The Good Witch of the West (Nishi no Yoki Majo) is one of my favourite Anime series. I wrote about it a while ago in a list of Princess Anime. Thus I was thrilled to learn that Tokyopop had set about translating the original novels on which the series was based!

I’ve just finished reading the English Translation of Volume 1, The Girl of Sera Field, and it has rekindled my love for Firiel, Adale and the magical world they live in. The story is somewhat like a classic fairy tale, a young girl growing up in a cottage in the wild north goes to her first ball, the right of every maiden on her 15th birthday, and there she discovers secrets about her past which lead to a series of events that change her world forever.

It is a little bit Cinderella and a little bit Anastasia, the tale is innocent and classic so don’t expect anything terribly original. It does however, possess that special captivating charm that draws you in and makes you dream of stars and queens and impossible castles. The anime had to squish a lot of plot line in to a short series, so I am looking forward to seeing how the political and court intrigue is played out in more detail over the course of the books.

Its hard to tell how good the translation is, as I suspect the original was written mostly to appeal to a young female audience, with flowery language and romantic notions (not that this bothers me in the slightest! Just don’t expect Dickens.) This is very indulgent fiction though, and has its uniqueness to me in being a Japanese interpretation of standard western fanatasy. Even the Dragons and Unicorns seem new and exotic, which is quite enchanting and hard to achieve.

I can’t wait to pick up a copy of Volume 2! What have you been reading lately?

Related posts:

• Inspirations - Wildwood Dancing
• The Snow White Conspiracy
• Inspirations ~ Penelope
• Princess Lessons ~ Making Wishes

Contest Entry by Payette

I know you are just going to love this. I’ve finally finished putting together a gallery of all your amazingly cute Princess Style Contest entries and seeing them all on one page has once again, overwhelmed me. There is enough inspiration here to fill several Princess wardrobes with, go have a look!

I’ve recently been very fortunate to have the Portal featured on some beautiful blogs and even did a little interview for the Lovely Lisa of Pink World. I thought you might be interested in seeing how our Princess message is being spread across the internet, and both of these sites are worth exploring in their own right too!

How to be a Princess, Interview at Pink World

“….If you’ve read the Think Pink manifesto you’ll know that, at the very top, it states; “…Don’t wait for others to treat you like the princess that you are…” that’s because both Lola and I know that being a princess is quite possibly the most fabulous-o thing in the world….”

Princess Style with Skye at The Disney Blog

“….Are you a Disney Princess in your heart? If so you might want to check out Princess Skye’s Princess Portal. Skye draws inspiration from Disney’s many Princesses including The Princess Diaries. She recently discussed how to write your own Princess Code and attended a play called “The Snow White Conspiracy” (sounds interesting!)….”

Thank you once again to everyone who participated in the contest, it was a big success and we’ll definitely hold more in the future!

Related posts:

• And the winner is…
• 3 More Princess Styles
• Your Princess Style Competition!
• Finding your Princess Style
• Princess Style Competition Reminder

photo by OiMax

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone. - Audrey Hepburn

True beauty, the sort of beauty that lasts through the years and does not fade, that is found primarily in the heart but leaves its traces on the eyes, the smile, the manners of a Princess, comes only and purely through loving others and accepting the love you are given.

It is quite certain that in seeing the people who treat us so well despite their own misfortune, we are more obliged than ever to work hard for their happiness. - Marie Antoinette

True friends make time for you even when they are weighed down by their own issues and troubles. The compassion shown to you by others is a real treasure, and it is our duty to return it in kind. Go out of your way to make the people in your life feel special and loved, even if you’re having a bad day.

I think the biggest disease the world suffers from in this day and age is the disease of people feeling unloved. I know that I can give love for a minute, for half an hour, for a day, for a month, but I can give. I am very happy to do that, I want to do that. - Princess Diana

We have many needs in life, food, water, shelter, safety and we also need love. There is a sort of poverty in not feeling loved and accepted. Remember that you can never give too much love, your heart will not be used up. The more love you give away freely, may it be so simple as a warm smile, the more love you have to give.

One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying. - Joan of Arc

Life is so so short and precious. To live a single day pretending to be someone you’re not, without believing in ourselves and eachother is such a waste. Be proud of who you are, stand up for what you believe in even if other people criticise you for it. Better to be true to yourself than to live under the pressure of other people’s opinions and expectations.

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. - Anne Frank

We often lament that there is so much wrong with the world, that nothing we could do would make a difference and seem but the tiniest drop in the ocean. That is what the ocean is made up of after all, tiny drops. You can make a difference, just the smallest act of kindness creates countless little ripples that have greater effect than the grandest good intention.

