AGP Chicago 2004 (Sam)

I went to American Girl Place Chicago in 2004, when all the Samantha movie hoopla was going on. It was my first time there, and I had gone in fully intending to buy Addy and some of her outfits....but I left with Samantha and some of her outfits instead. Just goes to show you what marketing will do to you. :) Not that I'm complaining AT ALL.

GoML Dolls

Here is my collection of Girls of Many Lands dolls. Each GoML is about nine inches tall and came with a book about her life and time period she lived in.

These one-outfi,t collectible display dolls were aimed at girls about 12 and older. They did not last long.

I have each one in a GoML case that you could gte for them, which I would suggest because otherwise they'll get dusty and that is gross.

I got my first one, Neela, as a present from my sister for Christmas and shortly after the line was discontinued so all the dolls prices were significantly lowered (they were originally around fifty dollars, then went half price, and eventually only about twelve dollars) as American Girl needed to get them out of the warehouses where they were taking up space.

Now you can buy them on ebay but that's it.

They made eight dolls in all.
The first five (Isabel, Cecil, Minuk, Neela, and Spring Pearl) were introduced and then three were added later (Layla, Kathleen, and Saba).

My isabel picture kept coming out fuzzy nomatter how many times I took it. I guess she is camera shy. :)

Here are the time periods and stuff:

Saba, in the white outfit, is from Ethiopa in 1846. Her book is called
"Saba: Under the Hyena's Foot" and it is by Jane Kurtz.

Kathleen, in the green irish outfit, is from Ireland in 1937. Her book is called "Kathleen: The Celtic Knot" and it is by Siobhan Parkinson.

Layla, in the red and gold outfit with her hair down, is from Turkey in 1720. her book is called "Leyla: The Black Tulip" and it is by Alev Lytle Croutier.

Neela, in the orange oufit, is from India in 1939. Her book is called "Neela: Victory Song" and it is by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

Spring Pearl, in green and pink, is from China in 1857. her book is "Spring Pearl: The Last Flower" and it is by Laurence Yep.

Minuk, in fur, is from Alaska in 1890. Her book is called, "Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway" and it is by Kirkpatrick Hill.

Isabel, in the huge maroon dress, is from England in 1592. Her book is called "Isabel: Taking Wing" and it is by Annie Dalton.

Cecile is wearing bright blue and she is from France in 1711. Her book is called "Cecile: Gates of Gold" and it is by Mary Casanova.

My favorite book was Neela (India 1939). I also liked Kathleen (Ireland 1937) and Isabel (England 1592). Oh and Spring Pearl (China 1857) too. The others I thought were hard to get through, especially Cecile (France 1711).

I love the GoMLs and they are so pretty. I thought it was too bad they didn't sell well at first and AG got rid of them so quickly. I would have liked to have seen more of them.

I think the most sought after and harder to find on ebay seems to be Kathleen. She really is a pretty doll with nice hair.

I can't pick a favorite doll because they are all so nice!

Doll Show

I put some of my dolls into a Doll Show back in May of 2007. So, yes, these are old, but I enjoyed them so I'm posting them. It wasn't a contest or anything, it was just a doll show at a nursing home and the elderly ladies came in and looked at all the dolls and then they had activities for the ladies. It was fun to set up and answer questions about my dolls. :)

Limited Edition 2010 GoTY

Thanks marykate for letting us in on this article!!! It won't be long now, Lanie is set to be released January 1st.

