I look forward to the Mitsuwa summer festival because it's pretty much the only Japanese festival in the area that's not tainted with a bunch of pop-culture and anime crap. Sakura Matsuri's gone now... the NY street festivals are lame... but not Mitsuwa! They have the traditional festival games, taiko drums every hour, Japanese dance, bon-odori at the end of the night.. along with all the glorious food-- okonomiyaki, takoyaki, yakisoba, curry rice, gyoza, grilled seafood, the list goes on and on. I love it. It's the only thing I consider it the only thing worthy enough to travel to NJ to LOL

I enjoyed myself as always, and I hope it'll stay just as exciting in the years to come. ♥

I was so ready for this meeting, trying to think up questions and all that kind of stuff~ just to find out that he unexpectedly got called away out of the country and I only just got the reschedule e-mail when I got there xD

Must be cool to be randomly whisked away across the world.. and extremely exhausting as well. D:

So the staff were saying, "Don't worry, next week! We'll make sure he's there~ We'll strap him down if we have to!" Which made me laugh but I wasn't too bothered by the news. I had planned to go and look for materials in the nearby fabric district and stuff so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience.

Before I left, I took some pictures with some of his props~ apparently one of the worker's birthdays just happened so they had the show room set up a bit. Everything looked amazing, I was afraid to touch anything! All his work look so beautiful in person. Especially the tree above, which reminded me of a willow tree with the strands of pearl clusters and teardrop glass at the ends * w* Even the flowers at the base of it and at the top...

One of his deco swans~ I call it a deco swan xD It's embellished with silk flowers, pearls and other things. All the props were so beautiful, and the flowers~! I really need to look around that area more, because they get some faaaabulous silk flowers that I can't believe are not real. Just look at all this stuff.

When I left the office, I went across the street really quick to this one place that was selling what I think was mannequins and stuff * w* At first I thought they were a trimmings store but apparently they weren't. What caught my eye about this place were these ridiculous Rococo mannequins. I simply died.

Look at them... one pink, one blue, and one ivory-ish. And the detail was ridiculous. I wanted to snatch the costumes and run LOL. I was allowed to snap photos of them~ definitely using these as reference the next time I decide to get another comission done!

I went up to meet with my bby Nancy during her lunch break for some awesome patbingsoo~ which we topped with macarons like the bosses we are. I told myself that whenever I'm in the area I'd share some with someone, to get as much bingsoo as I possibly could before the season ended!

I keep forgetting the name of the place, but it's one of the cafes in along 32nd street that sells macarons and bingsoo. This particular one is the "fruits" bowl, with watermelon, kiwi, mango, and loads more, with strawberry syrup and strawberry ice cream on top ; w; and of course, macarons lol

Me and Nancy, like bawssessss

When I parted from her, I went to the fabric district for a good 2-3 hours looking for shorthair faux fur.. to no luck. The only place I saw with what I wanted wanted $22 per yd! I was like what the heck? But apparently that's normal for faux fur.. which is ridiculous :x I should just see if there's any cheaper stuff on Taobao lol....

~~~~~~~~~

Fast forward the next week, where the saying "Third time's the charm~" was really the case. xD I finally-finally-finally got to meet Preston.

I was running late... and I wish I didn't! Ugh I suck big time. But they still made time for me! I think even if I had an hour I wouldn't have enough time in the world. Immediately when I sat down at his desk he started asking me about myself, and I was trying so hard not to be star-struck that I kind of forgot the questions I wanted to ask of him. We were talking the whole time though! We got into the reason why I was looking into that field... the course... my insecurities... and he sharing his own experience and was telling me to 'just do it!' To do an event and sort of wing it and get the feel of it and not hold myself back. Apparently this is a popular quote towards me this year... xD

It was very motivating. We talked about the options I did have as far as pushing further and feeling the industry out more, and he told me that I was "just a baby" and that I had plenty of time, after I told him my age, haha. So I'm going to try! Well~ not try. Do. I guess my first event will probably be my friend Christine's wedding that's set for next year @ w@

He had a meeting right after me so we had to cut our conversation short, but he made me a bouquet ; w; and it's sooooo pretty. I was so surprised and I thought it was the nicest thing ever. I'm not sure if he does that with all this student visitors or if it was because of me always missing him but I treasured the mess out of that bouquet.

We took pictures in front of his Welcome board right outside his office, where they tagged my name ; w; ksdbnasj sdhbashejbshjd

Kinda wish I wore the dress and stuff that day buuuut I didn't want to feel weird, wearing the same outfit and having his staff seeing the same thing twice xD #girlproblems, etc.

It was such a nice experience... I couldn't contain the feels. I called up my pastor and left a voicemail with a bunch of excited garble about meeting him and getting the flowers. I was just going on and on and he had a good laugh when he got to it = w=

After work I met up with Nancy -again- for some bingsoo, which this time was more like celebratory bingsoo. It was funny because I carried my flowers around the whole day, and it just looked like every table I sat at was some special spot xD

Our bby Chris stopped by to sit with us while she was waiting for her follow-up interview with this workplace~ which they just called her in to tell her she got the job! So that day was dubbed "The Day of Many Epic Feels". Me and Chris later went to meet with my bff Laura and had even -more- food during her lunch break xD Then we went to Kinokuniya, looked around and sat and talked a bit, just to run into even MORE lolita friends. It was crazy.

After we all finished hanging out and it was time to leave, I decided to meet with Pastor who just left out of work. That week there was a revival at the 'mother church' and my pastor was preaching, so I just rode with him and I told him about my day and he talked to me about motivation and stop being fearful and doubtful and other encouraging things.

I tried to make the flowers last as long as possible... they lasted for so long ; w; Like almost a week, even. A majority of the flowers I actually clipped and pressed them to put in my scrapbook later. At some point I 'dissected' the bouquet, taking note of every ribbon that was used, every pin and floral tape that helped put everything in place... I was just impressed. I never saw an actual professional bouquet in person and I took pictures of everything to learn off of it. Everything seemed so simple but it was amazing to me...

Anyways, not long after Otakon was done, did I go to yet -another- event. Awkward Black Girl screening (#2?)

Overall, I had a blast. I thank Issa Rae, Madison and the other ABG & I Am Other crew for putting that day together. The screening was actually like a mini-reunion for me... I met people from middle school there, and high school... and friends of friends... it was pretty crazy. The Aloft Hotel was a pretty nice spot for the small afterparty, and I'm definitely going there again one day to feel around a bit more with friends!