Christmas Love is All Around Us :)

Everyone had a great time at the doll Christmas party the other night and I wanted to share a few of my favorites photos. :)

There seems to be a lot of love in the air around here lately and I'm not sure if it's from all the delicious egg nog they've been drinking, or just plain Christmas spirit, but some of the dolls have decided that now is a good time to let others know how they feel.  

Hunter and Ashlyn decided to take some time to really look at each other's positive qualities.  They are one of the "older" couples around here and have to occasionally work on their relationship, just like any other couple.  They have decided to schedule more time for having fun and traveling to new places.  Even though Ashlyn is a Royal and Hunter is a Rebel, they have found a way to make their differences part of the excitement that keeps them together. 

Holt has patiently been waiting for Frankie to make up her mind on whether or not she wants to date him, Jackson or Neighton.  He's loved Frankie from the moment he met her and loves her for the kind and wonderful ghoul that she is.
At the Christmas party this year, Frankie finally saw Holt for the big-hearted "hot head" he is and agreed to finally give in tothe sparks she felt when she was near him.

Holt was speechless for the first time....ever. 

Alistair and Bunny accidently found themselves under the mistletoe and as Bunny shyly reached up to give him a kiss, he couldn't contain his feelings any longer.  They both confessed that they felt their friendship blossoming into something deeper for the past few months and were excited to finally have the courage to see where things lead.

Love is definitely in the air around here and Christmas is the perfect time to tell someone you love them.
I love you all and Merry Christmas! :)
Here's to a fabulous holiday filled with love, appreciation and the hope and eagerness of what's to come in the New Year.

Farrah xoxo

Winter Solstice

Here in the US, we celebrate today as being the shortest day of the year.  The Winter Solstice will occur at 11:48pm here on the East Coast and I always love to observe this day as now we can start moving back into more hours of sunlight.  Even though we aren't observing the coldest temps of the season, (far from it, actually!) it marks the end of the "dark season", and always brings with it the hope of light and warmth.

Today the sun rose at 7:22am and set at 4:26pm.  It's always so funny to think that at this time during summer (it's 6:40pm as I type this) we still have a few hours of sunshine left in the day!

I hope you are all having a lovely time, enjoying the last few days before Christmas.  I have done really well on my "get stuff done" list and am excited to say that I am caught up on gift wrapping and I weeded through all of the girls toys and have so many boxes to donate.  It feels SO GOOD to have de-cluttered their rooms!!
I also caught "The Sound of Music" on TV last night and enjoyed it so much! It's one of my all time favorite movies.

If I'm not able to sneak in one more post before Christmas, I want to wish you all a very merry and wonderul holiday.
xoxo Farrah

Made to Move Barbies Back in Stock!!

Hi guys,
Just wanted to let you know that the Made to Move Barbies are all back in stock on Amazon for their normal price of $14.99. :)  Yay!!
You can click directly on the photo to go right to the page to check out more info for each one.

My review of Teresa is here :)   I just love these dolls!!

 Happy Shopping! xo Farrah

 PLEASE NOTE: This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. :)

In-Store Holiday Report

Hello everyone!
Thank you for your kind comments regarding my last post about taking a brief blogging break.  It's so appreciated and it sounds like everyone pretty much goes through the same thing.

Today, though, I do have a post to share, so I guess I'm not taking TOO much of a break yet, lol.

Here is my quick in-store report for the month of the November.
A few new things popped up at my local Walmart and Target and I wanted to share them with you all.

Here's a look at the 2015 Holiday Chelsea dolls that are exclusive to Target.
I think they are all really cute, but I'm really disappointed that their tops are molded and not fabric. I have been seeing this trend a lot this year and I hope it's not a permanent change for the Chelsea dolls.

This Mattel Barbie - Sisters Winter Holiday Fun Exclusive Dolls is still tempting to me, but I wish I could buy their clothes only! 

Barbie and Ken finally tied the knot.
I think they all look great in this Barbie Wedding Set , but it appears as though the top of Barbie's dress is molded on.
Why would they do that??
Sorry Ken, but you're going to have a heck of a time on your honeymoon with this one! ;)

As for Fashionistas, these beauties were new to me this month.  I still haven't seen any sign of that darn freckled redhead that I want! Do you guys think she will ever been in stores, or was she already and I missed her?

