A letter from Lissie and Lizzie

Most of the dolls here at Mondale aren't particularly thrilled that Felicity and Elizabeth are coming. I guess we're just jealous. It's this way anytime a new doll comes. Everyone, except maybe a few, give them the cold shoulder. After a while everyone forgets and just moves on. I'm not sure if it's going to be that simple this time.

All of the Girl of the Year dolls here are really upset that 2 full blown historical dolls, just about as historical as you can get, are coming to live here. Those LE girls really don't like historic dolls, and would be much happier with Chrissa, Gwen, or even a modern Just Like You coming instead.
I overheard Jess and Nicki talking, and I'm pretty sure they're planning pranks and are going to try to get Felicity and Elizabeth to leave.
They've given them the pet name of "Lissie and Lizzie", which they all say in a snobby British accent. Lissie and Lizzie will probably find it most annoying when they get here when everyone goes around calling them that. Wait a minute: "Find it most annoying..." I'm starting to talk like them! :O
I'm not sure if all the GOTY's feel the same way though. But if one of them doesn't like the new girls, they all don't like the new girls. Maybe they think that they're in an elite club, and I guess they stick together and are true to each other that way or something...

Then, even the historical dolls here aren't excited that they're coming! That's just weird. You'd think that they would want them to come, so that historicals can finally dominate, I mean "out number", the modern girls. But no, most really don't want Felicity and Elizabeth here, or don't care either way.

There's 3 groups currently at Mondale:

1. Anti Lissie and Lizzie
2. Don't care either way and not getting involved
   
3. Support Lissie and Lizzie

A few of us, like Nellie, Sierra, Ruthie, Emily, and I are intent on making them feel welcome.

Anyways, we received a letter from them today:

Dearest new friends,
We have started the long journey and we cannot wait to see you all! When we first started out, we were in a large, dark warehouse. 'Twas very frightening! Then, we were taken out, and underwent processing at someplace called "QVC". Then they packaged us up and sent us on our merry way. 'Tis quite cramped and stuffy in our boxes, but it will do for now.
We thought that we should tell you some things about us. Our names are Felicity Anne Merriman and Elizabeth Grace Cole. We come from the year 1774, the time of the American Revolution, and we lived in colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. We come from 2 different beliefs. Felicity is a patriot, who believes that America should become an independent nation, and Elizabeth is a loyalist, who is loyal to the king of England. Even though our families don't always agree, we are still best friends.
Felicity will tell you about herself:
I am very fun and spirited. I don't particularly like the things that girls were expected to do in the late 1700's, like cooking, sewing, and cleaning. I'd rather be outside running around without shoes or stockings or riding horses. 'Tisn't proper, but it is very fun!
Here's somethings about Elizabeth:
I am more refined than Felicity. My family sailed on a boat from England to America. I am shy, but very sweet. I love my dresses and like to sew. I'm really the opposite of Felicity, but we're best friends.
We hope that you learned something about us. We're very anxious to see you! We're excited to be coming to live with you in this foreign land you call "Michigan"!
See you soon, best wishes,
-Felicity Merriman
and
-Elizabeth Cole

This should be interesting. I wonder how everything will work out once they arrive...

~Avery~

Vacation-again.

Sorry for not posting for a few days now. Really, nothing eventful has happened. Brooke has been crazy busy, but us dolls haven't done hardly anything.

Brooke will most likely end up going on another trip, only this time it's for 8 days. :O It's not set in stone yet, but she'll probably be going away, again. I don't know if she will have access to a computer at the hotel or not, maybe if we're lucky she might!

As far as scheduled posts go, I'm not sure if I'm going to make them or not. The last time I went through all the work to do them, the highest number of comments was 2. Maybe there will just be a hiatus for a week when Brooke and I will have no internet access.

I'm still wearing my Melody Valerie dress, it's just great! I love to twirl and spin around with it on. Brooke keeps telling me that I can't sleep in it, and I'll have to take it off someday, but oh well ;)

By the way: This is post #100! Thank you to all my readers. I had 28 followers on my old blog, and this blog only has 6, so if you were/are my follower thank you!

Also, look at what I made:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=avery-here
I think it's kind of cool, and I thought I would share!

Boring post, I know. Nothing new has happened at all...


~Avery~

Oh my! Lissie and Lizzie!

Brooke here! I've been kind of taking over Avery's blog lately. Anyways....

As many of you know (at least I think you know) American Girl was on QVC Sunday at midnight to one AM and 10 to 11 AM (Easter Time). They featured special collections with Chrissa, Felicity, Elizabeth, Josefina, Bitty Twins (blond, brunette, and African American) and the horses Penny and Patriot. Each doll came with an outfit or two, and some had accessories, for a very good price, on average about a $30 savings compared to buying from American Girl.

