Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Journey Girl 18inch Doll Collection... So Far...


Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!

Welcome to the next installment of the 'My Collection So Far...' posts. This one is focusing on the Journey Girls and Espari Dolls by Lotus. You might have already seen my collection if you caught the YouTube video about them. Still, I don't tell thier names in that so now you can find those out as well.


At the outset of my posting about my collections I was trying to list or show them in the order in which they came home to the Doll House. Well, with this post, I've completely thrown that idea out... Because it's getting harder and harder to remember which came home when without a lot of thought. So I'll try and tell a little bit about when/where they came from if I can recall as I write this post.


Spectrum was found at a Thrift Store and was one of the very first Journey Girl Dolls I ever owned.... Obviously I customized her along the way... I think she's adorable with her rainbow wig.




Portia was also found at a thrift store and I am so glad to have her. I think she looks so pretty in this My Life As Doll Party Planner doll dress. 




Ava came home around Christmas and is named after my daughters best friend in elementary school. 





Susannah is the Doll House resident Baker and Hairstylist as well... Yes, she is just that talented. She was my very first Journey Girl doll, a gift from my husband. She is named after a dear friend...



 Hemalayaa is our resident yoga instructor. 




Chelsea came home last summer when ToysRUs put her on too good a sale to pass up... In my first post about her I mentioned I might name her after a cousin but then one day when I was at church I glanced up at my good friend Chelsea and it just clicked, they are so alike! 




 Gasper was found at a Thrift Store and customized, obviously. She's named after a life long friend of mine and I think she looks just like her...






Cindy came home new and in a fit of 'customizing madness' got her hair totally redone with a totally different wig...



 Carissa came home new to the Doll House. I think she's gorgeous and she's named after my equally (more) gorgeous sister in law in real life.




Karen is part of the two doll set that Ava came with. She is named after my husbands Aunt. 





 Rosanna is named after my second cousin who is pretty just like she is. I can't recall when she joined the Doll House nor can I find a post about it.... Maybe one of my readers will remember? In any case, she's so pretty!




Aliyah is an Espari doll I got as a gift from my husband




Scarlett came home to the Doll House as one of my very first Journey Girls.




 Vanessa came home is my most recent Journey Girl doll.... She was on clearance for only $12.98 and so I had to bring her home! She's named after a gal I go church with who used to do the games in our Awana program. She looks a lot like her and I love the name Vanessa.



A couple of Journey Girls I've customized in the past have gone to live in Korea with my sister friend Frann. Here is a photo of them, below.


So that's it... Holler if you have any questions about details etc. that I've left out. 
Have a great day!
XXOO
Heather




Sunday, February 25, 2018

Frann Doll Attends Weekend Retreat!!



Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

Once a year my church has a Women's Retreat. It only runs from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon but for it only being 22hours, it really recharges my 'batteries'. Something about getting together with all my church sisters and chatting, praying, worshipping, eating, playing games, doing crafts and giggling until the wee small hours of the morning creates some manner of healing that you don't really know you need until you get it. If that makes sense. I've gone every year for over half a decade now and wouldn't miss it. Last year I decided to bring Frann Doll along so I could get some photos of her at the amazing facility we have it in every year, Carol Joy Holling Camp. It is a lovely venue with beautiful scenery and a 'silence' you just can't find in the city. So, as is what I imagine will be my yearly habit as well, I brought Frann along with me this year too! I wish I could bring the real Frann (someday!?) but in the meantime, it's fun to have her doppelganger doll with me. Kind of like a virtual visit with her. Teehee. I think I've gotten quite a lot better at taking doll photos in the year since I took her last year...



Here she is in the lobby...


I think playing with perspectives is so much fun... I am not perfect at it yet but I think I nailed it in the above photo. Frann Doll, I think, looks like she really is 'human size'. Don't you think so? 


I should've taken photos of how you go about getting perspectives like this... Wasn't thinking of 'how to' when I was taking photos, only of trying to get right angles. I took all these photos at about 5am Saturday morning after my walk... I am strange, it doesn't matter what time I go to bed, my internal alarm wakes me up at about 4:00am everyday. So, per my Fitbit,  got 3 hours and 16mins of sleep Friday night. Haha. It's so odd though because when I wake up, I am awake! So, why fight it, I get up and make the most of my quiet time where the entire world is my own.


I don't think I did as well on perspectives on this photo (above)... Unless you don't know what size the fireplace really is and it could just be a huge one... 


I didn't move her, I just changed angle..... Hmmm... Was trying to get the letters in the photo.


I think I did pretty good on the perspectives on these photos... See all the tables with items all over them? Well a neat idea they came up with last year was to have a handful of the ladies from our church bring in 'all my favorite things' to put on a table. Kind of like Show&Tell or something. It's a fun way for the rest of us to get to know fun things about those particular women in church. I mean, we all know each other pretty well but how often does it really come up what your favorite books or foods (etc) are? So it's fun to look at all their tables and find out fun facts about them. We have a lot of ladies in our church and so I've not been asked to make a table yet (which is fine because I think it's probably a lot of work to put together!!) but should I ever be asked I bet you can guess what there would more than one of on my table? Hahaha. Yes, dolls. I got no shame. Hahaha. My church sisters mostly all know about my hobby... I mean we generally always have new people (because any healthy church should be having new people, right?) and I sometimes wonder what they might think of my doll bringing habits but.... Life's too short to worry about such things, right? Just kidding! I don't want to alienate anyone by them thinking I'm bonkers but, if they stick around long enough, they'll find out I am in any case. So might as well know it up front, right? *giggles*



The rooms they have at Camp Joy Holling are so pretty! I love the chairs in this room!





































They have the most amazing snack room at Camp Joy Holling!! See all those yummy snacks and goodies? They are all part of the price of the weekend!! Did I mention a lot of eating goes on at retreat? LOL




Frann went out and walked to the other building. We have such a large group that we take up two buildings! Haha. They are both lovely though.




Isn't the Swanson building pretty all lit up at night? As you can see, there was a lot of snow on the ground... I didn't take Frann to the little village this year because it was really pretty treacherous outside. Pretty though!


I discovered something I didn't even know was there this year... This nifty little work out room is available! Isn't it neat? I actually did my yoga on Saturday morning but just tucked into an empty meeting room near my room to do it because to get to this little workout room you have to go outside. Haha.


Here is Frann in the ginormous room next to the cafeteria where they serve us our meals. The food is really pretty good and plentiful. I can't say enough nice things about Camp Joy Holling. I think they are the bees knees.


Here is where we eat. So many fun conversations have taken place at these tables!


And the room where we have our large group talk and worship. They also cleared the chairs in this room Saturday morning and a group of dedicated ladies did Jazzersize at 7am. I helped move the chairs but I don't think I am coordinated enough to do that sort of thing. Haha.

Well, I better run if I am going to get to church on time...
I hope this finds you having a peaceful Sunday (or whatever day it is when you're reading this!)

XXOO
Heather