Three More Added- Luciana, Joss, and Gabriela

     For several years now I had slowed down on American Girl collecting. There are many factors as to why it slowed including space, time, and financial. I still don't have the space and my time is even more sparse with gaining two brothers in December and having my cousins on the weekend, but maybe that is why I am finding myself enjoying the little bit of American Girl time even more. Financially I have now paid off college and am debt free so I have a little extra spending money then before. 

    With the release of the 35th Anniversary American Girl Collection I am REALLY going to have no space. I want all 6 of the dolls that were re-released but if I have to choose only a couple to get here is the order I would get them in: Molly, Josefina, Felicity, Samantha, Addy, and then Kirsten. I cut my Molly's hair when my mom was gone running an errand when I was 10 years old. I wanted her to have a bob, so it would be easier to take care of. I have wanted to send her to the hospital, but also did not want to give up her head because it was a memory. With this release I could have both. Growing up my friend has Josefina, but she is one of the dolls I don't currently have and the only one I don't have from this group of 6. The Felicity that I have has a different meet outfit, so I would want the original. Samantha has and will be always close to my heart since she was my first American Girl doll that I received for Christmas in 2001. Back in January I bought a Beforever Samantha second hand, but she did not come in her meet outfit. Samantha is the second character for me to have doubles of, the other one is Kit. My Kirsten has a cool story behind her and she looks the same as the 35th anniversary one which is why she is last on my last. I am hoping to take advantage of the promotion AG sent out yesterday, Spend $150+ and get $20 rewards to spend in June. I currently have $20 rewards for May and I already know I have $50 coming in June. I did not receive my points from the huge purchase in March, so I called AG customer service and they added it to my account, but the rewards will be given in June. If I save the $20 from May and add it to the $70 ($50 from previous purchase and $20 from promotion) then that would be over half off another doll. 

    With my birthday coming up I have treated myself to some dolls that were missing from my GOTY collection: Luciana, Joss, and Gabriela. Luciana and Joss were a spur of the moment decision because when I went to the American Girl Dallas they did not have her and I was not sure when they were going to stop selling her online. They also had the AG apron for adults on sale and had to get it and the matching one for the doll and girl. Joss is cute and rewards members could save when getting a couple of her items so I bought those and her jumper outfit. It took longer than I expected for it to process and ship, but I'm so relieved to now have them. I purchased the day before Earth Day and of course they ended up doing a promotion on the next day for a free Kira bag. Later that week AG did a promotion if you bought a doll then you could get 1/2 off an outfit. I was even more disappointed that I missed that one. I guess that is why I really want to take advantage of the current promotion that ends Sunday. Overall, I am glad to have them but sadly have not had a chance to do more than confirm that everything was in the box. 

    A lot of people have problems spending time on social media and that has never really been me, but with getting back into American Girl and joining some Facebook groups about American Girl, it has gotten me into some trouble! Last weekend I ended up buying a Gabriela McBride from someone on a Facebook group that was NIB. Besides Kira and Lindsey, she was the only one I was missing. I spent a little more than if I had bought her new from AG and had to pay shipping, but now I have her. I really wanted a NIB because it is really hard to tell online the condition that some of these dolls are in. I felt like the longer I waited the harder it would be to find one NIB. She was delivered today which ended the week off on a good note! I was in a rush, and I did not even take a picture of her. I have been looking for some of her collection, but I don't want to spend more than original retail. 

    I have been putting together a list of all the American Girl dolls I have and as of right now it is 36 and 1 Bitty Baby

A new addition- Brunette Bitty Twin

     

    Today, I purchased a brunette Bitty Twin from Facebook and luckily she lived 40 minutes away, so I was able to pick her up today! She is my first American Girl doll from the Bitty Baby collection. I have aways wanted one, but since I got my first American Girl doll at 8 years old I already felt too old for them.  Later, there was never a good time because I was busy getting GOTY and Historical dolls.

    She is in really good condition to me and based on a little research I did she would have been sold anytime between 2013 and 2016 based on the dress she came in. She did not come with shoes. Her hair is in not dry or tangly. The lady was also selling an Isabelle doll, so I have a feeling her daughter was not interested in the Bitty Baby for long before moving on to the 18 in American Girls. 

    I have seen several blonde Bitty Twins for resell but they were double the price, so I held out and glad I did. I would love to find a boy Bitty Twin to go with her and a couple outfits. 

Girls Day- Addition of Blaire

     Yesterday we got to spend most of the day without kids! That is a huge deal after gaining two siblings in December and having cousins spend 90% of weekends at your house for over a year. We started the day with brunch at The Maple Leaf before heading to the Galleria. 