Of course I stayed up to watch the show at midnight! I didn't have any intent to order, but it was fun just to watch the dolls on TV. I was very excited! They really pushed Chrissa and the Bitty Twins, between the two they probably took up 45 minutes out of the hour. Josefina was also sold in the midnight show, but there was only 700 of her available and she sold out almost immediately. The people barely even began to explain her, and she was already sold out.

It was funny to watch, quite a few things amused me. First off, the host and an AG employee kept petting the dolls! They were like, stroking them, it was kind of weird... Then, when the host asked the employee to tell about Chrissa's bracelet and she said "Oh, it's just a ribbon with a flower printed on it." Then the host went, "Okayyyyy". That was hilarious! Also, there was a caller that thought that Chrissa and Rebecca, and I kept talking to the TV saying "No, that's Rebecca, not Chrissa!" But after all that I went to bed, not overly tempted by anything.

Then, I watched the morning show at 10, and it's basically the same things, except they added Felicity, Elizabeth, and their horses.

I have been very interested in Felicity and Elizabeth lately, so I caved. Yes, I'm incredibly weak! Does this count in the AG boycott, since technically I purchased from QVC, not from American Girl directly?

So, I ended up getting Felicity, her accessories, her riding habit, and her gala gown in her collection package and Elizabeth, her riding habit, and her nightgown in her special QVC package. I got some pretty nice savings! I really don't like the riding habits or the gala gown though. I have no use for the habits, since I don't have a horse or any interest in getting one and the gala gown has the ugly plastic jewels on the front. If I don't like them in person I think I'm going to sell them and get some couture outfits from Dollies' Dressmaker instead.

I was lucky since Elizabeth sold out literally right after I ordered. It was a great deal, and they had an easy payment option, where you only have to pay about $30 a month.

So anyways, Felicity Merriman and Elizabeth Cole, the new colonial girls are headed to the Mondale Preparatory Academy for Girls. I wonder how they will be received...?

By the way: Be sure to check my last post to see our couture dresses from Melody Valerie!

-Brooke

credit to AGFMB members maryellen for picture of Felicity and luvag for picture of Elizabeth.

Melody Valerie Dresses

Brooke here:
Guess what arrived today? The dainty dots dress and precious party dress from Melody Valerie! It was a pleasant surprise because I wasn't expecting them to come until maybe Monday or Tuesday. It was a very fast ship! The dresses came in very large, fancy boxes with sprigs of lavender and a hand written note, it was very professional and impressive. I am so excited, the dresses are absolutely beautiful! I couldn't be more pleased with my purchase. They're not just pretty, they're excellent quality as well. Avery quickly claimed the asymmetrical pink dress for herself and Erin, who has been quite neglected these days, is the main owner of the stunning yellow dress.
I can't get over how gorgeous these dresses look! I prefer them to most of the dresses American Girl makes, that's how great they are! The pictures I've taken don't do them any justice.

The dainty dots dress is made out of a light weight cotton fabric. It is a lovely butter yellow color with small, white polka dots. The finishing touch is the signature Melody Valerie bow. The ruffles and gathered sleeves are perfect. All the little details come together to make a gorgeous ensemble, and they compliment each other so nicely! This dress is the essence of spring. My favorite part is the pale yellow of the fabric, it looks so nice with Erin's blond hair and chocolate brown eyes.


The precious party dress in candy pink is just as beautiful and high quality! The bright pink fabric and all the ruffles are so fun! This dress has a lot of personality, so it's perfect for Avery. The sash really makes the dress! The cream ribbon has pink stitching all down the sides to tie in the main color. The dress also has the signature bow on the side, which is the perfect touch. The gown has snaps on the shoulders so your doll can just step into it. I love that there is no Velcro on either of these dresses. It gives the feeling of a "real" haute couture dress.


Thank you so much to Melinda, Melody, and all the girls at Melody Valerie Couture! Your work is amazing! My dolls and I LOVE our new dresses, words can't describe how happy we are with them! :)


-Brooke
~Avery~
and
*Erin

More tech things....

Well, I thought that everything was fixed, but things are still screwed up, though not as bad as before.

Following my blog isn't really working. On the sidebar the widget for followers won't show up, following using the strip at the top underneath the web address bar doesn't work, and then even typing in on your dashboard to follow won't work.
UPDATE: It's working now!

Brooke has two types of internet, the basic internet explorer and then she has Mozilla Firefox. On Mozilla, when you visit our blog, when it has the scribe template, the tan that is supposed to background the posts doesn't show up. When you go to MLWB, everything is okay. I'm not sure what's happening, maybe it's just my computer... I think I'm going to contact blogger though.
UPDATE: It's FIXED! WOO HOO! :)
Sorry, but you don't know how long Brooke's been working on that ;) For future reference, you have to:
Starting from the latest post, open them and save as draft until the blog returns to normal.


