MCM 2019- The Year of Deals!

While my feet are still recovering from all of the walking, I am back! Benefit Sale 2019 is over with and it's time for my yearly review & coverage. This year I was lucky enough to score tickets to the Sunday sale which is when prices of some items are slashed anywhere from 15-50%. Because of this my mom and I rented a hotel Friday & Saturday night. If you remember my post covering last year, I drove to Middleton and back in one day for the Saturday sale. Can I just say how nice it was being able to relax in a hotel before and after the long sale days? I don't know what I was thinking last year, haha.

Margot was my sale doll from last year so she came with this year to welcome the new additions! She also snagged up mini-Grace as her own doll. 

Since I knew we'd be staying in a hotel I was able to reserve a room put aside in the partner hotels, which meant that we received a goodie bag upon check-in! This year the bag included a mini Grace Thomas doll with her first two books, a coupon book for other businesses in the Middleton area, and a welcome letter from the MCM staff. We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn which I would highly recommend. The rooms were clean and nice, the staff was super friendly, and they had an excellent breakfast selection.

Goodie bag items.

Our ticket time for Saturday was originally set for 12:00PM. I was nervous as to what kind of stock would be left over at that time so my mom and I took a chance and arrived at the sale grounds at 7:00AM to see if any earlier tickets were turned in to the welcome tent. Boy, did we luck out! We were able to trade our tickets for a pair of 8:15 ones! During that odd hour my mom and I checked out the vendor tents while I explained the full sale process to her (it was her first year attending). We browsed the Silent Auction tent where I was surprised to see that they had a selection of 10-12 Create Your Own dolls that were $120 and Buy It Now. This was the first year CYO dolls were made available at the sale and emails were sent out explaining the whole process of buying one. You needed to view the online photobucket albums (which crashed constantly while I was browsing them) and write down a list of corresponding numbers to dolls you were interested in buying. In the warehouse you would go to the CYO table and give them the numbers. They would go down the list, bring out the dolls still available or if they already sold, well, then you were out of luck. 

I was thrilled to see that Beth from Dreaming of Dolls took a photo of the Silent Auction CYO selection. I hope she won't mind that I've included that image below and circled a certain doll. ;) Side note: Beth has a fantastic blog and does an incredible write-up of her MCM experience every year. I'd highly recommend following her! 

Photo credit: Beth @ Dreaming of Dolls

I was nervous about this system- how long it would take, how fast the dolls would sell, etc. So when I saw the Buy It Now option at the Silent Auction tent, well, I caved. The CYO's there were the same price as in the warehouse so I couldn't see an issue with bypassing the warehouse system if I found one I liked at the Auction tent. Most of the dolls on my list were the Sonali mold with gray eyes. They happened to have one fitting that description in the Silent Auction selection. She is a light vinyl, Sonali mold with gray eyes and long straight brown hair. She came in the Let's Explore outfit with corresponding accessories. I've named her Tillie, after my great grandma. I lucked out and she even has the good quality eyes and body fabric. Shes also my first doll with gray eyes!

Meet Tillie!

After purchasing Tillie my mom and I ran her back to the car before heading to the line-up tent. I was excited to see that there were no dolls 'sold out' as of 8:15. By the time I went in last year Logan & Z were both sold out! The warehouse was much like it was last year- tables on either side as you enter with outfits on the left and historical dolls on the right. Historical dolls in large quantities like Addy & Melody were in the second half of the warehouse. Outfits I grabbed included the Double Bow Dress, current Basketball outfit (which I was surprised to see there!), four items from the Summer 2017 mix & match line, the 2017 Celebration Dress, and the TRU exclusive box set of the winter 2017 mix & match line. I purchased the mix & match box set for $20 which was the most expensive of the clothing items. Also seen were the Pomeranian PJs, Melody's PJs, Maryellen's School Dress, Samantha's Special Day Dress, two red holiday sets, and the holiday PJs from last Christmas. I know I'm missing items but that's all I can remember!

