Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Another Year Come and Gone










These are all straight out of camera other than the water mark. :) I would have actually gone outside and taken these photos, but 16 degree weather sounded less than fun. :P

Another year has come and gone. Each year seems to go a bit faster for us, this year especially.

I'm hoping that 2015 will remain as good a year as this year has been. This may seem a bit vague, but I'll just say that 2013 was probably the worst year of my life for several reasons. I won't tell you those reasons, because most of them even my closest friends don't know.

You all have changed my life in a way that I thought it couldn't be changed. I have never been able to talk about my love of American Girl with ANYONE other than June. I think blogging has made me more friendly in a way that I never imagined. I'm very glad for that because I have been extremely shy for several years.

I also have become more free to express who I am. Before I started school this year, I kept my obsession with reading and 1D fairly quiet. This wasn't entirely on purpose, but none of my friends, other than a select few, knew about these things and wanted to share an interest. Blogging has allowed me to open up about what I love, even at school, and for that I'm very grateful.

I have a few goals for this year, although they are not very big.

  • I want to improve my photography skills. I'm taking a photography class next semester, so I'm hoping this may aid in improving my photography skills. More often than not, they're fairly mediocre. 
  • I would like to begin exercising more so that I can be ready to try out for my school's volleyball team. I have wanted to for several years, but I have never gone through with it.
  • This seems like a silly one, but I would like to maintain a 4.0 GPA. 
  • This one is also silly, but I would like to read more than 25 books this year. In 2014, I've only read 19 (and I thought I would be able to read 50 :P), and I would like to increase that number. 
I was inspired to do this post by Adi because she's so wonderful. You can see her original post here.
I hope you all enjoyed the photos and are making New Year's Resolutions of your own.

See you all in 2015!!
Additional Info:
Doll: Julie Historical
Camera: Nikon Coolpix S4300
Clothing: Top made by me
                Jeans from Julie's Meet Outfit
                Shoes from Julie's Meet Outfit

Saturday, December 27, 2014

The Christmas Surprise & A Review on Some New Outfits

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had an amazing Christmas!! Also, if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have had a wonderful week! So I was planning on posting this story about what the girls got from me for Christmas anyway, but then I received something on Christmas that surprised me. Soooo...that means that that gift gets included in the story as well. Also, sorry if parts of the story seem a bit incomplete; a few of the pics I took were too blurry to go into the story in the end. :)
~