I deleted the old blog, http://avery-here7.blogspot.com, so now this is the only avery-here.

The Samantha Movie

Since Brooke has been unable to find the Samantha movie to rent (a very poor selection at all of the video places here), she looked it up online, and found a wonderful recording of the movie. There's 11 parts, each about 5-10 minutes long that you can watch. Click here to watch the movie!

As suggested by Sitara and her gang, here's a review/summary of the movie. It's not perfect, and some parts may not be in order, but here it is:

Samantha Parkington lives with her wealthy grandmother, known as Grandmary, in Mount Bedford, NY. Both her parents died in an accident on the river, but luckily Grandmary takes good care of her.

The movie quickly introduces Nellie and her family, only 2 minutes into the film. Eddie Ryland, the neighbor's *horrible* son, uses his slingshot to shoot a rock through the window. Then, he blames Nellie and her sisters and tells her to give him a penny, or he'll tell on her. Samantha defends the O' Malley girls, and Eddie leaves them alone. Nellie is very grateful to her, and this is the beginning of their friendship.

Samantha's very excited when Nellie, the servant to the family next door, moves in. Even though their lives are very different, they quickly become best friends and spend a lot of time together. Samantha teaches Nellie how to read, since Nellie's mother never had a chance to teach her, and she comes from a working class family where reading and writing aren't always necessary. This is demonstrated later in the movie, where a factory employee tells Samantha to write her name down, or make an X if she can't write.

Both Nellie and Samantha's mothers died, and they can relate well because of that.

Samantha's Uncle Gard comes into town from traveling around Europe, and she can't wait for him to arrive. She's always been very close to her uncle. When Uncle Gard shows up with a surprise, his fiancee Cornelia, Samantha becomes jealous that she is no longer the only girl in Gard's life. Samantha eventually warms up to Cornelia. Samantha lends her mother's wedding veil to Cornelia when hers is ruined.

When Samantha over hears Grandmary and Uncle Gard discussing where Samantha should live, and that they should "share the burden" she gets very upset. She also hears Cornelia's friends at the wedding, saying that they're very sorry that poor Cornelia has a child as soon as she's married, and would be better off without Samantha.

This leads Samantha to run outside and night and get Nellie from the house next door. They go to the boat house, where Samantha keeps everything from her mother, and sleep there over night. Eddie appears in the morning, apparently everyone has been looking for them. Nellie is accused of trespassing and her family is almost excused from their work at the Ryland house, leaving them jobless. Luckily, the Parkington family understands and the O' Malley's are able to keep their jobs are servants.

Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia take Samantha to live with them in New York City, but Nellie and Samantha still write to each other frequently. When Samantha doesn't hear from Nellie for a few weeks, she gets very worried. Then, a post card shows up, saying that Nellie's father has died from influenza and that Nellie and her sisters, Bridget and Jenny, have been sent to the Coldrock House orphanage.

When Samantha visits the orphanage, Nellie tells her that she might get sent away on the orphan train, and be separated from her family. Samantha helps Nellie and her sisters to sneak out. While hiding before their escape, they see Ms. Frouchy stealing donation money. As they run out of the doors of the orphanage, Ms. Frouchy blames them for taking $200.

Samantha hides the girls in the upstairs room. Nellie, who feels she needs to support her sisters since she is now head of the family, goes to get a job in a factory. Samantha, who goes to retrieve her when she finds out that Bridget is very sick, sees what factory life is really like, and changes her speech for school. Bridget gets very sick and they need to get her a doctor, so the O' Malley's are revealed. Gard and Cornelia aren't very mad, more disappointed that Samantha didn't tell them.

The story ends with Samantha giving a great speech that tells the truth about factories, and Nellie, Bridget, and Jenny get adopted by the Parkington's on Christmas day. Now, Samantha and her friends are sisters!

As I said, I really enjoyed this movie. It was pretty good, but very much like a fairy tale. Nellie gets adopted and becomes Samantha's sister, they all live happily ever after with the perfect life. AnnaSophia Robb plays Samantha, and I think she did a very good job. She looks so good as a brunette! :) I think she has blue eyes though, and in the movie that bugged me, since in many places her eyes looked very blue and one of the lovely characteristics of Samantha is her chocolate brown eyes.

I loved seeing all the Edwardian fashions, and the doll clothes becoming "real". I wish AG would have made some of the dresses in this film for the dolls.

I would recommend this movie, it brings the books to life!

~Avery~

Picture credit

tvguide.com, variety.com, and usatoday.com

My NEW blog!

My old blog was full of computer bugs, so I decided to make a new one. With some technical importing and exports of xlm files, etc. we were able to get all my original posts on this blog!

My old blog is now http://avery-here7.blogspot.com

THIS blog, which I will be posting on is the original web address http://avery-here.blogspot.com

I hope everything is fixed, and by the look of things, I believe that it is! :) The only problem is that I can't get the followers right. I think once I delete my old blog it will work. I'll delete my old blog (avery-here7.blogspot.com) in about a week, once I think everyone has found this one.

