REVIEW: Papasan and Swingasan Cell Phone Holders from Pier 1 as Doll Furniture

I can already hear you all going “WHAT? Where’s the dolls! Why are you reviewing cell phone holders? AJ, DID YOU SELL OUT ON US!”

Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head. Of course I didn’t! Just let me explain before we get this show on the road.

So, I was perusing Tumblr, as you do – I am very rarely not on Tumblr when I am home – and  a friend of mine reblogged a post where someone had gotten this nifty swinging what-looked-like wicker chair and that it made great seating for dolls! Seeing that it was available at Pier 1, and after checking that yes, Virginia, we do have a Pier 1 here in my town, I decided to go pick one up.

Lets just remember that I am not so much with the ~decorating~ and shit, so just imagine the look on my face when I walked in there, completely and totally baffled as to what I was looking for and where it would be. Thankfully, I was able to explain to the nice woman who saw the confused girl walk in and look lost, and she helped me find what I wanted.

Turned out, they had two styles, the swingy chair (Swingasan), and then a cushy chair (Papasan). I went for the swingy chair first, since that was what I first saw, but then I decided to go back this past Saturday and get the other, because while the chair is lovely, there were some issues with some dolls and I thought having the other one would be a good thing. So lets get this show on the road, shall we?

A couple of notes before we get going! This is a seriously image intensive post. I apologize but there was a lot to cover. Also, you’ll notice some pictures were clearly taken in another area, that was before I got the Papasan, and rather than retake a bunch of pictures, I’ve just worked them into the post. I am lazy.

The Papasan and Swingasan Phone Holders from Pier 1

REVIEW: Equestria Girls “Pinkie Pie’s Boutique” Pinkie Pie, by Hasbro.

It’s that time of year where we send boxes of wrapped boxes to and fro across the country to our loved ones. For me this includes, as my mother would say, “my friends who live in the internet” but to me, these friends are as real and true as if they lived here where I live.

Nethilia and I don’t make any sort of attempt to hide that we are very close friends. We mention each other on our blogs, and I think Emily over at Toy Box Philosopher has gotten pretty used to the fact that if Nethilia is there, AJ is soon to follow, or vice versa. We talk daily, sharing dolly and pony squee, talking about everything under the sun, and just loving each other as best we can from legit across this big country. To me, she isn’t just a friend who lives in the internet, she is a true friend that I love deeply and can’t imagine my life without.

(And to think if I hadn’t bucked up my courage and gotten over a shade of social awkwardness, I wouldn’t have her in my life.)

Yesterday I got a box in the mail from her and it contained an embarrassment of riches. I was told that I could open it whenever I wanted, and so I did, since the slim space to walk past the tree in our house is getting slimmer. One of the things in the box is the doll you’re about to meet, so lets just get to it and meet Pinkie Pie!

The Pinkie Pie’s Boutique Line, featuring Equestria Girls Pinkie Pie

REVIEW: Monster High “Frights, Camera, Action: Hauntlywood” Honey Swamp

What a week it has been! Not long after I finished my Clawdia review last week, my beloved red camera, dubbed Cherry Darling, gave up the ghost. Thankfully, my mother has a camera she never uses, so she gave it to me. I’m still getting used to it – it is not intuitive at all – but I’m getting there.  In addition to work related grumbles, (one of our machines we use for specimen processing gave up the ghost yesterday) it’s been one hell of a week, and so I was glad for the weekend to appear.

I headed to Target, as one does, for a little retail therapy, and I had to make a decision.

Did I want Apple White’s fainting couch? I did, but then I saw what else was there.

And that’s what I got.

So… have a quick review of Honey Swamp! And some ranting.

(And please forgive that my pictures might be a little wonky while I get used to my new-to-me camera)

REVIEW: Monster High’s “Frights, Camera, Action: Hauntlywood” Clawdia Wolf

I’ve reiterated a few times on this blog how much I was looking forward to the Frights, Camera, Action line that was soon to be coming from Mattel, and especially the new characters. I writhed with jealousy everytime I saw a picture on Tumblr of one of the new girls, and checked my stores faithfully to make sure I wasn’t missing them.

I had about given up hope. My Target remains utterly picked clean of dolls (save for one random find I couldn’t believe this morning, but we’ll get to that after this review.)

