Saturday, August 18, 2012

Maggie's Memos: Giveaway Results

After a week of waiting, it's time to announce the winner of our 2 Year Blogoversary Giveaway!  We had a total of 12 entries.  We wrote all of the names down and put them in a bowl:


We enlisted Mama's help, so she drew one name out without looking.  The name chosen was:

Jenny!!

Congratulations, Jenny!  We'll be sending you an email shortly.  Remember, you'll have one week to respond  to our email.  If we don't hear from you by one week from today, a new winner will be chosen.  

Thanks for entering, everyone!  We'll be back later next week with another post. :)


Thursday, August 16, 2012

Tess's Tidbits: Only One More Day to Enter Our Giveaway!

Hello everyone!  I just wanted to remind you that tomorrow is the very last day to enter our giveaway.  For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, click HERE to see our giveaway post and instructions for entering. :)

We only have 7 entries so far, so your chances of winning are pretty large at this point.  Of course, we'd love to have more of you involved, so please be sure to enter if you haven't yet!

Also, Maggie and I decided that since we hit 65 followers (and even gained an extra follower for good measure, bringing us up to 66), we're going to be adding another prize to the pile.  Not only will the winner of the giveaway receive all of the things that we mentioned in our previous post, but he or she will also receive a brand new set of Littlest Pet Shop Teensies! :)



We all love these (well, except for Maggie). ;)  They're the perfect size for doll hands and make great knick-knacks for us.  We hope our winner enjoys them just as much as we do.

So, now that you have a little added incentive, don't forget to enter, everyone! :)

P.S.  We haven't done much posting this week because the new doll rooms that Mama's dad has been working on are all done!  Mama helped her dad paint them yesterday, and today she's been working on getting them all set up.  We should have some pictures up for you soon, either on our blog or Mama's, so keep checking back. :)

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Our Two Year Blogoversary Giveaway (A Post By Tess and Maggie)

So, as promised, here we are with our 2 Year Blogoversary Giveaway!  (If you don't know what I'm talking about, click HERE to see where it all started.)  Since both Tess and I wanted to be a part of this post, we decided to pull a Charlie and Rachel and use 2 different colors of text to show who's writing.  So all of my stuff will be in Blue (my favorite color), and all of Tess's words will be in Purple (her favorite color).  

Like this...got it?  Before we get into the giveaway itself, though, I have to ask...

What, Maggie?

Why are we still in these stuffy, itchy dresses?!  I'm seriously going crazy here!!

We're still in them because it's fun to dress up.

Uh-huh.  For some.

We should probably get on with the giveaway, Maggie.  Our readers our waiting!

You're enjoying this, aren't you?

Well, perhaps just a bit. ;)

So here we are in our lovely, itchy dresses with all of the giveaway goodies. :}  All 8 of us donated at least one item to use for the prizes.  

Now, even though Maggie used "prizes" in the plural, we've decided that we'll only be doing one random drawing.  In other words, we'll be awarding one fortunate person or doll with all of the "loot", so to speak. ;)

We came up with some cool stuff (at least, most of it is cool).  Here's a closer look at what the winner of this giveaway will receive:

Pretty awesome, huh?  Oh, and in case you're wondering, all of the items are either brand new or in excellent used condition.  Still want a closer look?  Well, just keep reading!

This Littlest Pet Shop bulldog was part of Tess's figurine collection.

Emma had a spare "Tangled" bottle cap pendant from Factory Twenty 9 (the picture on the bottle cap is nice and clear...the camera just didn't focus on it very well).  We love using these for necklaces, but they work for human necklaces too.

There's even a hole drilled in the top already so it can be attached to a necklace, although you'll need some sort of metal ring to attach it to the chain.

Rachel donated this totally amazing Captain America figurine.  Now this is a prize worth winning. 

As you can see, he's the perfect size for a doll's collection.

I donated this really nifty light bulb bug, hand made by Mama's dad.  He's cool and quirky and a good conversation piece...the bug, not her dad. ;)

Charlie donated one of her extra Buzz Lightyears.  Out of all of the items, Buzz is the most used.  His helmet has a few small smudges because he's shared many adventures with Charlie...and she's not exactly the best at keeping her stuff in mint condition. ;)

Hayden very generously donated 3 mini plastic horses from her horse collection.  

Emma found this spare Belle journal and thought it might be good for the giveaway (although a Disney Princess journal is the LAST thing on my wishlist!).

It used to be a key chain, but Mama removed the key chain part so that it would be easier to write in.  


Hailey very graciously decided to share 2 of her Hello Kitty Squinkies with us.  These are Hello Kitty's monkey friends...I believe their names are Timmy and Tammy.

