Guest Post by Jenna: Thanksgiving

Happy Late Thanksgiving, everyone! :)  Jenna here, and I'm majorly excited to be doing my very first post ever on "Jane Austen and Unicorns". :D

As Tess mentioned in her earlier post, Mama chose me to go with her to her in-laws' for Thanksgiving.  I can't even begin to describe how thrilled I was.  This is really the first time I've gone somewhere with Mama all by myself.  We haven't really had as much of a chance to bond as some of the other dolls and Mama have, so I was ready to have some time with just Mama and me (and Papa and the girls, too).

When we first got there, we were instantly hit with the delicious smell of the turkey cooking in the oven.  Yum!  I've never had Thanksgiving turkey before! :D 

Mama took a picture of me beside the centerpiece of the table and then spent some time visiting with her mom-in-law.  I had to just stand there, since Mama's in-laws don't know we're alive yet.  It's hard to keep up the illusion when you're just bursting to explore the house and you have to stand stiffly on the table. 

Finally, Mama decided she wanted to do a photo shoot, so off we went to the front yard to look for some great photo spots.  

Now, I know that a lot of the other gals complain when Mama gets into her photo mode, but I LOVED it!!  I felt like a celebrity or something, posing for the camera over and over again.  And, you know, I really should get some practice in just in case I ever become famous on the stage someday. ;)  That's my ultimate dream. :)

Here are a few of our favorite photos from the shoot:

After the pictures were over, Mama let me wander and explore for a bit.  She knew that once all of the guests arrived, I'd be cooped up in one spot.  I jumped at the chance to wander through the crunchy fall leaves and enjoy the beautiful greenery around me.  Mama said that we'd had just enough rain lately to make things green and beautiful.  Once the colder winter weather hit, everything would be brown and dead.

I felt like Anne of Green Gables, or perhaps Marianne Dashwood, or maybe even Princess Buttercup.  All I needed was a fancier gown.  Most of the other dolls don't understand this fascination I have with pretending to be characters from stories or movies.  Thankfully, Hayden is exactly the same way.  We're true "kindred spirits". ;)  I wished that Hayden could be with me...I knew she'd love this place as much as I did.

I especially loved this spot, where the sunlight filtered through the trees.  It felt almost magical. :)

All too soon, it was time to go back inside.  The rest of Papa's relatives had arrived, and Mama thought it would be too risky to continue our photo shoot while they were here.  I might forget myself and start moving on my own, or talking!  Heavens, that would give them a fright. :}

On the way to the guest bedroom, I noticed this sign that Mama's daughters had taped up in the hallway.  A puppet show!  That sounded interesting.  

Mama let me take a quick peek into the empty room her girls were talking about.  What a wonderful place!  I could just imagine the fun that all of us dolls could have in a space this big and open. :)  Mama said that it's only temporary.  Her in-laws are getting the carpet replaced in here, so they had to move everything out.  Eventually, it will be the master bedroom.

I noticed that Nicolette, Britt, and Addison were all set up in their own spots in the room.  I haven't seen them much since Mama gave them to her daughters.  They are most definitely NOT in mint condition anymore, but they seem to be happy.  The girls love them very much. :)

Mama got me all settled in the guest bedroom.  It was very pretty, all decorated in soft whites and yellows.  I had fun just looking around and enjoying all of the decorations.  

As time went on, I amused myself by making up stories in my head.  I wondered how long I would be sitting there.

At last, Mama came in with a small serving of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.  We didn't get a picture of it, but it was delicious!!

And then came the real surprise of the evening:  the power went out!  It was quite shocking...none of the humans were expecting it.  But without much ado, they grabbed some candles and flashlights and made the best of it.  From the chatting and laughter I heard from the other room, they didn't seem too miserable.

Before too long, I heard everyone heading for the empty room to see the girls' finger puppet show.  While that sounded interesting, I decided that I'd rather take this opportunity to help myself to some of the yummy pie Mama had told me about.  I sneaked out to the dark kitchen, climbed up on the table, and settled myself in front of one of the pie dishes.  I sampled a little of all three kinds:  apple, pumpkin, and berry.  They were all scrumptious, but the berry was my favorite.

It was rather fun, sitting on the table at my own little candlelight dinner. :)  I only wished my sister and my friends could be there to share it.  Maybe I could convince Mama to let us have a candlelight dinner for one of our Literary Ladies Society meetings!  Wouldn't that be elegant?

I managed to sneak away, wash up, and get back to my post before anyone noticed me.  (The finger puppet show was very long!) ;)  The rest of the night passed calmly, and before too long it was time to return to our home.  