~Avery~
and
-Brooke ♥

Soccer and Piano

I've been getting bored this summer, so, along with newly found interest in piano, I've also joined the Mondale summer soccer team. I recognized Erin Yeager at once. She is one of the newer dolls here, and she's very sporty. I was surprised how good I actually was at soccer! I'm not very athletic, but I really enjoyed soccer, and I'm really not half bad! Our Mondale team is called the Stars. We were conditioning today, and we had to of ran about 5 miles. It was torture, but at least I had someone to talk to. Today we also had a scrimmage, where you do a "fake" game against your own team, and I actually scored 2 goals! The coach put me with Erin as a forward. I'm a left forward, since I'm left handed (I don't think I've ever shared that here...) and I kick well with my left foot. I think I'm going to have a lot of fun.

Well, I've also been keeping up with my piano lessons. The teacher said that I did fine with A Whole New World, so now I'm moving onto Viva La Vida by Coldplay. (links to a piano cover of the song) I'm glad that the songs I'm learning are interesting, and not just scales and classical pieces. This song is a bit harder for me, just because of the very bold left hand. I'll keep working on it, and see if Brooke can make a video.

~Avery~

We did it!

Brooke took the plunge! She finally convinced herself (with some help from me) that she should order the 2 dresses she wanted from Melody Valerie. The Precious Pink Party Dress and the Dainty Dots Dress should be arriving here soon! :) I'm looking forward to seeing them in person. From all the photographs by Melody Valerie, The Couture Review, Starr, and The Doll Wardrobe, they look lovely!

I can't wait until they arrive! I'm excited to see who will be the main "owners" of the dresses.

On another note, I've been watching the Samantha movie on youtube. I haven't got a chance to watch it, so it's great seeing it online! The quality is great. It's uploaded in short segments, but I'm glad to watch the movie, finally!

~Avery~

What will happen once we get...

Uhhhh, I'm so bored! I can't think about what to post about, because nothing is really happening right now.

I keep trying to convince Brooke to order the Melody Valerie precious pink party dress and the dainty dots dress. She won't budge, saying it's "too much for just a doll dress" and "we just got something for Kit!" and all those kind of things. We need to get those dresses though, before they sell out! If they're gone, Brooke will be kicking herself, complaining, and I really don't want to deal with that! :P So, I keep pestering her and telling her she needs to order, and soon! I don't think she can hold up much longer. In fact, I think she'll break tonight. I have a plan ;)

What I've been thinking about though, is who will get the dresses once they arrive? I don't think it's quite fair that the historicals get their own sets of clothes, but us modern dolls are expected to share everything. Of course, others will get to wear the dresses too, but there will be primary owners. I hope everyone knows what I'm talking about...
All the modern dolls here are: Marsiol, Gia, Jess, Nicki, Mia, Sonali, me, Erin, Sierra, and maybe Jasmine, but she's been living in the 1930's lately.
I'm pretty sure that Gia, Nicki, Mia, and Jasmine won't have the dresses. I hope I'm able to own one, since I'm the one that's convincing her to order!



~Avery~

We didn't win :'(

Hi, this is "Brooke" posting.
The winners of the Liberty Jane contest were messaged on Friday, and I didn't receive any messages. :'( We did not win! I hope someone I know wins at least. Good luck to everyone! The winners are announced today (Sunday) and 5 o'clock Pacific.

By the way: I'm back now! I was able to check on things once at the hotel, but they weren't the best computers and all of them were being used, then the internet crashed.


-Brooke ♥

Liberty Jane Contest

Here's the rest of our entries from the contest! These were our last minute videos. The summer design contest is over now, and there were over 500 entries! 520 to be exact. Brooke drew 9 designs in total. We don't have very good odds of winning, but I hope we, or at least someone we know well, will win! There's also 2nd and 3rd place prizes, which is nice. Good luck to everyone! The winners were messaged yesterday, and Brooke wasn't here. We'll just have to wait!

You can see our other entries here and here

~Avery~

Nellie and the Edwardian Slumber Party

After Nellie and I had our little Time Traveling episode, we haven't spoken. I tried to talk to her, but she ignored me, made up excuses, etc.

So, I was sad and disappointed at first, but then I just thought that she didn't deserve to be friends with me if that's the way I wanted to act.

Then, today I got a total surprise.

There was a knock on my dorm room door. I didn't know who it would be, and it was so late (it was already 8 at night)... So I went and opened the door, and it was Nellie? What? I'll relay the whole scene to you:

Nellie: Avery, can I come in?

Avery (Me): Why?

Nellie: I'm sorry, Avery.

Me: What for?

Nellie: You know why. For ignoring you and being a jerk.

