{ Happy Thanksgiving Day! }

Hello all and Happy Thanksgiving!  We all were so excited for today to arrive...we love the traditions and the foods and all the fun times together!  We all gathered around the table just before digging in to snap this quick photo to share with you. 

Both McKenna & Christina made a bee-line for the desert table just as soon as this photo was finished being snapped.  Boy, they wasted NO time trying to decide which of the tempting sweets was going to be their first choice.  Christina is always saying; "Life's short, eat dessert first!!".  And, judging by the fact that I caught McKenna eating a piece of Oreo pie before eating turkey, I think Christina has been quite successful at convincing McKenna of this "truth".

As you can see, Saige was missing from the photo as she was busy typing up some of the questions that we have for our soon-to-be-arriving friend, Isabelle.  We're hoping that when she arrives, she is wearing her "lucky shirt" that she has talked often about and her favorite "sling back" shoes.  Isabelle has told Saige that her sling backs are a bright, sparkly gold.....they sound sooo cute! 

We also cannot wait to hear more about her mother's sewing room.  Isabelle said her mom has a very old sewing kit that she keeps in an "old wooden box".  This special box originally belonged to Isabelle's mom's mother.....so it was Isabelle's grandmother's sewing box.  Isn't that the coolest?   Oh, and the other thing we all want to know is why Isabelle calls her mother's sewing machine "Henrietta"?  What a funny name to give a sewing machine!  :)  We're positive there must be a story to this funny little name! 

We only have a few days to finish all the preparations.  The girls have all decided that we should have a little party to celebrate Isabelle's arrival.  So, after we finish cleaning up after Thanksgiving, we need to get started right away setting up for a GOTY 2014 celebration!

Stay tuned!  Good gravy, we are all sooooo excited!!!!!  ~ Cindy ♥

{ A Letter From Isabelle }

Hello all!  As Cindy mentioned in the last post.....McKenna and I were so excited to receive a letter from Isabelle that we skipped the Halloween party!  I know, right?  Now, if you don't know who Isabelle is, let me fill you in.  Isabelle Palmer is going to be the American Girl® Doll's "Girl Of The Year" 2014!  Now do you see why we are so excited?!?  Totes! (that's tween lingo for totally!) 

So, when I opened the envelope, out fell a letter and two postcards from Washington DC.  One postcard had all the monuments surrounded by beautiful cherry blossoms and the other was of The Kennedy Center.  I opened her letter and began to read.....she said she and her family love to go to The Kennedy Center for shows and concerts.  I think that sounds like a lot of fun too!  She said she lives "on the edge of Georgetown about as far southeast as you can get and still be in the District."  Since neither McKenna or I have been there, we decided that we are going to look on Google Earth to see exactly where she lives.   

Isabelle went on to tell us that she and her sister attend the Anna Hart School of the Arts; a 150 year old building that was converted to a public school for the arts.  They are both ballet students.  To get into the school, students are put into a lottery and since Isabelle's older sister, Jade, was chosen via lottery, Isabelle was also able attend.   

At this point, McKenna jumped up to go and get Lanie so she could hear all about the 2014 GOTY girl.  She didn't want Lanie to miss out on any of the details!

McKenna was getting a bit anxious to hear more about this Isabelle and was wondering what on earth was taking Lanie so long in the bathroom?  FINALLY, Lanie arrived!

Lanie begged me to let her read the letter but I explained that since I am the current GOTY girl, it was my responsibility and privilege to handle all things Isabelle.  Fortunately she understood.....Lanie is such a sweet girl!  McKenna, however, was getting quite impatient and spoke up asking me to "read on!"  "Wait, wait McKenna!" Lanie blurted out, then turning to me; "Saige, I just wanna know how old is Isabelle?"  Since I had scanned a little forward in the letter while waiting on Lanie, I knew the answer; "Lanie, Isabelle is 9 years old."  Lanie was delighted even though she had confided in me last week that she secretly hoped Isabelle would be the same age as she was.  "Close enough!" Lanie replied.  I was glad she was happy about it. 