I'm so thankful that Mama invited me along.  I had a wonderful time.  I hope I get to travel with Mama more in the future.

Oh, and I nearly forgot...Tess asked me to update all of you on the Literary Ladies Society since I'm kind of heading it up.  We are planning our first meeting for early December.  We'll be sure to document everything for all of you.  We decided to make joining the group optional since not everyone (Maggie especially) is interested in period drama.  So far, we have 4 members:  Tess, Emma, Hayden, and myself.  We hope to get the others interested, too, but it may just take some time. ;)

Thanks for reading my post.  I hope you enjoyed it!  Hmm, this blogging thing could come in handy.  I mean, what if I'm asked to write a script for a Broadway play, or perhaps a screenplay for a famous period drama adaptation?  Maybe I'll see if Tess and Maggie would let me guest post a little more often. :)  What do you think?

Tess's Tidbits: Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope you all have a wonderful day spending time with friends and family and sharing your blessings. :)

I'm sorry it's been a while since we've had a post here.  Mama has been quite busy with eBay sales, which makes it difficult for us to get any computer time. :(  We hope to have a post up soon!

Also, I wanted to let you know that Jenna has been chosen to accompany Mama to Thanksgiving this year.  I'm very happy for her.  This is the first time she's had Mama all to herself. Jenna has promised to do a guest post about her Thanksgiving when she gets back, so you can all look forward to that. :)

I suppose that's about all for now.  We'll be back soon! :)

Maggie's Memos: Finally Fall

Hey everyone!  Tess wanted me to start out by thanking you for all of the new followers.  It was so cool to come back and find out we'd hit 84! :D  Of course, I realize that this is because most of you wanted the Consuelo doll that Mama was giving away on her blog.  Still, now you'll be blown away by our sheer awesomeness and want to stay anyway. ;}  And no, Tess did not tell me to say that. ;)

And speaking of Tess (again), since we have so many newbies around here, she wanted me to issue out the periodic reminder that when we speak of "Mama" (you all know her as "Beast'sbelle"), it's pronounced "muh-MAH", the same way they say it in all of those horrendous Jane Austen movies Tess is always trying to get me to watch.  I have no clue why this is such a life or death matter to my best friend.  I don't think the world is going to end if you read it as the American pronunciation of "mama" in your head.  Of course, I'm also not a Jane Austen fan like Tess is, and she's the one who came up with the name for Beast'sbelle.  So I just smile and nod and pretend I understand her. 

But I'm going to move on from that completely random and unimportant point to the actual post! ;)

Here in California, it takes a while for Fall to really, truly be here.  I mean, sure, the mornings are cold, and a few of the trees start changing into their Fall colors.  But in the afternoons, it can still get up to 70 or 80 degrees...which does NOT feel like Fall.

But at last, these past couple of weeks, it's really felt like Fall. We've had some rain and some overcast days, and it's been cold enough to wear long sleeves without roasting. ;)

Mama loves the Fall just as much as I do...maybe more...so when she saw the perfect weather outside this morning, she decided we needed to go out and enjoy it.  That sounded great to me...until I realized that her definition of "enjoy" and mine are very different!  (I so should know this by now!) :{

Her idea of "enjoying the weather" is posing for 20 gazillion photos instead of climbing trees, exploring the yard, and chasing away the neighborhood cats. :}  Sigh.  She promised if I was good I could climb a tree after she was done.  I realized that was probably the best offer I could get, so I decided to cooperate.

So I'm not sure what happened here, but something must have distracted me right before Mama took the picture.  Thanks for the warning, Mama.  It might have been nice to know I wasn't looking at the camera!

This picture of Tess and me turned out pretty cool.  It's been a while since we've had our picture taken together, so I suppose this was a good one to take.  If only it had stopped with one. :}

Us again.

At last, it was time to climb the tree! :D  (Lest you think I'm a complete wimp, there were a TON of pictures I didn't use for the post, okay, people?  We were out there for at least an hour!)  I haven't been tree climbing in forever!  It was great to have a chance to do it again.  I could have stayed there all day, but Mama insisted I come inside, especially when it started raining.  Spoil-sport.

And here's a new doll that's been hanging around for a while.  Her name is Ava (although apparently most people know her as Jess).  She's been trying to decide if she'd like to stay with us permanently.  I don't know much about her yet, as she's been staying in the very top room of our stackable rooms and I don't get up there much.  

I'm not really sure what Mama was going for in this picture.  I'm thinking the goal was whimsical or dreamy, but I think it just looks a bit odd.  (No offense, Ava.)