Me: Okay, come in.

Nellie: I know that first day when I asked you to go time traveling, it was totally random and out of the blue.

Me: Yes, it was!

Nellie: I'm sorry I sprung that on you. I really shouldn't have.

Me: It's fine, I loved it!

Nellie: Then, you tried to be friends with me, and you were so nice! And I had to ignore you.

Me: Yeah, what was that all about?

Nellie: Well, Samantha and I had gotten in a fight. She didn't want to go back to 1904 with me, but I really, really wanted to go. I was angry at her for not wanting to go with me, so I took the first person I saw instead of her. So when I got back, and she heard I took you, a full blown modern girl whom I hardly even knew! She was so mad at me!

Me: Oh.

Nellie: I had to make it up to her, so I decided not to talk to you at all. She really didn't seem to like you. I'm so sorry! You didn't deserve that.

Me: You don't have to obey everything Samantha says.

Nellie: No, but I felt so bad. It's like a betrayed her.

Me: Does she really hate me that much?

Nellie: No, I don't think so. She just has a temper.

Me: It's okay, I forgive you. Apology accepted!

Nellie: Friends?

Me: Friends.

Then there was another knock.

Me: Come in!

Samantha: Hey, Avery?

Me: Huh, Samantha?

Samantha: I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for the way I treated you. I was jealous of Nellie being friends with someone other than me.

Me: I understand, I'm the same way.

Samantha: So you're no too mad at me?

Me: No, it's okay.

Samantha: You're too nice!

Me: Um, thanks?

Nellie: So we both felt really bad about everything. We were wondering if you wanted to have a sleep over tonight.

Me: A sleep over, sure! Sounds great! Where at?

Nellie: Come over to our dorm. We'll lend you some pajamas.

Me: Okay!

Samantha: Let's go!

We went over to their dorm, and Samantha lent me the most beautiful night gown that had lace and pink ribbons. It was so soft! I also got wear knit slippers with little pink bows. Nellie had purple silk pajamas with embroidery, and Samantha had a pink kimono robe.

We talked and played with their dolls and stuffed animals. I had a great time! I'm glad that we're friends now. I would have never thought I'd be friends with two historical dolls of all people! There's another girl from Samantha and Nellie's time period, Samantha's twin sister Olivia. They would have invited her too, except for 1. She wasn't involved in the 'fight' and 2. She sleeps in the buff... Poor girl doesn't have a pair of pajamas yet. :P

It was great, I had a wonderful time. I was sad when it was morning and I had to leave!

~Avery~

Surprise, surprise!

Hi, it's Brooke!
I'm able to use a hotel computer, so I can check in on things, read blogs, comment, etc. now! Yay! I just thought I'd let everyone know.

-Brooke ♥

Brooke's off!

Brooke's leaving this morning! I have a few scheduled posts set to go, so there will still be some reading to do around here. I hope everything works right and there aren't any technical difficulties. If all goes well, you'll be hearing about Nellie and the Edwardian Slumber Party on the 16th and the Liberty Jane design contest on the 18th. I just wrote about whatever I could think of. The posts aren't great, but they'll do in a pinch. I can't wait for you all to read the posts and look at the pictures (yes, I tried to included lots of pictures!).

Now that Brooke's gone, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. She's going to be gone 6 days, almost a whole week! I think I might sneak onto the computer and order some couture! I definitely should do that. I would get a the dainty dots and precious pink party dress from Melody Valerie, spring #7 and blue plaid from Liberty Jane, and oodles of stuff from the Dollies' Dressmaker. One second though, maybe that isn't such a good idea...

A better thing to do would be to catch up on my reading. I love the Harry Potter series, and the new movie just came out! Brooke has all 7 of the books. I think I will raid the book shelf in her room. Too bad they're all human sized! That could cause some problems... :P

Even though there's still posts, I won't be online, so I can't read blogs, reply to any comments, etc. So don't be offended if we don't answer any questions or comment on your blog!

Be sure to check out our last post! We got Kit's couture dress!

By the way, Brooke's been doing something the past few days, and she's kept it a secret. She's thinking about having me announce it one of the scheduled posts. But she's not completely sure she wants to tell anyone... Hmmmm, mysterious!

There will be 2 other posts, one on Thursday and one of Saturday. Then Sunday afternoon Brooke should be home!

~Avery~

Our first couture piece!

How ironic! If you read my earlier post "Hi!", I was complaining about how long it was taking for our first couture piece (Kit's Blue Bell Dress) to arrive. It came today, only a few hours after I posted! Is that weird or what?

Well, I'll hand this over to Brooke now:

Kit was so thrilled to receive her dress! Micah (heritage4 on the doll boards) is an excellent seamstress! This is an amazing dress. It has a white and blue pattern as the the main fabric. It looks so perfect for the 30's, almost like a chicken feed sack dress that was talked about a lot in Kit's books. The collar, cuffs, and ribbon belt detail were a blue check pattern, which complemented the other fabric really well. It also included a hair ribbon, which was the blue check pattern too.

