Lorna McNessie-Monster High

I have a thing for Scotland.
The Scottish accent, to me, is the loveliest English speaking accent I have ever heard.
I love shortbread!
My favorite book is Outlander and Jamie Fraser is my dream man. (you're welcome for that eye candy!)   :}

And when I found out Monster High was coming out with a "Scottish" foreign exchange monster, I knew I had to have her. :)

This is my first Monster High review on the blog, but there are SO MANY out there, and essentially all of them are pretty similar, so this is just a quick overview for anyone interested in this new character.

I purchased mine in-store at Walmart, but you can also find her at Amazon here:
Monster High Monster Exchange Program Lorna McNessie Doll

Lorna McNessie

Such a bonnie lass...

Lorna is the daughter of the Loch Ness Monster.  Isn't she stunning?  I love her!

Here's a look at her packaging..typical Monster High packaging.  

Per Monster Wikia: 

The Monster Exchange series consists of eight characters who participate in a student exchange program, either from or to Monster High. Three - Draculaura, Lagoona Blue, and Finnegan Wake - leave US American soil, while the other five come to attend the unique high school. The assortment is made up from two waves, the first consisting of Lagoona, Draculaura, Marisol Coxi, and Lorna McNessie. This first wave was released in Early November of 2014. The second wave is expected for April-June of 2015 and is a collection of Kjersti Trollson, Isi Dawndancer, Batsy Claro, and "Fan Vote Doll", which has to be Finnegan.

Favorite activity:  Photobombing.  So good! 

For more details about her story, click here.

Today, during my weekly grocery shop, I stopped by Walmart for a few things and was really surprised to see 3 new Monster High dolls.  Lorna was one of them, but I was also really tempted by Marisol Coxi (daughter of the Bigfoot) and a little less tempted by Haunted Student Spirits Kiyomi Haunterly.  

Lorna's hair is firey red and wavy, with highlights with darker curls on top which are a bit of a rustier red. 

Her outfit is probably the cutest I've seen of all the Monster High girls.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the shirt and skirt were 2 seperate pieces.  The skirt has little Loch Ness monsters on it. Her little travel bag actually opens. 

Cute shoes...I'm wondering if they could've done something a little more creative, but they really go nicely with the rest of her outfit. 

Lorna McNessie and Black Carpet Laguna

Before I had Lorna, Laguna was my favorite MH character.  I love the ocean, water and marine biology so that is probably why I like her so much and why Lorna appeals to me. 

As you can see, Lorna has one of the little sister bodies.  Her body is covered with little scales and her hands are webbed even more so than Laguna's.  

I like the proportions of the smaller bodies a bit more.  They just look "healthier."

I can't get over the red eyebrows. 

Lorna has a gorgeous face.  Her eyes are big, round and bright and a lovely blue/green shade. She has a pretty shimmer to her skin similar to MH Abbey Bominable.  Her full lips are a peachy pink and she has upturned fangs, also similar to Abbey.   

She has the cutest profile out of any MH doll I've ever seen. 

I love her ears! 

Very different profiles as you can see.  

Sorry Laguna, but Lorna's my new fave! 

Lorna and Black Carpet Draculaura

Lorna and Freaky Fusion Operetta

"See ye efter!" 

When I first started collecting dolls this summer, I immediately fell into the MH craze.  I have sooo many on my wish list, but in reality, I only have about 8 dolls.  It's easy to feel like you want to collect them all, but I have narrowed it down to hoping to own just one of each character (and maybe a few of the Laguna's as I love her character on the webisodes.)
I hope to do photo shoots with them all at some point as they are really fun to pose!

I haven't bought any in a while, but this particular doll caught my eye and I am happy to have her in my collection.  She is my favorite MH character to date and I am really looking forward to the 2nd wave of the Exchange series that is due out this Spring.

Aye..a wee bonnie lass indeed. 

I hope you all had a fabulous and Merry Christmas and I have tons of holiday photos to share in the coming days.  I've had a such a fun time blogging these past 5 months and hope for another fun year of dolls, crochet (seriously slacking!) and appreciation of the good fortune around me to share with you all.  

This might be my last post of the year, and if so..Happy New Year! As always, thanks again for stopping by :)

xo

Disclaimer:  I recently signed up for the Amazon Affiliates program.  If you would like to support this blog, please consider using my Amazon link on the top left side bar for any happy Amazon shopping you might do (or click directly on the link to the specific product) and a teeny tiny commission would be generated for this blog to be used for doll reviews and upcoming giveaways.  It does not cost anything for you at all.
If you have your own Amazon Affiliates link, let me know and I will go through yours as well!  (I do a lot of shopping on Amazon, lol.)
Thank you so much! :) xoxo

Igloos and the Shortest Day of the Year.

Hi bloggy friends!  Super short post tonight...I have to go to bed, but wanted to share this amazing igloo we built a few days ago as well as our Yule Log we decorated today to celebrate our appreciation of light and the darkest day of the year. 

Hoping you are all enjoying this holiday season. 

Two of my really good friends came over the other day and wanted to build an igloo for the girls.  I've known these two since we were all in Kindergarten together and am so glad we still keep in touch.  We are kindred souls for sure.  One of them lives in Oregon and had been visiting for the holidays so we got out a bottle of wine and build this in just under 3 hours.  Pumpkin Pie LOVED it.  Little Button wouldn't go anywhere near it ;)

Pretending we were celebrating Christmas in the Artic :) 

Later in the week I took a quiet, peaceful walk outside and gathered up some winter greenery and pine cones to add to our Winter Solsitc Yule Log.  Pumpkin Pie found this tiny little bird's nest on the ground (safe to say it was no longer in use) and we added that to our lovely display.