    The main reason for the day was to celebrate my mom’s friend, Courtney. She had mentioned that she wanted to get the Courtney American Girl doll when she debut, but my mom honestly did not think she wanted her after a couple months went by. Her birthday was during the crazy ice storm we had in Texas so we were not able to do anything in February. 

    I helped her pick out the perfect Courtney doll and the she/we picked out some accessories from her collection. After we had picked everything out my mom surprised me with picking any American Girl doll out. I chose Blaire. She has been on my radar, but I have not had a reason to get a new doll after getting Logan and Tenney for Christmas which was a lot. They only had Blaire's Party Decor and Blaire's Restaurant Accessories besides the doll and tote, so she let me get those too. I was so excited. It reminded me of my younger days. 

    We had two ladies that really helped us while shopping who were so sweet! My mom ended up buying my sister the Wellie Wisher's Jeep and both packages of socks (for the rain boots). Maddie loved the Hopscotch Hill dolls when she was little and she has still kept them under her bed. We also picked up two games of American Girl Uno (on to play and one to collect). Both of my sisters were on a mission for a while to find all the food in the Mini Mystery Pack: Snacks. I don't remember how many we bought but it was more than we planned on purchasing. 

Back into the AG World

 It has been a long time that I have been away from the world of American Girl, but now that my cousin is 6 and has been spending Friday-Monday with my family for the past year we are diving back in. She has had an American Girl at her house for a little over 6 months and she had shown interest in my dolls since she started  staying over October 2019. Before investing in AG for her we wanted to make sure she could be responsible and would keep interest in them long enough to make it worth it. 

This Christmas we planned on getting her 1 doll (used) but she ended up getting 2! My sister was able to find a Logan doll at TJMAXX with no price tag and the manager gave it to her for $19.99. In November, I was at Once Upon A Child and they had Tenney for $40. She came in a Truly Me outfit but Brielle would not care what she came in. Her hair was in pretty good shape compared to some of the dolls we find at those stores. We also bought a bunch of accessories both AG and not. The big items she got were the skateboard ramp set and gymnastics set. The gymnastics set was used but the skateboard set was new from TJMAXX and it was marked down from $69 to $30! (I got one for Christmas this year but they paid full price.) my sister also found a cat and book set at TJMAXX that she bought for both of us. 

This weekend we went a little AG crazy and bought her several items to keep hidden till a holiday or earning it for good behavior. We found the AG Xbox set for $18, AG snowboard with jacket and boots for $15, Isabell doll for $25, sleeping bag and skateboard for $5, and hula hoop for $1.50. We bought and gave her this weekend the Walmart play set which came with a shopping cart, basket, reusable bag, employee vest, produce scale, and shelf. We liked that William (our foster brother) would enjoying playing with it too. Since she likes to be tucked in at night, we bought some more recent release books to read to her slowly each night. She picked Tenney first, so Chapter 1 was read tonight. I forgot how long it takes for me to read out loud versus to myself. 

I splurged too and bought a BeForever Samantha $35, Marie-Grace $35, Kaylie’s surf set $20, and Emily’s PJ’s $6.50 (I cant remember if I have them). Also, I got a Wellie Wisher outfit, but we don’t have one yet but it was only $3.50 and we are wanting to get our younger cousin one soon. Marie-Grace is going to need to go to the doll hospital, but because you can’t buy her anymore I thought that it was a pretty good deal.

American Girl has been a hard one to leave behind, but I like that I can share my love for the brand with my little cousin. 

The new NYC American Girl

This is my second time to New York this year. In February, an employee in the Bitty Baby section let us know that they would be opening a new American Girl and closing the one we were at in the fall. She said it was suppose to open October so my sister and I wanted to attend the opening for a birthday trip but timing was not good and it ended up opening in November. When I found out I would be spending Christmas in New York I was excited to visit the new store!

While we have been in New York for a couple days now, today we finally made our way inside the store. There are many things I like about the new store but I'm not a fan of some of the rebranding the company has done. The repackaging of some of the items have been going on for a while but it gives the look of generic 18" dolls. For the company it is a better deal since they are now selling at other retailers.

The location is close to the old store but in a great location to Rockefeller Center. The outside is more subtle than the other location that on our first night we almost walked by with out recognizing it. The first floor has the TruelyMe dolls, Create Your Own, Legos, and Salon. The lower floor has the Cafe, Wellie Wishers, Bitty Baby, and the BeForever collections. I was excited to see the Christmas tree but sadly it is much smaller than that in Dallas. It made for good pictures and was decorated well. The decorations around the store were pretty. Square wreaths were placed throughout the store and other tensil and ornaments arrangements were in nooks and on columns.

The huge AG on the wall you the escalators  was neat. It reminded me of the old school American Girl.

