As I was leaving the train station today, and heading to where I catch my bus I started to hear some music, as I was walking I realised it was Tchaikovsky (my favourite composer) and then I turned a corner to see a stage set up in the middle of the square where a Ballet was being performed!

There were a male and female dancer on the stage, in beautiful blue costumes, dancing Aurora’s Wedding from Sleeping Beauty! They were so good! The girl in particular, her performance was very refined she made it look effortless. They were followed by a couple dressed as Red Riding Hood and the Wolf who did an amusing little piece and then a large group of girls in brightly coloured costumes. I was mesmerised, I’ve seen the ballet on stage a number of times, but as it was in the city square and there weren’t that many people there I could go so close! Being able to see the the expressions on their faces, every little movement and the fine details on their costumes was just enchanting.

Now I am even more eager to start Ballet Lessons! It was a magical surprise to end an enjoyable day, and I feel really lucky to have caught it.

We celebrated Tang’s birthday today, although it was a little while ago, by going to Mini Golf in Mandurah. For those not familiar with Australian geography, Mandurah is a sort of suburb/town an hour or so south of Perth. They have some beautiful beaches and the estuary is clear enough to swim in. As they recently opened a new train line there, Tang organized for us all to go down on the railway. It was exciting to see the brand new station, which is huge! The train was also a lot newer than the local ones.

The trip there passed fairly quickly, we mostly played on our DS’s and watched the scenery go by. When we arrived at the park we all picked up our balls and clubs and started on the mini golf course. I wasn’t as bad at it as I expected, and it was actually a lot of fun, although some of the holes were really challenging. After we’d all finished and tallied up our scores we sat down to enjoy Tang’s Strawberry Daiquiri cake (yummy!) and some cookies and cupcakes she baked herself.

We had just enough time to go on a few of the amusement rides before we left. I watched the others battle it out on the bumper cars and then went on the Ferris Wheel pictured here, its not a very big one but the view from the top was beautiful! I haven’t been on a Ferris Wheel since I was very young so it was a special treat to me.

I was pretty tired on the trip home, but managed a few games of Mario Cart with everyone else before we arrived back in Perth and I said goodbye. Happy birthday Tang, and thanks for organizing a really fun day out!

Blue ribbon tied in my hair
White BABY knit camisole
White lace short sleeve bolero
BABY Sleeping Beauty skirt
Rose Chocolat classic Mary Jane’s
Blue polkadon pochette bag

A similar outfit to my last post, but this time in blue! I’m getting the most out of my BABY camisole before the weather turns cooler. I like wearing ribbons tied in my hair sometimes instead of headbands because its much more comfortable. I did not know when I picked out this skirt that I would be seeing some of the ballet later today!

This is not the usual sort of movie I review here, it’s not a sweeping historic romance, there are no beautiful costumes or elegant sets. It takes place in the real world and is about modern themes, yet it is probably the most magical film I’ve seen in years.

Neverwas is the story of Zach Riley, the son of a famous childrens author, who takes a job in a psychiatric institution where his father once stayed. There he meets the group of patients he is to work with including Gabriel an elderly man who has never uttered a word to any therapist. Gabriel, however, seems to recognize him and believe that he is a part of the fantasy world that forms his delsusions. After some time, Zach realises that Gabriel’s world is the same as the one his Father wrote about, the magical land of Neverwas, and it may not be so imaginary after all.

There is a lot more to the plot than that, but its hard to say without spoiling the film. The acting in Neverwas is superb, Ian McKellen is perfect as Gabriel and Aaron Eckhart plays a great contrast as Zach. All of the characters have so much emotional depth and are played without a hint of judgement for their parts. I really loved the way Gabriel is portrayed, not mocked or stereotyped but given real depth, leaving it up to you to judge what is real and what is not.

This film is about Fairy Tales, and the way we create them out of our own stories, how they can protect us and give us something to hold on to. What is real in the world, is sometimes not as important as what is real in our hearts. I thoroughly reccommend this rare gem of a movie, but warn you that it contains quite strong themes and is probably not suitable for younger viewers, its very intense and made me cry with both joy and empathy. It’s not often that a film moves me to that extent. A really beautiful, touching story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I’m really excited that finally the leaves on the beautiful maple trees in the city are starting to turn brown, because that means winter is on its way. The best thing about Winter, aside from hot chocolate, fireplaces, thunderstorms and fluffy slippers is of course, Winter Fashion!

I tend to buy a lot more clothes in winter, because I love all the layers and soft heavy fabrics and furs, and boots and scarves. Summer fashion is very minamilist, wheras in winter you can wear so much more, from hats and ear muffs to coats and stockings. I’ve been looking through a few of my favourite magazines and deciding what my must haves are for this winter.