This is the first year that I really talked to the girls about the Winter Solstice the celebration of light and it was fun to have a little candlelight ceremony to acknowledge the "darkest day of the year."

The Winter Solstice is one of my favorite days of the year as it reminds me that the days will be getting longer.  Even though we still have a good 3 months of real winter left here in NY, I look forward to more snowy walks through the woods, more cozy warm drinks, the smell of the wood stove and more beautiful snowfalls to come.
Spring will be here soon enough :)

Happy Winter Solace to you all.  :)

xoxo

Nyesha-Hearts for Hearts Doll

Ahhh, beautiful Nyesha...

This is one of the newly released Hearts for Hearts dolls that I was fortunate enough to add to my collection a couple of weeks ago.  This is just a really quick look with photos, but if you are interested in an in-depth review, there is a great one by the lovely beastsbelle at her blog Never Grow Up.  

You know me, I really just like to take the pics ;)

I also really like her because she's a New Yorker like me :)

I wanted to do a brief comparison of my two beautiful African American ladies to show the subtle, but appreciated differences in their face-molds.  

The other doll here is Rahel (from Ethopia) and I did a fuller review of her here if you are interested. 

Both sets of clothing are pretty bold, focusing mostly on primary colors, with some fun bright accents like the aqua blue.  

Their hair type is quite different and Rahel's is quite a bit darker as you can see in the photos. 

Looks like you forgot my other sandal, Farrah!

I was really happy to see the uniqueness of their profiles.  Nyesha's nose has a higher bridge, which I think is really cute.  Rahel's is more petite and celestial in shape.  Rahel also has a larger, rounder chin and fuller lower cheeks.   Both are lovely.

Nyesha and Rahel have very similar, if not exact, amber-colored eyes.  I would've liked to see a richer brown eye color, but in reality, I think if it was too much darker, it would look a bit creepy as you wouldn't really be able to distinguish the pupils from the iris, so it's probably good to have a bit of contrast.

Their eye shape is pretty exact, but as you can see Nyesha's eye shadowing is bit rounder while Rahel's is more almond shaped.  There are also subtle differences in the fullness and angle of their eyebrows.  Nyesha's make her look a bit more "wide-eyed" and younger.

Nyesha's face is slightly rounder as Rahel's full cheeks taper to a more distinct point, emphasizing her little chin.

The most obvious difference is their lips.  Nyesha has an innocent down-turned mouth expression (but quite pleasing) with fuller lips painted in a cotton-candy pink where-as Rahel's lips are more refined and in a natural dusky maroon.

Again you can notice the different nose shapes from the front.
They are both so gorgeous!

Nyesha's clothes look really lovely on Dell.  The accent colors go beautifully with her aqua eyes.  

I think maybe next time I really need to be aware of the earrings on these dolls as pretty much every photo has crooked earring (as well as whether they have both shoes on!)  Sorry :}

Overall, this doll is a true beauty.  Here little face is so endearing and Little Button has chosen her out the the line-up as her favorite.  You may notice that one of her blue earrings is already missing!  We've had a lot of fun dressing them up in the other girls clothes and making up stories for them so it's worth it.  I'm sure it will turn up eventually although it's probably already been sucked up in the vacuum.  I really recommend these dolls, but I will say, as with most dolls, if you are giving them to a child to play with, definitely braid the hair as it will be a mess within a day, unfortunatley.  Despite that, they are so well made for the price and I love the subtle difference in their face molds.
We love Nyesha!

I just found another review of her with GORGEOUS photos on Steph's blog "many small friends."

She is actually on sale right now from Toys R'Us for $19.99 (usually $27.99) if you are interested! :) 

Hope everyone's holiday shopping is going well.  I still have  A LOT to do...hoping to wrap (ha!) it up this weekend.  Friday is payday so you know what that means ;) 

xo

Christmas Trees and Gingerbread Houses

Happy Christmas season to you all!  My goodness, it's been a busy month for us.  I love it.  My brother and his wife came to visit from sunny Florida and we had such a great time with them this weekend.  They moved down there just about a year ago and we miss them tremendously, so it was such a treat to have time to catch up and hang out.  I feel utterly blessed to have such a great family as my siblings and I are all really close.  I just adore them immensely.  

We put our tree up last weekend and made some gingerbread houses so I hope you enjoy the photos. 

The girls are really getting into the Christmas spirit this year.  Pumpkin Pie has been in full swing now for a few years...really "getting it" and reveling in the excitement of counting down to Christmas Eve.  Little Button is feeding off of that excitement like a little sponge.  

We always break out the eggnog for the first time during the tree decorating.  

Delish....

I scored this little ceremic gem at a garage sale, I love it! 

We had one when I was young..vintage Christmas is what I live for..

Hopefully the cat doesn't try to eat the tinsel as we all know what happens with that...

Pumpkin Pie's Masterpiece.  

J joined in on the fun and his is to the right.  

My little A-frame, wasn't working out so well. :)

Little Button loved hers a little too much and it crashed down with the weight of all of her love :}

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to have the chance to spend the day in New York City with some friends and had just the most amazing time.  I just can't describe the incredible energy I feel down there when I visit and it is especially buzzing with Christmas cheer this time of year.  Magical, really.

Pictures to follow! 

I hope you're all having an a amazing day.  Today's also the first day of Hannukah so a very Happy Hannukah to you as well.  :)

xoxo