Related posts:

• Princess Lessons - Self Discipline
• Princess Lessons - Keeping Organized
• Living Openly
• The Girl Effect
• 5 ways to feel like a Princess every day

Mousse, Sab and I had a very hard time choosing a winner. After emailing each other back and forth and narrowing down out favourites (which were a big list to begin with!) we finall decided on one we all loved equally. The winning entry is:

Princess of the Printed Word by Casi Leigh

Congratulations to Casi Leigh! We all adored your Princess of the Printed Word, its sweet and classic and just what I would love to wear on a trip to the library or sitting beneath an apple tree reading fairy tales. If you would like to email me your address I will ship out your prizes shortly and put you in contact with Mousse to arrange your custom scarf.

We also had two runner ups that we felt deserved a mention here.

La Fée Verte Princess Set by -Sàya-

Pirate Princess by meander

I’m sure you can see just by these few examples how very hard it was for us to choose! Now I’ve had a lot of requests to upload a gallery of all the Princess Style contest entries. I am currently working on this so please be patient, It will hopefully be up soon!

Once again, thank you to everyone who entered, I never imagined we’d have such a wonderful response!

Related posts:

• Princess Style Gallery
• 3 More Princess Styles
• Your Princess Style Competition!
• Finding your Princess Style
• Princess Style Competition Reminder

Often when it comes to achieving our goals we become our own worst enemy. Really its not that we are incapable of achieving what we desire, or that other people or circumstances are preventing us but simply that we lack the self discipline to make things happen.

Now, I’m not naturally a very disciplined person. My head is always off in the clouds and I tend to give in to temptation far too easily. I always have lots of new ideas coming to mind and I will rush off to start new projects leaving the old ones unfinished. This used to frustrate me a lot. I felt that I could never go through with anything I started, so why bother trying? I knew that if I tried to avoid a bad habit, I would give in eventually anyway, so what was the point?

The truth is, self discipline, much like organization is something you can train yourself in to. Even if you’re a cloud watching Princess like me!

• Stop blocking yourself. This is the first thing that has to go. If you’re going to achieve something you need to believe that you can do it. Every time a thought comes up that says ‘Oh, I’ll never find time for that.’ ‘I’m not good enough at it anyway.’ or ‘I can’t be bothered, what’s the point?’ stop that thought right there! Change it to something positive, say to yourself ‘I’m going to do this and I will feel great about myself when I’ve achieved it!’ Catching your negative thought patterns and turning them around is the first step to preparing yourself for action.
• Prioritize. Seriously, if you have a million commitments and you’re falling behind on all of them then the last thing you want to do is multitask. You will just get more stressed and end up finishing little bits of everything and completing nothing. Grab a pen and paper and write down everything you feel you should be doing right now, homework, chores, personal projects etc. Now number that list in order of how important each item is, both to you and the other people who might be waiting on it.
• Focus. Now that you have a list of everything you need to do, its time to knock them off one by one and this requires focus. Take number one on the list and direct all of your attention towards that, do as much as you can right now to complete it and only then move on to the next thing. You may be quite capable of doing several things at once (its a terribly bad habit of mine as well!) but you will do a far better job if you can focus your attention and efforts.
• Reward yourself. Discipline and reward go hand in hand. The more disciplined you are, the more you achieve the more rewarding it is! There is certainly some satisfaction to a productive day, but it doesn’t hurt to treat yourself a little either. Go for a nice walk, watch a movie, eat a bowl of ice cream, relax and do something you enjoy. All things in moderation, including discipline, if you don’t take time off you will burn out!
• A word about habits. The bad habit I’ve discussed most in this lesson is Procrastination. Something almost all of us suffer from and the thing that often requires a good deal of Self Discipline. There are other habits we might be trying to break though, smoking, eating unhealthy food, destructive relationships, biting our nails. Most of these tips can be applied to any bad habit you are trying to discipline yourself out of. Stop the negative thoughts of “I’ll never be able to give it up,” prioritize your life and decide how important it is to you and others, focus on your intention and don’t give up until you achieve it, then reward yourself for your success, with something other than that temptation!

I will tell you a little secret, the greatest thing about ‘getting things done’ through self discipline, is that the more you achieve the more faith and confidence you have in yourself that you can actually go through with what you start! I never thought I would still be running this blog almost two years down the track, but knowing that I have makes me realize that I can stay focused and fulfill whatever goals I set myself. That is a huge reward in itself!