Even Mama pitched in!  She found this cute little gift box at a thrift store and thought we'd enjoy using it for the giveaway.  It used to be a ring box for humans (this is the other item that's a bit more used than the others, but still really cute).

It's perfect for storage or for hiding a gift. :)

Jenna ended up with a Twilight Sparkle in one of her My Little Pony Blind Bags (although I'm ashamed to admit I even know what those are!), and since she's more into Rainbow Dash and Applejack (huh...they all look the same to me!), she thought she'd pass Twilight on to someone who would enjoy her more.  Sorry, we don't have her collector's card. 

Emma surpassed us all by donating 3 items, but that's just the giving type of doll she is. :)  This is her Royal Nursery Christmas Belle doll.  This little gal is absolutely adorable and would be perfect for any dolls who are fans of Disney Princesses or Beauty and the Beast. :)

I also had this sweet Madame Alexander doll that I never use.  She's practically brand new, and I thought someone might enjoy her as part of the giveaway.  

Oh, and Hailey remembered that she had a spare Hello Kitty poster just like the one hanging in her room, so she added that to the prizes as well.

And we figured we'd throw in one of our extra signed pictures.  These work great for posters in a doll room, by the way.  Spread the word about our awesomeness. ;)

Okay, so now for all of the boring stuff:  rules for the giveaway (typed in black for the sake of simplicity, narrated by Maggie...in case you care).

1.  The winner of this giveaway will receive all of the items above.  The winner will be selected in a random drawing.

2.  To enter, simply leave a comment on this post with your name or username and email address.  Comment moderation is on, so no one will see your email address except us.  Oh, and as always, if you're under 18, please get a parent or guardian's permission before entering, as we'll have to get your mailing address.

3.  The contest will be open to entrants until FRIDAY, AUGUST 17TH.  On Saturday, August 18th, we will pick our winner and contact them via email.  The winner will have ONE WEEK to respond to our email with their mailing address.  If we don't hear from the winner by Saturday, August 25th, a new winner will be chosen.

4.  We're very sorry, but this contest is only open to United States residents, as international shipping can be expensive and stressful. :{  

5.  No purchase necessary to enter.  Void where prohibited.  (Okay, sorry...I couldn't resist!) ;)

Okay, that should do it!  Have fun entering everyone.  And dude, could we please get another follower somewhere?  We're soooo close to 65!  And more would be okay, too. ;)

Um, Maggie, that's not really polite.  Really, having 64 followers is a huge honor.  We should be thankful for each one of them, especially since we haven't been very faithful bloggers recently.  And remember how close we came to quitting at the beginning?  Look how far we've come.

Thank you, Tess, for that lovely Pollyanna bit.  I'm totally thankful for all of our followers.  I'd just be even more thankful if we had 65.  I mean, come on, we've got to try to catch up to Mama!

We should probably quit and let everyone start entering, don't you think?

Good point.  Okay, peoples (and dolls), see you around!  We'll have the results for you next week. :)

Friday, August 10, 2012

Maggie's Memos: A 2 Year Celebration...or How I Ended Up in This Stupid Frilly Dress Again...Part 2


All too soon, Thursday arrived.  There I was, standing in a crowded doll room with 7 other dolls, stuffed into an itchy plaid dress with a skirt wide enough for a human.  Well...almost. :}


At least I didn't have the undignified addition of glitter (aside from my ridiculously sparkly red shoes).  I'd come close to being forced into the sparkly Belle dress.  Which.would.have.been.horrendous.  Thankfully, I was able to unearth this plaid dress that the Hathaway sisters normally share and was also able to convince everyone that it was fancy enough for the dress-up party. 


Everyone had come right on time.  Mama had moved in just enough furniture, so there was plenty of room for all of us.  Tess had taken care of refreshments.  Soda, cupcakes, and ice cream were available for all of our guests.  (Hey, don't knock it, okay?  Health food is not usually a high priority for dolls.  And come on, if you didn't have to count calories or worry about body fat, would you really opt for that salad over the cheeseburger?)


Rachel had the misfortune of wearing the shiny blue dress that I'm usually stuck with.  Amazingly, she didn't seem to mind it.  Her sister Jenna looked like something out of one of Tess's Jane Austen books.


Emma, of course, was dressed in her Emma Woodhouse dress.  Hailey was wearing the newish white colonial dress that looked hot and uncomfortable (to me, at least).  Charlie had decided on the green dress with golden swirls, but had insisted on wearing her cowgirl boots, as usual. ;)


Hayden had also selected a Regency dress.  Honestly, it was a little scary being in the same room with that many Jane Austen dresses.  I was worried I'd gotten sucked into the pages of one of Tess or Emma's books!


