On the Sixth Day ...

On the Sixth day of Christmas... Six Dracalauras were hanging out and getting ready for the ringing in of the New Year.  All the best to all for 2013!!.

And one for the New year (it's from last year but works for tonight)

A safe and Happy New Year to all!! Feliz Año Neuvo!!

On the Fifth Day continued...

Well, on the Fifth day my true love gave to me five golden dolls....
I spent the day looking at the different dolls, deboxing some that were still in their cages and realizing that I had more than 5 favourites, 10 at least but I weeded them down to 5 so here they are:

In the FR category, I picked Truly, Madly, Deeply Agnes.  I have only two Agnes in my collection, a woeful representation of such a Diva, but for some reason they elude me.  My favourite is actually Regal Estate Agnes and even last year at convention, I managed to miss getting one of the heads.  This year's Webinar offering though has the snotty look and the interesting wardrobe to remedy my loss.  I love both the chartreuse dress and the Valentino copy suit.  The jewellery, especially the cuff is wonderful and I would wear in big size. 

In the Nu face category, I was stuck between Rocking Ever After Lillith and Frame by Frame Imogen.  I have the other Imogens and I have liked this sculpt since she came out but this doll has a subtle, simple, elegant look to her.  She turned out to be a great convention doll for me.  She really is a Miami girl.  The turquoise jewellery stands out beautifully with her tan complexion.

My Poppy turned out to be Sea Breeze, the table centerpiece at the Luncheon and this makes two for two centerpieces at my two conventions.  I adore Poppy and except for a few girls, have them all since the beginning.  She reminds me of my love for Vintage Barbie and the time that I love in fashion.  I was a child of the 70's, which is not a wonderful fashion time, but she harkens to a more favourable clothing time.  Plus who doesn't love clam diggers with seahorses on them.

For Victoire, I luckily have all the releases so far and I love them all but I had to pick one so - Place Vendôme it is.  As I was unpacking her today to take pictures, I realized that she is missing her earrings and pearl choker.  This is the first time that I have missed something from my FR boxes, but I made do with some other earrings and I guess I will email patient care about another set.  I should have checked while at the hotel.  Anyway, she fits in nicely with my gowned Silkies and that 40's, 50's glamour girls.

Lastly, I had to include one Silkie as this year was wonderful in the selections and I ended up getting all 5 girls.  Last year, with the Russian theme, I sat on the fence too long and missed out on all of them except for Darla, but this year I made sure to get them before they sold out and 3 out of the 5 did. Her pale yellow gown is diaphanous and the red hair is perfect with it.  The grey accents just lend a sophisticated air to the whole look and she rounds out the 5.

Till tomorrow...

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

For the fifth day I am trying to post my 5 favourites from 2012 but am having a very hard time to decide on only 5.  That's like asking me to pick what to take on a deserted island if I could choose.  I am going to try and pick one from each group below.  And I am only going to pick from dolls I have in my collection so High Profile Eugenia is out as I didn't win her.  (Sad face)

I have narrowed it down to the list below and will post the picture later today.

Monograms -  Inspiration or Admiration
FR - Haute Societe Vero, The Sweet Smell of Success Vero or Truly, Madly, Deeply Agnes
Victoire Roux - Place Vendome or Champs-Elysees
Nu Face - Frame by Frame Imogen or Rocking Ever After Lillith, (I know she's from last year but she came this year)
Poppy Parker - Sea Breeze, The Happening, Baby It's You, Dream Teen or Lilac Frost
Barbie - one of the Silkies, they were all great for me.

Stay tuned for picture later.

V

On the Fourth Day of Christmas....

On the Fourth day of Christmas my true love gave me 4 Calling Birds...

Today I'll post 4 pictures of some of my Mini Lalas having fun, as they tend to wherever we go.  They hide in my purse until I take them out for random shots of things and places.  The bigger dolls are too cumbersome to travel with sometimes so these are the perfect size to carry around.

Watching the sun go down in Montego Bay, Jamaica on a perfect summer night. 

Looking for buried treasure on the beach.

Hanging around the Hyatt during the FR convention waiting for the big girls to take over all the action.

Niagara Falls in the Fall. 

Till tomorrow.

On the third Day of Christmas...

On the Third Day of Christmas my true love gave to me Three French Hens.  No, I'm not Martha Stewart so I don't have three french hens pecking around so I will post Three New Pictures of my Poppys.  Yesterday I spent some time deboxing some of the dolls that came throughout the year, both from my dealers and from the W club.  It was like Poppypalozza here.  I love all my dolls but I think that I especially love the Poppys. 

