pancreasnostalgia

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No matter how large a doll’s collection is, there is just something so satisfying about the meet outfits.

I love so many of them and it’s hard to pick a favorite, but Rebecca’s and Kit’s are right up there.

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So many cute outfits for July. The 18th century girls didn’t change so they are not pictured.

Changed outfits: Caroline (as Barbie), Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, Nellie, Rebecca, Nanea, Emily, Maryellen, Julie, Isabel, Monica (JLY 14), Ayako (JLY 4), Lindsay, Pearl (TM 69), Rachel (TM 128).

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I spent my birthday rewards points on Nanea. She’d been on the second tier of my wishlist for a while (the first tier is down to just Cécile now). I’ve always loved Nanea’s collection but had been on the fence about the doll herself. Seeing her in person I do like her face mold, but am not a fan of the painted details around her eyes. It would have been better if the creases had been textured into the vinyl.

The outfit looks so cute in person. I also got Nanea’s meet accessories and am excited that she came with the new journal.

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I’ve been traveling through Spain and had to share one of my souvenirs. While I did not expect to see the original Royal Diaries edition of Isabel: Jewel of Castilla, look what I found in the gift shop at the Real Alcázar (Royal Castle) in Seville! This is the French translation for the Mon Histoire series. Here it is titled Isabelle de Castille: Journal d’une Princesse Espagnole.

Granted I still cannot read French, but I’m excited to add it to my collection nonetheless.

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Summer means hats that don’t fit with the shelf height. There are so many cute outfits, including a few new ones: Nanea’s Volunteer outfit, Maryellen’s 2-in-1, and Fun in the Southwest (which I have on Pearl). I had fun with Isabel’s look as well, though it’s more Nicki’s style.

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Look what arrived today! I’ve been collecting the Madame Alexander x Scholastic Inc. Dear America collab for a few years now. While I’ve acquired all the dolls, the promotional catalogue had remained on my eBay watch list. Though it has a deep crease, I finally decided to go for it. (I have not found any other listings of this item).

There is a two-page spread for each doll which introduces their story and advertises the HBO series (which you can find on U.S. iTunes, btw).

As this collab was released in 1999, Madame Alexander mentions there being 21 Dear America diaries. This would increase to 36 by 2004, and then 43 from 2010-2014.

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I am obsessed with the newest historical sets from AG! I had been wanting an outfit like this two-in-one for Maryellen ever since she was first released ten years ago. The pink lemonade pattern is perfect for summer and the Keds-style shoes add variety to her collection.

Emily has become my stand-in for Nanea at this point. The Volunteer outfit is cute, but it’s the accessories that really grabbed me. Coming from a medical background, I would have been over-the-moon if this First Aid set had existed when I was a kid.

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A few of the girls were able to change into new outfits for May. Sporting new looks are: Kaya, Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Nellie, Molly, Maryellen, Julie, Monica (JLY 14), Ayako (JLY 4), Lindsey, Pearl (JLY 69), Kavi and Rachel (JLY 128). It’s hard to say which outfit it my favorite.

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Jacquelyn, by Jeffie Ross Gordon. This is a rare occurrence within the series where rather than making their own trouble, the protagonist is just plain unlucky.

Jacky’s family goes from wealthy to broke in the blink of an eye. At the beginning of the story she is in a steady relationship and even becomes engaged. However, her fiancé is a fair-weather friend. As soon as it’s confirmed that Jacky is destitute, he starts to ghost her and gets cozy with her cousin. Eventually Jacky learns that her fiancé and cousin are engaged and to add insult to injury, have been gifted the mansion that her family had been forced to sell.

The sudden change in fortune causes Jacky’s father to suffer a massive stroke, and he is left permanently disabled. He eventually dies from complications. Her mother regresses back to her childhood and becomes fully dependent on her sister, who had been estranged for several years and magically returns just as they are selling their house.

At first Jacky’s aunt is a godsend because is able to take care of the mother, but babysitting is all she brings to the family. Jacky and her brother are the only ones working, but her brother disappears for months at a time. Jacky is the only one who suspects that he has gotten involved with the mafia, or at least is the only one who shows any concern.