Pom poms! I think these big fluffy balls are the cutest winter trimmings, I want a warm knitted hat with big pom pom tassels, some cute fluffy hair ties and boots or socks with these on too, they bounce when you walk!

Scarves. You can never have too many, I like thick knitted wool, soft cashmere and houndstooth designs. This year I really want a (faux) rabbit fur scarf, they look so pretty with formal wear aswell.

Socks and stockings in different prints and patterns. My dream is a pair of grey, white and pink argyle tights, but I’d also like some floral tights and socks with snowflakes on them.

White! I want to wear lots of white this year, the mainstream fashion colours are so dark as usual. Greys and purples and black black black. I want a cute white coat, white boots and some soft turtleneck sweaters to wear under jumper skirts.

I am developing a thing for Plaid. I think a plaid skirt will be a must this year, and a plaid scarf too if I can find one in a combination of pink x grey.

Overall I want to go for a more Hime-kei look, combining in some of my lolita clothes for a bit of a mix. I also want a chance to wear my bunny ear muffs! What are you looking forward to in this coming season? If you’re going in to summer are you excited about floral prints and straw hats? Have you got your new season’s wardrobe already planned out?

BABY double bow plastic kachusha
BABY white knit camisole
BABY pink flowercart embroidery skirt
SWIMMER embroidered kitten heels
Metamorphose Swan Emblem bag
Mikako Kouda Pearl bracelet
Pearl biscuit necklace by Skwerlie

Although winter is just around the corner, it was still very warm and sunny today so I wore my new BABY camisole and one of my simpler skirts. I love this camisole because its so versatile, when it starts getting colder I can wear a cardigan over it! Please note, I’m comitting about three of the Lolita Cardinal Sins here - no blouse, no socks, no petticoat! Oh my!

As Princesses, I’m sure we all have dreams and wishes that we’d like to see realised in the future. Whether its having a beautiful palace and gardens, travelling all over the world, learning a new skill or something as simple as aquiring a beautiful dress. I firmly believe that there is nothing we can not achieve if we truly set our hearts on it, however that doesn’t mean we should expect a fairy godmother to come along and grant all these wishes with the wave of her wand. More often we have to use our wits, talents and imagination to bring our dream world in to reality. This method takes more work, but its also far more rewarding!

Sometimes big dreams can seem so far away and too hard to achieve because we’re simply not sure how to get there. We often put off working towards these goals because there is so much effort needed and its hard to see where to begin. This is where knowing how to set realistic and achievable goals is useful. Almost any long term target can be broken down in to a series of smaller steps that can be tackled, piece by piece, to bring about the end result.

To begin with, try Visualising your goals. Create a clear mental image of what you want to achieve. If your goal is to visit England, picture yourself walking through the streets of London. If your goal is to master a musical intrument, picture yourself on stage playing for a large audience of happy people. Having an strong image of your dream will keep you going, whenever you lose focus just bring that image to mind. You could also create a scrapbook or collage as a physical reminder!

The next important step is to write them down. Even if you have an excellent memory, writing down your goals or typing them up will bring them out of your head and in to the physical world. It will also help you plan out your smaller steps and to be more decisive about what you intend to achieve. Its important to be very clear, avoid ambiguity in your wording and to make your goals measurable. Don’t say ‘I’d like to write a book one day’ say ‘I’d like to have a published novel in this genre before I am 25.’ Setting a time constraint is also important because it makes your goal more definite and gives you a sense of urgency.

Break down the big ones. All goals have smaller steps that lead up to achieving them. Now that you have a written list of your goals, you can look at them one at a time and start thinking about the little steps you need to take to achieve them. For example, if you want to learn a new language you will need to look for a course to enroll in or tutor to hire, then actually attend the lessons and revise what you’ve learnt on a regular basis. Larger goals such as travelling overseas, owning a house or starting a career or business will take a great deal more steps, but the important thing is to start somewhere. Think of each of your steps as mini-goals, which ones can you start on today? I bet there will be something you can do right away.

Discipline yourself. This can be the hardest step, but all your work of visualising goals and creating plans goes to waste if you put them in a drawer and forget about them. You need to stay focused and review your goals and plans regularly. Perhaps you could write them on a sheet of paper and read them every morning after you get up, or make a desktop wallpaper out of them. Start writing yourself to-do lists and make sure you do something, however small, towards your goals each day. Don’t forget to reward yourself whenever you complete one of your mini-goals!

Ask for help! We all need help sometimes, and although others can’t achieve our goals for us they can give us advice, suggestions and support that makes all the difference. Talk to friends and family and meet people who have experience in the area you’ve set your goal. If something seems impossible, it may just mean you need a fresh perspective and a little bit of assistance, so don’t be afraid to ask for it.

