Just a simple lesson today, for those who may have trouble sleeping, find they do not get quality rest or simply wish to make their bedtime a little more princess like.

Sleep is one of the most valuable gifts you can give yourself, as much as healthy food and excercise it will contribute to your general health and beauty (the phrase ‘beauty sleep’ is no lie!) Ideally we should get at least eight hours sleep a night, with going to bed early and rising early being preferencial. I try to be in bed by 10:30 most nights, and rise between 6-7am, often as the sun does. I’ve always been a morning person and am most alert from the moment I get up to around midday. However, even if you’re used to sleeping in and staying up late, you can retrain your body and may find you have a lot more energy when you do!

Read a book before bed. This is my favourite way to wind down and relax my mind, escaping from daily stress and perparing for beautiful dreams. I especially love reading fairy tales and fantasy at this time. If you can find someone to read to you, then you are extra lucky!

Wash your pillowcase regularly and scent it with rose or lavender water, the latter will help you sleep even more. Try making your bed each morning, getting in to a freshly made bed at night is much more comforting than crawling under a heaped pile of covers.

If light bothers you, aquire a sleeping mask. There are many beautiful ones out there, embroidered or quilted or even bejewled! It adds a little bit of luxury and is useful when travelling too.

Wear beautiful nightwear, I love nightgowns best, with lace and chiffon or cute ruffles! There are lots of adorable pajamas out there too. You may like to look at BABY’s nightwear section for ideas.

There’s nothing worse than getting in to a cold bed in winter! Historically ladies have had their beds pre-heated by warming pans, however a much easier option for us is a hot water bottle. Pop it in to bed at least ten minutes beforehand and it will be nice and cosy when you get there. I also love wheat packs, the sort you heat in the microwave, scented with lavender and rose petals they are very soothing.

Make yourself a ‘posset’ before bed. A Posset is a hot milk drink consumed before bed, traditonally it had alcohol added to curdle the milk but I make mine without using the recipe below. If you don’t drink milk, there are lot of great herbal teas that contain herbs which will help you sleep. A favourite of mine is Celestial Seasonings ‘Sleepytime’ which tastes of mint and chamomile, yum!

Yesterday was busy, yet enjoyable for me. I rose early and worked for the most of the day, but then in the afternoon the Queen and I decided to go see the sunset at our beach. Beaches here are very busy places, wherever you go there is row apon row of foot prints dotting the sands, people out in the waves even in the middle of winter and sadly, a lot of litter aswell.

However a few years back my Mother and I discovered our beach, its very small, just a little cove surrounded by sharp rocks with soft white sand and a sprinkling of shells washed up by the tide. We had to climb down to get to it, and then took our shoes off and stood on the hard wet sand as the chill waves washed around our ankles.

The sunset was very beautiful actually, we expected not to see much because of the heavy bank of clouds on the horizion, however just as the sun kissed the ocean there was this glorious beam of light that streched out across the still water and lit the clouds on fire. It lasted only for a moment, but was in some ways even more beautiful that a sunset in a clear sky. I managed to snap a photo to share it with you!

After the beach, feeling much refreshed and invigorated, I had dinner with the Queen before heading out to meet some friends at Karaoke. I’m afraid to say I stayed up quite a bit later than I intended, but it was such a fun way to end the day, I love the atmosphere and being surrounded by friends.

The princess profile I’m doing today is a little bit different. I have long had an interest in Japanese culture, and there is a legend I find particularly interesting, that of Queen Himiko. I have heard mention of her in everything from Japanese cook books to the Lolita inspired movie Shimotsuma Monogatari. Despite this, very little seems to be known about this ancient Japanese sovreign who ruled the Yamatai province until 248 AD.

What information I have is mostly from the few Chinese sources that mentioned her, so please read this with an understanding that there is not a great deal of information on this period of Japanese history, and part of the beauty and mystery of Himiko is in that her story has become blended with legend.