Back to the letter!  So next she told us a bit about her mom and dad;  Her mom "works at the Smithsonian conserving old textiles, taking apart and repairing gowns that were sometimes 200 years old."  "Whoa!" McKenna exclaimed!  "Now that is old!"  I absolutely agreed, as did Lanie.  Isabelle also said how much she enjoys spending time in her mother's sewing room, designing and sewing her own costumes with special finds from the monthly flea market that she, her mom and her sister go to.  All three of us were totally impressed that she sews at such a young age!  Isabelle said she'd share more about her designs and her mother's special sewing room when she comes to visit...and we can't wait!

Next Isabelle wrote that her dad "is a hospital administrator but his first love is Jazz.  He composes songs and does the band's arrangements as well as plays the drums in a jazz band that plays at bars, weddings, and bat & bar mitzvahs."  McKenna found this little tidbit extremely exciting as she loves Jazz!  She said she did a school project last year on the music of our Nation's Capitol.  Goodness gracious, McKenna had a wealth of information to share with us on this subject!  She said that one of the first major musical figures to come from Washington D.C. was John Phillip Sousa who was a composer for military brass bands.  Did you know that he composed many of our patriotic marches?  I didn't!  McKenna also shared other well known figures from DC including soul singer Roberta Flack and the legendary jazz musician Duke Ellington!   

What I read next was also terribly exciting;  "Ohhhh girls!.....She has a fuzzy white kitten named Tutu!!!"  We all three squealed with excitement since we all have dogs here at the dorm...except of course Lanie, who has her bunny.  "A kitten! A kitten! A fluffy white kitten!!!!" Lanie exclaimed.  "I soooo hope she brings her kitten with her!"  Lanie was so loud in her excitement that she woke up Hollie who had been napping in the top bunk of the bed.  "A kitten?  Where?  Did someone get a kitten?"  "No, Hollie, Isabelle, the new GOTY girl has a fluffy white kitten named Tutu.  Isn't that exciting?" 

At this, Hollie jumped down to see what all this GOTY girl and kitten talk was about.  I filled her in as she looked over McKenna's shoulder at the pretty postcard.

Then I had to talk some sense into Lanie.....you know how she is about animals.  I told Lanie that it was highly unlikely that she'd bring a tiny kitten all the way from Washington DC for a GOTY girl visit.  Slowly...ever so slowly, she came to her senses.  Sheesh.  Then Lanie took the letter and headed out to read it to the other girls who were in the kitchen and family room.  I can hear her now telling everyone about Tutu.  :)

Well, Isabelle sounds like an incredibly talented 9 year old little girl;  ballet, designing and sewing her own ballet costumes, jazz musicians in her family and Kennedy Center shows.....wow!  We have to start getting things ready for her arrival!


And while you're here...check out It's a Doll's Life Shop on Etsy!  There is also a link on the right hand side column of my blog.  I really like the photo "Friendship Cards"!  :)



{ Halloween Party 2013 }

Hello faithful readers...Cindy here!  I'm so sorry that I am so far behind in posting pictures of our Halloween party at the dorm.  With school and trying to get the girls to all do their homework and weekly chores...well, let's just say I have been way busy!

Since Halloween fell on a school night, we decided that we'd move our party to the weekend.  Our party was SUPER fun!  All the costumes were so cute.  My sister's was a total scream.....that Christina is such a crazy girl.  :)  So, now for the fun part ~ PICTURES!  Warning, there are a LOT! 

This is at the start of our party.....everybody had just gotten into their costumes and we were all congratulating each other on our superb tastes!

I'm not sure who's idea it was to use a seashell for a jack-o-lantern's nose and pearls for his mouth!  Goodness, they must have been desperately out of ideas!

I, on the other hand, decided that I would carve a pumpkin this year.  I love to make happy faces on my jackos and I love the way this one turned out.  I also am very particular about the stem on my pumpkins when choosing them.....after all, one needs a good handle on his lid, right? 

Here we have Mr. Meatloaf, looking quite spiffy!  He kept pawing at the old timey dog mask taped up to the frig.....like he wanted to wear it or something.  But, I couldn't figure out how to get it to stay on his face.....even with his fairly flat snoot, it wouldn't stay put. 

