Over the River and Through the Woods

Day two:

Well, we woke up ridiculiously early the next morning.  Like 6 am kind of ridiculious.  The side of dawn reserved for birds and obnoxiously chipper people.  Must have been something about the whole feel of untamed forest that got us stirring out of bed so early.

We took our time getting dressed and ventured out on a shopping excursion.  Unfortunatly, there weren't all that many impressive shops in the little forgotten towns of White Bluff and Dickson.  We did eat at a hole in the wall place called The Perfect Pig.  If its reputation hadn't carried itself north to Nashville no one in their right mind would have stopped there.  Luckily, we aren't well known for being in our right mind anyway.  The food was pretty tasty.  I doubly enjoyed their hand battered chicken tenders and home made pies.  Though most people show up in herds for their BBQ.

All this time, my poor darling Josefina had to hold down the fort back at the lodge.  We didn't stay out too late into the day because Tennessee was boasting some record breaking heat temperatures.  We took back to our lodgings and bunkered down and rested until the sun decided to clock out for the day.  I took this oppertunity to trek through the foliage with Josefina and my youngest DD at my side.  We wandered down by the edge of the river.  It was very picturisque. We had a grand time all until we attracted too much attention from an unwanted black and yellow friend.  Sooo back up to the room we went.

By the time we made it back into the air conditioned atmosphere we were drenched in sweat as if we had just stepped out of a steamy shower.  The sun was no longer high in the sky and we were at a cooler part of the day. I can't imagine having our adventure during the mid day.

Ate a nice dinner at the local Ponderosa. The peak of the experiance being carrot cake :O  After that called it an early evening and took to good old fashion snoring.

And the very NEXT DAY... the cat came back.. we thought he was a gonner but the cat came back... oops thats not right..

Ok so we wake up, good thing to do each morning, and check out of the hotel.  Before heading back to the homestead we go on our last adventure to Murfreesboro and I tie up my loose ends at MTSU.  Did a bit of shopping (yeah I know its a common trend with us) and finally ended our adventure.

Over all it was a good trip.  We didn't really go far from home but it made us feel out of our element and like we got away from it all.  Definatly plan on going back in the near future.

When You Go Into the Woods Today....

Tuesday August 2nd, 2011 I was out and about early in the morning.  We'd had plans to go see the Smurf Movie later in the afternoon and as a themed treat I decided  to surprise my two DDs with McDonalds for lunch.  As I was pulling out the local radio station announced one of those "Be The 1 million caller and win!" contest.  Eh... what the heck... figured I was in the car anyway.  Turns out I WON!!

I was pretty excited. Ended up winning some tickets to a place called Holiday World in Santa Claus,  IN.  When my sister got home she shared in my enthusiasm and we decided it was a perfect day for a spontaneous trip.  After  quite a bit of deliberation we figured IN was a little far away.  So we thought and we thought and we thought some more.... I'm sure the room was filled with smoke from brain overload.  Eventually we settled on going to Montgomery Bell State Park. 

We got a pretty decent rate and from start to finish  we were out the door in less than the time it takes someone to deliver a pizza.

Montgomery Bell State Park is about 30-45 minutes away from where we live.  So we had a very light and pleasant drive.  My sister wasn't overtly thrilled that I had brought Josefina with me on the trip and so she was being a party pooper and denying me my car photo opt.  Well that's ok I had a back up plan anyway.

We get there and its a lovely park. Pull up to the lodge and end up getting a room on the 6th floor.  Each room comes with either a balcony or a porch and over looks the Harpeth River.  The rooms were very spacious and it was a thrill to open the door and gaze straight through the room and out upon that view! And we had two whole nights of this.

This was a no fuss vaca so we decided to definitely take it easy. We played a bit at the hotel and then ventured out in search of the elusive snack.  After having obtained a hardy supply of snackage from the local grocers (so obvious we were tourist as we snickered at the lack of certain products we'd come to take for granted).  We went out for dinner.  My sister had been in this area so luckily we knew what local cuisine was safe  to partake in.  We chose a Mexican restaurant.  Honestly, I can't recommend this place.  Food wasn't bad but the service was very O.o

We were so proud of ourselves for our successful adventure that day we decided to reward ourselves with a frozen treat from Dairy Queen.  My sister didn't appreciate that I ordered a Georgia Mudpie without the pecans.  But as I politely told her.... "I don't want nuts in my ice cream DANG IT!"

We returned to the lodge with our loot in hand and had a great time parking our already well fed behinds on the balcony's lawn chairs.

As night fell, we took comfort in vegging out in front of the tv watching programs I'd never have watched independently or turn into a repeat habit.  Shows like America's Got Talent and other reality shows that always miss my radar for "quality tv."

End Day One.

Stay tuned for my next post and a few fun pictures from our adventures in White Bluff Tennessee.

ADVENTURE TIME

Announcing the unveiling of my second creation!  This piece is a bit more simplistic than the previous piece.  Its a skirt and belt combo.  Its a very nice casual piece and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.