There were a people known as the Wa, they lived in the beautiful mountainous regions of Japan and divided in to over thirty communities. For a long time the Wa had only had male rulers, and there had been war and strife throughout the people. Tired of this unrest, they selected a woman to be their leader and Queen, her name was Himiko (sometimes written ‘pimiko’) and she succeeded in unifying the different communities, resisting the barbarian invasions in Yame and bringing peace and wealth to the Wa.

Many tales are told of this powerful Queen, that she was guarded by a thousand female servants, yet had one man to cook for her and take care of her wardrobe. That she trusted only her brother to aid her in politics. There is much mystery about her role as a leader, some records list her as a sorceress who enchanted her people, or a priestess or even oracle, but all agree that she had a powerful influence on the Wa who were very devoted to serving her. She lived in a fortress palace with armed guards who kept constant watch and she was rarely seen outside. The Chinese Emperor sent her one hundred bronze mirrors, some of which have since been discover by archaeologists.

On her death they built a burial mound more than a hundred paces across, and it is said that over one hundred attendants followed her to be buried in the grave. After she died, a male ruler was placed on the throne once again which caused much unrest until he was replaced by Himiko’s relative, a young woman named Iyo.

Himiko has been associated with and identified with many other figures in Japanese history, including Empress Consort Jingû, Yamatohime-no-mikoto - the daughter Emperor Suinin and even the Sun Goddess Amaterasu. It is interesting that Himiko’s name may have links to the words for ’sun’ (hi), ‘priestess’ (miko) and ‘princess’ (hime.)

I find her a fascinating character and she reminds me a little of Queen Elizabeth the first, for she also never married although she lived to 80 years of age and had a long reign. It is great to find strong and beautiful women in all eras of history and parts of the world, and Himiko is no exception.

resource 1, resource 2

In celebration of Miss Charlotte’s Birthday, I thought I would do a link carousel on Dolls. Ball Jointed Dolls, also referred to as BJDs or Dollfies are jointed posable dolls made of a type of hard resin that form a popular hobby in Japan and Asia, and now there are doll collectors all over the world. It is certainly not a cheap hobby, your average doll ranging between $300 and $700 USD, but it is one in which collectors can express a great deal of creativity, doing everything from making clothes and wigs to painting faces and modifying the resin themselves!

Miss Charlotte is a Volks MSD FCS f-06 Snow Skin. To translate that, Volks is the company that made her, she is ‘Mini Super Dollfie’ sized which is about 43cm, purchased from Volk’s ‘Full Choice System’ which allows you to choose every aspect of the doll seperately and her head mold (or sculpt) is number f-06. She also has very white skin that volks calls ‘Snow Skin.’

VOLKS International
This is the english language home page for Volks, my favourite BJD company. They are based in Japan and are probably the most popular company in that nation, they have been around for a long time and are considered to be the originators of Asian Ball Jointed dolls, although they certainly took a lot of inspirations from existing hobbies and traditional dolls. I like Volks for their beautiful sculpts (heads) which vary in style from cute and anime-inspired to more realistic. They’ve just had their 10th Anniversary for the Super Dollfie aswell!

Doll Heart
Doll Heart make beautiful clothes, shoes and accessories for Ball Jointed Dolls. They are based in Hong Kong and run regular design competitions where doll owners can submit their own outfit designs and some are chosen to be made in to real outfits! Miss Charlotte has quite a few outfits and shoes from here, so she thoroughly reccomends them!

Japanese Doll Sites
I love browsing japanese doll owner sites, there are some beautiful photos, gorgeous clothes and face-ups (makeup/paint on faces.) Here are a few of my favourites: Sejour des Merveilles, Recollections, Vertus Maria, Robin’s Egg, Un Crossiant, KOREAN: The Silhouette, Chez Masha

Den of Angels Forums
The largest and longest running english language BJD forums. Den of Angels is a great resource for anything you could want to know about dolls. You will be able to find photos of dolls from all over the world, browse a marketplace of people selling dolls and accessories and learn all about the hobby.