Tess caught my eye and waved to me from the spot where she was serving refreshments.  I waved back.  I'm sure you won't be surprised by the fact that she had also selected "Regency attire", as she loves to call it. :{  I have to admit, that feather makes me smirk every time I see her wear it.  There are some things I will never understand, Regency fashion being one of them.


Tess came over and joined me.  "I think everyone's had something to eat now," she informed me, looking over at our guests.  "They all seem to be having a good time."

I nodded.  "Do you want to call the meeting to order, or should I?" I asked, even though I already knew what her answer would be.

She gave me an embarrassed little smile.  "You can do it."


Everyone was so busy talking that it took a while to get their attention.  After a few failed attempts, I was able to quiet everyone down.  They all turned to hear what I had to say.


"Thanks for coming, everyone," I began.  "As you know, Monday was the 2nd Blogoversary of our blog.  Tess wanted to celebrate by having this party, but we also wanted to get some ideas from all of you."

I turned to Tess.  "You're on," I whispered, grinning.


Tess cleared her throat nervously.  "We want to have a giveaway, but we're not sure what we should use for the prize.  Any ideas?"

"You guys could buy something," Charlie suggested.

I shook my head.  "We're pretty broke, so we're trying to avoid that, if possible."

"Does Mama have anything in her gift drawer that would work?" Rachel asked.

"Possibly," I mused.  "We'll have to check with her."


"I have an idea!" Emma said excitedly.  "We could each choose something from our own personal collections to donate to the giveaway.  Then, whoever won would have a little bit from each of us."

Tess beamed.  "I love that idea, Emma!"  Then she glanced around shyly at everyone else.  "But would that work for everyone?"

There were nods and generally positive comments from everyone.  

"Okay, I'll check with Mama on the gift drawer idea," I announced.  "In the meantime, please check and see what you have to donate.  We'd like to get the giveaway announced as soon as possible.  If we gave you until tomorrow to get everything to us, would that give you enough time?"

There didn't seem to be any objections.

"So, Friday it is.  We'll do a giveaway post on Saturday morning."  I gave everyone a smile.  "Thanks for your help!"


"I have another idea," Jenna announced boldly from the back of the room.

Everyone turned to see what she had to say.


"It's not about the giveaway," she clarified.  "But seeing everyone dressed up like this gave me the best idea ever!  We could form some sort of club, and have meetings where we dressed up and pretended to be fictional characters from literature."

"A club?" I asked weakly.  All I could think about was the "dressing up" part.  I had planned on ditching dresses forever after tonight!

Jenna nodded.  "There are plenty of characters to choose from.  Just think how much fun it would be!  We could discuss our favorite works of literature, or plays or movies, or whatever we wanted to!  Oh, and we could call ourselves..."  She paused a moment, scrunching up her brow in concentration.  Then a bright look came over her face.  "We could be the 'Literary Ladies Society'!"

Hayden clapped her hands.  "I love it, Jenna!  That sounds like so much fun!"  Of course, Hayden would approve.  She and Jenna had been like two peas in a pod lately.  Between Hayden's imagination and Jenna's love of the stage, they were perfect friends for each other.

Tess was getting excited now, too.  "I'm sure there's a way I could incorporate it into my 'Tea with Tess' posts I've been meaning to get back to."

"I don't know," I said, trying to sound like the voice of reason that didn't want to spoil everyone's fun but had to bring reality to the situation.  I'm not sure if I succeeded.  "Would that work with our schedules and everything?  And what if we couldn't get to our dresses in time?"

Charlie gave me a funny look.  "What schedules?  We're dolls."

Thanks for nothing, Charlie.

"And the dress problem could be solved easily enough," Emma added.  "We could keep our dresses out so we didn't have to wait for Mama to get them out for us."  She turned to Hayden, who was standing next to her.  "Just a suggestion, but in that dress, you make a perfect Catherine Morland."


Hayden looked excited.  "Oh, wonderful!  I was trying to decide on a character.  Since I have a Regency dress, a Jane Austen heroine would be perfect, and Catherine is my favorite."


And from there, I lost total control of the situation.  Everyone started talking about the "Literary Ladies Society" and how much fun it would be to dress up.  Even Rachel looked pleased.  Traitor.  


I was beginning to wish we'd never had this party.  Stupid, Maggie!  Why did you agree?!  I mean, being supportive is one thing, but wearing a dress repeatedly was NOT part of my original plan!

