Boston’s winding streets meant discovering everything at every corner. This van was parked by Breugger’s on School Street. Little did I realize that the store was right behind the hotel. That is until we walked back up the street.
Have any Bostonians tried this Cakeology? What did you think?
Cakeology
45 Province Street
Boston, MA 02108
Thanks to Kieli from Rainbow Star Candy for presenting me with this award! I’m glad you enjoy reading it so much!
This award goes to the underdogs who are just starting out or simple lost in the sea of bloggers out there.
“The origins of the Liebster Blog award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, Liebster meaning favourite or dearest, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient can then pass it on to five more blogs of note. A way of introducing other bloggers to the blogs you enjoy.”
1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don’t know about you.
Now for 5 random facts about me…
1) I’ve played the piano for at least 10 years.
2) Magenta is one of my favorite “secret” colors.
3) I love spicy foods.
4) I tend to tell people I’m 2 inches taller than I actually am.
5) One day I’d like to organize a Lolita fashion enthusiast conference/convention.
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| La Vida Frills is headlining street snaps post again |
This was my first AnimeBoston as press and as a general attendee. Living in New York and getting to know alot of Lolitas within my own city, I was unsure what the scene would be like in Boston. Surprisingly I met some wonderful people and did lots of picture taking.
If I’ve taken a photo of you and would like me to take it down. Please feel free to send me an email.
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| Creepy Cute in Fantasic Dolly. |
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| This Sweet Lolita was such a trooper with her soft cast. |
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| A Sweet Lolita bride. |
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| Lolita BFFs |
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| Gothic Lolita rocking black and plaid. |
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| Maid and Sweet. |
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| Punk Lolita. |
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| Ponies and Carousels was her theme. Tiny carousel included. |
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| Wa-Lolita at PAX. |
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| Vampires at the Iron Gates. |
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| This Classic Lolita was so adorable with her simple coordinate. |
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| Cult-party and Sweet Lolita killing time. |
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| Hime works very well with this print. |
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| Lolita waiting in line for the Lolita panel/fashion show. |
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| A Strawberry Lolita cute enough to eat. |
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| I sat next to this girl during the panel. She was so worried about the lace on her dress, but she looks very good for a new Lolita don’t you think? |
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| Another Lolita in line. |
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| Rocking in Red. |
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| Models posing for more pictures post-panel. |
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| Cute Lolita in Classic. |
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| This girl recognized me from the Tokyo Rebel signing. |
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| More Classic. |
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| Group shot before staff kicked everyone out of the panel room. |
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| The Lolitas who ran the fashion panel and fashion show. |
Expect a post on the entire event soon! See anyone you recognize?
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| AnimeBoston 2012 |
If you ever go to Ithaca, NY you’ll notice the maps will include Cornell University and Ithaca College. Everyone is familiar with Cornell and its Ivy-League prestige, and Ithaca College is also a great school — in its own right. You really can’t compare the two just like you couldn’t really compare AnimeBoston and PAX East.
Thanks to an unusual case of double booking, both cons took place Easter weekend. A few people were actually concerned about whether one would overtake the other. In my opinion, it only benefited by bringing in more people to a great city. Especially when they catered to entirely different crowds (one being anime/cosplay and the gaming) with a slight amount of intermixing.
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| Very from our hotel. |
I often tell people I’m originally from Boston, often because it comes up when my phone number is still a Massachusetts number. Ironically living in Queens leads to further confusion. Going to Boston was kind of returning home, even though I was a tourist this time around.
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| Omni Parker House |
Taking advantage of PAX, I stayed at the Omni Parker House. Not only is it a historic landmark but it’s rumored to be haunted as well! It was very also convenient that the hotel was within walking distance from the subway. An ideal spot for touristy adventures.
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| Gilded elevators. |
Before picking my badge I decided to visit a few places I often did in my childhood. This often mean walking around the Commons, and visiting Harvard Square.
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| Cherry Blossoms in bloom at the Commons |
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| The Indie’s Mall. |
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| Local tea and coffee shop. |
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| Airbrush Street Artist. |
Not much has really change, except that it felt very much like a college town. The Garage used to be an old haunt because it was one of the few places that sold anime and Japanese merchandise straight from Japan. Now with the industry nonexistent and merchandise found regularly in what little entertainment stores there are left.
