Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all! I'm wishing you an abundance of joy this holiday season. Enjoy your time with your loved ones, and cherish every special moment.

My Google Year in Photos

I'm sharing this gift from Google. It has been a wonderful year! Thank you for allowing me to share my dolls with you, and for all of the interactions. All of you have contributed to making this such an enjoyable hobby for me.

Click this link if you can't get the video to play.

Le Smoking Adele Makeda

The latest doll to join my collection is the 2014 Fashion Royalty Gloss Convention Le Smoking Adele Makeda.

I had been wanting an Adele with this face sculpt for years, and when I saw this doll, I knew that she would be the one.

She is wearing an ivory satin pant suit. She comes with gold earrings, a gold watch, a pair of gold high-heeled shoes, a white fur stole, and an extra set of hands. Her long black hair is pulled back into a thick ponytail. She has rooted lashes. She can stand without assistance in her shoes.

Here's a look at her articulation. She is jointed at the wrists, elbows, and knees. Her torso has two points of articulation, and she can both bend and rotate. Her legs rotate slightly at the hip. Her hands are fairly easy to remove, which is quite convenient when removing her clothing and redressing her.

Adele is tall. She towers over most of the 1/6 scale male dolls and action figures in my collection. In her heels, she is nearly as tall as Darius Reid, who has shown immediate interest in her.

She can cross her legs at the ankle when seated.

I think that she and Darius are going to have a relationship. I suspect that things will go better for Darius with this Adele than they did with the previous Adele.

Adele has made other friends here as well, and she is quite happy that there are music lovers such as herself here. Pictured in the photo below from left to right are Adele (#1), Janay (#1), RuPaul, Janay (#2), and Adele (#2).

These Integrity Toys/Fashion Royalty ladies take a few moments to jam. They are in a festive holiday spirit.

 

Overall, I am thrilled with this doll. She is beautiful, I am pleased with her articulation. I love it that she has an extra set of hands and that she can grasp and hold objects. I love it that she can stand and pose in her shoes, but I would love it if she could stand without shoes/wear various heel heights.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving wishes from me, the Sherwood family, and all of us!

Souvenir Dolls

Whenever I travel, I try to pick up a doll from the place that I'm visiting. It doesn't always work out that way (I'm still wishing that I had been well enough or that I could have pushed myself enough to go to the American Girl store in Denver...I was RIGHT THERE). I do have dolls from other places that I've visited.

Atlanta	Atlanta	Atlanta
Bahamas	Paula Hattiesburg	Kenya's Cousins Hattiesburg
Jamaica	New Orleans	New Orleans
New Orleans	NYC	Talking Presidents William J. Clinton Washington, D.C.

My doll from Jamaica is a gift that my former boss brought back for me from her trip - I haven't been to Jamaica yet. The doll can be flipped and she's wearing a different colored dress on each side.

I don't necessarily restrict myself to 1/6 scale dolls when I travel, as you can see. But, some of the dolls that I've collected fit in nicely with my other dolls and action figures.

I'm looking forward to visiting a lot more places and collecting a lot more dolls!

Russell's Pantsless Plight

You may recall that Russell Williams has been roaming around here for years now without pants.

The entire time that I've had him, he has been without trousers. Until now. A very kind person has given Russell a gift that he is truly grateful for, and so am I.  Allow Russell to model for you.

 Russell now has a very nice pair of black trousers and a blue shirt.

He also now has a pair of pinstriped pants and a white T-shirt.

Russell has also received a nice pair of brown sandals. The shoes are not the best match or the best fit, but they are better than what he had before (nothing). He is wearing Flavas Liam's shirt over his T in the photos below.

Russell has new-found confidence and has asked his new friend Starlette to go out with him. She has agreed, but it is too cold to go out tonight. So on the couch they sit, chatting away...

The Afterparty

Sometimes my dolls want to continue the party long after I'm done. Here's what happened after the Halloween party. Click on the photos below to view larger images.

Fears and Tears

It was Nina's job to get her to the party, and Nina had her work cut out for her. Zalika did not want to go. "A Halloween party? What are we, 12?" Nina responded "No, we're grown-ups and we're going to go to a grown-up party and have fun!" Zalika just wished that Nina would quit bugging her about it.

Nina did not give up. She said to her friend "I hate to bring up the past, but remember when you used to bug the hell out of me until I would give in and go out with you?" Zalika said "How many years ago was that? Besides, I HAD to do something. You were so sad all the time, and all you ever did was work." Nina silently glared at Zalika until Zalika sighed and said "I see your point." Nina said "You owe me!" Zalika reluctantly agreed to go.

Nina told Zalika "You need to wear a sexy costume, like a sexy nurse or something. Don't come dressed as Quasimodo or some kind of monster." Zalika told her that she didn't know what she would be able to find with such short notice. Nina told her "Just so you know, I plan on being the sexiest woman at the party, so you need to try to give me a little competition." Zalika laughed a little and said "We'll see."

When Nina arrived to pick Zalika up for the party, she was impressed with her friend's costume. She asked "So what are you supposed to be?" Zalika said "Some kind of cat." Nina said "You're a sexy pussycat, that's what you are." Zalika turned around and said "Check this out: as impressive as my tail is, you're showing much more tail than me in that short dress!" Nina said "Shut. Tup."  They both laughed. Zalika said "I can't believe your husband is letting you out of his sight dressed like this."

When they arrived at their destination, Zalika looked at the house, looked at Nina, shook her head and said "Take me home RIGHT NOW." Zalika recognized the house that Palmer's adviser William shared with his wife Mallory.