The Happening in all her grooveness, (I know it's not really a word) and She's Not There who is very Twiggiyish.  I know some people didn't like her eyes, or the fact that she didn't look exactly as her promo shots did, but she is charming and elfish to me. 

The tanned beauty known as Sweet Confection from last year.  She is finally free from her box.  

The two Club dolls this year - Dream Teen, the upgrade doll and Lilac Frost, the club offering.  Both are terrific, but DT has the facial screening that I prefer in my Poppys.  Playing with them certainly brightened up the day yesterday, where we had our first significant snowfall of the year. 

Till tomorrow!!

End of 2012

Well, the year is finally coming to a close and 2013 is around the corner waiting for us with open arms.  It has been a most wonderful, exciting year.  I have had the good luck to travel, meet new people and especially new doll people, get wonderful new dolls and thoroughly enjoy myself this year.  Every year it seems as though the days fly by, and this year was no exception, but still, 2012 managed to be a great year.  There is a saying that I heard once and that I like to repeat around this time as we make a toast - May your best day this year, be your worst day next year.  I have my family, my health, (with a few twinges in my back), a wonderful job and the means to enjoy my doll collection. 

I know that in October I said that I would be posting again and then nothing, as once more the days went by.  I had wonderful ideas but did not execute them and now here we are in the last few days of the year.  I thought that I would try to post a picture a day as I count down the Twelve days of Christmas leading up to the Spanish tradition of the Three Kings, Los Tres Magos, arriving on January 6 with presents.  Even though I was born in  Canada, my parents are from Spain, and they tried to keep up with traditions from there.  Of course, at home we celebrate a lovely Christmas with many presents and such but I still try to get everyone a Three Kings gift. 

Now yesterday, our Boxing Day, would be the First day of Christmas and no I don't have a Partridge in a Pear tree, but will post a favourite Christmas picture from my tree this year. 

This year I also started working on my doll/media room for the first time since we moved to this house.  I found some great new shelves at Ikea and have started that as my winter project, because it also means fixing the basement where most of the dolls live right now, in boxes and out.  When it's nice outside, I don't want to be in the basement so it's perfect for this year of the year.  I just need two more new shelves and then, hopefully all the beauties will be displayed.

Now, today is the Second Day of Christmas, so I will post another picture...

The Mini Lalas are having fun hanging out by the Christmas Illuminated Balls.  These little cuties continue to travel around with me and I must post all their adventure pictures as I get caught up with this blog.

On that note, I leave you all until tomorrow.

Missing in Action

Well I don't know what to say except that I have not posted in a long time, since April actually and the only excuse that I can offer is that life got in the way. Not that great an excuse and I'm sorry to be missing in action for so long. I think it may be because I started using my hand me down iPad and I found it to be more difficult to do things than on my computer. I still enjoy using a mouse for pictures and links.  But I have an arsenal of new pictures and travel stories to tell so I hope to catch up in the next few weeks. I also just got back from the FR convention in Orlando and I have a slew of pictures. Most have already gone to Flickr (swirlgirl2008), in case my link doesn't work.

New York Trip Day One

I just got back last night from a Birthday trip to New York, one of my favourite places to visit.  We try to go once or twice a year and this time, it was really a Foodie trip, with too much eating going on.  There are so many places that I want to try but only so much time in a day to eat.  We stayed in the Soho area this time so that we could be within walking distance of most of the places that I wanted to try.  Of course there was some shopping as well and it wouldn't be any kind of trip if I didn't try to find some dollies.  But no luck in the doll front, especially the Monster High search.  I was hoping to find the new kids on the block - Rochelle and Jackson but no luck at FAO, all the most recent ones but not these two, and I also struck out at Toysrus Times Square.  They actually didn't even have the newer ones there and no new Mini Lalas.  Very disappointing.

But at least we had food.  We started the first day with lunch at Boqueria, a Spanish Tapas place, on Spring Street.  I always like to try new places and we've eaten here before but the food is consistent and we were hungry after flying in and having to wait for our room to be ready.  They have a nice take on Spanish tapas especially Tortilla and some lovely Chipirones with a Frisse salad.  I was trying to remember to take pictures of the food but I sometimes forgot and starting eating.

Then drinks at the Broome Street Bar.  The first day there was a scorcher so we needed some liquid refreshment.  Makes one want to win the lottery so you can wander around eating and drinking at odd hours of the day.

Then feeling peckish in the afternoon, we walked over to The Dutch on Prince and Sullivan.  They keep the bar open from 3 to 5:30 but no food until 5:30 on the dot so we stopped in.  The bar was busy and jumping for Tuesday afternoon cocktails.