By JUDY NEWMAN

608-252-6156

Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2009

Lanie, a 10-year-old from Cambridge, Mass., will be the 2010 Girl of the Year doll for American Girl, Middleton, starting Jan. 1. She is described as a city girl who learns how to have fun outdoors. Through Lanie, American Girl is working with the National Wildlife Federation to encourage today’s girls to improve their health by tearing themselves away from their computer screens and discovering nature. American Girl
Lanie will debut Friday as American Girl's 2010 Girl of the Year and she has a message for girls and their families: go outdoors.
Lanie, described as a 10-year-old who lives in the Boston suburb of Cambridge, Mass., enjoys science and learns about nature through activities in her backyard. American Girl, the Middleton-based subsidiary of toy giant Mattel, is pairing with the National Wildlife Federation to get the word out.
"There's a growing concern that kids today are spending less time outside than any other previous generation," said American Girl spokeswoman Julie Parks. "That can lead to obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder, even depression. It's something we wanted to address with girls."
Coincidentally, the National Wildlife Federation began a publicity campaign this fall called "Be Out There," encouraging children to play outside. Their parents may have grown up climbing trees and skipping stones, but today's children have lost the connection to nature, a relationship that can boost their physical, mental and emotional health, the federation says.
"Kids are spending four and a half to five hours a day online, watching TV, texting and playing games," federation spokeswoman Meri-Margaret Deoudes said. "It's like we've made a total shift in the way our kids play."
The organization's effort is a "perfect fit" with American Girl's new doll, Parks said.
In the book written by Jane Kurtz that accompanies the new doll, Lanie learns how to plant and grow a vegetable garden and how to identify birds by their call. She also has a pet rabbit.
"We know (girls) are interested in nature and they love animals. They can enjoy the wonders of nature in their own backyard. They don't have to go to some exotic place," Parks said.
The National Wildlife Federation has prepared a curriculum for teachers to use and is working on two "microsites" with American Girl, one with tips for parents, the other aimed at children.
American Girl is holding a photo contest, asking girls to go outside and take photos of nature or wildlife. The contest is open until March 15, and 25 winners, chosen at random, will each receive a Lanie doll and book, valued at $95 for both. More information will be available at www.americangirl.com/girloftheyear, starting Friday.
American Girl also is selling sets of girl-and-doll T-shirts with nature themes. One dollar of each of the $29 sets sold will go to the National Wildlife Federation's "Be Out There" campaign.
"It's important to be in the natural world, connecting with the larger world in 3D," Deoudes said.
The blonde, hazel-eyed Lanie is American Girl's eighth annual doll of the year character. Dolls with that designation are only available for one year and have fewer accessories than the company's traditional, historic-based dolls.
Last year's doll of the year, Chrissa, also represented a cause, fighting against bullying.
Parks declined to give out revenue figures for the doll of the year. "But it is an important part of our business and a very popular line with our customers and fans," she said.
Overall, American Girl product sales were flat for the first nine months of 2009, compared to a year ago, but income was $3.2 million for the period, up from a loss of $7.4 million for the first nine months of 2008, Mattel said.

Cambria's Visits With Hosts

I wanted to upload some photos from 2005 of Cambria's visits with her hosts so that "old" Cambria won't be forgotten. I also wanted to say thank you to my hosts who were reliable and responsible and did everything right. Thank you for taking care of her for me.

More Cambria Angel

Welcome Cambria Angel...

Originally written November 12, 2009.

I put my doll Cambria into the Traveling Doll program, and she went on a journey across the country to many wonderful host families who took care of her, played with her, sent postcards and pictures, and filled her scrapbook with memories of her adventures.

But a sad thing happened, something that has never happened before in the Traveling Doll program.

My final host, for whatever reason, decided not to return my doll to me on schedule. I tried to be compassionate and patient with this person, but after an extremely long time, I felt like I kind of knew deep inside that she simply was keeping something that did not belong to her.

The moderating team gave her an ultimatum. She could return the property, or pay the cost of replacing the items, or she would be banned from our community of doll collectors. She failed to meet the deadline, in fact did not respond to any of our phone calls, emails, etc. and so was banned.

After this transpired, the entire communtiy of doll collectors poured out their sympathy to me. We all love dolls, and yes we do get attached to them, and to lose one is....well, really sad.

So I got a Private Message from a moderator not long ago where a moderator said.. "I have a small gift for you, it's already purchased so you shouldn't say no"... I was like, oh, well okay then....Although I didn't understand why I was getting a gift... because, I mean, the Mods ALREADY did a LOT for me by trying so hard to get Cambria back...that was more than they had to do...so I thought they had done plenty and they didn't need to do anything more for me!

But, you know, just a small gift, and it was already bought and a mod told me you better not say no. So I thought, hey I guess it is something to look forward to anyway. I was really down about not getting Cambria back. So I figure if it is something small and it will give me something to look forward to, then okay.

Then today something came.

A box.

A big box.

A big BIG box.

The kind of big box where you think, "I wish I had a camera, because I'm pretty sure I'll want to capture this on film!"

And, ladies and gentlemen, you know as well as I do that we all know the shapes of the A.G. boxes and what each shape means...

I was like, "No, it couldn't be..."So I open the box, and the first thing I see is a box that an outfit would go in. I open that, and what's inside? The current JLY meet outfit.
Hmmm, I think. That outfit comes on a doll.
And the box is just the right shape...so I dig through the packing peanuts.

Then my doggie thought they must be white Cheese Puffs so he stuck his big head inside the box and tried to eat packing peanuts, and since I couldn't be sure if he'd gotten one or not, I stopped all the opening of boxes so I could google the phrase "What if my dog ate packing peanuts?" and found out some very interesting information about the canine digestive system. I don't think he ate any, but don't worry, according to the websites they just work their own way out.