As for LE dolls I saw Grace (in limited numbers, which is why she didn't make the price list), Isabelle, Gabriela and Luciana. I did not see Lea this year. Z was also unavailable, but Tenney & Logan were both at the sale. Below you'll see photos of Isabelle still available on Sunday. I think it's safe to say she'll be around for next year. 

The whole pallet behind the volunteer was Isabelle too!

I bypassed the CYO table since I had already purchased Tillie and did not have the funds to pick up another. To the right of that table, along the back wall were the Costco Exclusive sets. Now I expected Kit to be there since she made the price list, but Molly? She was a huge surprise! I do not have a Costco membership so I missed out on Beforever Molly. Though she has my least favorite stories I love her time period. Outside of clothing items she was the very first item I shoved into my bag. Molly also had my favorite sign of the whole sale.

Molley, as in Trolley.

Next up were the tables of TM dolls. This year they were priced at $55 on Saturday. They took up the majority of the second half of the warehouse. I felt that there were more dolls this year than last. Could that be because of the permapanties and new eyes debacle? I sure was wondering about that. Still hanging around at 8:15 was Truly Me #80. I've had a name picked out for her since last summer so she was an easy YES. I also grabbed Truly Me #21 who was retired last year. She's a doll I've admired since I was a child. #80 is now named Georgia and #21 is Darcy. 

Saturday purchases.

Georgia!

Darcy! With pincurls!

 My final Saturday purchase was Addy! She was $30 (!!!) at the sale both days. I made the mistake of selling my Addy last year and have regretted it ever since. I'll be honest and say that I gave her the biggest hug once she was freed from her box at the hotel!

The weather during the Saturday sale was over 90 degrees with terrible humidity. The whole state was under a heat advisory and after being in that warehouse? I needed a shower and a nap. We spent most of Saturday afternoon recouping and managed to mostly sleep through the thunderstorm that hit around 3:00PM. Saturday evening I attended the meet-up hosted by ag_4allages on Instagram. Over 100 collectors young & old attended! Lots of shop owners attended too. I received items from Elite Doll World, Exquisite Doll Designz and Happy Threads Girl. Getting to meet so many of the other adult collectors (& friends!) I follow on IG is always one of my very favorite parts of this event.

2019 meet-up photo!

Alright, on to Sunday! We had ticket times for 7:30AM. This time was perfect because we had a chance at any remaining items from the day before. The Kit & Molly sets (though Molly sold out before 8:30), a good selection of the TMs,  and most of the outfits (minus the box set) were still available at our time. Sunday also had a selection of $20 nude Addy dolls who were not around on Saturday. I grabbed the second Molly book and newest Rebecca mystery as well as Truly Me #24 and #55. The Truly Me dolls were $40 on Sunday, the Costco sets $80 down from $100. Historical dolls outside of Addy & Melody remained at $85 A few of the vendors were around too which was a nice surprise for me. Someone had told me that no vendors would be at the Sunday sale. I picked up an adorable ruffled yellow polka dot dress from Janine's Creations on Etsy (thanks Neth for catching her name!) and several items from Ebony, The Glam Doll. 

Waiting to go in on Sunday morning!

Yellow dress by Janine's Creations and cat dress by The Glam Doll.

Just some further notes: I didn't pay much attention to the Wellie Wishers, Bitty Baby or Bitty Twins areas since I don't collect for them. I do know that Emerson was sold out before 8:30AM on Saturday. This year's sale also had way less big ticket items than the previous year.

My mom and I ended up checking out and heading home before noon on Sunday. The next day was a moving day for the both of us and we had a 4 hour drive home ahead. All in all I came home with SEVEN dolls which I'm still trying to wrap my head around. As I'm writing this I'm surrounded by my horde of TM girls and Tillie. 