Accept your failures and learn from them. All of us make mistakes, sometimes our initial plans turn out to have holes in them and we have to find a new way to achieve our goals. Don’t see failure as an excuse to give up, see it as a lesson to learn from and a spur to push you onwards. The old saying that when you fall off a horse you need to get right back on again is true for a great many things in life.

Be true to yourself. Never sacrifice your personal integrity or beliefs to take a faster or easier path to success. Nothing is as important as staying true to your heart, and no great success will be fulfilling at the sacrifice of your morals. There’s always more than one way to achieve something, find the way that works for you and makes you feel good about yourself aswell!

I’ve recently decided to take part in the 101 Things in 1001 days challenge, its very exciting to me because I have a lot of little goals I want to keep track of, as well as some bigger ones. You may like to take this challenge yourself!

Starting from the 1st of April there will also be a new section of Princess Portal, for a monthly ‘Princess Challenge.’ I’m going to set myself a new task each month and I hope you will join me in working on the same task, or one of your own! I think its going to be a lot of fun and I will post more details on April 1st.

It was a lovely autumn day today cool in the shade, warm in the sun and I went with a small group of local lolitas to the park down the road for an easter picnic. I actually have a bit of a cold at the moment, so I wasn’t feeling very well but it was nice to be out of doors. Mirai made an excellent quiche and I made fruit sandwiches. Other delicious additions to our picnic were Skwerlie’s Lime tart and some yummy spice biscuits Zing brought.

Everyone arrived at our house around one o’clock and then Eugene and I went down to the park to hide the easter eggs. We were the only ones there and its quite a small park so it was perfect for our egg hunt. There were 101 eggs and we hid them high and low, in crevices of trees, in the rafters of the gazebo, behind rocks and under bushes. There was also a gold bunny which I went to special lengths to hide really well! It took three people to get it down in the end. It was great fun watching everyone trying to find the eggs we’d hidden!

The picnic was really nice and relaxed, not so much focus on photos this time but just catching up and talking. Afterwards we all came back to out place and enjoyed eachothers company, and talked about clothes of course! Now I think I’m going to make some hot soup and watch a movie before retiring early, hopefully my cold will pass soon.

After watching Enchanted I had a lot of fun drawing my own ‘Disney Princess’ self. I just imagined what I’d look like if I fell down a man-hole in to an animated kingdom, customary long flowing hair, big eyes and an ankle length dress. I borrowed a little bit from each of the other disney Princesses to help fit the theme. Please click the image for a larger view!

I’m not sure what her story would be, perhaps she actually did come from our world and found her way there by accident. She landed in the heart of a forest, where a kindly old women out picking herbs found her and brought her home. Now she lives in a little cottage by the river and helps her benefactress (Fairy Godmother in disguise) with chores, spending her free time outdoors picking flowers, talking to the animals and of course singing!

Someday she’ll meet a hunstman in the woods, he’ll give her a terrible fright but afterwards win her over and take her back to his castle, because he is a Prince as it turns out. There she must use all her wits to foil his wicked stepmother’s plans to seize the throne of his ailing father, before they can live happy ever after!

Cliché enough? What would your Disney Princess be like?

I think the first time I saw this film was back in Drama class is high school, its stuck with me ever since as the only screen adaption of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that really evokes the beauty of the play. I’ve even seen R&J on stage a couple of times and the performances were nothing to this. Since I am watching the Romeo x Juliet anime at the moment I decided to revisit this movie, and fell in love with it all over again.

Filmed in Italy, the streetscapes and stone buildings that form the backdrop to the story feel very authentic, the costuming is beautiful. Rich reds and golds for the Capulets, dark blues and antique silver for the Montagues. It is renaissance in style, with intricate beaded headdresses and slashed sleeves. I love the rich heavy fabrics and warmth of both the costumes and setting, it really captures the feel of both Shakespeare’s time and sunny Italy.

I found the casting superb. Mercutio, in his black humour is perfectly irritating but at the same time invokes pity as his followers still think it a joke even as he lays dying. The heads of both houses are an interesting contrast, the Capulets being loud and fiery and the Montagues more reserved and calm. Of course, it was the casting of two young unknown actors as the starcrossed lovers that really made this film what it is. They are untrained, and their performances so natural that you can’t help but believe in their plight. Juliet laughes like a child and Romeo cries like a young boy, they are both so hopelessly beautiful. Olivia Hussey (Juliet) who was 17 when she played this role, has the most enchanting eyes I’ve ever seen.

My lasting memory of this film, however, is always the theme song ‘What is a Youth’ performed by Nino Rota. It just echoes the tragedy and beauty of the tale and the refrain from it is played throughout the film. One of the most moving Shakespeare film adaptions of all time, you haven’t seen Romeo & Juliet until you’ve seen this movie.

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