Monthly review: March 2016
I improved the format of my monthly review a little:
Now each picture has a unique number and the picture number is referenced in the text.
The following lolita purchases arrived in March:
- Pinafore JSK by Metamorphose {01}:
I call it "Sherlock JSK" because the gray fabric has thin white stripes and the overall look reminds me of a well-dressed gentleman ;) - Magic Frame OP by Putumayo {02}:
I saw the OP in black in a facebook sales album of a friend, but I found it too expensive. While thinking about the purchase, I googled the OP to see worn-pictures and detail pictures of the print. By this, I found the OP in navy on egl for a good price and bought it. I am planning to convert it into a skirt and wear it to the Putumayo teaparty on the Dokomi at the end of April. - Ten samples of the Korean liquid foundation "baby choux base" by Etoude House in color "berry" {03}
I received some samples as a gift during the Christmas meetup in Nuremberg and liked the very pale color. So I ordered some more. I would have loved to get samples of the second color, peach, but unfortunately only berry is available as sample...
I did a little bit of crafting:
Some time ago, I bought the rose bracelet {04} new from nomuzik_nolive over egl. The threads were pulled a little bit too tight in the 3 rows so that the bracelet did not lie flat on a table and the closure mechanism was not safe. So I constructed the bracelet new with roses in 2 rows and used a different closure.
This bracelet took me several weeks to finish because of unexpected challenges, and now it seems that I made the threads too loose...
While my interest in lolita fashion is declining, my interest in retro fashion is growing. Retro fashion is fashion inspired by old decades. I do not have a favorite decade, I like several details from different decades. And I do not care if something is "authentic" or "historically correct", therefore I am not really into vintage fashion (old authentic clothing, sold second hand).
I have a subscription for the retro magazin Der Vintage Flaneur and recently checked some of the web shops and brands that were advertised inside. (You can read my review for more details on the magazin and a list of shops.)
I really liked the wrapped knit cardigan with heart pattern {07} by King Louie, but was not sure about sizing and found it a little bit expensive maybe. But I could not stop thinking of the cardigan, so I asked the manufacturer about sizing and finally ordered it. It has a heart pattern ;) I ordered two more sales items, a black blouse with beige sprinkles {06} and a black skirt with a beige pattern {05}.
I also added some retro blogs to my feed reader app like Vintagemädchen and read a blog entry on "Mein Vorgestern" about her favorite TV shows "that beam you to the day before yesterday". Just from reading, my favorite retro TV show was Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. And one evening, when checking the TV program, I found that the show aired on Eins Festival on Tuesdays at 20:15 and was repeated on Fridays after 22 o'clock, starting from March 15. Such a great coincidence! I love everything, the stories, the characters, the costumes, the furniture and especially the cars. ^__^
I want to talk a little bit more about tv shows I watched in March:
- I watched the reboot of the X files (in German: Akte X) every Monday on Pro7.
Season 10 had only 6 episodes. I have mixed feelings about it: the first and the last episodes had the "typical" Alien conspiracy theories and the other episodes were boring, not logical and/or strange... I tried to remember if the old series was the same, probably yes. ;) I would not buy the DVDs and I would not watch the mini series again, but I do not regret watching it on TV.
Oh, and Fox Mulder had a new German voice actor, so when surfing on my PC while watching the series, I never recognized his voice... - I am watching Firefly every Thursday on Tele5. I had watched the film Serenity and liked it, so I am watching the related series that plays before the film. It is perfect to watch while working on my PC ;)
- I liked the trailer on TV for the new show Super Girl, but it was quite boring in the end. I did not even finish watching the first episode...
Super Girl repeats basically the Superman TV series: the super hero works for a newspaper, but the boss is really mean. But thanks to the appearances of the super hero in public, the newspaper is saved from bankruptsy... And super girl is of course not sure if her "coming out" was a good idea and about her place in the world. But she has a lot of helpful friends and a love interest amoung her colleagues.
I guess the audience for the show are teenagers who did not see the previous shows and films about superman. - I watched the James Bond films on ATV. The "newer" films were shown each Sunday at 20:15, and the "earlier" films were shown afterwards.
Unfortunately, I could never watch the second film completely because then I would be too tired at work on Monday...