My biggest regret from the sale is not being able to meet-up with Beth and Neth. The heat made it impossible to really wait around and the health of my friends is a #1 priority. I have no doubt that we'll make plans to get together next year if we're all able to make it. Hopefully somewhere with AC, haha. As I said earlier, Beth already has her MCM write-up posted and Neth is the one and only American Girl Outsider- both of their blogs are fantastic resources and I cannot recommend them enough. 

On my way out I did manage to catch sight of the sign announcing the dates for next year's MCM Benefit Sale. Mark your calendars for July 18th & 19th, 2020. I know I'm already planning on being there! Do you have plans to attend the Benefit Sale or have any questions about things I didn't cover from this year's sale? Let me know! 

Early Benefit Sale 2019 Prices & Limits!

Today we got some exciting news re: the 2019 American Girl Benefit Sale! In a Facebook Live video they showed off some of the items that will be available- and for the first time ever could release some early prices and limits for those items! Note that this does not include everything that will be available at the sale. There is so much more that will be there! These are just the items that they have lots of stock on and can let us know early about.

The administrator was calling this the "year of deep discounts" which I think is going to be fantastic for all of us AG lovers old & young.

Melody Doll- $30 with a limit of 10

Tenney Doll- $40 with a limit of 10

Gabriela Doll- $85 with a limit of 5

Isabelle Doll- $85 with a limit of 5

Addy Doll- $30 with a limit of 10 (!!!!)

CYO Doll- $120 with a limit of 5

Individual paperbacks- $2 each

BF book sets w/ mini doll- $5 each

Bitty baby sets- $50 with a limit of 5

Kit Costco set- $85 /limit unknown

Truly Me #25 Doll- $35 with a limit of 3

Wellie Wisher Dolls- $20 each /limit unknown

So far the two items to hit my list are Addy & Truly Me #25. I almost bought #25 when the MOA store closed but chose to get #61. And Addy? I sold her last year and have regretted it ever since. I'm going to give her a big hug once she's mine at the sale! 

So there we go- there's the update for now! I'm sure there will be more exciting news as the sale draws nearer. The sale is the weekend of July 20th-21st and takes place in Middleton, WI. Tickets for Saturday are now SOLD OUT but a limited number of free Sunday entry tickets will be available starting at 7:00AM on Sunday July 21st. Are you going to the Benefit Sale? Let me know! I'd love to meet up with other AG fans!

Preparing for Benefit Sale 2019 & Checking In

Before you say it, I know it's been a long time since I checked in here. I promise it's not because I've suddenly lost interest in my collection (it's the opposite, really)- I've just had a lot of major life stuff going on this past year. For those who don't follow my Instagram I lost my dad on December 27th, 2018. I was laid off of my job on Halloween 2018. I had to put my kitten, Helga, down in November 2018. I celebrated my first birthday without my dad, watched as his birthday and the birthdays of my mom and brother passed by. I've been struggling with a deep depression and all of this grief. I've been spotty online and in real life, but I'm here and I'm making my way back. 

Me & my dad on my parent's wedding day- March 20th, 1998.

This is old news by now but 2019 welcomed, as every year does, a new Girl of the Year! This year it's Blaire Wilson, a spirited redhead who is navigating a newly diagnosed dairy intolerance and enjoys helping out around her family's bed & breakfast. Her collection is a great combination of adorable farm animals (that pig!) and outfits that go from working in the garden to attending a wedding as a junior bridesmaid. She's even got her family farm restaurant filling the role as her big ticket item. All of these qualities point to her being a home run for AG, but that will remain to be seen until the quarterly reports come in. For me? She was a must. My mom and I attended her launch day at the Mall of America store knowing nothing about Blaire besides the images and blurbs from her books. What we discovered was that she shares more than few qualities with my dad. With that in mind my mom purchased Blaire for me in memory of him. Needless to say she is treasured around here, which brings me to my next topic...

Blaire's debut photo.

