.the princess portal.

Mary Magdalene Sailor OP
Mary Magdalene bow clip
White off-brand tights
BABY heart buckle shoes
BABY heart purse

Unfortunately I don’t have a clear full length picture of my outfit today, but I thought I would make a post because I love this dress and it was so nice to wear it to a nautical themed event! I had fun doing this photo too, and you can see boat masts in the background.

Today was really lovely, and everyone at the meetup looked beautiful! We even had two pretty Dandies. I still have a lot of photos to edit and upload.

So Princess Skye’s favourite anime is this series called ‘Rose of Versailles’ its really old and pretty long, I don’t know much about it so I thought I’d have a chat with the main character and see what all the fuss is about.

Milky: Hi, so thanks for joining me today. I hope the tea is allright. To begin with, could you please introduce yourself?
Lady Oscar: I am Oscar François de Jarjayes, daughter of General Jarjeyes and Commander of the Royal Guard.
Milky: Oh, I see. Nice to meet you. So, I like the uniform, how did you get in to the Guard and do you like your job?
Lady Oscar: I was raised as a boy by my father, and learnt fencing from a young age. I didn’t intend to join the guard but eventually I gave in to my father’s wishes. Its not a bad job, but sometimes I get tired of babysitting the Queen.
Milky: That would be Marie Antoinette? What do you think of Her Highness?
Lady Oscar: shakes head She’s a flighty, frivolous young woman but I believe she has a pure heart.
Milky: Why do you think your story has been so popular, I mean there’s even been a live action movie and an Takarazuka production.
Lady Oscar: It’s a classic tale of love and tragedy, civil war and the struggle for justice. I’m told it’s pretty too.
Milky: So how does it end?
Lady Oscar: I’d rather not talk about that…
Milky: Well thank you for your time! Thats it for today, so why don’t you all go and check out Rose of Versailles? You can learn a few things about the French Revolution and see some great sword fights and balls while you’re at it.

Milky xoxo

It is raining today! It hasn’t rained in months and now its making up for it by pouring down out there, the street looks like a small river. Its nice though, I miss the sound of rain and its a welcome relief from the hot weather we’ve had lately.

This morning I went for a hair cut. I tried a new salon, one nearer to the Palace than my old one and I was a bit nervous but I am so happy with it! I could bake my new hairdresser cookies! I wanted a parted fringe (bangs) with some shaping around the sides and I think she did a really good job. I had the back trimmed and thinned out a lot too, which will make it so much easier to curl and now when I wear braids they are so cute and little!

I really wanted to go take Purikura to celebrate, but the nearest one is rather far away and I don’t want to go outside in this weather. Instead I used Puricute.com which is a fun little site that lets you make purikura style photos online. Its not as good as the real thing but its fun to play with for a little while.

Honour is another virtue of a Princess, though it is more often associated with Knights and Princes. Honour is something that almost seems to be lost in our modern culture, where personal gain is often valued over keeping one’s word and promises can be broken if the price is not too high. Sometimes I think of the words of C.S. Lewis; ‘We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” and think perhaps they are more true than ever.

Honour is the sum of a person’s honesty, respect, integrity and trustworthiness. It is the moral standard you set for yourself, maintained by your own conscience and not by any law. To be honourable is to keep your word, treat others with respect, be reliable and a trustworthy friend and acquaintance.

In the past Honour has often been related to one’s duty to others, whether it be the family, the kingdom, or the group to which one belongs. There is also a personal Honour, which I am speaking of today, but it still relates to the way we treat others. A Princess’s sense of honour is integral to her own self worth, for who could respect and be happy with themselves while treating others unfairly? Being true to yourself also means being true to those you care for, who put their faith and trust in you.

Speaking of Honour is not always pleasant, because it means we must also examine the nature of betrayal. Probably at some point in our lives we will all experience treachery. We will find someone we trusted and loved and cared for has broken that trust. They may have told a secret we asked them to keep, broken a promise, cheated on us, lied to us. It is a sad part of human nature but one we never seem able to escape, no matter how good and kind and loyal we try to be we can not control the actions of others, or blame ourselves for trusting them. Being betrayed by another is not an excuse to betray them in return or seek revenge, for that only brings us down to their level and makes us no better than traitors ourselves. In the end the best we can do is to maintain our own Honour, and treat others fairly as we would like to be treated.