 Another of the zombie-eyed, shell-nosed pumpkin!  *facepalm*

Finally, the fashionably late Miss Faith arrived in her homemade "Spider Queen" outfit.  Since she looked so debonair, I suggested a sort of "fashion show" for each girl to show off her costume.  Faith volunteered to be first.

Next, I gave the camera to Faith and asked her to take a picture of my sister, Christina and I.  Can you tell what Christina is?  She announced herself as "The Worlds Worst Fashion Disaster".  There was no question about it.....as confirmed by the fact that her outfit gave me an immediate migraine!

Unfortunately, someone called my name right when Faith finished saying "1-2-3-Smile!".  On hindsight, I am sure it was planned in advance.....as you'll see by the next picture below...that crazy Christina had a silly plan.    

Look what I found when I took the camera from Faith and turned around!  OH MY HEAVENS!  We all absolutely DIED laughing!  Christina always makes us laugh!

After we all picked ourselves up off the floor, it was our sweet Hope's turn and needless to say, Mr. Meatloaf had to be in it with her.  Aren't they just the cutest together? 

Following Hope was our super cute Lanie!  She dressed as a Virginia Tech Hokies Fan!  This came very easy to her since she is wild about the Hokies!

And finishing up on the runway was Sarah.  She dressed as a princess.  Sarah doesn't wear pink very often at all but we all thought it was actually a good color on her and she looked so frilly and fancy!

After a LOT of good food and laughter, we finished the evening with a Conga Line and went all around the dorm.....what a blast we had! 

Now, you might be wondering where McKenna and Saige are?  First of all, yes they were invited to the party but they both decided not to come.  You see, a letter arrived in the mail the morning of the party and it was from a very special young lady.....I thought they had won the lottery the way they reacted to the letter.  Turns out, it was from their friend, Isabelle.  Once I heard this, I understood their excitement.  Isabelle is to be given the prestigious title of Girl Of The Year for 2014 and she was not due to come to the dorm until January 1st but apparently the letter indicated that she is going to be coming early for a visit and this sent McKenna and Saige into a flurry of activity!  More on that in my next post.....

{ My New Fall Sweater Outfit }

Hello to all.  My name is Sarah and this is my first post here.  I have been so busy with school I have not had the chance to share.  I'm looking forward to sharing more in the future!

Last weekend I went camping with my family and was sooo looking forward to lovely, crisp fall weather.  Unfortunately, it rained ALL weekend long.  Total bummer.  Since I love reading, I did get to read quite a few chapters of a new book I took with me.  I believe a good book is always the perfect solution to a rainy day, or two, or three.

Right before leaving, I received a package in the mail with a brand new outfit I ordered.  It is so perfect for Fall!  I love the earthy colors of fall.  They all seem to remind me of autumnal foods though; hot apple cider, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkins; deep red apples.  Oh boy, I'm getting hungry now!  Anywhoo, we decided to go for a walk in the woods since the sun had finally popped out from all the clouds.  And, all though it was silly, I decided to wear my new outfit.  I asked my family take some photos of me in it while we walked.  I love the way it looks on me......it makes me feel really pretty.  Isn't it funny how some outfits do that?  I don't often feel that way but this one really does make me feel especially pretty!

While we were walking down one of the paths, I spotted the cutest little toadstool right in the middle of the path.  It was sooo adorable!  I wanted to pick it up but since I have read that you really shouldn't touch them unless you know if it's safe or not, I decided to just bend down for a closer look.  

Next I saw some really brightly colored berries around the bottom of a tree and decided to climb through the thick ferns and brush to investigate it further. 

When I got close I saw that it was some sort of pod that opened up to reveal the most beautiful persimmon-orange colored seeds...I was so amazed at the colors!  Aren't' they beautiful??



So, in the end, despite all the rain, it was a good weekend of reading and exploring the beauty of nature that is often right in front of us and yet we miss it.  Set aside some time this fall to take a walk and really notice all the amazing little things that grow along the path! 

18 Inch Doll Outfits & 18 Inch Doll Accessories by:

Sweater dress & Hat by Debonair Designs ~ Etsy 
Chocolate brown skinny cords by The Vintage Doll Trunk ~ Etsy