 

For dinner we went to Miss Lilly's for some Jamaican goodies.  Another happening, busy place.  Tiny place with lots of squeezing around bodies to get to the bar while waiting for the table, but it's all good.  Food was amazing.  Great music, they have a radio station called Miss Lily's, and they also have a juice bar and a record shop all on the same corner.  We had grilled corn with coconut and then I had the Shrimp curry and hubby had the classic jerk chicken which he pronounced amazing.  We eat a fair bit of Jamaican food here in Toronto (and hubby's background is Jamaican) and this was really good.  I would have gone back a few more times.

More on day two later on.

Spring and Easter

So Spring has supposedly sprung.  After having one of mildest winters on record for Toronto, an early spring beckoned with warm days in March.  But now April is here and the days are colder and spring seems to have taken a back seat.  The flowers are blooming but the weather is still chilly.  Still, Easter came and with it some new pictures of the Target spring Mini Lala - Sprouts Sunshine.  These little cuties are certainly addictive.  No Target here yet so I had to find her south of the border.  Here she poses with a small Easter display.

 And a quick picture of a flowering tree in the neighbourhood.

Have a coffee and Relax

Now I can relax for a moment and hopefully I can post sooner the next time.

Cold outside but Warm inside Part One

As the weather  has taken a turn for the worse after breaking spring records earlier this month, I finally had to break out the bathing suit beauties to feel warmer inside.  These cuties have been in their dark boxes since last year but now they are busting out.  I only had time to debox two of them so far but here they are - Beach Bunny Sooki and Heat Wave Aria.  For the money, these dolls are well worth it.  I wonder if there will be any Dynamite Girls (and Boys) unveiled this Saturday and that the price will stay where it is now. 

What was on my Desk Last Week

When Integrity surprised us with the early spring line up, I, like many of us, had to place an order with my dealer but I did have to decide what to pick and choose.  The tall girls are out, as I really don't have any room for them but I did fall in love the all the Poppys, regular and Sabrina, and the Monograms.  They just keep getting better and better.  Usually, I also order the Nufantasy dolls but for some reason Gretel and Hansel weren't speaking to me this time.  I have all the other Liliths and Edens and all the Kumis, although I am missing all the Yuris.  The pictures that others have posted of Gretel are beautiful but I don't actually regret not getting her, a first probably for me.  Also, I only picked one Monogram, Admiration, which has not come out yet but when I started to see the pictures of Inspiration, I had to add her to the bunch.  (Allure is also starting to call my name but with the unveiling of the FR collection this Saturday, she may have to continue to call).

When Inspiration arrived I knew I hadn't made a mistake.  She is stunning with the face colour, hair colour, the jewels and the pale aqua colour of her dress and shoes and handbag.  Having her on my desk this week has been inspiring.  Now I know that Spring has sprung, as they say.

Vancouver Trip with the Mini Lala's

I continue to be captivating by the mini lalaloopsys.  They keep coming out with more and different ones and I love the hunt of trying to find the newer ones.  Each one is sweeter than the last one.  Just before my work trip to Vancouver at the end of February, I found the mini set with Marina Anchors all ready to go swimming so I took them with me to pool at the hotel.  They had too much fun, although her little whale kept sinking and I had to reach in and rescue it a few times.   I always take a small bag with a different selection of the minis where ever I go in case an interesting pictures presents itself. 

She tried to help me with the weight machines as well but was most suited to the pool and the whirlpool. 

Breakfast at Tiffany Dolls

It's been almost a whole month since I posted anything so now I'll end up with 3 or 4 posts at once.  The days fly by and Spring is here.  We had a couple of weeks of very nice, warm weather but the last week has been cold and cloudy and generally sad.  But the dolls always cheer me up and make me smile. 

I received the final Breakfast at Tiffany dolls recently but I hadn't even opened the earlier ones so I decided to pose those on my desk.  I had taken pictures of Crazy about Tiffany's before but now she joins her two sisters.  The outfits and accessories are wonderful and add a great touch to the dolls, but I do wish that she had some more life in her eyes.  She seems rather sad and pensive when I look at her.  I wish Integrity had used the Poppy face mold for her the way they are doing now for the Sabrina set.  Now if only they would make a "Funny Face" set...Hint, Hint!!

So here are Crazy about Tiffany's, 5th Avenue at 6 a.m. (can't remember it that's her name), and A Girl I Know named Holly. 

I will post pictures of the others as soon as I pose them on my desk.  I especially like the different lip colours on all the dolls.