I feel like I have done nothing but shop today! The weather has been getting a lot colder lately with rain on and off for the past week. It always puts me in the mood to go winter clothes shopping, and today I did, picking up some nice warm clothes for work.

What I love about winter fashion is all the textures, soft fleeces, warm wools, knotted scarves and cashmere sweaters. I can happily walk through stores just brushing my fingertips against these soft, feathery fabrics. To indulge myself a little I bought a white angora wool beret, which you can see here. I don’t usually wear berets so I hope it doesn’t look too silly! I also picked up some new work shoes - cute kitten heels with little bows on the front and three pairs of tights! I’m so happy that hosiery is back in fashion and I can find all these gorgeous designer tights in interesting colours and patterns. There seem to be a lot more full length stockings this winter too, of which I’m glad as I find footless tights make one’s legs look shorter.

Perhaps soon I will do a daily style and you can see what I wear to work, although its not half as pretty!

Usually when choosing books I spend hours in the library or bookstore, going over each shelf, reading blurbs and trying to find something new and interesting. However sometimes, I walk up to a shelf and a book almost jumps in to my hands, even if I’m not sure why, I feel compelled to take it home with me. It is the latter type of the discovery which turns up the most special finds, of which Annette Vallon by James Tipton is one.

Annette Vallon is a historical novel based on the life of a French Woman who survived the Revolution and shared a romance with the English poet William Wordsworth. The book covers her life in its entirity and paints an image of a beautiful, brave and very loving character that I can not help but completely admire. Whether dancing in the ballrooms of pre-revolutionary France, defying her Mother by loving a foreigner, raising his child on her own, outwitting the tyrants who failed to run her country or rescuing prisoners and hiding outlaws, she is a fascinating character and her story quite incredible. As with many historical novels based on the life of a little-known figure, I am sure the author took much liscence and filled in the gaps himself. However, the message still comes through so clearly you can’t help but feel touched by how she managed to survive the Terror of the French Revolution and still believe in love and beauty and the joys of every day life.

I can not express to you how beautiful I found this book, so I shall leave you with a small excerpt I found particularly special.

‘The third task is, the poet must teach. He is either teacher, or nothing. And to teach anything worthwhile, one must know the language of the heart’
‘I thought only children and lovers knew that?’
‘The poet is a child, or sees with the child’s eyes, and he is always in love.’
‘With what, Monsieur? For surely you do not mean the poet is a libertine.’
‘With his life, with woods, with mountains.’
‘What about people - does he love them?’
‘He see’s the ones whom other’s don’t see, the beggar under the bridge, the orphan in the doorway, the widow by the window.’

Yesterday Skwerlie and I went to a Ball Jointed Doll meetup way out in Byford. We brought Miss Charlotte and her Hazel & Clover and started on the long drive there. Miss Charlotte loved seeing all the horses and cows and sheep out the window! When we arrived at the house of our host, we were stunned by all the dolls! I had no idea how many dolls there were in Perth as I’d only been to small meetups with a few friends in the past. The tabletop was full of them, I think there were about 24, in all different sizes

It was lovely to chat to doll owners I hadn’t met before, and look at their beautiful dolls. I got to hold an SD13 and a little YoSD and see a Four Sisters head in person, which made me very happy as its one of my favourites! One of the girls there had just started doing face ups and the doll she had painted was so beautiful. I’m just amazed by how much talent there is in our little city. Our graceful host supplied us with tea and cupcakes and other little treats as we whiled away the hours discussing things that only doll people understand. I think Skwerlie and I both left with a strong desire to buy more dolls, oh dear!

I put Miss Charlotte to bed when we got home, as she was exhausted from all the attention and fun. Later in the evening we were joined by some friends for a casual get-together and we played a really amusing game called ‘Articulate’ in which you have to guess the word your team member has based on their description. It was fun and challenging too, I really love word games and those that test your common knowledge, so I enjoyed it thoroughly!