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| Thai for lunch. |
The other reason was to reconnect with an old college friend. 9Tastes was a popular Thai place with a naturally busy lunch turnover with students and the like.
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| Green Line Subway Station. Very different from NYC. |
One interesting thing I found while riding the “T” was that whether you were young or old or not into anime, you new what AnimeBoston. Probably because during the convention is when anime fans tend to over run the Prudential Center/Hynes Convention Center to an unhealthy and annoying degree.
This was my first year being press and an attendee in a long while. I went to three panels I most wanted to see, and the rest of the convention was mostly catching memorable moments.
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| Hsien-Ko and Lillith |
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| Digimon and Adventure seemed to be the top cosplay. |
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| A Seraphic Trio. |
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| Casual Cosplay of Double-H from Mawaru Penguindrum |
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| Convention Rotunda |
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| Road Kamelot from D. Grayman |
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| Scene was very fitting. |
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| Disney characters were also very popular. |
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| I think I’m one of the few that actually watched this show. |
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| Rin from Fate/Stay Night |
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| Eva Unit 01 |
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| Plumber Peach |
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| I commend this person for pulling this cosplay off. |
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| Fluttershy? |
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| Apocalypse was the convention’s theme this year. |
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| Dalek. |
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| Ophanim‘s booth in Artist Alley |
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| One of many courtesy signs. |
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| Booth that air a live feed from PaxEast/ |
Mint from h. Naoto was a guest talking about his new line MintNeko. Like sixh, the line that Mint collaborates with Ibi, MintNeko is inspired by music. I had seen both of them at Otakon last year and my memory was of Mint dancing with one of his cat bags. I was very curious as to why he was a solo guest, but understood afterwards.
With MintNeko he can concentrate on the more stylist aesthestics, whereas Ibi is supposedly more conceptual. Unfortunately, while Mint’s panel was large it was also largely empty. Whether it was because it was tucked away in the Sheraton or people simply didn’t know, I may never know the reason.
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| A Very Genki Portrait. |
Sakurai Takamasa was another guest in a reasonable sized panel room in the Hynes. If anyone is reading this, he was a guest promoting soft power and learning about international anime fans. Which to him are no different than any other fan of Japanese culture, no matter where they are from. He had a slideshow of a selection of places he had been to. At the end he showed a trailer of Okami Kodomo No Ame To Yuki directed by Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Girl Who Lept Through Time), and gave away a poster. However his simple question of who likes Natsuki (?), but the entire audience was stumped and he solved this problem by playing Jan-Ken-Pon.
The Lolita Fashion Show was a big highlight of the con for attendees and Lolitas. The line stretched from end to end of the convention floor. To be frank, I’ve actually never really been to a Lolita 101 panel, however the girls giving the panel covered it very well. Especially when it was just the two of them and about a good hundred or so of fans. I did try to take a few shots of the fashion show, but I felt that the models walked a bit too fast. However the sixH fashion show was scheduled at a similar time, and it was safe to assume that most of the participants wanted to try to catch the other show going out.
Overall I had a great time and if I had the opportunity will go again. Especially if it gave me the chance to take photos like the ones above again.
Did you go to AnimeBoston? What did you think compared to previous years?
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| Craving Sweet. |
Last weekend, my fiance and I were in Boston for AnimeBoston and PAX East. We discovered that Sweet was literally down the street from the Omni Parker House when we were looking for Friday dinner options.
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| Camera phones don’t do justice. |
My fiance surprised me with two cupcakes after returning from AnimeBoston on Saturday. One was Banana Split and the other Sweet Cake. Definitely prefer the Banana Split – it was extremely light and you could taste really taste the banana. And the spoon was an excellent touch.
(Back Bay)
49 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
617-247-2253
(Newbury Street)
225 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02115
617-267-2253
(Harvard Square)
Zero Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-547-2253
(Downtown)
11 School Street
Boston, MA 02108
617-227-2253
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| It’s Elementary, My Dear Watson (Sherlock Holmes Museum, London) |
Wish there was something more to steampunk than just gears and top hats? That’s where the New York Chapter of the Nineteenth Century Society comes in. This organization serves as a niche where the historically-minded can gather and appreciate, and, most of all educate each other about the goings-on during the 19th Century.