Eye exchanges. Remember American Girl's torso exchange last year after the permapanty uproar? AG's done it again, this time in the form of replacing their standard eyes for a cheaper version. These 'new eyes' debuted in 2017 with the release of Nanea Mitchell and lasted through the release of Blaire. This means that every doll produced during that time period has a chance of sporting those new eyes. How do you spot them? The new eyes have a brighter white, white posts that are sometimes visible if you gently push the eye to the side, often give the doll a downward gaze and have a slight ridge where the pupil begins. Like the torso exchange, American Girl is offering a free eye replacement through the end of this year. You can either drop off your dolls in store for the exchange or print off the form from AG's website and mail them in.

I'm going to be honest here- the eyes bothered me, but not enough initially to send in my dolls. I was nervous to send mine in, especially Blaire. What if they came back with wonky expressions? What about all of those rants from collectors who received dolls that were damaged?  I spent a good couple of months debating whether or not to do the exchange, that is, until the imminent closing of the Mall of America location forced my hand. Well, forced it because I wanted to drop off the dolls in store to avoid paying shipping fees. On March 20th I dropped off 4 dolls for the exchange: Nanea, Luciana, Blaire and Nancy (Truly Me #78). They returned home 8 days later on March 28th. I was really pleased by the quick turn around and even happier with the results. While all 4 dolls were a little disheveled from their travels, their new eyes were beautiful- so much so that it completely changed my bond with Nanea. None of them had weird shine marks, ruined wigs, ripped vinyl or any of the other complaints thrown at AG by some collectors. If you're on the fence about sending your dolls in for this procedure I would highly recommend it.

Nanea before the eye exchange.

Nanea after the eye exchange.

As I mentioned American Girl made the decision to not renew the lease for the Mall of America location. This means that the Chicago store is now the nearest AGP location for me. I'll admit it, losing the store was another big loss for me. It was one of my safe places, somewhere I could go and get away from all of my thoughts and worries. I'll miss being able to see new releases in person and chatting with the incredibly friendly staff. Thankfully I still live close enough to Middleton to make the drive out for the annual benefit sale and will be attending this year with my mom. We will be attending both days of the sale and are staying in town for the event. If you'll be there drop me a message on Instagram! I would be thrilled to meet more collectors. 

Jude- Truly Me #61 and my last purchase from AGP Mall of America.

I plan on writing a post about my second year attending the sale so keep an eye out for that! Until then I'll be working on a lot of housekeeping here- my Meet My Dolls page is sorely out of date and I will be slowly adding pictures and blurbs for each of my girls. In the meantime I'm hoping to write a blog post or two to introduce the girls who joined my collection over the last 10 months. Thanks again for sticking around during this long absence. I hope all of you are doing well and are having a fantastic start to your summers!

MCM 2018 - My first benefit sale!

Here I am, six months later! Things have been hectic and time for blogging has been at an all-time low. I'm beyond excited to be back, especially considering the topic of today's post! While I bought my MCM tickets the very first day they were available I didn't know if I'd be able to go or not until the night before the event. 

I swear my heart leaped seeing this sign! It's been a dream of mine to attend this event.

For those who don't know, American Girl donates returns and overstock to the Madison Children's Museum every year. These items are sold at the Annual American Girl Benefit Sale hosted in Middleton, WI. All proceeds go to support the work of the Madison Children's Museum and American Girl's Fund for Children. It's a fantastic way to purchase dolls, outfits, accessories, and books for a low cost!

This year was the 31st year of the sale!

I am from Minneapolis so the drive was exactly 4 hours for me. My entry time was at 10:45AM so I left home at 6:45- I was lucky to arrive just in time for my time slot! I spent the night before watching and reading any sale experiences posted online so I had a good idea what to expect. This year entry times also had assigned groups which allowed the process to go smoother, at least from comparing it to accounts from previous years. My group was let into the warehouse at exactly 11:00AM, so they were only running 15 minutes behind schedule! There was a sign going into the warehouse that listed all character dolls and if any were sold out. When I went in only Z and Logan were sold out.