Barbie Fashionistas Doll #2
 I hope to get her...

Barbie Fashionistas Doll #4
 I almost got her...so pretty!

Barbie Fashionistas Doll Flower Fun, #5
 Not sure if I want her, but I'd like to see photos of that pink hair tie out of her hair. 

Barbie Fashionistas Doll - Tribal Print Romper
 Not sure if I want her, but she looks very sassy and I like that. :) 

Barbie Fashionistas Grace Doll, Pink Sleeveless Dress
 Definitely want her! 

Barbie Donut Top Fashionista Doll by Mattel
 I think I want her because she looks like a grown up Skipper!

This is the first time I've seen the Ever After High Fairest on Ice dolls in stores so I grabbed all three characters!
The only other place I could find them was on Amazon where they were marked really high so I was really happy to find them in the store at their normal price.

 EAH Fairst on Ice Dutchess Swan

Bratz SnowKissed Doll- Cloe 

 I don't collect Bratz dolls, but this one looked kind of cute and I liked her wintery theme and cute leggings. 

Barbie in Rock 'N Royals Pop Star Doll To be honest, I really only took this photo because she's playing a Keytar. :) 

Fancy pants "Boho" Sunset Shimmer Sporty Style Motocross Doll from the new My Little Pony Equestria Girls movie, Friendship Games (which is currently on Netflix!)

 As for Frozen, they had this new Disney Frozen Troll Wedding Deluxe 11" set .  Kristoff looks like he needs a drink.  Sorry Mattel, but the face ups are awful!

These were some new wave 2 Monster High Mega Blocks figures I saw, which I haven't noticed in stores prior.  I'll admit, I had all three in my cart, but put them back as I decided I really didn't NEED to start collecting them.  They are very cute, but their faces are a bit too stoic for me.  On the other hand, they would make very cute MH dolls for my larger 18 inch gals!
I might get the girls each one as a stocking stuffer so when they get tired if them, I can keep it for my collection. ;)

Well, I hope you enjoyed my in-store report!  Have you guys seen anything fun or interesting in stores lately where you live?

I don't think I will do a November doll haul video or post this month as I have been wanting to take a quick break as mentioned in my last post, but if you're interested, here is a list of dolls I was fortunate to add last month:

Barbie:  Made to Move Teresa (which I already reviewed here), Barbie Collector The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Katniss Everdeen Doll and Barbie Collector The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Katniss Doll, and  Barbie FAO Schwarz Toy Soldier Doll Brunette

Ever After High:  Ever After High Bunny Blanc Doll (marked down to $10 on Amazon!) and Fairest on Ice Ashlynn, Dutchess and Poppy.

American Girl: GOTY Grace (she will be on sale for 20% through 12/12/15)!  (she was the doozy this month) as well as Grace's Travel coat (I can't find the link...did this sell out?) and her Opening Night Outfit.  I also splurged on Rebecca's Limited Edition bathing suit/chair (on sale, but must now be retired as I can't find this link either) as well as Mini Kaya.

If there are any you would specifically like to see more detail or a review on, please let me know!

Hope you all have a good rest of your day. :)
xo Farrah

Please note:  This post contains some Amazon Associate links!  :) 

Hello to You and Some Quick Updates :)

Hello, hello!
I feel like it's been ages since I last blogged!  I don't have anything particularly specific to write about today, but I just wanted to check in with a quick "Hi" as I've missed you all.
We just got back on Sunday from a family trip to Florida to visit my brother in the St. Petersburg area.  We ended up driving down (from where we live in NY) on Thanksgiving Day so this famously food-a-licious holiday was spent in a hotel eating turkey subs at our halfway point in Fayetteville, NC!  It was so weird. :)
We stayed at my aunt and uncle's condo in Tarpon Springs (love, love, loved it!) and visited a few beaches, had dinner and drinks with Florida family, spent time with my brother and sister-in-law, and even managed to stay overnight at Disney one night!
We had a great time, but more on that later. :)

As for the blog, I have struggled with finding more time for blogging and I am trying my best not to let anxiety build up as it sometimes can this time of year.  I love to write and post photos so much, but unfortunately, having a full time job and little kids and a husband doesn't leave much time for hobbies. :(  If I could wave a magic wand and be able to do blogging instead of go to work, I would totally do that!!  I know as things move on, I will eventually have more and more time, but for now, I feel like I've been putting too much pressure on myself for getting in regular posts, especially my routine ones like the "Monthly Wrap Ups", "In-store Reports" and "Doll Haul."
It's time to let go a little and enjoy the wonderful present moment.