Related posts:

• 5 Lessons from Famous Princesses
• Princess Lessons - Keeping Organized
• Living Openly
• 5 ways to feel like a Princess every day

As a part of my Princess Challenge for this month I decided it would be fun to go to the Zoo! The lovely Princess Sanyu accompanied me for the day which was full of perfect weather and close animal encounters! We met up in the city and caught the ferry across the beautiful Swan River, the waves were literally sparkling in the bright sunlight and I haven’t been on a ferry for so long that it was a novelty and made me feel like a kid again.

It was about a ten minute walk through South Perth to the zoo. We stopped by a cute little Patisserie and bought a cookie and petit friand to nibble along the way. Our matching parsols drew a lot of attention, but it was all smiles and sweet comments so only served to improve our mood.

After we bought our tickets and had a look at the map we decided to look at the reptile exhibit. We were lucky enough to arrive in time to see one of the keepers give a talk, and he let us touch a python! It’s skin was so soft, smooth and just a little cool. Next we moved on to the Penguins, and both laughed over Card Captor Sakura flashbacks. Somehow we lucked out and arrived at feeding time, so got to watch the little fairy penguins diving for fish and the keeper introduced us to one named ‘Rocky’ who was rather talkative!

As we walked out of the penguin area we stopped dead in our tracks because an Elephant was heading directly towards us! Tricia the Elephant was out for one of her walks and calmly passed us on the pathway with her keeper. I’ve never been so close to an elephant, and it was certainly an experience. She seemed to have a deep, soft peace about her.

The path took us through the Australia animals, Asian Rainforest and Savanna areas. After exploring we went to have lunch and took a ride on the Carousel near the cafe! Its meant for children but the attendant kindly let us on and we snapped some cute pictures. It brought back many happy memories and we tried to guess the melodies as we went round and round, up and down.

As we left the picnic area, we progressed through the eeriely empty bird enclosures. There weren’t too many birds left but as you can see we discovered some other exotic creatures.

Next was the Nocturnal house full of ghost bats and possums, after which we finally made it up to my favourite animal of all, the Red Panda! I did a project on Red Pandas in primary school and have been a big fan ever since, they’re possibly the most adorable creatures on the planet!

Some other highlights of the day: Going inside the Lemur enclosure and having them bound and jump just inches from our faces. Getting sprayed with water from an elephant’s trunk. Eating icecreams as we watched the Meercats. Having an interesting conversation with a Cassowary and being enchanted by Splendid Fairy Wrens who looked like they’d flown straight out of a disney film to greet us!

It was probably one of the best Zoo adventures I’ve had, we had a lot of fun running around and enjoying the sunshine and seeing all the unique and varied species we share our world with. Thanks to Sanyu for coming with me today and helping me take these pictures and to Perth Zoo for being wonderful hosts. I can’t wait to go back again!

You can see more photos from today in my Gallery. How are you going with your Princess Challenge for November?

Related posts:

• November Princess Challenge
• Skye’s Princess Challenge for October
• Princess Challenge for October
• A Field of Paper Flowers

I styled the outfits and hair myself, and tried to achieve a contrasting theme with something innocent and feminine and then gothic and mysterious. I made the choker in the gothic set myself, it was a fun little craft project and helped pull together the look I had in mind.

Thanks to Will for the great shoot, I’m really happy with how the images turned out!

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• And the winner is…

Dear Skye,
Hello! I was just wondering if you had to have long hair to be a princess or loli. My hair is extremely short, cropped like a boy’s, and in every picture I’ve seen all the Lolitas have long hair. Hairstyles and hair accessories also seem to be a big part of the ensembles. I like my hair this short, but just wonder if it fits with the style or is considered too “out there.” Thank you very much for your time and consideration!

Sincerely,
Kerm

While our traditional image of a fairy tale Princess may include long flowing locks, I definitely don’t consider this a rule! In fact I think short hair can be adorable and really bring out the femininity in one’s facial features. I had very short hair for a year in high school, and my friends used to tell me I looked like an elf. For some historical heroines, wearing their hair short was a sign of strength, including Joan of Arc.

photo by pwbaker

Lolita fashion does have a very well defined image, and usually this includes long curly hair. However if you want to adopt the fashion I don’t think this should stop you. I have seen many lolitas with shorter hair who look adorable in hair bows and ribbons. If your hair is just long enough to curl a little you can also go for an adorable Shirley Temple style!

In conclusion, you don’t have to be Rapunzel to get in touch with your Inner Princess. Dress and style your hair in a way that pleases you, and if you’re wearing a specific fashion such as Lolita find a way to work your own individuality in to the look. Whether you have a beautiful bob or pretty pixie cut you are definitely still a Princess.

