed over to Little Tokyo to indulge in vegetarian Japanese food at Shojin, LA's only all-vegan Japanese restaurant! We ordered stuffed shitake mushrooms, yuzu-cured seitan, eggplant and burdok maki, and a vegetarian dragon roll! The Shojin staff were so sweet! They brought me a fruit dessert with a candle, and gave us our polaroid in a nice, personalized card. They also gave me a CD with the jazz music they played in the restaurant! 

I took my own pictures at the restaurant, but they didn't really turn out. I snagged this from Google. 

After dinner, we had planned on going to do purikura, but it was also closed :(. Luckily, many of the Little Tokyo shops were open, so we got to browse a little after all. My boyfriend bought me some delicious macarons from Lette and a really adorable spoon ring from an Osaka-style vintage shop, and I treated myself to a cute pair of lashes. 

My birthday haul!

Here is what I wore! In celebration of my birthday, I wore my most sumptuous gothic coordinate. Blouse: Victorian Maiden / OP: F+F / Hairpieces: AATP, F21, H&M / Rosary, stole, gloves: Vintage / Shoes: Bordello

Simple makeup.... I put a lot of roses in my hair.... 

Eeeeh, demon face! It was dark by the time we got home, so my pictures are a little blurry! I love this dress so much! 

Meet Up Report: Secret Winter Party at the Fairytale Boutique

Happy Holidays from Carnivale Salt!!

A week or so ago, I attended my first lolita meetup in Los Angeles. LA's Little Tokyo district is home to an adorable lolita shop called the Fairytale Boutique. In addition to selling barely-used consignment brand items and unique pieces by local designers, Fairytale Boutique is also known for hosting some of the most popular events in the Southern California lolita community! I was really bummed that I was still in the midwest for the Automatic Honey Halloween release party. When Fairytale Boutique announced that they would be hosting a holiday event, I could not wait for the chance to get to participate in one of these events!

So many lolitas! Everyone had a really festive time. There was a cosplay event going on at the shop next door so there were also several visitors in costumes. I love the Holiday Cami in the background of this shot!

Hostess Miki taking gifts for the White Elephant exchange.
She did a wonderful job organizing the event!! I loved her festive caplet.

During the event, guests who had RSVP'd for party programming played a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors against the hostess for prizes. I have heard in the past that this style of rock-paper-scissors is a popular game at brand events in Japan, for lolita and other kinds of brands as well. I didn't win any prizes, but I came really close in one round! Following the game, we moved on to an extremely lively White Elephant gift exchange.

The Christmas Tree before all of the White Elephant gifts were added.....

The tree after all of the gifts were added! It was quite an impressive sight. I had my eye on the parchment
wrapped gift but what I ended up with turned out to be much better. 

Instead of just matching your assigned number to the corresponding gift as I had assumed, we opened gifts one at a time in the group, and everyone could choose whichever present in the pile they wanted. Everyone cheered or booed as guests opened their gifts, and stealing gifts was allowed and encouraged! I had number 37, almost last, so I was lucky to have my pick of almost all the gifts. I felt a little guilty for stealing the Swimmer Tshirt I ended up with from another girl, but she got to steal another gift she wanted even more as a result anyway. At the beginning of the game, everyone felt bad stealing presents, but by the end, it was madness!

I brought home this extra cute Swimmer ice cream tshirt. The screen print is flocky and its black and grey color scheme works great with my casual wardrobe. I've been wearing it with acid-washed jeans, combat boots, my graffiti stud belt, and the Kidsyoyo berret I wore to the event. The gift I brought for the exchange was a box of
Tazo blueberry white tea, a black BABY headbow, a ring from MONOMANIA,
and a sterling silver teapot Christmas ornament, all in a collectable MONOMANIA giftbag.  

I had a wonderful time, and eventually did open up and meet some new friends, but I must admit that I was terribly nervous and shy most of the event :(. Large meet ups are always a little intimidating for me, but meeting all new people at an event like that can be downright terrifying!

All these girls were super nice! The girl I met with the red hair standing to the right of me was actually the one who won my gift! I was so happy she loves tea and wears gothic and classic, so it was the perfect gift for her. I wore my new AP Moon Night Theater miniskirt, with harlequin tights, black blazer and BABY blouse, topped off with my KIDSYOYO beret. Sweeter than my usual fare, but I wanted to be festive!

In spite of my shyness though, it was a great introduction to the SoCal Community, and I really hope I can get to know my local lolitas better soon! Did your community do anything fun for the holidays?

Chicago Lolitas' Halloween Tea 2012

This past Saturday, I hosted a tea for my local lolitas at one of my favorite spots, Russian Tea Time. When I first became active with the Chicago area lolitas in 2008, it was a tradition of sorts that the community held seasonal formal teas, usually one in the spring, one around the holidays, and one in autumn. Our first fall Halloween tea was one of my favorite meets, so I decided to continue the tradition and host another edition of ChiGothLoli Halloween Gothic tea.

Everyone together taking obligatory shoe shots!!

I was a little nervous about the turnout, but after everyone arrived, we had a large group of 19 lolitas and friends! The theme was gothic, but some people ventured out in their best bittersweet, oldschool, and classic looks. I really enjoy themed meets because I feel like it encourages people to look their best. Everyone really did well!

Said shoe shot. Mine is the velvet boot with lacey tight at 12:05!

I didn't get many pictures of the tea service or the party indoors because the lighting was poor, and also because I've featured Russian Tea Time's service before. As always, it was very delicious, and with generous helpings! I love RTT because I usually have a lot of left-over sweets that I can bring home and enjoy with my coffee the next morning (yes, I'm a sweets for breakfast kind of girl!).

Russian Tea Time has lots of beautiful dolls that harken back to folkloric Russia.
I've always loved them but never got any good pictures!
Thanks Nina for this snapshot!

After tea, the group of us meandered over to the Art Institute gardens for pictures, and then over to State Street to visit Sephora and Beard Papa's, a Japanese creme-puff shop very popular with the local lolitas.

Like everywhere else right now, Beard Papa's is full of pumpkin items for fall.
I bet a pumpkin creme puff would be really delicious...

Choices of creme puff shells at Beard Papa's. The cookie-top one is my favorite.

All in all it was a very successful meet! In addition to carrying on an annual past-time in our community, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to say goodbye to my local lolitas because I am moving to Los Angeles in a few weeks!!! I'm so excited!!! I will miss Chicago but I'm excited to have lots of new adventures on the west coast. Expect many related posts in the future. This is what I wore to tea.

I wish I had a better shot of the details! My blouse is beaded and has a very beautiful lustre,
but it doesn't really show in the photos :(. ***
OP: Black Peace Now
Blouse: Vintage
Bloomers: Metamorphose Temps de Fille
Tights: Vera Wang
Shoes: Bordello
Accessories: F21, VoodooDolly

Coat: KidsYoYo
Stole: Vintage

Thanks for looking! Do you have any Halloween traditions with your friends or your fashion community?