Mama is apparently doing some research because she thinks that Ava might be Elena's little sister.  That would make for an interesting dynamic.  We don't do much with Elena usually.  She tends to stay on her shelf with some of the other dolls.  She seems nice enough, though.  She's a lot taller and a bit older than the rest of us.  It would be really different to suddenly have her as a more active part of the group.  

She's super pretty.  She kinda makes the rest of us feel short and dumpy.  Not that we're comparing ourselves or anything.  And not that I care.  Just sayin'.

Still, it must stink to never be able to close your eyes.  I bet she doesn't sleep very well. 

Ava saw me climbing the tree and decided to be a copy-cat.  She was actually pretty good at climbing.  Much better than Tess would be. ;)

And the obligatory face shot of one of Mama's photo shoots. ;)

Hailey came out with us, too.  I don't think she's been outside since last Fall, so she was super excited to escape the bedroom. ;)

Tess and her little sis.

Mama took a few random shots of the tree and the Fall leaves that turned out pretty nifty.  I thought it would be fun to include them:

We didn't stay outside nearly long enough, but I'm hoping we'll get to go out again sometime before it gets too wet and rainy.  I miss my outdoor rambles.  

I guess that's about it for now.  Talk to you guys later. I'm off to plan an "Avengers" movie night with Rachel. :D

Maggie's Memos: A Bit of Randomness

Hey everyone...what's up?  Maggie here.  Just thought I'd do a post so you'd all remember that I'm a part of things here on "Jane Austen and Unicorns" too.  Tess and Emma have been hogging all of the posts lately, so I figured it was about time for me to do one before they took over again. :}

Not much has been happening around here for the 18 inchers.  This is the time of year where Mama starts getting really busy, so we haven't seen much of her.  It's cool, though.  We have our own rooms full of things to entertain us, and we keep each other company, so it works out okay.

Speaking of our rooms, Rachel wanted me to show you guys these Muppets posters that Mama found for her on the trip she took earlier this month.  Huh, sure.  Bring back a souvenir for Rachel and nothing for me.  Like I care. 

Mama's recently discovered that old VHS cases make great doll-sized posters.  This was the first time she used the bigger "clam shell" case ones, though.  She just took out the paper with the artwork on it and cut it to size.  I don't know if I'm explaining that in the best way, but hopefully you know what I mean. ;)  Rachel is super excited because these are from her two very favorite Muppet movies.  And I have to admit, even though I'm not the biggest Muppet fan, the posters do look pretty cool.

Rachel has been really busy practicing her rollerblading.  I got tired of it after a while, but she's loving it.  It's starting to make me dizzy watching her blade in circles around the room all day long. 

In other news, Jenna and Hayden have continued plotting about the Literary Ladies Society idea.  Ick.  I was really hoping they'd give up on that. :(  Luckily for me, they officially came to the decision that only those who were interested in participating needed to join.  So far Jenna, Hayden, Emma, and Tess have volunteered.  Hailey, Charlie, and Rachel are still deciding.  I gave my immediate refusal.  Tess tried to sweet talk me into joining, so I told her I'd join on the day she watched "The Avengers" with me.  Funny, I haven't heard anything from her since. ;)  

Oh yeah, and I forgot to tell you guys that Mama got "The Avengers" on Blu-ray for her birthday!!  Rachel and I are sooo excited!  We haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but hopefully soon.

 

Anyway, back to Jenna and Hayden and their nefarious schemes.  Jenna apparently suggested that the LLS should meet once a month, for starters.  She'll be talking to all of the active members soon to figure out which day would work the best for everyone.

Oh, and she asked me to show off her wall, too.  She now has a Chococat poster and two little My Melody thingees in addition to her "Les Mis" poster.  I'm sure your lives are all better now that you've seen this.

Of course, Hayden and Jenna's pride and joy is the map of Equestria that Mama got for them at Walmart.  I guess there were some free promotional posters there, and since they both enjoy My Little Pony so much, Mama thought they'd like having it for their room.

Because Jenna ran out of room on her wall, Hayden ended up with "The Princess Bride" poster on her side.  Conveniently, it's one of her favorite movies too, so it all works out okay. 

Hayden is super excited to be in on the planning part of the LLS...this is the first time she's really had something "important" to do since she moved in with us.  More power to her.  As long as I don't have to be involved.

