365 Toy Project: Sick as a Dog

365 Toy Project: Sick as a Dog, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Yes, I know. It's been a year and a day since I last posted anything. I've been sick for almost two weeks now, and I just haven't had the energy to have anything to say. I'm starting to maybe feel on the mend again tho, so I will see if I can get back into the blogging habit before I get to used to never posting. ^^;
In the meantime, please enjoy the double cuteness of Pucchi and a puppy dog! ^^

(My good friend always says people are "sick as a dog" when they get really sick. I don't know that I've heard anyone but her say this, so I don't know how common the expression is, but I find it kind of amusing. Esp. when you can illustrate it with cute pictures of puppies... ~.^)

Wall Display

365 Toy Project: Lazy Day, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Strictly in terms of the photography, this is a pretty bad photo. The lighting is off. But I am posting it anyway, just to show off how I have some of my (too many) toys displayed. I decided to set up a little scene with some of my re-ment (actually, I think this set is megahouse...) and one of my Pinkys. I quite like it, and I think I want to set up at least one more. The only downside of a display like this (not counting the fact that I don't have a ton of wallspace...) is that it makes it harder to use these pieces in other photos. If I want to use any of these pieces I have to pull the whole display apart. It's not the end of the world, but the other problem is actually that I tend to forget I *could* use these pieces. So I will have to be careful not to use any pieces that I would want to use frequently in other scenes...

Who Should I Get?

Who Should I Get?, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Decisions, Decisions.

It's so hard working out what to spend my money on. I could easily buy a million things at any given time. New dolls are particularly vexing tho, because as often as I tell myself I should quit buying them and just buy clothes for existing dolls, along comes some other new doll I think is just too cute to pass up.

I currently have two pullips/Taeyangs on pre-order (Seian and Celsiy) and that should be it for pullips until September at least. And maybe I won't want anything even then, I don't automatically love ever new release (and thank goodness for that!). So for Jun Planning dolls, I'm done unless I go back and buy an old doll I have wanted for a while.

June is my birthday, and there's that federal bribe... eh, I mean, tax rebate... as well, so there is a bit more money in June than usual, I think. I intend to capitalize on that to buy Butler, who I have wanted forever, and the Winter Bus Stop momoko. (I am not in such a hurry to buy momokos as I am to buy other dolls for whatever reason, but I do love her. )

So that's 4 dolls for the summer. That's a lot! And yet... I feel like I really could get away with one more. These are the three I am still considering. Can Can Cat Blythe because she's the first cute (to me) Blythe I can afford (Blythes are so expensive!), Colline because I like her outfit and I think she would be a cute sister for my Yuiko (Rei), and My Melody because I've been wanting her since she came out.

But I'm also thinking about just not buying any of them, and spending my money on Pinkys and re-ment and doll clothes and... I don't know... something "useful". I don't know what that would be tho... It's scary how I only think of toys these days! ^^;
I guess I could go on vacation somewhere... Dolls are still cheaper than airplane tickets tho... >.<

Pinky Size?

Pinky Size?, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

Even though I have been very lame about taking Pinky photos these days, I still carry a Pinky with me everywhere I go! So when I saw these adorable tiny flowers alongside an empty parking lot, I knew I had to show off how cute and Pinky-sized they were!

I hope I will have some more Pinky photos soon. Truth to tell, I have been trying hard to clean up my room these days, since my lack of free time back in February and March sort of piled on top of my lack of free time over the Christmas holidays, which piled on top of my lack of time last year and amounted to a lot of toys that didn't have a proper home and an enormous stack of magazines I haven't had time to read.

To top it off, my hard drive is pretty much full (too many pictures!), and althought I bought an external drive to help me free up some space, I haven't had a chance to install it. I wanted to try to back up (and sort) all my photos on discs first, because I am paranoid that in the process of installing the new drive, I will somehow erase my old drive. I know it sounds insane, but that would be just the sort of Murphy's Law thing that might happen... (or maybe it wouldn't, but I can't help worrying!)

