Madame Alexander - I want dolls.

When I was little and I would spend time at my Memaw's house I loved looking at her dolls. She had a large collection of beautiful porcelain dolls. On a few occasions I was even allowed to hold them. They felt so very precious when I'd hold them or examine them. Each one was a delicate piece of art and so very special and unique.

When I got older I received dolls of my own. Not toys to play with, but art to cherish. It's been a long while since I've bought a new doll. Partially due to a lack of display space, limited funds and the closure of the company I loved collecting from. I've since considered starting to collect them once again,and purchase "Bunny" the Angelic Pretty mini Dal. Who I couldn't leave with the name Lepupu. While I adore her and her adorable tiny mittens and do have two or three Pullip dolls on my wish list, they don't have the same feel as my older dolls. Pullips seem to me to be dolls to be, not played with but not left alone to look at either. They want to have changes of clothes and customized hair styles and little set ups for photos. While that is fun and certainly has appeal, I miss getting a doll that feels complete and perfect as is.

Around the same time that I was considering simply settle my collecting to vintage ponies, I saw that a store I'd been meaning to see was having a closing sale. The store is housed in an adorable pink house and went by the name Pink Princess. The font rooms were nice, filled with bows and girl's dresses and tea sets - both for play and the real deal.  Then I went towards the back and was suddenly surrounded by dolls that made me squeal in delight. Though they weren't much bigger than Bunny, they were possibly the most charming I'd seen in a long while. What's more, many were drawn from bookish inspiration - from Dr Seuss to Fancy Nancy to classics like Little Women and Charlotte's Web. I just had to share a few of my favorites.

 Sneetches!

 One Fish Two Fish!

Horton! 

 The Poky Little Puppy!

 Charlotte's Web! I would not say no to a full sized version of that dress.

 Fancy Nancy! The most loli children's book ever.

 Humpty Dumpty!

Pinkalicious! One of the first books I reviewed.

 Dorothy with an adorable flower border on her dress!

 Alice!

 An Easter doll with tiny yellow shoes.

And a cute candy shop doll.

Starlight Starbright all the pastel stars I see tonight...

I absolutely can't make up my mind of which to get first, they're all so sweet and adorable! Which would you pick?

Pretty of the week: Surface Spell

This set from Surface Spell is absolutely charming. The decorations on the cape are precious and the simplicity of the dress is the perfect piece for it to rest over. I adore everything in this set from the sweet little brooch to the adorable purse. But my favorite of the set is most certainly the hat!

It's absolutely perfect!

Pretty of the week: Another Lovely Infanta Dress + Some Updates

I took yet another unintended break. Real life has been a bit intrusive again and the after-effects of the con hint me pretty hard, though I did try my best to have a reasonable amount of sleep. For the most part I've been so busy crafting for AWA - when not working or sleeping - that I've not had time for much else. Writing OR reading.

Dragoncon was amazing, as it always is. Though I didn't attend all of the lolita events I'd wanted due to scheduling and the lunch being held at a restaurant where I couldn't eat, I still had a lot of fun. I got to help a friend try lolita for the first time, collected a five page list of books to try (and likely review) at the YA panels, attended the Doctor Who screening, finished stage one of the unicorn dress in the sewing circle and ended up getting to swap embroidery tips with other girls and just had a lot of fun in general. I also saw a lot of awesome cosplay, though I was bad about taking pictures. I will be posting a few of the ones I did get, however. Including a pair dressed as Momoko and Ichigo from Kamikaze Girls that were simply amazing. Though I freely admit that I go to spend time with friends more than anything else.

These friends! (And many others!)

Since returning I've not been checking for new dresses the way I normally do, but I'm now more or less on scheduel with crafting. While it doesn't mean I get to slow down much, it at least means I can take breaks for important things like writing a post and looking at new frilly dresses.

I decided to show off this dress from Infanta. Partially because my other picks were ones likely already seen - partially because it's just too adorable. It comes in blue (above) and green (below) which are equally lovely. I just adore the lace up middle, as it's a bit different from most dresses and seems like it would be flattering on just about anyone. I'm planning a birthday road trip in the next few months with the friend who just tried lolita for the first time and this would be the perfect dress to wear to our special frilly lunch.

If only I could decide which color...

Books TV Shows for Lolitas: Doctor Who

I've been down with the oddest stomache flu in history while trying desperately to finish my dress. In an hour I'll be jetting off to D*Con with a... nearly finished dress. But it occurred to me I'd missed posting this week (please forgive me, I was delirious with fever and it might have been entertaining but wouldn't have made sense) so I'll do a special geeky post before con.

This is a show I'd heard a LOT about without knowing anything about what it was about until Matt sat me down and insisted we watch it together. And I've loved it from then on.

Yes please.

The basic idea is that an alien (who regenerates into a new body when he dies) goes around in a time traveling space ship (the Time And Relative Dimension In Space - TARDIS) that is camouflaged as a police box. He occasionally pics up companions to share his adventures with, but sometimes has adventures on his own. And he is oh so clever. And also bow ties are cool and statues are the scariest things to ever exist.

Oh god! We're all gonna die!

Why is this such a great show? Well first of all it goes forever. Unlike some amazing shows (Firefly?) it isn't going to leave you hanging after a single season. We started watching at the new episodes, and after over a week long marathon went back and started watching the classic episodes. And that's not counting the off shoot shows. The show has been around a while so it's got a lot to give. Secondly, the Doctor himself is a great character with loads of depth. And, with the swap of leads you can't get tired of one character. The stories are also fantastic. They seem seperate, but at least with the new episodes are very intertwined. This makes rewatching even better than the original veiwing.

If you're interested in fashion, fear not! Remember the time travel I mentioned? There are episodes with some great clothes!

If all that isn't enough to convince you to pull it up on Netflix Instant, I'll also point out one more thing.

Doctor Whooves. My Little Time Lord.