Can you think of other famous Princesses with short hair?

Related posts:

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• Princess Style Gallery
• And the winner is…
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I have always had a fascination for Fairy Tales, from the sweet innocence of the Disney films to the dark and symbolic originals with their many variations. Last night I went with a few friends to see The Snow White Conspiracy, Murdoch University’s student production of Howard Barker’s Knowledge and the Girl. It portrays the story of Snow White with her stepmother, the Queen as the protangonist and was certainly a very creative interpretation.

We decided to have a little bit of fun dressing up for the show, and as it was a darker retelling of the story went in Gothic and punk style. I had a photoshoot in the morning so I wore the same outfit I had used for that and touched up my makeup. When we arrived at the theatre there were posters in the lobby made by different students for the event. Some of them were really well done and we had a little browse through before picking up our tickets (which were little squares with apples on them!)

The theatre itself was small and intimate, and as we entered there were musicians on the corner of the stage, wearing powdered wigs and tail coats and tuning their instruments. The Stage itself was set with multilayered panels, some transparent, on to which were projected various animated scenes. Two gold thrones sat on a Dias and raised blocks gave the stage several different levels. I was really impressed with how they made use of the set and its simplicity worked well because the projector could change it from forest to beach to ballroom.

The play was very cleverly written, it was definitely a darker take on the fairy tale with some adult themes and implied violence. The Queen and Snow White were both powerfully portrayed, and yet somewhat sad. It made a strong statement about the way their own stength was so reliant on the King and other male characters. Their love and hatred of their own beauty and the jealousy and mistrust between eachother.

The costumes were gorgeous and original. The queen wore a suit of velvet with a gold corset and draping organza sleeves while Snow White was contrasting in a cute white dress and pink corset. Her outfit was quite similar to lolita actually, she even had knee socks and mary janes. The Queen had a few other costumes throughout the play, and a maginificent spiralling silver crown in the final scene where, as in the original tale, she must wear shoes of red hot iron.

I’m really glad we got the chance to see this performance, it was entertaining, humorous, witty and left you with something to think about. Dressing up was fun too and we all went out for dinner and icecream afterwards! I think I’ll definitely keep an eye on the university’s schedule for future performances.

Related posts:

• Good Witch of the West Vol. 1
• Imperial Ice Stars ~ Cinderella
• Inspirations ~ Penelope
• Princess Lessons ~ Making Wishes
• A Night at the Ballet - La Fille mal gardée

Today I am going to share something very personal with you. As you may already know the Portal has its own Princess Code, a list of values and ideals we aspire to as Princesses. This Princess Code is a collaborative effort between many other girls who have sent in their sentences. It belongs to all of us, and while we may not agree with every item on the list (and thats ok!) it creates a picture of what being a Princess means.

Now, I also have my own Princess Code! I wrote this a very long time ago, and it is pinned right near my bed so I can read it every night before I go to sleep, which I sometimes forget to do, but I try my best. I wrote this code because I wanted a reminder of my own personal standards and I set them very high, the affirmations on this list are not always easy to live up to and challenge me every day. I’m going to share them with you however, because I think its very important to know what you believe in and strive to meet your own ideals.

Princess Skye’s Code

I acknowledge that I am sometimes wrong
I receive feedback and correction gracefully
I refrain from criticising others
I forgive those who have wronged me
I apologise to those I have wronged
I endure unfair treatment with patience and forgiveness
I think and speak only good things about others
I celebrate the success of others
I count my blessings and show gratitude
I accept help and advice when it is offered
I seek opportunities to be of service to others
I am willing to remain anonymous in helping others
I am grateful for my successes
I give credit where it is due for my successes
I am willing to learn from my failures
I accept full responsibility for my failures
I accept my limitations and my circumstances
I treat others with respect and without prejudice
I give love and compassion unconditionally

Each of these affirmations are something that I have identified in my life that is very important to me. Most of them are things I struggle with, so this list is very humbling for me to read and I know I do not always live up to it. You will notice there is nothing on there about self esteem or some of the other themes I discuss on this blog, that is because I no longer struggle with those issues so don’t need the reminder.

Perhaps you would like to write your own personal Princess Code? You can use first person, present tense affirmations like I have here which make strong statements to inner self or you can use the Princess Code theme of ‘A Princess…’ if you prefer. You’re welcome to use some of the ideals on my list if you agree with them but I would also love to hear your own!

Other topics:

• Skye’s Princess Challenge for October
• Princess on Air
• April Princess Challenge
• Princess at Work
• My Birthday