Put friends and family first. You have a certain duty to the people who you are close to, who love you and trust you. They are there for you when things go bad and share both your pain and your joy. Sometimes we forget how much we owe these people, someone else catches our attention, they might be popular or attractive or just exciting and new and we would rather earn their attention and do whatever it takes to get them to notice us. There is nothing wrong with making new friends and starting new relationships, but don’t forget you old friends, they deserve just as much of your time and attention. As the saying goes ‘Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold.’

Your Word is your Honour. I was taught from a young age that Promises were a very serious thing, you made them with the full intent of keeping them and nothing short of a real accident or circumstances out of your control should prevent you from doing so. Thus, whenever someone makes a Promise to me I just expect them to keep it, as naturally as I would expect them to eat and breathe. I have since learned that not everyone takes their word so seriously and I find this a very sad thing. If your are not sure you will be able to keep a promise, don’t make it to begin with, be honest about your feelings and intentions and imagine what it would be like to be in the other person’s position if the promise were broken.

Honesty is the best Policy. There are times when we believe it is ok to lie, when someone asks us if we think they suit an item of clothing and we really don’t believe they do but say so anyway. When we thank someone for a homemade meal we could barely stomach. Little white lies like these are an everyday currency that protect people’s feelings and can help avoid arguments. I think the level to which you find these acceptable is a personal judgement. However, lying about real things, serious things is not honourable. Often we lie to keep ourselves out of trouble, and only end up in worse trouble after we’re found out! Lying is a bad habit to get in to because in the end you have to create more and more lies to cover up the faults and it will eventually become too heavy a burden to bare. Be honest with others, and with yourself. It may mean facing the consequences of your actions but at least you can move on to do so with a clear conscience and lighter heart.

Sometimes Honour means putting others first. Respecting the trust placed in you above your spontaneous wants and desires. It can take self restraint and self sacrifice but it will make you a better friend, truer partner and a very admirable Princess.

I try and be fairly productive with my time, I have a busy schedule and love going to parties and meet ups and excursions. When I am at home for a day I write myself up a to-do list with little hearts which I tick as I do each task (and if I finish them all I draw a tiara ) However, I have to accept that there are some days that are meant to be spent doing nothing.

Nothing days are days dedicated to enjoying the pure lack of any comittments, you can stay in your pajamas, read a book in bed, watch old movies and not cook a thing for yourself. I don’t reccomend having them to often, but once in a while its nice to let go of the need to dress up and go somewhere or do something. These links may offer amusement for a few minutes or a few hours when you have nothing better to do, or are avoiding doing something you don’t want to!

Orisinal : Morning Sunshine
Easily the cutest flash games site on the internet! A friend sent me this link a few months ago, and whenever I feel like a little pick me up I love going to play the cute animal themed games. They’re all rather simple to play and the graphics range from cute and cuddly to greeting-cardesque. My favourite game is ‘Starry Night’ because I love the music, its like a lullaby, and the little stars make me smile.

Poupee Girl
This site is a little addictive for anyone who loves cute fashions and dress up dolls! It’s a japanese website designed for creating a photo-catalogue of your wardrobe. You upload photos of clothes and accessories you own and are rewarded with ‘ribbons’ which act as a currency to purchase clothes for your little avatar. I really enjoy the chance to look through other people’s wardrobes and have discovered some new favourite brands this way. You can see my Poupee Girl here, her name is Miu. Please feel free to friend me!

Etsy
Etsy knows how to make shopping fun. Apart from being a great place to find handmade items and crafts, they have some really original search functions. I love using the Color function to find an item in my favourite shade of powder pink, or maybe a rich dark blue. The Geolocator lets you spin a virtual globe to browse items from all over the world, but my favourite way to shop is using the Connections function, you need to be logged in and have some favourites saved, but it creates a beautiful cloud of images by connecting the items you like, finding other people who liked them and showing you what else they like. Most of the cute stuff I have found on etsy has been through this system. Sometimes window shopping really is more fun!

Polyvore
Oh dear, here is where the part of me that secretly wants to work for a fashion magazine comes out! I spent about an hour on Polyvore this evening creating this adorable little coordinate. Its for a Valentine’s Day picnic, cute little gingham dress, straw hat, roses and a basket of pink candy hearts. Polyvore lets you play with images from thousands of sites to create magazine style spreads of your favourite look. It’s great for trying new ideas and developing your sense of style, you can even add images yourself and I noticed quite a lot of lolita in there. I think it’s best thing since photoshop!

