Ladies of Middle-Earth inspired coordinates!

I've been inspired by my interests recently to create coordinates that reflect that character, fandom, and my love for Lolita fashion.  The next posts are going to be coordinate inspired as I have many ideas to work out and share with my readers! Though, in between those posts I will try to get into other topics so it doesn't get too repetitive.

This first post is all about the beautiful and badass women of Middle-Earth as portrayed in Peter Jackson's, Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you've read the books and saw the films than you may be familiar with these ladies and their character history, if not I have add a link to their LOTR wikia pages next to their name.

A reminder that these are Lolita inspired coordinates not an exact likeness to the costumes. So where the hairdresses may look out of place for medieval, fantasy costume they work very well for a complete Lolita coordinate. This also applies to handbags which were purposely left out.

The Etsy items are examples of what I wanted to add as accessories. They are more "guidelines" to items that I would suggest. I say this because if you're interested in completing the outfit with any of the recommended Etsy items, there is a chance that they could be out-of-stock or not made anymore.

Arwen [Wikia Link]

Once Upon a Frilly Time - Part 1: Storybrooke

I have been swept away by ABC's television show, Once Upon a Time. I didn't watch the series when it aired originally as I wasn't that interested (I was distracted by hockey and baseball to be honest). The entire first season is available to stream on Netflix, so I took advantage of that and marathoned the episodes for a few days. After the pilot, I was completely hooked!

Fairy tales in many forms, whether a Disney adaptation or in a book, have been in my heart and memory since I was a young child. Thus, the natural progression to watching OUAT and enjoying it started rather organically. I love the way the show explains the fairy tales, with the dual worlds, but most of all the show represents women in a positive way.  They are empowered  intelligent, beautiful, and most of all they are independent.  In short, they're badass.

Now begins the series of Lolita coordinates inspired by the female characters of Once Upon a Time.

This entry will focus on the main and some supporting cast: the Storybrooke version.
Note: None of the characters have a handbag added as in the tv show they are rarely seen carrying any of the sort. However, I know Ruby may have had a basket but I didn't feel that handbags would be that significant. There are other minor characters I left out because they show up may be 1 or 2 episodes and either are not reoccurring or rarely seen after that.

The coordinates were chosen based on the character's attitude, general clothing style, and personality. Plus, I have to be honest, I definitely picked items that I like and would definitely wear!

Emma Swann

Angelic Pretty - POP'N ROCK Riders Jacket

BTSSB - Ribbon collar cutsew

BTSSB - Saint Helena jumperskirt

Rocket Dog Rachel Boots [Zappos]

First meetup in Raleigh !

Last Saturday, I attended my first Raleigh area Lolita meetup. The event was hosted at Davenport & Winkleperry, a Steampunk cafe and bar. The meet was also a "swap-meet", so there were items that were being auctioned, traded, or bought. I've never been to a swap before and I didn't buy anything but the best part of it was seeing the items of different brands that I've never seen before, first hand.

There was such good eats like delicious chocolate chip and peppermint cookies and tea sandwiches in yummy varieties.  Though the food and setting was grand the people who I met were wonderful! Everyone was so warm and inviting. My first meetup was a very memorable and the experience was one that I've always dreamed of having!

I hope to make new friends in this community and attend more gatherings in the future.

Here is a picture of my outfit snap from the event:

JSK and headbow: BTSSB

Tights: Betsy Johnson

Cutsew: Offbramd

Shoes: Offbrand

Jewelry: Offbrand

Wig: Clair Beauty wig

Petticoat: Malco Modes

Victorian Christmas Traditions

Christmas is widely viewed as a commercialized holiday.  Today the focus is on the size of a flat screen tv, the latest toys and gadgets, and anything else you can buy.  All this hinges on how much money is saved, from Black Friday until a few days before, the advertisements scream "savings". 

The topic of this post is Victorian Christmas and how the traditions shape today's holiday. The two aren't completely different, granted there wasn't Amazon.com in the late 19th century but there was commercialization with the creation of Christmas industries that are still popular today.

Quick Update - Moved to North Carolina!