Well, that's all I have time for now.  We'll have our giveaway post up sometime tomorrow.  And I've heard nothing but LLS stuff since last night.  Half of them have already chosen their characters and figured out where they're going to keep their dresses, so I'm sure that very soon Tess or Emma will put up a post about it.  I'm hoping that maybe I'll get lost in the shuffle and not have to participate.  I know.  I'm delusional.

The obligatory group shot.  Meet the members of the new "Literary Ladies Society".  At least, 7 members.  I'm planning a move to Antarctica soon.

Maggie's Memos: A 2 Year Celebration...or How I Ended Up in This Stupid Frilly Dress Again...Part 1

As everyone has probably guessed by now, Tess and I have had some difficulty coming up with inspiration for our 2 Year Blogoversary celebration.  Hence, the total lack of interesting posts, even though we're celebrating a pretty amazing milestone.


It all started last weekend.  Rachel and I were hanging out in our temporary room (which would explain why I was living in a room with Tangled and *shudder* Jane Austen posters).  We were in the middle of a very interesting conversation about something regarding the Avengers (surprise, surprise) when Tess walked in.


"Um, sorry to bother you guys," she began, looking embarrassed, "but, Maggie...could I talk to you for a minute?  It's about our Blogoversary."

"Sure," I said casually.  It cracked me up how Tess was always so timid coming into a room, like she had to apologize for existing.

Rachel got up from her seat.  "I think I'll go see how Jenna's doing," she said kindly.  "That way, you two can talk without being disturbed."

Tess smiled her thanks as Rachel left the room.

I patted the place next to me on the bed.  "Climb on up," I offered.  "I'm too comfortable to move."


My friend quietly took a seat.  "I've been thinking a lot about our Blogoversary and what we should do to celebrate it," she began.

"Please say you're not thinking of a blog party," I quickly interrupted.  "I just don't think we can pull that off this time around."

Tess looked disappointed.  "Oh, uh...no.  No, that's not what I was thinking."  She instantly ran out of things to say.

I realized with a slight twinge of my conscience that I probably had spoken too soon.  Tess was a horrible liar, after all.  But why didn't she stand up for herself and admit that was her idea?  More and more in the past few months, I had realized just how different Tess and I were.  I hated trying to figure out what she really meant when she was too afraid to tell me.

I sighed.  "Look, I'm sorry.  Were you thinking about a blog party?"

Tess adjusted her necklace nervously.  "I did have an idea for one, but you're probably right...it's not enough notice."

"Did you have any questions or a theme figured out?" I asked, trying to encourage her.

She shook her head.  "It's not a big deal.  I didn't have many of the details worked out."

And no matter what I tried, I couldn't get any more out of her.  Everyone thinks of me as the stubborn one, but Tess can be stubborn too.  It's just a different kind of stubbornness.  She's so worried about offending someone or getting her feelings hurt that she completely shuts down.  


"So, any other ideas?" I asked, determined to let her talk before I interrupted again.

She finished fiddling with her necklace and moved on to her hair.  "I'd like to...to do a giveaway of some kind, but I'm not sure what the prize should be."

"That sounds like a good idea," I agreed.  

She looked relieved at my comment.

"Tess, I'm not the Big Bad Wolf," I said.

She scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion.  "What?"

"You're acting like I'm going to yell at you if I don't like what you say or something," I protested.

"I'm sorry," she apologized.  "I just wasn't sure what you'd think, and..."

"Look, it doesn't matter what I think," I insisted.  "I mean, sure, I have my opinions, but it's not like you can't have any ideas of your own."

Tess sat quietly for a minute, as if she was trying to come up with the right thing to say.  "I guess I'm just not used to talking to you anymore," she admitted uneasily.  

I raised one eyebrow.  

"I mean," she continued, "that you and I have kind of gone our separate ways.  You're always with Rachel, talking up your action/adventure stuff, and I've ended up spending more time with some of the others.  It's been a long time since we've just sat and talked."

I realized that this was true.  It wasn't really intentional on my part, and I still considered Tess my "best friend" (although titles like that are so restrictive and exclusive, like you can't be friends with anyone else).

"I'm sorry, Tess.  It's nothing personal.." I began.

"Oh, I know!" Tess instantly agreed.  "It's just...different.  I thought I could always just pick up where I left off with you, but I'm finding it difficult to figure out what to talk about lately.  It seems like you're always into the Avengers or something else that I know nothing about."

"Well, now you know how I feel when you and Emma go off on your Jane Austen rants!" I retorted, winking to show I was partially teasing.

Tess laughed at this.  "I suppose you're right," she admitted.  

"Oh, I'm totally right.  I usually am, you know."  I grinned, and Tess grinned back.

"I did have one more idea," she admitted hesitantly.