The James Bond films have a rather old-fashionned view on women and the stories are often not the best, but they were great for crafting and sewing in the mean time ;) - I started watching Torchwood on Amazon Prime because I like the characters, but so far I have seen only a handful of episodes.
- On Wednesday every 2 weeks, I watch science.talk on ORF 3. The female moderator of
science.talk interviews different scientists about their area of research.
I like that the interviews are always interesting and professional. (There are so many "interview shows" on TV where the moderator makes fun of his guests.)
The guest always has to draw his area of work and has to explain the drawing at the end of the show. ;)
The last guests were a person who makes implants for people who cannot hear; a scientist who works on anti matter; a scientist who researches radiation and visited Fukushima and a demograph who talked about different estimations of the amount of people in the future and its implications.
I have very fond childhood memories for a special kind of cake, but it is not available anymore at bakeries: the dough with yeast has a layer with custard creme and crumbles on top (auf Deutsch: Hefe-Blechkuchen mit Vanillepudding und Streuseln). In February, I found a nice recipe at Sarahs Torten und Cupcakes that is originally by Alice im kulinarischen Wunderland and tried it.
Well, the cake did not turn out as expected {08}: The yeast dough did not expand even though it was put in the warm oven. I mixed the crumbles too long, so they became dough. The crumbles expanded during baking, but they did not contain yeast...
So, the cake looked and tasted completely different from what it should, but my friends loved it nontheless ;)
On our monthly afternoon with board games we played Abluxxen, Boggle slam and Hornochsen.
Boggle slam is a card game where each card shows a letter and all players try to get rid of their cards by putting them on the table and changing the existing 4-letter word into a new word. But all words need to be "real" words from a dictionary. ;)
Some people ate self-made burgers, the others ate bread with ham and gherkins {09}.
I wore my bat cutsew, custom made for me by Chérie Cerise {10} ;)
One of our friends brought three issues of Tweed, a German magazin labelled "the compendium for a gentleman", costing 9,80 € each. It contains articles about alcohol, high-class fashion, cars, watches and interviews with craftsmen like shoe makers and suit makers. I asked the friend to bring the Tweed magazin because I wanted to compare it with Der Vintage Flaneur: Well, I would not buy the Tweed magazin because I find its content quite boring. It contains mostly superficial articles and overpriced basic mens clothes and accessoires. (I saw a black turtleneck pullover for 600 € and a pocket watch for 44.000 €...)
One issue of the Tweed magazin had a great article on James Bond and what he would wear if he would be like his description in the books: He would wear suits made by bespoke tailors in London and not by Tom Ford (created in the US, sewn in Italy). He would wear a Swiss watch because there is no "big" English watch company, or maybe a watch he won during Baccara. The writers suggested to him a special brand of champagne because it is easily available around the world ;)
We spent some time around Easter with my family and with the family of my boyfriend.
A friend took us with him by car to the zoo in Zurich. The entrance fee was expensive, 26 CHF (approx. 22 €), but in Switzerland everything is expensive.
I went there to see the red pandas {11}. They are so cute! The zoo also has lions {12}, peacocks {13}, snow leopards, elephants, penguins, turtles, camels, owls and many more.
We visited the zoo shop to maybe buy a red panda plush toy, but all the plush toys looked really sad... The zoo shop also had "alternative" items: noodles in the shape of zoo animals, tea, chocolates, spices, socks made from camel hair and ant-stress balls.
Next, we want to visit the zoo in Munich, it has red pandas as well. And we need to go to the zoo in Vienna in the future, it has red pandas, black x white pandas AND koalas ^__^
We made a little hiking tour with friends to "Kloster Andechs", a monastery South-West of Munich. We went by car to "Herrsching" and walked up the hill to Andechs {14}, approx. one hour for each way. It was a nice walk with very few steep parts. We ate Bavarian food {15} at the Klostergasthof. There is another restaurant called Bräustüberl, but it was very crowded and tourist-y and had self-service in a beergarden atmosphere.
Updates from my search for a new job in a different town:
I had two job interviews. One was by phone, but it did not go so well. The interviewers misunderstood me and understood that I am not interested in the job, but the job sounded nice! I think this was due to the bad phone connection, I had problems to understand their questions. I assume they maybe misunderstood my answers...?
The other job interview was much better and I hope that I will get the job. But of course they do more job interviews with other people and I did not get an answer from them yet.