Z and Logan were sold out. Luckily I wasn't looking to buy any named dolls this year!

I was amazed at the sheer amount of merchandise available and definitely was overwhelmed for the first 15 or so minutes just taking it all in. One of the things I liked best is that you could easily lift the dolls out of their boxes to inspect their limbs, faces, wig, and eyes. I enjoyed listening to the conversations around me- hearing people examining and talking about permapanties in person definitely made me laugh!

Nanea!

I went in knowing I wanted Melody's Bed and Bedroom Accessories (because at $45 together that was a steal!). Melody had the biggest presence at the sale. She was available for $60 at a limit of 10 on Saturday. You could also buy her Bed for $35, Bedroom Accessories for $10, Fancy Coat for $18, and Pajamas for $12. On Sunday she was available at an unlimited limit for $30, her Bed for $20, and Bedroom Accessories for $5. Most of her dolls were brand new in box and the fact that so much of her collection was available has me worried about how Melody is doing overall.

The front end of the warehouse had the Beforever dolls, furniture, outfits, books, mini dolls, accessories, and Wellie Wishers. The back end was where the Truly Me dolls, Girls of the Year, voucher table, Bitty Babies, Bitty Twins and check out area were located.

I also went to the sale knowing I wanted to pick up one Truly Me doll to bring home. While I debated between a few different girls, I ended up going home with Truly Me #42. She came in the lavender Truly Me meet outfit with pierced ears. I was lucky to find the vest and tulle skirt from the matching meet accessories in a ziploc bag for $12! It was the only set I saw so I snatched it up. All of my girls need to come home with pajamas so I also picked up the Purple Peacock PJ's for $10. I missed out on the Spring Breeze Dress when it was in stores and was happy to find it at the sale for $18. #42 has settled in nicely at home and has officially been named Margot!

Margot grabbing some McDonald's for lunch with me.

Melody was the happiest when she saw what I brought home!

Outside of the warehouse were lots of vendors. There were quite a few selling outfits and furniture for 18" dolls. My favorite was a booth that was selling food and drinks! I was a huge fan of the Unicorn Frappucino from Starbucks and when I saw they were selling ones for dolls I knew Margot would need one. There was also some vendors 'for adults' such as Lularoe, Tupperware and Young Living. There was also a silent auction tent that had some amazing retired sets. I didn't have a ton of money for this year so I didn't bid on anything.

I did take advantage of the Dolly Day Care service offered at the sale when I went back in for a second time. I dropped off Margot and was given a loom bracelet to wear that matched one they put on her. When I picked her up they matched our bracelets which is how they knew she was mine. It was a free service and I loved seeing how they set her up on a chaise lounge with headphones on while I shopped. She certainly had a relaxing time!

Yes, Margot insisted on being cozy for the drive home!

I was lucky to meet a ton of other collectors in the community. I met up with Beth of DollTraume (also known as IGSBeth on AGC! She has some fantastic posts up about her MCM experiences) and historic_ag_dolls from Instagram. There was also an AGIG meet-up hosted at 3PM on Saturday where I met up with Sew4Dolls and OnceUponAnAmericanGirl. Everyone was so nice and it truly was amazing meeting up with so many people I knew from online in person. This was by far the best part of this experience.

Look at all of the AGIGers!

Some weird highlights I saw- entire extended families going in and buying up to the limits available and leaving in a rented U-Haul with all of their merchandise! I later found out that this was a family of resellers. Another sight? A van parked about a block away from the sale that had black and white stock photos of dolls taped to the side. It looked like an ice cream truck where you went up and just pointed to the doll you wanted to buy. I didn't get too close but I'm guessing they had a stock of retired dolls that they were trying to sell.

Here I am with Sew4Dolls and her Tesla and historic_ag_dolls!