My mom and sisters surprised me with lunch today at 12:45pm. They were able to put us a one table with was nice because the only reservation they could get was for two sépare tables. Since I did not have any of my dolls I borrowed one because you can't eat at the Cafe without one! We made sure Flat Stanley had a seat as well. It was nice that there is not seat seating times like at the old location and they have changed the decorating design. The new design is flowery but not cheesy. It stays true to the classic American Girl look without changing too much.

Deciding what I want to get will be hard!

California

It is crazy that it's already almost March! Spring Break is in a week and for the last half of Spring Break some of my family and I are going to California. We will be landing in LAX and be gone for about four and a half days. One of those days we will be visiting American Girl! I am pretty excited about getting to visit the store since the last time I went to a different store was when I went to the American Girl store in Colorado. I am planning on getting Lea while there but who knows what I'll actually end up getting.

Long time, no post

Wow! I have not been on blogger in over a year and have not posted for over a year and a half. There has not been a reason other than being busy and computer problems. For graduation I got a MacBook Pro from my dad because my Dell was unreliable. I am very happy with my new computer and glad I was able to upgrade.

As far as American Girl goes I have not been to the store since New Year's Day. I know it's pretty crazy to think its been that long. This past fall my sister, brother, and mother went to LA and visited American Girl for me since I was not able to go. They brought me back my dolls a shirt and capri pants plus flip flops, an ornament, and Grace's spatula for me. Since they spent over $50 they also got the Santa's helper outfit.

New Years Day- Grace

 I love that she came with a charm bracelet.

New game

Today while at Half Price Books my mom saw an American Girl game from a while back. I had wanted it back then but never got it, so I was pretty excited for the find. It the historical character trivia game. Hopefully it won't be too hard to understand and while resting this week from getting my wisdom teeth out I can find a sibbling to play with me. 

Also a couple of weeks ago my sister babysat a three year old, and in the morning the little girl decided to play with my dolls. She ended up changing Isabelle's shoes and putting my sisters glasses on Molly. Luckily nothing more happened!

Isabelle movie and wisdom teeth

This morning I got my wisdom teeth out. Luckily I did not say anything crazy afterwards like the boy who recovered next to me! He kept saying that he wanted music and started talking about grease and how he works at Whataburger. So today I have kept on the couch in the living room alternating between watching tv and sleeping. My mom went to walmart and picked up Isabelle Dances into the Spotlight and we watched it while my moms daycare kids were being picked up for the day. The little girls really loved it. Even my sister in high school kept watching it even when the kids had left and she was suppose to be getting ready to head out to dinner. 

Samantha has been with me today. I held her the whole time I was under and while I have been on the couch. The tech was telling us about her sister's daughter having one since her friends did and that they got her ears pierced. After that I got the IV and went to sleep.

Old Pictures

Today while looking for pictures to put in some disney frames I made I came across some old pictures! It's always fun to look back and see how much things have changed! The first picture is from when my family went to Disney World in 2002. That was back when I only had one American Girl! I took Samantha everywhere except when we went to the Blizzard Beach. The second is from around 2006ish. I kept the shelf like that for awhile because I really liked it. The last picture is from 2005 when I shared a room with both my sisters.

Laurence Yep

Today at 11 Laurence Yep was at American Girl Dallas. I was excited to meet him because not only did he write Isabelle's books but also Mia's (GOTY 2008). 

I asked if he danced but he said no and that he is not really good at it. His wife likes ballet and they have a friend who reviews performing arts for a magazine.

Regarding the movie he said that when he wrote the books Isabelle is 10 years old so she is not old enough to be en pointe but in the movie he thinks she is. 

American Girl only approved a 2 book series for Isabelle at first but he had outlined for 3. With that in mind he made sure to put The Nutcracker in the second book so that it would be in it. 

When he was signing Mia's books I asked if he liked to skate but he said the one time he did got skating he almost hurt his ankle. 

Pictures From My Birthday

My computer has had a virus for the past couple weeks since I have been home, so I have not been able to get on it. I think I think I was able to fix it! With that said I realized I never posted pictures from my birthday.

 Later the week of my birthday my dad took my shopping. I went to American Girl and got a lot of stuff and then went to Best Buy to get a Life Proof case for my iPad. I ended up getting Isabelle, her metallic dress, her dance barre and case, her accessories, pretty pink coat set, the happy birthday outfit, and the store exclusive shirt and hat set with a purchase of $50 or more. We tried to eat at the bistro but they closed at 5:30 so we were not able too, and then the following Wednesday my grandmother and I tried to go but the bistro was closed for the whole day for some reason.

I have not even put on some of the outfits I got or taken the ballet barre out of the box yet because the room I share with my sister is a disaster! Between all the stuff we have brought home from college there is no room in our room... I avoid it at all cost!