The quality is excellent! She paid great attention to detail. Everything about the dress was perfect! We're so happy it's finally here! Our first doll couture piece experience was great!

Naturally, I took Kit outside for a quick photo shoot. It's hard to describe, but this dress almost needs to be worn outdoors! I was outside snapping some quick shots, but I was getting some strange looks from my neighbor next door who was mowing his lawn... haha! :P

~Avery~

and Brooke <3

Hi!

Sorry for being kind of inactive for the past few days. Brooke's going on *another* trip, only this time it's not vacation, it's all work and no play. She'll be gone Tuesday-Sunday, which is a really long time! I'll be making scheduled posts like last time, but instead of having one every day, I'll schedule a post for every other day.

To tell you the truth, I really don't know what to write about anymore. It seems like I get the most comments on couture posts, but our first piece of couture hasn't even arrived yet, after it seems like forever. Seriously, we bought this dress on the 2nd, and it's still not here! Sorry to sound impatient, I just want it to come before Brooke leaves, which probably won't happen :(
Well, as I said, you readers seem to like couture posts a lot. Maybe it was just a fad going around, but I can only make so many 'wish list' and 'couture plans' posts. Brooke really wants to order something tomorrow from Melody Valerie and the Dollies Dressmaker, but we haven't even gotten our first dress yet, so it's a little soon to order more. We don't want them to sell out while she's away for almost a week, though, which is a problem.
I've basically posted about everything I can think of. I've wrote about my friends, holidays, posted pictures, and even taken up a new hobby. I'm just kind of brain dead and have blogger's block (like writer's block).

Well, yes... I really don't know what else to say. I need ideas for posts!!!

~Avery~

()__()

(='.'=)

(")_(")
By the way: Meet my bunny Charlie! He's text art, pretty cool, huh?

Piano and surprises

I had my group practice today, and I thought I did well. I played through the whole 1st page without any mistakes, but Ms. Remmy said that I didn't have a enough feeling and a robot could have been playing the piano for all she knew. Her critiquing didn't phase me much because I was just so happy that I was able to play the song! I only played the first page, but I'm very proud of myself for learning the music within only a week! Brooke made a quick video of it. Sorry for the buzzing noise (you can't hear it much), the neighbors were cutting down trees :P





And then, I got the biggest surprise of my life! Brooke told me yesterday that she had a surprise for me. I thought that maybe I got a new outfit, or she was taking me somewhere with her but no! She wouldn't tell me, and I had no idea what was going to happen!





I finish my song, and look out into the audience and see:


MARELISE AND BRIGITTE!

Marelise looks strikingly like Mia St. Clair, and Brigitte looks a lot like Nicki Fleming.




Can you believe that??? Marelise and Brigitte are my best friends back in France! I haven't seen them in forever, I've just emailed them, etc. I was so excited! I would've screamed if there weren't a bunch of people watching me!


We were all so happy to be back together! I've missed them so much. They've changed a lot since I've last seen them! Brigitte used to have short hair, and it is a lot curlier now, and Marelise got her ears pierced. They both loved my new glasses :)


I couldn't believe that they were here! I asked them why they came, and Marelise said that her dad was on a business trip in Chicago, and Brigitte was able to tag along. They were staying here in a hotel and then catching another plane on Saturday. She remembered the city where I live now, and it was only a 10 minute drive away, so they stopped to see me!

They have to leave tomorrow, but it was great to see them, and we still have the rest of today! They're sitting with me right now as I type!


~Avery~
-Brigitte <3
'*Marelise*'

Liberty Jane Designs

We made some new designs for the contest, and got around to scanning, uploading, making videos, etc.



I thought I'd share them with you!


This one is our absolute favorite. We're almost positive it won't win because of the print of the dress. Brooke's started working on our version of it, and has the skirt and part of the bodice/tank top part done. We just need to stitch them together to make our dress. It's made out of plain white fabric, and then we being the delicate embroidery process to make the swirl pattern. For the dots we're using French knots (yay, French! :P)

Here's another design. We're trying to make outfits that don't have much print, because it's almost impossible to actually match the print in the drawing to actual fabric.

Here's the next entry. I like this one, I would definitely wear it! I love the color yellow.

And last, but not least, is our hopeful entry. We think this one *might* have a chance of winning. Ivy would really like this!

Off topic, but tomorrow Brooke says she has a surprise for me...hmmmm, I wonder? Tomorrow's when I have to play my song. I'll be sure to make a *horrible quality* recording of it for you all!
I took down the poll asking if you liked the new layout. More than 1/2 of you liked it, and another good chunk of you said that it was okay, only a few didn't like it. I really like it because it has an old world, French feel. I added a new poll, about favorite historicals. I'm going to be doing some more with GOTY's and JLY's (that'll be a BIG poll) Be sure to vote!

