No time for kimono :( But plenty of time for little kittens :)

Sadly I haven't been able to wear kimono at all for almost 2 month now! I blame my 2 new kittens and my schoolwork for it. I literally come home from work every day and then spend the whole evening doing stuff for school. Of course I have only myself to blame for taking 4 online classes, but I can't drop them now because I got a military spouse scholarship type of thing to pay for them. If I drop any classes, I will have to pay back the price of class and it is very expensive. So I have until January 24th of this hell and after that I will know better and only take maybe 2 online classes per term.

On the bright side, I have 2 little kittens now :) One is black with white paws and another one is brown spotted bengal. We had Mittens for little over 2 month now :) Can you tell how much she loves me? :) :) :)



Little Mittens is not so little anymore, but she is still soooo cute! She is a little over 4 month now. Actually, she is literally my dream kitty. I always wanted to have a black female cat with white paws. We adopted her from a lady on base, the lady was giving her away because her cat gave birth to Mittens and she had too many cats in the house. The second I saw this cutie I knew she had to be mine (or I had to be hers, whichever you prefer lol). We instantly named her Mittens after Mittens from Bolt :) :) :)



We have a new Christmas tree ornament! It is cattilicious! :)



The newest addition to our family is little Echo :) She is so small compared to Mittens and they are only 2-3 weeks apart! The breeder told us that it is because pedigree cats tend to develop later than mutts haha :) I expect them to be about the same size when they are full grown.





Right now they are still getting used to each other, but they are doing extremely well. Of course I am still watching them and won't leave them alone in a room without supervision. So far all they are doing are chasing each other around the room, not hissing as much as before and I guess sizing each other up? They are even sniffing each others noses. So cuuuuute! I can't wait for them to become best buddies! :)

Visiting cathedral in kimono

This Saturday I got to wear kimono again. :) My husband and I went to the Apple Festival in Ely, UK but the festival turned out to be huge disappointment. Luckily for us, it was on Ely Cathedral grounds so instead we went to look at the cathedral.

Of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to wear kimono again. I promised to one of Immortal Geisha forum members that I will wear an all brown ensemble as soon as my brown tsumugi kimono arrives in the mail. So here it is, all brown :) Brown striped tsumugi kimono, brown kokeshi doll obi, brown obiage and obijime, brown owl tabi, brown hat. Ever scarf and zori had some brown in it :) Overall I'm very happy with the color combination. Considering it is all brown, nothing gets lost in the ensemble and everything is perfectly visible.

I felt very autumnely in this kimono :)

Guess I'm famous now? ;P

I posted in previous post that I was interviewed for Japanese TV Channel. Today one of IG members showed me this :) Check out 37sec LOL I sound so goofy!

London Japan Matsuri 2009

Was a lot of fun! But at the same time it was so crowded! I never been anywhere that crowded and I went to San Diego Comic Con!

I got to meet up with all the IG ladies from UK which always makes me happy :) :) The festival itself was the first Japanese related event in UK that I got chance to attend so I was excited over that too. My husband was able to make it, and along with his friend Dan and my coworker and her husband, we had quite a large group in kimono :)

We walked around, tried on samurai helmets, decided against standing in line for takoyaki (because the line was just so LONG!), goofed off at Starbucks and generally had a lot of fun :)

Dan was very popular with Japanese ladies, partly because it's pretty rare to see a guy in kimono, and even rarer to see 2 guys in kimono! LOL And probably because of him mohawk too. It's his normal hairstyle so we didn't think much about it until all the Japanese started asking to take pictures with him and commenting on it :) One older Japanese lady talked with us for like... 5 minutes about how it's rare to see a young guy in kimono nowadays and that when you do see them it's such a NICE sight. Translation: it's drool worthy!

My hat was a hit too :) In US I never got any extra attention over a hat because all the attention went to kimono itself. But here I was around large Japanese population and I guess for them a hat was something extremely different. I also got asked for pictures a lot and got comments about my hat. The same older Japanese lady kept saying that hat suits me well, and that she never thought of wearing hat with a kimono. But then she (politely I guess) refused to take a photo with me (first by ignoring my request and instead standing next to Dan for a picture, and second by saying no to it) so I still don't know if I should feel mildly offended...? Like she was looking down at me for going outside the 'traditional kimono box' because I wore a hat? Eh I might be looking way too much into it... I should stop now. :)

I got interviewed for a Japanese TV station too... Nippon Japan or something along those lines so keep your eyes open, I might be on TV! LOLOLOL ;P My poor husband got dragged in to it too and proudly said that he wears kimono because "It looks GOOD!".

It's getting colder!

This is my first year in UK so I really don't know what to expect... Haha, not true! I know to expect cold but I just don't know when LOL. But it's getting much cooler already and I'm excited about wearing all the scarves, gloves, hats, shawls, boots, ponchos and stuff with kimono! I have a huge stash of those that I never ever needed in Florida and I can't wait to use them here!