So I got to go back to opening now. When my dad saw all of this, he said, "Well it looks like Christmas came early for you!!" So I kept digging through the peanuts (with doggie safely in the other room, haha) and pulled out a long rectangle box....well you know what kind of box that is...I took the lid off with my eyes shut because I couldn't bear to look because I didn't know what was in there or how I would feel about it.I opened my eyes when the box was open, and there was... Big giant blue eyes just like mine and wavy brown hair parted on the side just like mine! She seemed to float out of the box because she was wearing an angel costume...she even had a halo!

She said to me (okay, she didn't really but go with it) "Hello, my name is Cambria Angel. I am just like your late beloved friend Cambria only I am better because I came to you with lots of love from all your friends at AGFMB. I didn't know you had so many friends. Did you know you had so many friends?!"

I gave her a big hug and then admired her angel outfit she was wearing. Then I noticed that wasn't all...(as if that wasn't enough!) down in the box was more stuff!!

There was Two books. One about an angel in a school play!! And the other about how to have fun with your doll!

There was a complete outfit including a red cap, red shirt, jean skirt, jean shoes, and purse and fake leather jacket....somebody had replaced the outfit I mailed out Cambria in (everything was almost exactly the same, it was amazing!) In fact, what is funny is that at first I thought it WAS the same outfit...I was like, "How did they get Cambria's outfit?" LOL Then I realized it was a new one but it was like identicle to the one that is gone. That was really cool! That must have taken a lot of time and effort to find.

Next came a big bag with even more stuff...

There was a doll-sized American Girl Place bag with a brand new AG tee shirt that said "Kindness Counts" on the front!
And an AG keychain to put pictures in!
Also there was a super-cute brown bag with a pretty note on the front and inside was doll-sized food, like cookies and a pink doughnut!
It was sooo cute!!

Plus, best of all.....there were a BUNCH of cards, some of them beautifully hand made, and all full of warm wishes and nice thoughts and love from everyone in my doll community.

The big card said this whole package was a gift from NINETEEN members here.
It was... AMAZING.

I spent time looking at everything and playing with it, but I took the bag of cards and put that in my purse so that wherever I go I can get out my cards from you guys and look at them to feel happy. Those cards were awesome!!!

Cambria Angel was happy to get here for Veterans Day and there is a veterans memorial down the street from my house so I am going to take her there for her first photo opportunity.

See I want her to travel but for a good long while she is just going to travel around Cincinnati with me, lol! No long trips for her for a good long time.

So if you haven't already figured it out, the gift from you is named Cambria Angel.

See I thought of naming her a whole new name, but it seemed disloyal to original Cambria if I just got a whole new name and forgot all about old orginal Cambria.
But then it didn't seem right to let a new doll have my old doll's name, either. So it seemed right to give her the old doll's name COMBINED WITH a new name that is just for her.
The Cambria part is to replace the doll I've lost, and the Angel part is to recognize that she is a new doll seperate from original Cambria.
And since she arrived in an angel outfit and with an angel book and cards that said she was a special angel to be with me, then I thought she can be Cambria Angel!

Tonight Cambria Angel is sleeping in my bed and tomorrow she is going to have her first full day of being a loved dolly of mine.

She is just sooo special to me now because I know that she came out of the generosity and the love of friends. I don't know what else to say except THANK YOU.
I am so overwhelmed with emotion at it all.
I feel like you all have just reached out and put your arms around me and I can't believe the amount of support that you provided, it is incredible...
How in the world did you orchastrate 19 board members coming together to give this to me, without me ever knowing??
And Moderator (you know who you are)...a "small" gift? What a liar! :-)

Everyone here is so special...19 people from this board all pulled together to do this.

Jeanied said it best when she said that Cambria Angel is a reminder that life can be very good and people can be kind beyond belief....thank you all.

Oh and I also want to say that I am not going to wish anything bad on the host who kept my doll. I hope no one else will either, because at church last night the teacher for my class was saying that:
"You are the only Bible some people will ever see, so make sure that whatever you say and do, it will glorify God"
And that got me thinking that..it's not enough for me to not SAY anything bad about Cambria's host....I shouldn't even THINK anything bad about her.

I should just hope that whatever she did with Cambria, that it will work out according to God's plan.
Maybe she still has Cambria, well maybe that is God's way of convicting her to eventually turn to Him with her troubles.
Maybe she lost Cambria somewhere, well then maybe someone found a new doll and that was a blessing to them like finding a treasure.
Maybe she sold Cambria for money, well then maybe whoever bought Cambria from her needed a doll more than I did.
The point is, I don't know what happened and I probably never will.
But what I DO know is, God works out all things according to His will and in His own time.
If original Cambria ever does come home to me, then I will ask the Moderating Team what they want me to do with Cambria Angel...
Maybe we could put Cambria Angel and all the new things she came with in a Christmas Basket for a child to pass along the joy she brought me.
She certainly has a talent for bringing joy!!

I am excited to spend time with Cambria Angel. She sure is special.