McDonald's Toy #4

Tonight while babysitting a little boy he had a happy meal for dinner and got a girl toy so he gave it to me. He was so sweet about it! The toy is like a paper doll of Isabelle and to keep the clothes on you have to use ribbon. She comes with two outfits and is wearing a leotard. 

American Girl toys at McDonald's

I stopped at McDonald's this morning to get a drink and was excited to see that they now have the American Girl toys! More stops to McDonalds in the next couple of weeks will sure happen. 

Update

Wow! I did not realize that it has been so long since I last posted on here! Part of the reason is I always forget my password to long in, but also this year has been really busy with school and family stuff. My mom is in the process of opening a daycare center which I have been helping her with. This semester I started taking some business classes which required work different from what my Liberal Arts classes required, so instead of a lot of reading and writing we did a lot of group work, projects, and homework. I am glad I decided to take these courses because they have already been an asset to my everyday life... which is what you want out of going to college. I currently am taking a break from writing my final paper that is due today for my last exam of the semester.

My last post was about my dog, Molly, being sick and I am glad to say that she is doing well. We put her on some differnet dog food once she started to eat again and she started to gain her weight back. She spent part of the semester with me at my apartment back at school and she did a lot of sleeping on the couch with not a care in the world... until my roommate would let her puppy out and then Molly ran for cover.

In honor of Mother's Day being yesterday, here is a picture from Disney World in 2002 when my mom took my siblings and I be herself on a road trip to Florida. She has done so much for me and has put up with all my phases in life and the ones that she thought were phases but have yet to go away (American Girl, Disney, and the Wizard of Oz)! The doll I am holding in the picture is Samantha. This was when she was my only American Girl doll! This picture was from over the summer and for that Christmas (Dec 2002) I would get Molly for my second doll which would start the trend of getting a new doll every year for Christmas till the tradition broke this past Christmas.

Also its my birthday today! Tonight family and friends will come over for dinner and then tomorrow my sisters and I are going to a concert. Last year we went to the Taylor Swift concert for my birthday, so we decided that it should become a tradition to go for my birthday now on!

In the realm of American Girl I don't think I have anything to update about my collection since Christmas. Instead of getting Isabelle in January I opted for getting an Ipad. I find it sad to say that it was a hard decision, but one I am glad I made because my Ipad has been handy for school to take notes on and read the articles for class plus I love to read eBooks on it as well.

I should probably get back to writing my paper but since it will officially be summer break after 5pm (when I have to mail my paper off) I should have a lot more time to post. 

Happy New Year!

This year is starting out different then planned. My dog Molly started losing a lot of hair last Friday night it got worse by Saturday afternoon so we had to take her to the emergency vet. They said it was just allergies and gave her some medicine and shaved around the spots that had lost hair and were now scabed over. We were still worried about her because she still was not eating and was throwing up constantly the rest of Saturday and all Sunday so Monday morning we took her the our usual vet and after a blood test they found she had damage in her liver. She had to stay the night and get and IV she would of stayed longer but because the holiday no one was going to be there Wednesday so we picked her up on Tuesday. She is doing a lot better now and had her first bite Tuesday night.  We are going to see if we can get her completely shaved because we have now found some more sores on her body and it's easier to put the medicine on them if we can see them. 

With that said financially it has cost a whole lot to get her better... almost $1,000. So I was not able to get my doll yesterday, but hopefully sometime soon I will be able to get her. My cousin is coming into town and we might go to American Girl and look at Isabelle's collection and the new products.

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas has been great! Santa got  everyone what they wanted including an Xbox One, snowboard, four of us got TVs, and cowboy boots for two sibblings (some of the bigger gifts)! Plus I got to open the second present of the morning and I was a note to be able to get the GOTY 2014!!! This year I did not think I was going to be able to get one, so it was a nice surprise (going up has it's down side sometime) I also go some disney stuff and decor for my apartment which I was really wanting. Even though Christmas is not about the presents it is still a fun part! It was also nice that this year was really relaxed. We did not have to dress up for dinner which was a change from the usual. I can't wait till next week... Mom and I will have a mother daughter date that we have each year! 

Once Upon A Child

Today I went shopping for my families daycare at Once Upon A Child for toys and while looking for baby rattles I found a bag with some American Girl items! It looks like it all came from a goodies bag from the bistro or cafe because of the ballon (I already have one in purple) and the T-shirt (I have the same one in pink). It was originally $6.50 but with 20% off, I got it for $5.20. I was happy I found it! 

Colorado here we come!

This week my family is taking my sister to college, so we are driving to Colorado to take her to CCU! Saige has come along with me for the ride. We might got to the American Girl Store. Maddie made sure for me to slide her in the seatbelt since it was already buckled around her tv.

Below is Saige when we were heading into the hotel... A minute later she made a face plant to the gravel once we started to push it. As far as I could see she has no scratches from the fall!