pretty maids all in a row

my time hasn't all been spent stewing over my job. actually, i've had buckets of fun lately. just last weekend i attended our monthly knitting party, witnessed an actual snowstorm (my first in japan!), and rocked the city for the first time in one of my lolita dresses.



shut up! look at all that snow! i couldn't believe it.

i headed to fern's house the next day and made it into my girly base of operations. you wouldn't believe the amount of luggage it requires to carry all that fluff! early (ok, it was 11) monday morning i dressed up in fake hair, fake eyelashes, sass, and a three-person entourage and hit nagoya with some badass femininity. daniel, the obliging photographer, enjoyed people's reactions even more than i did. that's the thing about japan. you can get away with wearing anything. plenty of people didn't bat an eye, but i'm one tall dolly and hard to ignore.
at one point i came face-to-face with a japanese lolita who didn't know what to make of me. she stared me right in the eye, puzzled, and i just smiled. we made several trips through the busy station as we searched for a place to stash my stuff, so i enjoyed a lot of attention. we found a guy emptying the only available coin locker, and i flounced up and asked if it was ok that i took it. he looked pleased, flustered. he could barely get out the words, "just a moment." then a last look and a breathless, "goodbye!"
finally we got out on the streets where fashiony guys who hand out ads and usually ignore me as hard as they can were throwing themselves in my path, eagerly smiling. maybe i should take that outfit out more often.
we made our way to the epicenter of lolitas--an entire department store floor devoted to the different brands of lolita haute couture. we checked out the dresses and mandy and fern started to catch the lolita contagion. they each left with a new dress and plans for more outings were excitedly discussed. i am ridiculously pleased.