Saturday's Awesome Finds

Yesterday (Saturday), was a day of awesome finds. We started the day out right by visiting the monthly "Antique" sale on base. There were a few dolls available, but I decided the one I wanted was a beautifully decked out Musha-Ningyo, or male warrior doll.

Please click on the images to see them larger.

Isn't he beautiful. He is a modern doll and a great display piece.

After depositing him at the apartment, we then drove to the Hard-Off/Hobby-Off/Home-Off by base. Wow! About 1/3 of the store was devoted to toys, dolls, models, and all sorts of geeky wonderfullness. My eyes were big, but since I was really there to look at the furniture, I only bought a small toy. A tiny toy. 

The cutest little Peppermint Patty in a yukata I have ever seen. Full disclosure: the only Peppermint Patty in a Yukata I have ever seen. She was probably a fast food premium, but I don't know for sure. I just love her.

Next up was the furniture side of the store. I wanted something that my larger dolls could sit on, instead of sitting on the floor. Well, I found it. A small Japanese couch that with a lot of finagling fit in the back seat of the car. Dave sat in the back with the couch, since the passenger seat had to lean all the way forward to make room and the driver seat was all the way up. I barely fit, but I drove us safely home. 

The couch received Skitter's seal of approval. It even has handy storage areas.

Not bad for one day.

Let's Play Dolls

Dave and I put up 2 little shelves for my dolls today. Coincidence, the small doll stands I ordered arrived today. This meant that I finally displayed my new little dolls from the convention.

Here is the Just Me doll with her teddy bear, rag doll, and Asian doll.

The dolls, and teddy bear are having a party, complete with Re-Ment Hello Kitty birthday cake.

The other shelf has my new Ice Skating Ginny and Dale (a Dawn doll), both are modern reproductions.

I love that Dale came with her own stand, very useful.

Here Comes the Bride

Back around 96 or 97, I hosted a bridal shower for one of my best friends. My mother bought a Madame Alexander bride and groom for me to use as decorations. 

It was a hilarious day. In order to keep my friend busy and to avoid recognizing certain cars parking at my parent's home, I had to invent something for us to do. Now, I suck at lying. My plan was, we were going to the movies, but first I had to buy a specific brand of gum for my mom and go back to the house to drop it off. Awkward. My mom doesn't even chew gum (me either). But, it worked out and it was a great shower.

Here are the lucky couple.

They are 8" Wendys. The only flaw my bride has (behind the blurry photo) is that my cat like tulle. In fact she likes to EAT tulle. The bride now has a couple of holes in her veil (only seen from the back). I have since learned to keep her in a cabinet, much to the cat's dismay.

Sunday School Best

At last year's Maryland Library Association's annual conference, I bid on and won a silent auction item. It was a beautiful box filled with chocolate and butterfly themed items. The main reason I bid though, was it had a lovely Madame Alexander doll in the box.

She is "Sunday School Best" #48310. She is an 8" Wendy and reminds me of how little girls dressed for Easter Sunday when I was a little girl. She immediately, and happily joined my other small dolls.

It's a Mad, Mad, Re-Ment World

Ok, so I splurged on a little box of Re-Ment Alice in Wonderland themed food. I think I have decided that everytime I go to the grocery store that I have permission (from myself) to buy a Re-Ment kit. This is a good thing.

Included in this pack is a white chocolate Mad Hatter, a chocolate Cheshire Cat, and a chocolate (pink) Caterpiller, a house shaped case, and a picture frame. The back of the included hand out has three pictures that can be cut out and put into the frame.

I think the Teapot set is really cute and I may buy more of these in order to get it.

Fussa Tanabata Festival

The Fussa Tananbata Festival is a 4 day celebration of the meeting of two gods who are separated by the Milky Way and can only be together once a year. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about Tanabata http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata.

Dave and I dressed up in our Yukatas and walked into town, past the Seiyu (where my Re-Ment toys usually come from) and through the train station to the other side.

There were decorations in the train station.

And in the street. This is the "Official" mascot of the festival. I think his name might be Kenki. To me, he looks like an ear of corn.

Many fair goers got dressed up in their Yukatas for the festival. Dave and I received a lot of compliments on our Yukatas from Japanese men and women (and some giggles).

The decorations were wonderful. Stores, individuals, and groups put up their own, unique decorations and they were judged earlier in the week. There were also many food, drink, and game stands.

Look, it's Mickey and friends.

And Anpanman ("Eat my face").

This one was amazing.

Totoro and the Cat Bus were even represented.

As we walked along, we came upon this performance. The band and drummer are playing, while the puppet dances. It took me quite awhile to make up my mind as to if this was a puppet or a human performer. I finally decided on puppet.

The obligatory One-Piece display.

Dave had Yakitori and a beer for lunch. I had toasted mochi on a stick for a snack. Later we shared a spicy chicken kabob sandwich and Mango drink. Fair food is oishii.

Did I mention that the festival had its own mascot? Here it is posing for photographs.

I think this guy is probably the male star/god that the festival is about. The star on his head was my big clue.

Tired, hot, and sweaty, we eventually called it a day. Next year, I'd like to see the parades that were held the first two days of the festival.

UFDC Convention - New Orleans: Part 5

Friday, July 27th

I attended the helper drawings. I was surprised at how small the crowd was. It was so quiet that there seemed to be only one or two clappers in the audience. I won a helper, a Hopelessly Fabulous 50s Alex by Madame Alexander. Yay!

I then had lunch at the Palace Cafe, and arranged shipping for my large dolls. For some reason they did not want to fit into my suitcase. ;)

I walked the sales room one more time and bought a last, little doll.

She is a reproduction, but still awesome.

I then rested until it was time to head to the banquet. I got there early and set up the centerpiece. I then greeted my table mates as they came in.

During the dinner, a group of Mardi Gras Indians and their marching band performed for us.

Dolls were handed out, and the artist was available to sign the dolls. Then quickly back to the room I went to pack everything up and get some sleep before the alarm would wake me up at 4AM the next morning.

The table favors that the occupants of my table handed out. Yes, that last one is a Re-Ment set. ;)

I handed out the mice and lions I made. You can see the mice on a previous post. Here is the lion.

The souvenir is a reproduction Just Me based on the artwork for the convention.

And that's that. It was a great convention and I met all sorts of wonderful people. I will definitely do this again.