One of my local Walmart stores had nothing either. Nothing at all. I was upset! I very nearly grabbed a Gigi Grant off the shelf even though I had no desire for the character so I’d least have something to write about. A stronger head prevailed though. “Go to the mall, it’s right on the way home,” it said. “There’s a Justice there.”

Wellllll, for reasons that I will, again, expound on after this review, I did suddenly badly want the Swim Line Rochelle Goyle that was a Justice exclusive…

So, I put Gigi back on the shelf, grabbed up my wrapping paper and giftbags for Giftmas work happies, hightailed it through the self-checkout and headed up the street to the mall.

And when I got there, I hit dollie paydirt.

I’d hoped for maybe a Blondie Locks or a Cerise Hood, but they were not forthcoming. The Monster High shelves though… they had an embarrassment of riches.

I got my first good look at Elissabat, said “MEH!” and put her back on the shelf. And then… there she was.

REVIEW: My Little Pony Favorites Collection II and Rainbow Dash as a Shadowbolt

I have loved My Little Pony since I was a little girl of six, who got some pocket money from her grandparents and went with her mother to Lewis Drug in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and fell in love with a beautiful pink pegasus with blue hair and lightning bolts on her ass named Firefly. That little pony was my best friend all through my childhood, for real.  I watched Rescue at Midnight Castle more times than was sane. I fell out of pony collecting for a little while, other things began to hold my interest. But with the release of the Friendship is Magic 30-minute-toy-commercial TV show, I fell in love all over again. This being the age of the internet, something that I didn’t have when I was a little girl of six, I have made friends of my own age who love these little plastic horses just as much as I do.

I’ve gotten a weird little complex about these newest ponies though. They are my Pokemon. I GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL. Or, as I usually put it: PONY ALL THE THINGS! I’m not so much looking to collect EVERY variant there is but if they interest me, yeah, I’ll get them.  Mostly Playful Pony size ones, like the ones I’m showing here.  Fashion Styles too, mostly. This is why you can see on my shelf that I have an inordinate number of Pinkie Pie’s, since the Pinkie Pie’s Boutique line is made of girlyness and AWESOME and therefore, I love it.

I used to be worse about this, y’all. I used to insist on having the walking poses of each pony as well, but that just got silly and I stopped that. But this new Through the Mirror line is something I’ll definitely have to have, even if I already have Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle. The only upcoming thing I know I’m skipping is this as-yet-unnamed playset because I already have every pony that’s in it. Yes, including Minty. A compare-contrast of the two Minty figures will come some other time.

So anyway, last week I broke down and ordered the newest Favorites Collection and special, more-expensive single pony from Toys R Us, and they arrived today, so that’s what I’ve got a review for you on!

REVIEW: BFC, Ink “Summer Splashin'” Kaitlin

Well, bugger. Unfortunately, room pics can’t happen because the paint on the last shelf isn’t dry yet. Yay for humid Tennessee summer days? Anyway, until that paint dries, I don’t want to put dolls on that shelf and possibly have paint come off on their shoes.

But… I didn’t want to let today go by without a post and it so happens I do have something.

Having finally gotten my car back after a week and a half of not driving it (timing chain going bad means OH GODS DON’T DRIVE YOUR CAR YOU DUMB BROAD!), I ventured out this morning to return something to Target and have a looksie around.  I’m trying to find the old Our Generation futon style bed so that my AG girls have something to sit on – poor little things are getting quite tired of standing all the time – but my Target seems to have gotten rid of them in favor of the newer canopy bed, which will not fit in the place I need it to. Our Hobby Lobby (yes, I know, they’re a terrible company in a lot of ways, but they’re the best craft store going in my town) is in the same strip mall as a TJ Maxx and a Ross: Dress for Less, and I decided to pop into those stores to see if that’s where old Our Generation stuff goes to die. (We know it doesn’t go to heaven where the eagles fly.)

Unfortunately, I had no luck locating that bed, but in TJ Maxx, I did chance upon something else.

A BFC, Ink doll marked down to $14.99.

When BFC, Ink was popular I wasn’t yet back into doll collecting the way I am now, so they very obviously didn’t ping my radar at the time, and a few searches when I got home proved to me that I got a pretty good deal on her now that they’re discontinued. (This is the doll I got as found on Amazon.) She was quite cute, and the price was right for my limited budget, so I snapped her up.

(Much to the chagrin of a little girl who had apparently wanted her and her mother said no, and the little girl cried when she saw me carrying her to the checkout. My bad kid.)

So lets have a look at BFC, Ink Kaitlin!