Hello from North Carolina!
It has been over 2 weeks since the last update where I blogged about my Hurricane Sandy experience. Since then, my parents and I have moved from suburban New York to Raleigh, North Carolina. I miss this blog so much and have many ideas to post but I've been overwhelmed with the whole move and now upcoming job search.

The week of the move was totally intense with the packing our items and donating much of the rest. On the day of the move, Wednesday, there was a huge snow storm. One that I didn't expect to see in early November. It was cold and there was a lot of snow, we barely made it to the hotel that was less then half a mile away! The hotel was very nice and the restaurant where we had dinner was so good!

Thursday was the first day of the drive down from Nanuet to Raleigh. We planned on the trip being two days, with us stopping in Richmond, Virginia. The drive down wasn't bad at all and the traffic was pretty light. Our cars were stuffed with essentials and food along with my Kris Letang game used hockey stick, which I wrapped up rather securely lol!

When we arrived to Richmond, we stayed at a hotel for that one night. We didn't realize that the hotel was right literally near the airport until late in the night when we heard the planes take off! There wasn't much after to write about besides us recuperating from the move day and sleeping like babies. Friday morning, we began the drive from Richmond to Raleigh. My dad decided to take a different interstate highway (85) down as opposed to the more direct 95. Highway 85 was so scenic and peaceful, with lots of trees. The foliage was rich and colorful. My mom and I really enjoyed that drive to Raleigh!

Once we arrived to Raleigh, we received the keys to our new apartment. That week which leads up to the date of this entry is full of living in a hotel room, out of suitcases, and enjoying the daily flavor of Raleigh and surrounding areas. During the fun stuff, we took breaks to focus on getting the apartment in order like buying curtains, bathroom items, and finding furniture.

I'm very pleased to finally have adult bedroom furniture having given my old bedroom set to my cousin's younger daughter. It lasted me 12 years and I know it could survive another 12!

My room is not finished yet and the moving truck and my new furniture will be arriving tomorrow. I want to post a photo when I have it all done and decorated which will probably be in December. Here's a preview of my new bedspread:

The only negative from this whole experience is the moving truck hasn't arrived yet. Moving cross country is no simple matter and not a quick one at that so don't expect your items to come two days later! It's been 10 days and we are just getting our items tomorrow!

I'm so happy to have moved down here with my parents and I can't wait to join the Raleigh EGL group as well as attend BJD meetups. Of course, if there was an NHL season, I would be going to a few Hurricanes games.

Until then, take care and enjoy the day!

Surviving the storm - with my ruffles intact!

The Frill Zone was caught up in tropical storm Sandy. From the calm before Sandy arrived to the aftermath of the storm, it was a memorable and at times, scary experience. I don’t live close to the coast line enough to be effected by storm surges and flooding, so the concern by the authorities was the winds.  My family and I were without power for almost 3 days and as I update the blog, there are still thousands of people in my county without power.

A tree branch that was very close to an electrical pole wire succumbed to the force of the winds and gradually began leaning on it. Sparks started to fly out every so often but it wasn’t until later that evening, it went “crazy”.  The winds were stronger and the wire was becoming more unstable. The sparks came faster after each other and than the whole thing lit up. It was so bright that it lit up the whole street and my entire apartment. The sound of electricity was so loud and terrifying as the wire fell apart and became live. 

La Vida es hockey!

The NHL and the Latino Audience post is a great start to a discussion that I hope continues through the years and as the NHL expands. In the article, I mentioned how other pro-leagues like MLB have such a large Latino participation and audience. Now I want to introduce you too the Latino-Hispanic players in the NHL.  There are 5 active players currently and one retired.  I am familiar with all of these players and admire them; especially Bill Guerin and Scott Gomez!

(Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)

Scott Gomez (Mexican and Colombian) - Active in NHL since 1999. 

American from Anchorage, Alaska. Plays center for the Montreal Canadiens. 

Former teams are New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. 

Two time NHL All-Star. Represented USA in the 1998 and 1999 WJC, 2004 World Cup of Hockey, and 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. 

Won the Stanley Cup twice with the New Jersey Devils.

http://scottygomezfoundation.com/

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=31170

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Alec Martinez (Spanish) - Active in NHL since 2008. 

American from Rochester, Michigan. Defenseman for the Los Angeles Kings. 