Gosh, I'm sure I missed a ton of details! Overall this was an absolutely incredible experience. The drive was beautiful too so I know for a fact I'll be making a return trip next year. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments. I'll be more than happy to do my best to answer them!

-Shannon

Review: Luciana's Maker Station

Happy 2018! It's been a minute since I posted, but I'm here today with an exciting post. The start of every new year brings a new Girl of the Year. This year it's Luciana Vega, an 11 year old Chilean American who has a passion for space and wants to be the first girl on Mars! I am thrilled to see another DOC as well as AG expanding their sights to include girls interested in science. Luciana gives me major feels- as a child I loved science, especially involving space and dinosaurs. Needless to say she came home with me on the 1st along with a good chunk of her collection. I've got so many things to review; new moddie stuff, LIZARDS, and Luciana's first book! Today I'll be looking at her Maker Space set which retails for $100.00. Sending out a major thanks to my incredible grandparents who surprised me with this as an early birthday gift. 

Luciana!

Luciana uses her station to design and build an inventive robot for a robotics competition. Incudes tools of the trade such as:

A robotic arm that can pick things up
A workbench for tinkering with two shelves and two bins
A poster, photo, and two clips to hold them
A measuring tape, screwdriver, and set of screws for building
A pair of safety goggles and apron
Three graph papers and three papers for ideas and sketching
A solar system model of the planets
A pretend terrarium for plants
A sticker sheet for decorating
Two MEGA CONSTRUX™ construction sets for a satellite and a rover, plus a MEGA CONSTRUX™ playbook!
Batteries included.

I purchased Luciana's Maker Station on January 1st 2018 at her launch event. The MOA location only had it displayed behind plexi-glass so I was pleasantly surprised by some of its features when I got home and unboxed it. The station itself is very easy to assemble and comes in two pieces. You click the backboard into place on the main frame and it's ready to go! One thing I love about this set is that the set-up of the desk is fairly customizable. You can choose where you want to place the little shelves and clips on the backboard and it can easily be changed. The robotic arm comes attached to the desk and rotates, bends, and grips. It's very realistic and you could easily position pieces in the clamp to make it look like Luciana is building. Under the the surface of the desk is storage space! While you cannot fit all of the MEGA CONSTRUX pieces in there it does hold all of the other accessories nicely. The desk comes with a measuring tape that actually pulls out (Like WW Kendall's), a screwdriver featuring a clip so Luciana can hold it, and a clump of screws that can be placed in the grip of the arm or one of the bins. 

The safety goggles are clear blue plastic with grey elastic and fit easily over Luciana's face. The apron is white and printed with a purple orbit graphic. It velcros at the waist and neck and has two good utility pockets. The graph papers are merely single sheets of plain graph paper, the other three papers are lists and blueprints 'drawn' by Luciana. The sheet of included stickers all feature STEM and Luciana themes. I did not and do not plan on using any of these but they are a cute way to further decorate her desk. 

The underside of the top shelf has two LED lights that can be powered up by pressing a button on the top side of the shelf. The light stays on for around 60-ish seconds and lights up the work space well. To decorate the shelf are a solar system model made of silver, red, yellow, and blue plastic with rings that really spin and a pretend terraium. These items are made of a heavy plastic and function well. I was impressed at how easily the solar system model spins.

Lastly the set includes two MEGA CONSTRUX projects. The pieces come in several bags and included is a booklet that takes you step by step through each build. The satellite and rover are great projects to tie in with Luciana and it's easy to pretend that they were items she built at space camp. Each finished project took around a half hour to construct and the directions were very easy to follow. The rover rolls and has a adjustable clamp.

Overall this set is made of heavy plastic and from my impressions will last under heavy play. The variety of features, included items, and the collaboration with MEGA CONSTRUX (and the fact that in the AG app you can unlock more projects to build with them) makes this a set that I think is not only worth the $100 price tag but presents a multitude of ways it can be played with or displayed. Overall grade A+.