Nina:  We're here now. Let's just go inside.
Zalika:  What are you doing?
Nina:  Going to a Halloween party with my friend.
Zalika:  You don't even really know them. Did Palmer put you up to this?
Nina:  Palmer asked me to bring you, and I agreed.
Zalika:  But why? Why would you agree to that? I told Palmer that I would call him when I'm ready. I'm not ready! And you never really had anything good to say about our relationship anyway!
Nina:  Well, I just didn't agree with all the secrecy. If I was a guy and I had someone great like you, I'd want to shout it from the rooftops. Anyway, we're here, we're dressed, let's just go in.

After talking about it for a few more minutes, Zalika agreed to go in for a while. Mallory greeted Zalika with a hug and said "It's so good to see you again! It's been months! Thanks for coming to my little party." Zalika said "It's really good to see you again too, Mallory." William waved from across the room and nodded at Zalika.

Nina and Zalika found seats. Nina was immediately approached by one of the partygoers, who wanted to know her name. She told him "My name is Mrs. Nina So-and-so." He asked if she wanted a "drank", and she said no thanks. He said "Naw really, I'ma go get you a drank." She told him no thank you, and that if at some point she wanted a drink, she would get one for herself.

As soon as the man was out of earshot, Zalika began imitating him. "Mrs. Nina So-and-so, I'ma go get you a drank. Naw, I won't take no for an answer, I'ma get you that drank!" They both laughed. Nina was glad to hear her friend laughing and joking again. Prior to this evening, it had been a while.

Zalika said "Seriously though, let's go and see what they have to drink." So they made their way to the dining area. They had drinks and mingled with the other guests, when suddenly Nina got a horrified look on her face. Zalika said "What is it? What's wrong?" Nina whispered "Behind you..."

Zalika turned around very slowly, wondering what horror awaited her. When she saw Palmer standing there decked out in MC Hammer attire, she was stunned for a few seconds, and then she laughed so hard that tears came to her eyes.

Zalika:  Nice costume!
Palmer:  Thank you, and you look lovely in your costume.
Zalika:  Oh this? Well it was either this or Quasimodo.
Palmer (after a brief pause):  Well you certainly made the right decision!

Zalika teased Palmer about dressing like MC Hammer, when he has none of his dance moves. Palmer protested and said that he can do some of the dances. Zalika said that she'd have to see it to believe it. Palmer said that they could go to one of the other rooms and he would show her his moves. Zalika narrowed her eyes and looked at him sideways. Palmer said "The dance moves! I will show you the dance moves." Zalika asked why he couldn't just dance right there, and Palmer said he'd only show her privately. He said that anyone could just whip out their phone and take a video. He said "I don't want to end up on YouTube!"

So Zalika followed Palmer to a room where they would have some privacy, and she laughed at Palmer's little boom box. Palmer said "You know I like to be prepared." Palmer started  the music and made feeble attempts to dance to MC Hammer's You Can't Touch This. She cracked up when he said "Stop! Palmer time!"

Zalika told him that if he was going to be MC Hammer, he needed to do the Running Man. Palmer said "Well let's see you do it." So Zalika did the dance, punctuated with her own exclamations "Yeah! What you know about that! Unh! Unh!"

When the song got to the part that says "Just for a minute let's all do the bump (bump..bump...bump...), they did the bump together.

When the song was over, Zalika said that they should get back to the others. Palmer asked her if she would call him the next day, and Zalika shook her head. She said that nothing had changed, and that she would call when she's ready, and she's not ready. Palmer told her not to be mad at Nina, because he's the one who asked Nina to bring her there. Zalika told him that she wasn't angry at anyone.

In the next room, the song Monster Mash was blaring from the speakers and the guests were doing the dance. Zalika recognized that they were really just doing the Electric Slide with their hands posed in front of them like claws. She joined in and motioned for Palmer to join. He hesitated at first, but he also joined the dance. Nina danced at first, but then stopped halfway through the song, saying that she was tired.

William and Mallory came in and told the other guests that they were going to show them how it's done, and they danced enthusiastically. 

After the dancing, Zalika went in search of Nina and found that her husband Terrence was now at the party. It didn't surprise Zalika that Terrence had showed up unexpectedly. In fact, she had come to expect his unexpected appearances.

"Make room..." Zalika said, as she squeezed onto the couch with the others. Zalika greeted Terrence, and said "You know, your uniforms are from 2 different series." Terrence said "Only a Star Trek geek like you would even notice." Zalika shrugged her shoulders and said "It was a good show." Zalika thought about mentioning the fact that based on their uniforms, Terrence would be Nina's commanding officer, but she decided not to mention it.

After a couple of minutes, Terrence said "Well, it seems like the party is winding down, are we ready to go? Nina said that she was ready. Zalika glanced around looking for Palmer, and when she didn't see him, she said that she was ready also. Nina took Zalika home in the same car that they had arrived in, while Terrence drove home alone.

The ladies listened to music and did not speak much on the way back to Zalika's house. Upon their arrival, Nina said that she wanted to come in, just for a minute. Zalika said that she was really tired, but Nina stressed that it would be very brief. Once inside, Nina asked Zalika what it had been like to see Palmer again, and Zalika responded that it had been "Ok". Nina just stood there, waiting for more. Zalika said "In all honesty..." and her eyes welled up with tears.  She continued "...it was pretty great, and it just reminds me of what I don't have anymore!" Zalika cried.

"Crap!" Nina exclaimed, as she put her arm around Zalka's shoulders. "Please don't cry! Please don't cry! I'm sorry I meddled. I won't do it again." Zalika wiped away her tears, straightened up and said "It's okay, I'm done. I'm really really done. I'm okay." She managed to give a weak and unconvincing smile. Zalika said "I actually did have fun tonight, which is something that I haven't done in a while, so thank you for that." Nina said "It was good to hear you laugh, and so good to spend time with you!" Zalika said "We'll do it again soon."