The Fate of Marie-Grace Gardner

For the past year, I have pretty much decided that the character of Marie-Grace is so pathetic and underdeveloped that I can no longer make her stay true to her "canon" self. There's so little I can do with her. AG really wasn't paying attention when they approved the NOLA project. A girl in New Orleans who wasn't born there and has very little personal connections to it, supposed to be in the same friend circle as a girl in a totally different racial, cultural, and social class? Part of the time, at least? Otherwise, she spends her time volunteering (living) at an orphanage while being completely ignored by her father. Her father is a doctor, by the way, so...why are they so painfully middle class?

In any event, I suppose I could have her predictably be "adopted" by her aunt and uncle and ultimately live with them in Belle Cheniere, but then her story just kind of fizzles and ends.

I think Marie-Grace is one of the most unique and beautiful dolls ever created by American Girl, and it is completely unfair that she got the shaft. She has a hairstyle that scares many people off, an obnoxiously pink Meet outfit, and a terribly un-graceful name. Well, I think she is destined for much greater things in life.

My first thought was to rename her Lydia Gardner and bring her to 1850s New England. I live in New England, and we have yet to be represented by an American Girl. Plus, before we knew her story, I was hoping that newly released Caroline Abbott would have more to do with the actual ocean and sailing. So, Lydia could definitely fill that role nicely. Her father would be a wealthy captain of a whaling vessel, and Lydia would live in a beautiful house with a widow's walk overlooking the vast grey sea. I would like this family to live in Cape Cod, specifically, especially if I can get my hands on some good sources to find out about Cape Cod in the mid-19th century.

Lydia among her nautical tools in Cape Cod.

Another idea for Lydia is that she could very well still be a singing ingenue from New York from a slightly later era, maybe the 1880s or 1890s. But that era may well be reserved for "alternate Molly," or as I just imagined her this morning, Victoria Holmes.

Disney LE Wedding Rapunzel

I am excited today because pre-orders are being accepted at midnight PST by Disney for the 17" Limited Edition Rapunzel Wedding doll. I haven't even seen Tangled Ever After, since they cleverly decided to tack it on to the recent theatrical release of Beauty and the Beast 3D, but from the first preview pics of her, I was in love. I adore her sassy short hair, and obviously the wedding dress is a masterpiece. I REALLY shouldn't be spending any more money after the Birthday Bonanza I just enjoyed not two days ago at the AG Place in Boston, but...I'm going to just see if I get a chance to do the online pre-order, and then, if it's successful, "I'll think about that tomorrow." I am on the east coast, so the pre-order starts here at 3 am. And since I took tomorrow off for my personal four-day birthday weekend, I can actually be up at that time without dire consequences. 

It seems ridiculous, I know, but I actually did it before back in the fall of 2011 when Disney released the Designer Dolls (I really wanted Snow White). It was terribly fun because all the other crazies like me were hanging out on the Disney Store Facebook page and enjoying each other's company as we nervously waited for the victorious moment we could add the doll to our shopping carts and check out before the website crashed. I didn't make it, unfortunately, but I treasure that weird experience all the same. Later, I had a grand time reading other people's accounts of that night, especially the ones who went to wait in line for a doll in person at a physical Disney Store. 

So, anyway, I still am arguing back and forth with myself about the necessity of owning this particular Rapunzel doll. Her beauty is stunning, but here is one doll I definitely wouldn't be able to unbox and play with. That will bug me; most dolls that I do have never stay in their boxes for long. I'm not one for collecting for the monetary value of things. I love to handle, pose, change outfits, and do hair. But I can't get Wedding Rapunzel out of my mind, so I'm sure I'll be sitting at this computer in 9 hours with my heart in my mouth.

Introduction: Why Play?

This blog is a place I will come to share my thoughts about the importance of playing and using one's imagination no matter how old one becomes. For whatever reason, I have never lost interest in toys, and now that I am almost 30, I am publicly giving myself permission to keep enjoying dolls and stuffed animals. Furthermore, as I do climb in age and start seeing the kids of today from an objective viewpoint, I am constantly concerned that children are not using their imaginations and playing as much as my peers and I used to. I do NOT have children myself (and that is a subject for another time), so maybe this observation is not as accurate as I think it is. Yet it seems like girls are influenced from earlier and earlier ages to grow up and concentrate on more adult things like clothes, shoes, hair, nails, boys...that window of time when kids just let their Barbies deal with those kinds of things seems to be narrowing as the generations pass.

As an only child (who grew up in the early 80s), playing was sacred to me. It was how I spent all my time, and how I filled the room with colorful stories and characters to keep me company. I had all the usual toys of that day: Barbies, My Little Ponies, Rainbow Brite's, She-Ra's, Jem dolls, a Precious Places doll house, stuffed animals, and a corner of the basement set up to play "house" in, complete with toy kitchen and a bureau of "dress-up" clothes. I didn't have excessive amounts of toys, as my parents went to great lengths to make sure I wasn't spoiled. But I had plenty, and I enjoyed them all. But then, life happened, as it is prone to do, and I had less and less time to think about such things. School work took up most of my time, because it was important to me to be an excellent student. And I can't imagine how it would have been if I had had all the extra-curricular activities that most kids seem to have today pulling me in even more different directions. I was never in to sports or clubs. I have always been an artist, though, and most of my free time went to working on independent projects. I graduated high school with honors, went to college and majored in metalsmithing/jewelry design, found a job as a designer in a costume jewelry company, and then married the love of my life, who I had dated all through college. Now we have a house, and life has calmed down. Growing up happened, as far as I'm concerned. And guess what? I finally had the time to realize that some of my dolls and I have unfinished business together. 

 Thanks for reading, whoever you are, and stay tuned for more insight, doll pics, stories, and anything else that I think is worth documenting as I continue this "playtime" experiment and hopefully inspire others to do the same. 

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