Review: Kit's Mini Golf Outfit

Kit’s pastel golf outfit was made for hitting the green in style! The drop-waist dress features contrast cuffs, a fashionable Peter Pan collar, and skirt with button and ribbon details, as well as Kit's embroidered initials: MMK. Her matching argyle socks, two-tone shoes, and knit hat with a ribbon flower add the perfect finishing touches to the outfit. $34

Bring Kit to work day.

I bought this outfit during the Beforever sale where it was buy one item, get a second at 50% off. I got this outfit for $17.00. 

Starting with the dress itself- right off the bat I can say that it's made with a thinner fabric. While the white bodice isn't see through, the fabric is very prone to getting wrinkled. I would recommend storing this dress where it can be laid out flat. The design of the dress is very cute, and fairly accurate as seen from the 1924 pattern it's based off of. The initials are embroidered on the dress in a powder blue that matches the buttons and grosgrain ribbon details. The sleeve cuff, skirt and collar are all a bright orange fabric with a pattern of alternating dark orange and light orange strips. The sleeve cuffs were a little tight on my Kit. The dress bodice is roomy and fit her just fine.

Here's the real life pattern!

The socks are knit orange, blue, and white argyle. They are thick and are knee high length. They're very cute and one of my favorite parts of this outfit.

The shoes are white faux patent with black soles and a black faux patent ankle strap. The ankle strap opens at the front and is secured by a black cotton tie that can be tied in a bow. These shoes seem like they'll last up well to play. My only concern is that the black tie is not sewn to the shoes and can be pulled out. I see these getting easily lost. 

The hat is an bright orange knit cloche hat. It fits my Kit perfectly, coming down to rest just above her eyebrows. There is a knit bow detail on the right side of the hat that features a powder blue flower with an orange button center. The knit of this hat is thick. 

Overall, I am very pleased with this outfit. It has several pieces and is very cute. The colors, while very bright, look adorable on Kit. It's an outfit I can imagine her playing mini golf in, or just playing in in general. I'm happy that the monogram is embroidered rather than a decal. I would highly recommend this outfit on a sale. At full price I think it's a bit expensively priced for the thin material of the dress.

A Work in Progress

Today is the newest release from American Girl, including our 1940's Hawaiian Historical Nanea Mitchell! I was thrilled to be offered the chance to preorder her through the AG Rewards program and received her nearly two weeks ago with a starter collection. Briefly I can say that I am in love with the doll and have enjoyed her stories so much! I'm excited to add more to her collection.

As you can see, Nanea is already spoiled! Here she is wearing a gorgeous outfit from MySewYouCreations on etsy.

The release also hit it out of the park for Beforever which means my wish list is a mile long and my wallet is a dollar short. I'll be adding several of the new items to my collection in the future (as well as some retired items, one of which I'm thrilled to share with you!)

Today's post is a short one though because it's a quick update. I've had some exciting happenings in my life that will change my blogging schedule and my collection. My wife and I have bought a house! We're closing next Thursday so I'm going to be a bundle of nerves until we have the keys in our hands. One of the most exciting things about this is that I will have my own doll room! I'll be able to get creative and maintain permanent displays for my historicals and Lea's Rainforest Hut. So over the next month it'll probably be a little quiet here until we get moved and settled in!

I've also gone ahead and started to weed through my collection. I've listed #54, #26, #69, #49, and Julie all for sale, along with several outfits. I haven't bonded with Julie and as silly as this may sound, I have discovered that I prefer owning dolls who come with a written story. With this in mind I'm selling my moddies and keeping only my GOTY's (and possibly Tenney- TBD) as my modern dolls. This will bring my collection down to 14/15 dolls, which is still a lot, but more manageable for me. I want to really focus now less on adding dolls and more on building up collections with the idea of having a doll house kind of set-up. I'm very excited for these changes and cannot wait to share the developments.

Hope you all have had a fantastic summer and enjoy the new release!