On the weekend of April 27 – 29th, the Nineteenth Century Society presents their first ever festival of the arts featuring historical presentations, workshops, walking tours, pub crawls, and a fashion show.
The “NYC 19th Century Extravaganza” is an event not to be missed.
Here are some select events going on:
Listen to the event organizers speak about their fascination with the time period on Cityscapes podcasts.
NYC 19th Century Extravaganza
April 27th – 29th, 2012
Greater Astoria Historical Society
Quinn Building, 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor
Long Island City, NY 11106
and
Old Stone House – Washington Park
336 3rd Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
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| Rainbow Kitty |
A friend of mine found this in Macy’s and thought of me. As such they felt to purchase it as a random day-of-the-week present.
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| Commit storefront to memory, otherwise you’ll pass it by. |
There are lots of restaurants that specialize in one type of food dish in New York City. There’s restaurants just for peanut butter sandwiches, dumplings, mac and cheese, and grilled cheese.
The Queens Kickshaw is no different.
Located in the heart of Astoria, Kickshaw has become a fast go-to place for a hip coffee shop that happens to serve one of the ultimate comfort foods, grilled cheese, with adult tastes.
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| Gritty ceilings and construction-style lights. |
Just to warn you it can be a bit difficult to find. Of course then once you’re inside you get the impression that you’re in Brooklyn and not Queens.
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| Really admired the lighting. |
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| New York humor. |
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| Remember you are in Queens. |
The decor is very simple and rustic, complete with long community-style tables. Kickshaw is laptop friendly and provides wifi. And if you need a fix they also provide take out coffee growlers. But onto the most important part of the tour: the food!
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| A plain Gruyere and Brioche with tomato soup. Just like mom use to make. |
The menu is simple — it is grilled cheese after all. Each grilled cheese sandwich is paired with a soup or salad that compliments each grilled cheese flavor. Isn’t grilled cheese just cheese and bread? How can there be more than one flavor of cheese?
This is not your ordinary grilled cheese with American Kraft.
You have your choice of Gruyere, Manchego, Mozzerella, Gouda, Feta, or Blue Cheese. And instead of white Wonder Bread, you’ve got brioche (fiance is a big fan of this), foccacia, cranberry-walnut, and multigrain for the boring types.
For more mouth-watering photos check out their website. I thought I had some more photos of food, but apparently I decided it was better to keep this place a secret and not photograph the evidence.
Prices are pretty cheap for New York City ($8-$10), but remember to bring cash as Kickshaw doesn’t take plastic. Big groups are fine, but the service will be a bit slower. And if you are strictly a Manhattan person, Queens Kickshaw might convince you to venture out into the boroughs.
The Queens Kickshaw
40-17 Broadway
Astoria, NY 11103
718-777-0913
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| Ticket from Titanic Exhibition |
On April 15th, 1912 the R.M.S. Titanic sank below the Atlantic and we have never able to let go of its tragedy and history since. For 100th anniversary there are several events going around the world to remember and celebrate the passengers who died and survived.
If you stop by the South Street Seaport, one of the first things you’ll see is a lighthouse. That lighthouse serves as a memorial for all the people brought to port. Note: The South Street Seaport location was not it’s original spot and moved for historical preservation.
Here are a few of the events going on in NYC in honor of the centennial:
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| What does your hat say about you? |
I’ll be on a bus ride back from Boston and will be sadly missing an iconic New York event. While the event is more unofficial excuse to dress up and put that glue gun you bought years ago to use, it is a fun spectacle to watch, see, and perhaps participate.
During the Victorian era, churchgoers not only wore their Sunday Best but also display their wealth through their extravagant hats. Now it’s become a Hallmark ritual on how fanciful or ridiculous you can make/wear
Decorate an old hat you have no use for or get those brain juices flowing with creativity. Peeps are optional but very effective. Plus you bought Happy Garden for this very reason.
Check out pictures taken from last year for some last-minute ideas.
Easter Parade
April 8th, 2012
10AM – 4PM
49th-57th Streets (along 5th Avenue)
