Weekend Frills

With everything coming to a halt, being cancelled or postponed due to the spread of coronavirus, one has to make their own occasions to frill up whenever possible. Of course, take safety into consideration when making your plans. Mine, luckily, were ok to go ahead and I held on to that opportunity as much as I could!

| Metamorphose Sailor Tiered skirt | Crown Label cardigan | Haenuli Secret Garden tights | Angelic Pretty Sweet Cream Princess headbow | Fluffy Tori Kawaii AF pin | offbrand beret and shoes |

I probably should've blurred out my completely not-kawaii kitchen from the background, but who cares. Lives are not Instagram-perfect all the time.

I love this headbow so much I'd get dresses just to match that (if I wasn't so picky).

It’s been a while since I’ve worn this skirt – in general, actually, not just in a proper lolita way. Last weekend was chill and called for something casual, as well as food accommodating, which made it the perfect choice. The mint was a refreshing colour choice, which allowed me to keep the whole outfit quite bright and spring-like. Even the weather was a bit warmer, so maybe spring is actually coming?

That Saturday my only plans were to film the next Around Your Wardrobe in 30 Coordinates lookbook, then meet my Dad for his birthday mini-do. You’ll have to wait and see what the AYWi30C outfit is, although I might post a cheeky preview on Ko-Fi. If you want me to do that, I encourage you to buy me a Ko-Fi and I’ll see what snap I could share with you beforehand.

However, while I changed out of the filming outfit, I kept the makeup since it was neutral enough to pass. And by the time I was done (seeing as I had a chill start to the day and took my time), it was just about time for a quick light bite, change of outfits and a bit of chill time gaming before I headed out to meet Dad at the train station.

For his birthday Mum and I got him tickets to see Clannad live. Because we’re a bit ditzy sometimes, we actually ended up with two tickets and since I couldn’t sell the other one, I got to go to the concert as well (though I had a different seat – he was in front row and I was on one of the upper circles). I also took him out for dinner beforehand: burgers at Almost Famous. Ever since I tried them, they became my favourite burgers in Manchester and now I also know that the barbecue sauce chicken bites are amazing too!

Noms part 1 - the savouries.

As we had plenty of time before the concert, we also decided to get some desserts. Almost Famous mostly does savouries and drinks, while we were very much down for tea and cake type thing. So since all the open places around were coffee chains like Starbcuks, we actually decided to go to Platzki, the Polish restaurant. Which was the best call because not only did we get free refills on hot water with the tea - the cakes were divine too! We were both way too full afterwards in the best possible way.

Noms part 2 - the sweets. We were absolutely spoiled for choice!

Dad picked a cheesecake-meets-apple-pie cake. It was delicious, though we both agreed that the apple pie on its own would've been better.

I went with a frangipane and pear tart served warm with some cream. It was exactly what I wanted!

And then we went for the concert. Clannad is one of those bands whom you don’t have to follow very closely to enjoy. Their folk and folk-inspired music transcends time, so long as it’s a genre you like. Both my parents have liked their music, particularly my Dad, so I grew up knowing certain songs, even if I wouldn’t necessarily be able to name it or say that it was actually by Clannad. It’s also a band that’s more known amongst my parents’ generation, which was evident amongst the audience. Whilst there were a few people closer to my age, the vast majority were in their 50’s and older. It was sad that despite selling out and the event going ahead as scheduled, there were still so many empty seats (most likely due to coronavirus, whether genuine cases of illness or just worry over it) and some people did ‘steal’ a better seat after the break without really checking with staff if that was ok.

Nonetheless, the concert was beautiful. Celtic folk and inspired music sits very close to my heart, and Moya Brennan’s voice is so soothing. I did find myself enjoying the older songs and those sung in Irish much more, though not to say that the other ones weren’t great. As audience we even managed to applause our way into an encore, though the second song was a slight jibe at us, as its meaning was Go Home Now.

The venue, Bridgewater Hall, was pleasantly surprising in how large it was. I'd love to hear those organs in the background one day too.

I snuck one quick photo and am glad that I caught one when the light focused just on Moya Brennan playing the harp.

And only halfway through the whole concert I realised that I was wearing mint, whilst green is traditionally an Irish colour. With Clannad being an Irish band, I guess I was dressed for the occasion, even though I didn’t intentionally plan that. Sometimes life works out that way.

Despite some plans, everything is so uncertain at the moment that I dare not really plan too far ahead in case new guidance wrecks that. So I’m glad that I had that opportunity to wear lolita out and hopefully it won’t be too long before the next chance to do so. Although at least in Britain we’ve been sort of emotionally prepared for that by all the uncertainty and waffling that happened with Brexit. I know some people in more politically stable countries have now found themselves understanding what Brexit must’ve felt like. Not that I’d wish that understanding upon anyone.

Hope that you are all staying safe and finding some little bits of joy in these miserable pandemic times! Take care of yourselves and those around you, and remember that coronavirus is not an excuse to be a dick towards others.