~Avery~

Piano

I "dislike" (hate is a strong word) the piano. I've only been playing for a day or so, and it's all ready driving me crazy! The piano is a merciless instrument. If it can annoy you, it will. If it has a choice between cooperation and being stubborn, it'll be stubborn. If it..., well yeah, you get the idea.
I've been down at the music hall a lot of yesterday and all day today working on "A Whole New World" (from Disney's Aladdin). That song is HARD! I've heard some rumors that Ms. Remmy (the piano instructor) gives you a really difficult song to work on first because she likes to see you mess up! I don't really believe in gossip and rumors, and it seems ridiculous that a teacher would want to do that, but you never know. I was only assigned the first page to practice, since I'm a beginner, but still, it is hard.
I've been working a lot of the chords. This song is different from others because the chords are all in the right hand instead of the left.
After so many hours of practicing, I can't get the song out of my head! It's really bothering me :P

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it! :(

~Avery~

Trying new things...

Summer has gotten pretty boring... I liked relaxing at first, but now there's not much to do. And, go figure, it hasn't been nice outside. It is cold, rainy, and cloudy.

Brooke told me that I better get up and find something to do or she would find something for me. Well, I guess I didn't take action quick enough because I'm now signed up for piano lessons at the Mondale Music Hall. My teacher is Ms. Remmy, and she's nice enough, but very strict. I have a lesson every Tuesday, and a group practice on Friday. The lesson is individual, but on the group practice days everyone that's taking lessons from her will go to the music hall and study together. It's mostly technique lecture, and everyone has to play their song. I have to fill in "practice cards" that say I've practiced at least 4 hours that week, not including the lessons and group practices.


The bad part is, I really don't know anyone there. And another thing: I have no idea how to play the piano!!! Sure, I can read music and I know what notes go with what key, but that's it. I'm one of only 2 beginners in the class, which makes me really nervous. Everyone else is at least on an intermediate level. At group practices everyone has to play the song they're working on in front of the class, then Ms. Remmy critiques their playing. I hope I don't barf...or cry when I totally embarrass myself. I only have til Friday to get a good handle on "A Whole New World". I'm surprised that Ms. Remmy gave me this song. It is at least on an intermediate level, I think. I did okay sight reading, but I have to play it very slow. I'm not sure if I will be able to play this well or not by the group lesson. I sure hope so!





~Avery~

I'm back!

Woo hoo! I'm back! Luckily, the scheduled posts worked wonderfully and there were no techincal errors :)
Brooke had a good time on vacation. The weather was decent and she had a lot of fun. It is 11:34 PM right now, and Brooke got up at 6:00 AM this morning, walked about 10 miles *seriously!*, and then drove 4 and 1/2 hours in traffic. It's time to go to bed!

~Avery~

Home sick

*scheduled post*
I've been very home sick lately. I miss my family back in France. With Brooke *and Ivy, for that matter* gone on vacation, it's been even worse. I wish I could see them.

I miss my family back at home. They send me photographs, letters, and emails often, but it's not the same. The last email that my mother sent my was especially hard. I'll translate for you along the way.

Bonjour mon cher Avery-Marie. Je vous manque tellement. *Hello my dear Avery-Marie. I miss you so much.* Le fait de penser à vous tout seul dans la grande Amérique est si angoissant. Quelquefois je me demande si nous avons fait la chose juste en vous envoyant au pensionnat. *To think of you all alone in big America is so frightening. Sometimes I wonder if we made the right choice of sending you to the boarding school.* Nous tous vous manquons tellement, ma chère fille. Nous regrettons que vous ne puissiez pas aller à la maison. N'oubliez pas, nous n'arrêtons pas de penser à vous, même pendant que vous êtes loin. *We all miss you so much, dear girl. We regret that you cannot go home. Do not forget, we do not stop thinking of you, even while you are away.* En envoyant l'amour votre voie. étreintes, Maman. *Sending love your way. Hugs, Mum*

Just reading her email made me cry! :'( Reading it in French made is so much worse. It reminded me of everything I left behind when leaving France. I miss home so much.

~Avery~

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everybody! Once again, this is a scheduled post. Have fun at the wireworks, cookouts, etc. of the day. I hope everyone has a great time on this holiday! I'm proud to be a *French* American! American is truly a great country, and I'm proud to call it my home! (:

~Avery~

Vacation, Couture Plans

By the time you read this, Brooke will be on vacation 3-5 of July. Being the resourceful girl that I am, I've found a way to post, even on the days she's not here! How, you ask? Scheduled posting, that's how!
Go to your post options when posting (at the bottom of the text box), then change the date and time to when desired. That's when you post will publish! Pretty "nifty", huh?
I won't be able to reply to any comments though. When there's no Brooke, there's no Avery. It's sad how much us dolls depend on humans... anyways!

