Since my last post...

Wow I haven't updated in a long while! I did, however, update my FB photo album, so you can check out my most recent coordinations. Sadly, I didn't get to wear kimono as often as I would have like to, but that kind of comes with the whole moving-across-the-world-and-getting-used-to-the-new-area thing. Last time it took me almost 2 years to get back into regular kimono-ing, so I'm hoping that this time it won't take me as long. Of course working a graveyard shift (nights) also doesn't help, as I'm asleep during the best daylight hours.

Anyways, here are some photos that I took but didn't post here.

We had another snow back in February in Clovis. It wasn't as much as back in November, but it was still fun to run out and take some photos. I even borrowed a dog specifically for this reason!

 I had a lot of fun styling this outfit. I tried something different with my hair, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. Of course my husband had to help me with one side, but at least he was willing to do it! And did a great job at it too!

For anyone interested, the hat is my newest purchase at the local antique store, and the mustache belt is a separate belt from the obi! They just blend it so well that it seems like I have a mustache pattern on my obi.

Let me know if the comments if you had to take a break from your kimono-ing lately!

Lyuba

My first snow in the USA

When I found out that we will be moving to New Mexico, I absolutely did not expect to see more snow than I did in England. Yup, that's right! We got snow this weekend! It probably will be gone in a week and we will see no more, but still!

Of course I had to use this opportunity to take photos in the snow. I wanted to wear something very bright, so I found my much-neglected red komon (but it looks like iromuji from far away) and paired it up with one of my recent purchases. I've been looking for an excuse to wear this chuya obi for a while now, and I thought it would stand out nicely against the red. Unfortunately I don't really have anything else blue in the right seasonality, or even close to it, so I went with the next best thing - this purplish haori. I also thought of wearing one of my blue hats, but I just really wanted to wear this red beret.

The haori has some mint leaves designs on it, so I figured that would be the color of my accessories. The gloves are very close in shade to the green on the haori, but the obiage is not the same shade. It is actually a light blue, but it looks very similar in the photos. I figured that might happen, as the same thing happened in my photos before.

At one point I slipped and almost fell in the snow.

One thing I wish I would have done differently is wear a different lipstick. I thought I would wear some pink for a change, but in the photos it looks like I have no lipstick whatsoever. I know it's a little thing, but little things like that are the ones that literally make or break a photo.

As always, you can see the rest of the photos in my Facebook album.

~ Lyuba

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX

Hello Everyone,

Last week I went to a whole day event called Fandango. It is organized by one of the local photographers I've met earlier in September, and I was invited to go as one of the models. I brought several outfits with me, so it felt like I was traveling with my whole closet lol! Of course one of those outfits had to be kimono.

I woke up very early in order to be ready for 4:30 am leaving time, put the kimono on and proceeded to go to the first location. Our first photo shoot place, and the only place I've worn kimono that day, was Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo. From the road the place looks pretty unimpressive, but when you get closer to it, the whole funky potential opens up.

I was very happy I put on the kimono at home! During the ride there my obi fell apart, so I had to fix it on location and boy was it COLD! I could barely feel my fingers, so it took me 3 tries to put the obi back on. After a while I've managed, put on the rest of the accessories and went to take photos.

Photo by Kathy Duncan

The day before I've actually coordinated 3 different kimono outfits, because I was hoping to dress up another model in one of them and also have a change for myself. The cold weather made me change my mind about changing kimono, since it would have taken so long to change. I am pretty happy with the outfit I picked out though, and I still have 2 other outfits to use for something else.

Photo by Amy Jo Fish Flores

Photo by Amy Jo Fish Flores

Photo by Amy Jo Fish Flores

Photo by Kathy Duncan

Photo by Carol Davis

Photo by Tom Heisey

Overall I'm very happy with the photos! I want to thank all of the photographers that photographed me. I simply love your photos!

Have you been to the Cadillac Ranch?

~ Lyuba

Photo shoot with Wayne Hall

Hello Everyone,

Back at the end of July I was contacted by one of the photographers on Model Mayhem, Wayne Hall, who asked me if I would be interested in a TF shoot with him. We decided on a date, and went to the Oasis State Park in Portales. The place was really cool, with lots of wild sunflowers blooming everywhere. Until this point, I've never seen wild sunflowers, and they are really cool!

The day was super hot, so I opted for wearing my sha kimono with ro obi I got from Hong in a trade. I also wore my new straw hat I got in one of the vintage shops here, and the boots from Irregular Choice. All in all, we were able to last about 2 - 2.5 hours there, because it just got so HOT at 11am that I couldn't pose anymore without looking like a tomato.

I'm extremely happy with the photos! Thank you, Wayne Hall, for working with me on this photo shoot!

~ Lyuba

What I've been up to since July

Hello Everyone,

As many of you know, we just did my 3rd (in my life) move across the pond, and that put a damper on anything kimono or blogging wise. In the past 2 month I just haven't been feeling like blogging, but here are some of the things that have been happening with me.

- Move back to the USA! Yay for normal roads and plenty of parking spots. Not-yay for no Starbucks where I live :(

- We bought a house!

- I picked up my cats from my parents house in Florida and made an epic 17hr trip with them!

- I had a kimono photo shoot, which most of you probably already seen on my Facebook page. 

- I went to Japan Fest in Atlanta with friends where we were kimono dealers. I now have barely any kimono or obi left for sale (MAJOR QUADRUPLE YAY!!!), but whatever I have left I will post in my Sale albums. 

- I'm transitioning my cats to the raw diet. 

- I got myself a pretty glass kettle pot (is that even right?) for my pretty tea! But now I can't find any raw heavy cream to make clotted cream, and might have to pay big money to import it from the UK. 

- I can still make scones! 

- I haven't even thought about starting a KDJ in the area because any decent size city is at least 2hrs away, and I'm not traveling that far just to find out that no one will show up. So there probably not going to be a KDJ where I live, and I'll just hang out with me, myself, and I, like I usually do. Ok, I did think about starting  a KJD. 

- We bought a Japanese cherry tree for our front yard! It's really tiny now, but I'm hoping that by spring it will be grown enough to flower! 

I can't think of anything else that happened, so for now that's all. 

~ Lyuba

Small Obon Festival in Pensacola, FL

While visiting United States this past month, I got lucky to be there during one of the annual Japanese festivals. It was pretty small, but with a lot of heart lol. And I could safely say that I never had more fun at a Japanese festival in my life :)

It was raining that day, heavily, but it didn't stop us from going out and enjoying out day. Who cares that we got soaked in the process? And of course nothing beats having your friends there. I missed them a lot. It is a wonderful feeling to come back and know that you are MISSED with a capital letter. :)

Afterwords we went to a Japanese restaurant to celebrate Fran's B-Day :) She ordered her favorite meal again, the one where she has to cook it herself lol. I think every other time I went out to eat was to a Japanese restaurant. :)

My B-Day

Last Saturday was my birthday and since it will be my last BDay in US for quite a while, I decided to do something special :) And the best special event for me is to dress up in kimono!!! The more people, the better!!!

Since I was planning on wearing my furisode for the first and last time before I get married THIS Saturday *excited*, I even went as far as getting my hair and make up professionally done! I love the hairstyle! I looked so cute with the furisode!



My friend Franciele did an amazing job tying my obi!!


I also did something different with the obijime this time :)


We had 8 people in our group! :)