This week has been a long and tiring one for me, several things have happened that have made it less pleasant than most and I’ve been left feeling a little bit empty. Even this morning as I left for french class, I think I had a little cloud hanging above my head. After class I tried to go shopping, nothing really interested me and I felt indesicive about everything. I just bought some more rosewater toner to replace my empty bottle. The only thing I was really attracted to was a Honey scented body milk, I tried a little bit on my palm and it still smells divine, like meadows and sunlight and warm afternoons.

This afternoon I felt much better though! I bought a chocolate icecream on the way home and sat down to watch an episode of the japanese drama ‘Honey and Clover’ it is so sweet! I didn’t really feel much for the anime, but I’m so excited about this adaption. Hagu is my favourite character, I feel a bit of kinship with her. I also recieved a really lovely email from someone that lifted my spirits and added the cherry on top of my afternoon. Isn’t it great how little things can completely turn a day around? I feel so warm right now, enveloped in the scent of honey.

Petit Miel’s first release is coming together slowly. I had a problem with the jewelry thread I was using so I’m going to replace it. I think the first release will be small items mostly, but thats the way I want to run it. Small limited releases or one off items, I think they will be more special that way and I love designing new things, its more fun than making repeats! Petit Miel means ‘little honey’ I chose the name because honey is sweet, but more soft and natural than sugar. My inspiration is a mixture of luxury and natural simplicity, Marie Antoinette and her ladies in fine silk gowns and pearls enjoying a garden picnic with beautiful cakes and sweets and rose petals everywhere. That is my Rococo dream.

Hello again! It’s me, Milky. Firstly I want to thank you all for helping me decide what to write about, you made your votes and in the end.. I still can’t choose, so I’m going to do a bit of each! There will be little posts about japanese stuff, princess skye stuff and I hope some emails too. My email address is milky @ princessportal.com so please write to me! You can ask me about what my favourite anime is, how to make okonomiyaki or get me to investigate Princess’s sock draw. I look forward to hearing from you.

For today’s column I decided to introduce you to my neighbours. They live on the shelf below me and I can tell you its very crowded down there! I think there’s 23 of them now and they have pretty loud parties on the weekends.

They tell me they’ve ruled the toy box since Skye was a tiny little Princess. She never liked barbie dolls or anything like that but loved My Little Ponies. She only had a few back then, and used to always have a Queen and King pony who were her favourite two at the time. Of course she never actually had any boy ponies so one of them had to pretend. She built them a palace under her desk and they had many adventures. These days they don’t get up to so much, and there are some newcomers amoung them who look a bit different but they always seem to get along fine.

So they’re not as cute as Amigurumi, but I guess they’re a pretty special childhood memory for Skye. She still likes to go in to toy shops to see all the new ones. I hope she doesn’t get any more though, or I might have to find a new bookshelf…

Milky xoxo

This week when I went to the library I found so many books I wanted to read, that I couldn’t get them all out! I have already finished the first, Spinners by Donna Jo Napoli and Richard Tchen. It is a re-telling of the story of Rumpelstiltskin that is both humanizing and a little magical too.

Rumpelstiltskin is the tale of a young peasant girl, a millers daughter who spins fine yarn. So fine that her father is always boasting of her. One day he goes too far and boasts that she could spin straw in to gold, the king hears of this and commands the young girl spin a whole room full of straw in to gold for him, or she will die. A little dwarf comes to her in the night and promises to spin the straw in to gold if she will give him something, this happens for three consecutive nights. First she gives him her necklace, then her ring and finally she promises him her firstborn child. When the king decides to marry her and they have a child they do not want to give it up, so the dwarf sets one final task - to guess his name, which is of course, Rumpelstiltskin.

In Spinners there is no little dwarf, wicked and cruel, but a man. The Spinner lost the one he loved and was crippled in the process of trying to win her. In the end he just longs for human love and companionship. The young girl, who’s father boasts of her amazing talent, is still a victim of the story but she is resourceful and intelligent and kind. I was quite inspired by how she deals with all the hardships presented to her. It really is a beautiful retelling, though it makes for a sad story. Apparantly the author learnt to spin herself, so that she could make the tale as real as possible. I would love to read some of her other fairy tales too.