Well, now that I've figured this out, I don't know what to post about :P
Couture is all that's been on my mind lately, and all I can think about posting about. I'm sorry if it's boring you, and getting repetitive! I never thought of myself as so fashion oriented. But now, I'm really getting into all of this!

Well, we've been drooling over so much stuff! But now, we have a plan:
We're focusing on getting the limited edition outfits now, while we can. We recently got Kit's Blue Bell Dress, and just in time before they sold out. We're going to get some modern outfits first, since their limited. We're planning on getting:
1) Melody Valerie Dainty Dots Dress
2) Melody Valerie Pink Party Dress
3) Liberty Jane Spring #7
4) Commissioned Liberty Jane outfit, similar to Summer #2??? (maybe)

Then we'll move on to historical things:
5) Ruthie's orange dress
6) Samantha Learns a Lesson dress
7) Nellie's floral Dress
8) Emily's purple dress

I'd post the pictures, but I just did in a post a few days ago.
We're not sure if this is the order we're getting them in, but for now this is it. We're probably going to order the Melody Valerie things once Brooke gets back from vacation. There's only one left in stock of each, and we don't want them to sell. Brooke says she won't order them until we're back because she doesn't want them to arrive when she's gone. But I know the real reason is she can't decide/justify getting 3 couture pieces so rapidly.

Well, there will be 2 other scheduled posts. One on the 4th and one on the 5th. Keep in mind I'm not actually online, so I can't read blogs, comments, etc.

Talk to you later,

~Avery~

Photo shoot with Kit, Ruthie, Jasmine, and Emily

Today Kit, Ruthie, Jasmine (#26), and Emily got to have a photo shoot! They're the resident 1930's-1940's doll, so they got dressed up in their appropriate clothing and went outside for some summer photos! I got to help Brooke take the pictures. I'm really interested in photography. It was a lot of fun to take some pictures of them. They're all so pretty! :) They all look like models in the pictures we took. I Ruthie and Jasmine's hair. It's so curly! I've always wanted curly, or at least wavy hair. At least my hair isn't as straight as Julie and Ivy's. I feel bad for Ruthie though, she did a face plant in the dirt! Luckily, she's okay, no major damage. Enjoy the pictures!

Just a note:

Brooke will be on vacation starting tomorrow! She'll be gone July 3-5. I'll STILL POST, even though Brooke's not here. There is an option where you can schedule posts. So, there will still be posts, I just won't be on the computer and won't able to reply to comments, read blogs, etc. Thanks!

~Avery~

Couture vs Custom?

Guess what? We ordered our first piece of "doll couture" today! It is the Blue Bell Dress, made by AGPT member heritage4! We couldn't have chosen a better outfit because it looks like there are no more for sale! The dress will mainly be for Kit, the poor thing hasn't had her dress changed since JANUARY! :O That sounds pretty horrible, doesn't it? :( The dress was specifically made for her, following the styles of the 1930's. It goes great with her dark blue eyes. So this will be Kit's piece of couture, but I think Ruthie and Emily will also wear it, since they're both around that time period too. They're all quite good friends because Emily doesn't have Molly around, and she fits in with Ruthie and Kit. I can't wait til it arrives, because I have a feeling Brooke will let me model for blog pictures! The picture is from AGPT member heritage4.

Today we also made 4 designs for the Liberty Jane contest. One we really, really like, but we're almost positive it won't win because it involves a specific print and embroidery. So, Brooke's going to try to make it herself! I'm pretty sure it won't turn out to look like much, since Brooke hasn't sew in years, but hey, we can try!

With Brooke's new found addiction/obsession with doll couture, her custom dolls are kind of being put on hold.

She was really looking forward to making a #25 with gray eyes. She was *this* close to buying one from a board member. But, Brooke fiddled around too much and couldn't make up her mind, and the doll sold. So ever since then, she's been wanting to make a #25 with gray eyes. We were going to do an eye swap with Ruthie, so Ruthie would have her long awaited brown eyes. There were also another custom doll that she's been looking at on the dolls boards, a #24 with #23's wig. But all that's been put on hold. With limited quantities of the handmade outfits, she's been putting her focus more on those.

Pictures from AGPT member new2ag.

They're such pretty dolls! The #25 with gray eyes would be named Katy, and the #24 with #23's wig (or you can think of it as a #23 with brown eyes) would be named Demi.

Sorry my posts have slightly off topic the past few days, with all this about couture and custom dolls, etc. I promise I'll get back to the "normal" posts that are about moi.

On a different note, it is already July 1st! Where did June go? It is hard to believe I've only been on summer vacation for 16 days, it feels like an eternity!

~Avery~