Jacky has bad luck keeping a job and it’s not until she finds work as a seamstress for a musical production that she has a steady paycheck. However, her aunt disapproves of show business and from then on there is tension between them.

After moving to a low-income apartment in downtown Chicago, Jacky becomes friends with a neighboring family. They have a son around her age and she considers him to be a close friend, he wants to go all the way. He wants Jacky to quit her job and become a housewife (how he plans to support Jacky and her family on his single salary as a dock worker, I have no idea).

Jacky begins to fall for a dancer in the show she’s been working for. He’s supportive of her and they are a good match. Of course her aunt doesn’t approve and thinks she would be better off with the neighbor boy. The neighbor in turn becomes jealous and emotionally abusive. In the end Jacky’s relationship with her aunt is strained and she loses her neighbor friends.

Eventually her job at the theater ends when the main star moves on to another project. The production is disbanded, and her dancer heads out to Hollywood to try his luck in the movies.

Jacky’s suspicions about her brother are confirmed when he confesses that he had been hired by the government as a double agent to report on the mafia from the inside. He is found out and has to flee town, so Jacky joins him and they board the next train to Hollywood, leaving their mother and aunt behind in Chicago to be looked after by their landlord until they can find work again. Jacky is reunited with her dancer, who luckily gets along with her brother.

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The spring outfits are my favorites. Caroline continues to borrow Felicity’s outfits, and Kavi is going as Courtney. Poor Lindsey is so loose-limbed that even on a stand, she’s flopping around.

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Laura, by Vivian Schurfranz. Where do I begin? I remembered from my last readthrough that this was one of the most cringey books in the series, but I had forgotten just how cringey it was.

Laura is in a hurry to grow up because everything she involves herself in is meant to be for adults only. She lied about her age to join the D.C. motorcade and is disappointed that even still, she’s too young to be shipped overseas. When she joins the women’s suffrage movement, she’s too young to picket and therefore, too young to get arrested (though when she does get her wish, all of a sudden she has a history of severe claustrophobia).

Laura is in love with her neighbor, who has been a mentor to her all her life. She’s worried that he sees her as a little girl and frustrated when he’s slow to display his feelings.

Man number two is an acquaintance of Laura’s brother, who knew him only briefly at basic training. He is quick to charm Laura and her family, but the red flags are immediate. Every time the suffragists are brought up, he tells Laura that she’s waisting her time hanging around a bunch of old hens. He is nasty around man number one, demanding that she stop spending time with him, and explodes with rage whenever Laura defends herself. There is a bit of hypocrisy in this, as one time Laura calls off a date, he threatens to ask out another girl.

Laura only continues to see man number two because she is convinced that she can fix him, which of course can never happen. She endures months of emotional abuse until despite everything, the final straw is how he reacts to her news that she wants to go into law.

Then there’s the subplot surrounding the Spanish influenza, which Laura is concerned about way too far in advance. When the infection finally makes its way to D.C., she doesn’t seem to care as much until it starts effecting the people she loves.

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Meet Rachel, my purchase from the St. Patrick’s Day sale. 128 is the only current Truly Me doll that I’ve felt a pull to, largely because she reminds me of Zipporah Feldman from the Dear America diary, Dreams in the Golden Country.

While I’m not a big fan of the Pretty Plaid outfit, part of me is tempted to save it for Isabel. Rachel will spend a lot of time in modern clothes, but may occasionally cosplay.

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The girls are rocking Esthercore for Purim. This is the one time of year that I can think of an excuse to use the Disney Princess outfits. Of course I had to put Isabel in pink!

Unfortunately Cinderella’s headband scratched Rebecca’s face in a couple places. I’ve had her since 2009 so this is very distressing to me. She may need to go to the hospital.

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I found a deal for Isabel on Facebook that was too good to pass up. In terms of personality Nicki is my favorite Hoffman twin, but I do appreciate Isabel’s Clueless aesthetic. She is my first Joss mold.

Luckily she is in like new condition. I was worried when I saw how small the package was. She had been bent at 90 degrees with minimal padding. It didn’t seem to cause any damage.

The seller had also listed Tiana’s meet outfit, which I had been looking for to use on Claudie. I had just re-watched The Princess and the Frog for Mardi Gras, and the entire soundtrack is now stuck in my head.