Won the Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=81001

Follow Alec on Twitter: amartinez_27

The journey to the center of the curl!

One day, I watched a Youtube video and 5 minutes later, I chopped off 10 inches of my hair! That’s a story I’ll definitely tell my grandchildren.  Why did I do it? The chemical processes and heat damaged my hair to a point of pure embarrassment. I was unhappy with myself and my hair.  It took 3 years of research and changing my hair habits to allow for full acceptance of my hair’s beautiful curly goodness.

As a Latina, getting my hair washed and set (rollers and sitting under the dryer), was a monthly and soon weekly routine. I wanted acceptable hair for school and I wanted something easy. In high school and university, classes were early and I didn’t want to spend 30 minutes washing and styling my hair, everyday. 

So I chose the easy way out. I washed everyday, using horrible products that ruined my hair and scalp. On top of that, the chemical relaxers and texturizers, not to mention heat (flat iron), was frying those already damaged ringlets. Note: relaxers completely breaks the bond of the hair, making it dead straight, depending on how long the chemical is left in.  A texturizer, softens the bond of the hair, but if left in long enough, it could straighten it. I was drying out my hair and even damaging my scalp. Plus, the processing chemicals smelled horrible and gave me headaches for weeks after the treatment.

My super awesome hockey, Lolita fashion, Victorian, Rococo Room!

Part 1 in a series titled, "My super awesome hockey, Lolita fashion, Victorian, Rococo Room!"

The 'Big Move' is coming up! That’s what I’m calling this semi-cross country trek from New York to North Carolina that will commence early November. I’ll be getting a new room, a bigger one, with two closets! I finally have the space to make this room what I’ve always dreamt of: cute, sporty, and a little geeky.

Picture 1 (Tumblr) / Picture 2: saganaga [Flickr]

Items for the room:

• Bedroom Furniture (daybed, night stand, dresser, and computer desk)
• Curtains
• Lighting
• Rug
• Book cases and shelving
• Accent pieces and artwork

How do you decorate a room with a hockey stick and posters with a feminine, cute aesthetic? This is the gazillion dollar question that I’ve been asking for a few weeks now. I have an eclectic collection of stuff, ranging from hockey posters, autographed pictures, bobbleheads, and other memorabilia. Lastly, my collection of ABJDs needs a dedicated space that will allow for collection expansion.

The conundrum is making a theme work from so many unrelated items. I’ve been looking at pictures of bedrooms with my interested themes: sporty, feminine, and romantic.  To pull off this look, I am constantly looking for inspiration from everything to achieve the theme. The images in this post, achieve what I would want in that ideal theme: sporty, cute, and feminine. 

Pictures -clockwise- 1 & 2 ChiiChick

There are a few restrictions with the apartment. So I can’t drill large holes for hanging a mirror or shelf and the walls are an interesting, yellow-gold color. The wall color will have to be “ignored” since painting isn’t an option. I’m going to Lowe’s to get paint swatches and find printed fabric swatches to build my color palette. 

If all else fails, I could try to recreate Momoko’s room - with the edition of a hockey stick of course!

Sites of Interest:
http://fyeahlolitadecor.tumblr.com/

http://themerooms.blogspot.com/2011/10/sports-bedroom-decorating-ideas.html

NHL and the Latino Audience

Gary Bettman, the Commissioner, claims to want to grow hockey and expand it in America. One problem with that manifest destiny is the lack of marketing towards to the Hispanic population. I’m not sure if the broadcasted games on NBC have a SAP audio feed. If there wasn’t a lockout, I would surely test that theory.

And if you happen to follow Major League Baseball in any form, you will eventually come to know that many of the top players are of Latino descent.  Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, and Mariano Rivera are just a few of those players. This is a long list of exceptional talent that spans back into the 1960s. 

Photo of Albert Pujols by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images // Photo of Miguel Cabrera by Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Since then the MLB has been promoting the growth of the sport in many Latino countries such as Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela. And as a Latina (Puerto-Rican) American, I am proud of these players and how much they have accomplished because they are Latino - like me! 

