Recap: Anime Weekend Atlanta 2014

After being sad to see the lolita convention Frill was discontinued, I was overjoyed to find out that Anime Weekend Atlanta would have a full fashion track with Baby, the Stars Shine Bright as special guests. I packed a number of full coordinates for the weekend primarily centered around sweet consisting of AP's Whipped Magic, AP's Dream of Macaron, and BtSSB's Mary's Sweet Sheep. I also packed my Bodyline Squirrels as an additional option, but I never found a good chance to wear the print. 

I started off the con to a bit of a rough start initially. I didn't end up going to the lolita social like I planned but instead spent a good part of Friday evening spazzing out after I lost my badge. Sadly, I ended up not being able to locate my badge, and the con seems to have a policy of not re-issuing badges and forcing you to buy a new one instead. I completely understand having a policy like that to prevent fraud, but I was still disappointed to have to fork over another $55 to attend the events for the rest of the weekend especially if I didn't want the ticket I had already purchased for the tea party on Sunday at $75 to go to waste. 

The rest of the weekend picked up and went considerably better. The fashion show itself was amazing. I loved the indie designers, and the Baby portion of the fashion show consisted of amazing graphics being displayed on the large screens in the background then flashing to show the models walking down the runway in detail for those of us not in the front row to be able to see them well. I felt like I was in a surreal witch's labyrinth like in Madoka. Please excuse my poor cell phone camera pictures as I show a few of my personal favorite pictures. 

Masumi and Rin on the stage at the end!

After the show was over, I took some time to hang out in the dealer's room and take some pictures with friends and people cosplaying some of my favorite characters. 

Tharja throwing a hex on me. 

Coordinate rundown:
OP - AP's Whipped Magic
Heart Purse - DreamV
Shoe - Bodyline
Purse charm and socks: BtSSB

On Sunday, the main lolita event of the weekend happened: the BtSSB tea party! I had been planning my coordinate for months, and I actually had to purchase my first Baby pieces for the event. I was overall happy with the subdued sweet coordinate I put together, and I liked adding in a bit of old school feel the with the Paradise Rose head dress. 

Getting ready. <3

Coordinate rundown:
Blouse - The Floral Notebook
Shoes, socks - Bodyline
Skirt - BtSSB
Head dress - Paradise Rose Shop

The actual tea party itself was so lovely, but the venue itself unfortunately had poor lighting though, limiting the amount of beautiful pictures that I would get. With the help of a bit of filtering, I do have a decent picture of myself with the guest of honor Masumi Kano and the Harajuku shop manager Rin! Rin in particular made me smile right before the photo. She noticed that my necklace was turned the wrong way then turned it herself so that the white portion would be facing forward. /melt

I went home with a few memorable pieces from the tea party and the con in general. At the end of the tea party, the event organizers gave out BtSSB key necklaces in either silver or gold to all of the participants. While at the Baby booth in the dealer's room, I also picked up a Kuma Kumya-chan pouchette which I'm simply in love with for its cute detailing yet practicality for being able to carry essential items. 

I had an overall good time at AWA even in spite of having to pay twice to get into the event, so I'll definitely plan to attend again next year. 

Introducing FrillMark

The past month has been a whirlwind for me between starting a new job at a different software development firm and going to Anime Weekend Atlanta at the end of the last month, I'm just now starting to settle in and get a bit more time to breathe. I also have an iPhone 6, so I'll be able to readily take pictures again for the blog, and I've already been much more active on my instagram.

Anyway, I've been playing around with code again more in my spare time, and I decided to release my first Google Chrome extension, FrillMark. The extension is super simple, just being a neat image based dropdown for four of the main Japanese lolita brands: Angelic Pretty, Baby the Stars Shine Bright, Innocent World and Metamorphose Temps De Fille. If you find yourself visiting those sites often like me and would like an easy dropdown for them, you can check out the first version of FrillMark on the Chrome Webstore.