Pearl headband with blue ribbon
White Angelic Pretty Cutsew
Blue Angelic Pretty Swan Lake skirt
White lace knee socks
BABY heart buckle shoes

Just a quick picture of my outfit for today, Miss Charlotte is in the picture because we’re heading off to a doll meet up. This is a really beautiful skirt, although I don’t wear it often. The Print has little sparkles of glitter through it. I spent a long time on my hair this morning, I really like this curled half up-do and I think I’ll wear my hair this way more often.

I haven’t shared a musical inspiration in a little while so today I will talk about one of my favourite artists, Kahimi Karie. She was born in japan, and sings in Japanese, English, French and occaisionally other languages. I find her sweet whisper-like voice very beautiful and soothing, many of her songs remind me of lullabies, although she has some more up-beat singles as well!

Some of my favourite songs by her include - Dilly Dally Dolly, The Seventh Wife of Henry VIII, Melt the Snow, Lolitapop Dollhouse (with very Lolita-esque lyrics might I add!) and my favourite, her rendition of Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen, it gives me shivers whenever I hear it! Her albums are such a curious and eclectic mix that listening to them never gets boring. Going from futuristic electronica to cutsey j-pop, from French ballads to other styles altogether unclassifiable. I love finding new works by Kahimi because I am always in for a surprise!

Kahimi Karie spent part of her life in Paris, and is now living in Tokyo with her black French Bulldog “Gomes.” You can visit her official site here.

There is also a new short essay in the writings section of Princess Portal, On Love & Beauty. I hope you will like it.

Looking again at the virtues we associate with being a Princess, I must address one that is often left out. Its not so much on the fun side, but it is integral to our dignity, self respect and sense of nobility. A Princess always has duty to fulfill, it is these obligations that set her place in the world and also give her meaning. We each have different duties that life has bestowed on us, whether it is caring for an elderly relative, protecting and helping those weaker than us or simply staying true to our own beliefs and morals.

When we fail to fulfill our duties, we take a blow to our own pride and find it harder to value ourselves. Sometimes following duty means sacrificing some of our own free time and pleasure, sometimes it means doing what is right even if thats not what we want right now and very often it requires us to take the uphill path rather than the easy way out. However, having a sense of duty and fulfilling it is a very rewarding way to spend your life, just make sure you have a clear idea of where that duty lies.

Our first duty, which comes before all others, is to ourselves. This doesn’t mean being selfish and doing what you want all the time, it means having a deep understanding and respect for who you are as a person and strong idea of what is right for you. It means staying true to yourself in all situations, listening to your conscience and your heart and making choices that meet the demands of both.

A duty all Princesses share is to treat others, whether they are friends, family or strangers with equal respect and kindness. Noone is beneath your notice and everyone you meet deserves a kind word and a smile. Make it your personal duty to bring a little happiness and hope to every life you touch.

One of the toughest duties we have is self control. We all get angry, sad and stressed, but being able to control these feelings and express them in a positive focused way is so important. No matter how bad a day you are having, you owe it to yourself and others to control those feelings. That means being as patient, as considerate and polite as you would any other day. You have a right to feel your emotions, but a duty to contain them when its not appropriate to give in.

A Princess keeps her word. If she says she is going to do something, she does it, even if she doesn’t really feel like it. If you offer to help someone, do the best job you can. If you promise to do something, fulfill that promise without complaint. This also goes for your own goals and ambitions, if you set out to do something, a job or course or project, put 100% of yourself in it. Once you’ve started something, see it through to the end.

Look for opportunities to be of service to others, don’t just lend a hand when it is asked for. If you see a chance to help someone, then offer. The most beautiful acts of kindness are those done spontaneously, silently, and without asking for thanks or acknowledgement.

I believe that Duty is not something we are very aware of in our current, western society. Perhaps because we focus so much now on doing what is wanted and not what is needed. I think those things we do out of duty, though, are the ones that build our character and give us a sense of purpose that many of us feel missing in our lives.

Think of it this way, if you are a Princess then the whole world is your kingdom. You have a duty to every living thing in it, to offer kindness and beauty and love, protection and guidance and aid. What the world owes you is not important, think instead about what you have to offer the world and do it, with all your heart.