"What's that?" I asked, determined to be supportive, whatever it was.

"A dress-up party," she said, searching my face for approval.  I willed myself not to gag.

"A dress-up party?" I repeated, hoping I sounded at least slightly interested.

She nodded.  "Mama's been talking about switching our rooms back, so I thought we could use this room before she moves all of Hailey and my furniture in.  We've got all of those great fancy dresses in our clothing tub.  We could each choose one and dress up, just for fun.  Then we could get ideas for the giveaway from everyone."

"Wow, a dress-up party," I said again, trying to think of something else to add.

"I know dressing up isn't your favorite thing," she started apologetically, "but...it could be fun."

I'm going to die...seriously.  "Why not?" I agreed a little too cheerfully.  

"Really?  You don't mind?"

I took a deep breath and told myself I didn't.  "No, I don't mind.  When were you thinking?"

"How about Thursday?" she suggested.  "That would give everyone time to get ready and give Mama a chance to move the furniture around."

I nodded.  "Okay, Thursday it is."

Tess gave me a hug and then sprung off of the bed.  "I'll go spread the word!"

I slowly climbed down after her.  I'm doing this for my friend, I thought.  This means a lot to her.  No one ever died from wearing a fancy dress.  At least...I don't think anyone ever died from wearing a fancy dress.  Hmm...maybe I should look into that for next time!


At that moment, Tess turned around to look at me.  "Thanks, Maggie," she said with a smile.  "It was nice talking."

I was able to genuinely smile back.  "I thought so too."  And I really did.  It was nice to be able to clear the air a bit.  Even if it did mean I would be wearing a frilly dress this week.


Click HERE for Part 2!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Tess's Tidbits: Two Wonderful Years

Hello everyone.  It's Tess.  I'd like to apologize for Maggie's last post.  I'd try to offer an explanation, but I think by now you know her well enough to find the grain of truth in her comments and get rid of the embellishment (for example, the part about Mama being a "tyrant"). :}

We are so grateful to all of you, our readers and followers, for making these past two years so wonderful for us.  We've enjoyed getting to know all of you through your comments and your own blogs, and we're looking forward to another year of great memories. ;)

There will be more fun to come this week, including a giveaway.  We had hoped to do a blog party of some sort as well, but that kind of fell through the cracks.  If we manage to pull it off later on this week, we'll let you know.

Oh, dear, I hate feeling so disorganized.  Mama has been rearranging our rooms several times over these past weeks, and truthfully, we're all feeling a little disheveled and unorganized at the moment.  I think when Mama's daughters are back in school in a couple of weeks, things should settle down a bit and we should have some more computer time. :)

Until then, thanks again for being such a lovely group of friends.  We'll be back soon with more fun! :)

P.S.  Do you like our new header?  Here's the old one, just so we have a record of it in the blog:


Maggie's Memos: Two Years!!

And you thought we forgot that today was our 2 Year Blogoversary!  As if we could forget a thing like that!!  Oh no, meticulous planning and great effort went into our preparations for this day.  And just because we appeared to have delayed the publishing of this post, it doesn't mean that's what really happened.

Okay, truth be told, I slept in and then Mama was hogging the computer all morning (again!!).  She's planning on cancelling Netflix at the end of this month, so she's been catching up on a few things she's been wanting to watch.  I tried to tell her we had important business for our blog, but the woman's a complete tyrant!  Don't let her "oh, I'm so nice and helpful" persona on her blog fool you...we dolls know the real story...

Oh, stinkazoid, Tess is coming...

No, Tess, you don't need to read what I've typed...Yes, I realize it's your Blogoversary too, but...

Sigh...to be continued, everyone.

P.S.  Thanks for 2 great years, and don't forget who provides all of the entertainment on this blog, no matter what Tess says! ;)

Friday, August 3, 2012

Maggie's Memos: Hi...Remember Us?

Heh heh...so it's...uh...been a bit since we've posted.  But seriously, if you'd known what we've been going through lately, you'd understand.  All I can say is between Olympics and Mama's 2 Year Blogoversary stuff and 3 crazy human girls constantly running around, we've found it a bit difficult to post.  That, and Mama's kind of been focusing on her other dolls lately.  Don't mind us.  We're just the ones that started this whole thing.  We're not important at all.  But I'm not bitter or anything.  Really.

So, we should have a "real" post up sometime this weekend, because Mama has promised to let us actually have the computer for a while.  And no, we haven't forgotten that our 2 Year Blogoversary is Monday.  And yes, we do actually have a plan for it...mostly.  So stay tuned!

That's all I can manage for tonight, but our next post will be must more interesting.  Pinky promise. ;)