How I Got Interested in Lolita Fashion

I'm not really sure how to start  this weeks Lolita Blog Carnival post. I have loved Lolita like stuff my whole life and I have been into Japanese stuff my whole life too. I could start this with the first time I saw Lolita fashion,but I don't  know when that was because since the  early 80's when someone went on trip to Japan they always brought me back stuff like Sanrio,manga and fashion magazines. Sadly I have lost most if not all of my Japanese magazines from 80's. I do remember seeing a ad for Milk(a brand that gets talked about as early Lolita a lot)   sometime in the mid 80's  because a kid at school said something dumb about the brands name.  I know what I just wrote does not totally answer the question so I am going to try making a timeline of my life that list all the things that I loved and still love that made me end up here as a Lolita.My timeline won't fill in every year of my life or everything I love just some what got me here.
1982 -  That is the  year I first saw and fell in love with Sanrio . 82 is also the year Epcot opened the souvenir I got  was a folding fan from China and I still have it and love it.
1984-1985- at some point in this time my dad took his first business trip to Japan and brought back me and my sister tons of manga,Sanrio,fashion magazines and cute toys.This trip to Japan was what made me fall in love with Japan. I thought the home of Sanrio,Nintendo,anime and manga had to be perfect. Some time around this point Disney's Alice in wonderland came out on video I was already a Disney junkie this video just made me more of one. I had my mother who loves to sew start making me Alice style dresses with aprons at this point.
1989-1990  I spent way to much time watching AMC  at this point and spent a lot of time dreaming about wearing things like  vintage 30's clothing. I also started reading all of my moms books about old Hollywood. My greatgrandmother  sometime in this period gave me set of fake Jackie O style three strand pearls that I wore with everything no matter if they matched or not.I eve.n wore them swimming. I sadly ended up ruining them by over wear and had to toss them. I started my charm bracelet at this point. My mother bought me a bracelet from the early 50's and charm from the 40's to start it for me.
1992-1993 I saw a  large straw sunhat with a big lace ribbon bow on it on a school trip to Bushgardens. I bought the hat and wore it to death even though I don't look good in hats. I thought I looked glamorous like someone out of a 30's movie even though I didn't. I decided at this point I wanted to wear  30's style bathing suits at this point. I never did find one ,but I did find a cute 60's style one that I loved  to death. At this point I started collecting barbies both vintage and modern. I started collecting vintage magazines at this point and spent a lot of falling in love with vintage stuff.The 92-93 time period was also when I got into going to thrift stores to find vintage stuff. 92-93 was when baby doll dresses made a come back and I loved them.
1996-1997 I fell in love with 60's A line dresses at this point. Maryjane's made a comeback and I bought tons of them. I started collecting gloves and handkerchiefs at this point. I sometime in this time period started collecting broaches.
2000-2004 I had collected tons of beautiful and or cute stuff up until this point and I guess at some point in this time I learned what Lolita was and decided  to do a better job of putting my love of cute and or vintage fashion together and became a Lolita. Sometime during this point I decided to start making bentos . I started collecting kimonos at this point too I guess. I bought white bedroom set at this point too. I redid my bathroom in pink and white to look more in keeping with my look at that point.
2010-now My grandparents who had collected tons of  Victorian style stuff  decided to movie to a retirement home and I gained tons of  the pretty stuff they collected. I gained my grandmothers  Maud Humphrey Bogart collection at this point along with her collection of Bradley dolls.
I hope my timeline helped explain how I got into Lolita fashion. Now here are the links for the others girls in this weeks Lolita Blog Carnival.
 

The Cute Lifestyle  

Her Lumpiness

Sidhe Banshee

Northern Star

Oh Velveteena

Sweet Indeed

Alice in Lolitaland

Wild Jackalopes

Gothic Strawberry

The Bloody Tea Party

Hello Batty