{ 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"!  :)