The NFL even has a few Latino players and NASCAR has a few drivers, but MLB has a larger influence and structure.  Of course, I can’t mention well known Latino athletes without focusing on International soccer. That is a monopoly that is growing everyday and entrenched in Latino culture much like Hockey is with Canadian.

Each of these sports has it’s own marketing campaign to reach out to the Hispanic audience.  According to the U.S. Census, about 51 million Americans are Hispanic, a number that grows steadily, not to mention the huge International market just waiting to be tapped into.

The NFL, MLB, NASCAR, and even the WWE have Spanish language versions of their official websites. The NHL website however is available in only 8 languages, Spanish not being one of them. 

I can hear the people who will try to justify why this is the case like how the NHL doesn’t have the market in Spanish speaking countries or that there aren’t that many Latino players in the league for anyone to care. You can make the argument that many of the Latino countries are too poor to support hockey that it would be too much for a local village to support (up keep, equipment, medical, coaching, etc..) 

So why does the MLB build facilities that include a gym, schools, and much more for future players to develop and ‘hopefully’ get chosen for the big leagues? They do it because they see the potential on the field and off of it.  

The NHL is missing the boat with this. It’s an untouched gold mine that everyone is benefiting from. By embracing a group of individuals and reaching out to them, the league can grow for the better. The lockout is a terrible thing for the NHL, but this lack Hispanic marketing will leave the league lagging behind. 

There are currently 5 active players of Latin American descent playing the NHL: Scott Gomez, Alex Martinez, Al Montoya, Rhett Rakhshani, and Raffi Torres; one retired player: Bill Guerin. (Wiki) I would like to this number rise and more participation by the league to increase it.  The teams, individually, do a better job at reaching out culturally to their local communities. For example, in Los Angeles, a city that has a very large Latino community, the Kings host a Latino Heritage night every season.

Credit to LAKings.com

Bettman and the rest of the NHL should take the same initiative and branch out to Hispanic countries. Even if it’s ball hockey on the street, it’s an idea and foundation for the future.

Reaching Out to Hispanic Consumers - Hispanic Business.com

Pride & Petticoats: Regency Era & Lolita Fashion

*Copied from my previous blog JoyeuxCherie

I watched Pride & Prejudice a few nights ago, the version with Keira Knightley as well as the version with the dashing Colin Firth! I have grown to love Regency fashion quite after watching these films and reading Jane Austen's novels.  Much of my great disdain for it was caused by my long time admiration for Late Baroque and Rococo fashions, specifically that of France.  Though, that will always be my favorite, Regency is coming to a close second. In this post, there is Regency fashion, empire waists, Lizzy Bennet's Classic coordinate, and bonnets, lots of bonnets!

The Great Intro

Welcome to The Frill Zone (TFZ), a blog dedicated to my love for Japanese street fashion, hockey, and all things cute and sweet! Topics will vary in key subjects: Lolita fashion, hockey, recipes, pictures, my daily happenings, and more! The Frill Zone name was thought up in a brainstorm session with another EGL member (chad_bear). Frill rhymes with chill and at an ice rink or arena, it can be quite chilly! Zone was added because it's a hockey term and to give the blog a setting. This is my area or zone where I can talk about interests I like and are important to me. For more about hockey zones !

Mission Statement

Lolita fashion and sports are two pinnacle parts of my life, so it's only natural that both would be focus for the blog. My goal for the blog is to be a place that can also be used as an educational tool to provide new information on subject matters that may or may not be familiar to the visitor.  I will give my honest view on topics based on my own experience, feelings, and research.

About Me

Digital artist and lifestyle blogger from New York. I love Japanese fashion, particularly Elegant Gothic Lolita and my favorite fashion brands are Innocent World, Baby the Stars Shine Bright, and Angelic Pretty.

Hockey is a big part of my life and my favorite sport! My favorite NHL teams are Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks. I run a little fan site called KrisLetang.org, if you are a Penguins fan or have no idea who Kris Letang is, you should check it out! I was raised on baseball by my father and am now a devout New York Mets fan! I've made many friends because of hockey and amazing experiences like attending games and meeting players!
For more, visit the "About Me" page.

P.S.
Cameos by random gifs will be frequent.

That wraps up the great intro, I hope you subscribe and follow the blog :)!

Mahalo for visiting!