Some nice warm tabi would be nice too huh? ;P I guess I'll just have to make them myself. :) :) :)

Kimono outings are lonely by myself...

I had another kimono outing yesterday... by myself. And it was fun, except that I was by myself. I don't even want to talk about how great my kimono is, and how pretty the color and all the stripes and squares greatness. I already talked about it on Immortal Geisha forums. I'm just so angry right now. At everything. At the fact that I have crappy job instead of the good one I left in US, and that I probably won't be able to find a better job for the whole 4 years I will live in UK. Why you ask? Because of Spouse Preference program, which is good... but not if I got offered a crappy job first. I loose spouse preference regardless of me accepting or declining, so I accepted. Since then I got 1 (ONE!!!!) call for interview, but as soon as they found out that I lost Spouse Preference they said they can't interview me.

I'm angry because I can't go to school here. Why? Well I don't think I can afford British colleges/universities and the stuff available on base are just NOT MY MAJOR! And you know what? I don't want to take just SOME kind of major just to go to school! I want to ENJOY school, I want to go to classroom, not take classes online.

I'm angry because I have no friend here and I'm just not to positive I'll find any. It seems that being military wife does that to you.. you become just indifferent. I hear how other people I work with talking about how they been here for year, 8 month, 6 month and all they do is stay home and don't hang out with anyone. You might ask why don't I try to hang out with people from work? For once, it's not like they jump thru the hoops to become my friends either. And for other, so far I haven't found anyone I just 'clicked' with. I tried to hang out with this one girl, and we met up at the movies (myself, my husband, our friend, her, her husband and friend) and all they wanted to do or talk about was drinking! Well I'm not into drinking! I don't want to spend each waking moment outside of work drinking! So yeah.... I don't think I'll be hanging trying to hang out with her again. Another girl, that I thought might become my friend, and who was actually excited about kimono sorta blew me off yesterday... I guess. She did say she had a vet appt for her dog, and I told her I'll wait and she will call me when she is done... no phone call. No email. No reply to my text message and voice mail asking if she still was at the appt. I don't think hoping for a courtesy call is that much to ask. I think I'm becoming indifferent too. I learn pretty fast in a new situations.

I'm angry about my car. It's a pain to drive and I'm afraid to take it anywhere and a result, I stay at home most of the time. And the time when my husband is at home and we could go somewhere, I'm working.

So yeah... kimono is about the only thing that makes me happy right now. Here are the photos from the outing. If I must say so myself, my kitsuke improved greatly from those grand total of 3 times I dressed myself :)

Zen Noodles require a special kimono

I got a chance to wear kimono yet again today! We went to this nifty little restaurant called Zen Noodles and of course that requited a special kimono. Also, it been pretty cold today. I'm from Florida for crying out loud, I get cold EASILY! ;P

I got this kimono before I arrived in UK in May, but never got chance to wear it in Florida like I intended. Originally I intended to pair it up with my bingata tsukuri obi, but we were pressed on time and I didn't want to spend all the time figuring out how to put tsukuri obi on lol. :) So instead I went a safe way and choose one of my favorite gold obi with imaginary flowers. Usually when I'm at a loss as to what obi to choose, I pick this one and so far it hadn't disappointed me!

I ordered seafood noodle soup and got so giddy when the waiter brought me my order :) I think most of the excitement came from the spoon that was give to me! It was one cool spoon :) ;P

Sadly by the time we got done it was dark outside so I don't have many good pictures of the whole outfit.

I just can't stay away from Ebay

I think it's a sort of 'retail' therapy for me. I guess I'm having a much harder time here than I anticipated, I avoid talking about it much but the fact is still here. :( And so I shop for kimono stuff cuz that's about the only thing that makes me happy right now.




Here are 2 new kimono I got. The green and blue one was an instant I WANT item even if I'm gonna have a hard time coordinating it. I don't have a single obi that will match, and I'm still confused about the flowers. Are those Ume? Sakura? Momo? But fun nonetheless :)The other one is much easier, and it's hitoe so I will be able to wear it as soon as it comes in. Good thing too, because I'm hoping to wear it to London Matsuri festival in September. I already have at least 2 obi that I think will look good with it :)

I love Ro or Lyuba's Cambridge kimono adventure

Today was a very good day for me :) The weather was nice, we were able to get out of the house and I got to wear kimono! I haven't had a chance to wear my Ro kimono yet so I figured today was the day to do it. Since I never wore Ro before, I didn't know what to expect. I thought it might be harder to handle because it is so light, but I had no problem with it. I even managed to dress myself without anyone's help and still look nice :)

We spent the whole day hanging out in Cambridge. Last time we went there I saw a really cool store that sold hand made cosmetics, and this time I actually was able to get stuff for myself! Everything they sell if=s completely hand made from the most natural materials and I always loved stuff like that. I got myself some hard shampoo and conditioner, a nice 'jar' of facial cleanser and a very cool hand lotion. I can't wait to try all those things out! :)


We also went to a Japanese restaurant and it was really good! I'm very happy that there is a real Japanese restaurant in the area where I live and we don't have to drive to London to get sushi :) The food was very good too :) So I'm definitely seeing myself coming back there for more!