So what with all of this struggling against disarray, it's been hard to bust out the re-ment and the pinky pieces for fear of them getting lost in the shuffle. It's seemed easier to leave new Pinkys in their boxes until I had more "play space"... And dragging all the Pinky parts out of containment to try new combos just seems like going in the wrong direction, cleaning and organizing-wise! So I haven't had much time for my Pinkys...

Still, there's light at the end of the tunnel! I'm almost done backing up my files, I've read and thrown out a bunch of my magazines, and I'm slowly clearing up some new space on my shelves... So, Pinky photos soon or else!

I just bought, too, this adorable little easel at the stationary store. As soon as I have some time, I'll have to do a "Pinky the Artist" shoot!

Momiji!

365 Toy Project, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

I'm so pleased! I saw these on someone's flickr photostream a while back, and was envious. Then I saw them at Urban Outfitters, but regretfully decided I'd better not buy any. At $15 each, they just seemed like too unnecessary of a purchase. I try really hard to limit my toy purchases, so as not to go overboard and waste too much money on stuff I can't really be said to need (no matter how much "I want" FEELS like "I need"! :P). However, I feel like I've lately needed to draw a triple underline under the "Don't buy too many toys" statement because I am really running out of space. I'm at the point where I have to would have to stuff new purchases in a box and not even try to think about displaying them. My room, also, actually looks more like a kid's room than it did when I was an actual kid. Part of me feels like "hm, I'm going in the wrong direction interior-decorating-wise". The other part of me is thinking, "hm, I bet I could squeeze in another shelf over there, and maybe over *there*, and then I could display a whole BUNCH more stuff!" Guess which side is going to win out?

But to get back to my original point - at $15 each, these were easy to resist. But then I saw them in Urban Outfitters sale section for $5 each, and, well, it would just be criminal to pass them up for that price... Wouldn't it?

Pretty Spring Weather

Atsuko, originally uploaded by esmereldes.

We have beautiful spring weather here in Boston - but somehow only during the week... ^^; This is pretty much pure torture for me, since I am outside so rarely during the day on a workday. And I work in a largely windowless office, so it's sad how little sunshine I see on a sunny weekday... At least as the days get longer, I can get a little bit of time in the sun before and after work. So to get my spring photos, I've ended up taking to plotting them out on my way in and out of work. There's some pretty scenery that I'm lucky enough to go by, and I keep a careful watch for stuff that seems like it will be a good photo op. Then I can pick out the appropriate doll and appropriate outfit, and bring them out with me on a day when I know I have time for photos.

The shot above worked out perfectly - I love it when that happens! ^^ Sometimes the idea in my mind doesn't work as well as I hope when I try to execute it. Other times I do something on a whim and it comes out wonderfully. Somehow tho the planned shots are more satisfactory to me than the unplanned ones. I could take pride in either, I suppose, since they still depend on my doing a good job with the actual taking of the photo, but I am not so confident of my photography skills, and sometimes feel getting a good photo for me is still pure luck. So I prefer it when my ideas are what work - at least I know part of the finished result is not just luck!

I should also note that in truth, these photos of Enna below were taken on a saturday, but they were nonetheless picked out on my drive in and out of work. I love that pink tree!! I wish the trees kept flowers on them all summer, instead of losing the flowers and growing leaves, but then again, it wouldn't be as special if they did! That's supposed to be the wonderful thing about New England, experiencing all the different seasons and knowing you only have a limited time to enjoy them. I think it works, but having never lived elsewhere, I can't help but wonder if it would *really* be less fun if it were beautiful in the same way all year...

Also, although these were taken on a saturday, they don't really contradict my statement about it being beautiful only during the week - it was cold and only intermittantly sunny that day. There's no photos from this previous weekend tho, that was rain through and through...