I will probably be taking a little bit of a blogging break for the rest of the month, just to catch up on some things I need to get done around here.  I have some Christmas decorating to finish as well some gifts to make and crafts I want to do. I am a sucker for Christmas movies so most of my evenings will probably be spent watching movies and eating a bunch of sugary goodness that I don't usually eat at any other times of the year! I'm working on a few photo books to give as Christmas gifts as well as cleaning and donating a lot of toys and kids stuff that have built up over the years. I also want to try to back up all of the photos on my computer to Flickr until I purchase a hard drive.  It doesn't sound like much, but when I only have an hour or two of free time each day, it seems to get sucked up so quickly!

So in summary, I am trying to enjoy more of life in the present moment for now instead of worrying about documenting every little thing or quickly immortalizing it on the blog.  I want this space to be an enjoyable place to share my dolls and daily life so my intuition is telling me to step back a little and enjoy this holiday season and get my stuff done that needs to be done!

I have a few drafts almost ready to be posted that I hope to add soon, but for now, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying all of your own holiday festivities! :) This is one of my most favorite times of the year. :)

Merry Christmas from mine to yours :)

xo Farrah 

Feel Good Friday-PTX and MJ

Happy Friday, everyone!  

You know how I am about my Fridays. 

LOVE THEM. 

If you like Pentatonix you will love this video.  If you like Michael Jackson, you will love it even more.  

There are no other instruments other than their voices!  

So good :)

Hope you all have a great weekend.
xo Farrah 

Barbie's New Bod (Made to Move Barbie)

Happy Monday (blech!)
Tonight, I wanted to share a few photos of the amazing new "Made to Move" Barbie, I just purchased last week from Amazon.
I hadn't even heard of this doll until I saw her photographed and posing like a dream on one of my favorite Instagram accounts for fashion dolls (@kid_md_plays).
I wanted to share a few quick photos of her in case you were interested to see the amazing articulation she has!

Stretch it out, girl!

These Barbies retail for about $14.99.  That part I couldn't believe. 

There are 3 different Barbies available...Barbie, Pink Top , Barbie (Teresa), Blue Top and 

and Barbie (Asian facemold), Purple Top.  According to the packaging, it looks like there will be a dark skinned Barbie coming out as well. I hope they make these in lots of different skin tones.

When I checked Amazon, the only one still in stock was Teresa, which was perfect because she's my favorite! They must have sold out pretty quickly at first, but I'm sure they will be back in stock soon. 

She comes dressed in a simple blue top with black, cropped yoga pants.  She does not come with any shoes. 

Her facial screening is simple, yet beautiful.  Her eyes are hazel-ish grey and I love her bold brows! Very Brook Shields in that Blue Lagoon movie.  

(Gosh, I need to re-watch those movies..I used to love them!) 

Image found here

I think I will call her Brooke too. :) 

My favorite facial feature of hers are her double dimples!  You can see them a little better in this black and white photo. :) 

Now onto her articulation! 

Warning...nude photos of developed doll figure are below....

Right??

It's like a Liv body for Barbies..but even better! 

What impressed me the most was her elbow joints, which are similar to the new large scale Monster High dolls that came out this past summer.  Her chest plate is flexible as well giving her wonderful variety of expressions and poses. 

Not only does she have awesome flexibility in her knees and elbows, you can rotate her upper arms and thighs to add even more creative posing.  

We can meditate together! 

Overall, I am so impressed. 

I am excited to see other peoples' reviews of her in the coming days.

Sorry this isn't more of a detailed review. :\

 I enjoy photographing my dolls, but just don't have the time to set up a good quality review so I hope someone does one here in Blogland.  I am fairly certain Emily will be all over this!  

Now if they could only put these bodies on those gorgeous Fashionistas, we'd be all set. 

$14.99...you just can't beat the price!  

Yay Mattel!

Yay Barbie!

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