I finally got a full length mirror!

Today my husband and I finally managed to get to the furniture store and get ourselves (me, I mean) a full length mirror! The only mirror I owned stayed at my parents house and since we were moving overseas right after we got married, we decided to not buy it until we got to UK. My kimono outings suffered tho :( :( But no more! With my handy dandy mirror I can practice as much as I want on those lonely days and nights that I spend home alone. :)

All I can say is wheeeee for full length mirrors and kimono! ;P

My very first purple kimono!

Oh my kimono spendings! No wonder I always go broke!

Yesterday I got myself a purple RO kimono. Now I have 2 ro :) I had to tell my friend Aira to not even think about getting it (because of her love for purple, I give her hard time about it all the time) cuz it's MINE!! It's a little bit on a short side for me, only 154cm in length, but sleeve to sleeve measurement is 137cm! That was the deciding factor for me.





Sadly I only have 1 ro obi right now and I don't think it will match this kimono very well. Ideally I would like a light green obi to go with it, or maybe even cream. I like the light obi paired up with darker kimono, or dark kimono paired up with lighter obi. :)

My most expensive juban yet... :)

Few days ago I got into a real bidding war on Ebay over 2 Taisho jubans. Usually I'm a LOT more reserved, but this time I just really like them. Unfortunately I was only able to get one of them, but even so I'm very happy. I needed a juban with longer sleeves because the number of my kimono have sleeves about 56 cm, and mosts of my jubans are at 49cm sleeves or less. This juban sleeves are 55cm which is perfect for me! :)





Sadly one of my favorite kimono was left without proper juban as I lost another one. It's a bright red kimono, from far away it could be mistaken for red iromuji, but it's not. It has some black and yellow lines design over it. Its sleeves are unusually long (or so it seems to me), at 66cm. I have another Taisho juban that was given to me by a friend, but it's bright red, the same color as kimono! And as much as I like red, I think red kimono AND red juban is a little too much even for me LOL. So the search for PERFECT juban for my perfect kimono still continues.

I decided to treat myself or my new kimono pretties :)

I spent the whole morning looking at Crescent Shop so I could get myself a red, cute and non-seasonal obi to wear with my many Komon kimono but I just couldn't bring myself up to pay all those extra fees on TOP of paying for the item itself. So instead I went to Ichiroya's website and after 15 mins or so of browsing I found EXACTLY what I was looking for! :) It's a tsukuri obi (so I can wear it by myself), it's red, cute, and non-seasonal! Not only that, but it also has kimono girl as a design! All I can say is WHEEEEEE!!











In addition to my new obi, I got 2 new kimono, a pair of zori, black obiage/obijime set and a set of 5 obijime. I can't wait for all these items to arrive! :)

On wearing kimono in UK

I've been here (in UK) since early May and I only wore my kimono once. ONCE! It's sad, but I just can't bring myself to wear it as often as I did in US. There are few reasons for it, but the main one is where we live. Those who know me well already heard it many times, but I live literally in the middle of nowhere! There is nothing except open fields within 30 min drive. The most exciting thing we have in out VILLAGE of Lakenheath is a small grocery store and a very old cemetery. Yeah... That's what I said too.

Then of course there is the weather. I don't know about you, but I don't particularity feel like wearing my kimono in the rain. Add that to having nowhere to go... I also didn't have my car until few days ago (first it didn't arrive in UK until late June, then it broke and was fixed few days ago). I had a friend in Italy question my need for a car in Europe and it quite frankly, it made me pretty upset. IF I lived in a somewhat big city or town, then sure I wouldn't need a car! But the thing is, I do not live in a big city or town! I NEED a car to get around!

Sounds like a lot of whining doesn't it? The thing is, back in Pensacola I would wear kimono and go hang out at Barnes & Noble (bookstore) or shopping somewhere, and I had no problem being by myself. Here I'm in a completely new area, I don't know anyone, I don't have any friends, no ways of making new friends (all the reasons I listed above plus not having a job), and I'm plain scared of going anywhere further than 5 min drive by myself! Especially in kimono. What if my car breaks? Then there I will be sitting on the side of the road.. in kimono, and feeling pretty stupid. Contrary to the popular belief, I am a very shy person, especially in the new area. I was like that when I moved to US. It took me almost 2 years to be able to go out by myself and not care about it.

On the bright side, my car is fixed and although I still feel iffy about driving it long distances, I am not locked in the house anymore. I even found a nice size bookstore in nearby Bury St. Edmunds which I plan on checking out sometimes soon... in kimono of course! ;P It's no Barnes & Noble and it doesn't serve Starbucks but it has a cafe on the 2nd floor (2nd floor people! It's a novelty for me after living in FL) with different brand coffee.

I also got a job and I start on Monday, so hopefully I'll be able to come by some friends too :) Maybe even start a Lakenheath Kimono Club! ;P

Lyuba