Raicon Spring 2019

Past those two years, when I was absent from blog, there were many things I wanted to wtite about, many topics that took my intetest and I wanted to share with You. But I couldn't focus enough, to write, to deliver anything the way I wanted.I figured out, that instead of thinking too much and trying to create/ write content, that will be a 'blast' and will be 'perfect in every inch', I will just...do the best I can, to share my passion for this or that with You. That said, let's start from something that kinda unites my hobbies- a convention, oriented on japanese pop culture- Raicon.

Last time I've been on a con...well, fair amount of time ago. That is one of the reasons, that I bought one day (Saturday) ticket for Spring edition of local manga & anime convention, called Raicon. It's an event orginised twice a year, around May and November. It may not be the biggest party in the town, but it has faithful fans, who enjoy every aspect of being a part of it. From possibility to buy plenty of great things from both; officially settled stores, offering variety of gadgets and artists, who sell all sorts of items. Followed by cosplay, photo studio, maid cafe etc. 

On the day of the con, I made myself look decent, wearing my Magic Tea Party Bedtime Stories jumperskirt. I am not a big fan of the animal ears in lolita coord, but I think that they looked pretty cute here.

I took the train to Queen Streen Station (which is located at the very city centre of Glasgow) and after arriving there, within minutes, I rushed to Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, where Raicon was held. It was hard to miss the place, because of what could be seen beside entrance; quite a long line of enthusiastic people, many in costumes or really cool outfits. 

Despite crowd, accreditation went nice and smoothly (I got in within 15 minutes).

First thing I checked was a markeplace with loads of goods. Yet, just recently, I had to spend quite an amount on something else, so I just looked around a bit and took a note of some interesting shops. One of them was Grumpy Bunny (also on DEPOP) A British based shop with Kawaii brands like ACDC Rag or Axes Femme. If You like this kind of style, typical for Harajuku streets, visit and support their shop. Their prices are reasonable.  

There were many shops with comic books, artbooks, figurines and other goodies.

 plus, obviously a booth with japanese snacks (who dosn't love them!)

I ended up just drooling a bit, because of my never ending diet, hahaha. 

After I finished exploring that part of con, I went to check out Artist Aisle and board games area. 

Ah, how I miss the times, when I was selling my drawings! I think that returning to that busines might be good idea? What do You think? Do I still have it in me? Hmm? We will see. Meantime I just take inspiration, looking at other amazing people.

While I wanted to see as much as possible, I wondered to a panel about steampunk style/fashion, kindly run by Glasgow Ubiquitous E. Steampunk Society Absolutely awesome and super friendly group! I am a member of their facebook group for ages (literally), just never had courage to join their meetup. I am working on that though!

As always, in middle of things, I met so many beautifuly dressed people. Starting from cosplayers. Capitan Marvel was one of my favs *_* 

 That beauty, Jennifer, dressed as character from BNHA is also a lolita fashion enthusiast, yay!

Oh, since Raicon was on 4th of May, which is international STAR WARS day, it was just apropriate to dress as characters from the saga.

This...this is...not a cosplay. Or is it? Does it really matter? This is genius! Sending You love Kim-chan and Trump-chan, may You be always kawaii-desu desu desu...

(seriously, whoever You are, You made my day!)

Now time for some seriously beautiful people. 

Very cute lolita, which Raicon was first convention ever, as far as I understood. 

Hope You enjoyed it! 

 Rockin' Takeshita-dori style outfit! 

 Beautiful and etheric elf girl.

 Emily in her stunning AP dress, which name I so not remember, because me and japanese names for dresses do NOT go in pair, sorry. Either way, You looked great, as always, my dear.

And that's just only a VERY SMALL percent of people, who generally been smashing Harajuku style in best way possible. 

Closer to lunch time, I went to the vintage game room, to get the 'I am so old, I remember Nintendo64' vibe (yes, I AM THAT OLD, lol). 

But got so hungry, that decided to grab something to eat. Went out of the building, where I saw cosplay and dance groups, which were organising their own activities (it was nice and sunny that day, so obviously You would do that).

Anyway, my plan was to go home for a moment, change chlothes and return to Raicon, to enjoy following attractions of the con, through the day. Yet I got a bit sick, so that did not happen... Double regret, because I wanted to visit Marshmallow Maid Cafe and yet again I was not able to. It will happen someday, it WILL. 