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Josefina's Serape & Hat

JOSEFINA'S SERAPE & HAT

I recently won this set on ebay for about $30.  Its from Josefina's retired winter collection.  It finally came in the mail today. HOOOORAAAAAAY!!

Its very very cute.  The hat in the photos look just...  meh... but once you get it on her its absolutely darling.

For the 2nd market cost I was a little skeptical since its only two pieces.  But I'm very glad I got this.  It really adds character to her wardrobe and fits over very literally EVERYTHING.

I give the set an A.

I've Seen Better Days

I know its a double post day but it wouldn't be right if I just didn't make note of this as it happened today.

Woke up this morning in a pretty chipper mood.  My youngest DD wanted to "talk" with one of my dolls and on this occasion she picked Miss Molly.  Molly is my oldest and dearest doll.  She is looking forward to celebrating her 20th birthday this Christmas. 

Well, as we were playing something shiny caught my eye.  I brought Molly into the light and that's when it hit me....

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASP!!!!!!!

Molly has the starting of silver eye!! A dolly disease nightmare!  I am absolutely devastated.  My most true and loyal dolly friend is not well.

I cant begin to put into words how this distressed me so.  I know that it can be fixed and I normally don't shy away from dolly restorations but this is KILLING ME.  I just can't bear the thought of her wig removed and her eyes gouged out.  I suppose its the small child buried in the adult that just can't  stand the idea her childhood friend could weather such horrors and torments!

I really really hope that this is as bad as they get.  I can live with it if this is what to be expected. Both eyes at the moment are even in their deterioration.  It actually gives her a magical twinkle of a look.  I'm just going to melt if it becomes full blown.

I really don't think I can stomach "surgery" on my first friend.

Its bad enough that could be in my future, I'm putting my foot down on Molly following in my stead.

Z For Zorro

I've been disappointed in the lack of outfits for Josefina. Etsy carries lots of fashions for every other historical except it seems for Josefina and Kaya.

There are a lot of cute things out there and very talents seamstresses, why isn't there a market for her clothes.

I decided to just take it upon myself but I needed inspiration. I remembered as a kid around the midnight hour on Disney Channel they use to run old reruns of Zorro. I guess I didn't fully appreciate the shows back then to their full extent, but thankfully their memory stuck with me. I decided that was a good place to start.

There was one dress that stood out particularly the skirt. It was a navy skirt (this particular old movie was actually in color) and the bottom had a navy fringing that was only noticeable when the actress moved. I was really inspired by this piece.

Finding duplicates material and trimming was pretty impossible. The navy colors I played with never really matched up so I decided to scrap the idea of making an exact likeness. Instead I opted to just put my own spin on it.

Here is the result:

Without the Shawl

Different Uses for the Shawl

Close up of the tassel

The chemise is an AG piece from Josefina's birthday set. The skirt, sash, and shawl are my own work. I did all these the old fashion way; handstiched without a sewing machine. I'm pretty proud of my work considering.

Christmas in July

Last week AG added some more items to their Last Chance up to 70% off sale. I decided to place an order and get a jump start on christmas. I got a few things for my DDs but won't pen them just yet. In case some curious eyes ever do come accross this page.

The sale was decent and I was already placing an order. I couldn't resist getting a few goodies. The Hanukkah set was marked down from $20 to $5. I was interested in this set when it was marked down to $10 so of course I had to snatch this up. The menorah by itself is a nice heavy piece so I'm very very pleased with it. It came with miniature blue candles, a dradle, pretend dradle game money, very nice velveteen draw string bag, cute star of david bracelet, and a pretend gift box. Josefina was right there helping me play with all the goodies and she let me know she'd sure like a rosery of her own if I'm keen on buying other religious jewelry.

Again, I'm just using a camera phone so my pictures aren't very good.

Two weeks ago I purchased Josefina's Feast Day Finary and her Heirloom Accessories. They came in the mail while I was in horrible pain from the second cortisone shot so I wasn't able to make a note of their arrival. I'm still just trying to get by day to day through the pain so thats why my posts are not always so deligant.

The last thing I got in the mail today was a present for Josefina. I will let her show off her goodies and you can get a glimps of her new threads.

"What is this!? A present for me?!"

"I'm so excited what could this possibly be!"

"Oh it can't be! But it is!"

"Its my beloved doll Nina! I can't believe she is here!!"

Nina is a really really pretty doll. Its a primitive style rag doll that is actually kind of weighty. I

love how her rag hair is done in a very sweet twisted do. Her face is done with embroidery thread and is really too cute. She too was a part of the last chance sale and was marked down to 50% of her normal retail price... so $7. At that price she was a real steal.

I'm very pleased with the items I received today. The Christmas gifts not listed are precious and I'm just itching to share them but I suppose that post will just have to wait for the real christmas!

And so it begins... its officially christmas shopping season!