 It was Christmas morning, and the girls were all gathered in Molly and Felicity's bedroom. They were waiting for Julie to return from the bathroom so that they could open gifts. 
 "I hope Julie's okay; she's been in there for a long time," Felicity said, starting to feel worried about her younger sister.
The girls heard Julie call from the bathroom. "Just go out without me and begin opening gifts. I'll be out in a little bit."
 The girls got up and made a procession towards the dining room. Marie dashed ahead, yelling, "YAY, PRESENTS!!!!"
 The silvery tree glimmered in the soft light leaking in from the windows. It created a peaceful aura within the room. 
 The girls gathered around the tree.
Molly inquired, "I was Santa last year, so I think someone else should have a turn."
 "I'll be Santa!" Cecile said, raising her hand a bit. 
 Cecile got closer to the tree and picked up a bright red gift box. It had a tag that said, "Felicity."
 Cecile brought the gift over to Felicity,
 and Felicity set the gift delicately in her lap as she began easing the lid of the box open. 
 When the box had been opened, Felicity gasped, staring in awe at the cream colored skirt in her lap. "Oh my goodness, it's gorgeous!! Thank you so much everyone!"
 Next, Cecile picked up a gift bag for Caroline, and set it in her lap.
 Caroline untied the bag, and found a large bottle of coconut scented lotion in the bag.
"This is just what I asked for, thanks girls!"
 The gift giving continued as Molly received a box tied with curly white ribbon. 
 She opened it and found an extremely soft yellow scarf inside. The scarf was embellished with small buttons shaped like snowflakes.
 Molly slipped the scarf over her head and said, "Ooh, this is so cozy. Thanks!!"
 While Molly admired her gift, Cecile handed Marie-Grace a fairly large box with penguin wrapping paper.
 She edged the ribbon off, and gently tore the paper.
 She opened the box and found a pair of lime green Tom style shoes. 
 She slipped them on and giggled. 
"These are absolutely wonderful! Thank you, all of you!!"
 Cecile continued fetching gifts from under the tree, the latest one with Marie's name. 
 As soon as Marie received the gift, she tore at the paper and opened the box. 
 Marie gasped as she saw what the box contained. 
 She unfolded the small quilt and exclaimed, "BITTY BEAR WILL LOVE IT!!"
 Just as Cecile was about to grab another gift, Nicki stopped her by saying, "Cecile, why don't you open your gift?"
Cecile laughed and said, "Alright, I will." 
 She grabbed the gift and sat next to Caroline, tugging the snowy white paper out of the gift bag. 
 Cecile pulled a throw pillow that matched her bed quilt perfectly.
"This is gorgeous, I can't wait to put it on my bed!!"
 Cecile got up and grabbed the last gift, feeling a bit puzzled because the tag said Nicki's name. Where was Julie's gift? Nevertheless, she brought the gift over to Nicki.
 Nicki opened the box slowly.
 "AHHHHHHHHH!!! Thank you so much everyone, I love it!!" Nicki said as she pulled the turquoise DSLR out of the box and snapping a quick picture of all of her sisters. 
 "Wait, where is Julie? She said she would be out in a moment," Molly said feeling rather confused. 
 "Oh, just calm yourselves down," the girls heard a voice say. "I'm right here."
The girls all looked to the hallway, and felt their mouths drop open. 
 Julie was walking down the hallway, wearing some of Felicity's old pajamas.
 She sat down next to Molly and Cecile, and looked at the girls. 
 "Uh, um, hey Julie. Y-you're, you're tall?" Cecile stammered staring in wonder at Julie. "Oh, and there wasn't a gift for you under the tree-"
 Julie cut Cecile off mid-sentence and said, "I know there's no gift for me under the tree. That's because I got my wish." She smiled, obviously trying to keep a laugh inside.
 "Wh-what do you mean Jules?"
 Suddenly unable to control her laughter, Julie fell back, and amidst a laugh, said, "Don't you remember? My wish was '2 B Tall!'"
~
 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My wonderful parents got me Julie for Christmas. She was a gently used doll, and she is absolutely gorgeous!! 
 I owe you all a bit of an explanation. I had NO IDEA that I was getting Julie for Christmas, yet when the girls and I made a Christmas wish list, mini Julie's wish was "2 B Tall." (In that exact spelling!) I honestly had no idea what to do for her for Christmas, and obviously she just wanted to be tall. I was going to write this photostory anyway, but I had a dilemma: what was Julie going to get for Christmas?

I suppose my parents solved that problem for me by giving me Miss Julie Adrianne. She included her original meet outfit, a doll stand, and Julie's dog walking outfit (with two out of the three dogs). I am so grateful to be able to have her, and I finally feel like my doll collection is truly complete, for I have always wanted Julie. 

In addition to Julie, I also got a few outfits from AG and OG. I am so grateful for all of the things that I got for the girls from my siblings, parents, and grandparents!! Thank you so much to all of you!!
 First is Julie's Dog Walking Set: The overall outfit is great quality, and I love some of the little details such as the embroidery on her top and the cable knit hat. The outfit only included two of the three dogs, but that's alright; the outfit was my favorite part of it originally anyway.
I give it 10 out of 10
 I Lilac You OG shoes: I only got the shoes in this photo; the other items were given to me at another time or I made them myself. These shoes are AMAZING quality, and they are too stinking adorable.
I give them 10 out of 10!
 Julie's Swim Set: I got this outfit from my bro, and I ADORE it!! All of the accessories are amazing quality. The only issue I found with the outfit was that the flip flops are made out of foam. Overall though, it doesn't really affect the overall outfit. 
I give this outfit 10 out of 10. 
Lastly I got the Little Miss Dahling Dress from OG, and the OG Travel Accessory set. The dress is really really well made, and I think it looks really sweet on a doll. And can we just take a moment to appreciate how adorable the sandals are?? They're fabulous!! Although they are cute, I found that the sandals can only just barely Velcro together at the ankle. 
I give this outfit 9 out of 10.
I didn't show all the accessories from the Travel Set, but they are all really cute, and are really good quality. For instance, the pack of cards actually has real cards in it!
I give the set 10 out of 10. 

I hope you all enjoyed the story. I felt it was a little too cheesy, but hopefully its cheesiness did not make it a total drag. :]

Oh, one more thing!! Since Nicki got a camera, I'm hoping to have her start Nicki's Nook fairly soon. :D
Have a fantastically wonderful day my friends!