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Nicole, by Candice F. Ransom. This is very similar to the 1997 film Titanic with Nicole absolutely being like Rose and her mother being an emotionally immature Ruth. However, the steerage love interest is more like Fabrizio than Jack, and the first class love interest is nothing like Cal. (This book was published twelve years before the movie was released).

The first class passenger is actually very likable and a great match for Nicole. Unfortunately Nicole immediately puts him in the friend zone to defy her mother, who wants them to marry for financial security (again, very similar to the movie).

Nicole confuses her feelings of the steerage passenger to be love at first sight, when it’s really just a crush. They barely interact and when they do, she’s more attracted to the novelty of him than able to foresee a realistic future. He in turn views her the same way. Nicole naively confesses her feelings to her mother who despite many faults, is realistic in warning Nicole that she’s acting impulsively.

Once the iceberg strikes, that’s where most of the similarities between the book and the movie end. Nicole takes a lot longer to get on a lifeboat than necessary, but it’s not entirely her fault. She only has one love interest to choose from, but the story cuts off on the Carpathia before what would be considered the final confrontation. In the end I don’t buy how neat and tidy everything becomes.

An interesting thing to note is that this is one of the only books in the series to have an author’s note at the end, mentioning how the wreck of the Titanic was discovered in 1985, one year prior to publication.

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Happy Valentine’s Day, from Ellie and Kavi.

I really love both of these outfits, though they look out of place with all the snow outside.

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Rachel, by Vivian Schurfranz. Definitely a cross between Dear America’s Dreams in the Golden Country and Hear My Sorrow. For being the only Jewish character in the series the portrayal is not bad, though there are certain things I would have explained or spelled differently.

Man number one is a friend of Rachel’s relatives who spends a lot of time at their apartment. From the beginning it’s clear that he’s only attracted to Rachel for her looks, because he tries to mold her into his ideal wife. He comes from an strict Orthodox background (possibly Hasidic), while Rachel’s family are far more lenient in their customs. The two cannot go a single evening without him criticizing her, whether it be how she wears her hair, the fact that she’s educated at all (never mind that she also take night classes), or that she wants to have any job other than working in his fruit store. In reality, he’s far more strict and controlling of Rachel than her own father is.

Despite how rigidly he sticks to his values regarding women’s roles and marriage, the same cannot be said for courtship. Traditionally in Orthodox culture it is not permitted for men and women to touch (and kiss) if they are not married, but he is very hands-on with Rachel.

For Rachel’s part, it’s clear that the only reason she goes out with him is because her mother likes him. She’s willing to overlook his constant criticism because he occasionally takes her on fun outings. What should never have been a romantic relationship to begin with gets dragged on far too long, which only comes back to bite Rachel.

Man number two is a far better match. At first he comes across to Rachel as a tease, but as they continue to interact she discovers that they have a lot in common. Like Rachel, he is proud of his Jewish heritage but fully embraces American culture. They share similar values in terms of education and social justice, which proves to become crucial to their relationship.

From Rachel’s very first evening in New York, she develops a severely strained relationship with her cousin, who is a year older than her. Even though Rachel is clueless as to the cause of her cousin’s coldness, it’s obvious that she is jealous of man number one’s attraction to Rachel. For the first several months of their acquaintance, the only positive thing she does is secure Rachel a surprisingly good position at the Triangle shirtwaist company.

It’s not until both girls are caught in the Triangle fire that their relationship takes a 180. Rachel saves her cousin’s life, and the cousin comes to terms with the fact that the man she loves is more interested in Rachel. For a while Rachel continues to see man number one, but with the fire came a resolve to become active in the garment workers union and a chance for a high-profile job at another company, both of which he considers unacceptable.

On the other hand, man number two (who witnessed the fire from the outside) is able to empathize with Rachel and they mourn the loss of the 146 workers together. He also joins her at union meetings and encourages her in her new job.

Unfortunately he catches Rachel kissing man number one, and decides to give her space. Rachel takes this to mean that he’s no longer interested in her, and it takes her several weeks to work up the courage to confront him.

Finally Rachel sets things right and convinces man number one to take an interest in her cousin, so both girls end up happy.