Raicon (well, the part I attended), was fun, altho it's not like it is anything new. It's same old, but good old. With bunch of amazing people and positive vibes. So if anyone is interested in manga, anime, fashion, japanese pop culture in general, Raicon may be a good idea to spend the day at and enjoy company of others, like you. 

Lolita and House for an Art Lover

Last Sunday I've met with few of the lovely girls from Scottish community again. We went to the Rennie Mackintosh >>>House of an Art Lover<<<, which is located at Bellahuston Park in Glasgow. Here are some pics from our small event. Unfortunately (read: as always... I am such a dork, hahaha) I forgot to take a pic of an outside of house. Luckly you can see it on official page, I linked above

On the entrance, HoaAL, looks bit heavy. Dark colors, strong inspiration with asian culture here and there. 

On pic You can see Louie and Megan looking around.

The dining room. Kinda gloomy, but until you'll see the paintings on the walls.

 Piano room is so much different. Very bright, relaxing. The guide told me, that small fireplace was not very typical for designs from begining of 20th century. You can also spot symbolic, pagan tree of life (Sepiroth? Yggdrasil? Or other?) 

Piano itself. Breathtakingly beautiful!

Even made a selfie there. YES. This is a selfie :P We wanted to have a pic together but there was no one to take it, sooooo......

Some smaller rooms were filled with info about Mackintosh and his works.

there is also a floor but most of the rooms there are used by either Glasgow school of Art or for business meetings, so we couldn't access them.

When we finished walking around house (it's not that big), we decided to move to garden. Louie saw this little girl and befrended her, haha.

 Now onto some outfit pics :) 

Debra 

 Leila

Megan 

 Sarah

 Louie

 Meshya aka ME :P

Doon the Watter- ILD 2016

Since I moved to Edinburgh, I've been planning a meeting with local comm. ILD was a perfect occasion and the event organised by amazing Megan looked so cool; "a trip doon the watter on the Waverley Paddle Steamer" and a dinner in La Barca- Tapas and wine bar.  What more could one wish for. Only thing I was worried about was weather- last few days were rather grey and/or rainy. I checked forecast few times but it changed from sunny to cloudy. Well, nothing new in Scotland, right. When I woke up on Saturday (at 5 AM...), it was but ugly. Then again, Glasgow is hour and a half from Edi, thus the weather could've been better out there. And it was! When I arrived on Buchanan Station, sun welcomed me warmly. I jumped out of the bus and rushed to Glasgow Central, to catch a train to Science Centre. I arrived, well, let's say just in time (late! hahaha). Found girls without a problem (they already joined the long line to the ship). Everyone looked fantastic, so I was a little bit overhelmed for a minute, but after said hello and joined conversation about many, many random things, haha. Megan gave me also the small goodie bag, which included ticket for a boat trip, here are it's contents:

We didn't have much time, while boarding, so I did not make pics of boat itself, but you can check out how it looks and get additional info about the cruise here >>>PADDLE STEAMER WAVERLEY<<<
Our group found nice spot, where all could've fit and we sat down.

Some of us got a coffie, some of us went to explore the ship or take photos. I did all of the above. As always; hyperactive. 

Trip took us two and a half hour and it was pure fun. 

Look at the amazing views!

When we arrived at Hellensburgh and said 'bye' to our 'ride', we decided to get some lunch.

It was hard to decide on a place, but in the end, we chose a small coffie and deserts shop, which also served sandwiches and similiar stuff. I got myself a banana milkshake with icecream, since I wasn't really hungry. It was good, tho very, VERY sweet. After that we got directions for Hill House. I was very excited to see it, as I am interested in architecture and designs of Rennie Mackintosh, who IMO was a genius (then again, remember, I am overall highly interested in secession art and artists, so it's not surprise). The place was awesome but I cannot show you anything from there, as it's not allowed to take pictures inside Hill House. Thus me and girls went to the garden, where we made a mini photo session and had some fun. 

This is my coord for the day. Picture made by awesome Louie

A VIDEO HERE (Introduction in Polish only, to skip it, go to 0:37):

Unfortunatelly, because I got message from my boss, asking me to come to work on Sunday (I was supposed to have a weekend off...), I decided to part with group soon after, skipping the dinner part. Boo-hoo. I said 'bye, until next time' and rushed for a train. Had bad luck, since I missed it by 3 minues, so I decided to not go to Glasgow and then change for a bus, but get a direct train to Edinburgh. Good idea. After two and a half hour, I was at home. Tired but extremly happy with the day.

Few words to sum it all up? I loved it! All of it. The trip, the weather, the people, the laugh we had together. And I want more!