I guess that's about it for this rambly post.  I'm still hoping Tess caves and watches "Avengers" with me.  Some parts she'd really like...just not any scenes involving injuries, intensity, or fighting.  So the whole 10 minutes she'll enjoy will be worth it, right? ;)

Talk to you guys later...as long as I can get a word in edgewise between my other two chatty blog authors. ;)

Emma's Editorials: My Trip with Mama, Day 3

To read Part 1, click HERE.  For Part 2, click HERE. :)

On our second morning, we all slept in...mainly due to the fact that the people in the room above us were awake and packing up their room at 5 in the morning.  For about 45 minutes, it sounded like elephants were tap dancing on the ceiling!!  We all fell back asleep when the flurry of activity was over, and it took a while before all of us were ready to crawl out of our beds. :}

But today was our last day, and there were places to go and things to do.  Kailani, Janie and I all got ready and then checked our reflections in the mirror.

We had to check out of the hotel this morning, so we knew that when we walked out that door, it would be the last time we'd see the room.  The three of us all turned and waved goodbye to the room, feeling a bit nostalgic.  I know, we're weird! ;)

Mama realized as we were leaving that she'd never snapped a pic of the outside of the hotel, so she took this one right before we drove away.

This was how the three of us spent most of this day, which confirmed that we had definitely made the right decision staying in the hotel the day before. :}  I think Mama, Mimi and Grandmama were on a mission to find every Goodwill in Vacaville and Sacramento!!

Thankfully, just as we were starting to starve, they decided it was time for a lunch stop.  We shared this delicious Subway sandwich.

Here I am outside of Thrift Town, a large thrift store that Mama had heard about.  It was nice, but she didn't really find any unexpected treasures here.

We were super excited to visit a Hobby Lobby for the first time (Mama and I had never been to one before), but right after Mama took this picture, Mimi noticed that they were closed on Sundays. :(  I guess we'll have to save Hobby Lobby for our next trip. ;)

This was one of the numerous Goodwills we hit on this day.  Any of you who read Mama's blog know that she loves shopping at thrift stores, and Goodwill is one of her favorites.  This one was pretty cool, but the one they shopped at right before our failed Hobby Lobby attempt was the best one.  They all found a ton of stuff there!

The last stop was at another Disney Store.  Now, I love Disney Stores almost as much as Mama, but I was exhausted by the time we got to this mall, so I decided to stay in the car.  Big mistake.  Mama told me later that this was the ultimate Disney Store!!

It had this really cool castle playhouse thing that also displayed the merchandise, more selection than the other store, and a ton of cool features.  Oh well...now I'll know for next time!

Mama came out with another big bag.  Hmm...I wonder what she bought this time? (You'll have to read Mama's blog to find out!) ;)

By the time Mama, Mimi, and Grandmama got out of the mall, we had to book it so that we could get home in time for Mama to see her daughters before bedtime.  The humans had decided that In-N-Out sounded good for dinner.

It sounded good to us, too! ;)

What was even more exciting was that there just happened to be a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in the same parking lot.  I've never been to a Krispy Kreme before.  In fact, I'd never even heard of one before.  I'll never forget them now, though!

For one thing, they have a big window so that you can watch the doughnuts being made.  First they cook in this nifty oven.

Once they're all cooked, they go on a conveyor belt that (supposedly) drains the grease. ;)

Then, after the grease has been drained, they make their way to a wall of glaze.

Here they go...

...and out they come, freshly glazed and ready to eat!

I had fun looking at all of the fancy doughnuts they had on display, but Mama assured me that the best ones would be the simple glazed doughnuts, hot and fresh off the conveyor belt. 

Janie and Kailani were really excited.  Apparently, they've eaten here before. :)

And here, Mama captured my moment of pure bliss.  If you've never had a fresh, warm Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut right off the rack when the hot light is on, you've never really had a doughnut before!  It.was.amazing!!!

Once we'd enjoyed our treats, it was time to head home.  We amused ourselves by listening to Michael Buble CDs.  I'd never heard of him before, but he's one of Mimi and Kailani's favorite singers.  I love the unique, warm tone to his voice.  I might just have to look up some of his music! ;)

The sun began to set as we made our way home.  The sky looked like rainbow sherbet. :)

At last, we were home.  I said goodbye to my new friends, hoping I'd see them again soon.  I knew the memories of this special trip would always bond us together in a special way. :)

Charlie and Hayden were waiting for me when I got inside.  

I gave them both a big hug.  As much as I'd enjoyed my trip, I had to admit that it was great to see them again, and it was great to be home.

They started asking me all sorts of questions...they wanted to know everything about my weekend!!

But I didn't even hear their questions.  The bed had been too inviting.  An explanation of my trip would have to wait for another day. ;)

I hope you all enjoyed hearing about my weekend.  I had so much fun, and it was great to be able to share it with all of you.  What's the best trip you've ever had?